Saint Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church - ACROD
Publish Date: 2025-06-01
Bulletin Contents
Announcements
Bulletin Inserts
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Wisdom of the Fathers
Saints and Feasts

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Saint Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church - ACROD

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (732) 254-7155
  • Street Address:

  • 24 Burke Road

  • Freehold, NJ 07728

Contact Information

Parish Administration His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa
Diocesan Bishop


Rev. Father Thomas K. Kovalak
Parish Priest - Administrator


Very. Rev. Protopresbyter Father Stephen Loposky
Dean - Emergency Contact


Services Schedule

Sunday 

Hours:              9:00 AM

Divine Liturgy:  9:30 AM

 

Confessions Prior to all Divine Liturgies

Past Bulletins


Announcements

Welcome to St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church - Freehold, NJ

 Mission Parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

  

Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory Forever!
   

June 01, 2025

Fathers of the 1st Council

Upcoming Church Schedule:

Sunday June 01, 2025 

The Hours - 9:00AM

Divine Liturgy - 9:30AM

Sunday of the Fathers of the First Council of Nicea - YouTube

  

SPECIAL INTENTIONS:

Please keep in your minds and hearts our parishioners, family, and friends in need of our prayers.  May God grant them peace, health and happiness for many blessed years! 

Please pray for Catechumens and inquirers, for those preparing for Marriage, for Expecting Mothers, for those serving in the Armed Forces and Civil Authorities. 

Please pray for Jacob Cochran, son of Father David and Pani Andrea.

Please pray for the healing of Rebecca (Becky) Ream, daughter of Pani Anna Marie Slovesko (and of Fr. Michael Slovesko of blessed memory). 

Congratulations to Very Rev. Protopresbyter Stephen Loposky on his apppointment of acting Dean of the NJ Deanery!  Fr. Stephen will be the new emergency contact for our parish .  He can be reached at (724)662-4840.

 

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

"The proud man thinks he can comprehend everything with his mind.  The Lord does not grant this... The Lord does not manifest Himself to the proud soul.  Pride is difficult to detect in oneself, but the Lord leaves the proud to be tormented by their impotence until they humble themselves."  - Saint Silouan of Mount Athos

The seventh Sunday after the Feast of Holy Pascha is observed by the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. This day commemorates the 318 God-bearing Fathers who gathered in Nicaea in 325 at the request of the Emperor, Saint Constantine the Great, to address the heresy of Arianism together with other issues that concerned the unity of the Church.

Continue reading:  https://www.goarch.org/fathers-first-ecumenical-council

2025 Sts. Joachim and Anna Senior Retreat

Our Diocese is pleased to announce its sixth annual Sts. Joachim and Anna Senior Retreat which will take place at Camp Nazareth Retreat and Conference Center in Mercer, PA from May 2-4, 2025.   The Retreat will feature keynote addresses by Very Rev. Nicholas Ferencz.  You can read Fr. Nik’s biography here.   His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory is inviting all our Diocesan Seniors, ages 55 and over, to come and enjoy 2 days of fellowship, prayer, reflection and fun.  The Theme of the Retreat – Matthew 22:  The BIG Questions We should ALL want to Talk about and Answer!  The schedule will include worship, fellowship, learning, fun, time for reflection and relaxation, and great activities!

Online Registration is now open!!  Visit 2025 Senior Retreat to register for the event.  Visit campnazareth.org for more information.  You may also call (724-662-4840) or email the Camp at [email protected] for more information.

Don’t miss out on our sixth annual Sts. Joachim and Anna Senior Retreat!  Register today!

Registration closes Monday, June 2, 2025.

2025 Camp Nazareth:
 
 
Dear Diocesan Faithful,
 
The 2025 Camp Nazareth Wishlist is now out!  Please sponsor one of the items on the list (or even part of one) and help Camp fulfill its Wishlist goal for 2025.  Some of the items are related to the Campers, some to the Staff, some to the Kitchen, some to the Camp Church, and some for Programming.  The Camp Wishlist is a great way for you to support the Camp in its mission.  You can access the Wishlist by clicking this link:  2025 Camp Nazareth Wishlist.  Once you sponsor/reserve an item (or part of an item), you will be sent an email with instructions about how to give towards the item.  You will be directed to the "Donate" Tab or the "Support Camp Nazareth" Button on the Camp Website Homepage (campnazareth.org) to make your contribution.  Just remember to put in the Memo line the name of the item you are sponsoring.  Again, please help us make it to our goal of having each item sponsored by visiting the Wishlist link above.  

Please support our diocesan seminary bookstore:  

If you have any religious items to purchase such as icons, jewlery, books, and various Orthodox decor, please visit: www.orthodoxgoods.com

Also, please continue to pray for vocations:

O Lord, the High Priest of God's people, You have shown us that it is Your will that men be called to the service of Your Holy Church. From the ranks of fishermen, You called Andrew and Peter and James and John, and made them and their successors in every age to be the "fishers of men." We, your people in this age, call upon Your great love to inspire for our churches, young men to be Your future priests. Touch their lives with Your Holy Spirit; give them the courage to answer Your call and the strength to work all the days of their life for Your service. Continue to shower upon our Diocesan Seminary Your choicest blessings and make us aware of her needs so that it may continue to be a place where the souls of those called to Your service may be trained and prepared to teach and preach, to pray and labor, to forgive and heal - to care in every way as priests of Your fold, O Good Shepherd. You told us with Your precious lips, "Without me, you can do nothing." As we call upon Your Name for more vocations, O Great High Priest, hear us and have mercy.

