Sunday Bulletin - January 25/February 7, 2010: Sunday of the Last Judgment / Meatfare Sunday
Tone: II
Saints: Gregory the Theologian, archbishop of Constantinople; New-martyrs and Confessors of Russia
Epistle: I Corinthians 8:8-9:2; Romans 8:28-39
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 21:12-29
Sunday Hymnography: http://www.saintjonah.org/lit/lit_nmmruss_triod3.htm
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DATES TO REMEMBER:
Next Weekend:
*Cheesefare/Sunday of Forgiveness/Meeting of the Lord*
Saturday, Feb 13:
6:30pm - Vigil
Sunday, Feb 14:
9:40am – Hours
10:00am – Liturgy
12:00pm (after Liturgy) – Forgiveness Vespers
Choir Practices: Lenten Preparation – Feb 7; Preparation for Bishop George – Feb 21, 28, March 7
Coffee Hour Rota: Feb 7 – Mancuso/Meatfare; Feb 14 – Shaw/Cheesefare; Feb 21 - Tsyganok; Feb 28 – Wilson; March 7 – Baird; March 14 – Potluck (Bishop George’s visit); March 21 – Bursac; March 28 – Potluck Fish Meal (for Palm Sunday)
Adult Sunday School: Sunday, February 28th at 12:30pm (after Liturgy). The topic will be Hierarchical divine services.
Children’s Sunday School: Feb 7, 21
Next Parish Council Meeting: Sunday, February 7th at 12:30pm (after Liturgy)
Cheesefare Sunday (Maslenitsa): For the Coffee Hour after Liturgy next Sunday, everyone is encouraged to bring a dairy dish to share (as it is our last day of dairy eating before Pascha). The featured dish will be Blini.
House Blessings: Please schedule your house blessing with Fr Mark ASAP. February 14th is the last day of house blessings.
Upcoming Dates:
Feb 15: Beginning of Great Lent
March 13-14: Visitation of Bishop George
March 27-April 4: Holy Week
March 28: Palm Sunday
April 2: Great & Holy Friday
April 4: PASCHA
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 ($67.00 has been collected, $383.00 left to go). 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: Large and small candles from the Unexpected Joy as well as charcoal and incense
Household Needs: Sugar (and sugar substitute) packets, non-dairy creamer, stirring straws, paper or Styrofoam bowls
Lenten Meals after Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts: Please sign up to bring a Lenten meal after a Wednesday evening Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The dates are February 17, 24, March 3, 10, 16 (a Tuesday), 24. The sign-up sheet is on the refrigerator in the Coffee Hour area.
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; 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; Fr Christopher & faithful in Uganda; Fr Jean & Fr Gregoire & the faithful in Haiti; Perpetua; Nicholas & Olga & the child Anna; Methodius & Faith; Valentina; Joshua & family; Svetozar & family; Fr Demetrius & 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); for the newly elected Patriarch of Serbia, Irinej
Newly Departed: Gregory
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“The Rules of Fasting” from The Lenten Triodion
By Metropolitan KALLISTOS (Ware)
Within this developed pattern of Lent, what precisely do the rules of fasting demand? Neither in ancient nor in modern times has there ever been exact uniformity, but most Orthodox authorities agree on the following rules:
1) During the week between the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee and that of the Prodigal Son, there is a general dispensation from all fasting. Meat and animal products may be eaten even on Wednesday and Friday.
2) In the following week, often termed the “Week of Carnival”, the usual fast is kept on Wednesday and Friday. Otherwise there is no special fasting.
3) In the Week before Lent, meat is forbidden, but eggs, cheese and other dairy products (as well as fish) may be eaten on all days, including Wednesday and Friday.
