Saint Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church

130 North Saint Francis Cabrini Avenue Scranton, PA 18504

Rev. Protodeacon Michael Jolly
Administrator pro tempore
570-213-9344

Reader Michael Simon Parish Office 570-343-6092

E-Mail: Web: Webmaster:

scrantonmelkite@yahoo.com http://melkitescranton.org Sal Zaydon

January 15, 2012 Tone 6 and Orthros Gospel 9 Liturgy Schedule: Saturday Vespers 4pm Compline Weds 8:30PM

12th Sunday after the Holy Cross The 10 Lepers Sunday Orthros 8:55 am Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Liturgy Intentions:
January 15, 2012 Ann Coury - by Saint Joseph Parish January 22, 2012 Margaret Jolly - Deacon Michael Ann Couryby her nephew John Coury

Parish Notes:

Parish Rummage SaleFebruary 11 2012 Calendars and envelops are available in the narthex of the church. Qurban today was baked by Dn Michael Deacon Michael will be out of state Jan 13th through Jan 19th in the event of an emergency that requires a priest contact the Holy Dormition Monastery at 788-1212 Welcome back Father Michael Lenz who serves at our altar today. The perpetual candle in the month of January burns in thanksgiving for Dn Michaels 25 years of service by the Patchoski family Miss a bulletin, want to see the parish calendar? Visit our website at http://melkitescranton.org Bishops Appeal Update The Bishops Appeal exceeded its goals for last year. 19 Parishes, including our own, exceeded their individual goals. Thank you to all who contributed!

Todays Icon: Saint Paul of Thebes and Saint John the Hut-dweller

The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

Antiphons:
First Antiphon Through the prayers of the Mother of God... Second Antiphon O Son of God, Who are risen from the dead... Hymn of incarnation Third Antiphon Entrance Tone 2 Tone 4 Tone 6

Hymns:
Resurrectional Troparion Troparion of St. Paul of Thebes Tone 6 Tone 8
Your abundant tears made the wilderness sprout and bloom and your deep sighing made your labors fruitful a hundred-fold. You became a star, shining over the world with miracles, holy father Paul. Pray to Christ God, that He may save our souls.

Troparion of St. John the Hut-dweller

Tone 2

Your Like Christ you loved to be humble of heart and you gave up your parents wealth: carrying the Gospel in your hands you followed Christ God. With Him you constantly intercede for us all.

Troparion of Saint Joseph Kontakion for the Presentation of Our Lord

Tone 2 Tone 1 Pg. 137

Prokiemenon

(Tone 4) Ps. 103:24,1

How great are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You have wrought them all. Stichon: Bless the Lord, O my soul! You are very great indeed, O Lord my God!

Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians

3:4-12

BRETHREN, when Christ, our life, appears, then you too shall appear in glory. Put to death whatever in your members is of the earth: immorality, uncleanness, lust, evil desire, covetousness, which is a form of idol-worship. Because of these passions, Gods wrath comes upon the sons of disobedience and you yourselves once walked in them when they were your [way of] life. But now, you too put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, abusive language and foul-mouthed utterances. Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old man with his deeds and put on the new, one that is being renewed towards perfect knowledge according to his creators image. (Cf. Gn. 1:26) Here there is no Gentile and Jew, no circumcised and uncircumcised, no Barbarian and Scythian, no slave and freeman, but Christ is all things and in all.

Alleluia (Tone 4) Ps. 44:5,8

String your bow, go forth, reign for the sake of truth, meekness and righteousness and your right hand shall lead you wonderfully. Stichon: You loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, anointed you with the oil of joy above your companions.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

17:12-19

At At that time as Jesus was entering a certain village, there met him ten lepers, who stood far off and lifted up their voice, crying, Jesus, master, have pity on us! And when He saw them He said, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it happened as they were on their way, that they were made clean. But one of them, seeing that he was made clean, returned, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks; and he was a Samaritan. But Jesus spoke to him and said, Were not the ten made clean? But where are the nine? Has no one been found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, Arise, go on your way, for your faith has saved you.

