Sunday Services:
8:45 am Orthros
10:00 am Divine Liturgy
Sunday School Classes:
11:15 am After Holy Communion
Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be!
Join us for Orthodox Divine Liturgy every Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Light a candle and offer a prayer at Saint Catherine (click above).
The online form sends the names of your family and friends
direct to Father Chrysostom at the altar;prayers are offered
during the Proskomidi in preparation for the Divine Liturgy!
August 3, 2025
Isaacius, Dalmatus, & Faustus, Ascetics of the Dalmation Monastery
Links to the service text: Links to the service texts are through the Digital Chant Stand of our Archdiocese. For optimal viewing select the "GR-EN Text/Music" link for Matins (Orthros) and Divine Liturgy. Apps may be downloaded for your phone or tablet. Link to the Digital Chant Stand
Holy Communion: Holy Communion is reserved for baptized and chrismated Orthodox Christians only. If you are interested in becoming an Orthodox Christian, please contact Father Chrysostom Mitchell at (561) 320-1224 or [email protected].
Coffee and Fellowship: Please join us for coffee and fellowship in the Small Hall of the Hellenic Cultural Center immediately following the Divine Liturgy.
____________
This Week
Sunday, August 3 8th Sunday of Matthew
8:45 am Orthros / 10:00 am Divine Liturgy
Monday, August 4
6:30 pm Paraklesis
Tuesday, August 5
6:30 pm Great Vespers
Wednesday, August 6 Transfiguration of Jesus Christ
9:00 am Orthros / 10:00 am Liturgy
Thursday, August 7
6:30 pm Paraklesis
Friday, August 8
6:30 pm Paraklesis
Next Week and Highlights of Upcoming Services and Events
Sunday, August 10 9th Sunday of Matthew
8:45 am Orthros / 10:00 am Divine Liturgy
Presentation of DOP and Philoptochos Scholarships
HDF & Heart of Greece Practice Begins
Monday, August 11
6:30 pm Paraklesis
7:30 pm Choir Practice
Tuesday, August 12
6:30 pm Paraklesis
Wednesday, August 13
6:30 pm Paraklesis
Thursday, August 14
7:00 pm Dormition Great Vespers
@ St. Mary Orthodox Church followed by a Lenten reception
1317 Florida Mango Rd. West Palm Beach, FL 33406
Friday, August 15 Dormition of the Theotokos
9:00 am Orthros / 10:00 am Liturgy
Saturday, August 16
Sunday School Teachers Seminar @ St. Mark
____________
Stewardship:
DONATE online
https://www.stcatherine-wpb.
stcatherine-wpb.org
The Donate buttons here and on our website lead to our online giving site.
Again, thank you for your support!
Youth Safety Resources: We’re committed to connecting young people with Jesus Christ. To do that, we need to create ministry environments that are safe and health. For more on how you can help, please visit our Youth Safety website: goarch.org/safety.
Church Services Streamed: Many of our Divine Liturgies have been recorded and can be viewed at www.youtube.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel; you will be notified when we begin a live stream.
Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church (Services from 2020 until now)
Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church (Selected services from 2015-2019)
Eighth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:11-18
At that time, Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus has lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni," which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and she told them that He had said these things to her.
Prokeimenon. Grave Tone. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.
The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 1:10-17.
