SAINT RAPHAEL OF BROOKLYN ORTHODOX MISSION Serving Liturgy at: Hemet Seventh-Day Adventist Church 27025 Girard Street (@ Stetson Ave) Hemet, California 92544 www.stanthonyhemet.org

BULLETIN SUNDAY, September 1, 2013 Rev. Father Boulos Khoury [email protected] Cell: 760 – 443 – 6823 10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 1. Church New Year (Indiction). St. Simeon the Stylite (the Elder) and his mother, Ven. Martha (ca. 428). Martyr Aithalas of Persia (380). Holy Forty Women Martyrs and Martyr Ammon the Deacon, their teacher, at Heraclea in Thrace (4th c.). Martyrs Callista and her brothers, Evodius and Hermogenes, at Nicomedia (309). Righteous Joshua the Son of Nun (16th c. B.C.). Synaxis of the Most-holy Theotokos in the Miasenga Monastery (commemorating the finding of her Icon there—864) The “CHERNIGOV- GETHSEMANE” Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos Today’s Gospel Reading: Matthew 14:22-34

SCRIPTURE READING 9/2 9/3 9/4 9/5 9/6 9/7 9/7 9/8 9/8 9/8

2 Corinthians 2:4-15 2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 1 Corinthians 2:6-9 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Galatians 6:11-16 1 Corinthians 9:2-12 Philippians 2:5-11

Matthew 23:13-22 Matthew 23:23-28 Matthew 23:29-39 Matthew 24:13-28 Matthew 24:27-33, 42-51 Matthew 10:37-11:1 (Saturday Before) Matthew 19:3-12 John 3:13-17 (Sunday Before) Matthew 18:23-35 Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28 (Theotokos)

OUR PARISH LIFE TODAY:

9:00 AM – Matins / Confession 9:30 AM – Choir Practice 10:00 AM – Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

Coffee Hour sponsors – Michael Allen Epistle Reader – Rory Woodward Today’s Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:9-17

[Jesus heals the young epileptic after His disciples were not able to do so because of their lack of faith.] A WARM WELCOME TO VISITORS We are pleased to have EVERYONE worship with us, and we pray that you will be blessed through your experience in our services. In the Orthodox Church, the reception of Holy Communion is a mark of membership in the Church. Only those who have been united to the Orthodox Church through Baptism and Chrismation, having prepared themselves through confession, prayer and fasting, are permitted to partake of Holy Communion. We look forward to the day when unity in the faith, life and worship of all Christians is achieved.

[St Paul tells the Corinthians that though they might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet they do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus he has begotten them through the gospel. Then he urges them to imitate him

NEXT LITURGY – SUNDAY September 8, 2013

10:00 AM

Sunday School: Today we begin Sunday School for the coming year. Cornelia will be the lead teacher assisted by Ryoko Woodward and Christina Belyaev. Vesper Services: We will resume Saturday evening Vesper Services starting Saturday September 7. We will celebrate the Vespers for the Nativity of the Theotokos. The Vesper Services will be at the Ingrams and begin at 6 PM, preceded by Choir practice at 5 PM

Righteous Joshua the son of Nun (Navi) Commemorated on September 1 Saint Joshua (Jesus), the son of Navi, was leader of the Israelites after the death of the Prophet Moses. He was born in Egypt around 1654 B.C. and succeeded Moses when he was eighty-five. He ruled the Israelites for twenty-five years. Joshua conquered the Promised Land, and led the Hebrew nation into it. The Lord worked a great miracle through Joshua. He stopped the Jordan from flowing, allowing the Israelites to cross over on foot as if on dry land (Joshua 3). St Michael, the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts, appeared to Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15). The walls of Jericho fell down by themselves after the Ark of the Covenant was carried around the city for seven days (Joshua 6:20). Finally, during a battle with the enemy, oshua, by God s will, halted the motion of the sun oshua and prolonged the day until victory was won. After the end of the war, Joshua divided the Promised Land among the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He died at 110 years of age (1544 B.C.), commanding the nation to preserve the Law of Moses. All these events are recounted in the Book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Old Testament.

