St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-07-06
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

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Tone

Let the Heavens rejoice; let earthly things be glad; for the Lord hath wrought might with His arm, He hath trampled upon death by death. The first-born of the dead hath He become. From the belly of Hades hath He delivered us, and hath granted great mercy to the world.

لتفرح السماويات وتبتهج الارضيات ، لأن الرب صنع عزاً بساعده ، ووطئ الموت بالموت، وصار بكرالاموات ، وأنقذنا من جوف الجحيم، ومنح العالم الرحمة العظمى.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Tone

O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.

يا شَفيعَةَ المَسيحيينَ غَيْرَ الخازِيَة، الوَسيطَةَ لَدَى الخالِقِ غَيْرَ المَرْدُودة، لا تُعْرِضِي عَنْ أصْواتِ طَلِبَاتِنا نحْنُ الخَطَأَة، بَلْ تَدارَكينا بالمَعونَةِ بِما أنَّكِ صالِحَة، نحْنُ الصارِخِينَ إليْكِ بإيمانٍ: بادِرِي إلَى الشَفاعَةِ وأسْرِعِي في الطِلْبَةِ، يا والِدَةَ الإلَه، المُتَشَفِّعَةَ دائِمًا بِمُكَرِّمِيكِ.

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Tone. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 6:18-23.

Brethren, having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

البروكيمنون. Third Tone. مزمور 46: 6، 1.
سبحوا لإلهنا سبحوا
Verse: صَفِّقوا بِالأكُفِّ يا كُلَ الشُّعوبِ

فصل من رسالة القديس بولس الرسول الى اهل رومية 6: 18-23.

يَُّا إِخْوَة، إِذْ أُعْتِقْتُمْ مِنَ الْخَطِيَّةِ صِرْتُمْ عَبِيداً لِلْبِرِّ. أَتَكَلَّمُ إِنْسَانِيّاً مِنْ أَجْلِ ضُعْفِ جَسَدِكُمْ. لأَنَّهُ كَمَا قَدَّمْتُمْ أَعْضَاءَكُمْ عَبِيداً لِلنَّجَاسَةِ وَالإِثْمِ لِلإِثْمِ هَكَذَا الآنَ قَدِّمُوا أَعْضَاءَكُمْ عَبِيداً لِلْبِرِّ لِلْقَدَاسَةِ.لأَنَّكُمْ لَمَّا كُنْتُمْ عَبِيدَ الْخَطِيَّةِ كُنْتُمْ أَحْرَاراً مِنَ الْبِرِّ. فَأَيُّ ثَمَرٍ كَانَ لَكُمْ حِينَئِذٍ مِنَ الأُمُورِ الَّتِي تَسْتَحُونَ بِهَا الآنَ؟ لأَنَّ نِهَايَةَ تِلْكَ الأُمُورِ هِيَ الْمَوْتُ. وَأَمَّا الآنَ إِذْ أُعْتِقْتُمْ مِنَ الْخَطِيَّةِ وَصِرْتُمْ عَبِيداً لِلَّهِ فَلَكُمْ ثَمَرُكُمْ لِلْقَدَاسَةِ وَالنِّهَايَةُ حَيَاةٌ أَبَدِيَّةٌ. لأَنَّ أُجْرَةَ الْخَطِيَّةِ هِيَ مَوْتٌ وَأَمَّا هِبَةُ اللهِ فَهِيَ حَيَاةٌ أَبَدِيَّةٌ بِالْمَسِيحِ يَسُوعَ رَبِّنَا.


Gospel Reading

4th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 8:5-13

At that time, as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.

4th Sunday of Matthew
متى 8: 5-13

5 في ذلك الزمان دَخَلَ يَسُوعُ كَفْرَنَاحُومَ ، جَاءَ إِلَيْهِ قَائِدُ مِئَةٍ يَطْلُبُ إِلَيْهِ 6وَيَقُولُ: ((يَا سَيِّدُ ، غُلاَمِي مَطْرُوحٌ فِي الْبَيْتِ مَفْلُوجاً مُتَعَذِّباً جِدَّاً)). 7فَقَالَ لَهُ يَسُوعُ: ((أَنَا آتِي وَأَشْفِيهِ)). 8فَأَجَابَ قَائِدُ الْمِئَةِ وَقَالَ : ((يَا سَيِّدُ ، لَسْتُ مُسْتَحِقّاً أَنْ تَدْخُلَ تَحْتَ سَقْفِي ،لَكِنْ قُلْ كَلِمَةً فَقَطْ فَيَبْرَأَ غُلاَمِي. 9لأَنِّي أَنَا أَيْضاً إِنْسَانٌ تَحْتَ سُلْطَانٍ. لِي جُنْدٌ تَحْتَ يَدِي. أَقُولُ لِهَذَا: اذْهَبْ !فَيَذْهَبُ ، وَلآخَرَ: أْيتِ ! فَيَأْتِي ، وَلِعَبْدِيَ: افْعَلْ هَذَا ! فَيَفْعَلُ)). 10فَلَمَّا سَمِعَ يَسُوعُ تَعَجَّبَ ، وَقَالَ لِلَّذِينَ يَتْبَعُونَ: ((اَلْحَقَّ أَقُولُ لَكُمْ : لَمْ أَجِدْ وَلاَ فِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِيمَاناً بِمِقْدَارِ هَذَا! 11وَأَقُولُ لَكُمْ: إِنَّ كَثِيرِينَ سَيَأْتُونَ مِنَ الْمَشَارِقِ وَالْمَغَارِبِ وَيَتَّكِئُونَ مَعَ إِبْراهِيمَ وَإِسْحاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ فِي مَلَكُوتِ السَّمَاوَاتِ ، 12وَأَمَّا بَنُو الْمَلَكُوتِ فَيُطْرَحُونَ إِلَى الظُّلْمَةِ الْخَارِجِيَّةِ. هُنَاكَ يَكُونُ الْبُكَاءُ وَصَرِيرُ الأَسْنَانِ)). 13ثُمَّ قَالَ يَسُوعُ لِقَائِدِ الْمِئَةِ: ((اذْهَبْ ، وَكَمَا آمَنْتَ لِيَكُنْ لَكَ)). فَبَرَأَ غُلاَمُهُ فِي تِلْكَ السَّاعَةِ. 