Brethren, I appeal to you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispos and Gaius; lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
8th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 14:14-22
At that time, Jesus saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me." Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
Trisagions
10 Years ~ Mary K. Sarandis
Wife of the late George T. Sarandis
Mother of Theodore A. Sarandis and Stephen J. Sarandis
Grandmother of George and Sophia Sarandis
47 Years ~ John Katsoulis
51 Years ~ Nora Katsoulis
Parents of Mary K. Sarandis
Of these, Saint Isaacius is celebrated also on May 30. He became a monk at an early age and was a worker of every virtue; a zealot for the Orthodox Faith, he was also deemed worthy of the gift of prophecy. The Saint dwelt in a small hut near Constantinople. When Valens the Arian marched against the Goths, who were at the Danube River, this righteous one went out himself to meet the Emperor and, taking in hand the reins of the Emperor's horse, said to him with boldness that God had incited the barbarians to come against him, since he himself had incited many to speak against God in blasphemy, and had driven God's true worshippers out of the divine houses of prayer. Furthermore, he told him, if he ceased fighting against God by means of heresy and returned the good shepherds (that is, the Orthodox bishops) to the flock of Christ, he would easily gain the victory over his enemies. However, if he did not desist from these things, nor have God as his ally, at the very outset of the battle both he and his army would certainly be destroyed. "Learn from experience," he said, "that it is hard to kick against the pricks. Thou shalt not return, and this expedition will be destroyed." But the Emperor became angry and had the righteous one locked in prison that he might punish him and put him to death on his return after he conquered the barbarians. But he was utterly defeated and was burned alive in a certain village in the year 378 (Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Eccl. Hist., ch. 4: 31-32). When his surviving soldiers returned from the war, wishing to tempt the Saint, they came to him and said, "Prepare to make thy defense before the Emperor, who is coming to fulfil what he spoke against thee." But the Saint answered, "It has already been seven days that I smelled the stink of his bones, which were burned in the fire." Thus the righteous one was released from prison. All marveled because of his prophecy, and he became even more wondrous by means of the zeal he displayed in behalf of Orthodoxy in 381, when the Second Ecumenical Council was convoked. After this, a monastery was built in Constantinople for him, and he piously shepherded those struggling with him in asceticism. Having served as an example of the monastic life for them, he reposed in peace about the end of the fourth century, leaving Dalmatus as his successor.
As for Saint Dalmatus, he was at first a soldier in the second division of the soldiers known as the Scholarii. Later, however, he forsook all things and taking his son Faustus, went to the above-mentioned monastery of Saint Isaacius, where he donned the monastic habit. Through his virtue he became venerable in the sight of all. He was present at the Third Ecumenical Council that was convoked in Ephesus in 431, and there displayed his zeal for Orthodoxy against Nestorius. The Council elected him Archimandrite of the monasteries in Constantinopie. Having lived for more than eighty years, he reposed in the Lord.
The Seven Youths hid themselves in a certain cave near Ephesus in the year 250, to escape the persecution of Decius. By divine grace, a sleep came upon them and they slept for 184 years, until the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger, when the doctrine of the resurrection was being assailed by heretics. They then awoke, that is, were resurrected, confirming in the sight of all the bodily resurrection; and again after a short time, by divine command, they reposed in the Lord in the year 434.
This Martyr was from Antioch, and had been a soldier from the time of the reign of Constantius Chlorus (the father of Saint Constantine the Great) to that of Julian the Apostate. He censured Julian's ungodliness and reminded him that he was the nephew of Saint Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor. He reminded him further, that from his tender youth he had been nourished on the milk of piety and instructed in the Faith of Christ, had been a fellow student of Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, had been a reader of the Church of Nicomedia, and that he had set all these things at nought and become a transgressor of the promises made in his divine Baptism, and had offered to the idols the adoration that is due to God alone. Reminding the Apostate of all these things and reproving him, he was beheaded in the year 361, having lived altogether 110 years, and been a soldier for more than sixty.
Our Lord had spoken to His disciples many times not only concerning His Passion, Cross, and Death, but also concerning the coming persecutions and afflictions that they themselves would endure. Since all these evils were near at hand, but the enjoyment of good things which they hoped to receive in their stead was yet to come, our Savior desired to give them full assurance, evidently and openly, concerning that glory which is prepared for those who endure to the end. Therefore, fulfilling that which He had promised shortly before, that "there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom" (Matt. 16:28), He took His three foremost disciples and ascended Mount Tabor, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Suddenly, together with this dread and marvelous effulgence of light, there appeared those pinnacles of the Prophets, Moses and Elias, who spoke with the Lord Jesus concerning His saving Passion which was about to take place. Standing before Him as reverent servants, they showed that He is the Lord of both the living and the dead, for Moses came forth from Hades, having died many centuries before, and Elias, as it were from heaven, whither he had been taken up while yet alive. After a little while a radiant cloud overshadowed them and out of the cloud they heard that same voice which had been heard at the Jordan at the Baptism of Christ, testifying to the Divinity of Jesus and saying: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased; hear ye Him" (Matt. 17: 5).
Such are the marvels, truly worthy of God, celebrated in this present feast, which is an image and prefiguring of the future state of the righteous, whose splendor the Lord spoke of, saying: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun" (Matt. 13:43). It is because of this that the Kontakion of this Feast is said daily (when there is not a great feast) in the Service of the Typica in perpetual commemoration of the glory that will be the lot of the Saints. According to tradition, the Lord's Transfiguration came to pass forty days before His Crucifixion; this is why the Transfiguration is celebrated forty days before the Exaltation of the Cross.
