Remember to pray for…

Betty Chisholm (and her husband, Don) as they struggle with the infirmities of age.

An opportunity to help a fellow parishioner

Betty Chisholm would very much like to come to church, but needs a special Medical-Transport van to do so.  If you would like to donate the price of one (1) trip ($103.00), please speak with Matushka Deborah Johnson.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction….

Our parishioner, Olga Prisekin, has lost a lot of her eyesight and her hearing.  She would be grateful for help with grocery shopping, if anyone can donate the time to take her to one of her favorite stores, either MOM’s or Trader Joe’s.  If you would like to help Mrs. Prisekin by driving her to the store, the best way to let her know would be to tell her at church.  It’s easier to communicate with her by writing things down on paper; phone calls are difficult.

Books for Spiritual Growth and (great for gifts too!)

In our bookstore we have these items, all highly recommended (they wouldn’t be there otherwise).  They should be a part of every Orthodox Christian’s library.

Father Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works by Abbot Damascene

Confession, the Holy Mystery of Repentance by Father John Townsend

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pamazansky

We have other books for sale and please also take advantage of our library.

Purchase of Books, Candles, Prosphora and Other Items

Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item name, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate your purchase on the “for” or memo line of a check, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash and leave your check or cash in the wicker basket.  By so doing, you will make possible a correct accounting by our treasurer.

Our Choir

Our choir, as you can hear, is very effective, but small, and new members are always welcome.  If you can sing and would like to participate, please speak with our choir director, Reader Christopher Johnson.  Rehearsals are normally held on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 (see the schedule), and attendance at them is required (which is directly related to the choir’s effectiveness).

Our Sunday School

We have these Sunday School classes available:

1)     3 to 6 years old, taught by Dorothy Johnson and assisted by Matushka Anastasia Dantinne

2)     From 7 to 9 years old, taught by Clare Mendis

3)     From 10 to 12 years old, taught by Peter Gardner

4)     From 13 to 15 years old, taught by Mariya Petrenko

5)     From 16 to 18 years old, taught by Reader Christopher Johnson

6)     Adults, taught by Father George

God-willing, Bishop Jerome will be coming to be with us for our parish feast weekend, which will be July 17^th and 18^th this year.

Welcome to our visitors from the Diocese and the Choir Conference.

Remember to pray for…

Betty Chisholm (and her husband, Don) as they struggle with the infirmities of age

An Opportunity to Help a Fellow-Parishioner

Betty Chisholm would very much like to come to church, but needs a special Medical-Transport van to do so.  If you would like to donate the price of one (1) trip ($103.00), please speak with Matushka Deborah Johnson.

Books for Spiritual Growth and (great for gifts too!)

In our bookstore we have these items, all highly recommended (they wouldn’t be there otherwise).  They should be a part of every Orthodox Christian’s library.

Father Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works by Abbot Damascene

Confession, the Holy Mystery of Repentance by Father John Townsend

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pamazansky

We have other books for sale and please also take advantage of our library.

Purchase of Books, Candles, Prosphora and Other Items

Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item name, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate your purchase on the “for” or memo line of a check, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash and leave your check or cash in the wicker basket.  By so doing, you will make possible a correct accounting by our treasurer.

Our Choir

Our choir, as you can hear, is very effective, but small, and new members are always welcome.  If you can sing and would like to participate, please speak with our choir director, Reader Christopher Johnson.  Rehearsals are normally held on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 (see the schedule), and attendance at them is required (which is directly related to the choir’s effectiveness).

Our Sunday School

We have these Sunday School classes available:

1)      3 to 6 years old, taught by Dorothy Johnson and assisted by Matushka Anastasia Dantinne

2)    From 7 to 9 years old, taught by Claire Mendis

3)     From 10 to 12 years old, taught by Peter Gardner

4)    From 13 to 15 years old, taught by Mariya Petrenko

5)     From 16 to 18 years old, taught by Reader Christopher

6)    Adults, taught by Father George

Welcome

A warm welcome is due to Nathan Hicks, who was anointed with holy chrism on Sunday, 1/31.  As God allows, he will have his first communion on our first non-snow-impeded Divine Liturgy.

Monday night 7 PM – Matthew Gallatin, noted Orthodox speaker, will give a talk at the parish on “Marriage, a path to salvation” – Not for married people only!  Please come and invite someone to hear an Orthodox view of the place of this foundation stone of human society.

Thursdays from now until Christmas – every choir rehearsal is vital to prepare for Nativity – If you would be a part of this, please speak with our choir director, Reader Christopher Johnson.

The Kursk Root Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God will visit our parish on the Sunday night 12/27 at 7 PM – Please plan to attend to ask for the prayers of the Mother of God before this great and holy object and to hear a presentation on the wondrous recent visit of the icon to Russia for the first time in 90 years, since the Russian revolution.

Please see Matushka Deborah or her sisterhood designee about the preparations for the Nativity festal meal on January 7^th at the rectory.

The parish council meeting will be here at 7 PM on Monday the 14^th.

This Wednesday’s 7 PM prayer service will be before the icon of the Mother of God, the Softener of Evil Hearts – Those present will be anointed with oil from the miraculous original of this icon that visited us recently.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            On the first Saturday of November this year, the Church calls us to come together to pray for the souls of all the faithful departed.  This is one of the blessed parts of our inheritance as Orthodox Christians.  It is therefore incumbent upon us to observe this.

            We are led by the world to regard the dead as simply dead and no more.  For example, “What do the dead care…,” etcetera.  They care a great deal, according to our traditions.  Our prayers for departed souls are of great benefit for them and for ourselves.

We are reminded that the community of the Body of Christ, the Church, is not simply made up of those in this life.  Our icons of all the saints remind us of this, but praying for the dead directly puts us even more in touch with this fact.  The more we pray for them, the more we ward off the notions of the demons that anything to do with the dead is merely ghoulish and macabre.

Church Fathers tell us that our prayers help departed souls in their encounters with the results of their shortcomings in this life.  Father Seraphim Rose goes into some detail about these encounters in his book, “The Soul After Death” (highly recommended).  We would also learn of the effects of our prayers in the services themselves, such as the services for Demetrius Saturday (this year 11/6 and 11/7).

By praying for the dead, we put ourselves in line to be prayed for when our time of departure comes.  We are also stimulated by a heightened awareness of death towards repentance.

One benefit to us is not perhaps immediately discernable, but it accrues over time to sensibility.  We slowly become aware that we are close to the souls of those for whom we pray, even those unknown to us.  Joy may overtake us in this awareness because of its unexpectedness.  This is worth working toward, even if we have no Orthodox dead in our families.

            It is true that only Orthodox names may be read aloud in the course of the services for the dead and this is a source of pain for some, including myself.  This does not mean that we do not pray for these dead.  We should pray for the souls of those in our connection each and every day in our private prayers.  And it is no excuse to remain away from the services because we cannot mention our own people aloud.  The services instill in us the teaching of the Church about the dead and put us in frequent remembrance of this teaching and their souls.  If we do not enter into prayers for all the dead, what do we teach those who come after?  Who will pray for us if our children do not know to do so?

            Let us therefore enter with joy into that which will bring us joy, both here and hereafter.  Let us keep the Faith in this way, and keep faith with those who have gone before and with each other for the sake of fulfilling God’s will for us, now and forever in His Kingdom.

            Father George

Remember to pray for…
Elizabeth Sweet, who continues her battle with breast cancer;
Olga Prisekin, back home now and recovering after hospitalization;
Betty Chisholm (and her husband, Don) as they struggle with the infirmities of age;
Archimandrite Joasaph (McClellan), lately Chief of Mission in Jerusalem, but now in the U.S. undergoing treatment for a rare form of cancer;
and many others for whom we regularly pray in our Wednesday evening services in petitions for the sick.

More news about the “Beautiful Church on the Hill”
This month, we will begin our “Loaves and Fishes” program for individual giving toward the church restoration project. See below about the building fund.

New Life in Christ
Along with the baptism of Maxim and Mariya’s baby Anna, we also baptized Zachary and Michael, sons of Silas and Brigid Diaz. We have also made a new catechumen, Gabriella. Let us all congratulate and keep these “little ones” in Christ in our prayers. The catechumens whom we pray for at every Divine Liturgy include: Gabriella, Elizabeth, Katherine, John, Thomas, Emilia, Jason, Xenia.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that soon with God’s help, we will be able to begin to re-beautify and fix that which is lacking in the St. Joseph’s chapel and re-dedicate it to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. We have an initial fundraising goal of a million dollars. This is approximately the amount we will need in order to make the church usable. Eventually, we hope to also build a parish hall and a larger new temple on the same grounds. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. We also ask that contributions targeted for the building fund be made, over and above our regular pledging, indicating so on the memo line of a check, or through a note attached to other means of giving. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of the new church.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With these words, the holy prophet Isaiah calls on the people to, with all their strength, take the place that God has laid out for them.  Just so, we, his new people here at Holy Apostles are called to awaken to the parish community in its need.  As we look at the apparent enormity of our task, we remember that God is on our side; and with Him on our side, we can forget about the other side.  It is by taking one small step after another in the right direction that will get us to any goal.  We each have the strength for such small steps as appear for us to do.

For example, our pump-priming “Loaves and Fishes” fund-raising program.  This is where each of us makes a list of at least five names, gets enough stamps, envelopes and copies of the solicitation letter, mails them, and then we see what God does with the bread we have cast upon the waters.

We have no doubt that, with this and with a continuing succession of similar small steps, God will take us toward our heavenly goal by way of the earthly goal that He shows us.  So far, He shows us that He wants us to have this beautiful site and temple.  The time is here for all and each of us to give something back.  We need to remember that our gifts to God and His Church are not for God’s benefit; it is we who need to give them for our own benefit.  These small efforts, these small gifts, join our prayers to show that we mean what we pray.  Probably no one among us can give a million dollars.  But we do have what we have, all of it belongs to God, and we should therefore give what we can and do what we can.  Even if our individual gift does not equal all that is needed, if we give all that we can give, God sees that and rewards that.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father rushes out to meet the son.  In our case, our Father has come more than halfway to meet us to show us the direction we should go.

We should pray God to give us the sight to see and become aware of our need, not to have, but to give.  If ever there was a time to add to our treasure in heaven, this is that time.

In Christ, Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            We are come to the verge of our great opportunity for service to the Lord.  He has led us to this point as surely as He led the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, as surely as He came to dwell among us in His incarnation, as surely as He triumphed over death and sin for the sake of our salvation in His death and resurrection.   Like the children of Israel of old and the new-made Church from among the remnant of His people and from among the gentiles, we are His people, we at this little parish of the Holy Apostles.

We know we are His because his gifts to us are miraculous and undeserved, and much needed, especially for the sake of our growth and future as a parish.  He has given us an opportunity to carry forward and better a neglected historical legacy, to raise up that which has fallen.  He has given this to us so that His servants might praise Him from this little corner of His creation.  The English poet, George Herbert, says “Let all the world in every corner sing” to God, and God has shown us by His actions toward us that He means for our new corner of the world, our hilltop temple, to reawaken in divine song.

            Let us take up the task as did Miriam, the sister of Moses, when it was time to dance and sing to God for His great victory.  Let us fulfill His victory and move to our new land, given to us by Him.  Let us not fear the “giant” of this land, the amount of money that it is going to take to complete the task, because God has already cut the giant way down to a very contained and finite size.  It is a giant that with our sacrifice we can bring down.  We can sacrifice our own money, of course.  We can also sacrifice our time to ask others to work on the parish fundraising efforts, for another example.  And we can always at all times pray, pray for each other, pray for the benefactors, the Christian Brothers, pray for the Historical Commission of Prince George’s County which will have a say in how we proceed, and pray for those people who will be our benefactors.

God has given us so much, not only that we might have a new larger temple, but that we as Christians might grow in grace and sanctity, in devotion.  We remember that three years ago, our departed Metropolitan Laurus of most happy memory came to us on that Sunday of All Saints to remind us of saintly devotion, not only in what he said, but through his own example, in pouring out his waning strength for his beloved flock.  Here is in part what he said:

“The first Sunday after the feast of Holy Trinity is called the Sunday of All Saints.  On this day the Holy Church prayerfully glorifies all the saints who have pleased God from the ages.  Included in this Sunday are the Holy Apostles, prophets, martyrs, bishops, monks, nuns, fools for Christ and all the righteous ones.

      Honoring the memory of All Saints soon after the Feast of Holy Pentecost, the Holy Church desires in this way to show that sanctity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which was abundantly poured forth on the Holy Apostles and through them in the Holy Church is poured forth on all believers.

      The Holy Spirit made wise and raised to the ranks of the angels men like unto us, and others were crowned with sanctity for their ascetic and righteous lives.  The ascetic feats of the saints were various, as today's Epistle reading informs us.  The saints conquered enemies visible and invisible with faith.  They patiently endured poverty and all kinds of adversity, persecution, martyrdom, and different forms of death.

      The gospel reading of today testifies that the saints were true confessors of the Holy Faith as they left all behind that hindered them from following the Lord or that prohibited them from fulfilling His holy commandments.

      And in the same way that they confessed the Lord before people, before mankind, does the Lord Jesus Christ confess the saints before His Heavenly Father.  The saints whose memory we commemorate today followed the Lord, they followed His call, and took upon themselves the cross and carried it.”

Amen.  Let us make no mistake.  We are being called.  Let us follow the call, and take up this cross with joy.  Vladyka Laurus said at the very end of his homily, “May God help you.  I will ask that all saints pray to God for us.  Amen.”

And Amen.

Father George

 News about the “Beautiful Church on the Hill”
As of this writing, a thorough evaluation of the state of the chapel has been conducted. We have an estimated price tag to bring the property into suitability and usability. As has been the case from the beginning of this effort, shortly after Bishop Gabriel’s visit at our last parish feast, now more than ever, we all need to become more prayerful and devoted, individually and as a community. We need also to devote such funds as we can to this. Now is the time to remember the loaves and fishes. Now is the time to remember that the Lord’s wondrous act really fed the people. So, we his people of today, have to give our own loaves and fishes. God has brought us to this place. He has been with us and continues to be. Let us be with Him. See below about the building fund.

Visiting the Sick and Shut-ins
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, and is not able to easily get to Church. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She would also appreciate a visit.

Paschal Joy Bestowed
This wondrous season we are reminded is the season of weddings. We have two (and, God willing, a third a little later)! God willing, Marc and Ginny (catechumen Elisabeth) and our Christopher and Dorothy will be married by the end of the month. Pray for them and with them as they start on this joyful path of life.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that soon with God’s help, we will be able to begin to re-beautify and fix that which is wanting in the St. Joseph’s chapel and re-dedicate it to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. Eventually we hope to also build a parish hall and a larger new temple on the same grounds. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. We also ask that contributions targeted for the building fund be made, over and above our regular pledging, indicating so on the memo line of a check, or through a note attached to other means of giving. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

News about the “Beautiful Church on the Hill”
The process is going very well. When the agreement with the Christian Brothers for conveyance is completed, we will go ahead with a professional evaluation of the work to be done. See below about the building fund.

Visiting the Sick and Shut-ins
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, and is not able to easily get to Church. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She would also appreciate a visit.

Gratefulness for a Gift
Last summer, the parish gave us (Father George and Matushka Deborah) a gift certificate for the French restaurant, “La Ferme.” At long last, we took advantage of this on Friday in the week of the Publican and Pharisee. The atmosphere and the food were wonderful (most especially the Onion Soup) and well worth the certificate. Many thanks again, dear people, for your thoughtfulness in giving us a very nice evening out.

Prayers needed
Father George is having an operation for a cataract in his right eye on Monday, March 16th. Please keep him in your prayers for a quick recovery.

Diocesan Conference 3/16/-3/18 in Jackson, New Jersey
The medical procedure Father George will undergo prevents him from attendance at the conference in New Jersey. The parish is to be represented by Father Deacon Damian Dantinne and Mark Strumpf. Keep these men on your prayers.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will be able to restore and make useful the St. Joseph’s chapel and re-dedicate it to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. Eventually we hope to also build a parish hall and a larger new temple on the same grounds. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. We also ask that contributions targeted for the building fund be made, over and above our regular pledging, indicating so on the memo line of a check, or through a note attached to other means of giving. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            On the 2^nd of this month begins the Great Fast wherein we prepare for the bright and glorious Resurrection of our Lord.  The reason that we fast is so that our more frequent corporate prayer might be less distracted by our earthly needs.  Lent is not a mere change of diet.  By cutting back on our earthly burden, we raise our sights to things above.

            If we believe that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome.  It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth.  From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

Fasting and the other Lenten observances and commemorations that maintain the Church’s life are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us.  The Gospel selection that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration.  With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom, not the freedom of license, but that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal.  Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism.  We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be kept ever in our mind’s eye.  To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth.  Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

Father George

News about the Potential New Church Property
Weekly bulletins will be provided

The Akathist Hymn Honoring our Heavenly Patrons
Reader Isaac Lambertsen has composed an akathist in honor of our patron Saints “Paul and the assembly of the twelve” (from our festal Kontakion). Our regular Wednesday moleben (prayer service) will be alternatively dedicated to the Holy Apostles and the Mother of God. For both these intentions, please join us to help intensify our prayer together, to further bind us as a family and as a body of “prayer warriors.” In these services, as in our daily prayers, we should remember Isaac especially now when he is undergoing extensive procedures to benefit and preserve his sight.

The Visit of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God
Father George will retrieve the icon from Father Victor Potapov’s house on the morning of the 15th, Monday. From that time until the evening vigil in honor of the Mother of God’s icon, we hope to visit our shut-in population and, if not doing that, to have the icon at the church and pray frequently before it. After Tuesday’s Liturgy, Father George will convey the icon to Holy Transfiguration parish in Baltimore for an Akathist Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, the icon will be back at Holy Apostles from 10 until 5, when Father George will return the icon to St. John the Baptist.

Visiting the Sick and Shut-ins
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, and is not able to easily get to Church. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She would also appreciate a visit.

Parish Groups and Activities
Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities. Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.
Choir – Take this opportunity to be the “voice of the Church” – Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings at 7 – Please contact the director, Reader Christopher Johnson, to find out more.
Sunday School and other catechesis - There are three classes for children and young people. Adult catachesis will be taught by Father George. Adult catechesis is regularly available after the regular Wednesday evening Moleben. This will be tailored to the needs of those in attendance.
Sunday Luncheon Signup – Every Sunday after Divine Liturgy, we sit down together for a communal meal. This is a traditional and vital part of our community’s life and everyone regularly participating should take a turn to prepare the meal for us all. Please speak to Matushka Anastasia for further details.
Cleaning the church - If you would like to help with church cleaning, please speak to Matushka Anastasia. Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.
St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group - Please contact reader Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians from the greater DC metropolitan area, ages approximately 18-35.

Sunday School Development Program – Matushka Deborah, Matushka Anastasia and Dorothy Dillon are attending a course based on the philosophy of Sofia Cavalleti contained in her book “The Religious Potential of the Child.” Work has already been done elsewhere that demonstrates the adaptability of her work to Orthodox catachesis. The course sessions will be for ten months, one Saturday per month, starting Saturday the 20th of September. Please make a donation to support this effort (indicating so with a note accompanying cash, or on a check’s memo line). Please also keep the Matushkas and Dorothy in your prayers for this effort.

Confession
We take very seriously the apostolic admonitions regarding preparation for receiving Holy Communion, or the Holy Mysteries. This is manifested in the tradition of making a confession at Church the evening before we intend to receive the Holy Mysteries as part of that preparation. This practice coincides with another part of our preparation: attendance at the All-Night Vigil. If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15. Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers. We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Dressing for Church
While it is important to feel at home in one’s parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God. In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed. No one who is not a small child should wear shorts. Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts. Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders. Any clothing that is revealing or on the borderline of modesty is not appropriate. Slogans should not appear on apparel. A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.
Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles
A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish. Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.” By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence. At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs. If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution. We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything. While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and frequent hostility to the Christian Faith.
We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life. A good foundation for stewardship is the tithe - 10% of our income. Some of us are doing this already. Those who tithe can testify that God takes care of such benefactors. First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service. Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors. To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will be able to restore and make useful the St. Joseph’s chapel and re-dedicate it to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. Eventually we hope to also build a parish hall and a larger new temple on the same grounds. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. We also ask that contributions targeted for the building fund be made, over and above our regular pledging, indicating so on the memo line of a check, or through a note attached to other means of giving. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

A Flyer to Invite Visitors
We have a flyer available for you to hand out or post on bulletin boards, regarding our newly remodeled church. One is included in this monthly bulletin, and more are available at the candlestand. Please invite a friend to come visit our church. We want to fill our new space!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Again, the Lord has given us a sign of the end of the beginning of our unity in the Russian Church.  Within the same year, the two great participants in the healing of a rift within the Body of Christ are called from this passing world into eternity.

            The parallels with our late Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory are striking.  He passed on the Sunday of Orthodoxy at the end of the first week of the Great Fast.  The Patriarch went to his rest within the period of the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the temple, near the beginning of this Nativity fast.  Both were in fragile health, but neither would allow this to impede their path as diligent arch-pastors, faithfully shepherding their flocks.  They both followed the Lord’s leading in going about “doing good” until the end.

            On the evening of Friday, December 6^th, we served a pannikhida in memory of the just-reposed Patriarch.  Those present included some few who would probably not have been with us were it not for the Patriarch’s labors, together with those of our late Metropolitan, to call all those of the Russian Church, both at home and in the diaspora, into unity.

            We all pray together at the Divine Liturgy for a “Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, peaceful and a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ.”  As it was for our Metropolitan, so was this granted to our Patriarch.  What better defense can be asked for than to have healed a tear in the garment of Christ?

            When we were in Moscow in 2007, many of us for the first time sensed the real significance of what we are a part of in the Russian Church.  In one day, the Feast of the Ascension, we had moved from a state of spiritual “siege”, that is, a growing sectarian mentality, into the fullness of the Church.  Each little event was like a door opening into more and more light.  In the vast space of Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Patriarch proclaims unity and healing in a classic Christian manner of beseeching the Lord for His help, calling to mind King Solomon’s beseeching at the dedication of the temple.  Among the hundreds of clergymen to whom he distributes communion, he gives me the precious gift conveying in his expression the simplest heartfelt joy.

            As we go forward in this Nativity Fast, the Lord, through calling out of this world of His great servant, has called us to pursue our prayer and fasting in preparation for the Incarnation of our Lord with greater focus.  This is always what momentous events mean for the Christian.  We, all of us together, should be about moving from darkness into light, from this world into the heavenly kingdom.  As our late beloved Metropolitan has done, and now as our “great Lord and Father” has done, we too should go about in our lives “doing good” so that we can build up a good hope for our defense before the dread throne as they did.

            May the memory of Patriarch Alexis be eternal.  May our own way be as much in the way toward a blessed eternity as was his.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.

Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 6, verse 38

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

All now are aware of the great gift that God is giving us in a beautiful property of St. Joseph’s chapel and its grounds.  While I have long known and seen that God can do anything, I must confess that I was struck by the whimsical implication of asking for such a gift.  But now, as God brings dreams to reality, we are faced with increased opportunities to serve him with our prayer, time, talent and earnings, since moving the process of acquisition forward is going to require more of all of these from us.  As if to emphasize His outpouring on us, we are given yet another great boon.

We are blessed beyond measure to welcome again to our parish the 700-year-old wonder-working Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign.  We will honor the Mother of God with prayers before her icon, especially in a votive Vigil and Divine Liturgy on the evening of Friday and the morning of Saturday on Thanksgiving weekend.  To refresh the familiar and for those new to the Russian tradition, particularly as concerns the journey of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, this capsule history is offered, copied from the ROCOR website section detailing our Church’s treasured icons.

