Wednesday, June 28/July 11 at : Vigil for Sts. Peter and Paul
Thursday, June 29/July 12 at : Divine Liturgy for Sts. Peter and Paul
ØThe Parish Council will meet on Sunday, July 8, at coffee hour.
ØThe Apostles’ Fast lasts until the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29/July 12. Fish is allowed on weekends and on June 24/July 7 (the Nativity of St. John the Baptist).
ØThe Parish Council has approved the project to replace all the windows in the building, so Lord willing, in early August we should have new windows.
ØCongratulations to the new Subdeacon Theodore Hadzi-Antich and the new Reader Nicolas Jackson. Axios! They are worthy!
ØGeorge Lambros, who founded our parish, donated the new gold server vestments which we blessed a few weeks ago.
ØMany thanks to all who took part in the annual Walk for Missions!
ØSt. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Lewiston is holding their Annual Mediterranean Festival on July 13, 14 and 15.
ØOur parish picnic will be held this year on Sunday, July 22nd, after Divine Liturgy at Garrison Park in Williamsville. This is the same location as last year. If you take Los Robles north to Main St., turn right on Main and the third traffic light is Garrison. Turn right on Garrison and the park is one block down. There are picnic tables under a gazebo, but it would not be a bad idea to bring blankets and folding chairs, too. Feel free to bring frisbees, footballs, etc. …oh, and food!
ØDuring the summer months please help us keep the door closed at the top of the stairs because of the air conditioning.
ØAlso, do not forget that we should dress for church just as modestly in the summer as the rest of the year. Gentlemen: collared shirts, no T-shirts. Ladies, no sleeveless garments, low-cut blouses or skirts above the knee. And please, no lipstick in church at any time. Thank you!
vJune 17/30: John (William) Enser, John (Ron) Cummings (St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco
vJune 29/July 12: Priest Peter Jackson, Reader Peter Semanchuk, Paul Semanchuk (Holy Apostles Peter and Paul)
vJuly 4/17: Nicholas Sagan (Holy Royal Passion-Bearer Tsar Nicholas II)
МногаяЛета! Many Years!
Seven Things We Can Do to Overcome Slandering and Gossip
(Based on Step 10 of the Ladder of Divine Ascent)
1. Do not tell yourself that you are talking behind someone’s back out of “love and concern” for them.St. John of the Ladder says, “Stop that kind of ‘love’, otherwise you will be condemning as a liar him who said ‘Him that privily talked against his neighbor did I drive away’ (Psalm 100:5). If you say you love, then pray secretly, and do not mock the man.”
2. Do not ascribe blame to the sinner, but to the devil. This is not to say that the person is not responsible for their sin. Of course they are. The question here is not whether the person is guilty or responsible, but rather, what our attitude toward them should be. And we should be as charitable as possible. Our tendency as fallen human beings is to be quick to condemn others while justifying ourselves. But we must train ourselves to do the opposite: we must constantly condemn ourselves while cutting others as much slack as we can. Remember the Lord’s words about removing the plank from our own eye before worrying about the speck of dust in our brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5).
3. Remember that we are to be in a constant state of repentance over our own sins. We should not even have time to be considering anyone else’s sins.
4. Remind yourself that your sins are worse than the other person’s. And believe it! When we come forward to receive Holy Communion, we profess “I am the chief of sinners.” If we do not believe these words, then we have no business receiving Holy Communion.
5. Remember that judging someone else defiles you with their sin. The Lord teaches us that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged” (Matthew 7:2). This means that God will judge us by the same standard that we hold our neighbor to. If we are harsh with our neighbor, we will be judged harshly, but if we are lenient and forgiving, then God will be the same way toward us. But St. John of the Ladder takes this a step further. He says that the Lord’s words that not only will we be judged to the same degree, but that we will actually be judged for the very same sins we condemn our neighbor for, because we will have become guilty of the same sin. How so? If I slander someone for stealing, then I become a thief too, because I am robbing him of his good name. If I tell people my neighbor is a liar, and this gets back to him, I may lie to him when he confronts me. So the same sin we point out in others can come back to bite us. There is a saying that when we point one finger at our neighbor, we’re pointing three at ourselves.