Icon of the Mother of God The Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God was painted in the mid-eighteenth century and was passed on to the Trinity Sergiev Lavra in 1852. On the advice of the head of the Lavra, Archimandrite Anthony, the icon was placed in the newly-consecrated cave church named for St Michael, Leader of the Heavenly Hosts. In this manner, the icon took in the currents of grace of all the history of the Russian Church, it acquired the blessing of St Anthony of the Caves, of St Sergius of Radonezh and of his parents Sts Cyril and Maria, and finally, of the ascetics of the nineteenth century. These spiritual connections providentially come forth through the Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God. It is remarkable that the first miracle of this icon was witnessed on the day of the Church New Year, September 1, 1869, when the twenty-eight-year-old peasant of Tula governance, Thekla Adrianova, was healed, after being completely crippled for nine years. By September 26 three healings had occurred already, and a whole series of miracles in November of that same year. The fame of the icon of the Mother of God spread with unusual swiftness. Exhausted by suffering and sickness, thirsting for bodily and spiritual healing, people from every class of society came with firm faith to the wonderworking icon, and the mercy of God did not forsake them. By the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 100 miracles had been recorded. By its great esteem the icon benefited the ascetics of the Gethsemane skeet: the schema monk Philip (+ May 18, 1868), the founder of the cave monastery, and his three sons, the hieroschema monks Ignatius (+ 1900), Porphyrius (+ 1905 ?) and Basil (+ April 1, 1915). They preserved accounts of the deep love, which the hiero monk Elder Isidore (+ February 3, 1908) displayed for the Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon.

SUNDAY, September 1, 2013 DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM Tone 1

Troparion

(Resurrection)

While the stone was sealed by the Jews And the soldiers were guarding Thy most pure body Thou didst arise on the third day O Savior granting life to the world or which cause the Hea enly ow rs cried aloud unto Thee O Giver of life: Glory to Thy resurrection, O Christ Glory to Thy Kingdom, Glory to Thy providence O Thou who alone art the lover of mankind. Tone 2

Troparion

(Indiction)

O maker of all creation, Who hast established the times and the seasons in Thine own power Bless the crown of this year with Thy goodness, O Lord And keep our rulers and Thy flock in peace?? By the intercession of the Theotokos and save us! Tone 1

Troparion

(St Simeon)

Thou becamest a pillar of patience And didst emulate the Forefathers, O righteous One! Job in his sufferings, Joseph in temptations And the life of the bodiless while in the body O Simeon, our righteous father// Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved! Tone 1

Troparion

(St. Raphael)

Your proclamation has gone forth throughout North America, Calling the scattered sheep into the unity of the Church. Hearing your voice, they responded to your teaching, And through your writings you instructed them in piety. Now guided by your example, O Father Raphael, We sing hymns of praise to Christ our God: Glory to Him Who gave you strength! Glory to Him Who granted you a crown! Glory to Him Who, through you, grants healing to all!

Tone 1

Kontakion

(Resurrection)

As God, Thou didst arise from the tomb in glory, raising the world with Thyself. Human nature praises Thee as God, for death has vanished. Adam exults, O Master! Eve rejoices, for she is freed from bondage and cries to Thee:// “Thou art the Gi er of Resurrection to all, O Christ ” Tone 2

Kontakion

(St Simeon)

Thou soughtest the heights, though parted not from things below Thy pillar became a chariot of fire for thee Thou becamest thereby a true companion of the angelic host And together with them, O Saint, Thou ceaselessly prayest Christ God for us all Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit Tone 4

Kontakion

(Indiction)

O God of all, Thou who hast made all the ages O So reign ord, truly transcendent in essence Bestow Thy grace and blessing on the year to come And, o most compassionate, in Thine infinite mercy Save all them that worship Thee, who alone art Master And that with fear, O Savior, cry to Thee// Grant unto all men a fruitful and godly year

brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the OR .” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So all bore witness to Him, and mar eled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not oseph s son ” Matthew 11:27-30 (Gospel, St. Simeon) Jesus said, All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Communion Hymns Bless the crown of the year with Your goodness, O Lord! The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance! He shall not fear evil tidings! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Tone 1

Hymn to the Theotokos

O protection of Christians that cannot be put shame Mediation unto the Creator most constant O despise not the suppliant voices of those who sinned But be quick, O good one, to come to our aid who in faith cry unto thee Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication Thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee Tone 2

Prokeimenon

(Resurrection)

Great is our Lord and abundant in power! His understanding is beyond measure! Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God. .

