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
Thursday, November 29, 2012
12/2 announcements
December 2, 2012
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Ephesians 5:8-19: St Paul exhorts us to walk as wise men by doing the will of God and avoiding the deeds of darkness.
Matthew 17:14-23: The Lord Jesus again shows His abundant mercy when He heals a boy possessed by a demon. We also hear Him foretell His betrayal, death and resurrection, but the disciples do not understand.
Troparion of the Resurrection: The stone being sealed by the Jews, and thy pure body being guarded by the soldiers, thou didst arise on the third day, O Saviour, granting life to the world. Wherefore, the heavenly powers acclaimed thee, O Giver of life, crying, Glory to thy Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to thy kingdom! Glory to thy gracious providence, O only Lover of mankind.
Troparion of the Prophet Habakkuk: As we celebrate the memory of Thy Prophet Habakkuk, O Lord, through him we beseech Thee to save our souls.
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, December 2 (Twenty-sixth 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, December 3
Office Closed -- Father John's Day Off
Tuesday, December 4 (Great-martyr Barbara and St. John of Damascus)
6:00 a.m. -- Festal Orthros
Wednesday, December 5 (Sava the Sanctified)
6:30 p.m. -- Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia
Thursday, December 6 (St. Nicholas the Wonderworker)
6:00 a.m. -- Festal Orthros
11:30 a.m. -- Men's Lunch
Friday, December 7
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Saturday, December 8
5:45 p.m. -- Ninth Hour Prayers followed by Great Vespers
Sunday, December 9 (Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
5:30 p.m. -- Youth Group
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Woods for the Divine Liturgy this morning.
Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
December 2 Wood Ellis/Zouboukos
December 5 (Tues pm) Henderson (Artoklasia Bread) No Meal
(Feast of St. Nicholas)
December 9 Schelver Fahmy/Brock/Stephanie Baker
December 16 Morris Skirtech/Skirtech/Parker
December 23 Jones D. Root/Dansereau/Dale Cooper
December 24 (Mon pm) Meadows Katool/Strain/Dabit/Dabit
(Feast of the Nativity of our Lord)
December 30 Davis Pigott/Freundt/Turner
December 31 (Mon pm) Baker (Artoklasia Bread) No Meal
(Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and Feastday of St. Basil the Great)
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#
December 2 Warren Strain Eph. 5:8-19 217
December 9 Kh. Sharon Meadows Gal. 4:22-27 314
December 16 Mildred Morris Col. 3:4-11 233
December 23 Phillip Lasseter Heb. 11:9-10, 32-40 348
December 24 (Mon pm) Kh. Be'Be' Schelver Gal. 4:4-7 351
December 30 Brenda Baker Gal. 1:11-19 188
Please remember the following in your prayers: Steve, Sheryl and Stephen Chamblee; Amy and Brantley Oliver; Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Sam and Lamia Dabit and Sammie; Georgia Buchanan, George Johns (Georgia's grandson) and his family; Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon's sister); Fr. Stephen Tewfik; Sh. Gail Shannon; Dn. Sidney and Sh. Mary Elliot.
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.
Please remember Fr. Joseph and Kh. Joanna Bittle, and their daughter Abigail, in your prayers.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
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.
Christmas Play: We plan to have a rehearsal and costume fitting during Sunday School hour on Sunday, December 9, so if your child wishes to participate in the Christmas play, please heave them present then. The Sunday School children will present the Christmas Play after the Divine Liturgy in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday, December 23rd.
Directory Update: the Surratts have a new mailing address:
P.O. 607
Ridgeland, MS 39158.
The Deanery Youth Retreat is scheduled for February 15-17, 2013. Sister Magdalene from the Monastery of St. John in England will be the speaker. Sister Magdalene will also be speaking at St. Peter's for two evenings around the time of the retreat. More details will be available at a later date. But be sure to mark your calendars now for the retreat and Sister Magdalene's talks!!
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* As is our custom we will celebrate the Advent Paraklesis in place of Daily Vespers on Wednesday evenings during the Fast of the Nativity. (However, on the evening of December 5th, we will celebrate Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia for the Feast of St. Nicholas instead of the Paraklesis Service.) This is a very beautiful service. Please make plans to attend.
* We will celebrate the Nativity of our Lord with Royal Hours at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, December 24th and with Orthros and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 p.m. that evening. Metropolitan PHILIP has stipulated that this evening service can begin no earlier than 10:00 p.m.
* Stewpot schedule (together with Holy Resurrection) – December 29th.
* Deanery Youth Retreat is scheduled for February 15-17, 2013. More details later.
Supper Clubs: If you are interested in being a part of a supper club, please put your name on the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall. Supper Clubs are scheduled to begin in January. If you have any questions, see Kh. Sharon.
Coffee Hour guidelines have been posted on the refrigerator in the kitchen. These list the items to be set out for Fasting and Non-fasting Coffee Hours along with guidelines for setting out the food and for storage afterwards. Please be sure that the power switch on the dishwasher is turned off when you are through with clean-up.
Fasting Discipline for December
During December the traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed each day of the week. Note, however, through December 19th there is a katlysis on Tuesdays and Thursdays when wine and oil are permitted, and on Saturdays and Sundays when fish, wine and oil are permitted. There is no fasting from December 25th through January 4th.
Major Commemorations for December
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
When you host Coffee Hour or the meal for a Feast, please make sure that the oven, warmer, and coffee maker are turned off afterwards. On several occasions in the past, the cleaning ladies have found the oven still on when they came in to clean later during the week.
Happy Anniversaries in December:
December 21 -- Fr. John and Kh. Janet Henderson (#38!)
Happy Birthdays in December:
December 1 -- Christina Katool
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 (#13!)
December 28 -- Sheryl Chamblee
Building Fund: As we proceed with the plans for the approval by the City of Madison and Metropolitan PHILIP for our addition/renovation, we are reviewing our Building Fund. We currently have over $150,000 in the fund and are regularly adding to it. The Parish Council has decided to apply cash donations from the Sunday offering to the Building Fund – UNLESS it is specified or otherwise apparent that these are intended as a regular tithe/donation. Of course, other donations by check, etc., specified for the Building Fund are always welcome! So feel free to chip in a little (or lot!) extra as you are able. With God's grace, we look forward to this next phase of our building program and beyond to the next phase of building a new main church building/temple.
Quotable: "May I entreat you, let us endeavor to see Him and contemplate Him even in this life. For if we are found worthy sensibly (aisthitos) to see Him here, we shall not die, 'death will have no dominion over us' (Rm. 6:9). Let us not wait to see Him in the future, but strive to contemplate Him now, since John the Theologian tells us 'We know that we have God in our hearts, from the Spirit which we have received from Him' (1 John 3:24, 2:27)."
St. Symeon the New Theologian
Worship: Sunday, December 9, 2012 (Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost; Conception of St. Anne, Mother of the Theotokos))
Scripture: Galatians 4:22-27; Luke 13:10-17
Celebrant: Father John
Epistle Reader: Kh. Sharon Meadows
Prosphora: Schelver
Coffee Hour: Fahmy/Brock/Stephanie Baker
