Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.
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- President
Sharon Hanson - Member at Large
Luba Martins - 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) 322-2906, 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.
School Supplies for Clinton Family Services: The Outreach Committee is again collecting school supplies for the students in the Clinton school system. The following is a list of items requested by Family Services. The last Sunday to bring in supplies is August 11. Please leave any donations on the table downstairs.
Supplies needed for Clinton Family Services:
Markers (for younger children)
Rulers
Glue sticks
Plastic 3 ring folders
Highlighters, multi colors
3 or 5 subject lined notebooks…No “one subject notebooks”, please
Colored pencils
Small denomination gift cards $5 or $10 to Staples would be great as well for miscellaneous items families need, like poster paper/project boards, etc. for school projects.
Bible Study
A reminder that we are holding a Bible Study on the Epistles of St John on Tuesday at 7pm via Zoom. I encourage everyone to participate as Boris is worked very hard to provide us some very useful inormation about the Epistles.
Celebration of the Dormition
Please take note of the scheduled services times for the Celebration of the Dormition of the Lady, Theotokos.
Special Parish Meeting
Just a reminder that we will hold a special parish meeing about the Red House on Sunday, the 18th, during Coffee Hour.
Many Years! To Douglas Kuziak and Stasia PenkoffLedbeck on the occasion of their birthdays.
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;
Please let Fr. Steven know via email if you have more names for which to pray.
7th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 6. Afterfeast of the Transfiguration. Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Euplus (Euplius) of Catania (304). Martyrs Basil and Theodore of the Kiev Caves (Near Caves—1098). St. Theodosius (Prince Theodore of Ostrog) of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—1438). Virgin Martyr Susanna and those with her: Martyrs Gaius, Pope of Rome, Presbyter Gabinus, his brother and the father of Susanna, Maximus, Claudius, and his wife Praepedigna and their sons Alexander and Cutias (295-296). St. Nḗphon, Patriarch of Constantinople (Mt. Athos—1515).
Deborah Bray
🍇 7th Sunday of Matthew
9:30AM Divine Liturgy
☦️ The Holy Martyrs Photius and Anicetus of Nicomedia
Douglas Kuziak
☦️ Apodosis of the Transfiguration
7:00PM Bible Study on the Epistles of St John
☦️ Forefeast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary
7:30AM Akathist in Honor of the Dormition
4:00PM Soup Kitchen
6:00PM Lamintations of the Theotokos
The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary
8:30AM Divine Liturgy
Stasia PenkoffLidbeck
☦️ Translation of the Image of Our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ
33 Martyrs of Palestine
Myron the Martyr of Cyzicus
5:30PM Great Vespers
8th Sunday of Matthew
Special Parish Meeting
Sam Jankura
9:30AM Divine Liturgy
Andrew the General & Martyr & his 2,593 soldiers
+Robert Pavlik
This Martyr was from Catania in Sicily and contested during the reign of Diocletian. He presented himself of his own accord to Calvisianus the Governor, who put him to exceedingly harsh torments. As Euplus was on the rack, Calvisianus commanded him to worship Mars, Apollo, and Aesculapius; he answered he worshipped the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was beheaded in the year 304.