True Asceticism: Colossians 3:6-14

Asceticism was practiced quite a bit in the early church, beginning with John the Baptist (Matthew 9:14-17) and organized into communities by the Evangelist Mark. However, it is not very widespread today in the U.S. In a society where consumption is the measure of success, depriving oneself seems out of place. Asceticism has a purpose, however, and Paul addresses that purpose to the Colossians: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things, which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:1-11). Putting off the Old Man (Colossians 3:6-9) The point of asceticism is a putting off of the old man with his deeds (Colossians 3:9). The old man was crucified with Christ and buried with Him through baptism (Romans 6:4-6).

spirituality meant something different to them. Just because one has been baptized and is faithfully going to church doesnt mean one will be forever free from anger and every evil desire. Quite the contrary; now the enemy will step up his attacks like he did in sifting Peter (Luke 22:31, 54-62) or in decimating and vilifying Job (Job 1:12-22, 2:6-10, 4:1-11, 10:15). When this happens we need to get serious with the Christian life; and a little asceticism helps a lot. Paul lists a number of passions as examples of things that need to be learned how to put to death: Fornication Uncleanness Passion Evil desire Covetousness Anger and wrath Malice Blasphemy Filthy language Lying

For example, if one of our personal passions is the sin of gluttony, we can avoid feeding that lust by doing some controlled fasting and prayer. This is the principle for putting off the old man: deny our flesh the craving of its lusts. Similar things work for other passions. John Chrysostom mentioned four kinds of dead-ness, some good and some bad. Asceticism helps us to avoid the state where we could be walking corpses. Let us then continue living this life; for many of those who seem to breathe and to walk about are in a more wretched plight than the dead. For there are different kinds of deadness! One is deadness of the body, according to which Abraham was dead, and still was not dead. For God is not a God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32).

Thus, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of 1. the Father, so we should:

Walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4) Be freed from sin (Romans 6:7) 2. Another is of the soul, which Christ alludes to when Reckon ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11) He says, Let the dead bury their dead (Matthew Not let sin reign in our mortal bodies that we obey 8:22). its lusts (Romans 6:12) We strive to do this because we are a new creation in 3. Another, which is the subject of praise, is brought about by faith, of which Paul said Deaden your Christ; old things have passed away; behold all things members which are upon the earth (Colossians 3:5). have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). But our habits and our lifestyles sometimes dont change instantly. 4. Another, which is the cause of the previous one, There is an aspect to the Christian life where one learns takes place in baptism. For our old man, he says, Christ (Ephesians 4:22). The putting off of our former has been crucified Colossians 3:6), that is, has conduct, the old man growing corrupt according to the been deadened. deceitful lusts, the renewal of the spirit of our mind and Since then we know this, let us flee from the the putting on of the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24) is a deadness by which we die, even though alive. learning experience that lasts our whole life. The heretics And let us not be afraid of that with which bodily Paul was dealing with tolerated a lot of sin because

death comes on. But the other two let us choose, where one is blissful, having been given by God, the other praiseworthy, which is accomplished by ourselves together with God. David pronounces blessed, when he says, Blessed are they whose iniquities are for-given (Psalm 32:1). Paul holds in admiration, saying, Those who are Christs have crucified the flesh (Galatians 5:24). But of the first two, Christ declares Item [1] to be easy to hold in contempt, when He says, Do not fear those, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. The other is fearful, for, He says, Fear Him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28). Therefore let us flee from this, and choose that deadness which is held blessed and admirable. Putting on the New Man (Colossians 3:10-14) The New Man is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 2:15, 4:24) and has other desires and cravings. Paul lists some of these desires: Tender mercies Kindness Humility Meekness Long suffering Bearing with one another Forgiving one another Love

