+ Sunday, May 21^st 2006 +

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Tone: 4 + Eothinon: 7

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“Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!”

O Eternal Son and Word of God, Spring of healings, You found the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well and asked her for water. What a wonder! He who is enthroned upon the Cherubim speaks with a sinful woman. He who has set the earth upon the waters asks her for water that He may draw her to Him. He who is merciful seeks to give living water to her who is burning with sins. Therefore let us praise Him. O Loving Lord, glory to You!

+ The Epistle +

Verse: “O Lord, how magnificent are Thy works. Thou has made all things in wisdom.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

The Reading is from the Acts of the Holy Apostles.

(Chapter 11:19-30)

In those days, those Apostles who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. +

+ The Holy Gospel +

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. John

(Chapter 4:5-42)

At that time, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as He was with His journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to Him, ‘How is it that You, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink’, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do You get that living water? “Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as his sons, and his cattle?” Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst forever; for the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such Father seeks to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” Just then His disciples came. They marveled that He was talking with a woman, but none said, “What do You wish?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a Man who said to me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the city and were coming to Him. Meanwhile the disciples besought Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has any one brought Him food?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He said to me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His words. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Meditation: The Samaritans

Concerning the Samaritans, we know the following: In the year 721 BC the king of the Assyrians, took ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel into captivity, and relocated all these people to Babylon and the land of Medes. From there he gathered various nations and sent them to Samaria. These nations had been idolaters from before. Although they were later instructed in the Jewish faith and believed in the One God, they worshipped the idols also. Furthermore, they accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses, and rejected the other books of Holy Scripture. Nonetheless, they thought themselves to be descendants of Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, the pious Jews named these Judaizing and idolatrous peoples Samaritans, since they lived in Samaria, the former leading city of the Israelites, as well as in the other towns thereabout. The Jews rejected them as heathen and foreigners, and had no communion with them at all, as the Samaritan woman observed, “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans”. Therefore, the name Samaritan is used derisively many times in the Gospel narrations.

+ Synaxarion & Upcoming Services+

“Let my Prayer be set before Thee as Incense, and the lifting up of my Hands

as the Evening Sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2)

v Today - Sunday, May 21^st: Sts. Constantine & Helen, Equal to the Apostles

Synaxarion: This great and renowned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantius Chlorus (the ruler of the westernmost parts of the Roman Empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272, in Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312, on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched into Italy, where, while at the head of his troops, he saw in the sky after midday, beneath the sun, a radiant pillar in the form of a Cross with the words: "By this shalt thou conquer." The following night, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and declared to him the power of the Cross and its significance. When he arose in the morning, he immediately ordered that a labarum be made (which is a banner or standard of victory over the enemy) in the form of a cross, and he inscribed on it the Name of Jesus Christ. On the 28^th of October, he attacked and mightily conquered Maxentius, who drowned in a great river while fleeing. The following day, Constantine entered Rome in triumph and was proclaimed Emperor of the West by the Senate, while Licinius, his brother-in-law, ruled in the East. But out of malice, Licinius later persecuted the Christians. Constantine fought him once and again, and utterly destroyed him in 324, and in this manner he became monarch over the West and the East. Under him and because of him all the persecutions against the Church ceased. Christianity triumphed and idolatry was overthrown. In 325 he gathered the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which he himself personally addressed. In 324, in the ancient city of Byzantium, he laid the foundations of the new capital of his realm, and solemnly inaugurated it on May 11, 330, naming it after himself, Constantinople. Since the throne of the imperial rule was transferred there from Rome, it was named New Rome, the inhabitants of its domain were called Romans, and it was considered the continuation of the Roman Empire. Falling ill near Nicomedia, he requested to receive Holy Baptism, according to Eusebius, and also according to Socrates and Sozomen; and when he had been deemed worthy of the Holy Mysteries, he reposed in 337, on May 21 or 22, the day of Pentecost, having lived sixty-five years, of which he ruled for thirty-one years. His remains were transferred to Constantinople and were deposed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been built by him. As for his holy mother Helen, after her son had made the Faith of Christ triumphant throughout the Roman Empire, she undertook a journey to Jerusalem and found the Holy Cross on which our Lord was crucified. After this, Saint Helen, in her zeal to glorify Christ, erected churches in Jerusalem at the sites of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, in Bethlehem at the cave where our Saviour was born, another on the Mount of Olives whence He ascended into Heaven, and many others throughout the Holy Land, Cyprus, and elsewhere. She was proclaimed Augusta, her image was stamped upon golden coins, and two cities were named Helenopolis after her in Bithynia and in Palestine. Having been thus glorified for her piety, she departed to the Lord being about eighty years of age, according to some in the year 330 or 336.

