+
12th Sunday after Holy
Pentecost
& The Sunday
after the Dormition of the Theotokos
Tone:
3 + Eothinion: 1
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“O Theotokos, Mother of Life, on your
immortal falling asleep, clouds caught up the Apostles into the sky and after
they were all dispersed throughout the world, gathered them into one rank
beside your pure body, which they reverently buried. And they cried out singing
with the words of Gabriel: ‘Hail, O Virgin full of grace, Mother unwedded, the
Lord is with you.’ Together with them, pray to your Son and our God that He may
save our souls. Amen.”
Next Sunday’s
v Epistle: 1 Corinthians 16:13-24
v Holy Gospel: St. Matthew 21:33-42
+
The Epistle +
Verse: “Sing praises
to our God, sing praises,
Clap
your hands all you nations”.
The
(Chapter 15:1-11)
Brethern, I declare to
you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which
you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I
preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of
all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas,
then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at
once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen
asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of
all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For
I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the
+
The Holy Gospel +
(Chapter
19:16-26)
At that time, one came and said to
Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is
good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not
murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not
bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to Him, “All these things I
have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want
to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young
man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
St. Silouan the Athonite: ‘Concerning
the Theotokos’
Meditation
In the Spirit I know the most pure
Virgin. I never beheld her, but the Holy Spirit allowed me to know her and
her love for us. Had it not been for her compassion I should have perished
long ago; but she was minded to come to me and show me, that I might not
sin. This is what she said: “I find your ways ugly to look upon.” And her
words, soft, quiet and gentle, pierced my soul. More than forty years have
passed since then but my soul can never forget those sweet words…Truly she
is our advocate before God, and the very sound of her name gladdens the
soul. But all heaven and earth too rejoice in her love.
*
Announcements *
v Every Saturday – Great Vespers at
v Every Sunday – Matins at
ü Church Beautification
“Blessed are those who love the beauty of Thy House, O Lord”
Our Iconographer may
unfortunately be retiring in the near future and we are looking to finish
(while we still can) the empty area over the Choir Loft with a beautiful new
set of icons. Some icons left for selection are:
v The Holy Hymnographers & Antiochian Saints (For Example: St. Andrew of Crete, St. Joseph of Damascus, St.
Isaac the Syrian, Sts. Peter & Paul holding the Church of Antioch in their
hands, Sts. Sergios & Bachos
the Unmercenary Healers. OR any other Orthodox Saint you would like to honor and have
depicted on the walls of our Cathedral.
If you are interested in donating any icons, please contact
Fr. Ghattas in the office or speak to him after the Divine Liturgy.
ü Fellowship of
Weekly Meeting every Tuesday from
ü Thank You!
We would like to thank Saddika Al-Awabdeh for donating
the new Epitaphios Icon, which will be blessed at the
end of the Divine Liturgy. May the Lord bless you for your generousity.
ü Upcoming
Visit from New Lebanese Ambassador
Next
Sunday, August 26th we will welcome the new Lebanese Ambassador His
Excellency Mr. Massoud Maalouf. He will attend the
Divine Liturgy and will be joining us all for the Coffee Hour in the basement
following the service. All parishioners are welcome to meet the Ambassador and
ask him any questions you may have.
ü Concerning the New Divine Liturgy
Service Books
Please
remember that the new Bilingual Divine Liturgy Service Books were generously
donated and are in the Church for your spiritual benefit. Please take care of them.
They are not toys for young children, but are for reading and following better
during the Divine Liturgy. Also, for anybody who would like to obtain their own
copy to take home, please do not take the copies that are in the Church, there
are plenty of copies available in our Cathedral Book Store and can be purchased
after the Divine Liturgy.
ü An Important Message from the
To enable the children and teachers to
attend the Divine Liturgy from the beginning, we will be having Church School
Classes immediately following Communion. Parents should bring their children to
Church for
REMEMBER :
REGISTRATION WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th FROM
Yours in Christ,
Joann Nicholson, Superintendent of St.
Elias Church School.
ü
The St. Thekla Pilgrimage will be taking place this year on
+ St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral +
(
Cathedral Office:
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1V 6N1
Telephone: (613) 738-2222, Fax: (613) 737-4392
Email:
info@steliascathedral.com,
Website: www.steliascathedral.com
The Rt. Rev. Bishop ALEXANDER
Bishop of
The Very Rev. Father Ghattas Hajal – Dean
Rev. Father Mark Arsenios Wyatt – Assistant Priest
The
Very Rev. Father Daniel Matheson – Emeritus
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 10
(Taken from:
Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
…the Only-Begotten Son of God… (2)
Having been born and not made, the Son
of God is what God is. The expression of one essence simply means this: what
God the Father is, so also -- is the Son of God. Essence is from the Latin word
esse which
means: to be. The essence of a thing answers the question What
is it? What the Father is, the Son is. The Father is divine, the Son is divine.
The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal. The Father is uncreated, the Son is
uncreated. The Father is God and the Son is God. This is what men confess when
they say "the only-begotten Son of God ... of one essence with the
Father."
Being always with the Father, the Son
is also one life, one will, one power and one action
with Him. Whatever the Father is, the Son is; and so whatever the Father does,
the Son does as well. The original act of God outside of His divine existence
is the act of creation. The Father is creator of heaven and earth, of all
things visible and invisible. And in the act of creation, as -- we confess in
the Symbol of Faith, the Son is the one by whom all things were made.
The Son acts in creation as the one
who accomplishes the Father's will. The divine act of creation-and, indeed,
every action toward the world in revelation, salvation, and glorification -- is
willed by the Father and accomplished by the Son (we will speak of the Holy
Spirit later) in one identical divine action. Thus, we have the Genesis account
of God creating through His divine word ("God said..."), and in the
Gospel of St. John the following specific revelation:
He [the Word-Son] was in the beginning
with God [the Father]; all things were made through [or by] Him and without Him
was not anything made that was made" (Jn 1:2-3).
This is the exact doctrine of the
Apostle Paul as well:
... in Him
[the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers - all
things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in him
all things hold together (
Thus, the eternal Son of God is
confessed as the one "by whom all things were made." (Heb 1: 2;
The Symbol of Faith continues: ... Who
for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the
Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man ...
The divine Son of God was born in
human flesh for the salvation of the world. This is the central doctrine of the
Orthodox Christian Faith; the entire life of Christians is built upon this
fact.
The Symbol of Faith stresses that it
is "for us men and for our salvation" that the Son of God has come.
This is the most critical biblical doctrine, that "God so loved the world
that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life" (Jn
Because of His perfect love, God sent
forth His Son into the world. God knew in the very act of creation that to have
a world at all would require the incarnation of His Son in human flesh.
Incarnation as a word means "enfleshment"
in the sense of taking on the wholeness of human nature, body and soul. And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His
glory, glory as the only-begotten Son of the Father. And from his fullness have
we all received grace upon grace" (Jn
(To
be continued…)