Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-02-16
Bulletin Contents

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Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 707-642-6916
  • Street Address:

  • 1224 Alabama Street

  • Vallejo, CA 94590


Contact Information



Services Schedule

A full listing of all our services and events is provided in this bulletin.  

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“Where two or three are gathered in my name, 
I am in the midst of them.” -Matthew 18:20

 

Since the time of the Apostles, the Divine Liturgy has offered us communion with our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ through hymns, prayers, the hearing of the Scriptures and the great miracle of the Holy Eucharist for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Upon entering this holy church, you are entering into worship with the angels and saints who continually worship God in heaven and are sanctified by His presence. Through your prayerful and heartfelt participation, through your sincere repentance and desire for union with Christ, the Divine Liturgy we celebrate today can be for you a powerful experience of "the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 13:14). Join in this holy and grace-filled work by following the service in the Divine Liturgy book in your pew or by simply being present, praying in your heart, “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

 


Past Bulletins


Worship Guidelines

We enter the temple of God with reverence, humbly and quietly so as not to disturb those who are in prayer and as an expression of faith and awareness of the presence of the Lord, his saints and angels. No loud talking, irrelevant conversations, joking, etc. should take place in the Narthex or in the Sanctuary at anytime. To stand during worship is to affirm that we are in the presence of the Almighty God. The elderly, the sick and children may be seated as needed. There are specific parts of the service during which no one should be moving about. These parts of the service are: 

The Small Entrance, the Epistle and Gospel; the Cherubic Hymn, Great Entrance, Nicene Creed, the hymn Se Ymnoumen, the prayers: "Take, eat, this is my Body..." and, "we offer to you these gifts...", the prayer of institution: "And make this bread the precious Body of your Christ...", the Lord's Prayer,  Holy Communion, the sermon, dismissal prayer, any special services, e.g, memorial services. Whenever the Priest is facing the people or outside of the altar, everyone should stand wherever they are.

Dressing for God: The church is not just any ordinary place. We dress as modestly and respectfully as we can, because we are in the presence of God Himself. If invited by any earthly king or queen, we would dress in our finest clothes. Therefore, we should dress similarly when accepting an invitation from the Lord of Heaven. The way Orthodox Christians dress, both in and outside the temple, reflects their way of life and dedication to and fear of God. We dress modestly at all times, not in a flashy or provocative way that brings attention to ourselves.  

GENTLEMEN: Collared, button-up shirts, clean dress pants, sweaters or vests, ties and coats. Avoid jeans and shorts.

LADIES: Modest dresses and blouses, knee-length skirts or longer, clean dress pants. Avoid jeans or shorts, short skirts, skin-tight clothing, and strapless or sleeveless tops, high-heels shoes as they make noise on our floors. Head coverings may be worn, according to the biblical tradition and are available in the narthex.

Only Orthodox Christians may participate in Holy Communion. Please be in church at the beginning, say the pre-communion prayers the previous evening or in the morning, fasting from food this morning (unless there is a medical reason) and had a recent confession. Allow the altar boys to place the red cloth under your chin. Do not wipe your mouth with it but consume everything that may be on your lips. Ladies please avoid wearing lipstick or lip-gloss when receiving Holy Communion.

 

 

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 1st Tone

Although your tomb was sealed with a stone, O Savior, and your most pure body was guarded by the soldiers, you rose on the third day giving life to all the world. Therefore O giver of life, the powers of heaven praise you: Glory to your resurrection, O Christ. Glory to your kingdom. Glory to your saving wisdom. O only lover of mankind.

Apolytikion for the Church in the 1st Tone

Tou stavrou sou ton typon en ourano theasamenos, ke os o Pavlos tin klisin, ouk exanthropon dexamenos, o en vasilefsin Apostolos sou, Kyrie, Vasilefousan polin, ti kheeree sou paretheto, een perisoze dia pantos en irini, presvies tis Theotokou, moni Philanthrope. 

Having seen the image of Your Cross in Heaven, and, like Paul, having received the call not from men, Your apostle among kings entrusted the commonwealth to Your hand, O Lord. Keep us always in peace, by the intercessions of the Theotokos, O only Friend of man.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 3rd Tone

I revolted senselessly * out of Your fatherly glory; * I have squandered sinfully * all of the riches You gave me.* Hence to You, using the Prodigal’s words, I cry out,* I have sinned before You, merciful loving Father.* O receive me in repentance, * I pray, and treat me * as one of Your hired hands.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 1st Tone. Psalm 32.22,1.
Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us.
Verse: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 6:12-20.

