Dormition of The Virgin Mary
Publish Date: 2024-09-29
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Dormition of The Virgin Mary

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 15406671416
  • Fax:
  • Dormition of The Virgin Mary
  • Street Address:

  • 1700 Amherst St

  • Winchester, VA 22601


Contact Information








Services Schedule

Sunday Services

Orthros -              9:00 am 

Divine Liturgy -    10:00 am

 


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal First Tone

Let us worship the Word, O ye faithful, praising Him that with the Father and the Spirit is co-beginningless God, Who was born of a pure Virgin that we all be saved; for He was pleased to mount the Cross in the flesh that He assumed, accepting thus to endure death. And by His glorious rising, He also willed to resurrect the dead.
Τὸν συνάναρχον Λόγον Πατρὶ καὶ Πνεύματι, τὸν ἐκ Παρθένου τεχθέντα εἰς σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν, ἀνυμνήσωμεν πιστοὶ καὶ προσκυνήσωμεν, ὅτι ηὐδόκησε σαρκί, ἀνελθεῖν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ, καὶ θάνατον ὑπομεῖναι, καὶ ἐγεῖραι τοὺς τεθνεῶτας, ἐν τῇ ἐνδόξῳ Ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ.

Apolytikion for Cyriacus the Anchorite in the First Tone

Thou didst prove to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Cyriacus, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst obtain heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to thee with faith. Glory to Him that hath given thee strength. Glory to Him that hath crowned thee. Glory to Him that worketh healings for all through thee.
Τής ερήμου πολίτης, καί εν σώματι Άγγελος, καί θαυματουργός ανεδείχθης, θεοφόρε Πατήρ ημών Κυριακέ, νηστεία, αγρυπνία, προσευχή, ουράνια χαρίσματα λαβών, θεραπεύεις τούς νοσούντας, καί τάς ψυχάς τών πίστει προστρεχόντων σοι, Δόξα τώ δεδωκότι σοι ισχύν, δόξα τώ σέ στεφανώσαντι, δόξα τώ ενεργούντι διά σού πάσιν ιάματα.

Apolytikion for the Dormition of the Theotokos in the First Tone

In giving birth you remained a virgin, and in your dormition you did not forsake this world, O Theotokos. For as the Mother of Life, you have yourself passed into life. And by your prayers you deliver our souls from death.

Kevin Lawrence Red Hymnal, pages 222-223

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Tone

O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
Προστασία τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀκαταίσχυντε, μεσιτεία πρὸς τὸν Ποιητὴν ἀμετάθετε. Μὴ παρίδῃς ἁμαρτωλῶν δεήσεων φωνάς, ἀλλὰ πρόφθασον, ὡς ἀγαθή, εἰς τὴν βοήθειαν ἡμῶν, τῶν πιστῶς κραυγαζόντων σοι· Τάχυνον εἰς πρεσβείαν, καὶ σπεῦσον εἰς ἱκεσίαν, ἡ προστατεύουσα ἀεί, Θεοτόκε, τῶν τιμώντων σε.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

14th Sunday after Pentecost
The Reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 1:21-24; 2:1-4

Brethren, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

But I call God to witness against me - it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

14th Sunday after Pentecost
Πρὸς Κορινθίους β' 1:21-24, 2:1-4

Ἀδελφοί, ὁ βεβαιῶν ἡμᾶς σὺν ὑμῖν εἰς Χριστόν, καὶ χρίσας ἡμᾶς, θεός, ὁ καὶ σφραγισάμενος ἡμᾶς, καὶ δοὺς τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν. Ἐγὼ δὲ μάρτυρα τὸν θεὸν ἐπικαλοῦμαι ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ψυχήν, ὅτι φειδόμενος ὑμῶν οὐκέτι ἦλθον εἰς Κόρινθον. Οὐχ ὅτι κυριεύομεν ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ συνεργοί ἐσμεν τῆς χαρᾶς ὑμῶν· τῇ γὰρ πίστει ἑστήκατε. Ἔκρινα δὲ ἐμαυτῷ τοῦτο, τὸ μὴ πάλιν ἐν λύπῃ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐλθεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ λυπῶ ὑμᾶς, καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ εὐφραίνων με, εἰ μὴ ὁ λυπούμενος ἐξ ἐμοῦ; Καὶ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν τοῦτο αὐτό, ἵνα μὴ ἐλθὼν λύπην ἔχω ἀφʼ ὧν ἔδει με χαίρειν, πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ἡ ἐμὴ χαρὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐστίν. Ἐκ γὰρ πολλῆς θλίψεως καὶ συνοχῆς καρδίας ἔγραψα ὑμῖν διὰ πολλῶν δακρύων, οὐχ ἵνα λυπηθῆτε, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀγάπην ἵνα γνῶτε ἣν ἔχω περισσοτέρως εἰς ὑμᾶς.


