Sunday Bulletin - January 11/24, 2010: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee
Tone: VIII
Saints: Afterfeast of Theophany; Theodosius the Great
Epistle: Ephesians 4:7-13; II Timothy 3:10-15
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17; Luke 18:10-14
Sunday Hymnography: http://www.saintjonah.org/lit/lit_triod1_january11.htm
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DATES TO REMEMBER:
Next Weekend:
*Sunday of the Prodigal Son*
Saturday, Jan 30: 6:30pm - Vigil
Sunday, Jan 31: 9:40am – Hours; 10:00am – Liturgy
Fast-free Period: January 24th – 30th is a fast-free week
Choir Practices: Great Lent Preparation – Jan 24, 31, Feb 7
Coffee Hour Rota: Jan 24 – Baird; Jan 31 – Bursac; Feb 7 – Mancuso/Meatfare; Feb 14 – Shaw/Cheesefare; Feb 21 - Tsyganok; Feb 28 - Wilson
Adult Sunday School: Sunday, January 24th at 12:30pm (after Liturgy). The topic will be the divine services of Great Lent.
Children’s Sunday School: January 31; Feb 7, 21
Parish Council Retreat: Saturday, February 6th, 10:00am – 3:00pm. Location TBA.
Next Parish Council Meeting: Sunday, February 7th at 12:30pm (after Liturgy)
House Blessings: House blessings have to be completed by February 13th. Please schedule an appointment with Fr Mark to have your house blessed ASAP.
Upcoming Dates:
Feb 7: Meatfare Sunday
Feb 14: Meeting of the Lord/Forgiveness Sunday
Feb 15: Beginning of Great Lent
March 13-14: Visitation of Bishop George
March 27-April 4: Holy Week
Church Calendar: http://www.stelizabeth.net/?q=node/423
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CHURCH NEEDS:
Special Collection: The collection at the veneration of the Cross after Liturgy is for Bishop George’s visit to our parish March 13th and 14th. Our goal is to collect $450.00 by February 28th ($44.00 has been collected, $406.00 left to go). Please be generous.
Haiti Collection: The collection we are taking up on behalf of ROCOR’s Fund for Assistance for Haiti will be taken during Coffee Hour. We will be sending our contribution on Monday. Please be generous.
Liturgical Needs: Large and small candles from the Unexpected Joy as well as charcoal and incense
Household Needs: To find out what our church needs, please contact Matushka Anne (803-358-9756 or themancusos@sc.rr.com).
Coffee Hour Rota Responsibilities: If you are on the Rota, please remember that the responsibilities include cleaning up. The clean up check list is on the refrigerator in the Coffee Hour area.
Your Tithes: Please remember to keep your tithes and donations to the church consistent.
Building Fund: Please remember to contribute the Building Fund on a regular basis.
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PRAYER LIST:
Metropolitan Hilarion & bishops of ROCOR; Archimandrite Maximos & brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery; Archimandrite Nazarios & brotherhood of Ascension Monastery; Archimandrite Joachim & the brotherhood of St Mary of Egypt Monastery; Bishop George & the brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery; Igor; Svetlana; Dusan; Quartus; Jovanka; Maximos; Martha; Jonathan; Amelia & family; Katherine & family; Nicholas; Gabriel; Tatiana; Cyril & Natalia & the child Elizabeth; Michael & Elizabeth; Soja; Galyna; Olga; Apolinaria; Matushka Anastasia; Andrey & family; Fr Christopher & faithful in Uganda; Perpetua; Seraphim; Nicholas & Olga & the child Anna; Methodius & Faith; Valentina; Joshua & family; Svetozar & family; Fr Demetrius & family; Mother Andrea; Soterios; Maria; Jonah; Frevronia; Nikola
Special Requests: For the health of Nikola (brother of Milos Bursac); Frevronia (mother of Dan Popoff); for the newly elected Patriarch of Serbia, Irinej
Departed: Archimandrite Joasaph (McLellan), Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem
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An Apt Comparison: Is Your Parish a Cruise Ship or a Battleship?
By Fr Aris Metrakos
Cruise ships and battleships. What could be more simple and clear?
