+ Sunday, November 4, 2007 +
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Tone: 6 + Eothinion:
1
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“Lord our God, who sent to us the Heavenly Bread, food for the whole
world, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Benefactor to become poor
so that we may become rich, be pleased to accept our
prayer at this moment. In Your goodness and love for humanity, remember all the
poor and needy of the world, in our cities and neighborhoods; open our hearts
to be more sensitive to their needs, and give us the power of faith to help
them according to the blessings and gifts that You have granted to each of us,
For You are the source of all sustenance and Your name is glorified, of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.”
+
The Epistle +
Verse: “O Lord, save
Thy people and bless Thine inheritance,
To
Thee, O Lord, have I cried, O my God”.
The
(Chapter 2:4-10)
Brethren, God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk
in them.
+
The Holy Gospel +
The
Chapter (
The Lord said,
“There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted
sumptuously every day. And at his gate
lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what
fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his
sores. The poor man died and was carried
by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in
Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out,
‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his
finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in
your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil
things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a
great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you
may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send
him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the
prophets; let them hear them.’ And he
said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will
repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not
hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
*
Announcements *
ü Synaxis of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and of all the Heavenly
Powers – Evening Divine Liturgy on Wednesday, November 7th 2007 at
6:00 p.m.
ü Every Saturday – Great Vespers at
ü 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 Parish Council Elections
The General Assembly Meeting was held
on
The Parish Council of St. Elias
Cathedral met on
Chairman Dimitri
Zeidan
Vice-Chair Jimmy Saikaley
Treasurer Roger Aramouni
Secretary
* We would like to welcome the new
members and congratulate the new officers and wish them and all members of the
Parish Council all the best in their ministry!
ü Fellowship of
Weekly Meeting every Tuesday from
ü Induction of New Officers to Cathedral
Organizations
On Sunday, November 11th,
immediately after the Divine Liturgy, the new officers of the Parish Council
and all the Cathedral Organizations will be inducted. Also the Directors of the
Choirs and the Superintendent of the
ü Are you a New Parishioner?
If you are a new parishioner and not
yet registered in our Cathedral Office, please come and register. You can
contact the Cathedral Office (information on back cover) and allow us to get to
know you better and be able to serve you as best as we can. If you are visiting
our Cathedral and would like to know more about our Church and the Orthodox
Faith, please ask to meet with our Priest Fr. Ghattas. It is a pleasure to have
you worship with us. God bless you!
ü 55th Annual Parish Life
Conference
“At
the beginning He made them male and female. ‘For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one
flesh’”
The
2008 Parish Life Conference will be held in St. Mary Orthodox Church in
ü Annual Food for the Hungry Campaign
Each year we collect food to be
distributed to the needy in our City, they rely on your generosity. Please
bring canned foods and non-perishables to the Church from now until
You may bring your items to the
Your children will learn first hand,
that it is “more blessed to give than to receive.”
Please be generous!!!
ü Antiochian Women
Attention all ladies, we have lots to
do, so don’t let us down. Join us,
Agenda:
- Let’s get trim! Let’s get fit!
A nutritionist and dietician from L.A.
Weight Loss Program will be on hand to tell us and help us on how to get those
extra pounds off!
- Information regarding a shopping
trip to
- Bake Sale Schedule of baking for the
Pre-Order Bake Sale will be discussed at this meeting. A lot of work, and we need a lot of
help. So Please!!!!
ü Updates on the Fall delegates meetings
On October 26 and 27, the clergy and faithful of
our diocese gathered around our beloved bishop ALEXANDER at the annual Fall
Gathering Retreat hosted by the Fellowship of St. John the Divine at the Best
Western Country Squire Resort, in Gananoque, ON. We had fruitful meetings of
our diocesan organizations: Antiochian Women, Fellowship of St. John the
Divine, and teen SOYO. Our weekend began Friday evening with an
opening session by Fr. Joseph Purpura on Time Management. This helped us to
evaluate what activities are actually needful and how we can better make use of
our time from an Orthodox Christian perspective.
We then listened to an exciting
presentation by Alex Younes; (the new director of camp transfiguration), we were all moved when we watched the
Saturday morning began in prayers, followed
by the beginning of all organizational meetings. All meetings were successful thank God, as
each organization mapped out their plans for the coming year.
Our meetings culminated with a closing talk
by Fr. Purpura where he gave us pointers on how to manage our time. Some of these included: making lists,
prioritizing our lists, etc. The participants at the retreat were blessed to hear Fr. Joseph's words
reminding us of our responsibility to properly utilize the gift of time
which God has given us. All of these tips were helpful and may God
grant us the ability to apply them in our life and better manage our time for
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tithing
witnesses the dedication of the faithful
Pledging to Give in Stewardship
Article #1
The phrase “Pledging to Give in
Stewardship,” – rightly and fully understood from the Orthodox Christian
perspective – contains a message that is critical to our faith.
a) Pledging… means formally promising to give
something in the future to help our community plan (“budget”) to achieve goals
together with God’s help that none of us could achieve alone.
b) To Give… means
voluntarily transferring ownership of anything of value, in love, free of
transfer charge. Such giving may be one time or periodic (weekly, monthly,
etc.); it may be of money, stocks, bonds or of property
(real or personal objects). Christian giving is cheerfully and humbly done, and
blesses the donor, as well as others. God has revealed two major ways of
giving: “tithes and offerings.”
c) In Stewardship… means that the giving occurs
within the relationship of a steward or a trustee acting for the benefit of an
owner or superior. We are all stewards of God the Owner and Lord. He entrusts
us with money, jobs, family, and life itself. We are to administer wisely what
He has given us, which includes tithing and offerings, which will be addressed
in these on-going articles.
d)
“Pledging
to Give in Stewardship” is crucial to our spiritual development as
individual Christians and as a parish within Christ’s Church. The concept of
pledging, giving, and stewardship are life-changing. Please take time to read
the brief articles, and pray that you will know what God wants you to return to
Him.