4) On weekdays (Monday to Friday inclusive) during the seven weeks of Lent, there are restrictions both on the number of meals taken daily and on the types of food permitted; but when a meal is allowed, there is no fixed limitation on the quantity of food to be eaten.
a)On weekdays in the first week, fasting is particularly severe. According to strict observance, in the course of the five initial days of Lent, only two meals are eaten, one on Wednesday and the other on Friday, in both cases after the Liturgy of the Presanctified. On the other three days, those who have the strength are encouraged to keep an absolute fast; those for whom this proves impracticable may eat on Tuesday and Thursday (but not, if possible, on Monday), in the eve¬ning after Vespers, when they may take bread and water, or perhaps tea or fruit-juice, but not a cooked meal. It should be added at once that in practice today these rules are commonly relaxed. At the meals on Wednesday and Friday xerophagy is pre¬scribed. Literally, this means, “dry eating.” Strictly interpreted, it signifies that we may eat only vegetables cooked with water and salt, and also such things as fruit, nuts, bread and honey. In practice, octopus and shellfish are also allowed on days of xerophagy; likewise vegetable margarine and corn or other vegetable oil, not made from olives. But the following categories of food are definitely excluded:
1. Meat
2. Animal products (cheese, milk, butter, eggs, lard, drippings)
3. Fish (i.e., fish with backbones)
4. Oil (i.e., olive oil) and wine
b) On weekdays (Monday to Friday inclusive) in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth weeks, one meal a day is permitted, to be taken in the afternoon following Vespers, and at this one meal xerophagy is to be observed.
c) Holy Week. On the first three days there is one meal each day, with xerophagy; but some try to keep a complete fast on these days, or else they eat only uncooked food, as on the opening days of the first week.
On Holy Thursday one meal is eaten, with wine and oil (i.e., olive oil). On Great Friday those who have the strength follow the practice of the early Church and keep a total fast. Those unable to do this may eat bread, with a little water, tea or fruit-juice, but not until sunset, or at any rate not until after the veneration of the Winding-Sheet at Vespers.
On Holy Saturday there is in principle no meal, since according to the ancient practice after the end of the Liturgy of St. Basil the faithful remained in church for the reading of the Acts of the Apostles, and for their sustenance were given a little bread and dried fruit, with a cup of wine. If, as usually happens now, they return home for a meal, they may use wine but not oil; for on this one Saturday, alone among Saturdays of the year, olive oil is not permitted.
The rule of xerophagy is relaxed on the following days:
1) On Saturdays and Sundays in Lent, with the exception of Holy Saturday, two main meals may be taken in the usual way, around mid¬day and in the evening, with wine and olive oil; but meat, animal products and fish are not allowed.
2) On the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) and Palm Sunday fish is permitted as well as wine and oil, but meat and animal products are not allowed.
3) Wine and oil are permitted on the following days, if they fall on a weekday in the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth week:
-First & Second Finding of Head of St. John the Baptist (Feb. 24)
-Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (Mar. 9); Fore-feast of the Annunciation (Mar. 24)
-Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (Mar. 26)
-Holy Great martyr and Victory bearer George (April 23)
-Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (April 25)
-Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (May 8)
-Patronal Feast of the Church or Monastery
4) Wine and oil are also allowed on Wednesday and Thursday in the fifth week, because of the vigil for the Great Canon. Wine is allowed —and, according to some authorities, oil as well — on Friday in the same week, because of the vigil of the Akathist Hymn.
It has always been held that these rules of fasting should be relaxed in the case of anyone elderly or in poor health. In present-day practice, even for those in good health, the full strictness of the fast is usually mitigated. Only a few Orthodox today attempt to keep a total fast on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the first week, or on the first three days of Holy Week. On weekdays—except, perhaps, during the first week of Holy Week—it is now common to eat two cooked meals daily instead of one. From the second until the sixth week, many Orthodox use wine, and perhaps oil also, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and less commonly on Mondays as well. Permission is often given to eat fish in these weeks. Personal factors need to be taken into account, as for example the situation of an isolated Orthodox living in the same household as non-Orthodox, or obliged to take meals in a factory or school. In cases of uncertainty each should seek the advice of his or her spiritual father. At all times it is essential to bear in mind that “you are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14), and that “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). The rules of fasting, while they need to be taken seriously, are not to be interpreted with dour and pedantic legalism; “for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).
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Предверие Великого Поста.
Слово в Неделю о Страшном Суде.