Gospel Reading

2nd Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 6:31-36

The Lord said, "As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

2nd Sunday of Luke
Κατὰ Λουκᾶν 6:31-36

Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος· καθὼς θέλετε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς ὁμοίως. καὶ εἰ ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας ὑμᾶς, ποία ὑμῖν χάρις ἐστί; καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας αὐτοὺς ἀγαπῶσι. καὶ ἐὰν ἀγαθοποιῆτε τοὺς ἀγαθοποιοῦντας ὑμᾶς, ποία ὑμῖν χάρις ἐστί; καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιοῦσι. καὶ ἐὰν δανείζητε παρ᾿ ὧν ἐλπίζετε ἀπολαβεῖν, ποία ὑμῖν χάρις ἐστί; καὶ γὰρ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς δανείζουσιν ἵνα ἀπολάβωσι τὰ ἴσα. πλὴν ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν καὶ ἀγαθοποιεῖτε καὶ δανείζετε μηδὲν ἀπελπίζοντες, καὶ ἔσται ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολύς, καὶ ἔσεσθε υἱοὶ ὑψίστου, ὅτι αὐτὸς χρηστός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀχαρίστους καὶ πονηρούς. Γίνεσθε οὖν οἰκτίρμονες, καθὼς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν οἰκτίρμων ἐστί.


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Saints and Feasts

September 29

2nd Sunday of Luke


September 29

Cyriacus the Hermit of Palestine

This Saint was born in Corinth in 448. He went to Palestine to the Lavra of Euthymius the Great, but because of his youth was sent by Saint Euthymius to Saint Gerasimus; after the death of Saint Gerasimus he returned to the Lavra of Saint Euthymius. Later he took on a more rigorous life of asceticism in the wilderness of Natoufa, where there was nothing to eat except the exceedingly bitter wild herb called squills, which, however, through his prayers, God made sweet for him and his disciple. He lived 107 years and reposed in the year 555.


September 29

Martyr Petronius


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Wisdom of the Fathers

There are three things that impel us towards what is holy: natural instincts, angelic powers and probity of intention. Natural instincts impel us when, for example, we do to others what we would wish them to do to us (cf. Luke 6:31), or when we see someone suffering deprivation or in need and naturally feel compassion. Angelic powers impel us when, being ourselves impelled to something worthwhile, we find we are providentially helped and guided. We are impelled by probity of intention when, discriminating between good and evil, we choose the good.
St. Maximos the Confessor
Second Century on Love no. 32, Philokalia Vol. 2 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 71, 7th century

Every work which does not have love as its beginning and root is nothing.
St. John Chrysostom
Unknown, 4th century

