+
14th Sunday after Holy
Pentecost
Tone:
5 + Eothinion: 3
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“Into the glorious company of Thy
saints how shall I enter, Lord; I who am so unworthy. For should I, too, dare
to enter the wedding chamber my robe betrays me, for it is not a wedding
garment and I shall be bound and cast out by the angels. Cleanse my soul, O
Lord, form wickedness, and of Thy compassion save me.”
Next Sunday’s
Epistle: Galatians. (
+
The Epistle +
Verse:
“Thou, O Lord, wilt keep and preserve us.
Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed”.
The
(
Brethren, it
is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; He has
put his seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. But I call God to witness against me—it was
to spare you that I refrained from coming to
+
The Holy Gospel +
The Reading
(Chapter 22:2-14)
The Lord spoke
this parable: “The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his
servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would
not come. Again he sent other servants,
saying, ‘Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have made
ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready;
come to the marriage feast.’ But they
made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while
the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. But when the king heard of it, he was angry,
and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their
city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The
wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite
to the marriage feast as many as you find.’
And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they
found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the
guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him,
‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him
hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and
gnash their teeth.’ For many are called,
but few are chosen.”
Meditation:
“Happy New Year! – A Year of the Lord”
Do you know why the first day of
September marks the beginning of the Church year? We are accustomed to think of
January 1st as the beginning of the year. But the tradition of computing the start of a new year with the fall season was
common to the lands of the Bible and to all the lands around the
*
Announcements *
v Every Saturday – Great Vespers at
v Every Sunday – Matins at
Upcoming
Services Feast
of the Nativity of the Theotokos: Great
Vespers: ( Matins:
( Divine
Liturgy: ( Feast
of the Elevation of the Holy Cross: Great
Vespers: ( Matins:
( Divine
Liturgy: (
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.
SEPTEMBER is the month of
the Fellowship of
ü Fellowship of
Weekly Meeting every Tuesday from
ü Farewell Party to Fr. Mark, Khouriyee
Rola and Marina
You
are all invited to join us to an extended coffee hour in the Cathedral Basement
to say goodbye to Fr. Mark and his family.
Again,
on behalf of all of you we thank Fr. Mark for his blessed ministry in our
parish for the last 3 years. We wish him many more years of successful and
fruitful ministry at St. Nicholas,
Fr.
Mark, we love you and your family and pray Christ our God to accompany you and
grant you all you need to fulfill the mission that God called you for. Pray for
us as we will always pray for you.
ü Teen SOYO
During the month of September our
weekly “Teen Night” will be held on Friday evenings from
ü
The Serbian Orthodox
Church and the Congregation of Saint Stefan in Ottawa are holding their
traditional Ottawa Serbian Festival 2007 on Saturday and Sunday
September 1st and 2nd at 3662 Albion Rd. every one is
welcome!
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 Cathedral Bookstore
The Cathedral Bookstore was established in
order to provide our parishioners with resources that will help educate and
nurture their spiritual health. There are numerous books that should be read by
everyone. We should not ignore 2000 years of Holy Wisdom, which has been passed
down to us from generation to generation. If you have any specific book you are
looking for, we will do our best to get it for you. If you have any questions
please speak to Sub-Deacon George after the Divine Liturgy in the bookstore.
Dear
parishioners of St. Elias Cathedral
Aita El-Fokhar and Ain Arab Society would
like to invite you to attend The Feast of the
Elevation of the Holy Cross (Eid El Salib) annual party that will
take place on
The proceeds of this party will be
fully donated to the families of the Lebanese Army Martyrs killed during their
battle against terrorists in Nahr Al-Bared refugee
camp.
The fund-raising event features videos
produced by the Lebanese Army Directorate of Orientation as well as live
entertainment with singer Chadi Naddaf and his musical
band.
The Society is asking for your support
to make this event successful. Ticket price is $50 per person which includes
full dinner. Tables are 10 persons each.