Великий Пост часто называется «духовной весной», отображая происходящие в это время перемены в природе, и пробуждая наши души от греховной спячки к оживлению и цветению под воздействием солнечных лучей светлейшего Христова Воскресения. Ввиду того, что Великий Пост является самым важным временем всего церковного года, приготовляя верующих к встрече этого радостного «праздника праздников и торжества торжеств», Церковь и к посту нас готовит постепенно, и через сам пост проводит постепенно и целенаправленно, чтобы мы могли извлечь из него максимальную пользу для спасения наших душ. Таким образом, научив нас, в предшествующие два воскресенья, смирению мытаря и покаянию блудного сына, в это воскресенье Церковь приводит нас к третьей степени приготовления к Великому Посту - это страх Божий.
И вот перед нами раскрывается потрясающая картина Страшного Суда.... Прежде всего, поражает это необъятное море людей. И у нас должно быть живое сознание, что и мы среди них. Мы стараемся найти себя, стараемся определить наше место по нашему духовному состоянию.
Мы как бы видим людей, лица которых выражают отчаяние, ужасную печаль о своей погибшей жизни. Есть другие лица, исполненные злобой, ненавистью, завистью, ненасытными желаниями. Жизнь прошла, а что-то их гложет и вечно будет глодать....
Но вот, мы мысленно смотрим выше, ближе к Праведному Судье, и тут видим другие лица: тихие, спокойные, радостные, счастливые.... И чем ближе к Престолу, тем яснее эти лица. А над Престолом сияет Крест. На Престоле восседает Сам Господь Иисус Христос - Спаситель мира, а вокруг Него Иоанн Креститель, Апостолы, все святые молятся, торжествуют. Тут уже радостное ликование.
И лишь один вопль нарушает это торжество и ликование. На плече Христа плачет Богоматерь - Она еще умоляет о спасении грешников, о помиловании безнадежных. Ей Одной дана эта сила до конца ходатайствовать перед милосердием Божиим.
И вот, дорогие братья и сестры, где бы мы не ощущали себя на Страшном Суде, не будем отчаиваться! Мы еще не погибли! Есть Божия Матерь, Мать всего человечества, Она за нас молится, а Ей даже Всемогущий Бог вряд-ли сможет отказать. Только нужно нам иметь крепкую веру, покаяние и страх Божий.
Особенно в наше время, дорогие братья и сестры, мы должны иметь этот страх Божий. Для нас эта картина Страшного Суда, которую мы сейчас представили, не является какой-то аллегорией, или каким-то отдаленным будущим. Нет! Именно для нас, последних христиан, второе пришествие Спасителя и Страшный Суд являются возможной действительностью.
В наше время понятие «мир во зле лежит» уже стало самой конкретной реальностью. Зло проникло во все сферы человеческой жизни. Одновременно с разрушением природы и уничтожением Богом созданной красоты и гармонии нашего физического мира, мы видим уничтожение всех моральных ценностей, уничтожение всех проявлений красоты человеческой души. В искусстве, в музыке, в литературе, в человеческом мышлении, во внешнем облике человека - всюду насаждается безобразность, уродство, искажение.
Более того, как физический мир сейчас наполнен всевозможными микробами и вирусами, беспощадно разрушающими здоровье людей, так и в духовном плане наша жизнь наполнена страшными микробами богоотступничества и содомских грехов, полностью разрушающих души людей, особенно нашей молодежи.
Сейчас человечество находится в состоянии худшем, чем Содом и Гоморра, худшем, чем языческий мир, худшем, быть может, чем даже мир допотопный. И если Господь еще терпит, еще не уничтожает мир, так только потому, что в нем еще есть люди, которые могут спастись, а Господь хочем «всем нас спастись и в разум истины приити».
Но вот - «при дверех суд».... И картина Страшного Суда, хотя и ошеломляет нас, но не ввергает в отчаяние. Мы еще можем смириться, мы еще можем покаяться, мы еще можем ощутить в себе страх Божий. На это нам и дается предстоящее драгоценное время Великого Поста. И еще у нас есть последнее прибежище - заступничество Божией Матери. Поспешим же использовать все эти средства, дорогие братья и сестры, чтобы и нам быть поставленными по правую сторону Царя и услышать Его слова: «Приидите, благословенные Отца Моего, наследуйте Царство...» Аминь.