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Bulletin Inserts

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Sixth Tone

Angelic powers were before Your grave,* and the guards became like dead men:* Mary stood at the grave* seeking Your most pure Body.* You captured death, but were not tempted by it.* O Giver of life, You met the Virgin.* O Lord, You arose from the dead.* Glory to You.

Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: American Carpatho-Russian Diocese


Apolytikion for Holy Ascension in the Fourth Tone

You ascended in glory, O Christ our God; * You delighted the Disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit. * Through this blessing they were assured * that You are the Son of God, * the Redeemer of the world.

Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: American Carpatho-Russian Diocese


Apolytikion for Fathers of the 1st Council in the Eighth Tone

O Christ our God You are above all praise, * You established our Fathers as lights to all the earth. * You led us to the true faith through them. * O Most Bountiful Lord, glory to You.

Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: American Carpatho-Russian Diocese


Seasonal Kontakion in the Sixth Tone

When You fulfilled the plan of salvation for us * and united all things on earth to those in heaven, * O Christ our God You ascended in glory, * never leaving us, but remaining ever-present. * For You proclaimed to those who love You: * "I am with you and no one else has power over you."

Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: American Carpatho-Russian Diocese


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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth 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 Acts of the Apostles 20:16-18, 28-36.

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesos, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to Ephesos and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.' " And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

Gospel Reading

Fathers of the 1st Council
The Reading is from John 17:1-13

At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.

"I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

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Wisdom of the Fathers

For there is One God, and One Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus. For He still pleads even now as Man for my salvation; ...
St. Gregory the Theologian
4th Theological Oration, 4th Century

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Saints and Feasts

June 01

Fathers of the 1st Council

The heresiarch Arius was a Libyan by race and a protopresbyter of the Church of Alexandria. In 315, he began to blaspheme against the Son and Word of God, saying that He is not true God, consubstantial with the Father, but is rather a work and creation, alien to the essence and glory of the Father, and that there was a time when He was not. This frightful blasphemy shook the faithful of Alexandria. Alexander, his Archbishop, after trying in vain to correct him through admonitions, cut him off from communion and finally in a local council deposed him in the year 321. Yet neither did the blasphemer wish to be corrected, nor did he cease sowing the deadly tares of his heretical teachings; but writing to the bishops of other cities, Arius and his followers requested that his doctrine be examined, and if it were unsound, that the correct teaching be declared to him. By this means, his heresy became universally known and won many supporters, so that the whole Church was soon in an uproar.

Therefore, moved by divine zeal, the first Christian Sovereign, Saint Constantine the Great, the equal to the Apostles, summoned the renowned First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, a city of Bithynia. It was there that the shepherds and teachers of the Church of Christ gathered from all regions in the year 325. All of them, with one mouth and one voice, declared that the Son and Word of God is one in essence with the Father, true God of true God, and they composed the holy Symbol of Faith up to the seventh article (since the remainder, beginning with "And in the Holy Spirit," was completed by the Second Ecumenical Council). Thus they anathematized the impious Arius of evil belief and those of like mind with him, and cut them off as rotten members from the whole body of the faithful.

Therefore, recognizing the divine Fathers as heralds of the Faith after the divine Apostles, the Church of Christ has appointed this present Sunday for their annual commemoration, in thanksgiving and unto the glory of God, unto their praise and honour, and unto the strengthening of the true Faith.

June 01

Justin the Philosopher and Martyr and his Companions

This Saint, who was from Neapolis of Palestine, was a follower of Plato the philosopher. Born in 103, he came to the Faith of Christ when he was already a mature man, seeking to find God through philosophy and human reasoning. A venerable elder appeared to him and spoke to him about the Prophets who had taught of God not through their own wisdom, but by revelation; and he led him to knowledge of Christ, Who is the fulfillment of what the Prophets taught. Saint Justin soon became a fervent follower of Christ, and an illustrious apologist of the Evangelical teachings. To the end of his life, while preaching Christ in all parts, he never put off his philosopher's garb. In Rome, he gave the Emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138-161) an apology wherein he proved the innocence and holiness of the Christian Faith, persuading him to relieve the persecution of Christians. Through the machinations of Crescens, a Cynic philosopher who envied him, Saint Justin was beheaded in Rome in 167 under Antoninus' successor, Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161-180). Besides his defense of Christianity (First and Second Apologies), Saint Justin wrote against paganism (Discourse to the Greeks, Hortatory Address to the Greeks), and refuted Jewish objections against Christ (Dialogue with Trypho).

June 01

Pyrros the Hieromartyr

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