Jesus Christ teaches us to love and serve all people, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. To understand this, 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)

To Our Guests
Throughout our services, we use the more formal "thy" and "thou" or what is commonly referred to as King Jamesean English.  The Lord's Prayer is recited as follows:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, as on earth as it is in heaven,
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One.

Please join us after Liturgy for refreshments and hospitality.

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.

Members of our Parish Council are:

Marlene Melesko - President
Sarah Senetcen - Member at Large
Boris Doph - Treasurer
Dierdre Cottergarfield - Vice President
Luba Martins - Secretary

Mission Statement
St. Alexis Orthodox Christian Church is a local English speaking community of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) on the shoreline of Connecticut.

St. Alexis exists to:

• Call all people to Christ
• Worship as a community 
• Experience the joy of Christ in our lives 
• Share this joy with those around us 
• Educate people about the Truth and Presence of Orthodoxy 
• We offer the love of Christ to those in need, both in word and action.

AED Use

Video instructions for the use of the Automated Electronic Defibulators can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Qas3q7O3mletF8ceJOq9g4uQzReii8GG&usp=drive_fs

Filesharing

https://sites.google.com/stalexischurch.net/parish/home

If you are asked to enter a username and password, please contact Fr Steven via email.

If you would like to update yourself on the current status of the Strategic Planning, please use the following link.

https://sites.google.com/stalexischurch.net/parish/strategic-planning

Again we pray that we may be made worthy of founding in our Diocese a monastery in honor
of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, let us pray to the Lord!

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: 
• Clergy and their families: Fr Sergei B, Fr Vladimir, Fr Vladimir, Fr John, 
  Fr Alexander,
• ​Catechumen: Joshua Figueroa
• Individuals and Families: Luba, Suzanne, Rosemary,  Daniel & Dayna, Kristen, Victor, Susan, Gregory, Nina, Sarah
• Birthdays and Name’s Days this Month: Katy Jankura (9/12), Carolyn Neiss (9/16)
• Anniversaries this Month:  Fr’s Ordination (9/18)
• ​Expecting and Newborn:  
• Traveling: Jordan & Christiana
• ​Sick and those in distress: Nancy, Boris, Glenn, John, Joan, Sharon, William, Sharon, Alexander, Olga, Christine, Tatianna, Stormy, Maria, Blanche

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

15th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 6. Forefeast of the Elevation of the Cross. Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher) at Jerusalem (335). Sunday before Elevation. Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion (1st c.). Martyrs Chronides, Leontius and Serapion, of Alexandria (237). Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian at Tomi in Romania (4th c.). Hieromartyr Julian of Galatia (4th c.). St. Peter of Atroë (9th c.). Greatmartyr Ketevan, Queen of Georgia (1624). Ven. Hierotheus the Younger of Ivḗron (Mt. Athos—1745).

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.

Again we pray thee, O Lord our God: We are all called to be the branches of the spiritual vine that grew from the seeds of the Orthodox Faith that our missionary fathers, Herman and Innocent and their companions, planted and nurtured among the native peoples of Alaska, a vine that bears fruit to this day throughout our land, as we imitate the virtues of those husbandmen, of the many saints known only to God, of the Martyr Peter the Aleut, and of our Mother Olga of Kwethluk; through their intercessions, O Lord, hear us and have mercy!

Again we pray thee, O God our Savior: Look with favor upon us, the families and spiritual children of the peoples who came to our land from the old world and brought with them the Orthodox Faith, which they held fast and nurtured in their labors in the mines and mills and on the farms of this new land, and among the challenges of its great cities; we pray thee, O Lord, hear us and have mercy!

Again we pray thee, O Lord our God: We have thy Mother as the Protectress of Orthodox Christians in our North American lands; as we joyfully celebrate her patronage and her miracles, we pray thee, O Lord, through her intercessions, in all our challenges, hear us and have mercy!

  The First Antiphon
Choir: God, my God, attend to me! Why have Thou forsaken me? 
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

Why art Thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

Thou dwell in the sanctuary, the praise of Israel. 
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

 The Second Antiphon
Choir: O God, why dost Thou cast us off forever? 
Refrain: O Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast gotten of old! 
Refrain: O Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

Remember Mount Zion, where Thou hast dwelt! 
Refrain: O Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

God is our King before the ages; He has worked salvation in the midst of the earth. Refrain: O Son of God, crucified in the flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. (“Only-begotten Son and immortal Word of God… “)

 The Third Antiphon
Reader: The Lord reigns, let the people tremble! 
Choir: Tone 1 Troparion of the Feast
O Lord, save Thy people,
and bless Thine inheritance!
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians
over their adversaries;
and by virtue of Thy Cross,//
preserve Thy habitation!

