St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Church
Publish Date: 2016-05-08
Bulletin Contents
Thomsund
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St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 860-664-9434
  • Street Address:

  • 108 E Main St

  • Clinton, CT 06413-0134
  • Mailing Address:

  • PO Box 134

  • Clinton, CT 06413-0134


Contact Information



Services Schedule

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.


Past Bulletins


Welcome

Gospel1

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:

Phyllis Sturtevant - President, ad hoc Ministries (Red House, 25th Anniversary)

Sophia Brubaker - Vice President, Building/Grounds

Susan Hayes - Secretary, Communications

Susan Egan - Treasurer

Deborah Bray - Member at Large, Fellowship/Stewardship

Demetra Tolis - Member at Large, Outreach/Evangelism

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Announcements

Christ is Risen!

 

As you read this, Photine (Diana) Hunt will be well on her way back to France. She may be reached via ‘snail’ mail at: 

 

Diana P. Hunt

48 Route de Cuxac

M600 Villardonnel, FR

 

Her email address is: icocalli@hotmail.fr

Photine would like to continue taking commissions for icons, please feel free to contact her directly, or talk with Fr Steven about sizes and prices. Those icons on display downstairs are also available. If interested, please talk with Fr Steven about how you might obtain one for your home. Once settled, we will be making arrangements for Photine to ship more icons to us, from what she has in storage.

 

 

Ministry Meetings (after Liturgy) - As necessary, more details will be provided as the meeting date approaches:

 

May 15th: Buildings and Grounds

May 22nd: Fellowship and Stewardship

June 5th: Liturgical (Choir) and Education

June 12th: Outreach & Evangelism

June 26th: 25th Anniversary

July 10th: Red House

 

 

Blessing of Graves

St Thomas Sunday - after Liturgy (and coffee hour), I will be blessing local graves; Beaverbrook Cemetery in Clinton and Resurrection Cemetery in Westbrook. If you have family graves that you would like blessed this year, please see Fr Steven about getting this scheduled.

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Saints and Feasts

Thomsund
May 08

Thomas Sunday

Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, "Peace be unto you." Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ's Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, "Peace be unto you"; then He said to Thomas, "Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing."

And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, "My Lord and my God." Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures - human and divine - of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning "in the stead of Pascha," not "in opposition to Pascha") because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.


08_stjohn1
May 08

John the Apostle, Evangelist, & Theologian

The feast today in honour of the holy Apostle John commemorates the miracle taking place each year in Ephesus, in which a certain dust or powder, called manna, suddenly poured forth from his tomb and was used by the faithful for deliverance from maladies of both soul and body. For an account of his life, see September 26.


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Parish Calendar

  • Parish Calendar

    May 8 to May 23, 2016

    Sunday, May 8

    Neil Luckianow

    Thomas Sunday

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, May 9

    The Holy Prophet Esaias (Isaiah)

    Tuesday, May 10

    Egan

    Akathist to St Simon the Zealot

    Simon the Zealot & Apostle

    6:15PM Feast of Sts Cyril & Methodius

    Wednesday, May 11

    Methodius & Cyril, Equal-to-the Apostles Illuminators of the Slavs

    Thursday, May 12

    Luba Martins

    Elisha Liam Watson

    Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    Friday, May 13

    The Holy Martyr Glyceria

    Saturday, May 14

    Katerina Hoehnebart

    Isidore the Martyr of Chios

    5:30PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 15

    Ministry Meeting: Building and Grounds

    Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, May 16

    Alan Hayes

    Theodore the Sanctified

    6:00PM Parish Council Mtg

    Tuesday, May 17

    The Holy Apostles Andronicus and Junia

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    Wednesday, May 18

    Soup Kitchen

    Holy Martyrs: Peter, Dionysius, Andrew, Paul, Christina, Heraclius, Paulinus and Benedimus

    Frankie Ruperto

    2:00PM Vesting of Fr Walter

    Thursday, May 19

    Patrick the Hieromartyr & Bishop of Prusa and His Fellow Martyrs Acacius, Menander, and Polyaenus

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    Friday, May 20

    Evelyn Leake

    The Holy Martyr Thalleleus

    4:00PM Viewing and Funeral of Fr Walter

    Saturday, May 21

    Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the Apostles

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    5:00PM Memorial for Krystal York

    5:30PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 22

    Ministry Meeting: Fellowship and Stewardship

    Sunday of the Paralytic

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, May 23

    Brubaker

    Faro

    Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada

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Prayers, Intersessions and Commemorations

Cross2

Robert, Olga, Daria, Daria, Dori, John, Evelyn, Alla, June, Nina, Joan, John, Alex, Alan, Nadia, Glenn, Kathryn, Veronica, Darlyne, Albert, Irene, Nancy, Dionysian, Elena, Jevon, Ivan and Joscean.

 

  • and for…

 

John, Jennifer, Nicholas, Isabel, Elizabeth, John, Jordan, Michael, Lee, Eva, Neil, Gina, Joey, Michael, Madelyn,Sofie, Katrina, Olena,and Valeriy.

  • and for our catechumens; Joe Barbera, Kyle Hollis and Stephen Wexell

 

Today we commemorate:

 Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (98-117). St. Thomas Sunday. Ven. Arsenius the Great (449-450). Ven. Arseny the Lover-of-Labor (14th c.) and Pimen the Ascetic, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—12th c.).

 

Many Years!

This week we commemorate Luba Martins and Katerina Hoehnebart on the occasion of their birthday; and to all Mothers, Grandmothers and God Mothers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bulletin Inserts

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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the 5th Tone

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

Apolytikion for Thomas Sun. in the 7th Tone

Whilst the tomb was sealed, Thou, O Life, didst shine forth from the grave, O Christ God; and whilst the doors were shut, Thou didst come unto Thy disciples, O Resurrection of all, renewing through them an upright Spirit in us according to Thy great mercy.

