St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-01-05
Bulletin Contents

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St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (978) 685-4052
  • Street Address:

  • 8 Lowell Street

  • Lawrence, MA 01840-1416
  • Mailing Address:

  • PO Box 10

  • Methuen, MA 01844


Contact Information




Services Schedule

5 PM Saturdays - Vespers

9 AM Sundays - Orthros

10 AM Sundays - Divine Liturgy

Sunday School (Sept-May) following Holy Communion


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Holy Epiphany in the First Tone

Lord, when You were baptized in the Jordan, the veneration of the Trinity was revealed. For the voice of the Father gave witness to You, calling You Beloved, and the Spirit, in the guise of a dove, confirmed the certainty of His words. Glory to You, Christ our God, who appeared and enlightened the world.

Kontakion of Holy Epiphany in the Fourth Tone

You appeared to the world today, and Your light, O Lord, has left its mark upon us. With fuller understanding we sing to You: "You came, You were made manifest, the unapproachable light."
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Gospel Reading

The Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
The Reading is from Matthew 3:13-17

At that time, Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

The Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
متى 3: 13-17

13 فيَ ذلك الزمان جَاءَ يَسُوعُ مِنَ الْجَلِيلِ إِلَى الأُرْدُنِّ إِلَى يُوحَنَّا لِيَعْتَمِدَ مِنْهُ. 14وَلَكِنْ يُوحَنَّا مَنَعَهُ قَائِلاً: ((أَنَا مُحْتَاجٌ أَنْ أَعْتَمِدَ مِنْكَ وَأَنْتَ تَأْتِي إِلَيَّ!)) 15فَأَجابَ يَسُوعُ وَقَالَ لَهُ: ((اسْمَحِ الآنَ ، لأَنَّهُ هَكَذَا يَلِيقُ بِنَا أَنْ نُكَمِّلَ كُلَّ بِرٍّ)). حِينَئِذٍ سَمَحَ لَهُ. 16فَلَمَّا اعْتَمَدَ يَسُوعُ صَعِدَ لِلْوَقْتِ مِنَ الْمَاءِ ،وَإِذَا السَّمَاوَاتُ قَدِ انْفَتَحَتْ لَهُ ،فَرَأَى رُوحَ اللَّهِ نَازِلاً مِثْلَ حَمَامَةٍ وَآتِياً عَلَيْهِ ،17وَصَوْتٌ مِنَ السَّمَاوَاتِ قَائِلاً: ((هَذَا هُوَ ابْنِي الْحَبِيبُ الَّذِي بِهِ سُرِرْتُ)). 

 

 


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Everyone that preaches true faith and good works, what does he do but prepare the way of the Lord so that He may come into the hearts of his hearers, and may make straight the path for God, forming right dispositions within them by the words of his exhortations?
St. Gregory the Great
On the Mystical Church, P. G. 76 (cols 1159-1170) in Toal, I:89, Sixth Century

Repentance is the renewal of baptism and is a covenant with God for a fresh start in life.
St. John Climacus
Ladder of Divine Ascent Step 5:On Penitence, Paulist Press pg. 121, 6th century

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Saints and Feasts

January 06

The Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

About the beginning of our Lord's thirtieth year, John the Forerunner, who was some six months older than Our Saviour according to the flesh, and had lived in the wilderness since his childhood, received a command from God and came into the parts of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. Then our Saviour also came from Galilee to the Jordan, and sought and received baptism though He was the Master and John was but a servant. Whereupon, there came to pass those marvellous deeds, great and beyond nature: the Heavens were opened, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon Him that was being baptized and the voice was heard from the Heavens hearing witness that this was the beloved Son of God, now baptized as a man (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:1-22). From these events the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also from this that the present feast is called "Theophany," that is, the divine manifestation, God's appearance among men. On this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching of the Kingdom of the Heavens.


January 08

Domnica the Righteous of Constantinople

Saint Domnica was from Carthage. During the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, she came with four other virgins to Constantinople, where she was baptized by Nectarius, the Patriarch of Constantinople. She remained in Constantinople and became known for her extreme asceticism, the miracles that she worked, and the grace of prophecy that adorned her. She lived until the days of the Emperors Leo and Zeno, reposing in peace about the year 474.


January 10

Gregory of Nyssa

Saint Gregory, the younger brother of Basil the Great, illustrious in speech and a zealot for the Orthodox Faith, was born in 331. His brother Basil was encouraged by their elder sister Macrina to prefer the service of God to a secular career (see July 19); Saint Gregory was moved in a similar way by his godly mother Emily, who, when Gregory was still a young man, implored him to attend a service in honor of the holy Forty Martyrs at her retreat at Annesi on the River Iris. Saint Gregory came at his mother's bidding, but being wearied with the journey, and feeling little zeal, he fell asleep during the service. The Forty Martyrs then appeared to him in a dream, threatening him and reproaching him for his slothfulness. After this he repented and became very diligent in the service of God.

Gregory became bishop in 372, and because of his Orthodoxy he was exiled in 374 by Valens, who was of one mind with the Arians. After the death of Valens in 378, Gregory was recalled to his throne by the Emperor Gratian. He attended the Local Council of Antioch, which sent him to visit the churches of Arabia and Palestine, which had been defiled and ravaged by Arianism. He attended the Second Ecumenical Council, which was assembled in Constantinople in 381. Having lived some sixty years and left behind many remarkable writings, he reposed about the year 395. The acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council call him 'Father of Fathers."


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Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, January 11

4pm Outdoor Blessing of the Waters at Riverfront State Park, Lawrence

5pm Vespers

Sunday, January 12

9am Orthros

10am Divine Liturgy

11:30am Mom's Group

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Pastor's Ponderings

Blessed Theophany (Epiphany) of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ! Today we rejoice at the manifestationm of the life of the Triune God. The voice of the Father, the presence of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Amazing wonder. The outward Divine energies of God are poured forth as an overflowing chalice of healing, mercy and peace into the waters of creation - water specially blessed today as a gift from God for our sanctification. Glory to God! Fr. Ephraim

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