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Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2017-05-07
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Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (540) 667-1416
  • Fax:
  • (540) 667-1990
  • Street Address:

  • 1700 Amherst Street

  • Winchester, VA 22601


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Sunday Services

Matins -                 8:45am 

Divine Liturgy -    10:00am

Sunday School -  In summer recess


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the Plagal First Mode

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life.

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Mode

Let the Heavens rejoice; let earthly things be glad; for the Lord hath wrought might with His arm, He hath trampled upon death by death. The first-born of the dead hath He become. From the belly of Hades hath He delivered us, and hath granted great mercy to the world.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Though You went down into the tomb, You destroyed Hades' power, and You rose the victor, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, "Hail!" and granting peace to Your disciples, You who raise up the fallen.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35

At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Mode. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 9:32-42.

IN THOSE DAYS, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed." And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him entreating him, "Please come to us without delay." So Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing tunics and other garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, "Tabitha, rise." And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then calling the saints and widows he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Paralytic
The Reading is from John 5:1-15

At that time, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water; whoever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet." But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, 'Take up your pallet, and walk.' "They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your pallet, and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.


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Saints and Feasts

Jcparal1
May 07

Sunday of the Paralytic

Close to the Sheep's Gate in Jerusalem, there was a pool, which was called the Sheep's Pool. It had round about it five porches, that is, five sets of pillars supporting a domed roof. Under this roof there lay very many sick people with various maladies, awaiting the moving of the water. The first to step in after the troubling of the water was healed immediately of whatever malady he had.

It was there that the paralytic of today's Gospel way lying, tormented by his infirmity of thirty-eight years. When Christ beheld him, He asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" And he answered with a quiet and meek voice, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool." The Lord said unto him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And straightaway the man was made whole and took up his bed. Walking in the presence of all, he departed rejoicing to his own house. According to the expounders of the Gospels, the Lord Jesus healed this paralytic during the days of the Passover, when He had gone to Jerusalem for the Feast, and dwelt there teaching and working miracles. According to Saint John the Evangelist, this miracle took place on the Sabbath.


Constantinegreat
May 07

Commemoration of the Precious Cross that appeared in the sky over Jerusalem in 351 A.D.

On this day in the year 351, not long after Cyril had succeeded Maximus as Archbishop of Jerusalem, during the reign of Constantius, the son of Saint Constantine the Great, on the day of Pentecost, the sign of the Cross appeared over Jerusalem. Saint Cyril, in his letter to the Emperor Constantius, says, "At about the third hour of the day, an enormous Cross, formed of light, appeared in the heaven above holy Golgotha and reaching to the holy Mount of Olives, being seen not by one or two only, but manifest with perfect clarity to the whole multitude of the city; not, as one might suppose, rushing swiftly past in fancy, but seen openly above the earth many hours in plain sight, and overcoming the beams of the sun with its dazzling rays" (PG 33:1 16q).


Allsaint
May 07

Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem


Allsaint
May 07

Akakios the Centurion of Byzantium


Allsaint
May 07

Pachomios the New Martyr of Patmos


Allsaint
May 07

Repose of St. Nilus, abbot of Sora


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Wisdom of the Fathers

For where tears are-- or rather, where miracles are, there tears ought not to be; not where such a mystery is celebrating. Hear, I beseech you: although somewhat of the like kind does not take place now, yet in the case of our dead likewise, a great mystery is celebrating. Say, if as we sit together, the Emperor were to send and invite some one of us to the palace, would it be right, I ask, to weep and mourn? Angels are present, commissioned from heaven and come from thence, sent from the King Himself to call their fellow servant, and say, dost thou weep? Knowest thou not what a mystery it is that is taking place, how awful, how dread, and worthy indeed of hymns and lauds? Wouldest thou learn, that thou mayest know, that this is no time for tears? For it is a very great mystery of the Wisdom of God. As if leaving her dwelling, the soul goes forth, speeding on her way to her own Lord, and dost thou mourn? Why then, thou shouldst do this on the birth of a child: for this in fact is also a birth, and a better than that.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 21 on Acts 9, 4th Century

In that case [Matt 9:2] there was remission of sins, (for He said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee,") but in this, warning and threats to strengthen the man for the future; "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you."
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 37 on John 1, 4th Century

Great is the profit of the divine Scriptures, and all-sufficient is the aid which comes from them ... For the divine oracles are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread under foot the love of money, ... from them one may find abundant resource.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 37 on John 5, 4th Century

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Rev. Protopresbyter Panagiotis Papanikolaou

Holy Pascha - God's Logos Liberates

My beloved in the Risen Lord:

Christ is Risen!