likeness, we can also bring into subjection the lusts of the flesh, that the heart may have no care for riches, ambition, or pleasures. The benefit has passed, then, from the individual to the community; for in His flesh He has tamed the nature of all human flesh. Thus, As we have borne the image of the earthly, so also shall we bear the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49). This thing certainly cannot come to pass except in the inner man. Therefore, laying aside all these: anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, let us, having put off the old man with his deeds, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him (Colossians 3:8-10). And that you might know that when he says That God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28), he does not separate Christ from God the Father. By saying, That God may be all and in all, he comprehended that the unity andequality of Christ with God the Father, for the Son is not separated from the Father. And in like manner as the Father works all and in all, so also Christ works all in all. If, then, Christ also works all in all, He is not made subject in the glory of the Godhead, but in us. But how is He made subject in us, except in the way in which He was made lower than the angels, I mean in the sacrament of His body? For all things which served their Creator from their first beginning seemed not as yet to be made subject to Him in that.

This is an entirely different agenda than the old man because the New Man is renewed in knowledge according to the Image of Him who created him (Colossians 3:10). Christ is the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15, 2 Corinthians 4:4, John 1:18, Romans 8:29). Gregory of Nyssa emphasized that to approach God, we In the Body of Christ, there is neither Greek nor Jew, need to become like God, as much as is humanly possible. circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave Jesus had stated this by saying, Therefore you shall be nor free (Colossians 3:11), male nor female (Galatians perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 3:28), for we are all one (that is members of one Body) in 5:48). Gregorys words were: Christ. Since there is one Body and one Spirit (the Holy No one can come near the purity of the Divine Spirit), one Lord (that is, Jesus the Christ), one faith, one Being who has not first himself become such. He baptism, and one God and Father of all, God the Father is must therefore place between himself and the above all, and through all and in us all (Ephesians 4:4-6). pleasures of the senses a high strong wall of And just as Christ is in the Father and the Father is in separation, so that in this his approach to the Christ (John 10:38) and Christ and the Father are One Deity the purity of his own heart may not become (John 10:30), so the Body of Christ is one with Christ. soiled again. Such an impregnable wall will be found in a complete estrangement from Ambrose of Milan stated that while the Father is the everything wherein passion operates. fountainhead of the Trinity and the Son and the Holy Spirit are in subjection to Him through the Unity of the Clement of Alexandria taught that the earthly Church is Godhead, they are all one Nature. On the Cross, it was not the image of the heavenly; this is why we pray that the the fullness of the Godhead, but our weakness that was will of God may be done upon the earth as in brought into subjection. If we live after His image and heaven (Luke 11:2).

BLESSED IS HE WHO
HAS COME AND WILL COME in the name of

the Lord.
This verse from the Syriac liturgies sums up the entire Churchs approach to the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and His Theophany at the Jordan. Both feasts celebrate the coming of Christ hidden in the flesh yet revealing God through that same flesh. Both feasts also point us to His coming in glory in the last days when His divinity will no longer be hidden in His flesh but revealed in it. If God has manifested Himself in the world, where is God? We can find God first of all in His works, in which anyone can marvel, Christian or not. At the beginning of the scientific age people came to believe that they understood nature and could explain it without God. Todays scientists are more likely to see our cosmos as beyond their grasp. It continually reveals new dimensions and, for many of them, more than ever does it point to God.

because of our fallen humanity, we are only capable of glimpsing God in a very limited way. As the second century Father, Theophilos of Antioch, wrote to his pagan friend Autolycos: If you say, show me your God, I would reply, show me yourself Show that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing and the ears of your heart able to hear Our broken humanity is meant to be transformed in Christ at the last day: When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col 3:4). Then what we could only glimpse in this present life will be manifest to us. For God will raise your flesh immortal with your soul, Theophilos tells his friend, and then, having become immortal, you shall see the Immortal One if now you believe in Him. Preparing for That Day