Father George

Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, Protectress of the Russian Diaspora

On 8 September, 1295, on the day of the Nativity of the Most-Holy Mother of God, a small force of hunters from Rylsk came to hunt at the Tuskora river, 27 versts* from Kursk.  One of the hunters, an honorable and pious man, seeking prey in the woods, found a small icon lying face down on the root of a tree. He had barely lifted it to inspect it when the spot upon which the icon lay burst out with a strong spring of pure water. The icon turned out to be of the type referred to as the "Sign" of the Mother of God. The hunter who found the icon knew that this was no ordinary occurrence. He called his companions and together they built a small wooden chapel, into which they placed this icon. The residents of Rylsk, hearing of the newly-appeared icon of the Mother of God, began to visit it for veneration, and many miracles began to appear from it.

In 1385, the Kursk region was again swept by the Tatars. They tried to burn down the chapel and its Icon, but the wooden structure would not burn. The priest who lived by the chapel, Fr. Bogolep, explained to them that the reason for this miracle was the Icon itself. The incensed Tatars hacked the Icon in half and tossed the pieces in different directions, then burned the chapel.

The priest was made a prisoner and was forced to tend to Tatar flocks. Some time later, he was ransomed by emissaries of the Muscovite Grand Duke on their way to the Golden Horde, and he returned to the place where the chapel had stood. After a long search, while praying and fasting, he found both halves of the holy Icon, placed them side by side, and they grew together seamlessly, exhibiting only something "like dew".

In 1676 the holy Icon traveled to the Don River for blessing the Don Cossack troops. In 1684 Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich sent a copy of this Icon with the order that it accompany Orthodox troops into battle. In 1687 the holy Icon was sent to the "Great Army." In 1689 copies of the holy Icon were given to the armies in the Crimean campaign. In 1812 a copy of the holy Icon was sent to Prince Kutuzov and the battling troops. Before his icon St. Seraphim of Sarov prayed and was healed.

On the night of 7-8 March, 1898, conspirator revolutionaries-atheists tried to blow up the Miracle-working Icon with a hellish bomb, but the Lord Jesus Christ glorified His Most-Pure Mother yet more, for despite the terrifying destruction in the cathedral surrounding the Icon, it remained untouched.

On 12 April 1918, the holy Icon was stolen from the cathedral of the Monastery of the Sign of the Mother of God and stripped of its ornamentation, but on 2 May it was found and returned to its place.

Finally, in 1919, while accompanying Bishop Feofan of Kursk and Oboyan' and some monks of the Monastery of the Sign, the holy Icon crossed the border to the neighborly Serbia. In 1920 it again, at the behest of General Wrangel, visited Russia at the Crimea and remained there until the final evacuation of the Russian Army in the first days of November, 1920. The holy Icon returned to Serbia, where it remained until 1944, when, together with the Synod of Bishops, it went abroad, to Munich (Bavaria) with Metropolitan Anastassy. In 1951 Metropolitan Anastassy moved from Munich to America. Since 1957 the Icon had resided in the main cathedral dedicated to it in the Synod of Bishops in New York. The holy Icon regularly travels to all the dioceses of the Russian diaspora.

*”Verst” is an old Russian unit of measurement equating to about 3,500 feet.

News about the Potential New Church Property
Our patience is being rewarded. We have received news that indicates a positive reception by the Christian Brothers to our request. We are in communication with them and, God willing, will be able to meet with them and others and gain access to St. Joseph’s chapel for a complete evaluation of the needs and form estimates of what it will take to make the property ready for us. Please pray! Now would be a good time to begin to attend our Wednesday evening moleben to the Holy Apostles as part of your increased prayer effort.

The New Hymn Honoring our Heavenly Patrons
Since we now have a hymn that honors “Paul and the assembly of the twelve” (from our festal Kontakion), and because things are happening that suggest the need, our Wednesday moleben (prayer service) will be dedicated to the Holy Apostles for a time. Please join us to help intensify our prayer together, to further bind us as a family and as a body of “prayer warriors” so that the realization of God’s potential for us can be brought to pass with our willing participation. There are no simple coincidences. There is much for which we should thank God concerning our brother, Reader Isaac, the composer of this hymn. Without his gifts, our worship in our own language would be impossible. For this reason and because of his willingness to share his gifts with our parish, we can and should all remember Reader Isaac in our daily prayers.

Father John Townsend to Visit Us
Father John has been completely supportive of our parish from the beginning. He is a priest of great experience and dedication and, even in the midst of his very busy life as Rector of St. Mary of Egypt parish in Atlanta, Georgia, from time to time he has made the time to be with us and encourage us. His visit will extend from the evening of Friday, 10/17, through the morning of Monday, 10/20. God willing, he will be part with us for our visit to the chapel property. Let’s all make a point to be in attendance this weekend to meet him and hear his words.

Visiting the Sick and Shut-ins
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, and is not able to easily get to Church. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She would also appreciate a visit.

Parish Groups and Activities
Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities. Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.
Choir – Take this opportunity to be the “voice of the Church” – Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings at 7 – Please contact the director, Reader Christopher Johnson, to find out more.
Sunday School and other catechesis - There are three classes for children and young people. Adult catachesis will be taught by Father George. Adult catechesis is regularly available after the regular Wednesday evening Moleben. This will be tailored to the needs of those in attendance.
Sunday Luncheon Signup – Every Sunday after Divine Liturgy, we sit down together for a communal meal. This is a traditional and vital part of our community’s life and everyone regularly participating should take a turn to prepare the meal for us all. Please speak to Matushka Anastasia for further details.
Cleaning the church - If you would like to help with church cleaning, please speak to Matushka Anastasia. Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.

St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group - Please contact reader Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians from the greater DC metropolitan area, ages approximately 18-35.
Special Prayers for St. Joseph’s Young Adults
Our young people are in the process of establishing an OCF chapter at the University of Maryland College Park campus. OCF stands for Orthodox Christian Fellowship, a nation-wide student-supporting organization that envelops all Orthodox jurisdictions. It is designed to provide opportunity for Orthodox young people to gather on campus for prayer, Bible study and other activities that will help them to enhance and maintain their own Faith as well as provide a witness to others. Our young people are inspired to make this effort by the example of the UMBC OCF chapter at Catonsville, some of whose members are part of SJYA. They need our prayers for a speedy and positive outcome to their efforts.

Sunday School Development Program – Matushka Deborah, Matushka Anastasia and Dorothy Dillon are attending a course based on the philosophy of Sofia Cavalleti contained in her book “The Religious Potential of the Child.” Work has already been done elsewhere that demonstrates the adaptability of her work to Orthodox catachesis. The course sessions will be for ten months, one Saturday per month, starting Saturday the 20th of September. Please make a donation to support this effort (indicating so with a note accompanying cash, or on a check’s memo line). Please also keep the Matushkas and Dorothy in your prayers for this effort.

Confession
We take very seriously the apostolic admonitions regarding preparation for receiving Holy Communion, or the Holy Mysteries. This is manifested in the tradition of making a confession at Church the evening before we intend to receive the Holy Mysteries as part of that preparation. This practice coincides with another part of our preparation: attendance at the All-Night Vigil. If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15. Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers. We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Dressing for Church
While it is important to feel at home in one’s parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God. In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed. No one who is not a small child should wear shorts. Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts. Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders. Any clothing that is revealing or on the borderline of modesty is not appropriate. Slogans should not appear on apparel. A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles
A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish. Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.” By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence. At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs.

If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution. We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything. While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and frequent hostility to the Christian Faith.

We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life.

A good foundation for stewardship is the tithe - 10% of our income. Some of us are doing this already. Those who tithe can testify that God takes care of such benefactors. First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service. Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors. To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will build a beautiful church dedicated to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. We also ask that contributions targeted for the building fund be made, over and above our regular pledging, indicating so on the memo line of a check, or through a note attached to other means of giving. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

A Flyer to Invite Visitors
We have a flyer available for you to hand out or post on bulletin boards, regarding our newly remodeled church. One is included in this monthly bulletin, and more are available at the candlestand. Please invite a friend to come visit our church. We want to fill our new space!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            A mark of the Orthodox Faith is our veneration of the Mother of God.  For those Just coming to Orthodoxy, this at first seems strange, until we consider her place in the plan of salvation.  It is through her willingness to humbly submit to God’s will that our Savior was born into the world.  She is indispensable, therefore, to His incarnation.  She herself prophesied in her song in the Gospel of St. Luke that all generations would call her “Blessed.”

We are among those countless generations who have looked to her example and call upon her intercessions on our behalf.  The efficacy of her intercessions, as well as that of all the Saints, is part of the fabric of our Faith.  Among the many instances of her help for us, we remember especially her protection of the Christian people in Constantinople from invasion.  The feast commemorating this event we call the Protection of the Mother of God, and it occurs on the 14^th of October (the 1^st on our Church calendar).

The Lord shows how He is “wondrous in His saints” through His mysterious use of icons, both as focus for our prayer and as emblems of His mercy.  We remember the many miraculous icons of the Mother of God that adorn the history of the Church.  These wonders persist into our own time.  We have witnessed the myrrh streaming from the wonder-working Iveron Mother of God, now lost.  We have witnessed the healing that God has granted to those who seek her help before this icon and, of course, the Kursk-Root Icon of the Sign, the Protectress of the Russian diaspora.  Copies of these and many others adorn the walls of our little mission.  There is a Russian traditional icon that shows all the saints of the year, rank on rank in the body of the icon, and the margin contains many wonder-working icons of the Mother of God.  Just as with all the saints, however many can be painted into the icon, it is still only a representative number.

God willing, this month Matushka Deborah and I will receive a commissioned copy of the icon of the Mother of God, “Multiplier of Wheat,” written by Matushka Daria Carney, the iconographer of our temple icon of the Holy Apostles.  (Together with her husband, Father Michael Carney, she should be remembered in our prayers.) The original was written at the behest of Holy Elder Ambrose of Optina Monastery.  Showing the Mother of God hovering in the clouds and extending her hands in blessing over a field of standing and shocked ripe grain, St. Ambrose intended it to show that she is a “helper for people in their labors for acquiring their daily bread.” After the Saint’s death, his attendant wrote and gave a copy of the icon to a women’s monastery dedicated to St. Paraskeva / Pyatnitsa.  Later, wide areas of Russia experienced a drought and were threatened with famine.  A moleben was served before this icon, rainfall began, and the drought was ended.

St. Ambrose proclaimed the feast day of this icon to be the 28^th of October (the 15^th on the Church calendar).   As if for emphasis, it happened in God’s good time that St. Ambrose’s funeral took place on that date.  On or about that day, depending on the arrival of the icon, we hope to gather at the church to serve a moleben and akathist before it, using the text of St. Romanos’s great hymn which is appointed to be sung at the Laudation of the Mother of God during Great Lent.  As it also happens, this great hymnographer, called the “sweet singer,” is commemorated together with the Protection on the 14^th.

On these special occasions, we gather for corporate remembrance, and this prayer together should stimulate us to never neglect like prayers in our individual prayer life.  As we struggle for our “daily bread,” we should also remember that our struggle is blessed by our Lord in His prayer to the Heavenly Father, and, accordingly, by the protection and intercession of His most pure Mother.

The New Hymn Honoring our Heavenly Patrons
Since we now have a hymn that honors “Paul and the assembly of the twelve” (from our patronal Kontakion), and because things are happening that suggest the need, our Wednesday moleben (prayer service) will be dedicated to the Holy Apostles for a time. Please join us to help intensify our prayer together, to further bind us as a family and as a body of “prayer warriors” so that the realization of God’s potential for us can be brought to pass with our willing participation. There are no simple coincidences. There is much for which we should thank God concerning our brother, Reader Isaac, the composer of this hymn. Without his gifts, our worship in our own language would be impossible. For this reason and because of his willingness to share his gifts with our parish, we can and should all remember Reader Isaac in our daily prayers.

Metropolitan Hilarion to Visit Us – Metropolitan Hilarion has been very encouraging to us on our mission path from its inception until now. We have kept him informed of our progress with the potential new location. He will be brought to the St. Joseph’s Chapel property at 9:15 on Monday morning, the 15th; then he will be brought back to the parish for a brief moleben to the Holy Apostles followed by serving of refreshments and further discussion. If you are at all able, please join us at the “church on the hill” and at the parish for this opportunity to be with the Metropolitan.

Visiting the Sick and Shut-ins
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, and is not able to easily get to Church. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She would also appreciate a visit.

Parish Groups and Activities
Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities. Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.
Choir – Take this opportunity to be the “voice of the Church” – Rehearsals are (generally) on Thursday evenings at 7 – Please contact the director, Reader Christopher Johnson, to find out more
Sunday School and other catechesis - There are three classes for children and young people. Adult catachesis will be taught by Father George. Adult catechesis is regularly available after the regular Wednesday evening Moleben. This will be tailored to the needs of those in attendance.
Sunday Luncheon Signup – Every Sunday after Divine Liturgy, we sit down together for a communal meal. This is very important to the life of our community and everyone regularly participating should take a turn to prepare the meal for us all. Please speak to Matushka Anastasia for further details.
Cleaning the church - If you would like to help with church cleaning, please speak to Matushka Anastasia. Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.
Flower volunteer needed - would you like to help with beautifying the church with flowers? Please let Matushka Deborah know if you are interested.
St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group - Please contact reader Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians from the greater DC metropolitan area, ages approximately 18-35.

Sunday School Development Program – Matushka Deborah, Matushka Anastasia and Dorothy Dillon will be attending a course based on the philosophy of Sofia Cavalleti contained in her book “The Religious Potential of the Child.” Work has already been done elsewhere that demonstrates the adaptability of her work to Orthodox catachesis. The course sessions will be for ten months, one Saturday per month, starting Saturday the 20th of September. Please make a donation to support this effort (indicating so with a note accompanying cash, or on a check’s memo line). Please also keep the Matushkas and Dorothy in your prayers for this effort.

Confession
We take very seriously the apostolic admonitions regarding preparation for receiving Holy Communion, or the Holy Mysteries. This is manifested in the tradition of making a confession at Church the evening before we intend to receive the Holy Mysteries as part of that preparation. This practice coincides with another part of our preparation: attendance at the All-Night Vigil. If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15. Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers. We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Dressing for Church
While it is important to feel at home in one’s parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God. In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed. No one who is not a small child should wear shorts. Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts. Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders. Any clothing that is revealing or on the borderline of modesty is not appropriate. Slogans should not appear on apparel. A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.
Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in the accounting.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles
A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish. Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.” By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence. At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs. If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution. We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything. While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and frequent hostility to the Christian Faith.
We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life. A good foundation for stewardship is the tithe - 10% of our income. Some of us are doing this already. Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors. First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service. Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors. To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will build a beautiful church dedicated to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

A Flyer to Invite Visitors
We have a flyer available for you to hand out or post on bulletin boards, regarding our newly remodeled church. One is included in this monthly bulletin, and more are available at the candlestand. Please invite a friend to come visit our church. We want to fill our new space!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            September is the beginning of the Church’s Year.  This tradition we inherit from ancient Israel who set apart this time for both material and spiritual renewal.  To this day, the descendants of the Chosen People gather for the Day of Atonement, a time of profoundest reflection and re-dedication.

It was at this time of the year that the Lord read in the synagogue this passage from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Afterward, He taught them and us that He is the Savior that brings about this renewal.  “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

We hear all the time of “mission statements” that encapsulate a purpose.  As a mission of the one and only Savior, our “mission statement” is to proclaim His Person.  We believe that we are one with Him in His body, the Church.  Thus, when He speaks, He speaks for us and through us.  That is why we must be renewed, not only annually, but continually, not only apparently, but from the very ground of our being.  If, as the Lord’s Body, we are to embody the vision and voice of His presence, then it only stands to reason that we must be renewed in our devotion and in holiness.  As Saint Paul says:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

            It is no mere accident or coincidence that the Lord has presented us at this new beginning with another opportunity, another “this day” for us in which we can make our sacrifice.  I speak of course of that to which I alluded in last month’s bulletin: the beautiful and historic St. Joseph’s Chapel and its property two miles north of our present location.  At this writing, the Lord is calling on us to be patient and wait upon His will and judgment.  If it dawns that it is His will for us to take on this responsibility, then the subject of sacrifice, material sacrifice, will emerge for us very tangibly.  It will be necessary for us to do all we can.  We will need to make sacrifices.

            In ancient Israel for both Tabernacle and Temple worship, a detailed schedule of such sacrifices was established.  We can still read of this in complete detail in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.  It is recorded there that the sacrificial requirements were set up according to the gravity of the sacrificial need and economic station.  The premier sacrifice was a male sheep, a ram, without blemish.  In the context of an agricultural pastoral economy, this meant giving up a significant source of revenue, a real “money maker.”  This was a sign that God came first, before economic gain.  The lesson for us is that the Biblical notion of a “normal” sacrifice involves giving up something important, something that we notice.

            In our time, being deceived by the spirit of the age, we have come to view our own material needs and wants as paramount, as one and the same, scarcely distinguishing between the two.  As part of our renewal this year, and in the face of what God is presenting to us as a parish, we need to take a hard look at the difference between needs and wants.  Once we discover that difference, we need to then, for the sake of the building up of the parish, be ready to set aside or defer that which we do not need, and be ready to devote that money instead to sacrificial giving.

            Last month, I said that the tonsurings and ordination did not happen merely as a reward, but as preparation for the burdens of the journey ahead.  If, as may happen, this wonderful property is donated to us, this donation will not be done so that we may sit back and take our ease.  God will have shown us that He wants us to move forward and occupy the land.  Because He will have given it to us, there will also be a burden from Him that will require sacrificial giving to support; but it will be more than bearable because there will also be the accompanying grace to bear it.  Our experience and the experience of the Church from the beginning confirm the truth of this.

After spying out the Promised Land of Canaan, the Israelites at first refused to go in and possess it for fear of giants and walled cities, ignoring the grape clusters that it took two men to carry.  Because of their hard and erring hearts, that first generation was not allowed to enter into the land of promise. (Numbers, chapters 13-14)

We must not be afraid to do what we need to do.  We must not fear because doing what we need to do, sacrificial giving, is the means of healing, deliverance and renewed sight for us the givers as well as to those for whom we give.  We have done all we can to make the place we are now in a vehicle for the Light of the world.  There is every indication, so far, that He wants our lamp to burn even brighter.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The New Hymn Honoring our Heavenly Patrons
Since we now have a hymn that honors “Paul and the assemble of the twelve” (from our patronal Kontakion), and because things are happening that suggest the need, our Wednesday moleben (prayer service) will be dedicated to Holy Apostles for a time. Please join us to help intensify our prayer together, to further bind us as a family and as a body of “prayer warriors” so that the realization of God’s potential for us can be brought to pass with our willing participation. There are no simple coincidences. There is much for which we should thank God concerning our brother, Reader Isaac, the composer of this hymn. Without his gifts, our worship in our own language would be impossible. For this reason and because of his willingness to share his gifts with our parish, we can and should all remember Reader Isaac in our daily prayers. Also, if anyone would like to make an additional donation to send to Reader Isaac for the composition of the Akathist, please speak to our Treasurer, Father Deacon Damian. Reader Isaac gave half of the $600.00 which we collected to his brother, who was in need.

Visiting the Sick
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, continues her recovery and is not able to easily get to Church. However, she has been able to resume life with Don in their apartment. Please keep her in your prayers. Please call her when you can. She might also appreciate a visit.

Parish Groups and Activities
Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities. Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.
Choir – Christopher Johnson, Director
Sunday School and other catechesis - There are three classes for children and young people. Adult catachesis will be taught by Father George. Adult catechesis is regularly available after the regular Wednesday evening Moleben. This will be tailored to the needs of those in attendance.
Cleaning the church - If you would like to help with church cleaning, please speak to Anastasia Dantinne. Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.
Flower volunteer needed - would you like to help with beautifying the church with flowers? Please let Matushka Deborah know if you are interested.

St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults Group
Please contact reader Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians from the greater DC metropolitan area, approximately ages 18-35.

Confession
We take very seriously the apostolic admonitions regarding preparation for receiving Holy Communion, or the Holy Mysteries. This is manifested in the tradition of making a confession at Church the evening before we intend to receive the Holy Mysteries as part of that preparation. This practice coincides with another part of our preparation: attendance at the All-Night Vigil. If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15. Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers. We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Dressing for Church
While it is important to feel at home in one’s parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God. In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed. No one who is not a small child should wear shorts. Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts. Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders. Any clothing that is revealing or on the borderline of modesty is not appropriate. Slogans should not appear on apparel. A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in his accounting.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles
A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish. Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.” By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence. At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs.

If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution. We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything. While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and hostility.

We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life.

A good foundation for stewardship is the tithe - 10% of our income. Some of us are doing this already. Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors. First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service. Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors. To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will build a beautiful church dedicated to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

A Flyer to Invite Visitors
We have a flyer available for you to hand out or post on bulletin boards, regarding our newly remodeled church. One is included in this monthly bulletin, and more are available at the candlestand. Please invite a friend to come visit our church. We want to fill our new space!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the Akathist Hymn to the Twelve Apostles which was composed for us, Reader Isaac refers frequently to the “rays of divine grace” that shine out from the apostles’ path.  The same can be said of the actions of their successors, our bishops.  When Bishop Gabriel visited us, specific application of this apostolic grace was applied in the ordination of Father Damian and the tonsuring of Christopher and John.  Together with recently arrived Reader Joseph, our parish rejoices in the presence of a deacon and three readers.  Of course, God’s grace is with every parish where His name is praised, according to our Lord’s promise.  However, these men are living symbols, visible carriers, of that grace.  Even though this outpouring occurred at a culminating point in our community’s life, our seventh anniversary, we need to understand that, rather than an ending or reward, such a gift is for our strengthening for the path ahead.

Where is that path?  Where is God leading us?  As a result of the grace granted us, we are starting to see signs of new directions that we might go.  Not new, really, just a continuation on the same course, trying to discern and follow God’s will.  The life of the Church is full of the mystery built into it from the start; we experience this whenever we gather to consecrate and partake of the Holy Mysteries at the Divine Liturgy.  In this mystical life in Christ, our Lord and Father continues to lead us His children into new and unexpected revelations of the “depth and breadth and height” of His love and care for us.  One of us dreams a certain dream.  Another one of us sees an opportunity as if in a waking vision.  Another sees a possible fulfillment of the dream in the opportunity.  All these things push us to act.

We must act, yes, especially by intensifying our prayer.  But there are times, like now, that, as we act, we should at the same time follow Moses’ instruction to the children of Israel before the parting of the Red Sea: “Stand still and see the salvation of our God.”  We are reminded, too, of St. Seraphim of Sarov, whose prayerful presence was sensed in connection to one of the recent mysterious occurrences.  He said, “acquire the Spirit of peace and a thousand souls will be saved around you.”

Dear people of God, dear parish family, let us acquire the gifts of stillness and peace of spirit.  Let us pray.  Let us be vigilant.  Let us act, following God’s will.  As Holy David says in the psalms: “Ready is my heart, O God, ready is my heart.” (Ps 107:1)  Let us be ready to see in quietness of heart God’s working out of His purpose for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In April of 2001, Bishop Gabriel gave us his blessing to found our mission, dedicated to the Holy Apostles.  On July 12^th and 13^th of that year, our first All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy were served, coinciding with the feast of our heavenly Patrons.  While this coincidence arose from the pressure of external circumstances, we take this more-than-coincidental occurrence as a great blessing.

From then until the summer of 2002, our worship and parish life was lived in the house I grew up in, which is at the other end of town from where we are now.  My mother had just passed away in June; and in agreement with my brother, Daniel, we decided that we would convert and use her house for our new church.  Our parents were a living example of devotion in the Baptist context.  It seemed to me most fitting, therefore, that prayers to God should be raised anew in the place of their godly-lived earthly sojourn.

On the 12^th and 13^th of this July, we are lifting our hands and hearts in prayer on that same feast of the Synaxis of the Holy Twelve Apostles and Saint Paul for the eighth time.  This time, God willing, Bishop Gabriel who blessed our founding will be here to pray and serve with us.

