Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexadria
     

 

Hebrews 13:7-16:  St Paul encourages us in his letter to the Hebrews, reminding us of the unchanging nature of Jesus Christ, Who has sanctified us through His own blood.

 

Luke 17:12-19:  In the reading from St Luke we see the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ as He   heals ten lepers, only one of whom thanks the Lord for being healed.

 

Troparion of the Resurrection:  When Mary stood at thy grave looking for thy sacred body, angelic powers shone above thy revered tomb, and the soldiers who were to keep guard became as dead men.  Thou led hades captive and wast not tempted thereby.  Thou didst meet the Virgin and didst give life to the world;  O thou who art risen from the dead!  O Lord, glory to thee.

 

Troparion of Sts. Athanasius and Cyril: Shining forth with works of Orthodoxy, ye quenched every false belief and teaching and became trophy-bearers and conquerors.  And since ye made all things rich with true piety, greatly adorning the Church with magnificence, Athanasius and Cyril, ye both have worthily found Christ God, Who doth grant great mercy unto all.

 

Troparion of the Chains of St. Peter: O Holy Apostle, Peter, thou dost preside over the Apostles by the precious chains which thou didst bear.  We venerate them with faith and beseech thee that by thine intercessions we be granted the great mercy.

Kontakion of the Presentation: Thou, O Christ God, who by your Birth, didst sanctify the Virgin's womb, and as is meet, didst bless Simeon's arms, and didst also come to save us, preserve thy fold in wars, and confirm them whom thou didst love; for thou alone art the Lover of mankind.

 

 

Sunday, January 18  (Sts. Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria)
 8:50 a.m. – Orthros
 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School
 10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy
 6:00 p.m. – Young Adults

 

Monday, January 19
 CHURCH OFFICE CLOSED – FATHER JOHN'S DAY OFF

 

Tuesday, January 20   (Euthymios the Great)
 6:00 a.m. – Festal Orthros
 6:30 p.m. – Choir Practice
  
Wednesday, January 21
 5:00 p.m. – Catechism Class
 6:30 p.m. – Daily Vespers

 

Thursday, January 22
 NO Daily Orthros
  
Friday, January 23
 NO Daily Orthros
        
Saturday, January 24
 6:30 p.m. – Great Vespers

 

Sunday, January 25   (Gregory the Theologian)
 8:50 a.m. – Orthros
 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School
 10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy
 5:30 p.m. – Youth Group

 

 

 

The Eucharist Bread was offered by the Daniel Roots for the feast of the Veneration of the Chains of St. Peter this past Thursday evening and by the Freundts for the Divine Liturgy today.

 

Please remember the following in your prayers: Mona Fahmy, Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family, Deborah and Paul Finley, Effie Johnson (Kh. Susan Cushman's mother) and the Cushman family (St. John's in Memphis)

 

Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
                 Eucharist Bread      Coffee Hour
January 18     Freundts                 Hendersons
January 25     Fahmys                  Chamblees
February 1     Meadows                Meadows
February 1(Sunday evening) Meadows (artoklasia bread)
 Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple
February 8     Bakers                    Freundts
February 15   Woods                    Schelvers
February 22   R. Roots                  Fahmys

 

Schedule for Epistle Readers   –  Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the front pew.  Please be sure to use this book when you read.
                    Reader       Reading     Page #
January 18  Mildred Morris  Heb. 13:7-16 365
January 25  Kh. Be'Be' Schelver Heb. 7:26-8:2 334
February 1  Kh. Sharon Meadows Heb. 13:7-16 365
February 8  Brenda Baker  II Tim. 3:10-15 258
February 15  Tom Willingham  I Cor. 6:12-20 265
February 22  Walt Wood  I Cor. 8:8-9:2 273

 

Help needed for PLC 2009 Souvenir Journal!!   The PLC committee is starting to sell ads for the souvenir journal for the Parish Life Conference and we need your help! Our goal is to sell $20,000 of ads by May 1. Please consider talking to your employer about donating for a corporate ad, and if you have any suggestions of businesses to go to or people to talk to, please let Anna Kathryn know.