6. Look for the virtue in your neighbor, not the vices.St. John says we should be like a grape-picker who only picks the ripe fruit and passes over the unripe ones. He says that only a fool looks for faults and defects. Everyone has their good points; you just have to look for them.
7. Do not condemn, even if you see someone sinning with your own eyes.St. John says that our eyes are often deceived. Again, we should do whatever we can to give others the benefit of the doubt. If someone says something that offends us, we should assume that we heard them wrong, or that person did not really mean to say it the way we heard it, or even that they just did not know any better. If someone is acting in a strange way, we should remind ourselves that only God knows their heart, and that they may have issues that we cannot begin to understand. And we should especially be tolerant of those outside of the Church, because they might just not know any better. The Lord teaches us that “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Luke ). In our Apostolic Faith, we have everything we need for our salvation: the Energies of God, the sacraments, the saints, the services, the prayers, the ascetic practices, the teachings of the Fathers. But most of society does not have access to these blessings. Our job is to be ambassadors for Christ by being imitators of Christ for our neighbor. We have no business judging those outside the Church (I Corinthians , 13).
Leontius was a Roman commander in Tripoli in Phoenicia during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. He was born in Hellas [Greece] "of great physical stature, powerful, strong and brave in battles." Hadrian, the imperial deputy, sent a military detachment to arrest Leontius, for Hadrian was a fierce adversary and persecutor of Christians. Hypatius, the senior officer of this detachment, became ill enroute with a bitter fever because of which the detachment had to slow down their march. One night an angel of God appeared to Hypatius and said to him: "If you want to be well, cry out three times toward heaven with all your soldiers: 'O God of Leontius help me!' "
Hypatius informed his companions of his vision and all in unison cried out as the angel instructed and immediately Hypatius became well. This miracle astonished all but especially Theodulus. Hypatius and Theodulus then went ahead of the other soldiers to seek Commander Leontius. Leontius received them graciously and served them. When he expounded his faith in Christ to them, their hearts burned with love for Christ and, at that moment, a bright cloud descended upon Hypatius and Theodulus and dew from a cloud descended upon them. That was the Holy Spirit of God Himself baptizing these converted souls and St. Leontius, at that moment, spoke these words: "In the name of the All-holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The evil Hadrian, learning that Hypatius and Theodulus became Christians, ordered that they be scourged without mercy and following that to be beheaded with an axe. And so, these two spiritual children of Leontius died.
Then Hadrian prescribed cruel tortures for Leontius but Leontius remained unwavering in his holy faith. His entire body was covered with wounds but he diligently prayed to God not to abandon him. In the midst of the cruelest torments, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, encouraged and comforted him. Finally, they knocked the martyr Leontius to the ground and beat him until he gave up his soul to God. The sufferings of St. Leontius was personally witnessed by Kir Notarius who recorded all that he saw on lead tablets and placed them in the martyr's grave. St. Leontius suffered honorably in the year 73 A.D.
