June 1, 2014
Sunday after the Ascension
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of Nicea
Today is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of Nicea. This day commemorates the Holy Fathers who sat in council at Nicea, the first of the ecumenical councils. Through them we see the commitment to the immutable truth of God for all the faithful, especially those who lead in the faith. The men of this council bear special note by the significance of their creed, for it is the fundamental statement of orthodox Christology and an enduring guide to our faith. The events of the ascension and the scriptures of this day emphasize to us the nature and action of Christ, and the history of these fathers puts us in mind of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church, work proclaimed by the glorious events which we now anticipate in the preparation for Pentecost.
Acts 20:16-18, 28-36: In the reading from Acts, we hear St Paul speak to the elders of the church at Ephesus, encouraging them to follow his example in their shepherding, and bidding them his final farewell as he approached his imprisonment at Rome.
John 17:1-13: In the passage from John, Jesus prays for His disciples, that they would be united as one and kept from evil.
Troparion of the Resurrection: When Mary stood at thy grave looking for thy sacred body, angelic powers shone above thy revered tomb, and the soldiers who were to keep guard became as dead men. Thou led hades captive and wast not tempted thereby. Thou didst meet the Virgin and didst give life to the world; O thou who art risen from the dead! O Lord, glory to thee.
Troparion of the Holy Fathers: Thou, O Christ, art our God of exceeding praise who didst establish our holy Fathers as luminous stars upon earth, and through them didst guide us unto the true Faith, O most merciful One, glory to thee.
Troparion of the Ascension: Thou hast ascended in glory, O Christ our God, and gladdened thy disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit, having become confident of the blessing. Verily, thou art the Son of God, and Deliverer of the world.
Troparion of the Chains of St. Peter: O Holy Apostle, Peter, thou dost preside over the Apostles by the precious chains which thou didst bear. We venerate them with faith and beseech thee that by thine intercessions we be granted the great mercy.
Kontakion of the Ascension: When thou didst fulfill thy dispensation for our sakes, uniting the terrestrials with the celestials, thou didst ascend in glory, O Christ our God, inseparable in space, but constant without separation, and crying unto thy beloved, I am with you, and no one shall be against you.
CALENDAR
Sunday, June 1 (Sunday of the Holy Fathers of Nicea)
8:50 a.m. — Orthros
10:00 a.m. — Divine Liturgy
12:00 p.m. — Special Coffee Hour honoring High School Graduates
Monday, June 2
Office Closed — Father John’s Day Off
Tuesday, June 3
6:00 a.m. — Daily Orthros
Wednesday, June 4
6:30 p.m. — Daily Vespers
7:30 p.m. — Choir Practice
Thursday, June 5
11:30 a.m. — Men’s Lunch
Friday, June 6
Saturday, June 7 (Saturday of the Souls)
9:00 a.m. — Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy
5:45 p.m. — Ninth Hour followed by Great Vespers
Sunday, June 8 (Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. — Orthros
9:45 a.m. — Divine Liturgy with Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost
12:00 p.m. — Pot Luck Meal
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Bakers for the Feast of the Ascension on Wednesday evening and by the Woods for the Divine Liturgy today.
Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
June 1 Wood Karam/Stewart/Meadows
June 7 (Sat. a.m.) R. Root
(Saturday of the Souls – Koliva: Anastasia Jones)
June 8 Henderson POT LUCK MEAL
set-up: Skirtech/Skirtech/Parker
June 15 Algood Pigott/Brock/Strain
June 22 Katool D. Root/Dansereau/Dale Cooper
June 29 Schelver Algood/Yeatts/Lasseter
Schedule for Epistle Readers – Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the front pew. Please be sure to use this book when you read.
Reader Reading Page#
June 1 Sh. Charlotte Algood Acts 20:16-18, 28-36 66
June 7 (Sat. a.m.) Warren Strain Acts 28:4-31 72-74
(Saturday of the Souls)
June 8 Kh. Sharon Meadows Acts 2:1-11 77
June 15 Mildred Morris Heb. 11:33-12:2 84
June 22 Phillip Lasseter Rom. 2:10-16 90
June 29 Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver II Cor. 11:21-33; 12:6-9 389-390
Continue to pray for Metropolitan Paul (who is also the brother of our Patriarch) and the Syriac Archbishop John of Aleppo who were abducted while on a humanitarian mission in Syria.
Please remember the following in your prayers: Steve, Sheryl and Stephen Chamblee; Amy and Brantley Oliver; Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Sam and Lamia Dabit and Sammie; Georgia Buchanan, George Johns (Georgia’s grandson) and his family; Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon’s sister); Fr. Stephen Tewfik; Sh. Gail Shannon; Dn. Sidney and Sh. Mary Elliot;
Walt and Charlotte Wood and their family; Tom and Jennifer Skirtech and their family; Tom and Kathy Willingham; Athena and Anthony Zouboukos and their family.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
Please remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle, and their daughter Abigail, in your prayers.
Please be reminded of the following:
Be very careful with the Blessed Bread when you take it after communion. Because this bread has been blessed, we should take care not to let crumbs fall on the floor. Parents, especially, please help your children to choose a small piece and treat it carefully.
Also, at the end of the liturgy, maintain a prayerful disposition during the veneration of the cross as the prayers of thanksgiving after communion are still underway. Please exchange your greetings with each other in the Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour.