     As we celebrated the glorious Pascha Season and chant joyously the hymn proclaiming Christ’s triumph over all forces of darkness, we are renewed by the dignity that comes from our destiny as Orthodox Christians who have been saved by the Crucified and Risen Christ and offered the opportunity to live eternally with Him. With this thought in mind, let us reflect on how God's Logos liberates us.

     Our Lord was given the Book of Isaiah in a synagogue, where He went on the Sabbath to pray and teach, and He read the following passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:1-2). Then our Lord announced to all in the synagogue: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).

     The Lord’s ministry was the start of a liberation movement. God the Father had poured out His Spirit on Jesus at His baptism. Now the Lord, through His presence, as well as through His words and deeds, began the greatest spiritual revolution the world had ever seen. How did the Lord liberate men and women? As we reflect on the above passage in the light of the Lord’s teachings and saving work, we can highlight three basic ways in which the Lord set people free:

     1.  He brought good news to the poor. The good news was and is God’s love and forgiveness freely offered to the poor, that is, to those who humbly recognize their spiritual poverty.

     2.  The Lord proclaimed liberty to captives. The worst human captivity is the captivity to sin. The Lord by His sacrifice took away the curse of sin. Repentant sinners receive forgiveness and can approach God’s throne with confidence and hope.

     3.  The Lord set free the oppressed. The great oppressor of the world is the devil who uses sin and evil to hold the world under his demonic rule. The Lord exorcises the demons from people’s lives. His Kingdom pushes back the frontiers of Satan. For those who choose to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, salvation means to be rescued from the rule of the devil and to be placed in the Kingdom of God.

     Thus the Lord, the Incarnate Logos of God, liberates men and women from the burdens of spiritual poverty, sin and the devil. However, the Lord does much more than this. The Lord also liberates people for a new life. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Saint Paul writes: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (II Cor 5:17). The Lord’s followers are set free by grace to live a life of love, righteousness, peace, joy and hope in the Holy Spirit. 

     Christ is Risen! Praying that Christ our true God Who rose from the dead abundantly bless you and may the light of Great and Holy Pascha shine brilliantly within your heart, I humbly remain, 

   With love and blessings in the Risen Lord,
+Fr. Panagiotis 

 

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May Liturgical Calendar

Sunday of the Paralytic

Sunday, May 7
8:45am - Matins & Divine Liturgy


Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Sunday, May 14
8:45am - Matins & Divine Liturgy


Sunday of the Blind Man / Saints Constantine & Helen

Sunday, May 21
8:45am - Matins & Divine Liturgy


Holy Ascension

Thursday, May 25
9:00am - Matins & Divine Liturgy


Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

Sunday, May 28
8:45am - Matins & Divine Liturgy


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Parish Life

Parish Council

Wednesday, May 10
The Parish Council will hold its monthly meeting at 6:30pm in the Social Hall.


Mother's Day Prayers

Sunday, May 14
The Philoptochos will be collecting the names of our mothers to honor the living with an Artoclasia Service or in memory of those who have falling asleep in the Lord with a Memorial Service. Father Panagiotis will be reading the submitted first (baptismal) names for all mothers during these services. Please refer to the enclosure in this week's Sunday Bulletin for details.


Greek School

Greek School classes will be held on Thursday, May 18. The Adult Class is from 4:00pm to 5:00pm and the Youth Class is from 5:00pm to 5:50pm. For more information, please contact Presvytera Tina at (240) 578-2549. 

 

 


Philoptochos Elections Meeting

Saturday, May 20
Will be held at 12:00noon in the Social Hall.


Sunday School

Sunday School classes beginning promptly at 10:00am in the Social Hall. We encourage all our youth to attend Sunday School. For more information, please contact Presvytera Tina at (240) 578-2549.

 


Altar Boys

Young men between the ages of 10 to 18 are invited to serve in the Holy Altar. Altar Boys are requested to be in the Holy Altar immediately following their Sunday School classes. For more information, please contact Father Panagiotis at (540) 667-1416.

 

 


Philoptochos

Please help support the less fortunate by donating non-perishable foods, pantry items, clothing and baby needs for the CCAP Ministry. Place your donations in the CCAP bin in the Social Hall. 


Coffee Hour

Everyone is welcome to join in fellowship during the Coffee Hour following the Divine Liturgy on Sundays. If you would like to host a coffee hour, please sign up on the bulletin board next to Father's Study. For more information regarding hosting a Coffee Hour, please contact Marie Hughes at (540) 664-1185. 


Cell Phones

We respectfully request that you please turn off or silence your cell phone prior to entering the Narthex during the Church services. If you have a professional reason to carry a cell phone for emergencies, keep it on mute, not vibrate, and sit near to the exits so that leaving for an emergency will not be a distraction to others who are praying. Thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation.


Parish Calendar

Is on the Dormition’s website and can be viewed for upcoming liturgical services, meetings and events. To view the Parish Calendar  Click here.

All ministries are kindly requested to coordinate with Father Panagiotis, as early as possible, the date/time of proposed meetings and events to prevent scheduling conflicts. E-mail new postings or updates to frpeter.dormition@gmail.com. Everyone's cooperation is essential.


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Bulletin Submission Guidelines

Bulletin Announcements

Announcements for the Sunday e-bulletin and printed bulletin may be submitted by e-mail to frpeter.dormition@gmail.com or by fax to Father's Study at (540) 667-1990. The deadline for all announcements is Wednesday morning by 9:00 for the upcoming  bulletins. When feastdays or holidays fall on Thursday or Friday, the bulletins will be published earlier in that week.

All announcements must be in connection with Parish events, activities, fundraisers or community services. Fundraiser and community service announcements must be for non-commercial/non-profit events and activities. The content of the announcement must be in accordance with Orthodox Christian teachings, believes and values.

All ministries are requested to coordinate with Father Panagiotis, as early as possible, the date/time of proposed meetings and events to prevent scheduling conflicts. E-mail new postings, updates and changes to Father. Everyone's cooperation is essential.

To ensure the privacy of our Parishioners, announcements for births, baptisms, and weddings are not automatically included.  The family should make this request to Fr. Panagiotis. 

All announcements should be brief and concise including accurate contact information. All submissions are subject to edit by the Presiding Priest.

 


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Driving Directions to the Church

The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church welcomes you to worship with us on Sunday and whenever the Divine Liturgy is celebrated. Orthros begins at 8:45am and the Divine Liturgy at 10:00am.

Click here for Google Map & Specific Driving Directions »

DIRECTIONS TO THE CHURCH FROM THE NORTH:

1. Proceed south on Interstate 81 South heading toward Winchester
2. Take exit 317 for VA-37/ US-11 toward US-522 N/ US-50 W/ Winchester/ Stephenson (0.3 mi)
3. Turn right at US-11 S/ VA-37 S/ Martinsburg Pike, Continue to follow VA-37 S (3.8 mi)
4. Take the ramp to US-50 E/ Northwestern Pike (0.2 mi)
5. Turn left at US-50 E/ Northwestern Pike, Continue to follow US-50 E (0.6 mi )
6. Turn left at Omps Dr, Continue to entrance of the Church`s parking lot (100 ft)
7. Turn left into the Church`s parking lot.

DIRECTIONS TO THE CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH:

1. Proceed north on Interstate 81North heading toward Winchester
2. Take exit 310 for VA-37 toward US-11/VA-642/ Winchester/ Kernstown/ US-50/ US-522/ Berkely Spgs/ Romney (0.2 mi)
3. Turn left at VA-37 N (5.2 mi)
4. Take the US-50 ramp to Winchester/ Romney (0.3 mi)
5. Turn right at US-50 E/ Amherst St (0.5 mi)
6. Turn left at Omps Dr, Continue to entrance of the Church`s parking lot (100 ft)
7. Turn left into the Church`s parking lot.

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