Saint Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church

130 North Saint Francis Cabrini Avenue Scranton, PA 18504

Rev. Protodeacon Michael Jolly
Administrator pro tempore
570-213-9344

Reader Michael Simon Parish Office 570-343-6092

E-Mail: Web: Webmaster:

scrantonmelkite@yahoo.com http://melkitescranton.org Sal Zaydon

January 8, 2012 Tone 5 and Orthros Gospel 8 Liturgy Schedule: Saturday Vespers 4pm Compline Weds 8:30PM

Sunday after Theophany Sunday Orthros 8:55 am Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Liturgy Intentions:
January 8, 2012 The members and intentions of the Holy Dormition Franciscan Friary in Sybertsville

Parish Notes:

2012 Calendars and envelops are available in the narthex of the church. Parish Council meets after Divine Liturgy Qurban today was baked by Dn Michael Deacon Michael will be out of state Jan 13th through Jan 19th in the event of an emergency that requires a priest contact the Holy Dormition Manastery at 788-1212 Welcome back Father Jerome Wolbert who serves at our altar today. The perpetual candle in the month of January burns in thanksgiving for Dn Michaels 25 years of service by the Patchoski family

Todays Icon: theTheophany

Jesus Christ, despite being the one submerged in the Jordan, is shown as though standing up and staring straight at us. His body is depicted as strong and beautiful, as it is understood classically, and in older icons He is naked. Christ appears almost as wide as the river Jordan itself; indeed: it is as though it is Jesus Christ, rather than the river, which cuts a swathe through the rocky wilderness on either side.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

Antiphons:
First Antiphon Through the prayers of the Mother of God... Second Antiphon O Son of God, Who are risen from the dead... Hymn of incarnation Third Antiphon Entrance Tone 2 Tone 4 Tone 5

Hymns:
Resurrectional Troparion Troparion of the Theophany Troparion of Saint Joseph Kontakion for the Theophany of Our Lord Tone Tone Tone Tone 5 1 1 3

Prokiemenon

(Tone 1), Ps. 32:22,1 May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us, for we have hoped in You. Stichon: Exult, you just, in the Lord; praise from the upright is fitting. 4:7-13 BRETHREN, to each one of us the grace was given according to the measure of Christs bestowal. Thus it says, Ascending on high, He led away captives; He gave gifts to men (Ps.61:19). Now this ascending, what does it mean but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He Who descended, He it is Who ascended also above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He Himself gave some men as apostles, and some as prophets, and others as pastors and teachers, in order to perfect the saints for a work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the deep knowledge of the Son of God, to perfect manhood, to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ. Your favor, O Lord, I will sing forever; from generation to generation, my mouth will proclaim Your faithfulness. Stichon: For You have said, My kindness is established forever. In heaven You have confirmed Your faithfulness.

Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians

Alleluia (Tone 5) Ps.88:2,3

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

2:20-21 & 40-52 At that time, when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen." From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Lord, it is good for us to be here.

The words of the holy Apostle Peter at the Transfiguration of our Lord come to mind as we celebrate another great feast of Light on this Sunday after Theophany. As St. Matthew tells us today, Isaiahs prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus withdrew into Galilee of the Gentiles, leaving Nazareth and going to Capernaum. The people who walked in darkness who sat in the region of darkness and the shadow of death have seen a great light as the public ministry of our Lord dawned with the proclamation Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is good for us to be here in this holy church this morning because, like a monastic community, it is an incarnation of the proclamation of the gospel so succinctly and powerfully heard today to repent for the Kingdom is at hand. This proclamation, along with the instruction we will hear next Sunday to sell all, distribute the wealth to the poor and then follow the Lord Jesus are the inspirational texts of monasticism, drawing countless numbers of men and women throughout the world, throughout Christian history to follow the example of our Lord and withdraw from the secular world. Jesus did not simply move from Nazareth to Capernaum, He withdrew from proximity to evil in the person and power of Herod to the fringes of Galilee of the Gentiles, to the people in darkness and the shadow of death. But unlike those who would follow Him in the ensuing centuries by withdrawing into the deserts of Egypt or Syria or the dense forests of Germany and Russia or the isolated and barren islands off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, He went into the streets of Capernaum crying out the message of repentance proclaimed by the now stilled voice of the Forerunner and declaring it fulfilled in His coming. And so today men and women have withdrawn from the places where the kingdom of this world exercises its greatest influence and by their very presence in these monastic communities, in prayer and work, continue to proclaim the gospel message of repentance and the coming of the Kingdom as