So much has happened in the life of our parish in these seven years.  We have been part of bringing people to the Faith for the first time through Holy Baptism; we have been part of bringing people back to the Faith after a long time away.  We have grown, especially since the restoration of union within the Russian Church in May of 2007.  This Pascha, a record number of people were present, including first-time visitors.  Since last fall, 25 new people have been added to our number.  Among these are catechumens whom we hope to bring soon into the Church.  And new people continue to visit and express interest.

On this seventh anniversary, Bishop Gabriel will set apart two men as readers, Christopher Johnson and John Swensen, and a third, Damian Dantinne, will be ordained to the diaconate.  As the grace of these offices is granted to these men, among the gifts that they may expect are our prayers for them.  With the grace is a burden that our prayers can help them to carry.

Much fruit has been borne from the Holy Spirit’s grace poured out from the now-established unity of the Russian Church, achieved in large part through the devoted stewardship of our late beloved Metropolitan Laurus and his fellow bishops, including Bishop Gabriel.  People always knew that we held true to the traditions, but tended also to believe without knowledge that we were somehow sectarian or “non-canonical,” and were therefore afraid to have anything to do with the Church Abroad.  Once we were seen to be integrally within the Russian Church, against which no such aspersions could be cast, the fear disappeared.  Thus our traditional witness is open to all and is attractive on its merits, being one with the faith and piety of the Church from the ages.  One significant example of our new-found outreach is the joint membership in our parish young people’s group of our parishioners with those of non-Russian parishes.

Let us rejoice at the addition of new laborers in our little vineyard.  Let us rejoice that the stewardship of the Church Abroad is passed to our new Metropolitan Hilarion, one so like in spirit to our late beloved Metropolitan.  Let us give thanks for God’s blessings shown to us in the stewardship of Bishop Gabriel, and let our prayers accompany him as he assumes the episcopate of Canada.

Let us rejoice in all the things that God has done, both that which He allowed to happen that we would not have sought and in that which has fulfilled our hopes, knowing that, as we persevere in following His will, in the end, all our hopes in Him will be fulfilled.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We can be sure that it did not escape our Bishops’ notice that the enthronement of Metropolitan Hilarion came about on the exact anniversary of our new-found unity within the Russian Church.  The liturgical anniversary of the Ascension and the reunification happens at the beginning of June this year. This week I spoke to the new Metropolitan, and he passed on his greetings and blessings to all of our parishioners.

We have received many blessings as a result of the reunification of the Russian Church.  Let us rejoice together with our new Metropolitan at every blessing that God is pouring out upon us.

Father George

Metropolitan Hilarion’s Address upon his Enthronement

Your Eminences, Your Graces, Reverend Fathers, brothers, sisters and children!

Christ is Risen!

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father,

and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).

The Holy Apostles customarily greeted the first Christians with these words when addressing them in person or in writing.  And with these words I also, an unworthy bearer of the grace of the Apostles, permit myself to greet you today.  These are great words—great in their significance and meaning.  By them the Apostles showed wherein man's true good lies, and gave voice to the desire that Christians receive it.  Man strives for happiness, strives to find it; yet for the most part he seeks it far from where he should.  Thus, by these words the apostles clearly directed the Christians to that path which leads unfailingly to the desired good.

Only in peace of soul is there true blessedness for us; only those who possess an untroubled conscience before God and their fellow man can really be called happy. It is never too late to obtain this happiness, this peace: one need only actively strive towards God to the limit of one's abilities, trying to live in love and peace with others and to resolve firmly to begin a new, pious life.  Then the desired peace will flow into our soul in a calm, almost imperceptible stream, and with God's help we will quickly sense that we have become happy.  Then will no trials seem difficult and unbearable for us—neither sicknesses, nor poverty, nor sufferings, nor any type of problem or disorder, nor slander, nor persecution, nor imprisonment.  All such things will be shown to be insignificant and easy to bear when compared to the great good which will fill our souls and which we call peace and a pure conscience.

His Eminence, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus lived in peace with God and his neighbor.  He believed in God and trusted wholly in Him and His guidance.  He humbled himself and bowed to the will of God; that is, he gave himself over to it completely and joyfully.  From him there always wafted forth an unbelievable peace and inner tranquility.  His peaceful spirit preserved us in unity and led us to reestablish the fullness of brotherly fellowship within the Russian Orthodox Church.  For this reason, with reverence, love and a sense of personal unworthiness, I pay homage to the struggle of his ministry and his blessed memory, just as I revere the struggle of the primatial ministry of his divinely-wise predecessors, who "rightly divided" the word of Christ's Truth during the difficult years of the Russian emigration.  I trust that the Lord will grant my unworthiness to carry out if only a portion of what my ever-memorable predecessors accomplished in their service.  This is what my constant prayer is; it is for this that I ask all of you to pray.

Our leaders, the organizers of Russia Abroad, always taught that we must preserve what we have, so as to serve Russia and the Russian Orthodox people in the homeland and in diaspora, and to include in the process of salvation its spiritual rebirth, which is, as we see, the direct fruit of the sufferings, the confessional ministry and martyric struggle of the millions of new martyrs and confessors of Russia.  And laboring as missionaries, we must also share this rich inheritance with the world that surrounds us.  The Russian Orthodox Church has always felt a particular calling to the missionary ministry.  We must take particular care for this, continuing the holy work of those who served here and enjoyed success in their apostolic labors: St Tikhon the Confessor, Patriarch of All Russia; and St Innocent, the Equal of the Apostles, who later became Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna.  May they help us, by their fervent intercession, to share pure and unadulterated Orthodoxy and the glory of the Russian Orthodox Church with all who surround us!

On this day, which for me is "appointed and holy", with all my heart I greet my brother archpastors, the pastors and all here assembled in the home of the Hodigitria of the Russian Diaspora.  I am moved to the depths of my soul by the love of our flock, by their words of greeting, comfort and support, their good wishes and prayers.  In particular, I greet the representatives of the clergy and flock of the Diocese of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, which was entrusted to me by the Council of Bishops in 1996.  During my service in Australia, my pious flock, which the ever-memorable Metropolitan Vitaly called "the pearl of the Russian Church Abroad," became like my own family.  May God grant that, with the help of my staff, I may try to combine my duties as First Hierarch with my previous diocesan duties in the land which lies beneath the Southern Cross.  I express my profound gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia, for his primate's blessing and prayerful support; as well as to Archbishop Innocent of Korsun and the members of the Moscow Patriarchate's delegation.  I thank my brother archpastors, who have elected me, for their trust and holy prayers.  

Today, we listened to the Gospel account of the Lord's healing of the paralyzed man.  Paying close attention today to this scriptural passage, I felt that I am paralyzed by many weaknesses and am in need of God's help.  For this reason, I place my trust in God Who helps us; and I trust the ministers of His Church to His carry out and do His work in a worthy fashion.  I trust in the archpastoral wisdom, counsel and support of my brother concelebrants, and in the prayers of the clergy and the whole flock of our Holy Church.

"Behold now, what is so good or so joyous as for brethren to dwell together in unity?" (Psalms 132:1).  Or, to put it differently, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together, that is, in peace and love, says the Psalmist.  In the early days of Christianity, pastors and flock always lived the same life: the sorrows and joys of the pastor were at the same time the sorrows and joys of the flock, and the sorrows and joys of the flock were also the sorrows and joys of the pastor.  If, fathers, brethren and sisters beloved in the Lord, it is in general difficult for us to imitate fully the holy and pious life of the early Christians, let us try to borrow from them if only this trait, which is so precious to the Church.  

May the peace of Christ reign in our mutual relations: between me, your unworthy First Hierarch, and you, my dear fellow archpastors, brethren and sisters in Christ.  Let mutual trust and love prevail between us.  I will support you in your every need, and you will do the same for me.  And thus let us fulfill the commandment of God Who loves us all, and Who said: "Love one another" (John 13:34).

Amen.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the midst of this, our triumph, we should in our daily prayers recall our Bishops who are tasked with selecting and installing our new Metropolitan.  Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory accomplished our unification within the Russian Church.  From the time of his installation until the end he repeatedly sought and acknowledged the support of all our prayers.  We must all help those of his brother Arch-Pastors who remain here with the same fervor that fueled our prayers for him when on earth and now fuel our prayers for his soul.  Among these successors to him and to the Holy Apostles is the one who will speak for us and lead us further on the path within God’s will.  There is a certain grace that pours out upon us especially at this holy time of our worship year.  As we bask in it, we should also be inspired by it to Godly action.  Below is the Paschal Epistle from Archbishop Hilarion, the deputy President of the Synod, who is known to me very well, he having tonsured and ordained me to the offices of Reader, Sub-deacon, Deacon, and Priest.  In 1995, Vladika Hilarion gave us the initial blessing to work towards the eventual founding of this mission parish.

Father George

SYDNEY: April 25, 2008

The Paschal Epistle of Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, Deputy President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Most Reverend brother-archpastors, all-honorable fathers, beloved-in-the-Lord brothers, sisters and children,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

With the overwhelming feeling of Paschal jubilation I greet all of you with the great and saving feast of the Lord’s Pascha, which instills in us the firm conviction of our immortality and hope of future blessed resurrection!

            In exchanging the Paschal kiss with you today, I prayerfully desire that the joy of the Risen Christ strengthen all of us, since we have been orphaned following the untimely repose of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, who in the morning of the Triumph of Orthodoxy pronounced in spirit together with the Apostle Paul: “My desire is to part and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). As written in the Holy Scriptures, death for a person is repose. Though we weep over the parting, our sorrow is now filled with faith, hope and the Paschal reality; we know that death is a temporary slumber, a slumber for the body which will arise on the last day of history, and a time of rejoicing for the liberated righteous soul.

Since we have the firm conviction that after this brief life comes another, eternal life, where God will bless us with heavenly joy and will comfort those who have patiently borne temporal sorrows and sufferings, no manner of death or misfortune which comes our way can be too burdensome. Death itself is not fearful to a person who has complete hope in blessed resurrection: death for him is the path to the longed-for union with Christ. Amidst the fiery temptations which assail an Orthodox Christian, the Christian rejoices in suffering with Christ, being steadfastly assured that in the appearance of Christ in His glory, he will rejoice and be triumphant. Remembrance of the future life and hope of blessed resurrection serve as strong incentives and sure means towards moral perfection and spiritual achievement. If we remember well that our homeland is in heaven, while here we are only temporary guests, we will cease living only for our bodily pleasure. We will cease observing the commandments only outwardly, being honest, truthful, or benevolent solely out of temporal calculations, but will fulfill our duty of serving God and neighbor unselfishly and without seeking recompense.

One of the ancient teachers of monasticism, Abba Evagrius, offers us the following admonition: “The Passover [Pascha] of the Lord is the passing from evil to good. Let us also bring Him some God-pleasing gift.” This gift can take the form of active love, active works of charity and self-sacrifice, when we dedicate our life to Christ, His Church and our neighbor, and gaining inspiration, maintaining constant zeal for the struggle to do good. In perfecting ourselves in virtue, we will be able to preserve in our hearts faithfulness to God, the Church and those around us, as well as dedication to the blessed memory of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, who gave us an example of love, humility and goodness.

Therefore, beloved-in-the-Lord fellow arch-pastors, reverend fathers, brothers, sisters and children, let us establish ourselves firmly on the radiant path of virtue, remembering the words of the Apostle Peter: “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4). Let us turn our minds and hearts to the heavenly Jerusalem, our heavenly homeland—and the thought of our high calling will enlighten the dark paths of our life, grant us consolation and peace amid the sorrows of this world and bring us joy and delight.

Once again I congratulate all of you with this “Feast of feasts,” and sincerely desire that the flock of the Russian Church Abroad, as well as our brothers and sisters in Russia and in all the world, enjoy these most wondrous days in good health and well-being, guarded by the victorious power of the Life, Righteousness, Holiness, Goodness and Divine Beauty radiating from the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord, the Enlightener of our souls!

With Paschal joy in the Risen Christ and a request for your holy prayers,

+Hilarion

Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand

Christ’s Pascha 2008

Visiting the Sick
Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, continues her recovery and is not able to easily get to Church.  However, she has been able to resume life with Don in their apartment.   Please keep her in your prayers.  Please call her when you can.  She might also appreciate a visit

Parish Groups and Activities
Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities.  Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.
Choir – Christopher Johnson, Director
Sunday School and other catechesis  - There are three classes for children and young people.  Adult catachesis will be taught by Father George
Cleaning the church - If you would like to help with church cleaning, please speak to Raissa Motiani.  Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.
Flower volunteer needed - would you like to help with beautifying the church with flowers?  Please let Matushka Deborah know if you are interested.
St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults Group - Please contact Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians from the greater DC metropolitan area, approximately ages 18-35.

Confession
It is right and good that we should want to receive Holy Communion and prepare for it through repentance and confession.  The best time for this is on Saturday evening, not only because there is plenty of time, but because attendance at Saturday evening Vigil is a traditional part of preparation.  If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15.  Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers.  We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Dressing for Church
While it is important to feel at home in our parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God.  In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed.  No one who is not a small child should wear shorts.  Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts.  In shirts and blouses, shoulders should be covered.  Any revealing and borderline-modest clothing is not appropriate.  Slogans should not appear on apparel.  A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.


Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items
Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for.  By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in his accounting.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles
A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish.  Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.”  By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence.  At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs.

If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution.  We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything.  While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and hostility.

We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life.

A good foundation for stewardship is the tithe - 10% of our income.  Some of us are doing this already.  Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors.  First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service.  Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors.  To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund
We have a building fund.  We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will build a beautiful church dedicated to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God.  To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers.  According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of a new church.

Our Newly Remodeled Church
Please make a sacrificial donation to help cover the cost of the remodeling.  As it became clear that we would not be able to purchase property for a church at the present time, we decided to beautify our church instead, by doing this extensive remodeling.  We had pledges towards a purchase; we now hope that those of you who had pledged or intended to pledge towards purchasing a church, will make the same or a similar generous donation towards this remodeling project.  By doing this remodeling, we are purchasing our church, we are building our church, spiritually.  The donations which you make towards this are the seed money, which will plant the seeds towards the eventual purchase of land and building of our church.  I ask each of you to give sacrificially towards this end.  The basic remodeling cost was $12,000.00.  The assorted improvements add up to an additional $5,000.00.  If anyone would like to cover all or part of either or both of these costs, please speak to our Treasurer.

A Flyer to Invite Visitors
We have a flyer available for you to hand out or post on bulletin boards, regarding our newly remodeled church.  One is included in this monthly bulletin, and more are available at the candlestand.  Please invite a friend to come visit our church.  We want to fill our new space!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The loss to us on earth of our beloved Metropolitan Laurus is difficult to encompass. At the same time, we are spiritually strengthened by the profoundly peaceful way in which his life of total service came to its close. As was his wont as an exemplary monastic, he spent – quite literally poured out – what was to be the last week of his life in prayer. He pressed through all the rigors of the first weekdays of Lent without stint, taking a leading part in all the services until weakness overtook him on Saturday. His faithful proto-deacon Father Victor found him in his customary sleeping position when he brought lunch to him after Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
All the elements in the perpetual petition for our own good death were contained in his: A Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, peaceful, and a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ. The Metropolitan’s death is an absolute illustration of Christian fulfillment. All who had any contact with him testify of the way the Metropolitan radiated humility, grace and peace. And could there be a better defense before the dread throne than healing a rift within the Body of Christ?
While we are saddened because there is one less person like him among us, we are strengthened in our faith by his example. His leaving us forces us to focus on the glory of a Christian life, perfectly completed. We recall that no type of standard “funeral-home” style preparation is done for a bishop. What is notable in Metropolitan Laurus’ case is that his remains manifested no signs of smell or any corruption on the day of his funeral, the sixth day after his death, as testified to by those in attendance. The published color photographs show that his skin tone appeared normal.
At the end of this month, we recount the culminating events in the making of our salvation: our Lord’s death and resurrection. Through His death he destroys the power of death and sin; through His rising, He brings us all to the entrance to the heavenly kingdom, if we would but show our acceptance of this in our ever-more-perfect following of Him. How do we do this? We don’t have to look far. Follow the example of our ever-memorable hierarch, Metropolitan Laurus.

Father George

An Introduction to Sacred Harp Music for Orthodox Christians, and
An Introduction to Orthodox Christian Chant for Sacred Harp Singers


Fr. George Johnson and the parishioners of Holy Apostles Orthodox
Church, along with Monk Panteleimon from Holy Cross Monastery in West
Virginia,  invite you to join us on the evening of March 25th for
Songs of the Sacred Harp and Orthodox Christian Chant.  As this event
is occuring during the season of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church,
the theme for the evening will be songs of Repentance, Death and the
Last Judgment.

When: Tuesday, March 25, 7:00 PM
Where: Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, 10760 Baltimore Avenue (Route
1,) Beltsville MD 20705.  The church is located in Twin Chimneys
Office Park, one mile north of the Beltway, near the University of
Maryland.  See the website for directions.

For more information, please call Fr. George Johnson, rector, at
301-572-5738, or email apostlebird@aol.com, or visit our website at
www.holyapostlesorthodoxchurch.org.

We hope to see you there!

Prayers for the Sick

Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, continues her recovery.  She was recently able to stand and put weight on her right leg.  We remember that for a time, until she received the Mystery of Holy Unction, she was in danger of losing the leg.  Please keep her in your prayers.  She and Don live at Riderwood Village.  Betty is currently staying in the Renaissance Gardens nursing home of Riderwood.  She would like to have visitors.  You can call her at 301-572-6797.

Continue to remember in prayer Andrew, father of Elizabeth and father-in-law of Edmund Sweet.  His recovery from his heart operation is positively progressing.  Also, continue to remember in prayer Dyonisia Ryan who has been battling cancer.  We received a note from her that her latest reports have been very good.  Father George heard her confession, administered Holy Unction and gave her Holy Communion before she started chemotherapy.  A Missionary Visitor – Archbishop Hilarion of Australia and New Zealand recently accepted under his mantle Indonesian converts to Orthodoxy.  Archimandrite Father Daniel Byantoro, who can be viewed as an apostle to Indonesia, continues to be with us to lead us in a study of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians and inspire us in our own mission work at Holy Apostles.  We look forward to continuing to help him as we can.   When we gather for his talks, let us respond to his great missionary work with generosity.  If anyone knows of a church that would like to host Fr. Daniel to speak, please let him or Fr. George know.
 Parish Groups and Activities – Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities.  Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information.  Choir – Christopher Johnson, Director Sunday School and other catechesis – Father George Wednesday evening class – Father George St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults – Christopher Johnson – see below

Fasting – Wednesdays and Fridays are to be observed as fast days by Orthodox Christians in commemoration of our Lord’s suffering and death.  A wall calendar with fasting indications can be gotten at the back of the church for $3.  Here is a brief indication of the meaning of the colors and symbols in the calendar.

Days shaded in pink with no other symbol indicate a vegan diet (no animal products permitted except shell fish) and no use of wine (any alcohol) as a beverage or in cooking, and no use of olive oil in cooking or as dressing.

Days shaded in pink with a grape cluster are the same as above regarding animal products, but the use of wine and olive oil is permitted.

Days shaded in pink with a fish are as above, except consumption of vertebrate fish is permitted, along with wine and olive oil.

This month, one of the four extended fasting periods is kept, that is, the two weeks prior to the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, starting on 8/14 with the commemoration of the Precious Cross and the Holy Maccabees.
 Confession – It is right and good that we should want to receive Holy Communion and prepare for it through repentance and confession.  The best time for this is on Saturday evening, not only because there is plenty of time, but because attendance at Saturday evening Vigil is a traditional part of preparation.  If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15.  Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers.  We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.  Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items – Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for.  By so doing, you will be helping our Treasurer immensely in his accounting.  Volunteer needed to run the Candlestand.  See above….  Please speak to Fr. George if you would like to help out with the candlestand.

Cleaning the church – We are trying a new method of asking folks to help clean every Sunday after the Liturgy.  Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.

Flower volunteer needed – would you like to help with beautifying the church with flowers?  Please let Fr. George know if you are interested.

St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults Group – Please contact Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians, approximately ages 18-35.  The group meets during the agape meal on the last Sunday of each month, and plans other scheduled activities periodically.   Recently they sponsored Fr. Daniel Byantoro’s talk, The Great Mandate of Evangelism, and the Holy Trinity.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

    The Lord makes our time holy through the Church’s liturgical year.  The glorious month of August closes the year with an encapsulation of the story of our salvation.  
On the Feast of the Procession of the Precious Cross, we remember also the witness in suffering of our precursors of old Israel in the Maccabee family.  This reminds us that Christ came to bring to fruition all the faithful labors of those devoted to God throughout the ages.  Our icon of the Resurrection shows that the first action of his resurrection power was to loose the bonds of the righteous dead of ages past.  This commemoration places both His saving action and those who were long awaiting it before our eyes.
The Feast of the Transfiguration holds up for us, as it did for the Holy Apostles Peter, James and John, the glory that belongs to Him eternally.  His incarnate Being completes and fulfills the spiritual inheritance of His people Israel: the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah.  He shows His glory that He had with the Father “before the world was” (John 17:5).  His pre-eternal glory is shown through His earthly body, showing us that He is the one to restore our nature to its original state.  The glorious-as-God and glorified-as-man Son of God provides that “better thing” (Hebrews 11:40) which those in ages past and we, all falling under the same sin-induced condemnation, desperately need and await.
The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, her repose in the arms of her Son and our God, is another harbinger of what is possible in the new, resurrected life.  She dies, as will we all, and, though she has led a life of perfect obedience to God’s will, she yet needs to ask her Son, as do we all, for protection at the time of death.  And just as she has shown us and led us on the way of perfect humilty, so she shows us here that she, and we, may trust Him completely to finish that work that He has begun.   As she looked to Him at all times, she looked to Him at the time of her death.  The immediate lesson for us is, if we do not yet practice as did she to perfect our following of Him, we should start now.  We cannot wait until the time of our death to begin to trust Him and show Him that we do by following His commandments.
God is so merciful.  He continually through the year tells us what we need to know and do.  It is always, therefore, time to follow.   Remember what our dear like-the-Apostles Father Seraphim said.  “It is later than you think.”

Father George

Prayers for the Sick and the Traveling

Our sister, Elisabeth Chisholm, continues her recovery. Please keep her in your prayers. God willing, we plan to bring her to church once a month via medical transport. She and Don live at Riderwood Village. Betty is currently staying in the Renaissance Gardens nursing home of Riderwood. She would like to have visitors. You can call her at 301-572-6797.

Continue to remember in prayer Andrew, father of Elizabeth and father-in-law of Edmund Sweet. His recovery from his heart operation is positively progressing. Also, continue to remember in prayer Dyonisia Ryan who has been battling cancer. We received a note from her that her latest reports have been very good. Father George heard her confession, administered Holy Unction and gave her Holy Communion before she started chemotherapy.

John Swenson has been traveling in Spain and Russia and we anticipate his return on the 10th right before the parish feast. Welcome home, John!

A Missionary Visitor – Archbishop Hilarion of Australia and New Zealand recently accepted under his mantle Indonesian converts to Orthodoxy. Archimandrite Father Daniel Byantoro, who can be viewed as an apostle to Indonesia, has been with us several times to tell his story and inspire us in our own work at Holy Apostles. So far, we have scheduled two Monday evenings when he will lead us in a study of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. He will also give a repeat of his talk that he gave at the rectory in June, The Great Mandate of Evangelism and the Holy Trinity. We look forward to continuing to help him as we can. Let us all respond to this great missionary work of his with generosity. We have also been able to help him to schedule a weekend in Atlanta at St. Mary of Egypt parish. If anyone knows of a church that would like to host Fr. Daniel to speak, please let him or Fr. George know.

