Parish Life
Welcome to the Parish Life section of Saint Peter Orthodox Church website. This is where we post news, events, photographs and more.
Welcome to the Parish Life section of Saint Peter Orthodox Church website. This is where we post news, events, photographs and more.
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Saint Peter Antiochian Orthodox Church
Madison, Mississippi
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
11/27 announcements
November 27, 2011
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost;
Ephesians 2:14-19: In our reading from Ephesians, we are reminded that Christ not only brought us into union with Himself, but also into union with each other and the faithful saints who have gone before us to be with the Lord.
Luke 18:18-27: In the Gospel according to St Luke we hear our Lord tell us via an encounter with a rich, young ruler that to obtain eternal life we must be willing to give up everything that we possess in service to the Kingdom of God.
Troparion of the Resurrection: Thou didst shatter death by thy Cross; thou didst open paradise to the thief; thou didst turn the mourning of the ointment-bearing women into joy, and didst bid thine Apostles proclaim warning that thou hast risen, O Christ, granting the world Great Mercy.
Troparion for St. James the Persian: Thy Martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crown of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since he possessed Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons= strengthless presumption. O Christ our God, by his prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.
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 Preparatory for Nativity: Today the Virgin comes unto the cave to give birth in an ineffable manner to the Word before the ages. Rejoice, therefore, O universe, when you hear, and glorify with the angels and the shepherds him who shall appear by his own will as a new babe, being God before the ages.
CALENDAR
Sunday, November 27 (Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
1:00 p.m. -- Young Adults
Monday, November 28
Office Closed -- Father John's Day Off
Tuesday, November 29
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Wednesday, November 30
5:00 p.m. -- Catechism Class
6:30 p.m. -- Advent Paraklesis
7:30 p.m. -- Parish Council Meeting
7:30 p.m. -- Choir Practice
Thursday, December 1
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
11:30 a.m. -- Men's Lunch
Friday, December 2
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Saturday, December 3
7:30 a.m. -- Bible Study with Breakfast
5:45 p.m. -- Ninth Hour followed by Great Vespers
Sunday, December 4 (Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
1:00 p.m. -- Young Adults
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Dansereaus for the Divine Liturgy today and the Artoklasia Bread was offered by the Katools last Sunday evening for the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos.
Please be reminded of the following:
Be very careful with the Blessed Bread when you take it after communion. Because this bread has been blessed, we should take care not to let crumbs fall on the floor. Parents, especially, please help your children to choose a small piece and treat it carefully.
Also, at the end of the liturgy, maintain a prayerful disposition during the veneration of the cross as the prayers of thanksgiving after communion are still underway. Please exchange your greetings with each other in the Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hour.
Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
November 27 Dansereaus Morrises
December 4 Fahmys Joneses
December 5 (p.m.) Hendersons (Artoklasia Bread for St. Nicholas)
December 11 Bakers Ellis/Zouboukos
December 18 Woods Meadows/Lasseters/Karen
December 24 (p.m.) R. Roots Sandi/Mary/Christina
December 31 (p.m.) (Artoklasia Bread for the Circumcision of our
Lord and the feast of St. Basil)
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#
November 27 Walt Wood Eph. 2:14 to end 207
December 4 Brenda Baker Gal. 3:23; 4:1-5 160-161
December 11 Sh. Charlotte Algood Col. 5:4-11 233
December 18 Kh. Sharon Meadows Heb. 11:9-10, 32-40 348
December 24 Warren Strain Gal. 4:4-7 351
Please be reminded that the Sacristy/Vestry which is adjacent to and behind the altar in our church is considered by the Orthodox Church to be part of the Sanctuary (Altar area) and should not be entered without the blessing of the priest for a specific purpose. If you need to speak with a member of the clergy while they are in the Sanctuary, please ask them to come to you in the nave.
Please remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle and their daughter Abigail in your prayers. Abigail, who was born prematurely and only recently came home after months in the NICU, has developed meningitis.
Please remember the following in your prayers: Maria Costas; Amy and Michael Surratt and Amy's family; Tom and Jennifer Skirtech and Jennifer's mother, Jessamine Hinkson; Warren and Sandi Strain and Warren's mother, Ouida Strain; Fr. Leo, Kh. Be'Be', Stephen and Amy, Justyn and Jeffrey; Steve, Sheryl and Stephen Chamblee; Amy and Brantley Oliver; Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Sam and Lamia Dabit; David Turner's mother Mary Jean.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
Please be sure to schedule a time for Confession with your priest during the Fast of the Nativity.
Congratulations to Dn. Terry and Sh. Charlotte Algood on the birth of their grandson Matthew Bradley Algood last week! Holly and Matthew are doing well.
Congratulations to Joanna Meadows and Jay Davis on the news of their engagement! The wedding is tentatively scheduled for mid-May.
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* During the Fast of the Nativity, as is our parish custom, we will celebrate the Advent Paraklesis in place of Daily Vespers on Wednesday evenings, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
* We will celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord with Orthros and Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:00 p.m. Saturday, December 24th. Royal Hours for the Feast of the Nativity will be held at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, December 23rd.
* His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN will be at St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Pensacola the weekend of December 4th to consecrate their church. Father John and others from our parish plan to attend.