Ø Every Saturday at 6:00 p.m.: Great Vespers/Confession (due to the limited time on Sunday morning, confessions will be heard also during Great Vespers, as well as on Sunday morning during the Matins Service)

* Announcements & Activities *

“It is good to be Zealous in a Good Thing Always…” (Galatians 4:18)

ü 53^rd Annual Parish Life Conference

The 53^rd Annual Parish Life Conference will be held from June 29^th – July 2^nd , hosted by St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Richmond Hill (Toronto), and presided by His Grace Bishop ALEXANDER. Please contact the Cathedral Office for booking and travel information (Departure time for the bus will be Thursday morning (June 29^th) at 7:00 a.m. and again departing for Ottawa at 3:00 p.m. on July 2^nd). Help yourself to informative pamphlets that are available today at the Candle Stand in the Vestibule. Also, further information can be obtained at the following website: (www.stgeorgeto.com).

ü Coptic Africa Mission

On Saturday, May 27^th – 1:00p.m. at St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church (1 Canfield Dr, Ottawa), there will be a BBQ Fundraiser for one of their young parishioners, Helen Mina, who will be doing Mission Work in Kenya & Tanzania led by the Coptic Orthodox Church. There will also be Raffle Prizes, a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament, and many other fun games at the Fundraiser. Please make your cheque donations out to the “Canadian Coptic Centre” with “Africa” in the Memo. For Ticket & Donation information and any other inquiries please contact Mary Morgan at (613) 255-4422.

ü Camp Transfiguration (www.stgeorgemontreal.org)

This summer Camp Transfiguration 2006 will be from (July 30^th – August 5^th), all necessary forms and information can be obtained at the above mentioned website.

ü Annual Sts. Thekla & Raphael Pilgrimage – Antiochian Village

The Annual Sts. Thekla & Raphael Pilrimage at the Antiochian Village will be during the weekend of September 22, 2006. Anyone interested in going can obtain the schedule and registration form at the Cathedral Office.

ü St. Timothy’s Classical Christian Academy (www.st-timothys.ca)

St. Timothy’s Classical Academy is searching for a 3 hours/week Elementary French Teacher. To apply or for more information, please contact: Tim Kennedy, Chairman of the Board of Directors at (613) 321-4927 or by email (tim.kennedy@st-timothys.ca).

ü Interfaith Network: Reaching Out to Isolated Seniors

The Interfaith Network is a network of volunteers from faith-based communities that work in collaboration with ‘Ottawa Public Health’ and ‘Help the Aged’ in order to meet the needs of isolated seniors. They are looking for volunteers from our parish, if you are interested or would like more information, please contact Helen Smith at (613) 565-6328 or by email (hgsmith@sympatico.ca). Any parishioners who become volunteers are asked to inform Fr. Ghattas that they have joined Interfaith Network.

General Assembly

Our General Assembly Meeting will be held next Sunday May 28^th, 2006 immediately following the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral Hall downstairs. We encourage all of you to attend! If you haven’t paid in full your membership/dues for 2005, please do so before the meeting. Lunch will be served before the meeting.