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
Tone 6 / Eothinon 7; Seventh Sunday after Pentecost & Seventh Sunday of Matthew
Hieromartyr Phocas, bishop of Sinope; Hieromartyrs Apollinaris and Vitalis, bishops of Ravenna; Martyr Apollonius of Rome; Holy Prophet Ezekiel
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.
PAGE 26: As a disciple of the Lord, O righteous one, thou hast received the Gospel. As a Martyr thou art never turned away. As the Brother of God, thou hast boldness. As a hierarch thou canst intercede. Do thou intercede with Christ God that He save our souls.
Prokeimenon. 6th Tone. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 15:1-7.
BRETHREN, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of your Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
7th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 9:27-35
At that time, as Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly charged them, "See that no one knows it." But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
As they were going away, behold, a dumb demoniac was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
This saint was known for the many miracles he worked and for his apostolic zeal in shepherding the flock of Sinope. He contested for the Faith during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, in the year 102, when he was burned to death in a bath-house. A homily in his honour was composed by Saint John Chrysostom.
The Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All That Sorrow" - As with so many other icons of the Theotokos, wonderworking copies of this icon have been found throughout Orthodox Russia, each with its own history and moving collection of miracles. In this icon, the most holy Mother of God is depicted standing full stature sometimes with, sometimes without the Divine Child in her arms; she is surrounded by all manner of the sick and the suffering, to whom Angels of the Lord bear gifts of mercy, consolation, and suitable aid from the most holy Theotokos. The icon "Joy of all that Sorrow" was inspired by the hymn of the same name; see page 222 in Great Compline. Through one copy of this icon, the sister of Patriarch Joachim was healed at the end of the seventeenth century in Moscow, from which time the feast was established. Another copy of the icon was found in Saint Petersburg; on July 23, 1888, during the severe thunderstorm, lightning struck a chapel at a glass factory, burning the interior walls of the church, but leaving the icon unsinged. From the violent disturbance of the air, the icon was knocked to the floor, the poor-box broke open, and twelve copper coins adhered to the icon in various places; afterwards many miracles were worked by the grace of the holy icon.
The Prophet Ezekiel ("God is strong") was the son of Buzi and a priest by rank. He was taken captive and brought to Babylon during the reign of Jechonias. In the fifth year of this captivity, about 594 or 593 B.C., he began to prophesy. Having prophesied for about twenty-eight years, he was murdered, it is said, by the tribe of Gad, because he reproached them for their idolatry. His book of prophecy, divided into forty-eight chapters, is ranked third among the greater Prophets. It is richly filled with mystical imagery and marvelous prophetic visions and allegories, of which the dread Chariot of Cherubim described in the first Chapter is the most famous; in the "gate that was shut," through which the Lord alone entered, he darkly foretold of the Word's Incarnation from the Virgin (44:1-3); through the "dry bones" that came to life again (37:1-14), he prophesied both of the restoration of captive Israel, and the general resurrection of our race.
THERE IS NO DAILY VESPERS or CATECHUMEN CLASS this WEDNESDAY.
Fr. Steven is out of town at the Antiochian Archdiocesan Convention Monday through Friday this week, but reachable in emergencies.
Remember in your prayers Nicholas, Tamara, Jamie, Jalen, Tara, Allyn, Theodore, Elizabeth, Pelagia, Lani, Miguel, Jesse, Salwa, Timothy, Mary, Newly-departed Daniel, the catechumens,Thomas, Deborah, Thomas, Theophylact, Richard, Alexandra.
If you have an announcement for the bulletin, please send an email to bulletin@stjamesorthodox.org by THURSDAY.