Feb 26: Health Kit Assembly
Mar 11: St. Mark Feeding at Valencia Inn
Apr 7: Motel Children Dental Clinic.  Co-sponsors; AYUDA, Anaheim Lions Club, Anaheim Boys-Girls Club, Grandma’s House of Hope, FOCUS OC, and St. Mark
Apr 20-22: Global Youth Service Days
Apr 22: St. Mark Feeding at Valencia Inn
Apr 28: Major FOCUS OC Fundraiser, Laguna Beach

…is Cheese Week. We observe a “white fast,” that is, we are allowed all foods (including fish) on every day of the week (including Wednesday and Friday) except for meat and meat products (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, etc.)

Wednesday February 22nd, 6:30 p.m. Vespers.
Friday February 24th, Teen movie night at 7:00 p.m.

Next week
Sunday February 26th, Cheese Fare Sunday; Ladies Guild is serving Cheese Pizza for lunch.
Monday February 27th, First day of Lent, 7:00 p.m. Great Compline
Tuesday February 28th, 7:00 p.m. Great Compline
Wednesday February 29th, 6:30 p.m. Liturgy of Pre-Sanctified Gifts, followed by pot luck dinner.
Friday March 2nd, 7:00 p.m. First Akathist. (Madayeh)
Saturday March 3rd, 4:00 p.m. Youth Rally and Adult session (see flyer);
6:00 p.m. Vespers at St Steven Serbian Cathedral. No Vespers at St. Mark.

Upcoming services and Events
Sunday March 4th, Sunday of Orthodoxy
Monday March 5th, 7:00 p.m. Great Compline
Wednesday March 7th, 6:30 p.m. Liturgy of Pre Sanctified Gifts followed by pot luck dinner.
Friday March 9th, 7:00 p.m. Second Akathist. (Madayeh)
Sunday March 11th, Ladies Guild Falafel Lunch.

March is Ladies Month in our Archdiocese. Therefore, members of our Ladies Guild will be assisting in ushering and in reading the Epistles.

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (25:31-46)

The Lord said, “When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Sunday Bulletin - Feb. 19, 2012

When I disobey in ignorance thy fatherly glory, I wasted in iniquities the riches that thou gavest me. Wherefore, I cry to thee with the voice of the prodigal son, saying, I have sinned before thee, O compassionate Father, receive me repentant, and make me as one of thy hired servants.
- Kontakion, Tone 3

I have been entrusted with a verdant and faultless region, but I planted evil in its soil and reaped its cares with the scythe of laziness. And I gathered my deeds into sheaves but placed them not on the threshing-floor of repentance. Wherefore, I ask thee, O divine Husbandman, to winnow the straw of my deeds with the breeze of thy compassionate love; and fill my soul with the wheat of forgiveness. Store me in thy heavenly garners and save me.
- from Vespers, Tone 1

Return from Exile (The Sunday of the Prodigal Son)
The Following is an excerpt from Great Lent, by Alexander Schmemann
From Chapter 2: Preparation for Lent

On the third Sunday of preparation for Lent, we hear the parable of the Prodigal Son (LK. 15:11-32). Together with the hymns on this day, the parable reveals to us the time of repentance as man’s return from exile. The prodigal son, we are told, went to a far country and there spent all that he had. A far country! It is this unique definition of our human condition that we must assume and make ours as we begin our approach to God. A man who has never had that experience, be it only very briefly, who has never felt that he is exiled from God and from real life, will never understand what Christianity is about. And the one who is perfectly “at home” in this world and its life, who has never been wounded by the nostalgic desire for another Reality, will not understand what is repentance.

Repentance is often simply identified as a cool and “objective” enumeration of sins and transgressions, as the act of “pleading guilty” to a legal indictment. Confession and absolution are seen as being of a juridical nature. But something very essential is overlooked– without which neither confession nor absolution have any real meaning or power. This “something” is precisely the feeling of alienation from God, from the joy of communion with Him, from the real life as created and given by God. It is easy indeed to confess that I have not fasted on prescribed days, or missed my prayers, or become angry. It is quite a different thing, however, to realize suddenly that I have defiled and lost my spiritual beauty, that I am far away from my real home, my real life, and that something precious and pure and beautiful has been hopelessly broken in the very texture of my existence. Yet this, and only this, is repentance, and therefore it is also a deep desire to return, to go back, to recover that lost home….

