December 30, 2018

After-feast of and Sunday after the Nativity of Christ

Galatians 1:11-19: St. Paul defends his ministry in his letter to the Galatians, telling them of how his former way of life was changed by a direct revelation from the Lord, and of his actions immediately afterwards.

Matthew 2:13-23: From the Gospel of Matthew we hear the fulfillment of several prophecies concerning the incarnation of our Lord.

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 Nativity: Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath given rise to the light of knowledge in the world; for they that worshiped the stars did learn therefrom to worship thee, O Sun of justice, and to know that from the east of the Highest thou didst come; O Lord, glory to thee.

Troparion of the Sunday after Nativity: Proclaim, O Joseph, to David, the grandparent of God, the amazing wonders; for thou hast seen a Virgin great with child; for with the shepherds thou didst give glory, with the Magi thou didst worship, and by the angel it was revealed to thee. Wherefore, plead thou with Christ God to save our souls.

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 Nativity: On this day the Virgin beareth the Transcendent in Essence; to the Unapproachable, the earth doth offer a small cave; Angels join in choir with shepherds in giving glory; with a star the Magi travel upon their journey; for our sakes is born a young Child, He Who existed before the ages as God.

CALENDAR

Sunday, December 30 (Sunday after the Nativity)

[NO
FASTING THROUGH JANUARY 4^TH]

8:50 a.m. — Orthros

9:00 a.m. — Christian Education

10:00 a.m. — Divine Liturgy

Monday, December 31

Father John’s Day Off

6:30 p.m. — Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia

Tuesday, January 1 (Circumcision of our Lord and Feast-day of St. Basil)

NO Daily Orthros

Wednesday, January 2

6:30 p.m. — Daily Vespers

7:15 p.m. — Choir Practice

Thursday, January 3

6:00 a.m. — Daily Orthros

11:30 a.m. — Men’s Lunch

Friday, January 4

7:00 a.m. — Royal Hours

Saturday, January 5

[STRICT
FAST DAY]

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

Sunday, January 6 (Feast of Theophany)

8:50 a.m. — Orthros

9:00 a.m. — Christian Education

10:00 a.m. — Divine Liturgy

12:00 p.m. — POT LUCK MEAL

TBA — Outdoor Blessing of the Water

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Daniel Roots for the Feast of the Nativity this past Monday evening and by the Karams for the Divine Liturgy this morning.

Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:

December 30 Karam Katool/Davis/Staursky

December 31 (Mon. P.m.) Baker (Artoklasia Bread) No Meal

(January 1-Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and Feast of St. Basil the Great)

January 6 Brock POT LUCK MEAL

(Feast of Theophany) Set-up: Schelver/Karam/Pacurari

January 13 R. Root Algood/Jones/Turner/Bowman

January 15 (Tues. p.m.) Algood Kh. Janet Henderson

(Feast of the Veneration of the Chains of St. Peter)

January 20 Henderson Ellis/Zouboukos/Waites

January 27 Katool R. Root/Habeeb/Cooper

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#

December 30 Sh. Charlotte Algood Gal. 1:11-19 188

January 6 Warren Strain Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7 361

January 13 Mildred Morris Eph. 4:7-13 364

January 15 (Tues. p.m.) Kh. Sharon Meadows Acts 12:1-11 50

January 20 Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver II Cor. 4:6-15 163

January 27 Sam Habeeb Heb. 7:26-8:2 334

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 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 remember the following in your prayers: Steve, Sheryl Chamblee; Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Sam and Lamia Dabit and Sammie; Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon’s sister); Lynda Costas; Fr. Nicholas, Kh. Jan and Angelina Speier; David Morris and his family; Vernie Meadows, Fr. James and Kh. Sharon and their family; Walt and Charlotte Wood and their family; Lou Turner’s cousin Amy and her husband John; Noah and Beth Ann (Baker) Pappas, the Reader Basil and Brenda and all of the Baker family.

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

Please keep Fr. John Morris and Kh. Cheryl in your prayers. They have both been ill recently.

Welcome and Many Years! to Cain (Joshua) Johnson who comes to St. Peter from Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in McComb, MS.

Fasting Discipline for December/January

There will be no fasting of any kind from December 25th through January 4th. The Fore-feast of Theophany, January 5th, is a strict fast day. The traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil) is observed the remaining Wednesdays and Fridays of the month.

Major Commemorations for January

January 1 Circumcision of our Lord

Feast-day of St. Basil the Great

January 6 Feast of Theophany

January 7 Synaxis of the Forerunner

January 11 Theodosios the Head of Monasteries

January 16 Veneration of the Chains of St. Peter

January 18 Athanasios and Cyril of Alexandria

January 20 Euthymios the Great

January 25 Gregory the Theologian

January 27 John Chrysostom

January 30 The Three Hierarchs

January 31 Cyros and John the Unmercenary Healers

Diocese of Miami and the Southeast Winter Retreat: The Winter Retreat is scheduled for January 25-27th at St. Elias Orthodox Church in Atlanta. V. Rev. Fr. John Oliver will be the Retreat Speaker. Registration (which covers meals and all other retreat expenses) is $50. You may register at http://bit.ly/DMC-Winter-Retreat. Hotel information is also available at that site.

Camp St. Thekla applications are now available. Scholarship money is also available for a limited time. If you would like your children to attend Camp, please get your applications in as soon as possible. The sessions fill up very quickly!

Calendar Items:

* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.

* The Ladies of St. Peter 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.

* The Ladies of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the last Tuesday of the month.

* As is our parish custom, we will celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and the Feast-day of St. Basil the Great with Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia TOMORROW evening, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

* Since the Feast of Theophany falls on a Sunday this year, we will have the Royal Hours on Friday morning, January 4th, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

* In celebration of the Feast of Theophany next Sunday, we have moved our monthly Pot Luck Meal from the second Sunday to the first.

* We hope to have our traditional Blessing of the Water at the Ross Barnett reservoir, but plans are still a little up in the air. As soon as we have them finalized we will let everyone know the time and place.

* We will celebrate our patronal feast of the Veneration of the Chains of St. Peter with Orthros followed by the Divine Liturgy on Tuesday evening, January 15th, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

* January 23-24 is the Diocesan Clergy Retreat in Atlanta.

* January 25-27 is the Diocesan Mid-Winter Retreat for all in Atlanta.

Unsupervised children in the Kitchen: For health and safety concerns children are not to be allowed in the kitchen unless accompanied by a parent. Please get ice for your children and do NOT allow them to use the icemaker themselves.

For Parents: Children in the nursery during Coffee Hour MUST be supervised just as they are on the playground. This room is used for Sunday School each week. Children who are unsupervised create disarray and use materials set aside for the teaching of Christian Education. This creates extra work for the Sunday School teachers who have to come in and set the room in order before class or who find supplies depleted unexpectedly. A parent must be in the room with their children at all times. Please help us with this! — Fr. John

Quotable: “How could the human race go to God if God had not come to us? How should we free ourselves from our birth into death if we had not been born again according to faith by a new birth generously given by God, thanks to that which came about from the Virgin’s womb?”

St. Irenaeus of Lyon

Worship: Sunday, January 6, 2019 (Feast of Theophany)

Scripture: Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Matthew 3:13-17

Celebrant: Father John

Epistle Reader: Warren Strain

Prosphora: Brock

Coffee Hour: POT LUCK MEAL

Set-up: Schelver/Karam/Pacurari