To see the Immortal One on that day is not like seeing the president in a parade, or even meeting someone renowned for their holiness. When St Peter first experienced the power of God working in Christ to provide an unexpected catch of fish, his response was to fall on his knees and cry, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man! (Lk 5:8). The greatest manifestation of God in human Not that he was unusually sinful, but that he was a experience to date has been in Christ. His life and son of Adam, tied to this hearth, subject to the death reveal a love which point to the essence of the passions. And when he, with James and John beheld divine nature. God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and it is that Christ transfigured on Mount Tabor the same thing love which is expressed in our understanding of happened: they fell on their faces. If we are to see God as the Holy Trinity. It is because of love that the Lord in an even more glorious state, we must be Christ can say things like I and the Father are prepared in some way. one (Jn 10:30). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are an eternal circle of love overflowing in We must become people who seek those things love for us. The coming of the eternal Word of God which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right into the world incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth is the hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not decisive sign of this overflowing love. In this the on things on the earth (Col 3:1-2). When we are love of God was manifested towards us, that God young, we are anxious to amass one thing after has sent His only begotten Son into the world that another: a diploma, a car, a good job, a spouse, a we might live through Him (1 Jn 4:9). home, a baby, etc, etc. Our minds are on things of the earth. If we grow in wisdom as well as in age, As our liturgy for the feasts of the Nativity and however, we realize that the material things that we Theophany indicate, the ultimate coming of God have striven to own, own us. We find that we do not and the ultimate revelation of Him will take place need the things we thought would make for a good on the last day of human history. Until then, life. We discover that holiness is a matter of

subtraction, simplifying our lives so that we do not crowd God out of them.

collection of devices designed to give us power over others. Anger, cursing, blasphemy, (and we might add obscene gestures) are ways we seek to intimidate In the monastic life people are called to put aside others. Lying is often a more subtle way to do the material attachments, family life and even ones own same thing. The popular expression, to get over on will to devote themselves as much as is humanly someone, is an apt way of saying that all such possible to the things above. Monasticism is thus dynamics are simply attempts to control situations called the angelic life in the Christian East. and people. Monastics strive to live in the heavenly realm rather than in this world. To become a person more prepared to see the vision Most believers are not monastics, and St. Paul was of God at Christs coming in glory we must begin by not writing to monks or nuns. Yet he insists, we must eliminating passions such as the above and at least moderate our attachments to this world to the cultivating the love for others which characterizes best of our ability. The Church would come to Christ and His true disciples. recommend practices such as fasting and almsgiving a ways to foster this detachment. Even more fundamentally, as St Paul says, we must put to death things such as the desire to possess (fornication, uncleanness, passion, etc.) or to control (anger, wrath, malice, etc.). Rather we are to put on virtues like compassion, kindness, humility forgiveness and love after the model of Christs earthly life. As Christ forgave you, so also you must do (Col 3:13).

Memory Eternal

Possessing and Controlling Others In the ancient world chieftains prided themselves on the number of cattle, slaves and women they possessed. This was even true in Israel where, we read in 1 Kings 11:1-3, that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines! Today sexual promiscuity is often an acting-out of the desire to possess. Whether officially rape or not, it turns an act of love into an act of self-gratification at anothers expense. St Paul in Col 3, pairs it with covetousness which is idolatry (v. 5). If we have an abundance of material goods, Paul repeatedly insists, it is to supply the lack of others. Covetousness is to claim what belongs to others or what God has given us to supply the wants of others for ourselves. And, as Paul concludes, to so seek to possess others goods or others themselves is actually idolatry. We make a god of whatever we put at the center of our life. St Pauls second list of vices (Col 3:8-9) is a

