St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-06-15
Bulletin Contents

Organization Icon
St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 860-664-9434
  • Street Address:

  • PO Box 134, 108 E Main St

  • Clinton, CT 06413-0134


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.


Past Bulletins


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:

Carolyn Neiss- President     Greg Jankura - Vice President
Boris Doph - Treasurer     Dierdre Cottergarfield - Secretary
Sharon Hanson - Member at Large
Luba Martins - Member at Large    
Brett Malcolm - Member at Large

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.

BACK TO TOP

Announcements

Soup Kitchen

We are hosting the Soup Kitchen on Wednesday, June 18. Please see Sue Egan if you can help.

So far the menu is meatball subs.
I’ll check on the head counts but I’m guessing 30 people


Outreach

For our continuing outreach efforts, we are now seeking to provide Gift Cards from local vendors for those who come to our parish in need of support. If you are so inclined to support this cause, we are looking for gift cards of any denomination. Local vendors might include Stop&Shop, ShopRite and Walmart. Cards will be collected at the candle desk until the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Thank you for your prayerful participation.

BACK TO TOP

Prayers, Intercessions and Commemorations

Many years to the new born Penelope Rose, her parents Aaron and Katie!

Many years to all fathers, Godfathers and grandfathers.

Memory Eternal to all departed fathers, Godfathers and grandfathers.

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 and dispossesed, 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, predjudice; pestilence and natural disaster; all those departed this life in the hope of the Resurrection.

Please let Fr. Steven know via email if you have more names for which to pray.

  • Departed:  Evangeline, Wayne, Leon, Katherine, Frank, Charlotte, Beverly
  • Clergy and their families: Fr Sergei B, Fr Vladimir, Matushka Anne, Matushka Sharon Anne, Fr Vladimir, Matushka Anastasia
  • Catechumen: James, Paige, Jordan
  • Individuals and Families: Luba, Suzanne, Rosemary,  Daniel & Dayna, Kristen, Victor, Susan, Gregory, Nancy, Boris
  • Birthdays and Name’s Days this Month: Simon Boruch (6/3), Jason Fekete (6/13), Nancy Davis (6/13), John Skrobat (6/24 ND)
  • Anniversaries this Month: Littlefield (6/30)
  • Expecting and Newborn: Katie and Aaron and their child Penelope Rose
    ​Traveling: 
  • ​Sick and those in distress:  Thomas, Sheri, Joanna, Joshua, Julia, Stormy, Anne, Noah, Sophia, Gregory, Tomas, Nicholas, Carol, Matthew, Mark, Hermon, Sandra, Alan, Richard, Peter, Loretta, James, Christian

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

1st SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 8. All Saints. "Seven Arrows". Prophet Amos (8th c. B.C.). St. Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow (1461). Martyrs Modestus, Crescentia, and Vitus, at Lucania (ca. 303). Martyr Dulas of Cilicia (4th c.). St. Dulas, Passionbearer of Egypt. St. Jerome (Hieronymus) of Stridon (420). Translation of the Relics of St. Theodore the Sykeote (ca. 9th c.). Rt. Blv. Lazarus, Prince of Serbia (1389). St. Ephraim, Patriarch of Serbia (14th c.). Bl. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (430). “Marianica” Icon of the Mother of God. St. Theophanes of the Roslavl Forests (Russia—1819).

  • Again we pray for those who have lost their lives because of the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East: that the Lord our God may look upon them with mercy, and give them rest where there is neither sickness, or sorrow, but life everlasting.
  • Again we pray for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, for those who are suffering, wounded, grieving, or displaced because of the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
  • Again we pray for a cessation of the hostilities against Ukraine and the Middle East, and that reconciliation and peace will flourish there, we pray thee, hearken and have mercy.
BACK TO TOP

