December 29, 2024

After-feast of and

Sunday after the Nativity of Christ

Galatians 1:11-19: Brethren, I would have you know that the Gospel, which was preached by me, is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people; so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

Matthew 2:13-23: When the wise men had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him.” And he rose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region, who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more.” But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Troparion of the Resurrection: When thou, O immortal Life, didst humble thyself unto death, then didst thou destroy death by the brightness of thy Godhead; and when thou didst raise the bowels of the earth, then all the heavenly powers exclaimed, O Christ, thou art the Giver of life! Glory to thee, O our God!

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

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE: All services listed on the calendar will be available through streaming and webcast. (Instructions can be found on the parish website.)

Sunday, December 29 (Sunday after the Nativity)

8:50 a.m. – Orthros

10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy (webcast)

Monday, December 30

Father Herman off

Tuesday, December 31

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

Wednesday, January 1 (Circumcision of Christ; Feast-day of Basil the Great)

NO Services

Thursday, January 2

NO Services

11:00 a.m. – Men’s Lunch

Friday, January 3

7:00 a.m. – Royal Hours

Saturday, January 4

9:30 a.m. -Baptisms of Lucy Skirtech and Aaron Franklin

4:30 p.m. – Choir Practice

6:00 p.m. – Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia

Sunday, January 5 (Feast of Theophany [by transfer])

8:50 a.m. – Orthros

9:00 a.m. – Christian Education

10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy (webcast)

12:00 p.m. – POT LUCK MEAL

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Brocks for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord this past Tuesday evening and by the Davises for the Divine Liturgy this morning.

Please remember the following in your prayers: Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Lamia Dabit and her family; Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon’s sister); Jay and Joanna Davis; Fr. Leo and Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver and their family; Marilyn (Kyriake) Snell; Jack and Jill Weatherly; Dn. Terry Algood and their family; Reader Basil and Brenda Baker and their family; Fr. Joseph Bittle; Rick Carlton; Very Rev. Fr. Nicholas and Kh. Jan Speier; Lee Greene; Joseph, Amanda and Hunter Hines; Fr. John and Kh. Janet Henderson and their family; Galina Singletary; Emily and Cole Parker; Dane and Stephanie Skirtech.

Eucharist Bread Schedule:

Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour

December 29 Davis Dansereau/Alaeetawi

December 31 (Tues. p.m.) R. Root (Artos) No Meal

(Circumcision of Christ & Feast-day of St. Basil the Great – GV with Litia & Artoklasia)

January 4 (Sat. p.m.) D. Root (Artos) No Meal

January 5 Pacurari POT LUCK MEAL

(Feast of Theophany) Dansereau/Alaeetawi

January 12 Lasseter Ellis/Zouboukos/Waites

January 15 (Wed. p.m.) Milnor D. Root/Lively

(Chains of St. Peter)

January 19 Henderson Miller/Weatherly

January 26 Algood Lasseter/Pacurari/Lavric

Schedule for Epistle Readers – Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the Chanters’ stand at the front of the nave. Please be sure to use this book when you read.

Reader Reading Page#

December 29 Ian Jones Gal. 1:11-19 188

January 5 Walt Wood Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7 361

January 12 Grady Fisher Eph. 4:7-13 364

January 15 (Wed. p.m.) Reader Chad Miller Acts 12:1-11 50-51

January 19 Brandon Strain Col. 3:4-11 233

January 26 Katie Miller I Tim. 4:9-15 252

Also, please remember that we still need your tithes and offerings which may be placed in the tray that is passed during the Divine Liturgy, in the tithe box at the back of the nave or be mailed to: St. Peter Orthodox Church, P.O. Box 2084, Madison, MS 39130-2084.

Seating spaces in the Nave: As a gentle reminder, please be mindful of seating spaces in the Nave during Sunday Divine Liturgy. Due to our growth over the past few years seating has become a little more limited and there has been an overflow toward the back of the Nave near the Narthex, which makes it “tight” for the clergy to make the Great Entrance. While this is a good problem to have, and until we can begin work on the new Temple, please make sure there are enough spaces available in the “seating” area of the Nave for as many people as possible. This means we may have “squtch in” on the rows. Thank you for your help in this.

Registration for the DOMSE Winter Retreat at St. Elias’ in Atlanta, GA on January 31-February 1 is now open. The registration link was emailed out a few weeks ago but if you did not receive it please see Fr. Herman. Registration ends on January 7.

We are now taking up donations for Sunnybrook Children’s Home and the St. Nicholas Fund. These donations will go directly to Sunnybrook to help with their ministry there and donations taken up for the St. Nicholas fund will go toward a need from within the parish our outside the parish. Please mark your donation as either Sunnybrook or St. Nicholas. Please prayerfully consider giving toward these charities. We will take up donations until December 31 for both.

On January 4, 2025, Lucy Skirtech and Aaron Franklin will be baptized into the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” beginning at 9:30am. Please mark this date and time on your calendars and join us for this most blessed occasion. Please keep them and their Godparents, Ian Jones and Jennifer Skirtech, in your prayers.

Congratulations to Katherine Habeeb on completing her Make a Difference (MAD) Project, where she made 100 pillows to bring comfort to cancer patients at Women’s Hospital. Glory to God for all things.

Calendar Items:

* The men of the parish meet for lunch at 11:00 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month.

* The Ladies meet at the church at 10:00 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month to pray the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children on behalf of our children.

* The Ladies meet for lunch at 1:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday of the month.

* We will celebrate the Circumcision of Christ and the Feast-day of St. Basil the Great on Tuesday evening, December 31st with Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

* Royal Hours for the Feast of Theophany will be prayed Friday morning, January 3rd, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

In 2025 the Feast of Theophany will fall on a Monday. We have been given permission to transfer the celebration of the Feastday to Sunday, January 5th instead. We will also have our monthly Pot Luck Meal in conjunction with the Feast that month. We will pray Royal Hours for the Feast on Friday, January 3rd, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

Fasting Discipline for December/January

There will be no fasting whatsoever from December 25 through January 5. The traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil) is observed on all Wednesdays and Fridays of January.

Major Commemorations for January

January 1 Circumcision of Christ

Feast-day of Basil the Great

January 6 Feast of Theophany

January 7 Synaxis of the Forerunner

January 11 Theodosios the Head of Monasteries

January16 Veneration of the Chains of St. Peter

January 17 Anthony the Great

January 18 Athanasios and Cyril of Alexandria

January 23 Gregory the Theologian

January 27 John Chrysostom (transfer of relics)

January 30 (The Three Holy Hierarchs

January 31 Cyros and John the Unmercenary Healers

Quotable: “I too will proclaim the greatness of this day: the Immaterial becomes incarnate, the Word is made flesh, the invisible makes itself seen, the intangible can be touched, the timeless has a beginning, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, always the same, yesterday, today and forever . . . This is the solemnity we are celebrating today: the arrival of God among us, so that we might go to God, or more precisely, return to Him. . . Revere the nativity, which releases you from the chains of evil. Honor this tiny Bethlehem which restores Paradise to you. Venerate this crib; because of it you who were deprived of meaning (logos) are fed by the divine Meaning, the divine Logos Himself.”

St. Gregory the Theologian

Worship: Sunday, January 5, 2025 (Feast of Theophany [by transfer])

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

Epistle Reader: Walt Wood

Prosphora: Pacurari

Coffee Hour: Dansereau/Alaeetawi