One liturgical peculiarity of this “Sunday of the Prodigal Son” must be especially mentioned here. At Sunday Matins, following the solemn and joyful Psalms of the Polyeleion, we sing the sad and nostalgic Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and we wept when we remembered Zion… How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy…

It is the Psalm of exile. It was sung by the Jews in their Babylonian captivity as they thought of their holy city of Jerusalem. It has become forever the song of man as he realizes his exile form God, and realizing it, becomes man again: the one who can never be fully satisfied by anything in this fallen world, for by nature and vocation he is a pilgrim of the Absolute. This Psalm will be sung twice more: on the last two Sundays before Lent. It reveals Lent itself as pilgrimage and repentance– as return.

Pastor’s Column

Implications of Holy Communion
by Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky

“The precious and most holy Body of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ is given unto me, the unworthy priest (N) for the remission of my sins, and unto life everlasting.” (Prayer during Divine Liturgy)

Note the passive voice [is given to N] deacon, laity, and to himself, because all comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, as in some of the back walls of churches where it is Christ Himself communing the apostles. This format is expressed in all sacraments. For example, in the prayers of forgiveness and absolution of holy Confession, it is not the priest but Christ through the hands and voice of the priest who forgives sins.

“Of Your Mystical Supper…” Mystical, meaning the mystery of how transcending time and space we are transported not so much to the original Last Supper (many western Christians feel it to be only in memory of the Meal) but forward and into the Kingdom of heaven. Christ spent so much of His effort on earth announcing the Kingdom, expressing what it is and the requirements for entry, the conditions and obligations incumbent upon all who are called, so that they might be elected. From the Cherubic hymn where we “lay aside all earthly care” to the command to “Lift up your hearts,” to the fellowship of love for one another the way the Three Persons of Trinity love – all that is understood by Holy Communion. Yes, indeed with Christ in His Body and Blood – but in Him and through Him all who share His Being, those in heaven and those on earth. Far from a one-on-one relationship. Sobornost is the common expression that explains and defines what the meaning of Eucharist is.

Read more…

The Apostle, February 2012 Newsletter

House blessings are traditionally done between Epiphany and the start of Great Lent.  If you would like Fr. Michael to bless your home or business, please fill out the Home Blessing Request included in this bulletin, and return it to the box in the Church Hall labeled “Home Blessing” Fr. Michael will respond to your request via email of telephone to confirm your home blessing appointment.  Great Lent begins on February 27th.

The home blessings will last about 40 minutes per home. When Fr. Michael arrives, all televisions, stereos, and radios should be turned off. If there is an icon corner in the home, the prayers will take place there, if not, an icon and a lit candle should be set up on a suitable table. A list of all those living in the home and others you would like to be included in the prayers should also be placed on the table.

April 7, 2012: AYUDA Dental Clinic for Homeless at the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim, Beach & Lincoln. Volunteer Dentists will be providing full dental services for 100 children, dental cleaning & fluoride service for 500 children and adults. The Anaheim Lions Club will be providing breakfast for 1,500 attendees. AYUDA Inc. is a 501.c.3 nonprofit corporation that provides full dental services to at risk and under-served children. For info about AYUDA, please contact Dr. Mokbel, rgmokbel@yahoo.com. Services are provided at no charge from Dentists, faculty and students of the U.S.C. Dental School, while local sponsors provide funding for necessary dental supplies. AYUDA has asked St. Mark to provide $1,500 for reimbursable supplies for the clinic. Donations should be made to St. Mark, ATTN: AYUDA.
Thanks and God bless.

SUNDAY OF CANAANITE WOMAN
COMMEMORATION OF THE RECOVERY OF THE SACRED RELICS OF THE HOLY HIEROMARTYR IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

The reading from Saint Paul’s Second Letter Corinthians (6:16- 18,7:1)
Brethren, you are a temple of the living God, even as God has said, “I will dwell in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” “Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Having therefore these promises, O beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Alleluia verses (Psalm 94:1, 2) Tone 8: Come, let us rejoice in the Lord; Let us shout in jubilation to God our Savior.  Let us come into His presence in thanksgiving.

The Reading from the Gospel according to St. Matthew (15:21-28)
At that time, Jesus went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.”  But Jesus did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”  And Jesus answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at that very hour.
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Sunday Bulletin - January 29, 2011

Listen to a sermon delivered January 8 2012.
If you have multimedia player installed, simply click on the link below and it will play automatically.

January 8, 2012

Please watch a wonderful 60 Minutes broadcast of their visit to the Orthodox monastic community of Mount Athos in Greece. It was originally broadcast on April 24, 2011 and repeated on Christmas day.

Thanks to Nader Qoborsi for sharing this link.

Fr Michael