Welcome

Jesus Christ taught us to love and serve all people, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. To understand that, we need to look no further than to the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, it is offered "on behalf of all, and for all." As Orthodox Christians we stand against racism and bigotry. All human beings share one common identity as children of God. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatian 3:28)

Members of our Parish Council are:
Greg Jankura - Vice President
Susan Davis- Council Member at Large
Carolyn Neiss - President
Marlene Melesko - Council Member at Large
Susan Egan - Treasurer
Dn Timothy Skuby - Secretary

Pastoral Care - General Information

Emergency Sick Calls can be made at any time. Please call Fr Steven at (860) 866-5802, when a family member is admitted to the hospital.
Anointing in Sickness: The Sacrament of Unction is available in Church, the hospital, or your home, for anyone who is sick and suffering, however severe.
Marriages and Baptisms require early planning, scheduling and selections of sponsors (crown bearers or godparents). See Father before booking dates and reception halls!
Funerals are celebrated for practicing Orthodox Christians. Please see Father for details. The Church opposes cremation; we cannot celebrate funerals for cremations.

Announcements

For Individuals Seeking to Read during Services

Whether you are hoping to learn to "read" during services, or just improve your skill, we will begin a Readers Workshop on Saturday, Sept 2nd beginning at 5pm. Vespers represents the best opportunity to learn and practice liturgical reading. So please, if interested, come to this inagrial workshop.

Annual Fall Parish Cleanup

We will be performing our fall cleanup, both indoors and out (weather permitting), on Saturday, Sept 16th.

OUTREACH COMMITTEE would like to thank everyone who donated school supplies for Clinton Family Services. We collected: 19 Notebooks, 14 packs of Highlighters, 14 packs of Colored Pencils, 8 Binders and 16 Gift Cards to Staples totaling $110. They were very appreciative of our generous donation.

OUTREACH COMMITTEE is having a meeting following Liturgy on Sunday, August 27 to discuss plans for the upcoming baby shower to benefit Birthright of Clinton.

Fundraiser for an AED. We have currently raised just over $700 toward the purchase of an AED. Thank you. Each device costs $850, having two would ensure that we have one for each floor of parish.

https://inaheartbeat.networkforgood.com/projects/197916-st-alexis-orthodox-church-aed-campaign

Update on the Red House

As a reminder, at our last Annual Meeing, the council was asked to form a subcommittee tasked with coming up with recommendations for what the parish should do with the Red House property. To this end, this subcommittee, under the lead of Jason A. Danilack-Fekete, have made two recommendations to the Parish Coucil.

The first recommendation was to NOT renew the lease and to have our current tenent vacate the property. The reasons for this recommendation are to numberous to report here, but the Parish Council did accept the recommendation. To this end, a letter of lease termination was sent to the tenent, and she has until the 31st of October leave the premises.

After presenting three different alternatives to the Council, the subcommittee's second recommendation was that the parish divest itself of the Red House property. This, in fact, matches the decision of a previous Annual Meeting (2018). The Parish Council voted to accept the recommendations of the subcommittee, the details of which will be presented to the parish at our upcoming Annual Meeting in November. It will then be up to the parish community to accept the proposed recommendation of the Council or not.

July 2023 Treasurer’s Report

Income
Pledges $5002 or $1600 below monthly budget
Candle/Cash $699 or $349 above budget
External Donations $75 or $525 below budget
Rentals on budget
Inventory $80 or $60 above budget

Total income was $7506 or $approx $2500 below monthly budget
This is typical of summer as donations slow down.

Expenses

Utilities – mostly on target except for electricity with is running $500 higher than same period last year
Still need a decision as to whether or not we should prepay oil this year. I sent out an email early but only received a response from Greg.

All other - nothing unusual

Total expenses were $9122 which is $1616 higher than income.

In summary , YTD income is $77,077 while YTD expenses are $75,511, so we are still $1,496 in the positive as a combined Income Statement

Church/Red House Split
If we look at the split between the Church and Red House.
Through July, the Church has income of $68,257 and expenses of $72,050 for a YTD loss of $3,793.

Conversely, the Red House has income of $8,750 and expenses of $3,461 and is $5,289 positive for the year.