Parish Groups and Activities – Holy Apostles welcomes participants in a number of groups and activities. Please see the leader or coordinator listed for more information. Choir – Christopher Johnson, Director Sunday School and other catechesis – Father George Wednesday evening class – Father George St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults – Christopher Johnson

In our Bookstore – How to Life a Holy Life, by Metropolitan Gregory of St. Petersburg (1784 – 1860). Here is a sample from this wonderful book. It is the first of 6 instructions on How to Conduct Ourselves when People Praise Us:

“When people praise you, be very circumspect, because then you are in a dangerous situation. Many people do not know the true value of things and of actions, and therefore they value and praise things that in the sight of the Lord God and of sensible people are worth nothing. And because praise is pleasing to our self-esteem and vainglory, and self-esteem and vainglory are gullible, we eagerly accept another’s false praise as true praise, put a halt to seeking perfection, become more imperfect, die unreformed, and perish. Therefore, consider as impartially as possible whether what others praise in you deserves praise from the Lord and from prudent people, because only that which is worthy of praise from the Lord God and from people devoted to Him should be important for us. What does praise from people matter, when we are unworthy of praise from the Lord God?”

Bishop’s Visit Delayed – Unfortunately, Bishop Gabriel of Manhattan, who planned to visit and serve with us the weekend of July 28th and 29th had to cancel. As can be seen from the ROCOR website, his good offices are required in South America. He hopes to be able to come sometime this fall.

Fasting – Wednesdays and Fridays are to be observed as fast days by Orthodox Christians in commemoration of our Lord’s suffering and death. A wall calendar with fasting indications can be gotten at the back of the church for $3. Here is a brief indication of the meaning of the colors and symbols in the calendar.

Days shaded in pink with no other symbol indicate a vegan diet (no animal products permitted except shell fish) and no use of wine (any alcohol) as a beverage or in cooking, and no use of olive oil in cooking or as dressing.

Days shaded in pink with a grape cluster are the same as above regarding animal products, but the use of wine and olive oil is permitted.

Days shaded in pink with a fish are as above, except consumption of vertebrate fish is permitted, along with wine and olive oil. On all other days, we abstain from vertebrate fish, wine and olive oil.

Confession – It is right and good that we should want to receive Holy Communion and prepare for it through repentance and confession. The best time for this is on Saturday evening, not only because there is plenty of time, but because attendance at Saturday evening Vigil is a traditional part of preparation. If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:15. Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers. We should do our best to preserve the traditions of our Church and to be considerate of others by not causing a delay in the beginning of Divine Liturgy.

Purchase of Candles, Prosphora and Other Items – Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand. Also indicate on the check memo line, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash, what a donation is for. You will be helping our Treasurer immensely in his accounting.

Volunteer needed to run the Candlestand. See above…. Please speak to Fr. George if you would like to help out with the candlestand.

Cleaning the church – We are trying a new method of asking folks to help clean every Sunday after the Liturgy. Please volunteer to help out with cleaning the church.

Flower volunteer needed – would you like to help with beautifying the church with flowers? Please let Fr. George know if you are interested.

St. Joseph the All-Comely Young Adults Group – Please contact Christopher Johnson if you would like to find out more about this group which was founded for young adult Orthodox Christians, approximately ages 18-35. The group meets during the agape meal on the last Sunday of each month, and plans other scheduled activities periodically. Recently they sponsored Fr. Daniel Byantoro’s talk, The Great Mandate of Evangelism, and the Holy Trinity.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles – A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish. Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.” By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence. At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs. If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution. We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything. While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and hostility. We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life. As has been repeatedly pointed out, a good foundation for giving is 10% of income. Some of us are doing this already. Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors. First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service. Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors. To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Damian Dantinne.

Our Building Fund – we have a building fund. We hope and pray, that one day with God’s help, we will build a beautiful church dedicated to our patron saints, the Holy Apostles, to the glory of God. To this end, we ask that our parishioners and friends keep this prayer in their daily prayers. According to His will, may God grant us to see the day of the dedication of the new church.

Our 6th anniversary feast is upon us. The actual feast-day is on Friday, 7/13. God willing, Fr. Athanasi will visit us and bring the Myrrh-Streaming Icon of St. Anna for the Vigil on July 12th and the Liturgy on the 13th. There will likely be multiple short prayer services before the icon, so please spread the word.

In addition to Father Athanasi, we look forward with joy to other guest clergy joining us. Father John Vass, rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Baltimore (MP) plans to be with us for the Vigil. Also at vigil we hope to see from St. John the Baptist Cathedral in D.C. Fr. John Johnson and Deacons Father John Cavin and Father Alexander Resnikoff. Father John Moses from All Saints of North America in Middlebrook, VA plans to be with us for Vigil and Liturgy of the feast day. Father Michael Carney from our mission of St. Herman of Alaska in Michigan plans to come Friday night and stay through the first few days of the following week. Father Panteleimon, a monastic from Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV, will be with us from Sts Peter and Paul through the following week. We recall Father Panteleimon during our 2006 St. Romanos Music Seminar introducing us to his Znamenny Chant settings of English versions of the communion verses. During the time of their visit, Father Michael, Father Panteleimon and some others will gather to help record the Pannikhida according to a recent St. Romanos Society edition for purposes of instruction and edification. With God’s help, we also hope to produce a recording which will help people to learn the 8 tones for sticheri and troparia. Please keep these efforts in your prayers, that the work will be pleasing to God.

On Friday the feast day itself, we plan to have a meal at the church. If you would like to help out with the meal please call my matushka Deborah at 301-572-5738. On Sunday July 15th, our weekend celebration of the feast, we will host a potluck meal at the rectory. Please plan a dish and enter your name and what you’re bringing on the potluck sign-up sheet at church.

We give thanks to God for these past 6 years at Holy Apostles. We pray that one day He will build us a church to His glory, in which our children and children’s children can work out their salvation.


In Christ’s love,
Father George

From May 17 through 21, Father George will be among the pilgrims accompanying the ROCOR clergy delegatoin and choir on their trip to Moscow. He wil have the opportunity to be present at the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion, and to serve in Christ the Savior Cathedral. Please keep him in your prayers for a safe trip and an inspiring sojourn.

Our sister, Elizabeth Chisolm, continues with her recovery from her broken leg. She is still in the rehabilitation facility in Riderwood Village where she and Don live and hopes to return to their home soon.

Remember Andrew, father of Elizabeth and father-in-law of Edmund Sweet. His heart surgery was postponed.

Remember Dyonisia Ryan who is grievously ill with cancer and undergoing treatment at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore. She received Holy Unction from Father George on Tuesday, 4/24, prior to the beginning of her chemotherapy.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

If we believe that the things above, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome. It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth. From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

These acts that maintain the Church’s life, the fasting and other Lenten observances and commemorations, are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us. The Gospel selection that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration. With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom, not the freedom of license, but that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal. Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism. We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be kept ever in our mind’s eye. To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth. Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,


 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who
being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He has by Himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were
made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.... The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth. (St. John 1:1-3, 14)

 Look where we will in Holy Scripture and Tradition, and we will only find that our Savior is God come in the flesh. Throughout the history of the Church, her enemy, the devil, has tried to attack either that our Savior was God or that He was a man.

 Attacks on the humanity of Christ take several forms of saying that His human nature was somehow buried within the all-powerful Divine nature and was not fully functional. What sense, then, does it make for Him to say “Not my will, but Thine be done?”

 Attacks on His divinity take forms of saying that His God-hood is somehow a poetic expression of His leading the way for us to God, or saying that He was somehow a creature like the angels. Such mental shilly-shallying ignores the Lord’s own words about Himself recorded in the Gospel.

 Since the available record will not support such falsehood, the devil’s next focus of attack is the record. Thus, we have within recent times audacious attempts to deny our Lord’s very existence, masquerading as “Quests for the Historical Jesus” which are quests for anything but history or Jesus.

 It remains our duty as His people to keep both of the startling realities about the Author of our salvation clear in our own minds and clear in our message about Him to the world. Thank God that Holy Tradition remains to help keep our integrity as Christians, down to even the smallest particular; for example, we declare His being when we sign ourselves with the sign of His instrument of salvation, the precious and life-giving Cross, proclaiming with our very hand that He is one of the Holy Trinity and is possessed of both divine and human natures. And, as the passages above show, as some like to have it said, it’s right there in the
Bible.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our salvation is our object. We move toward this goal through the increasing indwelling of the Holy Spirit through our acquirements of God’s grace. We do this, not alone, but together, as witnessed to by the organized life of the Church into parishes. It has been so since the Church was first spoken of in the New Testament. Of course, THE manifestation of such unity is within the Divine Liturgy where Christ, our Chief Cornerstone, is together with His living stones, us and the Saints, in the Mystery of the Body and Blood. Other manifestations of unity suggest themselves as by-products of this primary unity. We eagerly seek other ways for showing and developing our oneness so that our lives together and apart may shine more and more with the brightness of His grace and move us, each and all, toward the final goal of salvation, and in so doing, move us away from the corruption of the things of this world. Such ways suggest themselves to us now. This month, we begin two activities through which we have a good hope that God may move in us and use us.

For some time, we have seen among us a growing number of young, unattached people. The spirit of the age ever preys upon us to draw us away from concern for our place in the Church and salvation. This is most clear among those emerging from their families to assume and lead their own lives. Especially in this day of general falling away from any type of Christian influence, let alone belief, the newly independent person can fall into confusion through the omni-directional assault of influences unknown under the family roof. For this reason, we are forming a group within the parish, known as St. Joseph’s Young Singles, to welcome unmarried Orthodox Christians from college age through the early thirties. St. Joseph is the eleventh son of patriarch Jacob who, as we know from Scripture, resisted seduction by Potiphar’s wife, enduring false accusation and imprisonment rather than succumb to illicit allurements and offend God. God preserved Him to be mighty in Egypt so that he could save not only Egypt, but his own family and promised nation. Our desire is that those in St. Joseph’s Young Singles may encourage each other to keep a holy witness arising out of growing familial love – the love within the family of Christ.

Recently, desires were expressed that our Wednesday night class be conducted with an eye to a focused study. We have decided that one of the books written by Father Michael Pomazansky, “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology,” provide the basis for such a study. Father Michael was one of the last surviving clergy educated in the pre-Revolutionary period when Russian Orthodox Theological training was at its peak. In his introduction to the book, Father Seraphim Rose speaks of the rarified spiritual atmosphere of such writers as Father Michael, and at the same time in their writing the down-to-earth, “salt-of-the-earth” quality that reaches out and touches the heart of the serious student. Therefore, while the title of the work, from our experience with non-Orthodox books with similar titles, may at first be daunting and off-putting, my own experience of this book entirely matches what Father Seraphim says about it. The book is a garden of the Lord, rich for us toward growth in understanding, toward the building up of the foundation of our spiritual house.

Let us all pray that these additional efforts will be means to grow in knowledge and love of the Lord and toward mutual encouragement, understanding and love and growth in the gifts of God.

In Christ, Father George

"I was sick, and you visited me." We have petitions for the sick during the Liturgy and every Wednesday at our prayer service before the icon of the Mother of God, "Queen of All;" so, if you or someone you know is sick and needs prayer or would like a visit, please let Father George know. Of your kindness and charity, please remember before the Lord our parishioner, Betty Chisholm and her husband, Don. Betty suffered a recent fall and her recovery is slow and painful. Her husband, Don, is in a rehabilitation center in D.C. recovering from recent back surgery.

In recognition of the increasing number of young single people in the parish, we have founded a group that will welcome as members Orthodox young adults from college age through the early 30’s. It is established in order to nurture Christian fellowship and encourage mutual prayer. The patronage of the Holy Patriarch Joseph the All-Comely is sought to bolster awareness of the need to maintain a holy witness in today’s world. TPlease see Claire Mendis or Father George for more information about the group and its activities.

The Nativity Fast starts on Tuesday, 11/28, and concludes on Saturday, 1/6. So that we may prepare, here are the fasting regulations governing this period. The rules for this fast are somewhat lighter than those for the Great Fast anticipating Pascha. The basis of all our fasting periods is the avoidance of the use of animal products, oil and wine, and the consumption of less food generally. Here are the exceptions.

On all Saturdays, Sundays, and on these dates: 12/4, 12/18, 12/19, 12/25 and 12/26, fish, wine and oil may be used.

On all other Tuesdays, Thursdays, and on these dates: 11/29, 12/8, 12/13 and 12/22, wine and oil may be used.

We need to remember, too, that the fasting period is not primarily for the keeping of a diet. We keep this regimen to better enable our prayer.

Sunday, 11/26, will be the last Sunday that Natasha, Luke and Alexander will be with us. As most of you know, they are moving to Southern California, partly for easing the care of Natasha’s aging mother, Julie, whom it has also been our pleasure to know, and partly for entering fresh fields of endeavor in a more conducive environment. We pray for God’s guidance for them in their new life there. They will always be a part of the fabric of our life here because of what they have done here. They have opened their house to us; Natasha has served as our Treasurer; she and Luke have been pillars of our choir, Natasha also ably serving as occasional choir director; Alexander has been of immense help with his reverent, skilled and smooth altar service. Natasha, Luke, Alexander: you will be missed. We thank God that you have been here. We trust that He will continue to care for you as you remain close to Him, and thereby to us. Please keep us in your prayers. While we breathe, you all will continue in ours, together with your father Donald of happy memory.

As we do each year, so this year we will gather as a body to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with the traditional festive meal. Since some are out of town on the weekend following, the Thanksgiving trapeza will take place after the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, 11/19. The meal is being coordinated by Katya Renko with the St. Juliana Sisterhood. Please let her know what you would like to contribute to the meal.

As part of our Nativity Fast increased devotion, beginning Wednesday, 11/29, after our regular moleben, we will have a class wherein we study together the book “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” by Father Michael Pomazansky. Class members will read about 30 pages per week. At the Wednesday session, Father George will lead a discussion of what was read. Copies of the book will be obtained and made available to class members for $20 (very, very well worth it). Please contact Father George or Matushka Deborah if you would like to be a part of the class so that we are sure to get enough copies.

Metropolitan Laurus served the Evening Vigil and Divine Liturgy at our parish.

By Matushka Deborah Johnson
(From Orthodox America)

The following is abridged from an introductory talk delivered at the 1998 Russian Orthodox Musicians' Conference, Washington DC.

In the wondrous blending of sounds it is Thy call we hear; in the harmony of many voices, in the sublime beauty of music, in the glory of the works of great composers: Thou leadest us to the threshold of paradise to come, and to the choirs of angels. All true beauty has the power to draw the soul towards Thee, and to make it sing in ecstasy: Alleluia! - Kontakion 7, Thanksgiving Akathist

How many of us converts, in attending our first Orthodox service, were overwhelmed by its sheer beauty. The warmth of the flickering candles, the radiance of the icons, the fragrance of the incense, and, yes, the sublime beauty of the music all combined to enkindle our spirits and our hearts, so that, like the emissaries of Saint Vladimir, we didn't know whether we were in Heaven or on earth. This is the precious legacy which has come to us - whether through the Russian, Greek or other Orthodox tradition. But however uplifting and spiritually inspiring, beauty alone is insufficient as a means of conveying and nourishing faith. The intellect must also be engaged, i.e., we must understand what it is we are praying.

In recognition of this imperative, many Orthodox parishes have begun to incorporate English in their services, and, of course, there are a growing number of missions where English is used exclusively. For many of us it means that we can now pray, as the apostle enjoins, with understanding. And we rejoice in this. Unfortunately, however, this transition to English has not always carried with it the soul-stirring beauty of the Russian (or Greek) chant tradition. This is understandable inasmuch as this is a difficult transition and a transition that is still in its infancy. It is this deficiency that we hope to begin seriously to address in this conference.

All of us here come from different situations - English missions and parishes where only one language is used in worship, parishes where Church Slavonic is the only language used, and parishes where both languages are used. Some of you come from outside the Russian tradition altogether. The pastor of each parish has to work out how to best deal with the language of worship in his parish. It is not the purpose of this conference to recommend any one solution. The purpose of this conference is to help those who are using English, however much or little, to do it as prayerfully and as beautifully as possible. We hope that the principles put forth here will be absorbed and used, regardless of language.

One particular point we are hoping will come out of this conference is a renewed zeal for rehearsals. Fr. George has a favorite quote from the preface to one of his hymnals: "If the people be desirous of joining in the musical part of the Service, it is only right that they should be given the opportunity of attending rehearsals, and only due to Almighty God that they should sacrifice some little time in preparing for His worship, and not be content to give Him that which has cost them no trouble." (from Songs of Syon.) It is a great privilege to be a choir director or a church singer: but also an awesome responsibility. Here at St. John's, rehearsals were always encouraged, but when I took over as director of the English choir from Fr. George after he was ordained, we decided that they should be a requirement. We now rehearse every Thursday evening from 7:00 to 9:00. It is a commitment: some of our choir members drive as much as fifty miles to the church. But the fruit of such effort is rewarding.

As a new choir director, my experience of directing the Divine Liturgy and the All-Night-Vigil, was that while the Vigil was more difficult intellectually, with all the different parts coming from different sources, the Liturgy was more difficult spiritually. I think it has to do with the unique place of the Divine Liturgy in the worship life of the Church. All of the other services of the Church are somehow related to Time, that is, they take place in a cycle of time, be it daily, weekly, fixed according to a calendar date, or variable according to the occurrence of Pascha. But the Divine Liturgy is different. It takes place outside of time. It can be celebrated in the morning or the evening. While I was preparing for my first Liturgy, Fr. Leonid pointed out to me that one of the litanies in the Liturgy begins, "Let us complete our prayer unto the Lord," not "Let us complete our morning prayer," which we hear during Matins, or "Let us complete our evening prayer," which we hear during Vespers. I had this sense of the timelessness of the Liturgy, combined with a feeling of embarking on a journey from which it is impossible to turn back.

Beginning with the Cherubic Hymn, we are literally reaching for Heaven. We are trying to do something which is impossible, and yet, we are doing it. A small group of sinful human beings says: "Let us, who mystically represent the Cherubim and chant the thrice holy hymn unto the life creating Trinity, now lay aside all earthly care." In what is a great mystery that we cannot hope to understand, we swim out into an ocean of prayer, into a timeless realm, a place where the angels are chanting: the cherubim with many eyes, and the six-winged seraphim who are veiling their faces, because, as it says in the priest's service book, "to serve Thee is a great and fearful thing even unto the heavenly hosts themselves." We leave behind all that is familiar to us of our normal earthly concerns, including even the very nature of time itself. We are going on a journey, outside of time, to that Upper Room, where the Lord Himself gives us His Body and Blood in the great Mystery of Holy Communion.

It is an awesome responsibility to be part of this mystery. Because this is such a fearful thing, we must prepare for it. If we are going to receive Holy Communion, we prepare for it with Confession, fasting and a prayer rule. Likewise, the choir must prepare, through rehearsing. Rehearsing is the key to the ongoing spiritual and musical growth of a choir.

What if you are a small mission and you don't have a choir yet, or you are planning to do only congregational singing? Have rehearsals anyway. Someone has to be in charge of the service - of passing the music out, of leading the singers, be they a designated choir or the whole congregation. Even in congregational singing, someone is leading. If you don't plan for it, then the singing will by default be led by the loudest voice, which may produce an ugly and unprayerful result. Encourage members of the congregation to come to the rehearsals. You can teach them the tones, you can mark the sticheri ahead of time, so that you all are singing together. You can practice the composed music. You can learn the order of the services. People can be taught the principles of choir singing even if there is no official choir.

Some people say: "I can't pray while I'm singing in the choir," or, "It's too hard for me to pray while thinking about the notes, the shuffling of the music distracts me," etc., etc.

If someone truly cannot pray while singing, then he shouldn't sing in the choir. But please consider this. Church singing is many things: it is a talent, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is also a cross. While you sing you are serving the Church, you are carrying your cross. When you carry your cross joyfully, obediently, God will help you and console you. There are moments, when suddenly one is flooded with the pure, radiant joy of the feast or the saint which is being commemorated. At times I have felt so uplifted that it was all I could do to stay inside my shoes.

Another comment frequently heard is: "I already know the music and the tones. I don't need to come to rehearsals. It's boring for me."

Prayerful, beautiful church singing consists of more than just getting the notes right. Perhaps you already know the notes. But a robot can sing the right notes. There are a lot of other things which are worked on in rehearsals besides the notes. For example:

Your brothers and sisters in the choir may not know all the notes. Most choirs have a fair amount of turnover. This means there are always people who are just learning the tones and the music. These new people need help in order to learn. One of the most valuable things a choir director can have, in trying to teach the music to new people, is the presence of at least one knowledgeable person in each of the four parts. How can a choir director accomplish this if the most knowledgeable people, those who "already know the music," stay home?

No one's voice should be heard over the others'; the choir is one body, and we need practice in becoming one. This can only happen through rehearsal. There is a large body of music repertoire available, which many choir directors would like to introduce but cannot because of a lack of attendance at rehearsals. If you deprive the choir of your presence, you may also deprive the choir of an opportunity to do some of the most beautiful and edifying music. Many times, the presence of just one more person can make all the difference in the world.

A variation on "I already know the music," is: "Give me a copy of the music, and I'll practice it at home." Yes, one can take music home and learn the notes; that is good. But, as we have said, learning the notes is only the first step. Many people consider chamber music to be the highest form of instrumental music; the beauty of chamber music lies in the blending of the instrumental voices into one voice. The same is true of choir singing.

Church singing requires sacrificial devotion, just as does any work which is done for the Church. We do it out of a sense of love for God, and for our brothers and sisters - both those who are already Orthodox and those not yet so. I often tell my choir: sing as if someone who is listening is visiting our church for the first time - it is their very first time in an Orthodox church. Or, perhaps more sobering, sing as if it is their last time in church. Sing with missionary zeal! Regardless of the language of worship, pronounce the words clearly, so that the listener will understand them; as it says in the psalms, "Sing ye praises with understanding." You don't know who is listening; perhaps there is someone in the congregation who has lost his faith and given in to despair. Perhaps the prayerful singing of tonight's Vigil will help that person to turn around and set his foot back on the path to salvation. You don't know.

I would like to end by reading to you some thoughts on Orthodox music, which were written by a 16 year-old member of our choir. If anyone still has doubts about what the benefits of singing in a choir can be, I hope that hearing this will help.

When my mother first brought me to the Russian Orthodox Church, the simplicity and absolute beauty of the music attracted me right off. The first services that I ever attended were the Slavonic ones, and I didn't understand a word that was being said. But after a few times to the church, I found myself humming along with the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes. Because I didn't understand Russian, the services were always a bore to me ... except for the music.

I soon learned about the English congregation of my church, and joined in with the choir to have something to do during the long Orthodox services. I couldn't stand still for two hours in a row without doing anything, so the singing provided a nice outlet for my energies during the services. I thought that since I seemed to have a slight talent for music and I had always loved singing, I might as well turn Church into something fun instead of it just being somewhere that I went on Sundays. I enjoyed singing in the services, and loved how we sounded - even on our bad days. I had never attended a choir rehearsal during the year or so of my singing, and when rehearsals became a requirement for singing in the choir, I stopped singing for a while.

One day I was standing in church, just listening to the English choir sing, when I was suddenly in tears. Like it or not, I was no longer bored in church; the music had changed from something fun to something very spiritual and moving. And I liked it very much. I realized that the music had first attracted me, then entertained me, then captured my heart. Church was no longer a place to get up early on Sunday mornings and go to ... it was now The Church and my home.

The music of the Church has done no one little thing to me, it has changed me forever and captured and bound me to the Church for the rest of my life. I was not born Orthodox, I joined the Church in third grade, but I know every time I step inside St. John's that I have found my home at last. - Larissa Sauter

You can hear the fervor and devotion that were excited in Larissa through church music. I'm hoping that we here today can approach our work as church musicians with the same fervor. May God help us to inspire each other and encourage each other, as one candle is lit by another.

The Lord tells the Apostles: Go, and teach all nations... I pray that all of us attending this conference can work together to bring the beautiful Russian Church music and, through it, the Faith of the Apostles, to the English-speaking world. May God help us in this work.