Reader: The Lord reigns, let the people tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 
Choir: Tone 1 Troparion of the Feast

Reader:  The Lord is great in Zion; He is exalted over all the people. 
Choir: Tone 1 Troparion of the Feast

Reader:  Bow down in worship to the Lord in His holy court! 
Choir: Tone 1 Troparion of the Feast

Deacon:  Wisdom! Stand Upright!  Extol the Lord our God: worship at His footstool for He is holy!  

Choir: Tone 1 Troparion 
O Lord, save Thy people,
and bless Thine inheritance!
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians
over their adversaries;
and by virtue of Thy Cross,//
preserve Thy habitation!

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

Tone 4 Kontakion 
As Thou wast voluntarily raised upon the Cross for our sake,
grant mercy to those who are called by Thy Name, O Christ God;
make all Orthodox Christians glad by Thy power,
granting them victories over their adversaries//
by bestowing on them the invincible trophy, Thy weapon of peace!

(Instead of Holy God… sing
Choir:  Before Thy Cross, we bow down and worship, O Master,
and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify.

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

 Tone 8
Magnify, O my soul, the most precious Cross of the Lord!

Thou art a mystical Paradise, O Theotokos,
who, though untilled, have brought forth Christ;
through Him the life-bearing wood of the Cross was planted on earth.
Now at its Exaltation,
as we bow in worship before it, we magnify Thee.

COMMUNION HYMN

The light of Thy countenance has been signed upon us, O Lord.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Remembering 9/11: Twenty-Five Years Later
To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America,

Beloved children in the Lord,

Today marks twenty-five years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On this solemn anniversary, we remember in prayer the nearly three thousand men, women, and children who lost their lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, as well as the countless others, in America and around the world, whose lives were forever changed by the events of that day.

For many, the memory of that terrible day twenty-five years ago remains vivid: the confusion and fear of those first hours, the images of destruction etched in our minds like scars, and the grief of families who waited for loved ones who would never return home. Yet a quarter century has also brought the passing of time. A generation has now come of age with no personal memory of that day. For them, September 11 belongs to history. For others, especially those who lost family and friends, those who survived, and those first responders who continue to bear physical and emotional wounds, twenty-five years have not erased the pain. For some, indeed, the toll of that day is still being counted as the deaths from illnesses contracted by breathing in the ruins steadily increase.

In the Church remembrance is more than recalling the past. In prayer, we bring before God those who have fallen asleep, commending them to His mercy and asking that they be forever known and remembered by Him. We likewise reveal our own wounds to the Great Physician of souls and bodies and remember so that the tragedies of the past never become an excuse to harden our hearts or diminish our love for our neighbor.

Our world remains troubled and will stay so until Christ comes again in glory. We continue to hear of “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6), of violence and bloodshed, of division among peoples, and of suffering borne by the innocent. Faced with these realities, it is tempting to give ourselves over to fear, anger, or despair. Yet our Lord tells us, “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1).

It is a spiritual help to us that each year our remembrance of September 11 comes just days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross. The Cross reminds us that suffering and death do not have the final word. And the risen Christ, victorious over death, still bears the wounds of His Passion. When He appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, He showed them His hands and His side (Jn. 20:20). His wounds were not erased by the resurrection; rather, they have become signs of His victory, His mercy, and His boundless love for mankind.

So too, the wounds borne by individuals, families, communities, and nations need not become sources of bitterness or hatred. In Christ they can be offered to God and, through His grace, become occasions for compassion, repentance, and forgiveness. This is difficult work, but through the power of the Cross no wound is beyond the reach of divine love and no darkness can overwhelm the light of Christ.

On this twenty-fifth anniversary, may we remember all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Let us pray for their families and friends, for the survivors, for the first responders and all who came to the aid of those in danger, and for all who continue to carry wounds from that day. Let us also pray for peace throughout the world, asking the Lord to preserve us from hatred and fear and to strengthen our faith in Him.

May the memory of those who lost their lives be eternal, and may the God of all consolation grant healing, peace, and hope to all.

Yours in Christ,

+Tikhon
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada