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.
Previous Posts
3/3 announcements
2/24 announcements
2/17 announcements
2/10 announcements
2/3 announcements
1/27 announcements
1/20 announcements
1/6 announcements
12/23 announcements
12/16 announcements
Archives
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
July 2006
August 2006
October 2006
February 2007
March 2007
August 2007
September 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012
December 2012
January 2013
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
April 2014
May 2014
June 2014
July 2014
August 2014
September 2014
October 2014
November 2014
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
December 2017
Saint Peter Antiochian Orthodox Church
Madison, Mississippi
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
3/10 announcements
March 10, 2013
Sunday of Meatfare
The theme of the second Sunday before Lent is THE LAST JUDGEMENT (meat fare) and the Gospel lesson is Matthew 25:31-46 in which Christ describes the last judgement. It is a lesson about Christian love. For we all need love and each have been given the gift and grace of Christ's love. Thus, on whether or not we have accepted this responsibility (of Christ's gift), and on whether we have loved or refused to love, shall we be judged. For "inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me...."
I Corinthians 8:8-9:2: St Paul, writing to the Corinthians, uses the situation about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols to encourage them and us that we should be aware of our actions and how they affect others in their quest for holiness.
Matthew 25:31-46: In describing the judgment of the nations, the Lord Jesus tells us that the righteous will receive eternal blessings, while the unrighteous shall receive eternal punishment.
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 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 Meat Fare Sunday: When thou comest, O God, to earth with glory, and all creatures tremble before thee, and the river of fire floweth before the Altar, and the books are opened and sins revealed, deliver me then from that unquenchable fire, and make me worthy to stand at thy right hand, O righteous Judge.
CALENDAR
Sunday, March 10 (Sunday of Meatfare)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
12:30 p.m. -- Baptism of Julian Dabit
Monday, March 11
Office Closed -- Father John's Day Off
Tuesday, March 12
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Wednesday, March 13
6:30 p.m. -- Daily Vespers
7:30 p.m. -- Choir Practice
Thursday, March 14
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Friday, March 15
6:00 a.m. -- Daily Orthros
Saturday, March 16 (Christodoulos, Wonder-worker of Patmos)
7:30 a.m. -- Bible Study with Breakfast
5:45 p.m. -- Ninth Hour prayers
Sunday, March 17 (Sunday of Cheesefare)
8:50 a.m. -- Orthros
9:00 a.m. -- Christian Education
10:00 a.m. -- Divine Liturgy
12:00 p.m. -- Fundraiser Luncheon for Youth Group
6:30 p.m. -- Forgiveness Vespers
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Schelvers for the Divine Liturgy this morning.
Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour
March 10 Schelver Fahmy/Brock/Stephanie Baker
March 17 Morris Teens
March 24 Jones Skirtech/Skirtech/Parker
March 25 (Mon. a.m.) Meadows Meadows
(Feast of the Annunciation)
March 31 Davis Strain/Dabit
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#
March 10 Kh. Sharon Meadows I Cor. 8:8-9:2 273
March 17 Sh. Charlotte Algood Rom. 13:11-14:4 279
March 24 Mildred Morris Heb. 11:24-26, 32-40 281
March 25 (Mon. a.m.) Kh. Sharon Meadows Heb. 2:11-18 376
March 31 Brenda Baker Heb. 1:10-2:3 283
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 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 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.
Please continue to pray for the health of His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN.
House Blessings! A sign-up sheet is available in the Fellowship Hall to sign up for your house blessing. Please schedule these as soon as possible. Everyone should have their home blessed. However, the responsibility for scheduling lies with individuals and not Father John. No house blessings will be done once Great Lent starts (March 18th this year).
Due to the Julian Dabit's baptism this afternoon, we will not have our regularly scheduled Pot Luck Meal. Instead we have a simple Coffee Hour between the Divine Liturgy and the baptism.
Calendar Items:
* The Men of the parish meet for lunch and fellowship on the first Thursday of the month.
* Julian Dabit will be baptized next Sunday afternoon, March 10th at 12:30 p.m.
* The Youth Group will be hosting their annual Cheesefare Fundraising Luncheon on Sunday, March 17th .
* The schedule for services for the First week of Lent are as follows:
Sunday, March 17th , 6:30 p.m. Forgiveness Vespers
Monday, March 18th, 6:30 p.m. Canon of St, Andrew of Crete (Part 1)
Tuesday, March 19th, 6:30 p.m. Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (Part 2)
Wednesday, March 20th, 6:30 p.m. Presanctified Liturgy followed by Soup Supper
Thursday, March 21st, 6:30 p.m. Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (Part 4)
Friday, March 22nd, 6:30 p.m. Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos
* This year the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers will be hosted by St. George Orthodox Church in Vicksburg on Sunday evening, March 24th, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
* We will celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation with Divine Liturgy (only) on Monday morning, March 25th, beginning at 6:00 a.m.
Donation for Camp St. Thekla: We are still collecting money for Camp St. Thekla. If you would like to make a donation, please make your check out to St. Peter and mark "Camp St. Thekla" on the memo line.
March is Ladies Month in our Archdiocese when we honor the women in our church who serve so faithfully throughout the year. This month the Ladies will be reading the Epistle during the Liturgy.
Vacation Church School …The Christian Education department will hold a Vacation Church School June 27-29 from 8:30-12:30 each day. The curriculum will be "Ark of our Salvation – Feast Days of the Theotokos." Parents, please be sure to mark your calendars now.
Saturday of the Souls: The Orthros and Divine Liturgy for Saturday of the Souls has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 16th beginning at 9:00 a.m.
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 March
During the first part of the month the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine or oil) is observed on Wednesdays and Fridays. Following Meatfare Sunday (March 10th) meat will not be eaten again until Pascha. During the week following Meatfare Sunday, dairy products (milk, cheese, eggs, etc.) are permitted , even on Wednesday and Friday. March 17th is Cheesefare Sunday, the last day until Pascha that dairy and wine are permitted. Monday, March 18th is Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent when the traditional fasting discipline is observed on all days of the week until Pascha (except Annunciation on March 25th and Palm Sunday on April 28th, when fish, wine and oil are permitted).
Major Commemorations for March
March 16 Christodoulos, the Wonder-worker of Patmos
March 17 Cheesefare Sunday
March 18 Clean Monday
March 24 1st Sunday of Lent ; Sunday of Orthodoxy
March 25 Feast of the Annunciation
March 26 Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel
March 31 2nd Sunday of Lent; Gregory of Palamas
Happy Anniversaries in March:
March 10 -- Fr. James and Kh. Sharon Meadows (#40!)
March 13 -- Warren and Sandra Strain (#19!)
March 15 -- Dn. Richard and Sh. Margaret Root (#38!)
March 27 -- Sam and Anne Habeeb (#9!)
Happy Birthdays in March:
March 3 -- Kay Carlton
March 6 -- Amy Surratt
March 9 -- Ian Jones
March 12 -- Alexa Zouboukos (#18!)
March 15 -- Emma Freundt
March 17 -- Cliff Stewart
March 20 -- Charlotte Wood
March 24 -- Brenden Skirtech (#9!)
March 26 -- Katherine Habeeb (#5!)
March 29 -- Sophie Dansereau (#2!)
March 30 -- Aidan Milnor (#7!)
Bible Study with Breakfast: After this coming Saturday morning, March 16th, we will suspend the biweekly Bible Study with Breakfast until after Pascha.
Parish Life Conference 2013: This year St. Basil Orthodox Church in Metairie, LA will be hosting the Parish Life Conference for our Diocese on June 12-16. His Grace, Bishop JOHN Abdallah will be the speaker. There will also be a special presentation by Fr. Philip Rogers on keeping our children in the church. Parents are especially encouraged to hear his presentation. Please mark your calendars now and make plans to attend.
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.
Quotable: "The divine call may be likened to an arrow with which God, the experienced archer, wounds the human soul. Bleeding and unhealed, the wound compels the soul to forget all and to seek a doctor. St. Macarius of Egypt states that the soul which has felt this call is overcome by an attraction towards God: the soul's thoughts burn with a spiritual love and an unrestrained pull towards the even more glorious and radiant beauty of the spirit, yearn with unrestrained love for the Heavenly Bridegroom and . . . strive for the exalted and the great which cannot be expressed in words nor comprehended by human reason . . . Through great labours, endeavours, years of asceticism and perfect combat . . . such souls are always enraptured by the heavenly spiritual mysteries and captivated by the variety of Divine beauty, seeking with a great thirst the best and the greatest. For the Divine Spirit contains the varied and the inexhaustible, the ineffable and unthinkable beauty revealing itself to worthy souls for joy and delectation, life and comfort, so that the pure soul, yearning hourly with a strong and ardent love for the heavenly Bridegroom, no longer looks earthwards, but is wholly engulfed by attraction towards him."
The Mystery of Faith by Metropolitan HILARION Alfeyev
Worship: Sunday, March 17, 2013 (Sunday of Cheesefare)
Scripture: Romans 13:11 to 14:4; Matthew 6:14-21
Celebrant: Father John
Epistle Reader: Sh. Charlotte Algood
Prosphora: Morris
Coffee Hour: Teens (Cheesefare Fund-raising Luncheon)