A Parish
Board; more than an Honour, is a Responsibility
One of the main functions of the
parish council, along with the pastor; is to maintain the unity of the
community. The Pastor and parish council
must work harmoniously together to keep this unity. From this perspective,
parish council must continually remind themselves that
they have a responsibility to shepherd the growth and development of all
aspects of parish life. The members are
called by God to serve in the best interest of the Church.
Only the most pious and dedicated men
in the parish will be elected or appointed to the board. The priest desires religious men on his
board. The priest expects his assistants
to be exemplary Christians, to take a meaningful part in the liturgy of the
Church, to know the important prayers of the Church, to have some comprehension
of what the Church, stands for, its doctrine and dogmas, its mission in the
world, and to have some concept of the Orthodox Church’s word-outlook.
The parish is a spiritual family; the
priest being the father, the parishioners, the children, and no family will
prosper where there is no mutual understanding, loyalty, and respect. A priest is respected because he is an
ambassador for Christ, who preaches the
He expects full attendance at all
meetings and active participation in all parochial activities; interest in the progress
and welfare of the church school, the choir, the altar boys, The Antiochian Women,
The Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and the Teen SOYO … he expects the board
members as long as all parish members to put the church in first place in their
lives.
In every decision they want to make
they have to pray first and then consult the priest. Their position is of grave importance since
they are in a position to influence all the other parishioners for better or
for worse. If a church board member does
these things he will be well-pleasing to God, an inspiration to his
fellow-layman, and a true and fruitful servant of Christ our Lord.
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 21
(Taken
from: Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
… Redemption… (4)
In the
history of Christian doctrine there has been great debate over the question of
to whom Christ "pays the price" for the ransom of the world and the
salvation of mankind. Some have said that the "payment" was made to
the devil. This is the view that the devil received certain "rights"
over man and his world because of man's sin. In his rebellion against God, man
"sold himself to the devil" thus allowing the Evil One to become the
"prince of this world" (Jn
Others say
that Christ's "payment" on behalf of man had to be made to God the
Father. This is the view which interprets Christ's sacrificial death on the
cross as the proper punishment that had to be paid to satisfy God's wrath over
the human race. God was insulted by man's sin. His law was broken and His
righteousness was offended. Man had to pay the penalty for his sin by offering
the proper punishment. But no amount of human punishment could satisfy God's
justice because God's justice is divine. Thus the Son of God had to be born
into the world and receive the punishment that was rightly to be placed on men.
He had to die in order for God to receive proper satisfaction for man's
offenses against Him. Christ substituted Himself on our behalf and died for our
sins, offering His blood as the satisfying sacrifice for the sins of the world.
By dying on the cross in place of sinful man, Christ pays the full and total
payment for man's sins. God's wrath is removed. Man's insult is punished. The
world is reconciled with its Creator.
Commenting on this question about to whom Christ "pays the price" for
man's salvation, St. Gregory the Theologian in the fourth century wrote the
following in his second Easter Oration:
Now we are
to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment
well worth enquiring into. To whom was that Blood
offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the precious and
famous Blood of our God and High Priest and Sacrifice.
We were
detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in
exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in
bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause?
If to the
Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only from
God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an illustrious
payment for his tyranny, then it would have been right for him to have left us
alone altogether!
But if to
God the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being
oppressed. And next, on what principle did the Blood of His only-begotten Son
delight the Father, who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being
sacrificed by his father, [Abraham,] but changed the sacrifice by putting a ram
in the place of the human victim? (See Gen 22).
Is it not
evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded
Him; but on account of the incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified
by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the
tyrant (i.e., the devil) and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son who
also arranged this to the honor of the Father, whom it is manifest He obeys in
all things.
In Orthodox
theology generally it can be said that the language of "payment" and
"ransom" is rather understood as a metaphorical and symbolical way of
saying that Christ has done all things necessary to save and redeem mankind
enslaved to the devil, sin and death, and under the wrath of God. He "paid
the price," not in some legalistic or juridical or economic meaning. He
"paid the price" not to the devil whose rights over man were won by
deceit and tyranny. He "paid the price" not to God the Father in the
sense that God delights in His sufferings and received "satisfaction"
from His creatures in Him. He "paid the price" rather, we might say,
to Reality Itself. He "paid the price" to create the conditions in
and through which man might receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by
dying and rising again in Him to newness of life (See Rom 5-8; Gal 2-4).
By dying on
the cross and rising from the dead, Jesus Christ cleansed the world from evil
and sin. He defeated the devil "in his own territory" and on
"his own terms." The "wages of sin is death" (Rom
Christ is risen from the dead!
Trampling
down death by death!
And upon
those in the tombs bestowing life!
(Easter Troparion)
(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