This Martyr, who lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, was a Persian by race and an idolater by religion. He was catechized by a certain Christian named Abarus. He went to Nisibis, a city of Mesopotamia, where he was baptized and donned the monastic habit in a certain monastery. He afterwards ascended a mountain and there endured in extreme ascetical struggles, working miracles for those that came to him, and converting many unbelievers. Julian the Apostate learned of these things as he was marching against the Persians in 363, and at his command the Saint and his two disciples were stoned to death, as they were chanting the Sixth Hour.
This Saint was one of the illustrious Orthodox Bishops called to Constantinople by the holy Patriarch Nicephorus to defend the veneration of the holy icons against Leo the Armenian (see Mar. 8). Saint Emilian was sent into exile by Leo about the year 815, and gave up his soul to the Lord amidst many afflictions and sufferings for the sake of his confession.
After Judas by transgression fell from his apostleship (Acts 1: 25), and hanging himself out of despair ended his life with a wretched and shameful death (Matt. 27: 5), then, that the number of the Twelve not be lacking, all the disciples gathered in one place after the Ascension of the Savior (the number of men and women being 120), and they chose two men from among them, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was also surnamed Justus, and Matthias, and they set them in the midst. Then they prayed to God and cast lots, "and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles" (Acts 1: 15-26). And thus, having taken the place of Judas, Matthias fulfilled the work of apostleship and the prophecy concerning Judas, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David: "And his bishopric let another take" (Ps. 108(109):8). After this, it is said, Matthias preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, and completed his life there in martyrdom.
Learn more about teaching for all-August 9th & 16th. This conference is open to all, including teachers of Sunday Catechism, Adult Religious educators, parents and grandparents of catechism students, Parish Team Ministry leaders, and Clergy.
Enjoy a fellowship meal and fun while learning about offering your time and talents with the ministries and organizations here at Saint Catherine immediately following the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, August 17th.
Meetups and dancing are resuming in August. We can't wait to see you and your little ones! All caregivers are welcome. Groups are not limited to mothers only.
Don't forget to mark your calendar for these important Saint Catherine Family events!
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In both this Sunday’s Gospel (the Feeding of the Five Thousand) and Wednesday’s Feast Day (The Transfiguration), we have two different kinds of miracles: in the first, our Lord gave to help others, while the Transfiguration happened to Him. However, in some ways, these are similar because they not only both glorify Jesus, but they also offer strength to us in body and soul.
The Feeding of the Five Thousand begins after Christ spends a day healing a large crowd, and by the evening, the Disciples say to Him, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves” (Matthew 14:15). In fact, the Gospel says, the crowd is actually “…five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:21). When Christ tells the Twelve, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat” the Disciples are frustrated! “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish’” (Matthew 14:16-17). Their hearts are so hardened they cannot hear that the Lord is teaching them about loving your neighbor unconditionally.
When our Lord brings Peter, James, and John with Him to Mount Tabor, St. Matthew tells us that “…he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white” (Matthew 17:2). Next to Him are Moses and Elijah, and in St. Luke’s account of the same event, we read that the Prophets “…spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). Completing the miraculous event, the voice of the Father is heard telling the Disciples, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5). We celebrate the Transfiguration on August 6th, because this date is 40 days before the Elevation of the Holy Cross (on September 14th), and Holy Tradition tells us that the Transfiguration occurred 40 days before the Lord’s Crucifixion.
Our Lord knows that Disciples’ hearts will be tested. Jesus showed the Disciples His divine glory to strengthen their hearts and minds, as after the Transfiguration he told them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9). In the same way, He also strengthens the bodies and souls of the Five Thousand, when “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Matthew 14:19). St Matthew ends his account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand by telling us that “…all ate and were filled…” (Matthew 14:20). Both then and during the Transfiguration, the Disciples came away remembering that their Master was the Creator of all, despite their human weaknesses. As Disciples ourselves, we also can fail to walk in a Christlike way, but we should take comfort, because He will always forgive us our sins, always holding us up and supporting us, so that one day we can live eternally with Him in his fully revealed glory.