A Report on the Metropolitan’s visit on the Diocesan Web Site – Please see the article about Metropolitan Hilarion’s visit and the ordinations posted just the other day on the http://eadiocese.org web site.

Please make your pledge for 2012! – Work has started on our 2012 budget.  The pledge forms are available at the candle stand.  Remember to complete the family information part.  The due date is today.

2012 Wall Calendars are in and available behind the candle stand for $5.00.

Our Nativity Celebrations – please put into your thoughts and on to calendars our doings surrounding the Nativity of the Lord.

We will celebrate the eve of the feast on Friday, the 6th, with the Royal Hours, Vespers and Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, all starting at 9 AM, and with the festal vigil starting at 6:30 PM.

We will celebrate the Divine Liturgy of the feast on Saturday, the 7th, starting at 9:40 AM.

We will follow immediately with the festal meal at church, not at the rectory.  The Nativity Fast is over then, so please contribute your favorite non-fasting dish, signing up on the sheet in our kitchen.

The Saturday evening vigil and Sunday Divine Liturgy will happen at the usual times.

All are invited to the rectory for the singing of Christmas Carols on Sunday evening, the 8th, starting at 6 PM.   We will have a potluck with ethnic appetizers, which may of course include American, so please contribute your talent and time to that as well.  We expect guests, including clergy, from other parishes and places, so please come to help us celebrate the birth of our Lord.

Pray For and Visit the Aged – "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." (James 1:27)  These ladies are all in Riderwood just west of Rte 95, just past Calverton Shopping Center and would appreciate contact and prayers: Olga Prisekin, Rosalie Belida, Betty Chisholm and Dorothy Dague.

Service Opportunities
Meal Signups – Add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks.
Church Cleaning – Be on the weekly cleaning team and/or give $40 in support.
Nick’s Place – We give non-perishable goods to this halfway house for young men recovering from substance abuse.  See Monica Pelt.
Holy Apostles Chariots is our “ride-to-church” service.  See Kyrill Shillen.
The Choir – Rehearsals are at 7 PM on Thursdays.  New members are needed!

Orthodox Christians on Campus is in recess for the holiday time, and, God willing, will resume in January.  St. Joseph’s Young Adults will also take up again in January.  Both these ministries are being taken care of by Father Christopher, so speak with him for more information.

Father John Townsend is leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land June 12th to 24th, 2012. The price is $3,200 per person; a deposit of $350 is required by February 1st.  To find out the exact itinerary and what else the price includes, please look at one of the brochures by the candle stand.

Visitors and Guests please sign in the guest book to the right of the church-shaped donation box, and, if possible, include any contact information such as address, telephone and email.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 As we have “seen the True Light” and have “received the heavenly Spirit,” we should all be about studiously and religiously learning and inwardly digesting the meaning of this saying of our great heavenly patron, the Holy Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Galatians.

 Take the opportunity of this fast, which prepares us for celebration of our heavenly patrons, to make this fruit come out in our living in our homes, in the church community, and in the world.

Father George

By Matushka Deborah Johnson
(From Orthodox America)

When my family left the Episcopal Church to become Orthodox, I was scared. I felt as though I had leapt across a tremendous void and was being carried I knew not where.  I only knew that my heart burned with an almost unbearable longing, and that the Orthodox Church was the only place where that longing would be satisfied.  And yet, what a strange place it sometimes appeared, full of Russians and other ethnics who had their own ways so different from Americans.

Many converts to Orthodoxy who find themselves, as I do, in a predominantly Russian parish, have been asked by Russian parishioners, "What are you doing here, in the Russian Church?"  The implication being that if you are not Russian, your spouse is not Russian, you don't speak Russian, or you are not in love with Russian culture, what possible reason could you have for wanting to belong to the Russian Orthodox Church? What, indeed?! In our case it was the stories of the New Martyrs of Russia that inspired my family to embrace the Orthodox Faith.

There is in our parish an elderly Russian gentleman, V.  I never knew anything about him until we went to his house for his 75th birthday and nameday celebration.  As we entered I saw on a table an icon of an unfamiliar saint. It was, I was told, the Priest-martyr Macarius, one of Russia's New Martyrs-and the father of V.  When V. was fourteen years old, the KGB beat his father and dragged him away before his eyes.  He never saw his father again. As we were leaving V. walked outside with us, and we all lingered in the night air as he told us the story.  I was suddenly overwhelmed by the image of V. as a boy of fourteen, the same age as our son, watching his father being brutally beaten by the godless.

That evening I gained a deeper appreciation for what so many Russians have suffered.  They were uprooted, persecuted, dispersed; they have borne a heavy burden.  Some, like V., have relatives or friends who are New Martyrs.  Whenever my heart begins to turn cold towards "the Russians," I try to remember the great debt I owe to the Russian martyrs for leading me to the ark of salvation.

Having said all this, my thoughts turn now to America.  We all, converts and cradle Orthodox alike, have been planted together here in America by our Heavenly Father in order to work out our salvation.  And it is a wonderful country. Today, however, America is in serious trouble, as Solzhenitsyn warned us ten years ago in his Templeton speech. We are thoughtlessly "yielding up our younger generation to atheism."  How can we do this?  In Russia atheism was forcibly implanted, many shed their blood in opposing it, but here in America we are willingly allowing it.

In one of his sermons, Archbishop John of blessed memory declared that one of the reasons for the Diaspora-the great exodus from Russia in the wake of the Revolution- was to spread the holy Orthodox Faith.  As Orthodox Christians, are we not responsible to do everything we can to spread the Faith, to make it available to the people of this country, of America? America is where we live now, not Russia.  (Those who desire to live in Russia are free to do so.) We have received the most precious treasure imaginable, the pearl of great price.  We have received without measure of the great riches and mysteries of Holy Orthodoxy.  Our Lord commanded: Freely ye have received, freely give.  He also said, Go, and teach all nations.  All nations: that includes America.

If we do not do all that we can, then will we not bear responsibility for the downfall of this, our country?  Today we are able to build churches, to worship freely, to display our crosses. But if we do not cherish this freedom, if we do not protect it then we will lose it, just as the Russians lost their country to communism.  When they come and close our churches, we will wail and beat our breasts and say, Why didn't we do anything when we had a chance? Why didn't we try to spread the holy Orthodox Faith?  Why didn't we invite the people of this land to "come and see" the wondrous beauty of the Bridegroom?

This, of course, requires a strong witness, which can only come about if converts and cradle Orthodox come together.  All of us must make an effort to erase our fears and misconceptions, our prejudices and resentments. Both sides must be prepared to make sacrifices.  Our Lord tells us that if we love Him we will lay down our lives for our neighbor.  It is a sacrifice to allow "foreigners" into your church, your own church with which you are so familiar. Perhaps if you allow them in, allow them to worship in their own language, well... who knows what will happen.  Things won't be comfortable, predictable. How many Jewish Christians in the time of the Apostles had a hard time accepting the Gentiles into their midst? It wasn't easy.  Converts, too, have to sacrifice: some give up friends, jobs; some have even been disowned by family members in order to come to the "strange new land" of Orthodoxy.  We all have a price to pay.

As my family prepared to enter the Russian Orthodox Church, I had cause to reflect on the familiar words of the Psalmist: How shall I sing the Lord's song in a strange land? (Ps. 136:5).  But I could also say with him, I have chosen rather to be an outcast in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of sinners (Ps. 83:10).  And this in fact applies to all of us Orthodox Christians, converts and cradle Orthodox:  we are all strangers, pilgrims, outcasts here in this world, and Orthodoxy, as Fr. Seraphim Rose so often stressed, is truly otherworldly.  We all need love, we all need understanding.  If we concentrate on our unity in the Faith, if we work towards greater harmony, making on both sides the necessary sacrifices, then our witness as Orthodox Christians will be stronger, and we will please the Lord.

Announcements on the 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost, The Choir of the Holy Unmercenary Physicians, November 20^th, 2011

Metropolitan Hilarion to Serve and Ordain – God willing, he will come and serve with us on Friday and Saturday, December 2^nd and 3^rd, and will perform the ordination of Father Deacon Christopher Johnson to the priesthood during the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning. We have so far heard that several other clergy are joining us as well. Glory to God! Please keep Father Christopher and Matushka Dorothy in your prayers. Also, God willing, Metropolitan Hilarion will add to the festivities the ordination to the diaconate of Monk Damaskinos. We can expect therefore in addition monastic guests, including Abbess Aemilliane and some of the sisters of the Convent of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple.

A Souvenir of the Visit of the Myrrh-Streaming and Wonder-working Icon of the Mother of God of Iveron from Hawaii can be purchased for $15. It is a booklet containing the Akathist of St. Romanos in large print and marked for singing,along with other devotional songs to the Mother of God. We use it for our Wednesday evening prayers before our copy of the wonder-working icon. Please buy one for the support of our work, and use it in your own prayers.

Thanks are due to God’s help and inspiration – Through individual generosity borne in the hearts of givers, we have to date accumulated nearly $44,000. As Augustine’s prescient thermometer shows, our current goal to enable us to move to our new property is $60,000. The target keeps moving because research by our relocation and building group shows new needs. This cannot be helped. And, because our status here is vulnerable, we need to keep our goal to move ever in our prayers and help any way we can, by donations and expertise. All these contributions can be channeled into the efforts of…

Our Relocation and Building Group – This group is formed to coordinate our relocation efforts. If you would like to be part of this, please speak with Matushka Deborah.

Ongoing Financial Support for the Parish – Now is the time to make or renew your 2012 pledge. We cannot calculate what Holy Apostles means to us. But we can very much calculate the ongoing physical needs of the parish. Our treasurer is starting work on our 2012 budget. So please, fill out the pledge forms. They are available at the candle stand. Remember to complete the family information part.

The Use of Candles – A candle represents the prayer of the one who set it out. During the service, please let the prayer complete itself by allowing the candle to burn into the sand. Also, when lighting all the candles, please also don’t discard any remaining candle unless it is burned down to the sand, or very close to that. If you pull it out to discard and discover that it still has some burning time left, please put it back for relighting.

Pray for and Visit the Aged – "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." (James 1:27)

These ladies are all in Riderwood just west of Rte 95, just past Calverton Shopping Center and would appreciate contact and prayers: Olga Prisekin, Rosalie Belida, Betty Chisholm and Dorothy Dague.

Service Opportunities

Meal Signups – Add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks. No onw has signed up for next week (November 27^th.)

Church Cleaning – Be on the cleaning team and/or support with a $40 donation for a weekly cleaning.

Nick’s Place – Please contribute non-perishable goods for the local halfway house for young men recovering from substance abuse.

Holy Apostles Chariots takes turns picking up whoever needs a ride to church. If you need a ride or would like be one of the charioteers, please speak to our “chief charioteer,” Kyril Shillenn.

The Choir needs people and if you can sing you can be one of them. Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings at 7 PM. This Thursday being Thanksgiving, there will be a special rehearsal on Wednesday evening after the Thanksgiving prayer.

Orthodox Christians on Campus is meeting this coming Tuesday evening at 7 PM as well as every Tuesday evening, in the chapel at the Catholic Student Center at the intersection of Guilford Drive and Knox Road by the University of Maryland in College Park. If you know a student who is Orthodox at the University or a student who is curious about Orthodoxy, please let him know about this. We have Vespers followed by a speaker or discussion and Q & A.  Sometimes we go out to eat afterwards. This past Tuesday, there were upwards of 40 people in attendance for Fr. Daniel Byantoro’s talk. 

St. Joseph’s Young Adults, our Orthodox young people’s group from the Baltimore-Washington area, will resume meeting on Friday, December 9^th, at 7 PM at the Rectory.

Today is our Thanksgiving Potluck, so let us please all gather and enjoy God’s bounty together and give thanks to Him for His many benefits, including the efforts he has inspired in those who prepared the meal.

Visitors and Guests please sign in the guest book to the right of the church-shaped donation box, and, if possible, include any contact information such as address, telephone and email.

Constantine Zalalas will be giving a talk at our church on Sunday evening, December 11^th,, at 6PM.  He is part of the “Greek Friends of Holy Apostles” who are fervently working to help us raise the needed funds to build our church. Please mark your calendar and come and support our parish and hear his inspiring talk. A flyer is attached.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 We have begun the Great Fast and we prepare for the bright and glorious Resurrection of our Lord. The reason that we fast is so that our more frequent corporate prayer might be less distracted by our earthly needs. Lent is not a mere change of diet. By cutting back on our earthly burden, we raise our sights to things above.

 If we believe that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome. It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth. From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

Fasting and the other Lenten observances and commemorations that maintain the Church’s life are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us. The ending portion of the Gospel of Matthew that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration. With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom. This freedom is not the freedom of license, which is really voluntary slavery to passionate whim. The freedom of the Christian Life is that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal. Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism. We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be in our mind’s eye all the time. To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth. Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

By Matushka Deborah Johnson
(From Orthodox America)

When I was growing up, we lived about half a mile from the edge of a town planted in the rich prairieland of central Illinois. In the summer, I used to wake up early in the morning to go on long walks by myself, following a road that took me into the countryside. Standing in the midst of the prairie, I could look around me on all sides and see, far off in the distance, the place where the sky met the earth. The greenness of the corn, the black earth, the white clouds all combined in a riot of color under the brilliant blue dome of the sky. I would just stand there and breathe it all in. My spirit soared in this place, and a longing for God was planted in my soul. This is how it was for me as a child.

My parents were not religious, so I was not brought up in any religious faith. I used to ask my parents about God: Does He exist? Who is He? Should we go to church (I wanted to go)? Is there a heaven, a hell, etc. But my parents gave me no answers. I was on my own. I intuitively apprehended the truth of God's existence, especially when I was on my walks out on the prairie. His signature was everywhere. St. Paul says: For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead (Rom. 1:20).

Tertullian says that all souls are by nature Christian, and St. Augustine says that God has made us for Himself, and that our hearts are restless until they find Him. My own experience bears witness to this. My adult years before conversion to the Orthodox faith were a long and painful time of seeking God and His truth. I even went through a period of atheism, but I always had the memory of those times in the prairie to remind me that there was something else, something more to reality than what is seen. Through the years I would return to this place, and the wind in the grass was like a gentle whisper from God, nurturing in my soul a greater and greater longing for Him. And that was the extent of my godly upbringing.

Christian Upbringing

So, when I was asked to talk about Christian education in the home, and its importance to Orthodox mission, I could not draw on personal experience. I didn't come to the holy Orthodox faith until eight and a half years ago--I was already 35 years old. Perhaps many converts are in a similar position, not having been raised in an Orthodox family, although some were raised in pious Protestant or Catholic families.

Royal Martyr Empress Alexandra said, "No work any man can do for Christ is more important than what he can and should do in his own home." Our son Christopher was seven years old when we were baptized. He is now almost sixteen. When I look at him as a teenager, and reflect on my own teenage years, I see many positive differences. But even if I saw nothing, as parents we have God's promise, given to us in Proverbs: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

How can we do this? Fr. Michael Pomazansky writes:

"Every Christian mother considers it one of her primary obligations to teach her child prayer as soon as his consciousness begins to awaken, prayer that is simple and easy for him to understand. His soul must be accustomed to the warm and fervent experience of prayer at home, by his cradle, for his neighbors, his family. The child's evening prayer calms and softens his soul, he experiences the sweetness of prayer with his ... heart, and catches the first scent of sacred feelings.

"[When a mother takes her child to church,] Christ is invisibly present there, and He sees the child, blesses him, and receives him into the atmosphere of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Grace envelopes him as a warm wind wafts over a blade of grass in a field, helping it to grow up slowly and gradually, to put down roots and develop .... Allowing children to have contact with spiritual grace is one of the first ... concerns of a Christian who thinks about his children, and the task of Christian society, which is concerned about its youth. Here is the door to a correct Orthodox Christian upbringing." (From "Children in Church")

Acquire the Spirit of Peace

St. Seraphim said, "Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved." We can help our children acquire this Spirit by teaching them how to pray, by centering our family lives around the Church calendar. Gather daily at the icon corner with your children to do your morning and evening prayers. Read out loud to them the Lives of the Saints. (A wonderful source of daily readings is The Prologue from Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velirnirovich, and the first volume of St. Dimitri of Rostov's Menology has recently become available; the calendar can be ordered from St. John of Kronstadt Press in Tennessee.) Teach them about the upcoming feasts of the Church. If they're old enough, read the Sunday Gospel to them ahead of time and discuss it with them.

Most importantly, teach them in difficult times to hold on as tightly as possible to the Church, the same way that they hold on to their mother when they awaken from a nightmare. Teach them that our Faith is not just a collection of beliefs; it is a living Body, a living Faith. If we desire to teach our children to love our holy orthodox Faith, we cannot do it through words alone, but rather we must do it through our own lives. Then we will be raising up members of the Body of Christ who are truly capable of doing missionary work, according to St. Seraphim's definition.

The Formation of Churches

If we are to plant new churches in this country, we will need priests. Where will these priests come from? From our own Orthodox families. They will be our sons. It's not that we decide ahead of time, "My son will be a priest." But we should raise all of our children in an atmosphere of fear of God and piety. Saint Innocent of Moscow, speaking of the upbringing of young men destined for the clergy, says:

"Teach ... the children to fear God at all times and everywhere .... The fear of God is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit .... One of the principal methods in acquiring the Holy Spirit is prayer .... Instruct the children in prayer, and they will have the fear of God .... The primary development of the spiritual side of our clergy is not dependent upon our schools.., but on the upbringing in the home." (From "The Upbringing of Spiritual Youth")

I would like to share with you some thoughts which are based on a conversation I had with Fr. Deacon Leonid Mickle, our godfather.

There is a Russian saying: if you get ten Russians together, they will form a church. The priest for the new community should come from the community itself. Don't say to the bishop: "Send us a priest." Do you want a church enough that someone within the mission is willing to take on the awesome responsibility of the priesthood? If you have a community that's really zealous about the Faith, enough to maintain regular Reader's services, it seems amazing that no one would be willing to come forth and go the extra step to make the community complete, so that they can regularly partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. If a community is living the Faith, then either an eligible candidate will come forward, or God will provide one.

Do you have twenty people who would do what the Washington, D.C. community of St. John the Baptist did---mortgage their own property to help pay for the church? They didn't say, "We want to have a church with gold domes---you provide this for us." People came after a full day at work to lay bricks for the new church building. You should see the church now. Even people who come from Russia say it is one of the most beautiful churches they have seen.

When Fr. Leonid's parish priest in New Jersey, Fr. Vasily, died unexpectedly in his 90's, there was a retired military man whose wife had died a couple years earlier. He was a house painter and general handyman. He agreed to be ordained a priest. With a lot of assistance he became a good spiritual father and served for many years. On weeknights he taught classes. The community was pious, sober, and prayerful, and this gave him the strength to step forward. He reposed in church, on Thomas Sunday, during the singing of the Troparion of the Resurrection. Here was a good priest, a simple man, who came from the community.

Examples from my Church

I would like to tell you about two people in my own church community who are striving to witness to the Spirit of Peace. We met these two people on our first visit to an Orthodox church; it was our first exposure to Orthodoxy as embodied in the lives of living human beings. They are now our godparents. Fr. George and I had come for a Vigil. It was Bright Saturday night almost nine years ago, the eve of Thomas Sunday. Fr. Leonid, whom I've already mentioned, and Tatiana Vsevolodna Prujan were in church, as usual; Fr. Leonid serving in his role as deacon, and Mrs. Prujan at the candle stand. We had come to the church after reading Russia's Catacomb Saints, which tells about the New Martyrs of Russia. We were seeking the Church of these New Martyrs. What kind of people would give their lives for the Faith? Where is this Faith? Is it possible that it actually exists here on earth?

We walked hesitantly through the doors of the church that first night, not knowing what we would find. It was like walking into another world. It was like coming home after eons and eons of being away. The holy light of Christ's Resurrection shone in the faces of the people on this Bright Saturday. After the three-hour Vigil, our godparents-to-be stayed and talked to us for another hour and a half, answering our many questions. How many of us would be willing to do the same, after three hours in church?

Mrs. Prujan was born in St. Petersburg in 1909 and lived through the Siege of Leningrad. She had just lost her husband two weeks before, on Palm Sunday. Was she bitter or depressed, or withdrawn? No. She never questioned the wisdom of God. She put her arm around me and warmly began to tell me all about Parcha, how it was too bad that we had missed it, how beautiful it was, how beautiful the church was. She even gave me a recipe for the traditional Russian dessert served on the feast and named after it--pascha. Fr. Leonid was also a cradle Orthodox. He went through a period of questioning the Faith, a period of great struggle, and then was led back with renewed zeal.

These two people literally reached over the edge of the Ark and pulled us on board. This is missionary work. It is done on a one-on-one basis, one person to another, one soul to another. If we want to do this kind of work, then we must be like them. The missionary process in the West conjures up images of a Protestant preacher, shouting, berating and Coercing people. Or Jesuits steam-rolling over people. The Orthodox missionary process is like the wind in the prairie grass; it echoes the "voice of a gentle breeze"--the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Peace.

The process of conversion is a mystery which we must respect and not interfere with. It is a secret between the heart of a man and God. We sing about this during Matins, in the Hymn of Ascents: "In the Holy Spirit, every soul is quickened, and through cleansing is exalted and made radiant by the Triple Unity in a hidden sacred manner." We can't push it because we'll be responsible if that person converts and then falls away because they weren't ready. If we, through pride, try to interject ourselves, to talk when we shouldn't, we'll be making so much noise that we'll keep a potential convert from hearing that "voice of a gentle breeze." We'll have to answer to God for that.

A Tremendous Debt

The Orthodox Faith is transmitted not only through books, but also through its people, the Body of Christ. Have you ever looked at the pictures of the blew Martyrs of Russia? Have you looked closely at their faces? My church is full of people who are relatives of the New Martyrs. Vladimir Makarich Pavlenko is now 76 years old. When he was a boy of fourteen, his father, Priest-Martyr Macarius, was beaten up by the KGB and dragged away, never to be seen again. There are many stories like this one in my church.

If it weren't for these people, we would not be standing here now. We owe them a tremendous debt. In the remaining time which God has given to us on this earth, we will not be able to do enough to show our gratitude, to pay this debt. These are our fathers in the Faith. They have preserved the Faith so that we might inherit it, whole and untouched. Let us try to do the same for our children. We have not been called upon to witness to the Faith with our blood. Let us at least try to imitate these relatives of the New Martyrs, who have given so much.

We in the Russian Church Abroad have a special responsibility, because of our heritage--the New Martyrs of Russia. Picture a book with millions of pages, one for each of the New Martyrs--his life, his witness to the Faith. This is the Book of Life, and we hope to follow in their footsteps, as it says in the old spiritual, "I want to be in that number when the Saints go marching in." This is an awesome responsibility. Like the Jews who tried to say that they would be favored by God because they were the children of Abraham, we will not get into heaven because we are the children of the church of the New Martyrs, or because we are the home of Saint John Maximovitch. If anything, we will be held responsible for the grace which we received because of these things, and because we did not make use of it.

Missionary work consists not only of helping to bring people into the Church, but also of helping to keep people from falling away, or helping them to return if they have fallen away. In other words, it consists of helping as many people as possible to get on, stay on, or get back on, the Ark of Salvation, so that they are on it when it reaches the farther shore. It consists of loving our neighbors, and thereby helping people to love each other. We have all experienced being in the presence of someone who embodies such love and warmth. Such a person acts like a fire melting wax, softening our hearts, enkindling the Divine fire within our own hearts, that same fire that the Apostles felt on the road to Emmaus when they said, Did not our hearts burn within us?