they respond to it with their whole lives. In a unique way, the monastic experiences the truth so simply stated by St. Isaac of Syria that this life has been given to us for repentance and should not be squandered. So the monastic dedicates him or herself to such a life, together with other who have heard this same call and seek to respond to it in the same manner. For after Jesus began to preach, he also began to gather disciples to Himself, demonstrating the truth that it is not good for man to be alone, even as he pursues the Kingdom in repentance. From the outside, we witness in the monastic life the presence of the Kingdom, the presence of Christ Himself, for just as in every Divine Liturgy He is the Offerer and the Offered, the Receiver and the Received, so too is He always the Kingdom and the King. Does this mean, then, that those of us who are not monastics should leave behind all that we are and become monks? No. To do so would demonstrate that we were still in darkness, that we do not understand the meaning of repentance, to confuse the means with eh end. Historically, monasticism is the fruit of repentance, repentance is not necessarily the fruit of monasticism. Like anything touched by the hand of man, the monastic life can be transformed into something other, an idol even, as can ones spouse, children or priesthood, if not known, lived and loved in and through God. This is repentance, to turn form self to God, to change ones mind from its focus on the here and now, the things of this world, its wisdom and pursuits to God above all and before all else. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. Or as the Lord also put it, love one another as I have loved you. The fulfillment of this commandment is repentance. How do we do it? Love our enemies, bless those who persecute us, forgive everyone who offends and harms us, bear one anothers burdens, be humble, pray unceasingly, believe, not in abstract propositions but in the Living Word revealed in

Holy Tradition, to have the mind of Christ, and to acquire it through prayer and study not only of Scripture but also the lives and writings of the saints. There is also the ascetic struggle summarized by the term fasting, the spiritual battle with the passions, especially those of anger, lust, and greed, but also the other passions, each of which exercises its sinful power over us, some or one of them more than the others. To repent is to overcome these passions, to reassert control over them, to purify them, rather than allowing them to corrupt us. To repent is to do all this so that Christ may come and dwell in us, that we may enter into and remain in communion with the Most Holy Trinity, that in the words of the Forerunner seen in the icon behind me, He must increase and I must decrease. To repent is to respond to the presence of Christ, to our encounter with Him who is Risen from the dead, who has trampled down death by death and upon those in the graves bestowing life, whether those are graves of stone or clay or graves of minds darkened by sin, or lives spent in idolatrous worship of self, money, power or success. Repentance brings us into the Kingdom because repentance allows the Kingdom to come into our souls. Jesus tells us the Kingdom of God is within us, in the presence of the Holy Spirit who is poured out upon us in Baptism and Chrismation and is renewed in us in every Holy Communion and Confession. And the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and of such is the Kingdom of God, not eating or drinking or any material thing or place. Thus, we are admonished not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This we should do as disciples of Christ, members of His Body, whether monastics or married, clergy or laity. Whatever our vocation, wherever we live, narrow is the way and difficult is the path and the depth of our holiness depends on how well we respond to the call to repent. The Twelve He called to come and follow Him, leaving all