Parish Calendar

  • St Alexis Parish

    June 15 to June 23, 2025

    Sunday, June 15

    The Sunday of All Saints

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, June 16

    Tychon the Wonderworker

    Tuesday, June 17

    Isaurus the Holy Martyr & his Companions of Athens

    8:30AM Matins

    Wednesday, June 18

    Leontius, Hypatius, & Theodulus the Martyrs of Syria

    4:00PM Soup Kitchen

    7:00PM Book Study

    Thursday, June 19

    Thaddeus (Jude) the Apostle & Brother of Our Lord

    8:30AM Matins

    6:00PM Council Meeting

    Friday, June 20

    Methodios the Martyr, Bishop of Olympus

    Saturday, June 21

    Julian the Martyr of Tarsus

    5:30PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, June 22

    2nd Sunday of Matthew

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, June 23

    Agrippina the Martyr of Rome

BACK TO TOP

Saints and Feasts

June 15

The Sunday of All Saints

Honouring the friends of God with much reverence, the Prophet-King David says, "But to me, exceedingly honourable are Thy friends, O Lord" (Ps. 138:16). And the divine Apostle, recounting the achievements of the Saints, and setting forth their memorial as an example that we might turn away from earthly things and from sin, and emulate their patience and courage in the struggles for virtue, says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every burden, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).

This commemoration began as the Sunday (Synaxis) of All Martyrs; to them were added all the ranks of Saints who bore witness (the meaning of "Martyr" in Greek) to Christ in manifold ways, even if occasion did not require the shedding of their blood.

Therefore, guided by the teaching of the Divine Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition, we the pious honour all the Saints, the friends of God, for they are keepers of God's commandments, shining examples of virtue, and benefactors of mankind. Of course, we honour the known Saints especially on their own day of the year, as is evident in the Menologion. But since many Saints are unknown, and their number has increased with time, and will continue to increase until the end of time, the Church has appointed that once a year a common commemoration be made of all the Saints. This is the feast that we celebrate today. It is the harvest of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world; it is the "much fruit" brought forth by that "Grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died" (John 12:24); it is the glorification of the Saints as "the foundation of the Church, the perfection of the Gospel, they who fulfilled in deed the sayings of the Saviour" (Sunday of All Saints, Doxasticon of Vespers).

In this celebration, then, we reverently honour and call blessed all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives. All these, as well as the orders of the Angels, and especially our most holy Lady and Queen, the Ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, do we honour today, setting their life before us as an example of virtue, and entreating them to intercede in our behalf with God, Whose grace and boundless mercy be with us all. Amen.


BACK TO TOP

Hymns of the Day

Tone 8    Troparion    (Resurrection)
You descended from on high, O Merciful One!
You accepted the three day burial to free us from our sufferings!//
O Lord, our Life and Resurrection, glory to You!

Tone 4    Troparion    (All Saints)
As with fine porphyry and royal purple,
Your Church has been adorned with Your martyrs’ blood shed throughout all the world.She cries to You, O Christ God:
“Send down Your bounties on Your people,//
grant peace to Your habitation and great mercy to our souls!”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Tone 8    Kontakion    (All Saints)
The universe offers You the God-bearing Martyrs
as the first fruits of creation, O Lord and Creator.
By their prayers keep Your Church, Your habitation, in abiding peace//
through the Theotokos, O most Merciful One!

COMMUNION HYMN

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! 
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; praise befits the just! Alleluia (3X)

BACK TO TOP

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 4th Tone. Psalm 67.35,26.
God is wonderful among his saints.
Verse: Bless God in the congregations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:33-40; 12:1-2.

Brethren, all the saints through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering over deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.


Gospel Reading

The Sunday of All Saints
The Reading is from Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38; 19:27-30

The Lord said to his disciples, "Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Then Peter said in reply, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first."


