A full listing of all our services and events is provided in this bulletin.
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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.”
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.
Prokeimenon. 2nd Tone. Psalm 117.14,18.
The Lord is my strength and my song.
Verse: The Lord has chastened me sorely.
The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 9:2-12.
Brethren, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain." Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
11th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 18:23-35
The Lord said this parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his lord delivered him to the torturers, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."
Saint Eutyches was a disciple of Saint John the Theologian and a fellow laborer of the holy Apostle Paul. He preached the Gospel in many places, pulled down the idols' temples, and suffered imprisonments and many torments at the hands of the idolaters. He finally reposed in peace in deep old age in his native city of Sebastia, near Tarsus.
Our holy Father Cosmas was from the town of Mega Dendron (Great Tree) of Aetolia. At the age of twenty, he went to study at the school of the Monastery of Vatopedi on the Holy Mountain. Later, he came to the Athonite Monastery of Philotheou where he was tonsured. With the blessing of his abbot, he departed for Constantinople where he learned the art of rhetoric, and thereafter, he began to preach throughout all the regions of northern Greece, the Ionian Islands, but especially in Albania, for the Christian people there were in great ignorance because of the oppression and cruelty of the Moslems. Finally, in 1776, after having greatly strengthened and enlightened the faithful, working many signs and wonders all the while, he was falsely accused by the leaders of the Jewish people and was executed by strangulation by the Moslem Turks in Albania.
When Saint Dionysios died in 1622 A.D., his last wish was that he be buried in the Church of Saint George on the Strofades Islands where he lived as a monk. Three years after his interment there his body was found to be incorrupt. In 1717 his body was transferred from the Strofades Islands back to his home island of Zakynthos where it resides to this day.
On this day we also commemorate the translation of the holy relics of Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, which took place in the year 1646.
Our holy and wonderworking Father Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, was born in Volhynia, tonsured a monk at twelve years of age, and later ordained a priest. He lived in solitude for a time in a desert place north of Lvov and founded the Holy Transfiguration Monastery; afterwards he was sent to Constantinople, where the holy Patriarch Athanasius consecrated him Metropolitan of Kiev in 1308, and he returned to Vladimir, where the Metropolitans of Kiev had their residence at that time (see Saint Jonas on June 15). In 1325, he moved to Moscow, where he founded the Dormition Cathedral, and after his repose in December 21, 1326, was buried there. He was also an iconographer, and two of his icons, the Dormition and the Petrovskaya, are found in the Dormition Cathedral (see Oct. 5).
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, Mary Thomas, Magda, Ourania, Isaak Stylianos, Pat Lofas, Mary Dorer, Eleni, Moses, Dennis
Catechumens: Jhanel, Jeffrey, Itzayana, Mason, Rohelio, Zoe, Alyvia, Warren, Jesse