Brethren, "all things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" -- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh." But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
The Reading is from Luke 15:11-32

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"


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Saints and Feasts

February 16

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Through the parable of today's Gospel, our Saviour has set forth three things for us: the condition of the sinner, the rule of repentance, and the greatness of God's compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the parable of the Publican and Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition -- inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries -- we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.

Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts of such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the forecourts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God's compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin -- no matter how great it may be -- that can overcome at any time His love for man.


February 16

Pamphilios the Martyr & his Companions

This Martyr contested during the reign of Maximian, in the year 290, in Caesarea of Palestine, and was put to death by command of Firmilian, the Governor of Palestine. His fellow contestants' names are Valens, Paul, Seleucus, Porphyrius, Julian, Theodulus, and five others from Egypt: Elias, Jeremias, Esaias, Samuel, and Daniel. Their martyrdom is recorded in Book VIII, ch. 11 of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, called The Martyrs of Palestine.


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Thank God every day with your whole heart for having given to you life according to His image and likeness - an intelligently free and immortal life...Thank Him also for again daily bestowing life upon you, who have fallen an innumerable multitude of times, by your own free will, through sins, from life unto death, and that He does so as soon as you only say from your whole heart: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee!' (Luke 15:18).
St. John of Kronstadt
My Life in Christ: Part 1; Holy Trinity Monastery pgs. 104-105, 19th century

But if he had despaired of his life, and, ... had remained in the foreign land, he would not have obtained what he did obtain, but would have been consumed with hunger, and so have undergone the most pitiable death: ...
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

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News and Announcements

Prayer List - Email [email protected] to add

Keep in your prayers the servants of God: Maro, Roger, Joshua, Andreas, Michael, Dorothy, Amy, Evangelos, Mary, Alberto and Rosa, Stephanie Val, Michael, Gregory, Nick, Julie, Nitsa, Sayge, Stamatoula, Emilio, Sitheri, Ghassan, Maria, Daniel, Porphyrios, Paul, Irvin, Katrina, Lygeri, Iris, Georgia, Jana, Serafim, Iris, Suzanna, Despina, Gregory, Eleni, Eleni, Charlotte, Kathryn, Nikolaos, Zeenah, Nektarios, Ron, Mac, Marie, Ron, Deme.

Catechumens: Jhanel, Nikan, Jeffrey, Itzayana, Mason, Rohelio, Benjamin, Joe, Daniel, Johann, Nylea, Garrett, Zoe, Alyvia, Warren, Bruno, Nhi, Savannah, Jesse, Jacqueline, Jackson, Emelyanna, Ruth, Mike, Melvin, Lynne


Town Hall & General Assembly

As a reminder, the parish Spring General Assembly is held on the Sunday of the Last Judgment, which, this year, falls on Sunday, February 23rd. We hope to see everyone there to discuss plans for the new year


Orthodox Brotherhood Meeting - February 20th

Hello Brothers, 
We will be getting together on Thursday, February 20th at the hall. Good opportunity to get the group together before the Lenten fast. We are going to fire up the pizza oven and make some homemade pizza. Same format as previous meetings: 5 pm Akathist, followed by dinner, catching up with each other, and a spiritual reflection from Father Ninos. Should conclude around 8 pm or so. Please email to let me know at [email protected] if you can make it. I can also be reached at 530-321-5387.
Thanks,
Justin


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This Week's Events

  • Upcoming Events

    February 16 to March 3, 2025

    SUN
    MON
    TUE
    WED
    THU
    FRI
    SAT
    16
    Sunday of the Prodigal Son
    8:30AM Matins
    10:00AM Divine Liturgy
    12:00PM Kids n' Cancer Luncheon
    17
    Theodore the Tyro, Great Martyr
    18
    Leo the Great, Pope of Rome
    4:00PM Matthew 25
    19
    ☦️ Apostles Philemon & Onesimus
    9:00AM Hours
    9:30AM Liturgy
    5:00PM Akathist
    6:00PM Faith Discussion
    20
    Leo, Bishop of Catania
    5:00PM Orthodox Brotherhood Meeting
    21
    ☦️ Timothy the Righteous
    22
    Saturday of Souls
    5:00PM Great Vespers
    23
    Judgment Sunday (Meatfare)
    8:30AM Matins
    10:00AM Divine Liturgy
    24
    🧀 First & Second Finding of the John the Baptist
    25
    🧀 Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople
    4:00PM Matthew 25
    26
    🧀 Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza
    5:00PM Akathist
    6:00PM Faith Discussion
    27
    🧀 Procopius the Confessor of Decapolis
    28
    🧀 Righteous John Cassian the Confessor
    1
    MAR
    🧀 Cheesefare Saturday
    5:00PM Great Vespers
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