March 10, 2024
Sunday of the Last Judgement (Meat Fare)
Yes, it is that time again. Lent begins on Monday, March 18th, but we begin the preparations for the journey of “bright-sadness” by especially dealing with our hearts and our spiritual condition. In her wisdom the Church is a great aid to us, for the four Sundays before Lent carry special themes that enable us to examine ourselves.
The theme of the second Sunday before Lent is THE LAST JUDGEMENT (meat fare) and the Gospel lesson is Matthew 25:31-46 in which Christ describes the last judgement. It is a lesson about Christian love. For we all need love and each have been given the gift and grace of Christ’s love. Thus, on whether or not we have accepted this responsibility (of Christ’s gift), and on whether we have loved or refused to love, shall we be judged. For “inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me….”
I Corinthians 8:8-9:2: Brethren, food will not bring us closer to God; for neither if we eat, are we the better, nor if we do not eat, are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this authority of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you, as someone who has knowledge, reclining at a table in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of the one who is weak be emboldened to eat of the things sacrificed to idols, and through your knowledge the weak brother perishes, for whom Christ died? And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will not eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for the seal of my apostleship are you in the Lord.
Matthew 25:31-46: The Lord said, “When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Troparion of the Resurrection: Thou didst shatter death by thy Cross; thou didst open paradise to the thief; thou didst turn the mourning of the ointment-bearing women into joy, and didst bid thine Apostles proclaim warning that thou hast risen, O Christ, granting the world Great Mercy.
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 Meat Fare Sunday: When thou comest, O God, to earth with glory, and all creatures tremble before thee, and the river of fire floweth before the Altar, and the books are opened and sins revealed, deliver me then from that unquenchable fire, and make me worthy to stand at thy right hand, O righteous Judge.
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, March 10 (Sunday of Meat Fare; Sunday of the Last Judgement)
8:50 a.m. – Orthros (webcast)
9:00 a.m. – Christian Education
10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy (webcast)
12:00 p.m. – POT LUCK MEAL
5:30 p.m. – Book Study with Father John
Monday, March 11
Father Herman off
Tuesday, March 12
NO Services
Wednesday, March 13
6:30 p.m. – Daily Vespers
Thursday, March 14
NO Services
Friday, March 15
NO Services
Saturday, March 16 (Christodoulos, Wonderworker of Patmos)
11:30 a.m. – Baptism of Samantha Dabit
4:30 p.m. – Choir Practice
6:00 p.m. – Great Vespers
Sunday, March 17 (Sunday of Cheese Fare; Forgiveness Sunday)
8:50 a.m. – Orthros
9:00 a.m. – Christian Education
10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy (webcast)
12:00 p.m. – Teen Fundraising Meal
6:30 p.m. – Forgiveness Vespers
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Eucharist Bread …was offered by Davises for the Saturday of the Souls Liturgy yesterday and by the Daniel Roots for the Divine Liturgy this morning. The Koliva for the Saturday of the Souls was offered by the Pacuraris.
March is Ladies Month in our Archdiocese. Please allow the Ladies to receive Holy Communion first. This month ladies will also be reading the Epistle during the Divine Liturgy.
Eucharist Bread Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
March 10 D. Root POT LUCK MEAL Ellis/Zouboukos/Waites
March 17 Karam TEENS FUNDRAISER MEAL
March 24 Brock Algood/Schelver/I. Jones
March 25 (Mon. a.m.) R. Root Lasseter/Miller
(Feast of the Annunciation)
March 31 Pacurari D. Root/Baker
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#
March 10 Brenda Baker I Cor. 8:8-9:2 273
March 17 Katie Miller Rom. 13:11-14:4 279
March 24 Anastasia Heb. 11:24-26, 32-40 281
March 25 (Mon. a.m.) Kh. Sharon Meadows Heb. 2:11-18 376
March 31 Brenda Baker Heb. 1:10-2:3 283
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.