Prayers, Intercessions and Commemorations

Many Years! to Fr Steven and Anne Hosking on the occasion of their anniversary; and to Kyle Holis and Susan Egan on the occasion of their birthdays.

Please pray for Evelyn Leake, Melissa Josefiak and Victor Hoehnebart who are in need of God's mercy and healing; and for Kelley Hosking-Billings.

Pray for: All those confined to hospitals, nursing homes, and their own homes due to illness; for all those who serve in the armed forces; widows, orphans, prisoners, victims of violence, and refugees;
All those suffering chronic illness, financial hardship, loneliness, addictions, abuse, abandonment and despair; those who are homeless, those who are institutionalize, those who have no one to pray for them;
All Orthodox seminarians & families; all Orthodox monks and nuns, and all those considering monastic life; all Orthodox missionaries and their families.
All those who have perished due to hatred, intolerance and pestilence; all those departed this life in the hope of the Resurrection.

Afterfeast of the Dormition. Prophet Samuel (11th c. B.C.). Hieromartyr Philip, Bishop of Heraclea and with him the Martyrs Severus, Memnon, and 37 Soldiers in Thrace (304). Martyrs Heliodorus and Dosa of Persia (380). Holy New Martyr Theocharis (Neapolis). Repose of St Alexander Hotovitsky.

Parish Calendar

Schedule of Services and Events

August 20 to August 28, 2023

Sunday, August 20

11th Sunday of Matthew

9:30AM Divine Liturgy

Monday, August 21

The Holy Apostle Thaddaeus

Hosking

Tuesday, August 22

The Holy Martyr Agathonicus

Wednesday, August 23

Apodosis of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

Kyle Hollis

Kaitlyn Luft

4:30PM Open Doors

Thursday, August 24

Susan Egan

Eutyches the Hieromartyr & Disciple of St. John the Theologian

8:30AM Daily Matins

Friday, August 25

Return of the Body of Bartholomew the Glorious Apostle

Saturday, August 26

The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie

Ed Hayes

5:30PM Great Vespers

Sunday, August 27

12th Sunday of Matthew

9:30AM Divine Liturgy

Monday, August 28

Moses the Black of Scete

Saints and Feasts

August 20

Samuel the Prophet

This most holy man, a Prophet of God from childhood, was the last judge of the Israelite people, and anointed the first two Kings of Israel. He was born in the twelfth century before Christ, in the city of Armathaim Sipha, from the tribe of Levi, the son of Elkanah and Hannah (Anna). He was the fruit of prayer, for his mother, being barren, conceived him only after she had supplicated the Lord with many tears; wherefore she called him Samuel, that is, "heard by God." As soon as Hannah had weaned him, she brought him to the city of Silom (Shiloh), where the Ark was kept, and she consecrated him, though yet a babe, to the service of God, giving thanks to Him with the hymn found in the Third Ode of the Psalter: "My heart hath been established in the Lord . . ." Samuel remained in Silom under the protection of Eli the priest. He served in the Tabernacle of God, and through his most venerable way of life became well-pleasing to God and man (I Kings 2: 26). While yet a child, sleeping in the tabernacle near the Ark of God, he heard the voice of God calling his name, and foretelling the downfall of Eli; for although Eli's two sons, Ophni and Phineas, were most lawless, and despisers of God, Eli did not correct them. Even after Samuel had told Eli of the divine warning, Eli did not properly chastise his sons, and afterwards, through various misfortunes, his whole house was blotted out in one day.