behind. However, the Gerasene demoniac, after his exorcism, wanted to do likewise, but Jesus sent him home to live among his neighbors as a powerful witness to the saving power of God in Christ. And so it is with us. Like the Twelve, Christians put aside the world to follow our Lord, and like the demoniac, others of us who have been brought from the dark prison of sin into the Light and Life of the Kingdom are sent back home to witness by our lives to the saving power of Christ. Lord, it is good for us to be here Because this community and all the others like it are a call to repent and manifest in the world the Kingdom of God, living a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and righteousness. It is good for us to be here For we are called to renew our repentance, to purse the life in the Kingdom as does this parish community through our participation in the prayers and Liturgies offered here either by our physical presence or spiritual communion in the love of Christ. It is good for us to be here To encourage this parish community in its pursuit of repentance and manifestation of the Kingdom and to seek their spiritual encouragement for our ascetic struggle. It is good for us to be here this morning So that the repentance to which we are called can be renewed in us, by seeing and tasting that the Lord is good, a foretaste of the eternal Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Equipping the Saints

MANY PEOPLE ONLY SEE THEIR PASTOR during liturgical services. They may have no contact with any of the clergy outside of this context. The only other church functions they attend may be social or athletic events where the clergy are on the sidelines. The pastors most prominent role in our Church today is as liturgist. As a result, particularly in rural or village churches of the Christian East, a mans voice was his chief qualification for entrance into the clergy. And if he had a nice full beard like Jesus, so much the better! Priests would often preempt deacons and deacons the other clergy if their rendition of the Gospel or a favorite hymn was more lyrical. The best clergyman was a good liturgist and the best liturgist, after all, was the best virtuoso.

Those with Gifts of Leadership St Paul lists several types of Church leaders. The Apostles were first of all those who had been eyewitnesses to Christ life and ministry. When a replacement for Judas was to be chosen Peter identified the eligible candidates as being one of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us (Acts 1:21-22). He then went on to indicate his own understanding of an Apostles role in the Church: one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.

Many people think that Prophets are fortune tellers, telling how the future is to play itself out. Sometimes that is close to the truth. At other times the prophets gift is to speak Gods will for the present moment or, rather, o interpret the present moment in the light of Gods will for us. This function in the Church is generally found in the monastic calling. By their vows they become dead to the world in a foretaste of the common destiny of all of us. In the Kingdom of God neither When parishes were established in this country they possessions nor physical relationships will continue. were often organized after the model employed by There will be no ego, no pride, for all the glory will the Roman Catholic churches around them. There be Gods. In addition some monastics have the gift the laity had no role in the parish beyond taking up of discernment, reading the hearts of those who the collection and possibly arranging flowers for the come to them for guidance. altar. Any ministry in the parish was exercised by the clergy and religious such as teaching sisters. Evangelists are those who proclaim the Gospel far If we look to see how things were done in the New Testament era, a very different picture emerges. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, for example, we find a very clear cut job description. St Paul writes, To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christs giftHe himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4: 7, 11-13). and wide. Missionaries and retreat masters have often shared in this gift. Today web masters and bloggers might join in this gift. The pastor/teacher is the person at the head of the local Church, the bishop or his representative, the presbyter (priest). While the others mentioned traveled around the Mediterranean world bringing the good news of Christ, the pastors were the people left behind to shepherd the local community. Their main role was described as equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, the saints being those who were made holy by being united to Christ in holy baptism. At every baptism we are reminded that All of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You cant get much holier than that!

The pastor in this view is primarily an enabler, giving people the tools needed to take up their place in one of the Churchs ministries. He must see to the training of greeters, singers and servers, of catechists and ministers to the sick, of church council members and workers in any other kind of ministry that might be needed in the parish. And it is because he is this enabler of the saints under his care, because he is the teacher and shepherd of the flock that the pastor presides at liturgical services. The Work of Ministry In St Pauls vision of the Church, there are no passive spectators. All are meant to be active, to be engaged in the work of ministry in one way or another. Most parishes have their regular schedule of projects that mark its life during the year coffee hours, fundraisers, socials, outings and people work to make them happen. This is certainly one level of ministry, but there is more. Two such ministries which touch the heart of every parish are those concerned with worship and catechesis. Liturgical singing is a ministry in which all worshippers should be involved. Everyone should take part in the chants appointed for the people. Others have a more particular or specialized ministry as cantors or choir members. A cantor can make or break the liturgical services in the parish because the cantor is the liturgical minister most concerned with the involvement of the people. People have long associated ministering in the holy place with altar boys. In fact, the role the servers play is basically the role of subdeacons. In many places the servers are actually vested as subdeacons. At least a few older teens or young adults should be involved in this ministry to supervise and train any younger servers the parish might employ. In some Eastern Churches those senior servers who have a firm commitment to this ministry are actually blessed by the bishop as subdeacons. Another essential ministry in every parish in that of catechist. Many people identify the term catechist

with Sunday School teacher, but those who coordinate youth ministry, work with young adults or conduct adult education programs are also catechists. In some churches people have been trained to introduce visitors to the church or help them follow the Liturgy. In other places people have been instructed to conduct church open houses, perhaps in conjunction with a food festival. All of these are catechetical ministries essential for the spiritual growth of the parish. Commitment and Training Taking part in many of these activities demands a level of commitment. Cantors must plan their leisure activities around the parishs schedule of liturgical services. Catechists must commit themselves to a full cycle of sessions in any given year. These demands would be a real burden to anyone who was not convinced that ministering in this way was their return to God of the gift He had given them. Training Is a Must! One aspect of any serious ministry is the need for training. The twentieth-century academic Margaret Mead once said in another context, Zeal without knowledge is a sin. This certainly applies to ministry in the Church. The desire to serve must be complemented by a willingness to be trained for service. Being smarter than a child, for example, does not automatically make someone a good catechist! Neither does having learned ones catechism (in another age or even in another Church tradition) dispense a volunteer catechist from going through a training program. The result of this interaction of ministry workers and their enablers is, as St Paul has it, a mature manhood after the stature of Christ. The parish becomes an icon of Christ and of those who accompanied Him the apostles, the myrrhbearers, and the rest each taking up their responsibility in and for the Church according to the measure of Christs gift.

11/6/2011 Parish Advisory Council Meeting

Attendance: Deacon Michael, Jim Zaydon Jr., Betsy Zaydon, Terri Patchoski Deacon Michael opened the meeting with a prayer The choosing of a Parish Council Chairman has been postponed Priest News: We havent heard anything relating to a priest being assigned to Saint Joseph, hoping there will be news for next year Father Jerome will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy with us on Christmas Day We will most likely just celebrate Great Vespers on Christmas Eve We are currently doing OK with the visiting clergy for now Steeple News: (JJZ Report) The steeple has been completed and looks wonderful 10-15 year fix Screens have been installed behind the louvers to keep birds out The steeple has been caulked with tar Everyone in attendance is pleased with the results of the fix Rectory: Bathroom floors have been tiled Rugs have been removed Total the project cost about $1400 Church: Windows still need to be done Not enough funding Nave ceiling needs to be fixed and painted JJZ will be looking for benefactors to have these repairs made Religious Education: Currently no families Melkite moms group has been proposed by Jen Clark Coffee Hour last week Excellent pancakes were prepared by John Coury and we thank him More in attendance would be nice Parish Trip: Some suggestions will be pursued at a later date for parish fellowship. Plans will be made for some Saturday Deacon Michaels 25th anniversary: Betsy Zaydon will take charge of event Kibbee and other items will be served right after liturgy Will ask for helpers Rummage Sale: Terri and Clarice couldnt squeeze in during November due to the celebrations Terri will find a date at the end of January or beginning of February Societies and Groups Young adults (21+) wants to get together as couples Youth are all in college now Finances: Income is small especially after all recent expenses New Business Would like more readers to come forward to aid Deacon Michael Determined Dates: December 11th 2011- Ladies Holiday Party December 4th 2011- Childrens Party January 1st 2012- Potluck-feast of Saint Joseph Next Meeting: January Deacon closed the meeting with a prayer

A Prayer - Teach Me Your Love

One exclamation escaped the breast of the Bride of God when She saw Your Sona voice filled with a love that Your birds awaken me in the morning, and the murmur could not be contained in silence. And that exclamation echoed in the heart of Her Son, and this echothis of the lake lulls me to sleep in the evening. But it is not response to the love of His Motherthe Holy Spirit has the birds that awaken me, nor the lake that lulls me to spread with His powerful arms throughout the entire sleep, but You, O Lord, Master of the voice. universe. Therefore, all the universe is filled with Your heralds, O my Song and my Love. You lend Your voice to the birds and the midnight murmur to the lake. You have lent a voice to every O Lord, Master of the voice, speak more clearly throat, and have put a story into every creature. I am through Your heralds! surrounded by Your heralds, as a student by many teachers, and I listen to them tirelessly from day until For this reason You also spoke in parables, O Son of dusk. God, and You would explain things and events as stories about the Most High God. You cured the sick O Lord, Master of the voice, speak more clearly with words and raised the dead with words, for You through Your heralds! recognized the mystery of love. And the mystery of love is a mystery of words. Through all creatures, as The sun speaks to me about the radiance of Your countenance, and the stars about the harmony of Your through piercing and blaring trumpets, words pour forth and through being. The sun speaks in one language, and the stars words, the Love speak in a different language, but all the languages flow of Heaven. out of the same vocal cords. The vocal cords belong to You, and You uttered the first sound that began to tremble in the deafness and formlessness of nothingness, and it broke into countless sounds and heralds, as a thundercloud breaks into rain drops. O Lord, Master of the voice, speak more clearly through Your heralds! O Lord, Master of the voice, teach me Your Love through all Your heralds.

Devotions and Readings for this week

Mon 1/9 Tues 1/10 Weds 1/11 Thurs 1/12 Fri 1/13 Sat 1/14 Martyr Polyeuctus Gregory of Nyssa, Marcian, Priest of the Great Church and Donetian, Bp of Meletine Theodosius, Foundre of Monasteries Martyr Tatiana Martyrs Ermylus and Straconicus Holy Fathers martyred at Sinai and Raitho Heb 11:17-31 Heb 12:25-27 Heb 13:7-16 James 1:19-27 James 2:1-13 Col 1:1-16 Mk 1:9-15 Lk 3:19-22 Mt 5:14-19 Jn 10:39-42 Lk 20:1-8 Lk 12:32-41

The mystery of the Holy Trinity The concepts of the unity and the highest characteristics of
God do not themselves exhaust the fullness of the Christian teachings about God. The Christian faith lets us in on the deepest mystery of the inner life of God. It presents God one in essence and as a Trinity in Persons. The concept of "Person," is close to the notions of "individuality," "consciousness," personality. Since God in His essence is one, then all of Gods characteristics His immortality, omnipotence, omnipresence, and others belong in equal measure to all Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. In other words, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are eternal and omnipotent, as is God the Father.

faith from various heretics and tried to give it the most accurate definition (1 John 5:7-8). "One in essence, God is Trinity in Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Trinity one in essence and indivisible." In these few words is expressed the core of the Christian teachings of the Most Holy Trinity. But notwithstanding such apparent conciseness, simplicity, the dogma of the Trinity contains one of the deepest, most incomprehensible, mysterious secrets of the Revelation of God. No matter how we exert our mind, we are completely powerless to imagine how three independent Divine Persons (not powers, not attributes or phenomenon) completely equal in Godly dignity can comprise one, indivisible Being. The Holy Fathers of the Church approached this unencompassable deep, elevated truth many times with their God-enlightened thoughts. In their attempts to somehow clarify it, to bring it closer to the comprehension of our limited mind, they used different comparisons, taken either from phenomena in surrounding nature, or from the spiritual structure of a person. For example: 1) sun, light and warmth (from here: "Light from Light" in the Creed); 2) an underground spring, a spring, and stream; 3) roots, trunk and branches; 4) mind, feelings and will. The Holy Equal-to the Apostles Cyril, the enlightener of the Slavs (in 869 AD, in a discussion with Muslims about the Most Holy Trinity), pointing to the sun, said: "See, in the sky there stands a shining circle, and from it light is born and warmth is emitted. God the Father, like the solar disk, is without beginning or end. From Him, the Son of God is born, like light from the sun, and as warmth goes from the sun together with rays of light, proceeds the Holy Spirit. Each can distinguish separately the solar disk, and light, and warmth, but the sun is one in the sky. So is the Holy Trinity: three Persons in Him, but one and indivisible God."