Instead of finding fault with the way the Church carries out her mission, we must correct our understanding of her mission. Instead of saying, "The bishops aren't doing this or that," or "The Church isn't missionary enough," the question each of us has to ask is, What missionary work am I doing? Am I striving with all of my strength, with all of my heart, soul, mind, and spirit, to love God, and to love my neighbor as myself? Does that Holy Breath blow through my soul unhindered to that of my neighbor? Does my life radiate the Spirit of Peace, that Holy Spirit of which St. Seraphim spoke? If yes, then we can honestly say about ourselves: We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do (Luke 17:10). If not, then we can fall down on our faces, and, with team, beg the Lord to give us the Holy Spirit, for we have His promise: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Luke 11:13).

Announcements on the 21^st Sunday after Pentecost, the Mother of God, Joy of All who Sorrow, November 6^th, 2011

A Souvenir of the Visit of the Myrrh-Streaming and Wonder-working Icon of the Mother of God of Iveron from Hawaii is available for a donation of $15. It is a book containing devotional songs and the full text to the Akathist to the Mother of God that was prepared for and used during the icon’s visit. We use them in our Wednesday night devotions. We also have a number of small card copies of the icon with the Troparion on the back that have been touched to the original. These are yours for the asking.

Metropolitan Hilarion to Serve and Ordain – God willing, he will come and serve with us on Friday and Saturday, December 2^nd and 3^rd, and will perform the ordination of Father Deacon Christopher Johnson to the priesthood during the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning. We have so far heard that several other clergy are joining us as well. Glory to God! Please keep Father Christopher and Matushka Dorothy in your prayers.

Thanks to an anonymous donor – we were offered a matching grant of up to $10,000 for money raised last Saturday and December 11^th. By this past Wednesday, within three days, we received money and pledges matching that grant, for a total of $20,000 towards the money needed to move to our new property. Adding this to the $10,000 that we had already raised, we have now $30,000.

$20,000 still needed – Because our office park unit here has been sold, we need to move to our new property. To be able to move, we have an immediate goal of $50,000 to obtain and situate a triple-wide building on our property and install supporting utilities, with the help of our friend, builder Don Blevins. We will need a minimum of $20,000 more. Please consider donating all or part of this to the building fund.

A Relocation and Building Group has formed to coordinate our relocation efforts. If you would like to be part of this, please speak with Matushka Deborah.

Ongoing Financial Support for the Parish – Please make or renew your pledge for 2012. Remember what Holy Apostles parish means to us. Pledge forms are available at the candle stand. Remember to fill out the attached family information.  Ask our Treasurer, Matushka Dorothy any questions. We really need this information soon to form our 2012 budget.

Visit and Pray for the Aged – "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." (James 1:27)

These ladies are all in Riderwood just west of Rte 95, just past Calverton Shopping Center and would appreciate contact and prayers: Olga Prisekin, Rosalie Belida, Betty Chisholm and Dorothy Dague.

Service Opportunities

Meal Signups – Add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks.

Church Cleaning – Be on the cleaning team and/or support with a $40 donation for a weekly cleaning.

Nick’s Place – Please contribute non-perishable goods for the local halfway house for young men recovering from substance abuse.

The Choir needs people and if you can sing you can be one of them. Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings at 7 PM

Holy Apostles Chariots takes turns picking up whoever needs a ride to church. If you need a ride or would like be one of the charioteers, please speak to our “chief charioteer,” Kyrill Shillen.

Orthodox Christians on Campus is a group of Orthodox students at the University of Maryland in College Park who meet Tuesday evenings. Father Christopher and I have joined their supporting clergy and he has been there in regular support, with me as backup. Some of them were here for the icon.

St. Joseph’s Young Adults, our Orthodox young people’s group from the Baltimore-Washington area has not met recently because of our house disaster. We hope to re-start this effort very soon.

Constantine Zalalas, noted speaker and lay theologian, will give a talk on “Orthodox Spirituality and the Heart” here at Holy Apostles on Sunday, December 11^th, at 6 PM. He is offering his talk as a fundraiser for our building fund. Those who heard him this past Lent when he spoke on “How to fight evil” can attest to his informative and inspirational gifts. Save the date. Come to hear and be inspired, and support the building of our church. Invite a friend; all are welcome!

A Bake Sale is happening next week, Sunday the 13^th provided by our St. Juliana sisterhood, the proceeds to support parish and sisterhood activities. Get something enjoyable to eat and thereby support the sisterhood and the parish.

The Parish Council meets tomorrow evening (Monday the 7^th) at 7 PM.

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 Here are some thoughts from Matushka Deborah’s Face book page to ponder as we move into Great Lent:

The Saturday evening vigil is a fountain of life for the soul. “Cast out into the deep,” the Lord said to St. Peter. The vigil is a casting out into the deep for the soul. It is a treasure house with untold treasures hidden within. It is a visit to the Lord’s house, full of many mansions. All of the things contained therein - the rest for the soul, the sometimes intense spiritual struggle – are there for our salvation. The Lord has given us this beautiful and deeply profound Divine Service, which is celebrated every Saturday, the eve of the Lord’s day, the day of the celebration of His holy Resurrection.

The quiet light of the candles reminds me that I am lit by God, and one day the candle of my physical body will go out. How do I want that little candle to burn, and to what purpose?

Friends, it can be a struggle to bring yourself to the door of the church. Remember who is the foe in this unseen warfare, and that he tries with all of his tricks to keep us away from the vigil. “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Friends, run to the vigil. Run. Run on ahead.

The Lenten Triodion begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. From afar, we see Pascha, the Bright Resurrection of Christ. In this service, the Lord begins to teach us how to pray. “Let us all humble ourselves, brethren; groaning and lamenting, let us beat our conscience, that at the eternal judgment we may be numbered with the faithful and the righteous, receiving forgiveness. Let us pray to see the true peace of the Age to Come, where there is no more pain, no sorrow, no groaning from the depths, in the wondrous Eden fashioned by Christ, for He is God coeternal with the Father.” (Ikos, Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee)

By Priest George Johnson
(From Orthodox America)

Among many things, the newcomer to Orthodox worship is at once impressed by the fact that our services are continuous song. From first to last, no sound is heard, aside from a sermon, that is not some form of music. Even sermons were of old cast in poetry to be sung, and to most elaborate music at that. Almost the entire content of a service is made for singing. Even the reading is always intoned and becomes inflected in a tune-like manner, never entirely monotonous. This union of word and song spills over from public to private, spontaneous acts of worship. Are Orthodox gathered in pilgrimage at a holy place? At the very least, they will sing a hymn about what happened there. Is a pious person traveling? Whether especially musical or not, he will sing "He that dwellest in the help of the Most High." Is someone soon to die? When the priest comes, those at the bedside and, if possible, the sufferer, will sing the hymns of the Unction service. Where there is Orthodox worship, there is music.
Why is it that music is so wedded to the spiritual life of the Church, to her prayer? This is so because of the power in its beauty, the power to drive deep into the souls of the faithful the memory and meaning of what our Creator and Deliverer does for us, the power to tell to the world these more-than-heroes' deeds in a way that simple speech cannot, the power to ignite our longing for the Heavenly Kingdom. Because of music's great power, the Church has ever carefully husbanded its use. This husbanding does not, however, mean that her music is everywhere cookie-cutter identical. On the contrary, when we hear music from different Orthodox national traditions, we find that no two sound anything alike, unless directly borrowing from each other; but there is ever present a sobriety and spiritual serenity which is the hallmark of Orthodox music, regardless of its dress. This is the result of the Church's care for her worship. The music is never static, it is ever-evolving but always characteristic, representing in its time and mode the treasured and precious inheritance. Since the spiritual life of the Church is so wedded to its music, we in the Church who are musically aware, and therefore responsible, must make it the first call on our effort to know and hold as our own our inherited musical tradition in all its glorious detail. If we would add something of our own, let it first be our open eyes and ears. At all events, complacency should play no part; we should make ourselves merciless skeptics toward our own preconceptions.

We who are converts to the Faith in adulthood have a particular labor to perform. We bring baggage. In our fresh zeal and desire for perfection, we tend to lift items of this baggage to the level of moral or even theological principle. One piece of such baggage is the notion that since everyone can more or less sing, then the only proper worship consists in everyone singing, and that continually. This idea has more to do with a rigorous Calvinism than with Orthodoxy. The historical fact of the matter is that church music has always consisted in some combination of particular and general singing. One is no better than the other in any absolute sense. Everyone knows and sings some of the music; a few know and only they sing some of the music; sometimes, everyone sings all the music, whether they know the music or not. The possibilities exercised vary from time to time, place to place and from occasion to occasion. No one possibility represents the immutable paradigm. Another piece of baggage is a tendency to trust to the tradition as found in books rather than in living tradition. This tendency comes from those religious bodies with legalistic pre-dispositions, having only a legacy of the written word with a nearly inbred distrust of any other type of tradition. Again, with our fresh zeal for perfectionism, on finding a discrepancy between what we have found out in a book and what is done, we try to enforce the thing read and dismiss the thing done. The thing done just happens to be the on-going prayer life of the Church. When we attempt to drive the wedge of our opinions between the faithful and their prayer life, the most likely result is that we will drive a wedge between ourselves and the Church. In any case, the last thing the Church needs is a re-enactment of the Protestant Reformation masquerading as purest Orthodoxy.

Having said all this, no claim is made here that musical prayer life is everywhere perfect as it stands. It is a fact of our fallen world that dust settles on things that must then be cleaned. In human activity, the dust of complacency corrodes the quality of what we do. But as we refresh, let us remember that what we are dealing with is living and spiritual. We have heard the jest: "The operation was a success, but the patient, unfortunately, did not survive." Woe betide us if our actions traumatize the spiritual life of a place and we thereby adorn ourselves with a millstone. When we refurbish, let it be by barely perceptible degrees. Let our work be entirely with pastoral support and consultation. Let our labor reflect a prayerful and expectant patience. Are we part of a new parish and part of getting musical prayer life established? Let our hands build on the best that already exists elsewhere.

All these expressions of work are no metaphorical excess. If we would lead in the Church, in anything, not just music, we must be willing to be humble, tireless workers. When we think we are done, there is, forever and always, more. But what else have we better to do? Once, when visiting our dear, then 95 year-old retired pastor, Father Nicholas Pekatoris (may his memory be eternal), I tried to cut the visit short since he was looking tired, even for his age. As I began to make my good bye, he said, "Oh, Father George, no need to go. Pretty soon I rest, many, many." Let us, like Father Nicholas and countless others, Be not weary in well-doing. For help, let us call on those, like Saint Romanos, Saint John Kukuzelis and all who have kept the song sounding through the ages, to pray for us. Let us strive to be the harp in the hand of God; let all our song be of Him.

Many Years to the recently baptized Seraphima Delph on the commemoration of St. Seraphim of Sarov this past Monday.

Congratulations are in order for those families contributing directly the growth of the parish by bearing children!  This past Monday evening at about 9:30, Mariya Petrenko gave birth to Daniel Maximovich at Greater Laurel Hospital, and Friday morning at 2 AM, Elena Swenson gave birth to Daniel Ivanovich at Holy Cross Hospital.  The prayers on the day of birth were said on site for both.  Everybody looks beautiful.  God willing, the prayers at the 8th day naming will be said this week at their houses.

St. Seraphim’s Youth Camp concludes today.  It seems that the campers have all had an edifying and happy time together.  Let us pray that our people who attended return to us safely this evening, including Father Christopher and Matushka Dorothy Johnson and Alexandra Raybin

Traveling also are Justin in Colombia and Augustine in China.  Pray for their safe return.

A Wedding! – God willing, Matthew Raybin and Lyubov Greenwood will be married during the Divine Liturgy for the Dormition of the Theotokos on Sunday, August 28th.  Keep these young people in your prayers as they prepare for this joyous and momentous step in their lives.

Service and Stewardship – Meal Signups – Add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks – Church Cleaning – Be part of a team that cleans the church on Friday’s; or be a supporting donor by contributing $40 for a Friday cleaning – Nick’s Place – Contribute non-perishable goods for the local halfway house for young men recovering from substance abuse.

We welcome visitors and new members of our community – Please sign our guest book by the church-shaped donation box

St. Joseph the Patriarch Orthodox Young Adults Invites You.

What: A talk on "The Fear of God".  The talk will be a springboard for a discussion on the nature of God, our existence, and our salvation.
Who: Fr. John Moses, rector of All Saints of North America Orthodox Church in Middlebrook, Virginia.
When: Friday, August 12, 2011, 7:00 PM
Where:  The rectory

Fr. John will also be serving at Holy Apostles next weekend, August 13th and 14th. He is also coming to see our historic church property and see what his group, Volunteers In Mission (VIM), can do to help us move to the new property.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Everyone who was here last weekend witnessed a wondrous and archetypal outpouring of God’s grace. When Metropolitan Hilarion laid hands on Father Christopher, he carried on the same timeless activity that is part of the grace of God rained down on our heavenly patrons, the Holy Apostles. The Lord said to them after His resurrection, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” The Metropolitan called down that same Holy Spirit on Father Christopher. This grace was called down on us as well. It’s the same grace that comes down on the Holy Gifts so that we can eat and drink of His Body and Blood.

We pray with the ordination service that all things be brought to perfection. We envision perfection, which vision is a gift of God to help show us the way forward in the Lord. He has granted that Father Christopher be made a helper, a great helper, on that way.

Whenever we pray “O Heavenly King” in our prayers, we pray for Him in His Holy Spirit to fill all things. While we have fulfillment of that prayer all the time when we open our eyes to see it, what happened last week and unfolds daily and hourly as a result makes fierily clear that “God is with us”, as says the prophet. From the ground of our hearts, we thank Him and bless Him; we worship Him.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

    This month holds a somber remembrance for us.  None living and aware on 9/11/2001 will ever forget what happened that day.  It is among the days of which anyone can say what he was doing at the time.  Coverage of the rolling, mounting horrors was instantaneous and gripping.  When the twin towers were hit and later collapsed, illumined in a blue, beautiful morning sky, we saw with our eyes the sudden and violent death of nearly 3,000 people.  When the first mind-numbing shock subsides, we want to get whoever did this and wipe them out.  As Americans, as a matter of fact, as human beings with any fellow feeling, we could scarcely avoid this first reaction.  As Christians, we are called to something above this first reaction.  A clue as to where to start is in the recorded reactions of the 9/11 victims themselves.
    There are many accounts of those who, as it became apparent to them that they weren’t going to survive, used their remaining time to reach out in love to those who most needed their love and from whom they most needed love.  During what is by any evaluation a desperate time, they ignored despair and reached out to others in love.
    Another lesson for us from 9/11 victims comes from those first responders who laid down their lives for others, others who were not known to them, those who understand their calling to be shaped by the possibility of sacrifice for others and respond to this call with simplicity and humility.
    We learn too from those passengers on Flight 93 who rose above themselves, above us all, to stop further horrific national and human destruction by putting their lives in the way.  “Let’s roll,” one of them said.  That phrase connected with their sacrificial act, silences in its simplicity any pride that would rise.
How can we adequately appreciate such forthright, straightforward readiness to go to death for us all?  By imitating the divine source of the courage and love that inspired them and through them inspires us.  By loving with all our hearts Him who is the source of love and who loved with His whole person to the point of death for us.  By loving in memory the victims, both the helpless and the sacrificially purposeful.  By loving those left behind by them.  And, finally, by loving each other, as our sacrificing Savior has commanded us to do.
It is in this light and for this cause that our bishops call on us to say certain petitions for the increase of love on the day of 9/11 itself, as well as to remember in a litany for the reposed those who, maybe unbeknownst to themselves, imitated Him who gave Himself for us.

Father George

Many Years to Vladimir, Alexandra and Marina (Raybins all), for the recent commemorations of their Saints.

St. Joseph’s Young Adults will meet next at the Rectory on Friday, August 5^th at 7 PM. Any college age through early 30’s people in your acquaintance please let them know about this opportunity for Orthodox fellowship and mutual spiritual encouragement.

St. Seraphim’s Youth Camp starts tomorrow. Let us keep in our prayers all those who will be in attendance that God protect and keep them in their travels and return them safely to us.

Traveling also is our parishioner Justin Loss, who will be in Columbia, that’s South America, for a few weeks – Keep Augustine in your prayers as he goes on a trip to China(!) – pray for their safe return.

Service and Stewardship – Meal Signups – Add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks – Church Cleaning – Be part of a team that cleans the church on Friday’s; or be a supporting donor by contributing $40 for a Friday cleaning – Nick’s Place – Contribute non-perishable goods for the local halfway house for young men recovering from substance abuse.

So much is given­ – On his way to the airport Monday a week ago, the steward of the wonder—working icon, Reader Nectary, repeated his prediction that our parish was on the threshold of great things and that we would get what we needed. The next day, the For Sale sign went up for this unit. In the next days after that, we have met twice with a very talented builder with quite a resume who is interested and excited about our new property and wants to help us to move as soon as possible. It is incumbent upon us all to fall to praying as much and as fervently as we can for God’s will to be carried out in this matter, as well as, of course, that the same be done for each and all in our parish family.

We welcome visitors and new members of our community – Please sign our guest book by the church-shaped donation box

Money! Power! Honor! These are the temptations that, unfortunately, many people are unable to resist. This is the source of all the disputes, disagreements and divisions among Christians. This is the root of people's forgetting the "one thing needful" which is proposed to us by the true Christian faith and which consists of prayer, acts of repentance, and sincere, un-hypocritical charity to our neighbors. The Holy Church always calls us to this, but especially now, during the Great Fast!

What is required of us Christians is not some kind of "exalted politics," not lofty phrases and hazy philosophy, but the most humble prayer of the Publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!", acts of repentance, and doing good to our neighbors, which proceeds from a pure heart. It is for the practice of all of this that the Church has established Great Lent!

How powerfully, colorfully, graphically, and convincingly, with what ardent inspiration is all of this spoken of in the divine services of Great Lent! No one anywhere has such a wealth of edification in this regard as do we Orthodox in our incomparable Lenten services, which, to their shame, the majority of Orthodox in our times do not know at all.

Archbishop Averky of Syracuse (+1976)

A Child’s Lent Remembered

The following excerpt is taken from Ivan Shmelyov's “Anno Domini, a wistful recollection of life in his pious, old-fashioned, well to-do home in pre-Revolutionary Moscow” – From “Orthodox America”

Clean Monday

I waken from harsh light in my room: a bare kind of light, cold, dismal. Yes, it's Great Lent today. The pink curtains, with their hunters and their ducks, have already been taken down while I slept, and that's why it's so bare and dismal in the room. It's Clean Monday today for us, and everything in our house is being scrubbed. Grayish weather, the thaw. The dripping beyond the window is like weeping. Our old carpenter, Gorkin, "the panel man", said yesterday that when Lady Shrovetide leaves, she'll weep. And so she is--drip...drip...drip... There she goes! I look at the paper flowers reduced to shreds, at the gold-glazed "Shrovetide" sweet cake--a toy, brought back from the baths yesterday; gone are the little bears, gone are the little hills--vanished, the joy. And a joyous something begins to fuss in my heart; now everything is new, different. Now it will be "the soul beginning"--Gorkin told me all about it yesterday. "It's time to ready the soul," To prepare for Communion, to keep the fast, to make ready for the Bright Day.

"Send One-eye in to see me!" I hear Father's angry shouting.

Father has not gone out on business; it's a special day today, very strict. Father rarely shouts. Something important has happened. But after all he forgave the man for drinking; he cancelled all his sins; yesterday was the day of Forgiveness. And Vasilli Vasillich forgave us all, too, that's exactly what Ira said in the dining room, kneeling: "I forgive you all!" So why is Father shouting then?

The door opens; Gorkin comes in with a gleaming copper basin. Oh, yes, to smoke out Lady Shrovetide! There's a hot brick in the basin, and mint, and they pour vinegar over them. My old nurse, Domnushka, follows Gorkin around and does the pouring; it hisses in the basin and a tart steam rises a sacred steam. I can smell it even now, across the distance of the years. “Sacred.” That's what Gorkin calls it. He goes to all the corners and gently swirls the basin. And then he swirls it over me.

"Get up, dearie, don't pamper yourself," he speaks lovingly to me, sliding the basin under the skirt of the bed. "Where has she hid herself in your room, fat old Lady Shrovetide. We'll drive her out. Lent has arrived. We'll be going to the Lenten market, the choir from St. Basil's will be singing 'My soul, my soul arise;' you won't be able to tear yourself away."

That unforgettable, that sacred smell: the smell of Great Lent. And Gorkin himself, completely special, as if he were kind of sacred, too. Way before light, he had already gone to the bath, steamed himself thoroughly, put on everything clean. Clean Monday today! Only the kazakin is old; today only the most workaday clothes may be worn, that's "the law". And it's a sin to laugh, and you have to rub a bit of oil on your head, like Gorkin. I'll be eating without oil now, but you have to oil the head, it's the law, "for the prayer's sake." There's a flow about him, from his little gray beard, all silver really, from the neatly combed head. I know for a fact that he's a saint. They're like that, God's people that please Him. And his face is pink, like a cherubim's, from the cleanness. I know that he's dried himself bits of black bread with salt, and all bent long he'll take them with his tea, "instead of sugar."

But why is Daddy angry with Vasilli Vasillich, like that?

"Oh, sinfulness..." says Gorkin with a sigh. “It's hard to break habits, and now everything is strict, Lent. And, well, they get angry. But you hold fast now, think about your soul. It's the season, all the same as if the latter days were come. That's the law! You just recite, "O Lord and Master of my life...' and be cheerful."

And I begin silently reciting the recently memorized Lenten prayer.

The rooms are quiet and deserted, full of that sacred smell. In the front room, before the reddish icon of the Crucifixion, a very old one , from our sainted great-grandmother who was an Old Believer; a "Lenten" lampada of clear glass has been lit, and now it will burn unextinguished until Pascha. When Father lights it--on Saturdays he lights all the lampadas himself--he always sings softly, in a pleasant-sad way: "Before Thy Cross, we bow down, O Master," and I would sing softly after him, that wonderful refrain: "And Thy holy Resurrection, we glorify!”

A joy-to-tears beats inside my soul, shining from these words. And I behold it, behind the long file of Lenten days--the Holy Resurrection, in lights. A joyful little prayer! It casts a kindly beam of light upon these sad days of bent.

I begin to imagine that now the old life is coming to an end, and it' s time to prepare for that other, life, which will be – where? Somewhere, in the heavens. You have to cleanse the soul of all sinfulness, and that's why everything around you is different. And something special is at our side, invisible and fearful. Gorkin told me that now, "it's like when the soul is parting from the body." THEY keep watch, to snatch away the soul, and all the while the soul trembles and wails: "Woe is me, I am cursed!" They read about it in church now, at the Standings.

“Because they can sense that their end is coming near, that Christ will rise! And that's why we're given Lent, to keep close to Church, to live to see the Bright Day. And not to reflect, you understand. About earthly things, do not reflect! And they'll be ringing everywhere: 'Think back! Think-back!" He made the words boom inside him nicely.

