Sunday Bulletin - February 22/March 7, 2010: Veneration of the Cross
Tone: VI
Saints: Martyr Maurice & the 70 Soldiers
Epistle: Hebrews 4:14-5:6
Gospel: Mark 8:34-9:1
Sunday Hymnography: http://www.saintjonah.org/lit/lit_lent3.htm
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DATES TO REMEMBER:
Next Weekend:
*St John of the Ladder / Bishop George’s Visit*
Saturday, March 13:
5:00pm - Vigil
Sunday, March 14:
9:30am – Greeting of Bishop George & Liturgy
4th Week of Great Lent:
Wednesday, March 10:
6:30pm – Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts
Friday, March 12:
7:00am - Liturgy of Pre-sanctified Gifts
Meal with Bishop George: Sunday, March 14 after Liturgy. This is a potluck meal and it will be at the Shaw’s house. Everyone is invited. If wish to contribute to the meal, please contact Nell Shaw (772-7825 or orthodoxnelly@gmail.com) or Matushka Anne (358-9756 or themancusos@sc.rr.com).
Confessions: Fr Mark hears confessions on Saturday evenings, Sunday mornings, and by appointment.
Choir Practices: Preparation for Bishop George –Sunday, March 7th after Liturgy and Wednesday, March 10th after Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts
Coffee Hour Rota: March 7 – Baird; March 14 – Potluck (Bishop George’s visit); March 21 – Bursac; March 28 – Potluck Fish Meal (for Palm Sunday)
Lenten Meals after Liturgy of Pre-sanctified Gifts: Feb 24 – Wilson; March 3 – Mancuso; March 10 – Baird; March 16 – Mancuso; March 24 - volunteer needed
Children’s Sunday School: March 7, 21
Next Parish Council Meeting: Sunday, March 7th at 12:30pm (after Liturgy)
Upcoming Dates:
March 27 – April 4: Holy Week
March 28: Palm Sunday
April 2: Great & Holy Friday
April 4: PASCHA
April 7: Annunciation
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 to cover the expenses of the frames for the burial shrouds of Christ and the Theotokos. ($330.00 is needed. $150.00 has been pledged. $180.00 remains.) Please be generous.
Haiti Collection: For those wishing to continue donating to our churches in Haiti, please contact Fr Mark (600-0001 or frmark@stelizabeth.net).
Liturgical Needs: Extra-virgin olive oil; Large and small candles from the Unexpected Joy; charcoal and incense
Household Needs: Sugar packets (and sugar substitute packets), paper or Styrofoam bowls, coffee cups, large trash bags
Lenten Meals after Liturgy of Pre-sanctified Gifts: Please sign up to bring a Lenten meal after a Wednesday evening Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts. The last date that a volunteer is needed: March 24th. The sign-up sheet is on the refrigerator.
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.
Tax Returns: Please consider contributing a portion of your tax return to the Building Fund.
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PRAYER LIST:
Metropolitan Hilarion & bishops of ROCOR; Bishop George & the brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery; Archimandrite Maximos & brotherhood of Holy Cross Monastery; Archimandrite Nazarios & brotherhood of Ascension Monastery; Archimandrite Joachim & the brotherhood of St Mary of Egypt Monastery; Fr Christopher & faithful in Uganda; Fr Jean & Fr Gregoire & the faithful in Haiti; Fr Demetrius & family; Igor; Svetlana; Dusan; Rdr. 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; Perpetua; Nicholas & Olga & the child Anna; Methodius & Faith; Valentina; Joshua & family; Svetozar & family; Mother Andrea; Soterios; Maria; Jonah; Frevronia; Nikola; Adrian & Catherine; Marina; Najla; Raja
Special Requests: For the health of Nikola (brother of Milos Bursac); Frevronia (mother of Dan Popoff); Jonah (the brother of Rdr. Quartus); Victor (father of Olga Altman and Natalia Gregoire); Nicholas; George (friend of Fr Michael Platanis)
Newly Departed: Gregory; Virginia
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Our Cross and the Cross of Christ
Throughout the Sundays of the Great Lent and its preparatory period, the Church teaches us the different aspects of Orthodoxy which we must incorporate into our lives, in order for the Triumph of Orthodoxy to take place not only in a historical sense, but also in the life of each one of us personally.
Thus, for example, the Church teaches us humility (Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee), repentance (Sunday of the Prodigal Son), the fear of God (Sunday of the Last Judgment), inner prayer, which is the highest form of communion with God (the 2nd Sunday of Lent).
The 3rd Sunday of the Great Lent is dedicated to yet another very important aspect of Orthodoxy in our lives - the bearing of one’s cross. And, as the supreme example of the bearing of one’s cross - the Cross of our Savior lies before us that entire week.
Why is it so important and so necessary for each Orthodox Christian to carry in his life a cross - that is, the totality of sorrows and suffering which Divine Providence sends to each one of us? The answer is quite simple: because without a personal cross there is no personal salvation, just as without the Lord’s Cross, without His crucifixion and suffering there would be no salvation for mankind. By carrying His Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ opened the gates of paradise to us, while each one of us must carry his or her own cross in order to enter these gates.
After our forebears, Adam and Eve, fell into sin and were expelled from paradise, the earth became a vale of tears and suffering. Thus, living on earth in exile, we must well remember that there is no happiness on earth, and that all futile attempts by philosophers, thinkers, sociologists and other human minds to find happiness on earth have been simply a pursuit of a mirage. Happiness can be found only in the Heavenly Kingdom, where there is eternal rapture.