The Truth of the Tri-oneness of God (Trinity) represents the distinguishing attribute of Christianity. Not only do natural religions not know this truth, but there is no clear, direct revelation of it in the God-revealed Old Testament teachings. There are merely rudiments, graphic, concealed indications, which can only be understood fully in the light of the New Testament, revealing the teaching of the triune God with complete clarity. Such, for example, are the Old Testament sayings, witnessing to the plurality of Persons in the Deity: L " et us make man in our image, after our likeness"(Gen. 1:26); B " ehold, the man is become as one of us"(Gen. 3:22); " o to, let G us go down, and there confound their language"(Gen. 11:7). Here God appropriates to Himself the plural tense. There is another Biblical example, when in the narration about God three appear as one. When, for example, God appears to Abraham in the form of three wanderers (angels). Abraham, in speaking with them, uses the singular tense (Gen. 18:1-3). All these and other comparisons, easing somewhat the This appearance of God to Abraham serves as the subject for assimilation of the mystery of the Trinity, appear, however, only the weakest hints at the nature of the Highest Being. the famous Rublev icon of the Holy Trinity. They leave a sense of inadequacy, disparity with the high The teaching about the Trinity is the foundation on which the subject for which they are used for clarification. They cannot Christian faith is built. All the pleasing, redeeming truths of remove that cloak of incomprehensibility, mystery, from the Christianity about salvation, consecration, bliss of a person teachings about the Triune God, in which this teaching is can be accepted only on the condition that we believe in the enveloped for the mind of a person. Three-hypostatic God, since all these great blessings are given to us through the mutual and joint activity of the Divine One instructive story is preserved regarding this about the Persons. "The outline of our teachings is one, " teaches St. famous western teacher of the Church the blessed Gregory the Theologian, "and it is short. It is as a sign on a Augustine. Immersed once in thought about the mystery of the pillar, understandable to all: These people are true Trinity and constructing a plan for a composition on this worshippers of the Trinity." The great importance and central theme, he departed for the shore of the sea. There he saw how meaning of the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity explains the a boy, playing in the sand, was digging a hole. Approaching care with which the Church always guarded it, that vigilance the boy, Augustine asked him: "What are you doing?" "I and that intense effort of thought, with which it defended its want to pour the sea into this hole," answered the boy, smiling. Then Augustine understood: "Am I not doing the