Throughout the house the window vents are open, and you can hear the mournful cry and summons of the bells, ringing before the services: think-back...think-back. That's the piteous bell, crying for the soul. It's called the Lenten peal. They've taken the shutters down from the windows, and it'll be that way, poor looking, clear until Pascha. In the drawing room, there are gray slipcovers on the furniture; the lamps are bundled up into cocoons, and even the one painting, "The Beauty at the Feast," is draped over with a sheet. That was the suggestion of His Eminence. Shook his head sadly and said: "A sinful and tempting picture!" But Father likes it a lot--such class! Also draped is the engraving that Father for some reason calls "the sweet-cake one"; it shows a little old man dancing, and an old woman hitting him with a broom. That one His Eminence liked a great deal, even laughed. Ali the house folk are very serious, in workday clothes with patches, and I was told also to put on the jacket with the worn-through elbows. The rugs have been taken out; it's such a lark now to skate across the parquet. Only it's scary to try--Great Lent: skate hard and you'll break a leg. Not a crumb left over from Shrovetide, mustn't be so much as a trace of it in the air. Even the sturgeon in aspic was passed down to the kitchen yesterday. Only the very plainest dishes are left in the sideboard, the ones with the dun spots and the cracks – for Great Lent. In the front room there are bowls of yellow pickles, little umbrellas of dill sticking out of them, and chopped cabbage, thickly dusted with anise--a delight. I grab pinches of it--how it crunches! And I vow to myself to eat only Lenten foods for the duration of the fast. Why send my soul to perdition, since everything tastes so good anyway! There'll be stewed fruit, potato pancakes with prunes, "crosses" on the Week of the Cross...frozen cranberries with sugar, candied nuts... And what about roast buckwheat kasha with onions, washed down with kvass! And then Lenten pasties with milk-mushrooms, and then buckwheat pancakes with onions on Saturdays... and the boiled wheat with marmalade on the first Saturday...and almond milk with white kissel, and the cranberry one with vanilla, and the grand kuliebiak on Annunciation .... Can it be that THERE, where everyone goes to from this life, there will be such Lenten fare! And why is everyone so dull-looking? Why, everything is so...so different, and there is much, so much that is joyous. Today they'll bring the first ice and begin to line the cellars--the whole yard will be stacked with it. We'll go to the "Lenten Market," and the Great Mushroom Market, where I've never been... I begin jumping up and down with joy, but they stop me: "It's Lent, don't dare! Just wait and see, you'll break your leg!"

Fear comes over me. I look at the Crucifixion. He suffers, the Son of God! But how is it that God... how did He allow it? I have a sense that herein lies the great mystery itself--GOD.

(Translated from Russian by Maria Belaeff)

The Week of Pentecost is a fast-free week

The Parish Council will meet tomorrow night at 7 here at church.

St. Joseph’s Young Adults will meet at the Rectory at 7 PM, this Friday evening, the 17^th, for a Pizza Party, celebrating Pentecost and the fast-free opportunity it provides.

A Baptism! – God willing, Thomas Hurlock will be baptized this coming Saturday at 2 PM, and Kyrill Shillen is his sponsor.

A Baby Shower will be held Tuesday, June 21^st, at 7 PM at the Rectory for Mariya Petrenko and Elena Swenson. Please RSVP Mariya with your intention to be there.

Photo Report and Beltsville News Article – A photo-report of the Metropolitan’s visit is being prepared for the Diocesan website, as well as an article for the Beltsville News. Today is the last day that any photos of that day can be submitted for possible inclusion.

Meal Signups – Please add your name to the list to offer a meal in the upcoming weeks.

Our New Church Cleaning System – The reimbursement is $40 for one cleaning and the normal day to do this is Friday, in plenty of time for the weekend services. If you want to sponsor a cleaning (by providing $40), you can do that too. For both of these possibilities, there is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the kitchen. Please talk to Mariya Petrenko for details regarding the cleaning job. Sponsors should make out a check to the church with “church cleaning” on the memo line. Since, so far, the response to this initiative has not met expectations, you may be approached to participate. As always in history, the way to escape the draft is to volunteer.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov Summer Camp Registration (we hope) is still open. The camp will run from July 31st to August 7th and the cost is $225 per child. The camp is for children in grades 3-12, but older people can help out. This is an excellent opportunity for our youngsters to make life long connections with other Orthodox people their age. The camp fills up quickly so act now. Talk to Father Christopher or Matushka Dorothy for more information.

Nick’s Place – We collect non-perishable goods for the local half-way house for young men. They are very grateful for what we bring. The orange bin to hold your donations is in the corner by the closet. Please talk to Monica Pelt about specific needs or other ways you can help.

Parish Feast Weekend – Save the Date – July 16-18 – God-willing, Bishop Jerome and Father Deacon Dimitri will be joining us for our parish feast weekend in July. Reader Nectarios will bring the Hawaiian Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon. The Vigil and Divine Liturgy will be Saturday & Sunday July 16^th & 17^th. There will be a potluck reception at the rectory after the Liturgy. In commemoration of the 5^th anniversary of his repose, on Monday morning, July 18^th, the holy icon will be with us for a memorial service (pannyhida) for Matushka’s father, John Garvey.

You may notice that Matushka Deborah is absent. Thanks be to God, she is fine. She had the privilege of being asked to be Godmother to baby Anastasia, the daughter of Father Robert and Matushka Krissy Miclean, who shepherd an Orthodox mission to the colleges in Annapolis, and she is there today, fulfilling that divine and joyful duty.

We welcome visitors and new members of our community – Please sign our guest book back by the church-shaped donation box

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Last year at our clergy Lenten retreat, Father Artemy Vladimirov inspired us with his elevating talks.  At one point, he spoke of a “land of miracles.”  Of course, he was speaking of his homeland of Russia.  As we look at the events of the past few weeks in our parish life, the realization dawns that the “miraculous country” can be found elsewhere as well.

As we go into our tenth year of life as a parish, we find ourselves rejuvenated by a series of miracles: an inspiring and timely visit by our long-time friend and spiritual counselor, Archpriest John Townsend; a blessed visit by the Mother of God in her miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Sign; and a wonderful annual meeting of the parish.  Yes, that’s right: a wonderful annual parish meeting.

How can this be?  Has anyone heard of a wonderful parish meeting?  How can such a mundane-sounding event be compared to the wonderful things that preceded it, especially the visitation from Her who bore our Savior?

We can dare to say that our parish meeting was wonderful because the preceding wonders brought us all in touch with that which buoyed us up.  We say this because the uncertainty that clouded our minds as we entered the meeting was dispersed by the Holy Spirit’s aid and guidance. All present were brought in to the knowledge of and commitment to the principles of our founding.  At this meeting, it was as if the parish was re-born, was founded anew.

Some attendees afterward said to me that a peace descended on the meeting that was brought about by the Mother of God.  The general feeling was not unlike that which pertained when the wonder-working icon was with us.  In reflection, this meeting was a moment to which Moses’ words to the children of Israel can be applied: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Would that all in our connection could have been present.  We can all do something, though, with this and all the other gifts that have been rained down upon us.  God’s love is the source of it all, of that to which Father John referred when he said, “you have everything.”  We can love in return.  We can, in fact are commanded to, return love, to love God and each other as we would love and have others love ourselves.  Perfect love casts out fear, says our Lord.  We can therefore in our divinely engendered love cast off the rags of fear and lack of faith that so easily snare us.

Let us show our love in our generosity and in our efforts for each other and, in short, in our faithfulness and devotion to the Church, the Body of Him who came and comes to save us who are her members.

Father George

A Parish Cookbook – The sisterhood is assembling recipes for a parish cookbook – it will include provision for regular, holiday and Lenten cooking with a special Lenten section for “the picky eater.”  Please get your recipes in these categories to Matushka Anastasia through email (cookielove00@comcast.net) or in person.

Be watchful! – A local policeman informed us of muggings that have been perpetrated on people in a six-block area of Rte 1, including this block.  One should not come to the church alone after dark; and please be very attentive to the parking lot in coming and going.

The Hawaiian Myrrh-streaming Icon – We have purchased reservations to enable Reader Nectarios to bring the wonder-working copy of the Iveron Icon to our 10^th anniversary celebration.  We have also arranged for other churches to shar in this blessing as well as the cost burden.  Thus encouraged, let us open our pockets yet again to show our gratitude to he Mother of God for the grace she freely shares with us.

Pray for our Metropolitan who is planning to undergo knee surgery on March 15^th.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

What is happening on our behalf through Christ’s incarnation?  Let us hear the voice of His Church in a sampling of her divinely wrought hymns.

The Creator, when He saw man perishing, whom He had made with His own hands, bowed the heavens and came down; and from the divine and pure Virgin did He take all of man’s substance, being made truly flesh: for He hath been glorified.

O Christ, who hast made Thyself in the form of a creature of vile clay, by Thy sharing in that which is worse, even our flesh, Thou hast made us partakers of the divine nature; for Thou hast become mortal man, yet still remainest God.  Thou hast raised up our horn, holy art Thou, O God.

Christ our God, whom the Father begat from the womb before the morning star, has come, made flesh; and He who doth hold the reins of the undefiled powers, is laid in a manger of dumb beasts.  He who looseth the tangled cords of sin, is wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Father George

Announcements for Sunday, February 13^th, 2011

Many years to Brigid Diaz in remembrance of her heavenly patron, Brigid of Ireland, whose icon is here for veneration.

Travelers – Elena is back, and we’re very glad, but now her husband, Reader John is out visiting his twin brother Jim in New York, and Silas Diaz is visiting his father and family in Florida.  Pray for everybody’s safe return.

The Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord will be this coming week.  The vigil is tomorrow night, Monday, at 6:30 PM and the Liturgy is on Tuesday morning at 8:40 AM

The Washington Orthodox Clergy Council Meeting will be held here at Holy Apostles on Tuesday evening, February 15^th at 7 PM.  This is the regular monthly meeting of all Orthodox clergy in the area who can attend.  It is an honor for us to be asked to host it.  We plan to provide coffee and light refreshment.  If you would like to be part of the effort to welcome our brother clergy, please, for the material preparation, talk to Matushka Anastasia.  Trays of desert-type refreshments will be assembled.  Please bring whatever you would like to contribute to church on Monday night or Tuesday morning and please help with set up so as to finish after Tuesday morning’s service.  Also, Matushka Deborah will be present to assist at the meeting itself and is asking for one more volunteer to help her then.

Fast-Free Week – There are no fasting days this week following the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee – This is to remind us that there should be no pride in fasting according to the rules.  No matter what our degree of adherence to the rules, we are to never let our self-estimation rise above the Publican who said “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”
 

St. Joseph’s Young Adults – “Orthodoxy Awareness Week”

St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group is getting ready to sponsor “Orthodoxy Awareness Week,” during this coming Lent.  They and we hope to draw to the Faith those of college age who are now at the University of MD in College Park, two miles from here.  We also plan to advertise the event locally, in the Beltsville News, and put out flyers.  Please pray for them and us, as we prepare for this.

A Parish Cookbook – The sisterhood is assembling recipes for a parish cookbook – it will include provision for regular, holiday and Lenten cooking with a special Lenten section for “the picky eater.”  Please get your recipes in these categories to Matushka Anastasia through email (cookielove00@comcast.net) or in person.

The February Bulletin is out in quantity on the tract rack in the back.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,  

            We need to make ourselves ready for Him who comes to save us.  Preparing for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with getting a tree and buying presents, or getting the latest toy.  The world, under the influence of the prince of this world and the enemy of our salvation, would suffocate our spirits with petty and meaningless material wants.  We desperately need to escape from the spiritually corrosive materialism that surrounds us.  We need to seek the Kingdom that is the reason our Savior became an infant.  He comes to us to bring us to Him.

            Let us be wise and ready, like the wise virgins of the parable, having filled our lamps with the oil of heartfelt prayer and desire for Him and His will. He is spoken of as the Bridegroom in the parable because He would make Himself one with our soul, more strongly than even the most devoted friend or spouse.  In fact, it is His love that makes all love possible.  “We love Him because He first loved us and gave Himself for us.”

Let us be conscious and devoted followers of and seekers after Him.  His devotion to us is complete.  We cannot match His gift with any gift of our own; but it is possible for us to receive his gift of Himself to us with gladness and joy.

Father George

NOW is the time for your generous support of our ongoing and great parish financial needs.
The projected budget for 2011 still includes a large deficit, of about $17,000.00 - $18,000.00 for the year, or about $1500.00 a month. If you are renewing, if at all possible raise the amount of your pledge.  If you have not made a pledge before, now is the time to start.  A central part of the Christian life is setting and keeping a pattern of giving as part of our Christian life. The amount we pledge should represent a sacrifice and not simply a comfortable amount of our resources.

The deficit is going to make it difficult for the parish to fully pay the housing allowance.  Though the parish does not pay the rector a salary, he relies on the housing allowance.  Please see the addendum below, excerpted from the ROCOR parish bylaws.  There is no on-going external source of income for our parish outside of your pledge and other individual donations.

Consider making an extra donation to the General Fund, which covers the operating expenses of the parish. Speak to the Treasurer if you would like to make a one time donation to cover all or part of the deficit.  This is a time of great trial for our parish.  If you are able to help, now is the time.

Father John Townsend will be visiting our parish this coming weekend.  He will begin his visit with us for the following events:

1. Friday 1/28, 7:00 PM at the rectory - the meeting of the St. Joseph the Patriarch Orthodox Young Adults.  All are invited to this meeting, not just the young people.  Father John will talk about his conversion to Orthodoxy, and will lead a discussion on the ways in which we each found the Orthodox Faith, and how to be missionary - how we can bring others to our holy Faith. We will offer hot mulled cider.  If you would like to bring cookies or a light snack to share, please let Claire or Matushka Deborah know.

2. Saturday 1/29 5:00 PM & Sunday 1/30 9:40 AM, Father John will be serving on the weekend for the Vigil and Divine Liturgy, 1/29 and 1/30.

Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God to Visit Us – SAVE THE DATES!

Wednesday, February 2^nd at 6 PM and Thursday, February 3^rd at 8:40 AM, we will celebrate an Evening Vigil and Divine Liturgy before the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, Protectress of the Russian Diaspora.  We always need her help, and we should be grateful that the diocese is the willing channel for this help.

St. Joseph’s Young Adults – “Orthodoxy Awareness Week”

St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group is getting ready to sponsor “Orthodoxy Awareness Week,” during this coming Lent.  They and we hope to draw to the Faith those of college age who are now at the University of MD in College Park, two miles from here.  We also plan to advertise the event locally, in the Beltsville News, and put out flyers.  Please pray for them and us, as we prepare for this.

Theophany Houseblessings are available by appointment.  Please speak to Fr. George if you would like to have your house blessed.  The following excerpt is from Fr. Sergei Sveshnikoff’s article on houseblessings.  The full article can be found at: http://frsergei.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/on-the-blessing-of-homes-on-theophany/

Why Bless a Home?

The Orthodox Church teaches that we do not have two separate lives–a secular one and a spiritual one–but one human life, and that all of it must be holy.  We must not be Christians for just a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, spending the rest of our life godlessly, that is to say, without God.  The person who has united with Christ in the sacrament of baptism cannot be a part-time Christian, but must be faithful to Christ everywhere and at all times–in church, at work, at home, in relationships with other Christians, and in those with non-Christians–we must be faithful to Christ in the fullness of our life.

The Holy Orthodox Church teaches us that a temple is not only a building in which we worship, but that we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16); that the Body of Christ is not only that of which we partake at the Divine Liturgy, but that we are the Body of Christ(1 Cor. 12:27).  And just as the Gifts of the Eucharist are treated with reverence and kept in sanctified vessels in the altar, so should every Christian’s life be full of reverence and sanctity not only during a church service, but likewise outside the walls of the temple.  A Christian’s home must become a small temple, work–labor for the glory of God, and family–a small Church.

The Orthodox Church helps her children strive for holiness in their lives and brings sanctification to every Christian home–a small temple.  The Church blesses the very foundation of a home in the same way that it blesses the foundation of a church, it blesses a new Christian home in the same way that it blesses a new temple, and yearly, after the blessing of a parish temple with the water of Theophany, the Church brings this holy water into the homes of the faithful.  The prayers for the blessing of a temple are different from those for the blessing of a home, because the function of a home is different from that of a temple, but the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit is one.  And just as in the baptism of our Lord all of creation is washed clean and sanctified, every year after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 19, according to the secular calendar) Christians sanctify themselves and their homes with the water of Theophany.

The Church teaches us to sanctify everything: dwellings, places of work, all our pursuits, and the fruits of our labor.  And just as a temple and sacred vessels, once sanctified and set aside for sacred use, can no longer be used for anything profane, in the same way a Christian washed in the baptismal waters, and his home, and all his works can no longer be the dwelling of sin and the works of satan, but only and always–the temple of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the will of our Heavenly Father.  This is why the Church blesses everything that can be found in a Christian home; and if something is not worthy of being blessed, then there should not be a place for it in the home of a Christian. (1)

From the ROCOR Parish Bylaws:

2. It shall be the aim of the parish to unite the believers around the parish church on the basis of the teachings, the canons, the traditions and the rules of the Russian Orthodox Church for the satisfaction of the religious needs and moral benefit of its members.

3. It shall be the object of the parish to mutually assist the believers, forming part thereof and united in the Faith in Christ our Savior, by means of prayers, Sacraments, Christian teaching and Church discipline, in attaining salvation through the participation in sacraments and Christian enlightenment, worthy life and Christian charity. Accordingly, the immediate aims of the parish shall include:

a) the care of the church and its adornment;

b) the maintenance of the clergy;

c) the economic prosperity of the parish and the care of the needs of the church, the clergy and all parish institutions, the diocesan and social needs;

d) charitable work, and

e) educational work in the spirit of the Orthodox Church.

4. In conjunction with the parish church there shall be a clergy staff of not less than two members, the rector and the deacon, or the psalmist/precentor, who shall receive living accommodations and subsistence from the parish.

more permanent announcements are available in the "News and Announcements" section of our Parish Bulletin (see the "Current Parish Bulletin" tab of this web-site).

Fundraising for the Parish Building Fund

On-Line Mall

Please use our on-line mall for ALL your on-line shopping.  How to do this is all explained on church web site on the "Building Fund page".  Going through the on-line mall to the site where you shop takes only a couple of extra clicks, but our building fund gets a donation for every purchase made through our on-line mall. Mariya Petrenko will be happy to review the instructions and do a demo to show you how now, today, both during and after our meal.  Take advantage of this.

Decorating and Cleaning the Church for Nativity

Many, many thanks to the small volunteer army that took care of the decoration in preparation for Nativity, Friday and Yesterday.  There is some left to be done.  Today after trapeza and Sunday School is the first opportunity.  The last opportunity will be on Wednesday.  By Wednesday, January 5^th, the decorating must be completed.  There will be virtually continuous services from Thursday morning through Friday mid-day and there will be no opportunity for decorating during those days.  Check with Mariya Petrenko to see what is left to be done, and be ready to help if asked.

A Nativity Gift for “Nick’s Place”

Our parish has an outreach to Nick’s Place, a local halfway house in Beltsville.  The residents are six young men who are in the process of righting their lives. As a special effort for Nativity Monica Pelt, who is tasked with coordinating our outreach to “Nick’s Place” has this suggestion:  Planning to bake something for Nativity?  If so, you could donate a loaf of bread, cake, cookies or other homemade goodies to our Nativity basket for Nick's Place.  I will be delivering the basket on Friday, January 7^th, after services with a card from our parish.  Contact me if you have any questions (202) 486-8005 or abayeap@yahoo.com.  --Monica

From Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris:

The way to God lies through love of other people and there is no other way.  At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked if I was successful in my ascetic exercises or how many prostrations I made in the course of my prayers.  I shall be asked, did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners: that is all I shall be asked.

Festal Nativity Open House

All are invited to the Rectory to celebrate the feast on Friday, January 7^th, at about 2 PM.  Please bring a dish to share.  Brigid Diaz is, as usual, coordinating the meal, so please see her about your contribution.  There is also a signup sheet on the bulletin board.

Christmas Carol Singing – SAVE THE DATE!

St, Joseph’s Young Adults and Holy Apostles invites you to the rectory for a Christmas Carol Singing party Friday, January 14^th,, at 7:00 PM.   It is a fast-free Friday.  Please bring an “ethnic” appetizer to share.  Please RSVP to either Matushka Deborah or Claire Mendis.

Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God to Visit Us – SAVE THE DATES!

Wednesday, February 2^nd at 6 PM and Thursday, February 3^rd at 8:40 AM, we will celebrate an Evening Vigil and Divine Liturgy before the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, Protectress of the Russian Diaspora.  We always need her help, and we should be grateful that the diocese is the willing channel for this help.

St. Joseph’s Young Adults – “Orthodoxy Awareness Week”

St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group is getting ready to sponsor “Orthodoxy Awareness Week,” during this coming Lent.  They and we hope to draw to the Faith those of college age who are now at the University of MD in College Park, two miles from here.  We also plan to advertise the event locally, in the Beltsville News, and put out flyers.  Please pray for them and us, as we prepare for this.

Ongoing Sisterhood Activities

The sisterhood is continuing to take donations for Christmas floral decoration, including, we hope of course, poinsettias.  Please put your contribution into the basket provided. Let’s gather our goodies and tell her about them to support this project.  If anyone knows where we can obtain poinsettias, please speak to Mariya.

Matushka Anastasia is also collecting recipes for the projected Parish cookbook.  Please share recipes and photos with her.

more permanent announcements are available in the "News and Announcements" section of our Parish Bulletin (see the "Current Parish Bulletin" tab of this web-site).

Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God to Visit Us – SAVE THE DATES!

Wednesday, February 2^nd at 6 PM and Thursday, February 3^rd at 8:40 AM, we will celebrate an Evening Vigil and Divine Liturgy before the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” the “sign” being that of the prophet Isaiah.  We all, all the time, need to pray before her.  We should never neglect this opportunity; no matter how often is happens.

Fundraising for the Parish Building Fund

On-Line Mall

Please use our on-line mall for ALL your on-line shopping.  How to do this is all explained on church web site on the "Building Fund page".  Going through the on-line mall to the site where you shop takes only a couple of extra clicks, but our building fund gets a donation for every purchase made through our on-line mall. Mariya Petrenko will be happy to review the instructions and do a demo to show you how now, today, both during and after our meal.  Take advantage of this.

Loaves and Fishes

So far, the loaves and fishes program is the runaway best moneymaker for the building fund that we’ve had yet.  If you haven’t completed the initial phase of your own mailing, or if you have made new contacts that should get a mailing, please take advantage of the fact that we have plenty of materials, right there in the front closet.  And, we have two opportunities to gather to take this effort forward.  On succeeding Wednesdays, December 8^th and December 15^th at 7 PM, all who wish to be a communal part of the Loaves and Fishes campaign are welcomed to the Rectory where hot mulled apple cider will be provided.  Take advantage of this for the sake of the future of Holy Apostles.

The Next St. Joseph’s Young Adults Meeting

This Friday, the 10^th at 7 PM, St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults Group will gather for fellowship at the Rectory and to hear a presentation on the life of St. Photini.  She is the Samaritan Woman of the Gospel and the patron Saint of the presenter, Claire Mendis.  This is another in an ongoing series of lives of missionary Saints that group members have given at the meetings.  Anyone from college age through the mid-thirties is welcome.

A Pilgrim Tells His Story

Kyrill Shillenn is offering to share with us his experiences while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  The presentation, illustrated by many photographs, will be at the Rectory on Friday, December 17^th.  Light refreshment will be provided.  This is an occasion when we can share with and gather inspiration from our pilgrim brother’s experiences.

We are in the Nativity Fast

Volunteers for the Sunday meals, get out your Fish recipes!

Helping us prepare for the Nativity of the Lord

Father Deacon Damian will be leading us in exploring the meaning of the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ in two sessions this month on succeeding Wednesdays, December 22^nd and 29^th.  Please take advantage of these opportunities for deepening our Faith.

Donations for Nativity Flowers

The sisterhood is taking donations for Christmas floral decoration, including, we hope of course, poinsettias.  Please put your contribution into the basket provided, or give you contribution directly to Matushka Anastasia, the sisterhood treasurer.

Parish Cookbook

Matushka Anastasia is collecting recipes for the projected Parish cookbook.  Let’s gather our goodies and tell her about them to support this project.

Remember to pray for…

Betty Chisholm (and her husband, Don) as they struggle with the infirmities of age

Our Travelers: Kyrill Shillen will join Father Victor and others from St. John’s on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  (Ask him to pray for us at all the holy sites.)

An opportunity to help a fellow parishioner

Betty Chisholm would very much like to come to church, but needs a special Medical-Transport van to do so.  If you would like to donate the price of one (1) trip ($103.00), please speak with Matushka Deborah Johnson.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction….