On earth we see only glimmers of happiness, which show us what we have lost and what we must seek. For example, we find happiness in charity, when the divine trait of mercy fills our soul with joy. We find happiness in friendship, when the divine trait of love joins our soul with the souls of others. We find happiness in marriage, when our church union follows the example of the union of Christ and His Church. Finally, we find happiness in communion with God through prayer, church services and the sacraments.
But all these feelings of happiness and joy are only shadows of true happiness in heaven. Eons ago this true happiness was directly given to Adam and Eve, but they lost it, and now we, their descendants, must earn this happiness by bearing our personal cross.
However, we must remember that it is not enough just to carry our cross, i.e. endure the sorrows and suffering that are sent to us. Bishop Ignaty Bryanchaninov tells us that simply bearing a cross does not yet make it a means of salvation for us. Our personal cross helps us attain salvation only when we turn our cross into the cross of Christ. And how do we do that? The answer is again simple: we must bear our cross in the same manner in which Christ bore His.
Let us consider the distinguishing characteristics of the Cross of Christ, and let us try to incorporate them into our own life, into our own cross. First of all, there is complete obedience to the will of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God, could have saved us in any other way, but the will of God chose that which was the most horrifying in human sin, the most tormentful and cruel, in order to expiate sin completely, and the Son of God showed absolute obedience to His Father, again in order to fully expiate the disobedience of our forefathers and their violation of God’s will. Thus we, too, must obediently accept all the sorrows which God sends us, and must firmly believe that it is these very sorrows, and none other, which will lead us into the Heavenly Realm.
Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ exhibited absolute patience. He suffered terribly and at great length, yet He expressly drank to the last bitter drop the full cup of torment, and endured it patiently and meekly. So should we bear our sorrows patiently and meekly, in the belief that the Lord will never give us more than we can bear. And if we thus endure, we will even witness a miracle within ourselves: just as the Lord invisibly gave strength to the martyrs, who could never have been able to suffer on their own the great torments to which they were subjected, so will the Lord, seeing our effort, give strength to us and will even lighten our cross considerably, in accordance with His Own words: for my yoke is easy and My burden is light.
And thirdly, the Lord bore His cross with joy: joy at seeing the ancient enemy - Satan - being vanquished; joy at seeing mankind liberated from captivity; joy at seeing man - the crown of God’s creation - once again entering the place of bliss that had been prepared for him. Let us, too, each one of us, carry his cross with joy: joy because in this cross is revealed God’s love for us; joy because this cross affiliates us to God; joy because this cross opens for us the way into paradise.
-Father Rostislav Sheniloff
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Pearls from The Lenten Triodion – Sunday Evening Vespers (Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross)
“O mighty wonder! Before us stands the Wood, on which Christ was crucified in the flesh. The world venerates it and, illumined, cries aloud: ‘Great is the power of the Cross! When the devils look upon it, they are burnt; by the sign of the Cross they are consumed with fire.’ O pure and holy Wood, I call thee blessed; I honor thee and worship thee with fear, and I give glory unto God who through thee has bestowed upon me life without end.”
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Пост угодный Богу.
Поститься христианину необходимо для того, чтобы прояснить ум и возбудить и развить чувство, и подвигнуть к благой деятельности волю. Эти три способности человека мы затмеваем и подавляем более всего объядением, пьянством и заботами житейскими, а через то отпадаем от источника жизни – Бога, и ниспадаем в тление и суету, извращая и оскверняя в себе образ Божий. Объядение и сластолюбие пригвождают нас к земле и отсекают у души ее крылья.
А посмотрите, какой высокий полет был у всех постников и воздержников! Они, как орлы, парили в небесах; они, земнородные, жили умом и сердцем на небесах и слышали там неизреченные глаголы, и там научились божественной премудрости. И как же человек унижает себя чревоугодием, объядением и пьянством!
Он извращает свою природу, созданную по образу Божию, и уподобляется скоту бессловесному, и даже делается хуже его. О, горе нам от пристрастий наших, от беззаконных навыков наших! Они препятствуют нам любить Бога и ближних, и исполнять заповеди Божии; они коренят в нас преступное плотское себялюбие, конец которого – погибель вечная. Так пьяница для удовольствия плоти и одурения себя не жалеет множества денег, а нищим жалеет копейки; любящие одеваться роскошно или охотники до модной мебели и посуды тратят на одежду и мебель с посудою огромные деньги, а мимо нищих проходят с холодностью и презрением; любящие хорошо поесть не жалеют на обеды десятки и сотни рублей, а бедным жалеют грошей. Поститься и потому христианину необходимо, что с вочеловечением Сына Божия природа человеческая одуховлена, обожена, и мы спешим к горнему царству, которое не пища и питье, но праведность и мир и радость в Святом Духе. Есть и пить, т.е. иметь пристрастье к чувственным удовольствиям, свойственно только язычникам, которые, не зная духовных, небесных наслаждений, поставляют всю жизнь в удовольствии чрева, в многоядении и многопитии. Оттого Господь часто обличает в Евангелии эту пагубную страсть.
Из дневника св. прав. Иоанна Кронштадтского
«Моя жизнь во Христе»