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Second Sunday of Luke

When Jesus begins His ministry, He goes up on a mountain to pray and prays all night. When the day dawns, He gathers His disciples and chooses twelve of them to be His Apostles. Now, He begins to teach them what it means to be His disciples, and what it means to be transformed into His likeness. When He teaches them, He teaches us. We learn that following Christ involves reorienting our whole beings. It means being trans formed in our soul (in Greek, ἡ ψυχή), mind (in Greek, ὁ νοῦς), and body (in Greek, τὸ σῶμα). After teaching about what it means to live a blessed life, Jesus warns His disciples about receiving praise from those who oppose the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Lord warns that to live and act like Him will inevitably cause hostility from those who live by the world’s values rather than God’s love. It is in this context that the Lord teaches about love of enemies. In other words, the Lord says that if the world hates us, remember that it hated Him before it hated us (John 15:18). Even more, He says, “love your enemies.” We see that this is precisely what Jesus did. In our times, the concept of “love” can be distorted to mean very different things. However, the Lord teaches us what genuine love means and how it is expressed concrete ly. We see the meaning of true love through what God has done and continues to do for us. Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God, the Logos Who is, Who was, and Who ever shall be. He has no beginning and no end. He is before all things, and in Him, all things exist. He created all things for us so that we may share in His love. The act of creation itself is an act of His profound love. Yet, we, His beloved creation, turned away from Him in the Garden of Eden by desiring to become gods without God, and we do the same today by putting other idols before God such as money, power, and luxury. Nevertheless, He chooses to become Incarnate (taking on human flesh) for our salvation. He took on all of human nature — ex cept for sin. He embraced all the weaknesses of human nature. He hungered, thirsted, sweated blood, was betrayed, beaten, crucified, and buried. He did it all because of His great love for us, to redeem and restore us to our original unity with Him that we once enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. He destroyed death by death and rose from the grave to give us eternal life. This is the transformative power of love and forgiveness. Christ ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives to prepare a place for us on the right hand of the Father. He united our broken humanity to his Divine Person so we could live with Him forever. He did it all because of His unending love for us. He died and resurrected to give us new life in Him. The Resurrection is the center of our Faith, and it is what gives us not only eternal life in Heaven, but new life now. Only in this new life can we truly love and forgive our enemies and do good to them. The Lord teaches us this very love by His example. It is an unselfish love that de sires the eternal good of our loved ones for their own sake. A concrete love is expressed not only in words but also in acts, as Christ did for us. His love has opened the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven for us and given us the grace of the Holy Spirit to be united with Him. We are transformed by this unity of Divinity and humanity. That is why He teaches and models what it truly means to love, and He also hopes that we love one another as He has loved us. To be united to Christ by obeying His commandments and receiving the Holy Sacraments transforms us into His image and likeness. From His grace, we receive the greatest gift: His unconditional love. And we also receive great responsibility: to love others as He loves them. We learn what love means from Him, and He teaches us to love as He does because He gives us the grace to do so. If we receive forgiveness and mercy from God when we may not deserve it, then we have the ability and responsibility to love others — even our enemies. We show love for our enemies through forgiveness. When we forgive those who wrong us, we imitate Christ, Who forgave those who were crucifying Him. This is the teaching and the motivation that Christ’s love presents to us, to love even those who may seem unlovable. Genuine love, therefore, is a love directed at all people — even our enemies. It is a concrete love coming from a compassionate heart. The Lord tells us to love our enemies and do good. There is an emphasis on the whole person expressing love, not only in the heart but in the actions of doing good and even giving one’s possessions without expect ing anything in return. It is a selfless love that not only forgives the wrongs done to us but actively seeks to bless those who have injured us. Saint Porphyrios the Kavsokalyvia says, “When someone injures us in whatever way, whether with slanders or with insults, we should think of him as our brother who has been taken hold of by the enemy. He has fallen victim to the enemy. Accordingly, we need to have compassion for him and entreat God to have mercy both on us and on him, and God will help both.” God does not want us to be merely nice people. The Gospel does not say: be nice, as God is nice. Rather, God says: “be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). It is much more than just being nice or good — it is about being like God. We are in His image and called to become holy — in His likeness. As Saint Silouan the Athonite says, the measure of our holiness is the measure of our love for our enemies. We begin to acquire this holiness, or love for enemies, by doing to others as we wish they would do to us; that is, by not returning evil for evil. However, it is only by Divine Power that we return good for evil, which the Lord calls us to do. He calls us to be genuine and authentic Christians. That means we will be ready to forgive, give selflessly, and help whoever is asking for help whenever we are asked, no matter the circumstances. He calls us to offer sacrificial love, which means for giving even our worst enemies. He gives us the grace to forgive and love selflessly when we call on Him for help, saying: “Lord, you see that I cannot forgive. You see that I cannot love selflessly. Help me.” And He really does help us. The Lord knows our weaknesses. Sometimes, we fall short and cannot be as good as we intend. We may even respond with evil for evil. He loves us regardless and helps our weaknesses and needs through His grace. Therefore, let us not lose hope when we fall, because God is full of understanding, mercy, and love. When we remember and ex perience His grace, we become channels of His love for others — especially our enemies. Those against us need our love more than anyone because only love can truly transform the world — never hatred. God loves us even though we crucified Him. Likewise, we are called to imitate Him, and do good to those who do evil unto us because evil can only be dispelled by love — nothing else. Let us follow the example of the life and death of Jesus and show love to every person we encounter so we can do our part to help eliminate the evil of the world and fill it instead with Christ’s love.