For tickets
Elie Gharib at 613-698-9888
George Hanna at 613-299-4000
Nada Ayoub at 613-286-6232
Thank you for your support and we hope
to see you there.
President, Aita
and Ain Arab Society
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 12
(Taken from:
Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
…Incarnation…
(1)
And He was
incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.
The divine Son of God was born as a man from the
Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1; Lk 1). The Church
teaches that the virgin birth is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Isa
7:14), and that it is as well the fulfillment of the longings of all men
for salvation which are found in all religions and philosophies in human
history. Only God can save the world. Man alone cannot do it because it is man
himself who must be saved. Therefore, according to Orthodox doctrine, the
virgin birth is necessary not at all because of a false idolization of
virginity as such or because of a sinful repulsion to normal human sexuality.
Nor is it necessary as some would contend to give "added weight" to
the moral teachings of Jesus. The virgin birth is understood as a necessity
because the one who is born must not be merely a man
like all others needing salvation. The Saviour of the world cannot merely be
one of the race of Adam born of the flesh like all of
the others. He must be not of this world" in order to
save the world.
Jesus is born from the Virgin Mary because he is the divine Son of God, the
Saviour of the world. It is the formal teaching of the Orthodox Church that
Jesus is not a "mere man" like all other men. He is indeed a real
man, a whole and perfectly complete man with a human mind, soul and body. But
he is the man which the Son and Word of God has
become. Thus, the Church formally confesses that Mary should properly be called
Theotokos, which means literally "the one who gives birth to
God." For the one born of Mary is, as the Orthodox Church sings at
Christmas: "... he who from all eternity is God."
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent
One, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels, with
shepherds, glorify Him! The wise men journey with the star! Since for our sake
the eternal God was born as a little child! (Kontakion of the Nativity)
Jesus of Nazareth is God,
or, more accurately, the divine Son of God in human flesh. He is a true man in
every way. He was born. He grew up in obedience to his parents. He increased in
wisdom and stature (Lk
As a man Jesus experienced all normal and natural human experiences such as
growth and development, ignorance and learning, hunger, thirst, fatigue,
sorrow, pain, and disappointment. He also knew human temptation, suffering, and
death. He took these things upon himself "for us men and for our
salvation."
Since, therefore the children share in flesh and
blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he
might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. For
surely it was not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of
Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect ... to
make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered
and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Heb 2:9-18).
Christ has entered the world becoming like all men
in all things except sin.
He committed no sin; no guile was found on his
lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he
did not threaten; but he trusted to him [God the Father] who judges justly (1
Pet
Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin. He was
perfect in every way, absolutely obedient to God the Father; speaking His
words, doing His works, and accomplishing His will. As a man, Jesus fulfilled
his role perfectly as the Perfect Man, the new and final Adam. He did all
things that man fails to do, being in everything the most perfect human
response to the divine initiative of God toward creation. In this sense, the
Son of God as man "recapitulated" the life of Adam, i.e., the entire
human race, bringing man and his world back to God the Father and allowing for
a new beginning of life free from the power of sin, the devil, and death.
As the Saviour-Messiah, Christ fulfilled as well
all of the prophecies and expectations of the Old Testament, fulfilling and
crowning in final and absolute perfection all that was begun in Israel for
human and cosmic salvation. Thus, Christ is the fulfillment of the promise to
Abraham, the completion of the Law of Moses, the fulfillment of the prophets
and Himself the Final Prophet, the King and the Teacher, the one Great High
Priest of Salvation and the Perfect Sacrificial Victim, the New Passover and
the Bestower of the Holy Spirit upon all
creation.
It is in this role as Messiah-King of Israel and Saviour of the world that
Christ insisted upon His identity with God the Father and called Himself the
Way, the Truth, and the Life: the Resurrection and the Life, the Light of the
World, the Bread of Life, the Door to the Sheepfold, the Good Shepherd, the
Heavenly Son of Man, the Son of God, and God Himself, the I
AM (Gospel of St. John).
+ 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