Saint Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church - ACROD
Publish Date: 2025-03-30
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. Father Andrew Fetchina
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!
   

March 30, 2025

Sunday of St. John Climacus 

Upcoming Church Schedule:

Sunday March 30, 2025

The Reader Service of the Hours and the Typka 9:30AM   



"And Jesus said to him, 'If you can!  All things are possible to him who believes.'  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!' "
(Mark 9:23-25)

 

 

*There will be a Readers Service of the Hours and the Typica Sunday March 30. Father had foot surgery and is recovering at home.  Please pray for a quick recovery for him.  

 

- Lenten Mission:  Thank you all for making St Paul's annual Lenten Retreat a success.   It was a beautiful opportunity for all of us to prayer together with others from our Diocese and Deanery.  May God Bless us all!

 

Please keep Very Rev. Fr Matthew Conjelko, Pani Mary-Margaret and their family in your prayers following the falling asleep in the Lord of Father Deacon Robert Conjelko.  

May Almighty God grant blessed repose and rest eternal to his faithful servant, the newly-reposed Deacon Robert and render eternal his memory, Vicnaja Jemu  Pamjat!

  

 Lenten Food Drive Please remember to donate a non perishable food to the People's Pantry. Our St Paul food drive is going on now and will last for the next three weeks 

 

 Lenten Devotional Book- 

The Diocesan Lenten Devotional Book, "48 Days to the Great Day", is available for each parish family. This book is an invaluable resource for us!  We all need tangible tools to encourage us, strengthen us, and bring us nearer to Christ.  Read the daily entry and journey together as a Church family for this special, holy season.  

 

New parish email:  [email protected]. Please spread the word.

 

Holy Week Schedule: 

4/18/25 Vesper Service of Great Friday - 3:00PM

4/19/25 Resurrection Matins - 6:00PM

Guarding of the Grave - Please see sign up sheet in kitchen

4/20/25 Pascha - Divine Liturgy 9:30AM

 

 

Please Register Today - 2025 Lenten Retreat
 
Where: Saints Peter & Paul Church - 66 Beach Street, Rockaway, NJ 07866

When: Saturday March 29, 2025 

What Time: (9:00am - 4:00pm) 

•Adult Keynote - Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa

•Teen & Youth Keynote - Father Nathaniel Choma

Cost: Includes Continental Breakfast & Lenten Lunch
Adults: $25.00  
Students (Thru College): $20.00  
Children 6-12: $10.00

•Payment by credit card or a check 

Questions - Rev. Fr. Matthew Stagon Phone: (973) 627-1462
 

 

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. 

 

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

 By  St. John Climacus | Source https://www.lychnos.org/st-john-cli ...

‘On Prayer’ is the 28th chapter of St John Climacus’ ‘Ladder of Divine Ascent’, a treatise comprised of 30 chapters (steps) concerning the spiritual life.

St John urges his readers to “pray in all simplicity” and to forget over-complicated words in prayer.  The “simple and unadorned lisping” of children is enough to win the heart of the Lord.  St John reminds us that the tax collector and the prodigal son both received forgiveness by a single phrase.  Our prayer should therefore contain more heart than intellect.  The reader is warned that our minds can be distracted in searching for words.

St John goes on to explain that we should start our prayer with thanksgiving. We should then move on to confession and contrition of soul.  Only at the end should we petition God.

First, however, prayer must be approached with preparation.  By this, St John means that we must approach God in all humility, not with boldness.  If we approach in humility, we will be given boldness.  We are taught to prepare ourselves for our set times of prayer with unceasing prayer throughout the day (the Jesus prayer).

St John structures prayer in another way saying:  “the beginning of prayer is the expulsion of distractions from the very start with a brief prayer, the middle stage is concentration on what is being said or thought; and its conclusion is rapture in the Lord”.

Prayer is difficult many times because the mind is naturally unstable.  We are told however that “God is powerful to establish all things” and that “faith gives wings to prayer”.  We cannot rely only on ourselves to improve our prayer: “always be brave, and God will teach you your prayer”.

