November 8, 2015

Synaxis of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael

and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven

Hebrews 2:2-10: On this day which we commemorate to the Angels and Archangels, we read in Hebrews how the Lord made man to be for a little while lower than the Angels; but, thanks to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, man shall one day rule over the Angels.

Luke 8:41-56: From the Gospel of Luke we hear of Jesus healing a woman with a hemorrhage and rais­ing a young girl from death; showing His desire to heal suffering and to respond to the faith of those who come to Him.

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 Archangels: Supreme Commanders of the Hosts of Heaven. we, the unworthy, importune and beseech you that by your supplications ye encircle us in the shelter of the wings of your immaterial glory; guarding us who now fall down and cry to you with fervor: Deliver us from dangers of all kinds, as the great marshals of the heavenly hosts on high.

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 Presentation of the Theotokos: The all-pure temple of the Saviour, the most precious bridal-chamber and Virgin, the treasure-house of the glory of God, today enters the Temple of the Lord, bringing with her the grace which is in the divine Spirit; whom also the angels of God do celebrate in song; for she is the heavenly tabernacle.

CALENDAR

Sunday, November 8 (Archangels Gabriel and Michael)

9:00 a.m. — Baptism of Aidan Lavric

9:00 a.m. — Christian Education

10:00 a.m. — Divine Liturgy

12:00 p.m. — Pot Luck Meal

5:30 p.m. — Youth Group

Monday, November 9 (Nektarios of Aegina)

Office Closed — Father John’s Day Off

Tuesday, November 10

NO Daily Orthros

Wednesday, November 11

6:30 p.m. — Daily Vespers

7:15 p.m. — Choir Practice

Thursday, November 12

6:00 a.m. — Daily Orthros

Friday, November 13 (John Chrysostom)

Saturday, November 14

9:00 a.m. — Ladies Retreat with Mother Nektaria

1:30 p.m. — Forty Day Memorial for Mat. Sissy Yerger

5:45 p.m. — Ninth Hour followed by Great Vespers

Sunday, November 15 (Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost)

8:50 a.m. — Orthros

9:00 a.m. — Christian Education

10:00 a.m. — Divine Liturgy

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Schelvers for the Feast of St. Raphael yesterday morning and by the Morrises for the Divine Liturgy this morning.

Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:

Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour

November 8 Morris POT LUCK MEAL

(set-up: Henderson/Baker/Lockhart)

November 15 Jones Ellis/Zouboukos/Fahmy

November 21 (Sat am) Meadows Rebecca Dansereau

Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

November 22 Davis Pigott/Strain/Osborne

November 29 D. Root Skirtech/Skirtech/Parker

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#

November 8 Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver Heb. 2:2-10 332

November 15 David Turner Eph. 2:14-22 207

November 21 (Sat am) Brenda Baker Heb. 9:1-7 337

November 22 Walt Wood Eph. 4:1-7 212

November 29 Kh. Sharon Meadows Eph.5:8-19 217

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.

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; Elias and Olga Karam (Simon’s parents) as well as Simon and Rola Karam.

Please remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle, and their daughter Abigail, in your prayers.

Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.

Welcome and Many Years! to Aidan Lavric who was baptized this morning. Congratulations to his parents Denis and Tatiana Lavric and to his godparents Dorin and Carolina Lavric.

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 the 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.

* The men of the parish will meet at the church once each quarter for a Saturday morning Father-Son Prayer Breakfast.

* Father John will be in Memphis, November 9-11 for the Clergy Retreat which will be held at St. John’s Orthodox Church. If you need a priest during that time, please contact Father Leo.

* Ladies Retreat with Mother Nektaria, beginning at 9:00 a.m.; Forty Day Memorial for Mat. Sissy Yerger, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

* The Fast of the Nativity begins on Sunday, November 15th and runs through December 24th. During this time, as is our parish custom, we will celebrate the Advent Paraklesis in place of Daily Vespers on Wednesday evenings, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

* We will celebrate the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple with Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning, November 21st, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

* The Fall festival has been moved to November 21st from 3-5 p.m. We will not have Ninth Hour or Great Vespers that evening.

* The Baptism of Mary Brock has been rescheduled for Saturday morning, December 5th, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

* The Deanery Youth Retreat is scheduled for February 12-14, 2016 at Camp Hopewell, outside of Oxford. Fr. Phillip Rogers will be the speaker. More information TBA.

Fasting Discipline for November

The traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish wine or oil) is observed on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the month. Beginning November 15th, the first day of the Nativity Fast, the traditional fasting is observed each day of the week. Note, however, through December 19th there is a katlysis on Tuesdays and Thursdays when wine and oil are permitted, and on Saturdays and Sundays when fish, wine and oil are permitted.

Major Commemorations for November

November 8 Archangels Gabriel and Michael

November 9 St. Nektarios the Wonder-worker

November 13 St. John Chrysostom (repose)

November 14 Apostle Philip

November 16 Apostle and Evangelist Matthew

November 21 Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

November 23 St. Amphilochios of Iconium

November 25 St. Catherine the Great-martyr

November 30 Apostle Andrew, the First-called

Pan-Orthodox Ladies Retreat: In conjunction with Holy Resurrection and Holy Trinity/St. John the Theologian, we will be hosting a one day women’s retreat at St. Peter. The date is Saturday, November 14. Mother Nektaria will be our keynote speaker and will be talking on “How Can I Live a Christian Life in a Culture that Embraces Non-Christian Values”. The registration fee will be $20.00 in advance or $25.00 at the door. This includes a continental type breakfast and a catered lunch. We will meet from 9 a.m. until about 2:00 p.m. If for any reason you cannot afford the registration fee, just let Christina know. We want all of our ladies to have the chance to attend. We will be holding the Forty Day Memorial for Mat. Sissy Yerger, beginning at 1:30 p.m. (The Memorial Service is open to all, not just the ladies.)

Supper Clubs: A Sign-up sheet has been placed on the table in the Fellowship Hall for anyone wishing to participate in Supper Club this year.

Thermostats in the Fellowship Hall: There are two thermostats in the Fellowship Hall—one in the main room to control the air in the main room, and a second one in the Nursery room that controls the air in all four of the Sunday School rooms. Please be sure when you leave the building that both thermostats are set to 80 degrees in warm weather or 60 degrees in cold weather.

Quotable: “Dispersed all over the world, people became divided into different tribes and nations; all the while, at the foundation of this division lay the very same self-asserting human pride in the form of so-called national pride. This has given birth to embittered enmity between different nations and the countless wars with which human history is filled, giving the impression, if one opens any modern textbook of history, that the entire history of the human race is essentially a history of war: one war succeeds another—and that is all there is to it. It makes perfect sense that mankind, having lost its unity and having been divided into many nations warring against one another, would have therewith lost faith in the One God and knowledge of the oneness of the Divinity. Every nation came to have its own national gods that corresponded to its spirit and tastes. Every nation reflected its own national character in its religion, creating gods ‘in its own image.’ Such is the origin of paganism, that perverted religion created as a result of that same spirit of self-asserting human pride. This oblivion to the One True God and worship of false gods created in man’s imagination ‘in his own image,’ this idolization of his own passions and vices, became the occasion for a profound moral fall, into the abyss of which the ancient world descended ever more deeply before the coming of Christ.”

The Struggle for Virtue

by Archbishop AVERKY

Worship: Sunday, November 15, 2015 (Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost)

Scripture: Ephesians 2:14-22; Luke 10:25-37

Celebrant: Father John

Epistle Reader: David Turner

Prosphora: Jones

Coffee Hour: Ellis/Zouboukos/Fahmy