The Handmaid of God

Ann Coury
Grant rest. O Lord, to the soul of your handmaid and appoint her place in paradise. Where choirs of saints and righteous ones shine forth like stars. O Lord, grant rest to your departed handmaid and forgive her all her sins

establish a single monastery, but soon after his end there were many imitators of his life, and they filled the desert with monasteries. St Paul is honored as the Saint Paul of Thebes was born in Egypt around 227 in first desert-dweller and hermit. In the twelfth century the Thebaid of Egypt. Left orphaned, he suffered many St Paul's relics were transferred to Constantinople and things from a greedy relative over his inheritance. Durplaced in the Peribleptos monastery of the Mother of ing the persecution against Christians under the emperGod, on orders of the emperor Manuel (1143-1180). or Decius (249-251), St Paul learned of his brother-inLater, they were taken to Venice, and finally to Hunlaw's insidious plan to deliver him into the hands of gary, at Ofa. Part of his head is in Rome. St Paul of the persecutors, and so he fled the city and fled into Thebes, whose Life was written by St Jerome, is not to the wilderness. Settling into a mountain cave, St Paul be confused with St Paul the Simple (October 4). dwelt there for ninety-one years, praying incessantly to God both day and night. He sustained himself on dates Saint John the Hut-Dweller was the son of rich and and bread, which a raven brought him, and he clothed illustrious parents, and was born in Constantinople the himself with palm leaves. St Anthony the Great early fifth century. He received a fine education, and (January 17), who also lived as an ascetic in the Thehe mastered rhetoric and philosophy by the age of baid desert, had a revelation from God concerning St twelve. He also loved to read spiritual books. PerceivPaul. St Anthony thought that there was no other deing the vanity of worldly life, he chose the path that sert dweller such as he. Then God said to him, was narrow and extremely difficult. Filled with long"Anthony, there is a servant of God more excellent ing to enter a monastery, he confided his intention to a than you, and you should go and see him." Anthony passing monk. John made him promise to come back went into the desert and came to St Paul's cave. Falling for him when he returned from his pilgrimage to Jeruto the ground before the entrance to the cave, he asked salem, and take him to his monastery. He asked his to be admitted. The Elders introduced themselves, and parents for a Gospel so that he might study the words then embraced one another. They conversed through of Christ. John's parents hired a calligrapher to copy the night, and St Anthony revealed how he had been the text, and had the volume bound in a golden cover led there by God. St Paul disclosed to St Anthony that studded with gems. John read the Gospel constantly, for sixty years a bird had brought him half a loaf of delighting in the Savior's words. The monk kept his bread each day. Now the Lord had sent a double porpromise to come back for John, and they went secretly tion in honor of St Paul's visit. The next morning, St to Bithynia. At the monastery of the Paul spoke to Anthony of his approaching death, and "Unsleeping" (Akoimitoi), he received monastic toninstructed him to bury him. He also asked St Anthony sure. The young monk began his ascetical labors with to return to his monastery and bring back the cloak he zeal, astonishing the brethren with his unceasing prayhad received from St Athanasius. He did not really er, humble obedience, strict abstinence, and perseverneed a garment, but wished to depart from his body ance at work. After six years, he began to undergo while St Anthony was absent. As he was returning temptations. He remembered his parents, how much with the cloak, St Anthony beheld the soul of St Paul they loved him, and what sorrow he caused them. He surrounded by angels, prophets, and apostles, shining regretted leaving them, and was filled with a burning like the sun and ascending to God. He entered the cave desire to see them again. St John explained his situaand found Abba Paul on his knees with his arms outtion to the igumen St Marcellus (December 29) and he stretched. St Anthony mourned for him, and wrapped asked to be released from the monastery. He begged him in the cloak. He wondered how he would bury the the igumen for his blessing and prayers to return body, for he had not remembered to bring a shovel. home. He bid farewell to the brethren, hoping that by Two lions came running from the wilderness and dug a their prayers and with the help of God, he would both grave with their claws. St Anthony buried the holy see his parents and overcome the snares of the devil. Elder, and took his garment of palm leaves, then he The igumen then blessed him for his journey. St John returned to his own monastery. St Anthony kept this returned to Constantinople, not to resume his former garb as a precious inheritance, and wore it only twice a life of luxury, but dressed as a beggar, and unknown to year, on Pascha and Pentecost. St Paul of Thebes died anyone. He settled in a corner by the gates of his parin the year 341, when he was 113 years old. He did not