 

PRAYER OF SAINT EPHREM

To be said daily during the Great Fast

This famous Lenten prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian summarizes our entire struggle during the forty day fast – that of turning from vice to virtue, sin to holiness, and self-love to love of God and neighbor.  This powerful prayer is said every day of the Great Fast, except on Saturdays and Sundays. It should be part of our morning and evening prayers but may also be said at any other time throughout the day – especially in time of temptation.

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, despair, lust for power, and vein talking. (Prostration)

But give to me your servant, the spirit of purity, humility, patience, and love. (Prostration)

Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother; for you are blessed forever and ever, Amen. (Prostration)

 

 

Holy Mystery of Confession :

Father will hear Confessions at 9:00 AM in front of the Icon of Christ on Sunday.  

 

 

 

 

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Bulletin Inserts

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Seventh Tone

You have destroyed death by Your Cross,* You opened Paradise to the thief,* You changed the weeping of the myrrh-bearers to joy.* You commanded Your Apostles to proclaim:* "Christ our God has risen,* granting great mercy to the world."

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


Apolytikion for Sun. of St. John Climacus in the Eighth Tone

With the streams of thy tears, thou didst cultivate the barrenness of the desert; and by thy sighings from the depths,thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a luminary, shining with miracles upon the world, O John our righteous Father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery


Seasonal Kontakion in the Eighth Tone

To you, O Birthgiver of God, * victorious leader of triumphant hosts, * we your servants offer hymns of thanksgiving, * for you have delivered us from misfortune. * In your invincible power, * keep us from every peril *that we may cry to you: * rejoice, O Unwedded Bride.

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. Seventh Tone. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 6:13-20.

BRETHREN, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of St. John Climacus
The Reading is from Mark 9:17-31

At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us." And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting." They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise."

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Wisdom of the Fathers

Seest thou how He now proceeds to lay beforehand in them the foundation of His doctrine about fasting? ... See, at any rate, how many blessings spring from them both. For he that is praying as he ought, and fasting, hath not many wants, and he that hath not many wants, cannot be covetous; ...
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 57 on Matthew 17,4,5. B#54, pp.355,356., 4th Century

... he that is not covetous, will be also more disposed for almsgiving. He that fasts is light, and winged, and prays with wakefulness, and quenches his wicked lusts, and propitiates God, and humbles his soul when lifted up. Therefore even the apostles were almost always fasting.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 57 on Matthew 17,4,5. B#54, pp.355,356., 4th Century

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Saints and Feasts

March 30

Sunday of St. John Climacus

The memory of this Saint is celebrated on March 30, where his biography may be found. He is celebrated today because his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, is a sure guide to the ascetic life, written by a great man of prayer experienced in all forms of the monastic polity; it teaches the seeker after salvation how to lay a sound foundation for his struggles, how to detect and war against each of the passions, how to avoid the snares laid by the demons, and how to rise from the rudimental virtues to the heights of Godlike love and humility. It is held in such high esteem that it is universally read in its entirety in monasteries during the Great Fast.

March 30

John Climacus the Righteous, author of The Divine Ladder of Ascent

This Saint gave himself over to the ascetical life from his early youth. Experienced both in the solitary life of the hermit and in the communal life of cenobitic monasticism, he was appointed Abbot of the Monastery at Mount Sinai and wrote a book containing thirty homilies on virtue. Each homily deals with one virtue, and progressing from those that deal with holy and righteous activity (praxis) unto those that deal with divine vision (theoria), they raise a man up as though by means of steps unto the height of Heaven. For this cause his work is called "The Ladder of Divine Ascent." The day he was made Abbot of Sinai, the Prophet Moses was seen giving commands to those who served at table. Saint John reposed in 603, at eighty years of age. See also the Fourth Sunday of the Fast.

March 30

Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Caesar, & Epaphroditos, the Apostles of the 70

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