Tone 7 Prokeimenon Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Epistle

1 Corinthians 4:9-16

richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Tone 4

Brethren, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. e are fools for Christ s sa e, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. 1 Timothy 2:1-7 (Epistle, New Year) Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Colossians 3:12-16 (Epistle, St. Simeon) Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Praise is due to You, O God, in Zion, and to You shall vows be performed. Bless the crown of the year with Your goodness, O Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. Gospel

Matthew 17:14-23

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him. Then esus answered and said, “O faithless and per erse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you ring him here to Me.” And esus rebu ed the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to esus pri ately and said, “ hy could we not cast it out ” So esus said to them, “ ecause of your unbelief for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Mo e from here to there, and it will mo e and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Now while they were staying in Galilee, esus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorrowful. Luke 4:16-22 (Gospel, New Year) So Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the

St Simeon Stylites, the Elder When Simeon was eighteen, he received monastic tonsure and devoted himself to feats of the strictest abstinence and unceasing prayer. His zeal, beyond the strength of the other monastic brethren, so alarmed the igumen that he told Simeon that to either moderate his ascetic deeds or leave the monastery. St Simeon then withdrew from the monastery and lived in an empty well in the nearby mountains, where he was able to carry out his austere struggle unhindered. After some time, angels appeared in a dream to the igumen, who commanded him to bring back Simeon to the monastery. The monk, however, did not long remain at the monastery. After a short while he settled into a stony cave, situated not far from the village of Galanissa, and he dwelt there for three years, all the while perfecting himself in monastic feats. Once, he decided to spent the entire forty days of Great Lent without food or drink. With the help of God, the monk endured this strict fast. From that time he abstained from food completely during the entire period of the Great Lent, even from bread and water. For twenty days he prayed while standing, and for twenty days while sitting, so as not to permit the corporeal powers to relax. A whole crowd of people began to throng to the place of his efforts, wanting to receive healing from sickness and to hear a word of Christian edification. Shunning worldly glory and striving again to find his lost solitude, the monk chose a previously unknown mode of asceticism. He went up a pillar six to eight feet high, and settled upon it in a little cell, devoting himself to intense prayer and fasting. Reports of St Simeon reached the highest church hierarchy and the imperial court. Patriarch Domninos II (441-448) of Antioch visited the monk, celebrated Divine Liturgy on the pillar and communed the ascetic with the Holy Mysteries. Elders living in the desert heard about St Simeon, who had chosen a new and strange form of ascetic striving. Wanting to test the new ascetic and determine whether his extreme ascetic feats were pleasing to God, they sent messengers to him, who in the name of these desert fathers were to bid St Simeon to come down from the pillar. In the case of disobedience they were to forcibly drag him to the ground. But if he was willing to submit, they were to leave him on his pillar. St Simeon displayed complete obedience and deep Christian humility. The monks told him to stay where he was, asking God to be his helper. St Simeon endured many temptations, and he invariably gained the victory over them. He relied not on his own weak powers, but on the Lord Himself, Who always came to help him. The monk gradually increased the height of the pillar on which he stood. His final pillar was 80 feet in height. Around him a double wall was raised, which hindered the unruly crowd of people from coming too close and disturbing his prayerful concentration. Women, in general, were not permitted beyond the wall. The saint did not make an exception even for his own mother, who after long and unsuccessful searches finally succeeded in finding her lost son. He would not see her, saying, “If we are worthy, we shall see one another in the life to come.” St Martha submitted to this, remaining at the foot of the pillar in silence and prayer, where she finally died. St Simeon asked that her coffin be brought to him. He reverently bid farewell to his dead mother, and a joyful smile appeared on her face. St Simeon spent 80 years in arduous monastic feats, 47 years of which he stood upon the pillar. God granted him to accomplish in such unusual conditions an indeed apostolic service. Many pagans accepted Baptism, struck by the moral staunchness and bodily strength which the Lord bestowed upon His servant. The first one to learn of the death of the saint was his close disciple Anthony. Concerned that his teacher had not appeared to the people for three days, he went up on the pillar and found the dead body stooped over at prayer. Patriarch Martyrius of Antioch performed the funeral before a huge throng of clergy and people. They buried him near his pillar. At the place of his ascetic deeds, Anthony established a monastery, upon which rested the special blessing of St Simeon.

Church New Year