 

New Officers for Ladies of St. Peter: Christina Katool and Sh. Charlotte Algood will take over as the new Co-presidents and Sandy Strain will begin serving as Treasurer.  Many thanks to Charlotte Wood, Rebecca Root and Sh. Margaret Root for their faithful service over the past years!!

 

House Blessings!  A sign-up sheet is available to sign up for your house blessing.  Please schedule these as soon as possible.  Everyone should have their house blessed.  However, the responsibility for scheduling lies with individuals and not Father John.  No house blessings will be done once Great Lent starts (March 1st this year).

 

Memphis Ladies Retreat: St. John's Orthodox Church in Memphis will hold its annual women's retreat on the week-end of January 30-31.  This year's speaker will be Father Stephen Rogers, the pastor of St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, TN.  His topic will be "Rediscovering the Divine Liturgy."  The cost of the retreat will be $35 with meals and $15 without meals.  The deadline for registration is TODAY.  There are registration forms available in the foyer (and an e-mail address if you need it for registering today).

 

The forms for camping scholarships (to the Village and Camp St. Thekla) have arrived.  We have $700 to be divided among as many as 7 campers.  The deadline for scholarship application is March 1st, and this is a strict deadline.  If you are interested in camping scholarships, please see Father John ASAP.  We will let interested parents know as soon as information about camp registration has been received.

 

Those hosting Coffee Hour or feasts MUST be sure to place fresh trash bags in the trash cans when cleaning up afterwards.  If this is not done, items get thrown into the empty trash cans and then dumped as is into the cans outside.  The trash people will NOT pick up loose trash from the cans and have even dumped it out in the past.  This means that Father John has to pick these items up by hand and bag them!  Please help us with this!!

 

Pledge letters have been mailed.  Please fill these out and return them in the self-addressed envelope as soon as possible.  This information will help the Parish Council to establish a working budget for the fiscal year 2009.

 

Please supervise your children to avoid spills, ink stains or marks from their writing and drawing on our new chairs.  We also ask that you not allow them to stand on the kneelers.  Thank you for your help with this.

 

 
 * Father John, Charlotte Wood and Kh. Sharon Meadows will be attending the Mid-Winter Delegates Meeting in Pensacola from January 23-25.

 
 * The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple will be celebrated with Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia on Sunday evening, February 1st, at 6:30 p.m.

 
 * The next meeting for the PLC 2009 Planning Committee will Thursday, February 19th at 7:00 p.m.

 
 * Annual Teen Retreat for the Lower MS Valley Deanery – February 20-22, 2009 at John W. Kyle State Park.

 
 * St. Peter's will be hosting the Parish Life Conference next year.  The dates for the conference will be June 10-14.  This will a wonderful opportunity to showcase our parish.  More information will be available in the future.

 

The Lower MS Valley Deanery's annual teen retreat will be held the week-end of February 20-22, 2009 at John W. Kyle State Park.  Joel Finley, the Youth Director at St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, will handling registration.  More details will be available at a later date.

 

Fasting Discipline for January
The traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed on Wednesdays and Fridays of the month.

 

Major Commemorations During January
 Jan 18  Ss Athanasios and Cyril of Alexandria
 Jan 20  Venerable Euthymios the Great
 Jan 25  St. Gregory the Theologian
 Jan 27  St. John Chrysostom
 Jan 30  Three Hierarchs
 Jan 3  Unmercenaries Cyros and John

  
Quotable: "Humility is as it were a treasure that cannot be stolen, which is formed in the mind that bears a conviction that only by the power of grace received from Christ are there any good qualities to be shown in oneself – that is, truth, meekness, and righteousness."
    - St. Symeon the New Theologian

 

Weekly Quote:  "The person who listens to Christ fills himself with light; and if he imitates Christ, he reclaims himself."
    - St. Thalassios the Libyan:

 

 

 Scripture:  Hebrews 7:26-8:2 (St. Gregory the Theologian); Luke 19:1-10
 Celebrant:  Father John
 Homily:  Father John
 Deacon:  Deacon Richard
 Epistle Reader  Kh. Be'be' Schelver
 Acolytes:  TBA
 Prosphora:  Fahmys
 Coffee Hour:  Chamblees
 Teen Hosts:  TBA