The divine Maximus, who was from Constantinople, sprang from an illustrious family. He was a lover of wisdom and an eminent theologian. At first, he was the chief private secretary of the Emperor Heraclius and his grandson Constans. But when the Monothelite heresy became predominant in the royal court, out of hatred for this error the Saint departed for the Monastery at Chrysopolis (Scutari), of which he later became the abbot. When Constans tried to constrain him either to accept the Monothelite teaching, or to stop speaking and writing against it - neither of which the Saint accepted to do - his tongue was uprooted and his right hand was cut off, and he was sent into exile, where he reposed in 662. At the time only he and his few disciples were Orthodox in the East. See also January 21.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk was born in 1724 into a very poor family of the Novgorod province, and was named Timothy in holy Baptism. In his youth he was sent to seminary in Novgorod where he received a good education and later taught Greek and other subjects. Having received the monastic tonsure with the name Tikhon, in the same year he was ordained deacon and priest, and appointed two years later as rector of the Seminary in Tver. In 1761 he was consecrated Bishop of Kexholm and Ladoga, and in 1763 nominated Bishop of Voronezh, a difficult diocese to administer because of its large size and transient population, which included many schismatics. Feeling the burden of the episcopacy to be beyond his strength, the Saint resigned in 1767, retiring first to the Monastery of Tolshevo, and later to the monastery at Zadonsk, where he remained until his blessed repose. In retirement, he devoted all his time to fervent prayer and the writing of books. His treasury of books earned him the title of "the Russian Chrysostom", whose writings he employed extensively; simple in style, replete with quotes from the Holy Scriptures, they treat mostly of the duties of Christians, with many parables taken from daily life. In them the Christian is taught how to oppose the passions and cultivate the virtues. A large collection of the Saint's letters are included in his works, and these give a wealth of spiritual guidance directed both to the laity and monastics. Saint Tikhon reposed in peace in 1783, at the age of fifty-nine. Over sixty years later, in 1845, when a new church was built in Zadonsk in place of the church where he was buried, it was necessary to remove his body. Although interred in a damp place, his relics were found to be whole and incorrupt; even his vestments were untouched by decay. Many miracles were worked by Saint Tikhon after his death, and some three hundred thousand pilgrims attended his glorification on August 13, 1863. He is one of the most beloved Russian Saints, and is invoked particularly for the protection and upbringing of children.
This Prophet (whose name means "who is like God?"), was a Morasthite from the land of Judah. He prophesied more than fifty years in the days of Joatham, Ahaz, and Hezekias, Kings of Judah. These kings reigned in the eighth century before Christ. From this it is clear that this Michaias is not the one who was the son of Iembla (or Imlah-III Kings 22:8), who censured Ahab and was murdered by Ahab's son Joram, as the Synaxaristes says; for this Joram reigned the ninth century before Christ. Yet Michaias was still prophesying, as mentioned above, in the days of Hezekias, who was a contemporary of Hosea and Esaias, and of Hoshea, the last King of the ten tribes of Israel, when that kingdom was destroyed by Salmanasar (Shalmaneser), King of the Assyrians (IV Kings 17: 1 - 16; 18: 1). This Michaias is sixth in rank among the minor Prophets. His book of prophecy is divided into seven chapters; he prophesied that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Michaias 5: 2). In the reign of Saint Theodosius the Great, the holy relics of the Prophets Michaias and Abbacum were found through a divine revelation to Zebennus, Bishop of Eleutheropolis (Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., Book VII, 29).
Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching, and brought them at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.
With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens.
These things has the Church received from the traditions of the Fathers, who have composed many hymns out of reverence, to the glory of the Mother of our God (see Oct. 3 and 4).
When the fame of our Lord Jesus Christ came to Abgar, the ruler of Edessa, who was suffering from leprosy, Abgar sent a messenger named Ananias, through him asking the Savior to heal him of his disease, while bidding Ananias bring back a depiction of Him. When Ananias came to Jerusalem, and was unable to capture the likeness of our Lord, He, the Knower of hearts, asked for water, and having washed His immaculate and divine face, wiped it dry with a certain cloth, which He gave to Ananias to take to Abgar; the form of the Lord's face had been wondrously printed upon the cloth. As soon as Abgar received the cloth, which is called the Holy Napkin (Mandylion), he reverenced it with joy, and was healed of his leprosy; only his forehead remained afflicted. After the Lord's Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, the Apostle Thaddaeus (see Aug. 21) came to Edessa, and when he had baptized Abgar and all his men, Abgar's remaining leprosy also was healed. Abgar had the holy image of our Savior fixed to a board and placed at the city gate, commanding that all who entered the city reverence it as they passed through. Abgar's grandson, however, returned to the worship of the idols, and the Bishop of Edessa learned of his intention to replace the Holy Napkin with an idol. Since the place where it stood above the city gate was a rounded hollow, he set a burning lamp before the Holy Napkin, put a tile facing it, then bricked up the place and smoothed it over, so that the holy icon made without hands was no longer to be seen, and the ungodly ruler gave no further thought to it.