Among Todays Saints

ents' home. His father noticed the "pauper," and began to century the head of the saint was taken by Crusaders to send him food from his table, for the sake of Christ. John Besanon (in France), and other relics of the saint were lived in a small hut for three years, oppressed and insulted taken to Rome. by the servants, enduring cold and frost, unceasingly conversing with the Lord and the holy angels. Before his death, the Lord appeared to the monk in a vision, revealing that the end of his sorrows was approaching, and that in three days he would be taken into the Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, he asked the steward to give his mother a message to come to him, for he had something to say to her. At first, she did not wish to go, but she was curious to know what this beggar had to say to her. Then he sent her another message, saying that he would die in three days. John thanked her for the charity he had received, and told her that God would reward her for it. He then made her promise to bury him beneath his hut, dressed in his rags. Only then did the saint give her his Gospel, which he always carried with him, saying, "May this console you in this life, and guide you to the next life." She showed the Gospel to her husband, saying that it was similar to the one they had given their son. He realized that it was, in fact, the very Gospel they had commissioned for John. They went back to the gates, intending to ask the pauper where he got the Gospel, and if he knew anything about their son. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he admitted that he was their child. With tears of joy they embraced him, weeping because he had endured privation for so long at the very gates of his parental home. The saint died in the mid-fifth century, when he was not quite twenty-five years old. On the place of his burial the parents built a church, and beside it a hostel for strangers. When they died, they were buried in the church they had built. In the twelfth

Devotions and Readings for this week

Mon 1/16 Tues 1/17 Weds 1/18 Thurs 1/19 Fri 1/20 Sat 1/21 Veneration of te chains of the Apostle Peter Saint Anthony the Great Saints Athanasius and Cyril Archbishops of Alexandria At. MAcarious the Younger, St. Macarios the Elder and Arsenius, Abp of Cocyre Saint Euthymius the Great Saint Maximus the Confessor and the Martyr Neophyte James 2:14-26 Heb 13:17-21 Heb 13:7-16 James 4:7-17, 5:1-9 2 Cor 4:6-15 1 Cor 9:19-27 Jn 21:14-25 Lk 6:17-23 Mk 8:30-34 Mk 11:27-33 Lk 6:17-23 Lk 3:1-18

From todays Gospel

one may learn that nothing prevents a man from living in a manner pleasing to God, not even if he belongs to a despised race, if only he has a good will and disposition. For behold, ten lepers met Jesus as He was about to enter a certain city. They met Him outside the city, for those who were considered unclean were not permitted to go into the city. They stood afar off, as if ashamed of their supposed uncleanness, and did not dare to draw near, thinking that Jesus abhorred them as did the others. They lifted up their voices and made supplication. By physical location they were standing afar off, but in their supplication they were near. For the Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him in truth. [Ps. 144:19] And they did not make supplication to Him as to a mere man, but as to One greater than a man. For they called Him Master, meaning Lord, Protector, and Guardian, which is not far from thinking of Him as God. The Lord instructs them to show themselves to the priests. Initially the priests would examine men such as these to determine whether they were lepers or not. For there were certain signs by which the priests could recognize incurable leprosy. But in addition to this, if it should happen that someone who had been suffering from leprosy was healed, the priests would again examine him to verify the cure, in which event the gift commanded by the law would be offered. [Lev. 14] In this case, since these men were already confirmed lepers, why should they show themselves to the priests, unless indeed they were about to be cleansed? To command them to go the priests indicated nothing less than that they would be healed. This is why the Evangelist says that as they went, they were cleansed. Of the ten lepers, the nine who were Israelites showed themselves to be ungrateful, while it was the Samaritan, an accursed foreigner, who returned to voice his gratitude. This miracle signifies the common salvation that came to the whole human race. For the ten lepers represent all of human natureit was leprous with wickedness, carrying about with it the ugliness of sin, passing its life outside the heavenly city on account of its uncleanness, and standing afar off from God. But this very distance from God is itself a supplication. For when the Lover of mankind, Who wills that all should be saved and receive good things, sees someone who is not sharing in His goodness, then He is most quick to