After these things came to pass, Samuel was chosen to be the protector of the people, and he judged them with holiness and righteousness. He became for them an example of all goodness, and their compassionate intercessor before God: "Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; yea, I will serve the Lord, and show you the good and the right way" (ibid. 12:23). When he asked them -- having God as witness -- if he ever wronged anyone, or took anyone's possessions, or any gift, even so much as a sandal, they answered with one voice: "Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, nor afflicted us, neither hast thou taken anything from anyone's hand" (ibid. 12:4). When Samuel was old, the people asked him for a king, but he was displeased with this, knowing that God Himself was their King. But when they persisted, the Lord commanded him to anoint them a king, saying, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them" (ibid. 8:7); so Samuel anointed Saul. But Saul transgressed the command of God repeatedly, so Samuel anointed David. Yet, since Samuel was a man of God, full of tender mercy, when the Lord told him that He had rejected Saul, Samuel wept for him the whole night long (ibid. 15:11); and later, since he continued to grieve, the Lord said to him, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?" (ibid. 16:1). Having lived blamelessly some ninety-eight years, and become an example to all of a God-pleasing life, he reposed in the eleventh century before Christ. Many ascribe to him the authorship of the Books of judges, and of Ruth, and of the first twenty-four chapters of the First Book of Kings (I Samuel).

August 21

Thaddeus the Apostle of the 70

The Apostle Thaddaeus was from Edessa, a Jew by race. When he came to Jerusalem, he became a disciple of Christ, and after His Ascension he returned to Edessa. There he catechized and baptized Abgar (see Aug. 16). Having preached in Mesopotamia, he ended his life in martyrdom. Though some call him one of the Twelve, whom Matthew calls "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus" (Matt. 10:3), Eusebius says that he is one of the Seventy: "After [Christ's] Resurrection from the dead, and His ascent into Heaven, Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles, inspired by God, sent Thaddaeus, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa as a preacher and evangelist of Christ's teaching" (Eccl. Hist. 1: 13).

August 23

Our Holy Father Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons

The Holy Hieromartyr Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor about the year 120, and in his youth was a disciple of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Saint Irenaeus was sent to Lyons in Gaul, to be a fellow labourer of Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons (celebrated June 2), who had also been a disciple Saint Polycarp. After the martyrdom of Saint Pothinus, Saint Irenaeus succeeded him as Bishop of Lyons. Besides the assaults of paganism, Irenaeus found himself compelled to do battle with many Gnostic heresies, against which he wrote his greatest work, A Refutation and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called . He was also a peace-maker within the Church. When Victor, Bishop of Rome, was prepared to excommunicate the Christians of Asia Minor for following a different tradition celebrating Pascha, Irenaeus persuaded him to moderate his zeal, and mediated peace. He made Lyons an illustrious bastion of Orthodoxy and a school of piety, and sealed his confession with martyrdom about the year 202, during the reign of Septimius Severus. He is not to be confused with Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium, also celebrated today, who was beheaded and cast into a river in 304 under Diocletian.

August 25

Titus the Apostle of the 70

Saint Titus was a Greek by race, and an idolater. But having believed in Christ through the Apostle Paul, he became Paul's disciple and follower and labored with him greatly in the preaching of the Gospel. When Paul ordained him Bishop of Crete, he later wrote to him the Epistle which bears his name. Having shepherded in an apostolic manner the flock that had been entrusted to him, and being full of days, he reposed in peace, some ninety-four years of age.

August 26

Adrian & Natalia the Martyrs & their 33 Companion Martyrs in Nicomedea

The holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie confessed the Christian Faith during the reign of Maximian, in Nicomedia, in the year 298. Adrian was a pagan; witnessing the valor of the Martyrs, and the fervent faith with which they suffered their torments, he also declared himself a Christian and was imprisoned. When this was told to his wife Natalie, who was secretly a believer, she visited him in prison and encouraged him in his sufferings. Saint Adrian's hands and feet were placed on an anvil and broken off with a hammer; he died in his torments. His blessed wife recovered part of his holy relics and took it to Argyropolis near Byzantium, and reposed in peace soon after.

Hymns of the Day

Tone 2 Troparion (Resurrection)

When You descended to death, O Life Immortal,
You slew hell with the splendor of Your Godhead.
And when from the depths You raised the dead,
all the powers of heaven cried out://
“O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to You!”

Tone 1 Troparion (Feast)

In giving birth you preserved your virginity.
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos.
You were translated to life O Mother of Life,//
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death.

Tone 2 Troparion (Prophet Samuel)

We celebrate the memory
of Your prophet Samuel, O Lord;
through him we beseech You://
“Save our souls!”