With the passage of time, the hidden icon was forgotten, until the year 615, when Chosroes II, King of Persia, was assaulting the cities of Asia, and besieged Edessa. The Bishop of Edessa, Eulabius, instructed by a divine revelation, opened the sealed chamber above the city gate and found the Holy Napkin complete and incorrupt, the lamp burning, and the tile bearing upon itself an identical copy of the image that was on the Holy Napkin. The Persians had built a huge fire outside the city wall; when the Bishop approached with the Holy Napkin, a violent wind fell upon the fire, turning it back upon the Persians, who fled in defeat. The Holy Napkin remained in Edessa, even after the Arabs conquered it, until the year 944, when it was brought with honor and triumph to Constantinople in the reign of Romanus I, when Theophylact was Ecumenical Patriarch. The Holy Napkin was enshrined in the Church of the most holy Theotokos called the Pharos. This is the translation that is celebrated today.
Tone 6 Troparion (Resurrection)
The Angelic Powers were at Your tomb;
the guards became as dead men.
Mary stood by Your grave,
seeking Your most pure body.
You captured hell, not being tempted by it.
You came to the Virgin, granting life.
O Lord, Who rose from the dead,//
glory to You.
Tone 7 Troparion (Feast)
You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God,
revealing Your glory to Your Disciples as far as they could bear it.
Let Your everlasting Light also shine upon us sinners,
through the prayers of the Theotokos!//
O Giver of Light, glory to You!
Tone 4 Troparion (St. Alexis)
O righteous Father Alexis, our heavenly intercessor and teacher,
divine adornment of the Church of Christ!
Entreat the Master of All to strengthen the Orthodox Faith in America,
to grant peace to the world and to our souls great mercy.
Tone 4 Troparion (St. Euplus)
Your holy martyr Euplus, O Lord,
through his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.//
Through his intercession, save our souls!
Tone 6 Kontakion (Resurrection)
When Christ God, the Giver of Life,
raised all of the dead from the valleys of misery with His mighty hand,
He bestowed resurrection on the human race.//
He is the Savior of all, the Resurrection, the Life, and the God of all.
Tone 5 Kontakion (St. Alexis)
Let us, the faithful praise the Priest Alexis,
a bright beacon of Orthodoxy in America, a model of patience and humility,
a worthy shepherd of the Flock of Christ.
He called back the sheep who had been led astray
and brought them by his preaching to the Heavenly Kingdom.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
Tone 1 Kontakion (St. Euplus)
With the love of Christ as your only defense,
you stood in the midst of your ^fight and said:
“I endure this struggle willingly and with confidence!”
You rejoiced, O Euplus, to offer your head to the sword//
and so you completed your course.
now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Tone 7 Kontakion (Feast)
On the mountain You were transfigured, O Christ God,
and Your Disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it;
so that when they would behold You crucified,
they would understand that Your suffering was voluntary,
and would proclaim to the world//
that You are truly the Radiance of the Father.
HYMN TO THE THEOTOKOS
(Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:)
Tone 4
Magnify, O my soul, the Lord Who was transfigured on Mount Tabor!
Your childbearing was without corruption;
God came forth from your body clothed in flesh,
and appeared on earth and dwelt among men.//
Therefore we all magnify you, O Theotokos.
COMMUNION HYMN
Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! O Lord, we will walk in the light of Your countenance, and will exult in Your Name forever. Alleluia (3X)
Prokeimenon. 6th Tone. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 15:1-7.
Brethren, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
7th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 9:27-35
At that time, as Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly charged them, "See that no one knows it." But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
As they were going away, behold, a dumb demoniac was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
Jesus travels through the region of Galilee, where He was raised. Two blind men hear that He is passing by and start following Him, asking for His mercy and help. The blind men cannot physically see, but they have heard about the Lord, and the eyes of their hearts are beginning to open as they follow Him, trusting that He will be able to help them. They cry aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Jesus waits to answer so that He may draw out their faith further. The Lord provides them an opportunity to seek Him with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, putting all their hope in Him because He loves them and wants to restore their lives. They follow Him to the house where He is staying, and as He enters, they go inside, not giving up on their hope in the Lord.