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; Kathy Willingham; Marilyn (Kyriake) Snell; Jack and Jill Weatherly; Lottie Dabbs (Sh. Charlotte Algood’s mother), Sh. Charlotte and their family; Reader Basil and Brenda Baker and their family; Buddy Cooper; Georgia and Bob Buchanan; Fr. Joseph Bittle; Steve and Sheryl Chamblee; Rick Carlton; Very Rev. Fr. Nicholas and Kh. Jan Speier; Dora Lambert (Dimitri Zouboukos’ fiancée); Lee Greene; Joseph, Amanda and Hunter Hines; Fr. John and Kh. Janet Henderson and their family.
Samantha Dabit, daughter of Sam and Dana Dabit, next Saturday March 16th, at 11:30 a.m. Please keep the Dabit family in your prayers.
Each year the Metropolitan assigns a project to the Antiochian Women and money is collected during Ladies’ Month. This year the AW Project is to establish an Endowment Fund to assist the widowed Clergy Wives in our Archdiocese. The Ladies of St. Peter will have a donation box available in the Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour on Sundays for the entire month. Please consider giving generously to this very worthy cause.
Registration is now open for this year’s Parish Life Conference which will be held June 12-15th in Atlanta at the Hilton Peachtree City Atlanta Hotel and Conference Center and hosted by St. Stephen in Hiram. Please go to the Diocesan website (DOMSE.org) to register for the conference and for the hotel.
Camp St. Thekla registration opened on February 1st. If your children are going to camp, please register as soon as possible. If financial help is needed, please let Father Herman or Daniel know. This year the church will not be providing transportation to camp. If you have children going to camp who need a ride, please let Father Herman or Daniel know.
The book study group with Father John meets every other Sunday in the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 p.m. The next meeting will be tonight.
There will be an icon writing workshop at Holy Resurrection July 8-13. The iconographer who will be teaching this class is Theodoros Papadopoulos. Tuition for this class is $780. For further information and enrollment, please visit the website http://www.theodoreicons.com/clinton. Holy Resurrection is only providing space for this class.
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.
* Book Study – Sunday, March 10th.
* Stewpot dates for 2024 will be March 30th and November 30th.
Fasting Discipline for March
In March the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil) is observed on Wednesday and Friday of the first week. Following Meatfare Sunday (March 10th), meat will no longer be eaten until Pascha. The week following Meatfare Sunday is Cheesefare week, when dairy products are allowed on all days of the week. Beginning with Clean Monday on March 18th, the traditional fasting discipline is observed on all days of the week until Pascha (except for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th and Palm Sunday on April 28th, when fish , wine and oil are permitted).
Major Commemorations for March
March 16 Christodoulos, Wonder-worker of Patmos
March 17 Sunday of Cheesefare
March 18 Clean Monday (Great Lent Begins)
March 24 1st Sunday of Lent; Sunday of Orthodoxy
March 25 Feast of the Annunciation
March 26 Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel
March 31 2nd Sunday of Lent; Commemoration of Gregory Palamas
Quotable: “The devil appeared to three monks and said to them: if I gave you power to change something from the past, what would you change? The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, replied: ‘I would prevent you from making Adam and Eve fall into sin so that humanity could not turn away from God.’ The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: ‘I would prevent you from God and you will condemn yourself eternally.’ The third of them was the simplest and, instead of responding to the tempter, he got on his knees, made the sign of the cross and prayed saying: ‘Lord, free me from the temptation of what could be and was not’. The devil, giving a raucous cry and shuddering with pain, vanished. The other two, surprised, said to him: ‘Brother, why have you responded like this?’ He replied: ‘First: we must NEVER dialogue with the devil. Second: NOBODY in the world has the power to change the past. Third: Satan’s INTEREST was not to prove our virtue, but to trap us in the past, so that we neglect the present, the only time God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with Him to fulfill His will.’ Of all the demons, the one that catches the most men and prevents them from being happy is that of ‘What could have been and was not’. The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to his providence. Only the present is in our hands.”
Worship: Sunday, March 17, 2024 (Sunday of Cheese Fare; Forgiveness Sunday)
Scripture: Romans 13:11-14:4; Matthew 6:14-21
Celebrant: Father Herman
Epistle Reader: Katie Miller
Prosphora: Karam
Coffee Hour: TEEN FUNDRAISER MEAL
Saint Peter Antiochian Orthodox Church 
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