Our parishioner, Olga Prisekin, has lost a lot of her eyesight and her hearing.  She would be grateful for help with grocery shopping, if anyone can donate the time to take her to one of her favorite stores, either MOM’s or Trader Joe’s.  If you would like to help Mrs. Prisekin by driving her to the store, the best way to let her know would be to tell her at church.  It’s easier to communicate with her by writing things down on paper; phone calls are difficult.

We have two other parishioners who, along with Mrs. Prisekin, live in Riderwood and are housebound as they cannot drive anymore.  Betty Chisholm and Dorothy Dague both welcome visitors – call first, of course.  If you have a bit of extra time and would like to pay them a visit, give them a call!

Books for Spiritual Growth and (great for gifts too!)

In our bookstore we have these items, all highly recommended (they wouldn’t be there otherwise).  They should be a part of every Orthodox Christian’s library.

Father Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works by Abbot Damascene

Confession, the Holy Mystery of Repentance by Father John Townsend

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pamazansky

Two new offerings!

Bright Faith is now available in our bookstore for $12.95.  Father Artemy Vladimirov Talks with Western Orthodox Christians:

A decade of collected interviews and articles from Road to Emmaus: A Journal of Orthodox Faith and Culture – Here is a quote from the book:

“For Christians, the miracle of all time is the Holy Liturgy, and the Church itself is the first circle of paradise, heaven on earth.  No matter what our circumstances, our hearts should be at peace because God Almighty, our Savior Jesus Christ, is with us as He promised, to the end of the world.  The darker the world and the crueler its habits, the lighter is the Church with its celestial laws and rules, warmed by Christ’s life and love.  The weaker we feel ourselves, the swifter we are to run to the Church.  If we have true faith and a sense of kinship with the saints, who are our intercessors and elder brothers and sisters, we need have no fear of being misled, of falling into delusion or “prelest.” Whether we are confessors or parishioners, bishops or laymen, we are to have strong hope, a sober mind, and a peaceful heart, walking in the light of Almighty God’s wisdom and love.”

Facing Islam, by Ralph H. Sidway is available for $20.00. 

We have other books for sale and please also take advantage of our library.

Purchase of Books, Candles, Prosphora and Other Items

Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item name, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate your purchase on the “for” or memo line of a check, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash and leave your check or cash in the wicker basket.  By so doing, you will make possible a correct accounting by our treasurer.

Our Choir

Our choir, as you can hear, is very effective, but small, and new members are always welcome.  If you can sing and would like to participate, please speak with our choir director, Reader Christopher Johnson.  Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 (see the schedule), and attendance at them is required (which is directly related to the choir’s effectiveness).

St. Juliana Sisterhood

Our Sisterhood, under the protection of St. Juliana of Lazarevo, always welcomes new members.  Any Orthodox Christian woman who is a member of the parish (see below in “Good Stewards, Good Neighbors”), and is a regular communicant is invited to be a part of the Sisterhood.  Annual Sisterhood dues are $10.00 (not to be confused with parish membership pledges).  The Sisterhood undertakes various projects for the support of the parish.  To join, please obtain a membership form at the candle stand, fill it out and turn it in with the dues to Matushka Anastasia, the treasurer.

Our Sunday School

These classes are available for the 2010-2011 year:

1)      3 to 6 years old, taught by Sophia Blahut and assisted by Matushka Anastasia Dantinne

2)     From 7 to 9 years old, taught by Claire Mendis – The pre-k through k and first through second grade classes will be working together this year – The two classes will share materials and class area, and separate to do age appropriate activities while doing prayer time and the occasional game or project together

3)     From 10 to 12 years old, (no students in this age bracket at this time)

4)     From 13 to 15 years old, taught by Mariya Petrenko (no students in this age bracket at this time)

5)     From 16 to 18 years old, taught by Reader Christopher Johnson – The class for older teens will be a study of the scripture readings for the day – Each student will be required to make at least one observation or ask a question relating to the readings, followed by discussion

6)     Adults, taught by Father George – Traditional Orthodox Christian Piety will be reviewed for the instruction of inquirers and as a refresher for those who desire it

Church Cleaning & Flowers

Currently Friday is cleaning day & we adorn the church with donated flowers, whenever possible. A couple of dedicated souls are working at this and could use additional help. If you would like to donate flowers or if you would like to enter the cleaning rotation with a donation of your time and effort, please contact sisters, Mariya (313.618.7646) or Claire (301.807.8495 or danikacm@yahoo.com).

Holy Apostles Chariots

We are blessed to have many Orthodox people in the community who are interested in attending our services. A few are unable to bring themselves to the services. If you need a ride or if you can offer a ride please contact Kyrill Shillenn (301.989.0748) to coordinate.

Confession

It is right and good that we should want to receive Holy Communion and prepare for it through repentance and confession.  The best time for this is on Saturday evening, not only because there is plenty of time, but because attendance at Saturday evening Vigil is a traditional part of preparation.  If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:00 AM.  Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers.  As Orthodox Christians, we should do our best to preserve the traditions of the Church.

St. Joseph the Patriarch Young Adults – Special Invitation to all

(not just young adults)

Every other Friday evening at 7 PM, people 18 to 35 meet at the rectory for fellowship and edification.  A presentation follows a Lenten meal.  Currently the regulars are taking turns presenting the life of an Orthodox missionary saint. The group also periodically helps the parish with its projects.  Everyone in this age range is welcomed to this great opportunity to network with other coming-of-age Orthodox in the comfort and informality of a home setting.

At the meeting on November 12^th, Ralph Sidway, author of Facing Islam, will give a presentation on his book, to which all, young and old, are invited.  Please let your friends know about our guest speaker.  Please check our website for more information on this presentation.

There will be no meal at this special meeting.  We will offer mulled cider, and ask folks to bring Lenten cookies or snacks.

Ralph H. (Zosimas) Sidway — author of the new book, FACING ISLAM ~ What the Ancient Church has to say about the Religion of Muhammad will be our guest speaker, sponsored by Holy Apostles Orthodox Church and the St. Joseph the Patriarch Orthodox Young Adults, on Friday, November 12th at 7:00 PM. We are opening up this meeting and inviting all, young and old, to come and hear Mr. Sidway speak. Please bring a friend.

Mr. Sidway’s... book and his and talks have a missionary spirit. He emphasizes the incompatibility of Islam with Christianity, yet presents a clear message of love for Muslims in the spirit of the Orthodox Gospel of Jesus Christ.

His new book, Facing Islam, was prompted to some extent by the attacks of 9/11, but even more by events closer to home. In 2005, after a fellow parishioner left the Orthodox Faith and converted to Islam, Mr. Sidway began an intensive study of the subject. In 2008, in preparation for a parish-wide discussion on Islam, he began writing a short article addressing key theological and doctrinal points. This article soon grew into a book-length treatment: Facing Islam - An Orthodox Christian Approach (January 2009), receiving strong encouragement and endorsements from noted authors Serge Trifkovic (Sword of the Prophet, Defeating Jihad), Raymond Ibrahim (The Al-Qaeda Reader) and Gregory Davis (Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World). and from Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro, founder of the Indonesian Orthodox Mission and himself a convert from Islam.

Mr. Sidway, whose Christian name is Zosimas, has been an Orthodox Christian since 1987. He is currently a member of Christ the Savior Holy Spirit (OCA) in Cincinnatti Ohio, where he sings in the choir and serves in the altar. He has also worked on the church website and served on the parish council. Ralph Sidway earned his BA in Philosophy from Transylvania University in Lexington Kentucky, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1983. A Rhodes Scholar finalist, Sidway also won an English Speaking Union Scholarship to study at Oxford University. You can read more about his book, FACING ISLAM, on the website www.facingislam.org.

Dressing for Church

While it is important to feel at home in our parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God.  In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed.  No one who is not a small child should wear shorts.  Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts.  Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders.  Any revealing and borderline-modest clothing is not appropriate.  Slogans should not appear on apparel.  A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles – A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish.  Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.”  By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence.  At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs.

If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution.  We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything.  While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and hostility.

We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life.

A good foundation for giving is 10% of income.  Some of us are doing this already.  Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors.  First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service.  Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors.  To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Dorothy Johnson.

Save this Date: July 16-17, 2011!

God-willing, we are hoping that Metropolitan Hilarion will be in attendance, as well as Reader Nectarios and the Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God of Hawaii,  for our 10^th Anniversary Parish Feast, July 16-17, 2011

An Engagement!

When the Iveron Icon departed our new church property on the afternoon of the 23^rd, our parishioners provided an escort.  Our warden and head sister, Silas and Brigid Diaz, their son Michael, Clare Mendis and her friend, catechumen Matthew Jones, accompanied the icon and steward to Manhattan for a visitation to our Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign.  While there, at the conclusion of the vigil and in front of the icon, Matthew proposed marriage to Claire and she accepted.  We rejoice with them and pray for fruition of their intent in God’s good time.  It is their fervent prayer that they will be the first wedding the church on the hill, the beautiful historic St. Joseph’s chapel.

A Baptism!

Saturday, November 6^th at 2 PM, George Sanchez, the son of Jeremiah and Megumi Sanchez, was baptized into the Church.  Father George and Matushka Deborah are Jeremy’s Godparents and so Jeremy elected to repeat the process and make them Godparents of George as well.  At this same time, Megumi became a catechumen under the heavenly patronage of St. Photini, Equal to the Apostles - the Samaritan woman.  Many years to all!

Remember to pray for…

Betty Chisholm (and her husband, Don) as they struggle with the infirmities of age.

An opportunity to help a fellow parishioner

Betty Chisholm would very much like to come to church, but needs a special Medical-Transport van to do so.  If you would like to donate the price of one (1) trip ($103.00), please speak with Matushka Deborah Johnson.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction….

Our parishioner, Olga Prisekin, has lost a lot of her eyesight and her hearing.  She would be grateful for help with grocery shopping, if anyone can donate the time to take her to one of her favorite stores, either MOM’s or Trader Joe’s.  If you would like to help Mrs. Prisekin by driving her to the store, the best way to let her know would be to tell her at church.  It’s easier to communicate with her by writing things down on paper; phone calls are difficult.

Books for Spiritual Growth and (great for gifts too!)

In our bookstore we have these items, all highly recommended (they wouldn’t be there otherwise).  They should be a part of every Orthodox Christian’s library.

Father Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works by Abbot Damascene

Confession, the Holy Mystery of Repentance by Father John Townsend

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pamazansky

We have other books for sale and please also take advantage of our library.

Purchase of Books, Candles, Prosphora and Other Items

Please remember when buying anything from the church to record the item name, quantity, and $ amount on the columned paper at the candle stand.  Also indicate your purchase on the “for” or memo line of a check, or on a slip of paper with your name attached to cash and leave your check or cash in the wicker basket.  By so doing, you will make possible a correct accounting by our treasurer.

Our Choir

Our choir, as you can hear, is very effective, but small, and new members are always welcome.  If you can sing and would like to participate, please speak with our choir director, Reader Christopher Johnson.  Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 (see the schedule), and attendance at them is required (which is directly related to the choir’s effectiveness).

Our Sunday School

2010-2011 classes start on September 12^th.   We have these classes available:

1)      3 to 6 years old, taught by Sophia Blahut and assisted by Matushka Anastasia Dantinne

2)    From 7 to 9 years old, taught by Claire Mendis – The pre-k through k and first through second grade classes will be working together this year – The two classes will share materials and class area, and separate to do age appropriate activities while doing prayer time and the occasional game or project together

3)     From 10 to 12 years old, taught by Peter Gardner (no students in this age bracket at this time)

4)    From 13 to 15 years old, taught by Mariya Petrenko (no students in this age bracket at this time)

5)     From 16 to 18 years old, taught by Reader Christopher Johnson – The class for older teens will be a study of the scripture readings for the day – Each student will be required to make at least one observation or ask a question relating to the readings, followed by discussion

6)    Adults, taught by Father George – Traditional Orthodox Christian Piety will be reviewed for the instruction of inquirers and as a refresher for those who desire it

Church Cleaning & Flowers

Currently Friday is cleaning day & we adorn the church with donated flowers, whenever possible. We have a need for more volunteers during the autumn months. If you would like to donate flowers or if you would like to enter the cleaning rotation with a donation of your time and effort, please contact sisters, Mariya (musliba [at] yahoo [dot] com) or Claire (301.807.8495 or danikacm [at] yahoo [dot] com).

Holy Apostles Chariots

We are blessed to have many Orthodox people in the community who are interested in attending our services. A few are unable to bring themselves to the services. If you need a ride or if you can offer a ride please contact Kyrill Shillenn (301.989.0748) to coordinate.

Сonfession

It is right and good that we should want to receive Holy Communion and prepare for it through repentance and confession.  The best time for this is on Saturday evening, not only because there is plenty of time, but because attendance at Saturday evening Vigil is a traditional part of preparation.  If, however, because of distance or other considerations (pre-arranged with Father George), it is necessary to confess on Sunday morning before the Liturgy, we should arrive at church for this purpose no later than 9:00 AM.  Also, it is necessary if one is unable to attend vigil, that Saturday evening be spent quietly and prayerfully, preparing for confession and reading the pre-Communion prayers.  As Orthodox Christians, we should do our best to preserve the traditions of the Church.

Dressing for Church

While it is important to feel at home in our parish, it is also important to remember that when we gather for services, we are here for prayer and the worship of God.  In this light, there are traditional customs of dress that should be observed.  No one who is not a small child should wear shorts.  Girls and women should wear head coverings and skirts.  Shirts and blouses should cover the shoulders.  Any revealing and borderline-modest clothing is not appropriate.  Slogans should not appear on apparel.  A Church service is neither the time nor the place for advertisement or self-promotion.

Good Stewards, Good Neighbors – Membership at Holy Apostles – A standard element of the Orthodox Christian life is membership in an Orthodox parish.  Parish membership is the way to demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to maintain not only our individual or household Orthodox life, but to maintain our mutual Orthodox life as a parish community, or, as the Holy Apostle puts it, to “bear… one another’s burdens.”  By committing to keeping the parish supplied and in place, we are instruments of God’s providence.  At the same time that we give of our substance, we provide the proper circumstances to supply each other’s spiritual needs.

If you regularly attend services, please consider also that being one of the living stones that St. Peter speaks of entails material contribution.  We read in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that time when the spiritual temperature of the new-born Church was at its height, that the members gave very generously of their substance, in fact, they gave everything.  While we do not live in their circumstances and are not now called upon to pool everything for the sake of physical survival, we do live in a time of great spiritual incoherence and hostility.

We each need, therefore, to do all we can to secure, maintain and grow our parish so that it may continue to serve as a harbor for those who seek spiritual peace and refuge from the stormy sea of this life.

A good foundation for giving is 10% of income.  Some of us are doing this already.  Those who so give can testify that God takes care of such benefactors.  First of all, they are remembered in prayer at every Divine Service.  Let all who read this be stimulated to become one among the choir of benefactors.  To become a member of the parish, please see our Treasurer, Dorothy Johnson.

Save these Dates!

Yard Sale – Saturday, September 18^th

"How beloved are Thy dwellings, O Lord of hosts"

Claire & Mariya, will be hosting a Yard Sale –

Proceeds will go to the church building fund –

Volunteers needed for –

Transport – moving items back and forth between storage and the sale site

Marketing – pricing, customer service and advertising

To be of help, get in touch with Mariya (musliba@yahoo.com) or Claire (danikacm@yahoo.com)

Come shop to support the building fund

all are welcome & encouraged to participate.

WHEN: Saturday, September 18, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

WHERE: 602 Burnt Mills Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20901

Parish Picnic – Sunday, October 3^rd

(This is an opportunity to invite a guest to experience an Orthodox Liturgy followed by fellowship, if you have questions contact a member our Sisterhood)

~also~

The miraculous myrrh-streaming icon of the Iveron Mother of God from Hawaii on Friday, 10/22, and Saturday, 10/23 will be with us for the Vigil and Liturgy for the Optina Elders 

~also~

We are expecting Metropolitan Hilarion to be in attendance for our 10^th Anniversary Parish Feast, July 16-17, 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            This month, we celebrate two significant anniversaries.

Four years ago for the Sunday of All Saints, Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory served with us.  The weekend services were a culmination of the St. Romanos the Melodist English Choir Conference we held in June 2006.  We invited the Metropolitan, only half expecting him to accept.  It was just after the All-Diaspora Council during which the decision was taken to pursue re-unification with the Church in Russia.  The labors during that effort were immense, and no more so for anyone than for our aging Metropolitan.  But he did accept, and I can never forget the soldierly pluck in the words with which he accepted our invitation.  He said, “If I am alive, I will be there.”  And he came.  With just such diligence he pursued the rest of his Arch-pastoral burden, which coincided with the rest of his life.  During his last week, the first week of the Great Fast, he led his community in all the intensive services, up through the day before he reposed in the Lord.

When he was with us, for the Divine Liturgy for All Saints, this is the homily that he gave:

         “The first Sunday after the feast of Holy Trinity is called the Sunday of All Saints.  On this day the Holy Church prayerfully glorifies all the saints who have pleased God from the ages.  Included in this Sunday are the Holy Apostles, prophets, martyrs, bishops, monks, nuns, fools for Christ and all the righteous ones.

         “Honoring the memory of All Saints soon after the Feast of Holy Pentecost, the Holy Church desires in this way to show that sanctity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which was abundantly poured forth on the Holy Apostles and through them in the Holy Church is poured forth on all believers.

         “The Holy Spirit made wise and raised to the ranks of the angels men like unto us, and others were crowned with sanctity for their ascetic and righteous lives.  The ascetic feats of the saints were various, as today's Epistle reading informs us.  The saints conquered enemies visible and invisible with faith.  They patiently endured poverty and all kinds of adversity, persecution, martyrdom, and different forms of death.

         “The gospel reading of today testifies that the saints were true confessors of the Holy Faith as they left all behind that hindered them from following the Lord or that prohibited them from fulfilling His holy commandments.

          “And in the same way that they confessed the Lord before people, before mankind, does the Lord Jesus Christ confess the saints before His Heavenly Father.  The saints whose memory we commemorate today followed the Lord, they followed His call, and took upon themselves the cross and carried it.

         “Brothers and sisters, today I am happy to pray with you, and I am pleased that I have the opportunity to celebrate today's feast with you during this church music conference.  Your efforts, your fruit:  you adorn the services with your prayerful singing.  With all my heart I wish you that these conferences will assist you more and more to better the quality of church singing in each of your parishes.  This is a great and holy endeavor.  May God help you.  I will ask that all saints pray to God for us.  Amen.”

        We continue to rejoice in our late beloved Metropolitan’s blessing.  As many have said who have known him in any degree, he was an icon of humility and graciousness.  Even though he had grown up, matured and grown old in worship, steeped in the sounds and accents of Church Slavonic, he was willing to be with us and bless our work for the English-speaking communities, recognizing in his apostolic office the importance of our “endeavor.”  He prepared his homily ahead of time for us, and read it in English.  We have the sure hope that he is among the righteous and continuing to pray for us and bless us.           

        The other anniversary we will be celebrating is on June 3rd.  One year ago on that date, the wondrous gift of God of the historic St. Joseph’s chapel officially passed into our hands.  This day is also the day of Sts. Constantine and Helen, called “equal to the Apostles.”  As in their earthly lives, Sts. Constantine and Helen continue to be founders and establishers of churches, both great and small.  As the holy Helen uncovered the Very Cross of our Lord, just so was the beautiful relic of this disused church building uncovered and, in God’s good time, will be readied to hear “Blessed is the Kingdom” to which they and all the faithful departed belong.
 
            Being a native of Beltsville, I had grown up knowing of the chapel building, but somehow, even after our mission’s founding, its use for us never dawned on me.  I had never even gone out of my way to see it.  We had dreamed of and worked toward a haven where we could be, right here in the community where we were founded, but, for whatever reason, the thought never occurred that such a place existed.  Then from out of the blue the chapel was revealed to us, and its beauty and potential took us over.

            Since this revelation, we have pressed deliberately and prayerfully forward, one step after another.  Speed does not matter as long as we are following God’s lead.  Lead us He has, and, as long as we are looking steadfastly to Him, lead us He will.  Taking heart from the examples of Holy Constantine and Helen, and our beloved Metropolitan Laurus of happy and blessed memory, we have confidence and a sure hope.

Father George

Christ is risen!  Truly He is risen!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life!

The angel cried unto her that is full of grace: O pure Virgin, rejoice! And again I say rejoice!  For thy Son is risen on the third day from the grave, and hath raised the dead; O ye people, be joyful.

Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: dance now, and be glad, O Sion, and do thou exult, O pure Theotokos, in the arising of Him whom thou didst bear.

            Dear people of God,

            Let us be joyful in Him who became man, suffered as man, endured the dread passion, thereby transforming the Cross into that with which we arm ourselves against the devil, descended into the realms of the dead to defeat death and give life to the ancient righteous, and rose again on the third day from the dead to complete the triumph of our salvation.

            We rejoice because what He has done cannot be taken away from us because He is God, the “Pantokrator,” the Almighty.  As Christians, followers of Christ and members of His Body, the Church, we inherit the eternal kingdom that he has prepared.  We must simply accept what we have been given.  This can be difficult for us in our prideful tendencies.  But again, no one can take it from us.  We have been given the power, through Him, to keep it.

We must keep our view of this immense reality clear, clear of worldly designs that we would put up to block our view.  The immensity of the Kingdom of God calls for a like breadth of mind on our part.  It takes effort to look at the sky when there are so many trees that are easier to see and contemplate.  To see and keep in our minds the Kingdom of God is, however, what we are called upon to do.  “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,” says God, and all the things that are here that we need will be provided for us.  This is the Risen One’s direct promise.  And He ought to know, having created all in the first place, and re-created it again, for our sake.

Christ is risen!

Father George

Pascha the beautiful, Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha, the Pascha All-venerable hath dawned upon us.  Pascha!  With joy, let us embrace one another.  O Pascha, ransom from sorrow!  For from the tomb today, as from a bridal-chamber, hath Christ shone forth!

The Sick
"I was sick and you visited me." We have petitions for the sick during the Liturgy and every Wednesday at our prayer service before the icon of the Mother of God, "Queen of All;" so, if you or someone you know is sick and needs prayer or would like a visit, please let Father George know.

Our Choir
New members for the choir are always welcome. You are encouraged to take this opportunity to beautifully enhance the services of the Church. If you are able to do so, please speak to our choir director, Christopher Johnson. Rehearsals are on Thursday evenings at 7 PM.

Our Sunday School
A class for our very young children is being taught by Christopher Johnson and Dorothy Dillon in the library after Trapeza. Father George is teaching a class for older youngsters on an occasional basis. (He would be glad to make it regular!) Let us please keep our Sunday School in our prayers because such instruction is a foundational element in parish life. If you would like to help with the program, please speak to Fr. George. Also, coming up soon, we will embark on a common reading and study of a modern classic in the tradition of the Fathers, “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology.” This work by Father Michael Pomazansky is beloved by those who know it, and this is an opportunity for others to experience its richness. More will be said in the November bulletin.

Our Bookstore
Please see and use our bookstore. As well as books, music service books, icons, CD’s, Pascha egg pendants and other items are available. There is more than one source for the items in our store. When you buy something, please put the following into the donation box, together with the payment (in full, thanks – no future payments or IOU’s): the item name (“book” won’t do) and the dollar ($) amount of the payment. There are note-sized pieces of paper for your use for this purpose on the candle stand. This information will enable us to keep our book-keeping straight. Thank you for supporting the Parish Bookstore. Thanks to Katya Renko for the new seasonal items.

St. Juliana Sisterhood
All women are welcome to be members of our Sisterhood. To become one, please contact Katia Renko before the next Sisterhood meeting. Membership dues range from $2-$5 per month. An excellent opportunity open to both men and women to help maintain the beauty, warmth and hospitable atmosphere of our parish is to take your place on the Church Cleaning Schedule, which is on the bulletin board next to the refrigerator.