BACK TO TOP

Wisdom of the Fathers

For in a contest there is much labor needed--and after the contest victory falls to some, to others disgrace. Is the palm ever given or the crown granted before the course is finished? ... Therefore no one can receive a reward, unless he has striven lawfully; nor is the victory a glorious one, unless the contest also has been toilsome.
St. Ambrose of Milan
Chapter 15, Three Books on the Duties of the Clergy, 4th century

BACK TO TOP

Beyond the Sermon

The Gospel reading relates to the theme of apostleship, the theme of the Church’s mission in the world. Christ delivers not only to the Apostles, but to each and every one of us a clear message. As Saint John Chrysostom remarks, “He is not here addressing his original disciples only but every one of us who follows after his disciples in accord with their witness to him.” Christ asks that we love Him beyond all else, even beyond, to Sainthood. This is why this Gospel reading is closely connected to the Feast of All Saints. On the Sunday of All Saints, the Church commemorates all the men and women who have attained saintliness, whether known or unknown. As the faithful throughout the world continue to grow in their faith, celebrating All Saints is necessarily an open-ended affair, including contemporary and future Saints.
Sometimes, we might feel like the Saints are distant from us. We perceive them to be our Holy Church’s Hall of fame of the greatest Christians who ever lived, forgetting that they too were Christians like us who grew to love God. Believe it or not, many of our beloved Saints were some of the greatest sinners at some point in their lives. We can think of the first Saint, the Thief on the Cross (also known as the Good Thief). Although he spent his life leading a life of crime, at the hour of his death, he confessed his sins on the cross. He prayed, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The Lord told him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Let us reflect on the mercy of God in this exchange on the Cross. The Thief asked for a life of crime to be forgiven at the end of his life, and the Lord assured him that he would enter Paradise with Him in the Holy Resurrection. Truly, as King David says in the Psalms, “God is wonderful among his Saints!” God is truly wonderful to His Saints, and to us, the saints of God’s Church on earth. We only need to simply turn to God and ask Him from our hearts to remember us in His Kingdom.
This Good Thief reminds us that the Saints are not those who lived perfect lives; they were sinners just like all of us. The Saints had their faults, just like you and me, but the Saints are those who acknowledge and love the Lord Jesus Christ, ask for His mercy, and receive His grace. They lived in a constant state of repentance, that is, learning to follow in the steps of our Lord and leave behind all things that keep us from being close to Him.
What makes our Saints holy is their ability to demonstrate that the Gospel is not merely a theoretical concept but a living practice. The essence of the Gospel, encompassing love for God, all human beings, and His creation, can be tangibly lived by individuals during their earthly existence. The Gospel can guide us towards holiness and salvation through the Grace of God, our spiritual endeavors, and acts of love. The lives of the Saints, characterized by a life of dedication, repentance, and boundless love, serve as spiritual beacons for us.
Likewise, we can not only become saints, but we are called to become saints. No matter our past, no matter what we have done, the Physician Jesus Christ is waiting for us to heal us and lift us up with Him, just like the Good Thief. Saints are those who renounce their old lives, take up their crosses, and follow our Lord Jesus Christ, finding joy in our Savior, who waits with open arms for each of us to return to Him.
The Saints exemplify what you and I can become if we are open and willing for the Lord to come into our hearts and heal what is broken. The Saints are our role models; we are called to imitate them, as they imitated Christ. They show us that we do not have to be perfect since only Christ is perfect, and we do not have to be resigned to lives of discontent. The Peace of God, Jesus Christ, can fill us with His peace and make us saints if we follow Him, regardless of our shortcomings.
On the Feast of All Saints, we celebrate our own God-given potential to be perfected in glorifying God with our thoughts, words, and deeds. It is possible. All the Saints are examples of people who achieved sainthood through trials and tribulations, exercised patience and humility, and practiced selfless love in service to others. They were not born saints. They were not without sin; they were not perfect. They were, however, through love and repentance, able to reach sainthood. Now, they stand ready to intercede for us before God in favor of our own salvation. They intercede on our behalf while we continue engaging in our struggle toward holiness. Let us pray to the Lord for guidance and strength as we attempt to reach the choir of the Saints, where God Himself patiently and lovingly waits for each of us.

BACK TO TOP

BACK TO TOP