Please be reminded that the Sacristy/Vestry which is adjacent to and behind the altar in our church is considered by the Orthodox Church to be part of the Sanctuary (Altar area) and should not be entered without the blessing of the priest for a specific purpose. If you need to speak with a member of the clergy while they are in the Sanctuary, please ask them to come to you in the nave.
Archdiocese Special Assembly: The date of June 5, 2014 has been set for the special assembly to nominate 3 candidates for Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. These will be forwarded to His Beatitude, Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod where the final decision will be made as to who succeeds His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP of Thrice Blessed Memory. Father John will represent St. Peter’s at this assembly which will be held in Chicago from 9-5 at an, as yet, undisclosed hotel. Please pray for the guidance of the Holy Trinity in these proceedings.
Please keep Carrie Henderson’s stepfather, Tom Jones, and her mother, April, in your prayers. Tom suffered a mild heart attack the morning following the wedding. He has been released from the hospital and will be recovering at home in Kentucky. Please also keep Carrie and Nicholas in your prayers as well.
Next Sunday morning the Divine Liturgy will begin at 9:45 am instead of 10:00 a.m. so that we can have the Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost at the end of the Liturgy. We will not be having Vespers Sunday evening as we have done in past years.
Parents, please supervise your children with food in the Fellowship Hall. We are getting stains on the new carpet (and also the chairs in the nave).
Young Adults Study Group: The Young Adults will meet once a month on Sunday evening from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. (time will be strictly adhered to) for a meal, fellowship and teaching. The date for next meeting is, Sunday, June 15th . Please let Father John know by text or e-mail if you will be there, so that plans may be made for the meal.
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* The Ladies of St. Peter will meet at 10:00 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month to pray the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children. Those who are able will go out for lunch and fellowship afterwards.
* We have a special Coffee Hour today honoring our High School Graduates.
* Next Saturday, June 7th, we will have Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy for Saturday of the Souls, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
* The Feast of Pentecost will be celebrated on Sunday, June 8th. Instead of having vespers with the Kneeling Prayers as we have done in past years, we will begin the Divine Liturgy at 9:45 a.m. instead of 10:00 a.m. and include the Kneeling Prayers in the Divine Liturgy.
Fasting Discipline for June
The traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil) will be observed on all the Wednesdays and Fridays of the month until the Feast of Pentecost (June 8th). There is no fasting of any kind during the week following Pentecost (June 9th -13th). The Fast of the Apostles begins on Monday, June 16th and continues through the 28th. During this time the traditional fasting discipline is observed on all days of the week.
Major Commemorations for June
June 1 Sunday of the Holy Fathers of Nicea
Justyn Martyr
June 4 Metrophanes of Constantinople
June 7 Saturday of the Souls
June 8 Feast of Pentecost
Theodore the General (transfer of relics)
June 11 Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas
June 15 Sunday of All Saints
June 24 Nativity of the Forerunner
June 29 Chief Apostles Peter and Paul
June 30 Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles
Happy Anniversaries in June:
June 8 — Nader and Lily Dabit (#6!)
June 10 — Dorin and Carolina Lavric (#3!)
June 14 — Ken and Anastasia Jones (#44!)
— Saliba and Lamia Dabit (#50!)
June 22 — Fr. Leo and Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver (#40!)
June 31 — Denis and Tatiana Lavric (#4!)
Happy Birthdays in June:
June 1 — Fr. James Meadows
June 5 — George Wood
June 6 — Michel Root (#2!)
June 7 — Simon Karam
June 12 — Ellie Yeatts (#16!)
June 13 — Lou Turner
June 17 — Sh. Margaret Root
June 21 — Sandra Strain
June 22 — Isabelle Goss (#4!)
June 29 — Jennifer Skirtech
Vacation Church School: We will be holding our Vacation Church School on Thursday-Saturday, June 26-28. The focus of this year’s school will be on educating our children about the lives of their Name-Saints and of Sts. Peter and Paul. Sam Habeeb is looking for volunteers to help with this wonderful program.
Suggestions on use of the Cry Room:
— Please remember you’re in liturgy when you’re in the cry room.
— Its main purpose should be a place for parents to take their children if they’re being disruptive during liturgy, staying for 5-10 minutes (or until the child is calmed down) and then returning to liturgy.
— It should not be used as a main sitting area during the liturgy.
— Children should not be eating snacks or watching electronic devices while in the cry room.
Quotable: “There are various degrees of prayer. The first degree is bodily prayer, consisting for the most part in reading, in standing, and in making prostrations. In all this there must needs be patience, labour, and sweat; for the attention runs away, the heart feels nothing and has no desire to pray. Yet, in spite of this, give yourself a moderate rule and keep to it. Such is active prayer.”
The Art of Prayer, compiled by Igumen Chariton of Valamo
Worship: Sunday, June 8, 2014 (Feast of Pentecost)
Scripture: Acts 2:1-11; John 7:37-52, 8:12
Celebrant: Father John
Epistle Reader: Kh. Sharon Meadows
Prosphora: Henderson
Coffee Hour: POT LUCK MEAL
Set-up: Skirtech/Skirtech/Parker
Saint Peter Antiochian Orthodox Church 