Think about what happens on a cruise ship. We don’t do any work. Someone takes care of every need. We have no responsibilities and no accountability.
Isn’t this the way most people approach Church? Executing church services and developing programs is someone else’s job. We go to services once or twice a year and still call ourselves “members.” All work falls under the job description of the paid staff (clergy) or core volunteers (for example, the sisterhood), so we have no responsibilities.
Then there’s the battleship. The warship has a life or death mission. Every member of the crew has a job that must be executed at the top of his ability. Everyone must work together, because they depend on one another for the success of the mission and mutual survival.
A healthy parish must see itself as a battleship. The mission of the Church is life and death. We are called to bring the Gospel to the world and to provide for those in need. No other vocation is as critical or crucial. Each member of the “crew” has a divine calling to define and fill his particular niche in the life of the parish. And when members do not work together, they jeopardize both the work of the Church and their salvation.
Anyone who has spent time aboard a cruise ship and battleship knows that the way of life onboard the two vessels are polar opposites. Cruise ship passengers are relaxed, tanned, and well-fed. Battleship sailors are sleep-deprived, grungy, and edgy. No one in his right mind would vacation on a battleship.
But the life of the Church isn’t a vacation. It’s life or death combat with the evil one. And just like the cruise ship passenger that can’t fit into his wardrobe after three nights and four days of stuffing his face, members of cruise ship churches are unfit for spiritual warfare. Perhaps this is why so many parishes are barely afloat in the sea of life.
There are few things as satisfying as being part of a focused, disciplined, hard-working team that knows its mission, understands and fulfills its responsibilities, is well-trained, and strives constantly to improve its knowledge and skills.
God is calling us to find our place among the crew of a spiritual battleship.
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We Should Not Judge Others – St Seraphim of Sarov
Why do we judge our brethren? Because we do not make an attempt to know ourselves. Whoever is busy trying to gain knowledge of oneself, such a one has no time to look at others. Judge your own self and you will cease to judge others.
We must look upon ourselves as the greatest of sinners and we must forgive our brethren for their bad deeds, while hating only the devil who has tempted them. It happens that someone’s deeds may seem to us to be bad, while in reality they are good because of the good intentions of the doer. Moreover, the door of repentance is open to all, and you do know who will enter it first - you, who are judging, or the one who is being judged by you.
You may judge a bad deed, but do not judge the doer of it. If you pass judgment on your neighbor, together with him you yourself will be judged for the very deed you are judging.
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Как распознать в себе гордость?
На вопрос: «Как распознать в себе гордость?» - Иаков, архиепископ Нижегородский, пишет следующее:
«Чтобы понять, ощутить ее, замечай, как ты будешь себя чувствовать, когда окружающие тебя сделают что-либо не по-твоему, вопреки твоей воле. Если в тебе рождается прежде всего не мысль кротко исправить ошибку, другими допущенную, а неудовольствие и гневливость, то знай, что ты горд и горд глубоко. Если и малейшие неуспехи в твоих делах тебя опечаливают и наводят скуку и тягость, т.ч. и мысль о Промысле Божием, участвующем в делах наших, тебя не веселит, то знай, что ты горд и горд глубоко. Если ты горяч к собственным нуждам и холоден к нуждам других, то знай, что ты горд и горд глубоко. Если при виде неблагополучия других, хотя бы то врагов твоих, тебе весело, а при виде неожиданного счастья ближних твоих грустно, то знай, что ты горд и горд глубоко. Если для тебя оскорбительны и скромные замечания о твоих недостатках, а похвалы о небывалых в тебе достоинствах для тебя приятны, восхитительны, то знай, что ты горд и горд глубоко».
Что еще можно добавить к этим признакам для распознания в себе гордости? Разве только то, что если на человека нападает страх, то это тоже признак гордости.
Святой Иоанн Лествичник пишет об этом так: «Гордая душа есть раба страха; уповая на себя, она боится слабого звука тварей, и самих теней. Страшливые часто лишаются ума, и по справедливости. Ибо праведно Господь оставляет гордых, чтобы и прочих научить не возноситься».
И еще он же пишет: «Образ крайней гордости состоит в том, что человек ради славы лицемерно показывает добродетели, каких в нем нет».