Apolytikion for John the Theologian in the 2nd Tone

O Apostle, beloved of Christ our God, hasten to deliver a defenceless people. He that allowed thee to recline on His breast, receiveth thee bowing in intercession. Implore Him, O Theologian, to dispel the persistent cloud of the heathen, and ask for us His peace and great mercy.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 8th Tone

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

Gospel Reading

Thomas Sunday
The Reading is from John 20:19-31

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: "Peace be with you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe."

Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said: "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to Him: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.


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Wisdom of the Fathers

The very fire which purifies gold, also consumes wood. Precious metals shine in it like the sun, rubbish burns with black smoke. All are in the same fire of Love. Some shine and others become black and dark. In the same furnace steel shines like the sun, whereas clay turns dark and is hardened like stone. God is a loving fire, and He is a loving fire for all: good and bad. There is, however, a great difference in the way people receive this loving fire of God. The difference is in man, not God.
Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros
The River of Fire, pp. 17 & 19 , 20th century

For great is the dignity of the priests. ... And hold them very exceedingly in honor; for you indeed care about your own affairs, and if you order them well, you give no account for others; ...
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 86, 4th Century

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1) And here He pronounces blessed not the disciples only, but those also who after them should believe.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 87 on John 20, 4th Century

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In House

056

Homily for the Sunday of St Thomas

05/08/2016

by St. John of Kronstadt

Christ is Risen!

Beloved brothers, so Bright Week has passed and taken with it our deeds to the throne of the Heavenly Master and Judge: there, brothers, there are our deeds now. I say this in order to frighten with the fear of the heavenly judgment those who unworthily, not Christian-like, spent the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ and to comfort those who spent it with temperance and spiritual joy.

How did very many spend the feast of the bright Resurrection? I would not like to call to remembrance foul human deeds but they, together with those that performed them, need to be remembered and judged on behalf of God. The all-bright feast was met, after the bright Paschal service, with dark deeds: intemperance and drunkenness, fights, cursing, and all types of sin. Consider that we fasted before the feast only in order to, with even more eagerness, rush into all fleshly, sinful deeds so that we can unashamedly and with insolence indulge in every iniquity. Alas! Woe unto us!

All those who met the feast with intemperance and drunkenness, adultery, cursing, and other similar deeds of the flesh lost all the benefit which they had received (if they even received any) from the fast, lost the benefit from repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries, trampled them as an unreasonable animal under their feet, lost the acceptable time for salvation, given them by the mercy of the Lord, time which will not be returned. It was proper to say to you during the fast, behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2) for it was just then that you had come to the saving font of repentance and to the all- cleansing, true Mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord. Now your confession and communion is put off until the next fast but who knows if 

the Lord will vouchsafe you to again confess and commune? Who knows if you will repose in those very iniquities with which again, after the font of repentance, you have defiled yourself? How painful, how piteous, beloved brothers, that so soon you have turned out to be betrayers of Christ and have given yourself over to the devil to serve him, the original murderer, the author of, and instructor in of every type of sin! You are, using the words of the Savior, and I, a great sinner, am as well are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do (John 8:44). 

What, then, remains for us to do, beloved brothers? To pray and weep for our sins. To weep that not Christian-like and not even human-like did many of us meet the feast but like vile idol worshipers and like wild animals, which have not been fed for a long time with their favorite food. To weep that we have trampled upon the great, soul-saving Mysteries of Christ, that is, repentance and communion, and counted them as nought. To weep that the time, given for salvation, we have thoughtlessly lost. May we weep and pray to the Lord that He “not become angry with us neither destroy us with our iniquities” (first morning prayer) but would return us to the way of repentance and make us skilled performers of His commandments. Let us firmly decide from now on not to give ourselves over to intemperance and drunkenness and all the sins which follow, and with tears ask the Lord that He, with the Grace of the Holy Spirit, would strengthen us in our intentions and good deeds. 

Brothers! May we all shed tears for we all unworthily met the great feast of the Lord and angered our Lord; not in this way, not in this way indeed, should we meet the feasts of the Lord. We need to meet them with spiritual joy in the Lord, for our deliverance from sins and for our eternal salvation through Christ, the Son of God, with deeds of mercy, temperance from passions, visiting the church of God in spirit and truth and with simplicity in food and clothing. 

O, you, decorated with gold and a multitude of precious fabrics, women and maids! In the name of the Lord, I direct my speech to you! What a multitude of poor would you have been able to cause to rejoice on the all- bright day of the Resurrection of Christ and, in that way, worthily meet that great feast, if you would have, in generosity and Christian love, changed even a few of these decorations into money and given that money to the poor who are so many in our city? Would it not have been reasonable, in a Christian way, if you had fewer precious clothing and the money remaining you had given to the poor? What rich mercy would you have received on that day from Christ the Lord? Yes, truly Christian-like would you have then met the feast of Christ’s Resurrection. But now what? You are decorated like idols but the members of Christ are without clothes; you are satiated but the members of Christ are in want; you roll in every possible pleasure but those are in tears; we are in rich and decorated dwellings but those are in cramped conditions and uncleanness, in dwellings which are often not any better than a pigsty. We do not have Christian love and, therefore, there is no true feast of the Resurrection of Christ, for those truly celebrate the Resurrection who himself is raised from dead deeds to deeds of virtue and Christian faith and love, trampling on intemperance, luxury, and all of the passions. Brothers! May we celebrate the feasts of the Lord as Christians and not as pagans! Amen.

 

 

 

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