Febronia was the daughter of Prosphorus, a senator from Rome. In order to avoid marriage with a mortal man, Febronia betrothed herself to Christ and was tonsured a nun in the east, in the country of Assyria, in a convent where her aunt Bryaena was abbess. Lysimachus, the son of a nobleman, desired to wed Febronia but since Emperor Diocletian suspected him to be a secret Christian, he sent Lysimachus to the east with his uncle Silenus to apprehend and kill Christians. Silenus was as cruel as a beast and exterminated Christians everywhere without mercy. Lysimachus, on the contrary, spared the Christians wherever he could and hid them from his beast-like uncle. Making Palmyra a wasteland of Christians, Silenus came to the town of Nisibis close to which was a convent with fifty ascetics among whom was Febronia. Even though she was only twenty years old, Febronia was respected in the convent and in the town because of her great meekness, wisdom and restraint. In this convent the rule of the former abbess Blessed Platonida was adhered to in that every Friday be spent only in prayer and the reading of the sacred books without any other type of work. Bryaena had designated Febronia to read the sacred books to the sisters hidden behind a curtain so that no one would be distracted and captivated by the beauty of her face. Hearing about Febronia, Silenus ordered that Febronia be brought to him. But, when the holy virgin refused to deny Christ and to agree to enter into marriage with a mortal man, Silenus ordered her to be whipped, and after that to knock out her teeth, cut off her hands, breasts then legs and finally to slay her with a sword. However, a horrible punishment from God befell the torturer the same day. A rage entered into him and he was overcome by a deadly horror. In this horror he struck his head against a marble pillar and fell dead. Lysimachus ordered that Febronia's body be gathered and brought to the convent where it was honorably buried and he, with many other soldiers, were baptized. Many healings have occurred from the relics of St. Febronia and she appeared on the day of her feast and stood in her usual place among the sisters and all the sisters looked upon her with fear and rejoicing. St. Febronia suffered and took up habitation in eternal blessedness in the year 310 A.D. In the year 363 A.D., her relics were translated to Constantinople.
THE PLACING OF THE GIRDLE OF THE ALL-HOLY BIRTH-GIVER OF GOD IN THE CHURCH OF BLACHERNAE IN CONSTANTINOPLE
During the reign of Emperor Leo the Great (458-471 A.D.), Empress Verina and Patriarch Gennadius, two noblemen from Constantinople, Galibus and Candidus, traveled throughout the Holy Land to venerate and to worship before the holy shrines. In Nazareth, they stopped for a while at the home of a Jewish maiden who kept the girdle of the All-Holy Mother of God in a secret room. Many who were ill and in need received healing from their sufferings through prayer and by touching the vesture. Galibus and Candidus took this sacred article and brought it to Constantinople and reported it to the emperor and patriarch. This brought about great joy in the imperial city. The vesture was solemnly translated and placed in the Church of Blachernae. This church was built by Emperor Marcian and Empress Pulcheria on the shore of an inlet and was called Blachernae after the name of a Scetis commander who was slain there. And in remembrance of the placing of this vesture of the All-Holy Birth giver of God in this Blacheran church, this feast day was instituted.
This saint was born in Antioch during the time when the Lord Jesus Christ walked as a man among men on earth. Hearing about the miracles of Christ, the parents of Pancratius desired to see the Lord, the miracle-worker. Together with Pancratius, they traveled to Jerusalem where they saw Jesus, heard His words and witnessed His miracles. It was in Jerusalem that Pancratius became acquainted with the Apostle Peter. After the Ascension of the Lord, both parents and Pancratius were baptized in Antioch. Pancratius withdrew to a cave in Pontus where the Apostle Peter found him and in agreement with the Apostle Paul he was appointed as the Bishop of Taormina in Sicily. In Taormina, St. Pancratius worked many miracles, destroyed the idols, baptized the unbaptized, strengthened the baptized and governed well the Church of God. A heathen commander by the name of Aquilinus heard that the entire city of Taormina became Christian and set out with an entire army against this city in order to destroy it. St. Pancratius encouraged the faithful not to be afraid and he, alone, with the clergy went outside the city carrying in his hands the invincible weapon, the Honorable Cross. When the army approached the city, darkness befell them and the soldiers were overcome with great fear. A great confusion then began among them and the attackers turned against one another and pierced and slaughtered each other with their swords. Thus Pancratius, the chosen one of God, saved the city and his flock by the power of his prayer before the Lord. In the end, Pancratius was stoned to death by envious and evil heathens and found rest in the Lord. His holy relics repose in Rome.
