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St. James Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2017-03-05
Bulletin Contents
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Saints and Feasts
Upcoming Services, Events, and Information
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St. James Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 770 639-3641
  • Street Address:

  • 1651 Horizon Parkway Suite 400

  • Buford, GA 30518

Contact Information

The Very Rev. Fr. Steven Ritter
Pastor


Services Schedule

Great Vespers - 5:30 PM Saturday; Orthros - 9:00 AM Sunday; Divine Liturgy - 10:00 AM Sunday

Confessions are available after Services, or contact Fr. Steven  

 The Fiftieth Day after Pascha

The Great Feast of Pentecost

        WELCOME! WE WISH TO EXTEND A GRACIOUS WELCOME TO ALL WHO ARE VISITING TODAY!  A FRIENDLY REMINDER: Only Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared themselves through fasting, prayer, and recent confession may approach the Chalice to receive Holy Communion.

Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 4th Tone

PAGE 96: Having learned the joyful message of the Resurrection from the angel, the women Disciples of the Lord cast from them their parental condemnation, and proudly broke the news to the Disciples, saying, Death hath been spoiled. Christ God is risen, granting the world Great Mercy.

Apolytikion for Sun. of Orthodoxy in the 2nd Tone

Thy pure image do we venerate, O good One, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God; for by thine own will thou didst ascend the Cross in thy body, to save thy creatures from the bondage of the enemy. Thou hast verily filled all with joy, since thou didst come, O our Savior, to save the world.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 8th Tone

To thee the champion leader, I thy servant offer thanks for victory, O Theotokos, thou who hast delivered me from terror. As thou hast power invincible, free me from every danger that I may cry unto thee: Rejoice, O bride without bridegroom.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 4th Tone. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-40.

Brethren, by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets -- who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated -- of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of Orthodoxy
The Reading is from John 1:43-51

At that time, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

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Saints and Feasts

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March 05

Sunday of Orthodoxy

For more than one hundred years the Church of Christ was troubled by the persecution of the Iconoclasts of evil belief, beginning in the reign of Leo the Isaurian (717-741) and ending in the reign of Theophilus (829-842). After Theophilus's death, his widow the Empress Theodora (celebrated Feb. 11), together with the Patriarch Methodius (June 14), established Orthodoxy anew. This ever-memorable Queen venerated the icon of the Mother of God in the presence of the Patriarch Methodius and the other confessors and righteous men, and openly cried out these holy words: "If anyone does not offer relative worship to the holy icons, not adoring them as though they were gods, but venerating them out of love as images of the archetype, let him be anathema." Then with common prayer and fasting during the whole first week of the Forty-day Fast, she asked God's forgiveness for her husband. After this, on the first Sunday of the Fast, she and her son, Michael the Emperor, made a procession with all the clergy and people and restored the holy icons, and again adorned the Church of Christ with them. This is the holy deed that all we the Orthodox commemorate today, and we call this radiant and venerable day the Sunday of Orthodoxy, that is, the triumph of true doctrine over heresy.

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March 05

Mark the Ascetic

Saint Mark the Ascetic lived in the fifth century and according to Nicephorus Callistus was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom's. Besides his blameless life of asceticism, Saint Mark was distinguished for his writings, some of which are preserved in Volume One of the Philokalia. His writings were held in such great esteem that in old times there was a saying, "Sell all that thou hast, and buy Mark."

March 05

Righteous Father Mark of Athens

Of our righteous Fathers commemorated today, Saint Mark of Athens lived in the fourth century. Born in Athens of pagan parents, he believed in Christ, was baptized, and forsook the world, living the eremitical life in extreme privation in the deep wilderness beyond Egypt. His life is recounted by the monk Serapion, who found Mark in deep old age and about to depart this lfe, not having seen a man for ninety-five years. Serapion gave him burial after his blessed repose, even as Paphnutius had done for Saint Onuphrius (see June 12).

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Upcoming Services, Events, and Information

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Wisdom of the Fathers

Peter, when after so many miracles and such high doctrine he confessed that, "Thou art the Son of God" (Matt. xvi. 16), is called "blessed," as having received the revelation from the Father; ... while Nathanael, though he said the very same thing before seeing or hearing either miracles or doctrine, had no such word addressed to him, but as though he had not said so much as he ought to have said, is brought to things greater still.

St. John Chrysostom, Homily 21 on John 1, 1. B#58, pp. 72, 73, 4th Century
 
TODAY: Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers at 6:00 PM at the Cathedral of the Annunciation. Please take this opportunity to celebrate our faith with your brethren from around the city!

THIS WEEK:

Monday: Great Compline @ 6:30 PM. Catechumen class follows immediately afterward.

Wednesday: Presanctified Liturgy @ 6:00 PM

Friday: 2nd Salutations to the Theotokos @ 6:30 PM

Next Sunday: Our Coffee Hour Class for the month of March--Orthodoxy and the Taking of Human Life. Plan on attending what should be an interesting discussion!

IT'S LENT! Read a spiritual book! Our library has many of them! And it's time for confession, so please make plans! 

The 2017 Parish Life Conference is in Atlanta this year June 15-17. If you are a teen interested in the Bible Bowl, please see Beth Green.

Remember in your prayers those in need Nicholas, Tamara, Theodore, Aubrey, Elizabeth, Alexandra, Mary, Edward, James, Daren, Florence, Josephine, Pelagia, Tara, Mitrophan, Ruth, Lani, Douglas, Anastasia, Mary, Reader Miguel, Jesse, Timothy, Andrea, Patricia, Pasquale, Allyn, Robert, Jesse, Angelina, Kevin, Peter, Mary, Jude, Patricia, Jennifer, the catechumens Mary, Xenia, Michael, Gabriel, Alexander, Ephraim, Susan, Glyceria, John, Theophylact, Thomas, Richard, Alexandra; Jerome, Stephanie. 

 If you have an announcement for the bulletin, please send an email to bulletin@stjamesorthodox.org by THURSDAY.

 St. James Orthodox Church is a mission of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

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