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.

Roofing Project

With feedback from various parishiners the council has decided to go with National Roofing for our project. Three families have come forward with offers to help finance the project. One family is offer a matching grant; for every dollar offered, they will match the donation until the new roof is paid for. Two other families have offered to provide the down payment with a no interest loan, with the understanding that the parish will pay them back in due time. 

The contract, itself, is posted on the bulletin board in the kitchen if you would like to review it. The council will work with the families to determine the details for paying for the roofing project. If you have any questions please direct them to any council member.

Annual Meeting

The council is preparing for next month's Annual Meeting (Sunday, Nov 15th). If you have anything you'd like to add to the agenda, or any resolution you would like to propose, please be sure to provide theese to the council, in writing, by Sunday, Nov 1st.

Also, we are looking to have two representatives replaced on the council. Please let us know if you would be interested in being nominated as a representative. We will also need a nomination for the Diocese Assembly representative and their alternative. The location for next year's DA will be announced at this year's assembly.

Strategic Planning

The council and voluteers for strategic planning took a small hiatus from discussions while we focused on the roofing project. In the meantime we have been reading "Reclaiming the Great Commission; A Roadmap to Parish Health", by Fr Evan Armatas (a few copies of which are available in the kitchen library). I highly recommend that every parishioner take the time to read this book. A nifty summary has been provided by James McGaffin, and will be posted on the bulletin board downstairs.

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
• Birthdays and Name’s Days this Month: Vinny Melesko (B-10/8), Marlene Melesko (B-10/12), Victor Hohenbart (B-10/20), Greg Jankura (B-10/24), Joe Boruch (B-10/24),
• Anniversaries this Month:  
• Expecting and Newborn:  
• ​Traveling:
• ​Sick and those in distress: Nancy, Boris, Glenn, John, Joan, Sharon, William, Sharon, Alexander, Olga, Christine, Tatianna, Stormy, Maria, Blanche, Jeremy, Jenna, Eugenia

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

18th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 1. Hieromartyr Hierotheus, Bishop of Athens (1st c.). Uncovering of the Relics of St. Gurias, first Archbishop of Kazan, and St. Varsonúphy (Barsanuphius), Bishop of Tver’ (1595). Synaxis of the Hierarchs of Kazan’ (1976). Rt. Blv. Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince of Novgorod (1052). Ven. Helladius and Onesimus of the Kiev Caves (Near Caves—12th-13th c.). Ven. Ammon, Recluse, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—13th c.). Martyrs Gaius, Faustus, Eusebius, and Chæremon, of Alexandria (3rd c.). Martyr Peter of Capitolias (3rd-4th c.). Martyrs Domnina and her daughters Berenice and Prosdoce of Syria (305-306). Ven. Ammon (ca. 350) and Paul the Simple (4th c.), of Egypt. St. Stephen Stiljianovich of Serbia (1515).

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!

Tone 1 Troparion (Resurrection)

When the stone had been sealed by the Jews,
while the soldiers were guarding Thy most pure body,
Thou didst rise on the third day, O Savior, 
granting life to the world.
The powers of heaven therefore cried to Thee, O Giver of Life:
“Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Christ!
Glory to Thy Kingdom!//
Glory to Thy dispensation, O Thou Who lovest mankind!”

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 1 Troparion (St. Hierotheus)

We the faithful all praise Hierotheus, the disciple of Paul,
Hierarch of ^Athens, 
the world’s teacher and a preacher of the Faith,
who revealed to us Christ’s Mysteries
and poured forth streams of godly ^doctrine.//
His life was well-pleasing to God, Who is greatly merciful.

Tone 1  Kontakion (Resurrection)

As God, Thou didst rise from the tomb in glory,
raising the world with Thyself.
Human nature praises Thee as God, for death has vanished.
Adam exults, O Master!
Eve rejoices, for she is freed from bondage and cries to Thee://
“Thou art the Giver of Resurrection to all, O Christ!”

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 8 Kontakion (St. Hierotheus)

Hierarch of Athens, we praise thee for thou hast instructed us in awesome and ineffable things,
and thou wast revealed to be a divinely-inspired writer of hymns.
Pray that we be delivered from every kind of sin, so that we may cry to thee://
Rejoice, divinely-wise Father Hierotheus!

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Tone 6    Kontakion (Steadfast Protectress)
Steadfast Protectress of Christians, 
Constant Advocate before the Creator; 
despise not the entreating cries of us sinners, 
but in your goodness come speedily to help us who call on you in faith. 
Hasten to hear our petition and to intercede for us, 
O Theotokos, for you always protect those who honor you!

COMMUNION HYMN
Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! Alleluia (3X)

The following is Book 2 of the Ancient Practices series.

Summary of The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister

Joan Chittister’s The Liturgical Year explores how the Christian liturgical calendar is not merely a schedule of religious observances but a spiritual framework designed to shape a person's inner life. She argues that the recurring cycle of seasons, feasts, and holy days helps believers grow progressively in wisdom, maturity, and holiness.

Central Theme

Chittister describes the liturgical year as a spiral rather than a circle. While Christians revisit the same seasons each year, they do so from a new stage of life and spiritual development. The repetition is meant to deepen understanding and transformation, gradually aligning one's life with the life and teachings of Jesus.

Major Ideas

• Time as a Spiritual Teacher: The liturgical calendar sanctifies time, helping people see ordinary life through a spiritual lens. Sundays, seasons, and feasts become opportunities for reflection and growth.
• Following the Life of Christ: The Christian year begins with Advent and moves through Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. Each season highlights a different aspect of Jesus' life and invites believers to embody the corresponding virtues.
• Advent and Christmas: These seasons focus on waiting, hope, expectation, light, and the presence of God in the world. Chittister sees Advent as a time of spiritual preparation rather than simply holiday anticipation.
• Lent and Holy Week: Lent calls for self-examination, simplicity, discipline, and conversion. Holy Week confronts suffering, sacrifice, loss, and faithfulness in the face of hardship.
• Easter and Pentecost: These seasons celebrate renewal, resurrection, joy, and the empowering presence of the Spirit. They emphasize hope and the possibility of transformation.
• Saints and Mary: Chittister discusses the role of saints and Marian feasts as examples of human beings who lived the Gospel in diverse circumstances. Their lives offer models for contemporary Christians.

Key Message

The book's main message is that the liturgical year teaches people how to make a life, not just make a living. By repeatedly walking through the rhythms of Christ's life, believers are gradually formed into more compassionate, faithful, and spiritually mature people. The purpose of the liturgical cycle is transformation—not mere observance.

In One Sentence

Chittister presents the liturgical year as a lifelong spiritual journey in which the recurring seasons of the Christian calendar steadily shape people into more authentic followers of Christ.