Weekly Services
Tuesdays at 8:30a - Daily Matins
Wednesdays at 6:00p - Daily Vespers
Thursday at 8:30a - Daily Matins
Saturday at 5:30p - Great Vespers
Sunday at 9:30a - Divine Liturgy
The Church is also open on Wednesdays for "Open Doors" - confession, meditation and reflection.
Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.
We welcome all visitors to our Divine Liturgy and services. While Holy Communion may only be received by prepared Orthodox Christians, our non-Orthodox guests are welcome to participate in our prayers and hymns and to join us in venerating the Cross and and receiving blessed bread at the conclusion of the Liturgy. Please sign our guest book and join us for refreshments and fellowship after the services.
Feel free to ask questions before or after the services. Any member of our Council or Congregation are glad to assist you. Literature about the Orthodox faith and this parish can be found in the narthex (back of the Church).
Members of our Parish Council are:
Deborah Bray - Secretary
Natalie Kucharski - Treasurer
Glenn PenkoffLidbeck - Member at Large
Demetra Tolis - Member at Large
Phyllis Sturtevant - President
Sophia Brubaker - Vice President
Sunday, June 7th, will be the last day of Church School - for the summer. We usually mark this occasion with an informal ice cream reception. Thank you to all who have volunteered to help.
On Sunday, June 14th, we will hold a procession to the Community Garden, for the annual blessing of the Garden, along with the community of Holy Advent Church.
I am, once again, having issues with email being blocked as SPAM, particularly when they originate from “stalexischurch.org”. If you did not receive an emailed bulletin, please see our web site to find the latest issue.
Food for All Garden News
My dear gardening friends,
At choir rehearsal last night, as we reviewed the patriotic hymns we’ll sing on Sunday, I marveled yet again at the ability of poets and musicians to express reverence, joy, and exultation as they describe the beautiful land given unto our care. And I thought how privileged I am to be able to weed and plant, water and harvest, in peace and amongst friends. Perhaps you feel the same way – that for an hour or two, you can lay aside other concerns and just focus on a bit of earth and some young plants, in the hope or even firm conviction that your effort will make the world a better place. Not the whole world, but just our little corner – and not even for all, though “food for all” is our mantra and goal, but at least some…
Anyway, we will be in the garden Saturday morning and if you can spare a little time at the start of this lovely long weekend, your help will be welcome! We still have about 60 tomato plants to get in the ground, as well as a flat of Brussels sprouts, and lots of seeds should we have enough hands and/or time.
On Wednesday, great strides were made by 10 regulars who turned up throughout the day. Frank Lusk, Hal Tzeutschler, Peter Larom and Ethan Cormier put up trellis fencing in five beds in the North Annex, so they are ready for tomatoes. Then Frank and Hal made and installed bed marker stakes in the Annex beds. Meanwhile, Shirley Lusk weeded the garlic and the spinach, Madeline Carmody weeded the beets (both spinach and beets are still very small, so weeding is a delicate business best attempted by those most patient!), and Carrie Allen and I weeded the broccoli and cabbages. Ginny Simmons tackled tough jobs all over the place (including all the dead sunflower stalks along the fence by the animal pen). Speaking of which – the bleating of the baby goats could be heard far and wide in the morning, and Alison Cormier responded immediately to their frantic pleas. She went and bought baby bottles, mixed up formula, and fed them! In the afternoon, Beth Critchley and Caryl Anderson fed them again – an adorable sight which perhaps you’ll get to see on our Facebook site soon. Lil Jerry, the llama, might be a little jealous though…
The Pierson After-School Club arrived and spent an hour filling out their planters with lettuce, dill, parsley, nasturtiums and Swiss chard seedlings that were started in their classrooms in early April, along with lemon basil and Mexican gherkin cucumbers sent by Suzanne Baker at Shoreline Gardens. Next week they will plant their marigold seedlings along the garden’s “main drag” – hoping to recreate the exuberant bursts of color that last year were such a joy to behold. In preparation, Ethan Cormier has been creating brick-lined spaces at the end of the beds, to protect the little seedlings from being stepped on (as we inadvertently did sometimes last year).
All is not perfect in our Garden of Eden, though – we detected evidence of cutworms in the newly planted peppers and leaf miners are seriously damaging the beautiful leaves of our Swiss chard. So yesterday I applied remedies (organic) and am hoping for the best. I also sprinkled and sprayed many other plants as a preventive measure. And, we turned on the drip system for the whole garden for many hours, hoping that will carry the plants through until the next rain. But tomorrow we made need to do some hand watering to supplement.
I hope to see you tomorrow in the garden, and wish you a lovely weekend. Don’t forget the Memorial prayers and parade on Monday morning (join us at the Holy Advent viewing area!) and also, be sure to stop by the Clinton Art Gallery at 20 East Main Street which will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. One of the 17 artists in this co-op is Paula Emery, one of our weeders who slip in and out when her schedule permits. Paula says patriotic poppy artwork will be displayed in honor of our veterans, and artists will be sketching the parade as it passes by.
Blessings,
Margaret
9:30AM Divine Liturgy
11:00AM Church School
Frankie Ruperto
8:30AM Daily Matins
Evelyn Leake
4:30PM Open Doors
6:00PM Great Vespers with Litya
8:30AM Akathist for Ascension
Brubaker
Faro
5:30PM Great Vespers
Melesko
9:30AM Divine Liturgy
11:00AM Church School
Christine, Raymond, Olga, Richard, Daria, Daria, John, Evelyn, Alla, June, Nina, Joan, John, Alex, Alan, Nadia, Anastasia, Glenn, Kathryn, Ivan, Elena & Jevon and Jocean, Kyra, Roderick, Albert, Barbara, Irene, Eva, Richard, Phyllis, Kathleen, Dionysia, Andrew, Krystal, William, Sharon and their family.
Many Years! to Marlene and Vincent Melesko (it also happens to be Vinny’s Name’s Day as well), Michael and Dori Kuziak, Greg and Christine Jankura on the occasion of their Anniversaries; and Alex Melesko and Sal Faro on the occasion of their birthdays.
We commemorate:
Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. Ven. Simeon the Stylite (the Younger) of the Wonderful Mountain (596). Ven. Nikita the Stylite, Wonderworker of Pereyaslavl’—Zalesskii (786). Martyrs Meletius Stratelates, Stephen, John, and 1,218 soldiers, with women and children, including Serapion the Egyptian, Callinicus the Magician, Theodore, Faustus, the women: Marciana, Susanna, and Palladia, two children: Cyriacus and Christian, and twelve Tribunes—Faustus, Festus, Marcellus, Theodore, Meletius, Sergius, Marcellinus, Felix, Photinus, Theodoriscus, Mercurius, and Didymus, all of whom suffered in Galatia (138-161). St. Vincent of Lérins.
These Apostles are mentioned by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, where he writes: "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the Apostles, who also were in Christ before me" (Rom. 16:7).
The Lord Jesus was coming from the Temple on the Sabbath, when, while walking in the way, He saw the blind man mentioned in today's Gospel. This man had been born thus from his mother's womb, that is, he had been born without eyes (see Saint John Chrysostom, Homily LVI on Matthew; Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V:15; and the second Exorcism of Saint Basil the Great). When the disciples saw this, they asked their Teacher, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" They asked this because when the Lord had healed the paralytic at the Sheep's Pool, He had told him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14); so they wondered, if sickness was caused by sin, what sin could have been the cause of his being born without eyes. But the Lord answered that this was for the glory of God. Then the God-man spat on the ground and made clay with the spittle. He anointed the eyes of the blind man and said to him, "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam." Siloam (which means "sent") was a well-known spring in Jerusalem used by the inhabitants for its waters, which flowed to the eastern side of the city and collected in a large pool called "the Pool of Siloam."
Therefore, the Saviour sent the blind man to this pool that he might wash his eyes, which had been anointed with the clay-not that the pool's water had such power, but that the faith and obedience of the one sent might be made manifest, and that the miracle might become more remarkable and known to all, and leave no room for doubt. Thus, the blind man believed in Jesus' words, obeyed His command, went and washed himself, and returned, no longer blind, but having eyes and seeing. This was the greatest miracle that our Lord had yet worked; as the man healed of his blindness himself testified, "Since time began, never was it heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind," although the Lord had already healed the blind eyes of many. Because he now had eyes, some even doubted that he was the same person (John 9:8-9); and it was still lively in their remembrance when Christ came to the tomb of Lazarus, for they said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have caused that even this man should not have died?" Saint John Chrysostom gives a thorough and brilliant exposition of our Lord's meeting with the woman of Samaria, the healing of the paralytic, and the miracle of the blind man in his commentaries on the Gospel of Saint John.
The Reading is from Acts of the Apostles 16:16-34
IN THOSE DAYS, as we apostles were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying. She followed Paul and us, crying, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." And this she did for many days. But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the rulers; and when they had brought them to the magistrates they said, "These men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practice." The crowd joined in attacking them; and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's fetters were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family. Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them; and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.
Sunday of the Blind Man
The Reading is from John 9:1-38
At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe": and he worshiped him.
The Diocesan Youth Rally is at hand!
A contribution by the OCA Department of Christian Education.