Tone 2 Kontakion (Resurrection)

Hell became afraid, O almighty Savior,
seeing the miracle of Your Resurrection from the tomb!
The dead arose! Creation, with Adam, beheld this and rejoiced with You,//
and the world, my Savior, praises You forever.

Tone 8 Kontakion (Prophet Samuel)

You were a precious gift given to God before your conception.
You served Him like an angel from your infancy, O blessed one.
You were granted the charism to announce beforehand future things.//
Therefore, we cry to you: “Rejoice, Samuel, Prophet of God and great high priest.”

Tone 2 Kontakion (Feast)

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,//
she was translated to life by the One Who dwelt in her virginal womb.

Tone 2 Prokeimenon (Resurrection)

The Lord is my strength and my song; / He has become my salvation. (Ps. 117:14)

V. The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death.
(Ps. 117:18)

Tone 3 Prokeimenon (Song of the Theotokos)

My soul magnifies the Lord, / and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. (Lk. 1:46-47)

(Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:)

The Angels, as they looked upon the Dormition of the Virgin,
were struck with wonder,
seeing how the Virgin went up from earth to heaven.

The limits of nature are overcome in you, O Pure Virgin:
for birthgiving remains virginal, and life is united to death;
a virgin after childbearing and alive after death,
you ever save your inheritance, O Theotokos.

Communion Hymn

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! (Ps. 148:1)
I will receive the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the Lord. (Ps. 115:4)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

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.

Gospel Reading

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."

Wisdom of the Fathers

Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness, then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Unknown, 18th century

Wherefore then did He not do this, nor forgive the debt before the account? Desiring to teach him, from how many obligations He is delivering him, that in this way at least he might become more mild towards his fellow servant .... He gave more than he asked, remission and forgiveness of the entire debt.

St. John Chrysostom

Homily 61 on Matthew 18, 4th Century

Beyond the Sermon

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
St. Matthew XVIII, 23-35
29.8.1976

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Often people are struck by the question: how can a man be saved? And we find in this passage of the Gospel, as in a whole number of others, such a simple, precise answer to it. Your salvation is in your own hands: forgive — and you will be forgiven. And the moment you are forgiven, it means that eternal life is open to you.
In today's Gospel Christ tells us about a man who owed a vast sum of money to his overlord but had no means of repaying and his lord forgave him all because he had pity on him. After leaving his overlord's presence this man met another who owed him a small amount, and began demanding payment without mercy. Hearing this the overlord said: I forgave you your enormous debt, so how could you not forgive your debtor his small indebtedness? In the same way we expect that through one word of God's mercy, the gates of eternal life will be opened for us, yet we close these very doors — no, the small doors of this temporal life in the face of another person. What can we hope for?
The Gospel says in another place: with what measure you measure it shall be measured unto you. In the Beatitudes it says: blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, and in the Lord's prayer: forgive us as we forgive. How simple it all seems, and yet how difficult we find it. It would be simple if our hearts responded to sorrow, to need; it is difficult because our hearts are silent. But why is this so? May it not be because when someone behaves badly we always think he must be a bad man, without realising that often the man so much wants to be good, so much wants every word of his to be pure, his thoughts and his heart pure, his actions worthy ones, but he simply has not the strength, he is enmeshed by old habits, by the pressures of his environment, by false shame and so many other things. And he continues to act wrongly; but we could disentangle him. We could look at him as God looks at him, with pity, as one might look at a sick man dying of a disease that could be cured if only he were given the right treatment.
And each one of us could do what is necessary for someone. Look at a man and pity him for being wicked, angry, vengeful, bad in one way or another. Have pity on him and turn the bright side of your soul towards him, tell him that his actions and his words will not deceive you, however wicked they may be, because you know that he is an image, an icon of God, besmirched and disfigured, and yet in him you bow down to God, and love him as a brother. To do this may cost you a great deal, but if you can do it once or twice and see how a person changes because you have faith in him, because you have rested God's hope on him, what a world we should live in — a world of mutual trust. True, we should have to pay for it with our heart's blood, with tears of compassion, with agony of soul, but what joy there would be not only among the angels of God in heaven when they saw a sinner saved, but in our own hearts when we suddenly saw that in response to our compassion and love, a person was filled with the light of eternal life! Amen.