same thing as this boy, trying to comprehend the sea of not only to honor God, to revere Him, but to love Him. Through this mystery in particular it gave the world that the infinity of God with my intellect?" delightful and momentous idea, that God is limitless, In the same manner, even that great universal saint and perfect Love. The strict, dry monotheism of other bishop Gregory, who, for his ability to fathom with his religious teachings (Judaism and Mohammedanism), by thoughts even the deepest mysteries of faith, is honored not rising to the undisguised idea of Divine Trinity, by the Church with the name Theologian, wrote cannot for this reason rise to the true understanding of concerning himself, that he speaks more often about the love as the ruling characteristic of God. Love by its very Trinity than he breathes, and he admits the essence is unthinkable without a union, association. If unsatisfactoriness of all comparisons, directed to the God were one Person, then in relation to whom would His comprehension of the dogma of the Trinity. "No matter Love be revealed? To the world? But the world is not what I observed with my inquisitive mind," says he, "no eternal. How could the Godly love be expressed in the matter with what I enriched my intellect, no matter where eternity before the world? In addition, the world is I searched for something resembling this, I did not find, to limited, and the love of God cannot reveal itself in all of what Godly essence can be worthily applied." its boundlessness. The highest love, for its fullest So, the teaching of the Most Holy Trinity is the deepest, expression, demands as high an object. But where is it? most incomprehensible mystery of faith. All efforts to Only the mystery of the Triune God provides the answer make it understandable, to place it in the usual framework to these indicated difficulties. It reveals that the love of of our thinking are in vain. "Here is the boundary of that" God has never been inactive, without expression: The notes St. Athanasius the Great "which the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity from eternity live one with another in continuous contact of love. The Father cherubims cover with their wings." loves the Son (John 5:20, 3:35), and calls Him beloved However, notwithstanding all of its incomprehensibility, (Mt. 3:17, 17:5 et al). The Son says of Himself: "I love the the teachings about the Holy Trinity has an important Father" (John 14:31). Deeply true are the short, but moral meaning for us, and, evidently, for this reason this expressive words of the blessed Augustine: "The mystery mystery is revealed to people. Indeed, it uplifts the very of the Christian Trinity is the mystery of Godly love. You idea of monotheism, places it on firm ground and see the Trinity, if you see love." eliminates those important, unconquerable difficulties, which had earlier cropped up for human thought. Several The concept of God as Love is based the teaching about of the thinkers of the pre-Christian antiquity, rising to the the Most Holy Trinity. All the Christian moral teachings understanding of oneness in the supreme Being, could not are founded on this teaching, the essence of which solve the question of how in particular does the life and consists of the law of love. activity of this Being manifest itself by Itself, outside of In humble recognition of the impossibility of its relations to the world. And so the Deity, in their minds, understanding the either identified itself with the world (pantheism), or mystery of the Most appeared lifeless, withdrawn within itself, an immobile, Holy Trinity, we must isolated head (deism), or became a fearsome, inexorable accept it on full faith, fate having dominion over the world (fatalism). and accept it so that Christianity in the teaching about the Holy Trinity this truth does not revealed, that in the Three-hypostatic Being, and aside remain something from His relations to the world, there manifests itself from external, detached in the ages an infinite fullness of internal, mysterious life. relation to us, but God, to quote one ancient teacher of the Church (Peter would penetrate to the Chrisologue), is one, but not alone. In Him there is a innermost recesses of distinction of Persons, existing in continuous association our spirit, would with each other. "God the Father is not born and does not become the property proceed from another Person, the Son of God is born pre- of all our soul, become eternally of the Father, the Holy Spirit pre-eternally the guiding power proceeds from the Father. The internal, hidden life of the source of our life. Deity is in this mutual association of the Divine Persons Such should be in from time immemorial, which before Christ was hidden essence the acquisition behind an impenetrable curtain. of other Christian truths. For Christianity is not an Through the mystery of the Trinity, Christianity taught abstract theory, but a new renaissance of life!

Prayer Requests

Rev. Father Philip Azoon Rev. Deacon John Karam Rev. Seraphim Michalenko Rev. Basil Samra Rev. Peter Boutros Rev. Deacon Bryan McNiel Rev. Deacon Irenaeus Dionne Rev. Father David White

Parish Calendar
January 8 Parish Council Meeting After Divine Liturgy 29 Youth Meeting February 11 Rummage Sale

Marie Abda Marie Abda Marie Barron Joseph Barron Mary Sue Betress Chris Carey Nikki Boudreaux Dr. Frances Colie John Colie Ann Coury

Margaret Dillenburg Mark Dillman Karen Haddad Karen Kane Niko Mayashairo Mary McNeilly Marie Patchoski Joanna Simon William Simon Dr. Thomas Zaydon

Sacrificial Giving 12/25/2011 Candles Weekly Holyday $ 5.75 $ 456.00 $ 125.00

All those Serving in our Armed Forces The Christian Community in the Middle East

The Weekly Quiz

What was the response of the daughter of Pharaoh when she heard the baby Moses crying? She wept too. She had compassion on him. She was ashamed of her father's edict. She was furious.
Last Weeks Answer Q. Who asked God to bless him and enlarge his territory? A. Jabez