 

 


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Pharoah entreated saying: 'May God take away from me this death' (Exod. 10:17), and he was heard. Similarly, when the demons asked the Lord not to cast them into the abyss, their request was granted (cf. Luke 8:31). How much more, then, will a Christian be heard when he prays to be delivered from spiritual death?
St. John of Karpathos
Texts for the Monks in India no. 69, Philokalia Vol. 1 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pgs. 314-315

The great prophet Daniel, who chose death rather than being without prayer for a single moment (Dan 9), teaches us that we should regard being deprived of prayer as worse than any death.
Monks Callistus and Ignatius
Directions to Hesychasts no. 29, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart; Faber and Faber pg. 200

...death, properly speaking, is this: for the soul to be unharnessed from divine grace and to be yoked to sin...Let us cast away, let us reject all things, bid farewell to all things: to all relationships, actions and intentions that drag us downward, separate us from God and produce such a death. He who is frightened of this death and has preserved himself from it will not be alarmed by the oncoming death of the body, for in him the true life dwells, and bodily death, so far from taking true life away, renders it inalienable.
St. Gregoy Palamas
To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pgs. 296-297, 14th century

The problem of our life is union with God, and sin completely prevents this; therefore flee from sin as from a terrible enemy, as from the destroyer of the soul, because to be without God is death and not life. Let us therefore understand our destination; let us always remember that our common Master calls us to union with Himself.
St. John of Kronstadt
My Life in Christ, Part 1; Holy Trinity Monastery pg. 20, 19th century

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Saints and Feasts

July 06

Sisoes the Great

This Saint, great and renowned among the ascetics of Egypt, lived in the fourth century in Scete of Nitria. After the death of Saint Anthony the Great, he left Scete to live in Saint Anthony's cave; he said of this, "Thus in the cave of a lion, a fox makes his dwelling." When Sisoës was at the end of his long life of labours, as the Fathers were gathered about him, his face began to shine, and he said, "Behold, Abba Anthony is come"; then, "Behold, the choir of the Prophets is come"; his face shone yet more bright, and he said, "Behold, the choir of the Apostles is come." The light of his countenance increased, and he seemed to be talking with someone. The Fathers asked him of this; in his humility, he said he was asking the Angels for time to repent. Finally his face became as bright as the sun, so that the Fathers were filled with fear. He said, "Behold, the Lord is come, and He says, 'Bring Me the vessel of the desert,'" and as he gave up his soul into the hands of God, there was as it were a flash of lightning, and the whole dwelling was filled with a sweet fragrance.


July 08

Prokopios the Great Martyr & his mother Theodosia the Martyr

The holy Martyr Procopius was born of a pious father named Christopher, but his mother Theodosia was an idolater. After Christopher's death, she presented Neanias - for this was the Saint's name before - to Diocletian, who was at Antioch in Syria. Diocletian made him Duke of Alexandria, and sent him there to punish the Christians. On the way to Alexandria, our Lord spoke to Neanias as once He had to Saul, and turned this new persecutor to faith in Him. Neanias turned back to Scythopolis, and preached Christ. He was betrayed by his own mother, and was arrested and tormented in Caesarea of Palestine. While he was in prison, the Lord appeared to him again and gave him the new name of Procopius (which is derived from the Greek word meaning "progress, advancement"). He was brought out of prison and taken to worship the idols, but at his prayer, the idols fell; many then believed in Christ and suffered martyrdom, among them certain soldiers, twelve women of senatorial rank, and the Saint's own mother, Theodosia. Saint Procopius, after further torments and imprisonment, was beheaded about the year 290.


July 11

Euphemia the Great Martyr

In 451, during the reign of the Sovereigns Marcian and Pulcheria, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convoked in Chalcedon against Eutyches and those of like mind with him. After much debate, the Fathers who were the defenders of Orthodoxy, being 630 in number, agreed among themselves and with those who were of contrary mind, to write their respective definitions of faith in separate books, and to ask God to confirm the truth in this matter. When they had prepared these texts, they placed the two tomes in the case that held Saint Euphemia's relics, sealed it, and departed. After three days of night-long supplications, they opened the reliquary in the presence of the Emperor, and found the tome of the heretics under the feet of the Martyr, and that of the Orthodox in her right hand. (For her life, see Sept. 16.)


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Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, July 12

5PM Vespers

Sunday, July 13

9AM Orthros

10AM Divine Liturgy

Men's Group Outing - Hike nearby at Osgood HIll in North Andover

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Pastor's Ponderings

As we enjoy the long summer days and likley take some vacation time may we be refresshed and renewed in our walk with the Lord God. May we find time to pray and consider the blessings of God and how we can in turn more fully share the blessing of our lives with those around us who so sorely need to hear a word of consolation and encouragement. Glory to God! Fr. Ephraim

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Memorials & Celebrations

Blessings and joy to David Samra he heads off to seminary studies in Lebanon at the Balamond. May the good Lord continue to bless, lead and guide him as he discerns God's calling in his life. Amen. St. George intercede for him!

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