Their hope would be rewarded by the Philanthropist, Jesus Christ, who is always found by those who seek Him. Their cry for mercy is a pattern we use today every time we say, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” The Jesus Prayer illuminates our hearts and minds. It connects us with the “Son of David,” the Messiah and Son of God, Jesus Christ, who opens our eyes through His mercy to see His love and glory. The prophets of the Old Testament, speaking with the voice inspired by the Holy Spirit, declare that when the Messiah comes, healing and renewal come through Him.
The Prophet Isaiah says, “Be comforted, you fainthearted. Be strong; do not fear. Behold, our God renders judgment and will render it. He will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear” (Isaiah 35:4-5). Jesus is the Messiah, which means the Anointed One; He is the Christ — the One who comes to save us. Who opens our ears as He calls us with the voice of the Shepherd, and we are His flock who hear His voice and follow Him. He enters the house, and we follow Him there, into the Church. He is the incarnate Word of God, and when He speaks, the heavens and the earth are created and recreated, transformed, and renewed.
The Messiah comes, and the eyes of the blind open. The ears of the deaf hear God speaking. When our forefathers, Adam and Eve, turned away from communion with God to follow their own desires and seek independence from Him, their vision blurred, and they became hard of hearing. All creation, which was transparent to them, filled with the Light of God, became dim. The world became foreign to them. They could no longer see clearly, and in fact, they did not even want to be seen by God either because of their shame. They hid from Him, but the Lord, in His love, did not abandon them but instead called for them and began the process of restoration in their lives.
This restoration process continues throughout the ages as God reveals Himself to His people, and now it culminates with the Incarnation of the Son of God to deliver humankind physical and spiritual illness. Jesus Christ, the Son of God comes, and the blind see, the deaf hear, and the disabled walk. More important than bodily healing, it is with the eyes of our inner selves, the eyes of our hearts, that we see and hear. We begin to see clearly when we have faith.
Jesus Christ gives sight to the blind because He is the Light of the world. The two blind men become, as it were, two witnesses to the power, love, and compassion of Jesus Christ. These two men tell us that they were blind, and now they see because they believe in the One who can heal them, and He honors their faith. As witnesses to Christ, they tell each of us that if we believe in Him and call on Him for His mercy and grace, He
will answer.
The Lord seeks our faith, and He asks us, “do you believe that I am able to do this?” He values our faith because our trust in Him restores our communion with Him. When we trust Him, we do so because we love Him. We love Him because He has loved us first. Therefore, being united to Him in love will result from faith in Him. Whatever we face in our lives, even the most challenging problems that might arise, is always known by Him, and He asks us, “do you believe that I am able to do this?” The Lord desires that we wholeheartedly say “yes” to Him because when we place our faith in Him, He works in us according to our faith.
The connection between faith and the opening of our eyes is the connection between love and the illumination of our lives. To trust the Lord is to love Him, and the love of God opens our eyes to see all things as He sees them. We begin to see with the eyes of faith. Fear is cast out, and darkness dispelled with the Light of Christ. The blind men see because they believe. They do not believe because they see. Their faith leads them
to see, to be illuminated with the Light of Christ. With our hearts illumined, we rest in God and begin to love one another in concrete ways because we become able to see them as God sees them, each human being as an icon of Jesus Christ. Saint Maria of Paris says, “However hard I try, I find it impossible to construct anything greater than these three words, ‘Love one another’— only to the end, and without exceptions: then all is justified, and life is illumined.”
Jesus Christ is the Light of the world and the Light of our lives. All is justified and illumined by Him when we follow Him and ask for His mercy. He can heal, transform, and restore whatever affects us negatively in this life. Our sight is restored, and we are no longer debilitated but able to walk with Christ and one another. Our ears are open to the Word of God, our neighbor’s voice, and the cry of those in need. Jesus hears and answers because of His love for us. We also become enabled by Him to hear one another, see with eyes of love, and walk in the path of peace.