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Church Services

Upcoming Services

September 2024 Services

 

09/29/24  Orthros/Divine Liturgy   9:00am - 11:30am

 

 

 

Please check the parish Calendar for additional services as well as any updates.

Parish Calendar | Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church (goarch.org)

 

 

 


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Parish News

Parish News

Announcements 

 Parish's 60th Anniversary

 Please join us in celebrating our parish's 60th Anniversary on Saturday, October 5th at 5 pm! We will have a BBQ dinner, fire pits, and yard games. Please RSVP by September 29th online here or on the signup sheet in the church hall. If your plans change, we kindly ask that you let us know so that we can adjust for catering. 

 For any questions, please contact Juliette, [email protected], or Kristina, [email protected].   

 We hope that you and your families can join us to celebrate this milestone. 

 

Introduction to Orthodoxy 

 Jim Jatras will be starting a new Introduction to Orthodoxy course on Zoom beginning September 24. Please see Father Milan for details if interested in attending. There is no cost for this course.

 

Sunday School:

 Sunday School will begin on September 15.  Students will meet their teachers in the hall right after receiving Holy Communion.  Please take a moment and register your students.  Forms will be available in the Hall.  You can give your registration to any of the Sunday School Teachers.  If you have any questions, email Christina Vazquez at [email protected] 

 Sunday School Calendar for FB

 

Book Club

The Book Club will meet on Sunday, October 6 to discuss The Island and The Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God.  Plan on meeting in the Sunday School area around 12.  If you have any questions, please reach out to Christina Vazquez at [email protected]

 

Memoria Services

 

General Parish Assembly Meeting

 

TBD

 

 Parish Council Meetings

10/13/2024, 11/10/2024, 12/8/2024

 


Ladies Philoptochos News

  

October General Meeting & Service Project - October Coat Drive

Join us on Sunday, October 20th following coffee hour for the next Philoptochos General Meeting. We invite you to clean out your closet and bring your gently used coats and winter apparel for the annual Coat Drive. New items are also appreciated. A collection box will be available in the Parish Hall September 25th - October 27th.  

October Exercise Chair Classes

Join us for an Exercise Chair Class led by Mileva Sturgis on Sundays in October following coffee hour. $20 per participant; no fee for those who had already paid for the cancelled summer classes.  To register, contact Mileva at (571) 218-8762 or email [email protected].

Winchester Rescue Mission Lunch - Volunteers Needed
 Volunteers are needed to serve lunch at the Winchester Rescue Mission on Saturday, Nov. 16th. Preparations begin at 9:00am in our Parish kitchen and lunch will be transported and served between 11:30 – 12:30 at the Mission.  To volunteer, contact Chris Georgarakis at (540) 664-9466 or email us at [email protected] to volunteer.

 

Food for CCAP Freedge

Philoptochos will be collecting fresh food items for CCAP Freedge located in Winchester every first Sunday of the month starting Sunday, October 6th. CCAP is a nonprofit group to help the community fill the need of those needing food. CCAP fresh food items include fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, granola, cheese, prepackaged sandwiches and yogurt.

 

Koliva

Philoptochos can prepare koliva for memorials. A donation of $75 is appreciated, but it is a free service to anyone upon request.  Please contact Maria Boyer ([email protected]; (703)727-1501) to schedule.

 Join Philoptochos 

Help Philoptochos serve our community through agape, philanthropy, and fellowship. We invite all parishioners to join our chapter and make a difference. Copies are available in the church hall and at http://dormition.va.goarch.org/ministries/philoptochos. Please see membership chairperson, Maria Boyer (703-727-1501) or email us for more information.

Contact Us 

For more information, please contact us through email at [email protected] or speak with a Philoptochos board member. Contact information provided on the bulletin board in the hall.

 

 

 


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Announcements

Book Club


Parish's 60th Anniversary