show mercy and to heal those who are so miserably afflicted. But He also healed the whole leprous nature of man, when, for every mans sake, He took flesh and tasted of death. Although the Jews had been cleansed of the uncleanness of their leprous sin, as far as it was the Lords part to do, they showed themselves ungrateful and did not return from the path of their vain foolishness to give glory to God Who saved them, that is, to believe in Him Who is God and Who endured the extremes of suffering. For this is the glory of God: His Flesh and His Cross. These Jews, then, did not confess the incarnate and crucified Lord of glory. But the foreign and accursed people of the Gentiles recognized the One Who makes clean, and they glorified Him by believing in Him. They believed that God loves man so much and is so powerful that He accepted the very depth of dishonor for our sakethis is His love of manand having accepted it, He suffered no harm to His own naturethis is His power.

Words of Wisdom
The Son of God became the Son of Man in order that the sons of men, the sons of Adam, might be made sons of God. The Word, who was begotten of the Father in heaven in an ineffable, inexplicable, incomprehensible and eternal manner, came to this earth to be born in time of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in order that they who were born of earth might be born again of God, in heaven. ... He has bestowed upon us the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we may all become sons of God in imitation of the Son of God. Thus He, the true natural Son of God bears us all in Himself, so that we may all bear in ourselves the only God.
St. Athanasius

Saturday February 11
We need your surplus treasures! Time to start bringing them to the church hall.

The Sunday School teacher was describing that when Lot's wife looked back at Sodom she turned into a pillar of salt, when Bobby interrupted. "My mommy looked back once while she was driving," he announced, "and she turned into a telephone pole." Another Sunday School teacher said to her children, "We have been learning about how powerful the kings and queens were in Biblical times. But there is a higher power. Who can tell me what it is?" Tommy blurted out, "I know, Aces." After explaining the commandment to honor your father and mother, a Sunday School teacher asked her class if there was a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters. One boy, the oldest in his family, immediately answered, "Thou shalt not kill." Lot again... A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt." His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"

Prayer Requests

Rev. Father Philip Azoon Rev. Deacon John Karam Rev. Seraphim Michalenko Rev. Basil Samra Rev. Peter Boutros Rev. Deacon Bryan McNiel Rev. Deacon Irenaeus Dionne Rev. Father David White

Parish Calendar
January 29 Youth Meeting February 1 Vespers for the feast of the presentation 7PM 2 Divine Liturgy for the Feast 7PM 11 Rummage Sale 19 Cheesefare SundayIce Cream Social and beginning of Great Lent
Sacrificial Giving 1/8/2012 Candles Weekly Holyday $ 4.50 $ 635.00 $ 55.00

Marie Abda Marie Abda Marie Barron Joseph Barron Mary Sue Betress Chris Carey Nikki Boudreaux Dr. Frances Colie John Colie

Margaret Dillenburg Mark Dillman Karen Haddad Karen Kane Niko Mayashairo Mary McNeilly Marie Patchoski Theodore Petrouchko Jr. Dr. Thomas Zaydon

All those Serving in our Armed Forces The Christian Community in the Middle East

The Weekly Quiz

Just before Jesus was betrayed, he prayed to the Father, that those which had been given to him would be... held faithful until the end. be as one. delivered from death. taken out of the world.
Last Weeks Answer Q. What was the response of the daughter of Pharaoh when she heard the baby Moses crying? A. She had compassion on him.