+
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 7th
Ecumenical Council
Tone: 3 + Eothinion:
9
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“O
Lord Jesus Christ, the Sower of Life, Thou who didst teach us the essence of
Faith, and through Thy Parable, revealed Thyself, the Word of God, as the seed,
which Thou didst sow into the world. Help us to hear Thee, and may we be as the
good soil, enabling the Word to grow in us, and by holding it in an honest and
good heart, may we bring forth abundant fruit with much patience, through Thy
love and compassion for mankind, O Saviour glory to Thee. Amen.”
Next Sunday’s
Epistle:
Galatians. (2:16-20)
Holy Gospel: St. Luke. (8:26-39)
+
The Epistle +
Verse: “Blessed art
Thou, the God of our Fathers,
For
Thou are just in all Thou has done”.
The
(Chapter 3:8-15)
Titus, my son, this is a faithful
saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have
believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good
and profitable to men. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions,
and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a
divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person
is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. When I send Artemas to you, or
Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend
the winter there. Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with
haste, that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to maintain
good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are
with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
+
The Holy Gospel +
(Chapter 8:5-15)
The Lord spoke this parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell
by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.
Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it
lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it
and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a
hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He
who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Then His disciples asked Him, saying,
“What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the
mysteries of the
*
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:
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 Teen SOYO
October is Youth
Month! This month the teens will be reading the epistle and collecting
the trays.
ü Second Tray
Next Sunday,
ü Harvest Luncheon next
Sunday
Please join us on
ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
Join us today
for the General Annual Meeting,
immediately after the
Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral Hall. Lunch will be served before the
meeting.
Fall Delegate Meeting
Reservation:
Best Western Country Squire Resort, Gananoque @ 1800-267-9415
For
more information, please contact the Cathedral’s Office @ 738-2222
+ + + + + + + + +
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 18
(Taken from:
Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
… Redemption… (1)
And He was
crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.
Although Jesus did not sin and did not have to
suffer and die, he voluntarily took upon himself the sins of the world and
voluntarily gave himself up to suffering and death for the sake of salvation.
This was his task as the Messiah-Saviour:
The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me to bring good tidings to the afflicted ... to bind up
the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound ... to comfort all who mourn ... to give them a
garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning" (Isa
61:1-3).
And at the
same time, Jesus had to do this as the suffering servant of Yahweh-God.
He was
despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and
as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised. and
we esteemed him not.
Surely he
has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, upon him was
the chastisement that made us whole, and by his stripes [i.e., wounds] we are
healed.
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb led
to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before his shearers is dumb, so he
opened not his mouth.
By
oppression and judgement he was taken away ... And they made his grave with the
wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and
there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was
the will of the Lord (Yahweh) to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he
makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong
his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the
fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the
righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall
bear their iniquities.
Therefore I
will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the
transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many [or the multitude] and made
intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53).
These words
of the prophet Isaiah written centuries before the birth of Jesus tell the
story of his Messianic mission. It began officially before the eyes of all in
his baptism by John in the
Jesus
begins to teach, and on the very day and at that very moment when his disciples
first confess him to be the Messiah, "the Christ, the Son of the Living
God," Jesus tells immediately of his mission to "go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things ... and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Mt
16:16-23; Mk 8:29-33). The apostles are greatly upset by this. Jesus then
immediately shows them his divinity by being transfigured before them in divine
glory on the mountain in the presence of Moses and Elijah. He then tells them
once more: "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and
they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day" (Mt
17:1-23; Mk 9:1-9).
The powers of evil multiplied against Christ at the
end: "The kings of the earth counsel together against the Lord and His
Christ" (Ps 2:2). They were looking for causes to kill him. The
formal reason was blasphemy, "because you, being a man, make yourself
God" (Jn
The death of Jesus came at the hands of the
religious and political leaders of his time, with the approval of the masses:
when Caiaphas was high priest, "under Pontius Pilate." He was
"crucified for us ... and suffered and was buried" in order to be
with us in our sufferings and death which we brought upon ourselves because of
our sins: "for the wages of sin are death" (Rom
(To be continued…)
+ 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
The
Very Rev. Father Daniel Matheson – Emeritus
Rev.
Dn. Dimitri Choueiri