* As is our custom, we will have Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia to celebrate the Circumcision of our Lord and the feast of St. Basil the Great on Sunday evening, December 31st, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
* The Annual Deanery Youth Retreat will be held on February 10-12, 2012 at John W. Kyle State Park in Sardis. Joel and Sarah Finley will be addressing the topic of the Culture of Dating. More information will be available as the time draws near.
* Father Thomas Hopko will be speaking at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton February 14-16, 2012. More information will be available at a later date.
* His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN will be here the weekend of May 6, 2012 to help us celebrate our 25th anniversary as a parish. The planning committee is working very hard to make our celebration a memorable one. There will be an evening event at the MS Museum of Art on Saturday, May 6th. Other events are being planned and more information will be available in the coming months.
Angel Tree: We are again participating in the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program to provide gifts for needy children at Christmas. The Angels are located on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall. Families may go in together to buy gifts, if they so desire. Please note that the gifts must be brought to the church NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 4TH. We have to turn them in to the Salvation Army on that date. If you would be willing to help deliver the gifts to the Salvation Army headquarters following the Liturgy on December 4th, please let Fr. John know.
Young Adults…Father John will be teaching on the Orthodox perspective in the rearing of children (including discipline) on Saturday, December 11th. There is a sign-up sheet in the hall outside the nave. Please be sure to sign-up. The teaching is open to any who wish to attend.
Breakfast and Bible Study: we are continuing to meet every 2-3 weeks for Bible Study on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast. This is open to all who are interested. Be sure to come and enjoy the fellowship.
Fasting Discipline for November/December
In November the traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed on all Wednesdays and Fridays in the first half of the month. Then, beginning November 15th, the first day of the Nativity Fast, the traditional fasting is observed each day of the week. Note, however, through December 19th there is a katalysis on Tuesdays and Thursdays when wine and oil are permitted, and on Saturdays and Sundays when fish, wine and oil are permitted.
Major Commemorations for November/December
November 30 Apostle Andrew, the First-called
December 4 Great-martyr Barbara and Father John Damascene
December 5 Sava the Sanctified
December 6 Nicholas of Myra
December 9 Conception of the Theotokos
December 12 Spyridon the Wonder-worker
December 15 Hieromartyr Eleutherios
December 20 God-bearer Ignatius of Antioch
December 25 Nativity of our Lord
December 26 Synaxis of the Theotokos
December 27 Protomartyr Stephen
If you are the last to leave the building, please make sure that the heating and cooling unit in the Fellowship Hall is turned off.
Happy Anniversaries in November/December:
November 26 -- Glenn and Mildred Morris (#45!)
November 28 -- Dn. Terry and Sh. Charlotte Algood (#40!)
December 21 -- Fr. John and Kh. Janet Henderson (#37!)
Happy Birthdays in November/December:
November 29 -- Mike Pigott
November 30 -- Peter Henderson
December 1 -- Christina Katool
December 2 -- Jim Roehner
December 3 -- Stephanie Baker
-- Athena Zouboukos
December 4 -- Brenda Baker
December 8 -- Ben Brock
-- Sam Habeeb
-- Michael Surratt
December 11 -- Sh. Charlotte Algood
December 12 -- Jenna Skirtech
December 20 -- Steve Chamblee
-- Anna Freundt
December 21 -- Caroline Halley
December 27 -- Ben Skirtech
-- Warren Strain
-- Nicholas Zouboukos (#12!)
December 28 -- Sheryl Chamblee
Quotable: "A fifth man says: 'I am going to the priest to have him read the prayer of absolution for me.'
This is the most sacrilegious abuse of Confession! What does the 'prayer of absolution' mean? It means a prayer for the absolving of sins. The Christian goes to the priest and, without confessing his sins, asks him: 'Father, say the prayer of absolution for me!' or 'Forgiving prayer'; and the priest puts the stole on the head of the repenting man and forgives him the lawlessness which he has not confessed, but has hidden.
Stop, you, servant of God! What are you doing? Do you know what sins are hiding in this soul that you forgive them so carelessly? What a responsibility you carry before God, too! What if a deadly sin is being hidden from you, and you so thoughtlessly allow the Christian to partake of Holy Communion? Will you not speed death to his soul? Do you not know the words of the holy Apostle Paul: Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (I Cor. 11:27). Why do you not test the believer? Why do you let him east and drink his eternal condemnation? Why do you give the Sacrament to an unrepentant sinner? Judas, too, took Holy Communion together with the other holy Apostles at the Last Supper, but because he was an unrepentant sinner, instead of God's grace, Satan went into him. Do you want to make a second Judas out of the careless Christian who approaches Christ without Confession, only with an 'absolving' prayer? It is better to refuse Holy Communion to the unprepared man until he repents and confesses than to give him fire and condemnation."
Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev
Worship: Sunday, December 4, 2011 (Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost; Great-martyr Barbara and St. John of Damascus)
Scripture: Galatians 3:23, 4:1-5; Luke 13:10-17
Celebrant: Father Leo
Epistle Reader: Brenda Baker
Prosphora: Fahmys
Coffee Hour: Joneses
