+
24th Sunday after Pentecost
and the Sunday of
St. Menas of
Tone: 7 + Eothinion:
2
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“The grace that shone forth from your mouth
like a torch has enlightened the universe, bestowed treasures of generosity
upon the world and shown us the depth of your humility. While you teach us by
your words, Father John Chrysostom, intercede with the Word, Christ our God,
for the salvation of our souls”.
+
The Epistle +
Verse:
“The Lord will
give strength to His people.
Ascribe to the
Lord, O children of God, ascribe to the Lord glory and
honor.”
The
Chapter (4:6-15)
Brethren, it is the God Who said, “Let
light shine out of darkness,” Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God
and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but
not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not
destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of
Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. While we live we are always being
given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested
in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in
you. Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, “I
believed, and so I spoke,” we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that He Who
raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into
His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and
more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
+
The Holy Gospel +
The
Chapter (
At that time,
a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to
him, “What is written in the Law? How do
you read?” And the lawyer answered, “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength, and with all your mind; and
your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus
said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” But the lawyer, desiring to justify himself,
said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from
*
Announcements *
ü November 13, Feast of
ü
“PHILIP, The Most
Reverend and the Most devout, chosen by God as the Metropolitan of North
America, our Father and Chief Shepherd, may God grant him many years.”
(We would like
to wish our beloved Metropolitan
PHILIP a Blessed Feast Day, may God grant him many more years in His
service.)
ü November 15, 2007 the Nativity Fast begins (40 Days)
ü
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 Induction of New Officers to Cathedral
Organizations
Today 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 Antiochian Women HELP WANTED!!!
The Antiochian Women will
begin preparing for the Annual Bake Sale; we need many hands to help.
The Following are dates
and times, please simply show up:
Monday and
Tuesday November 12 and 13 at
Tuesday,
November 13 through November 23 at
ü New
Year’s Eve Gala
Join us with family and friends for a memorable New Year’s
Eve Gala! (
ü Fellowship of
Weekly Meeting every Tuesday from
ST. ELIAS FELLOWSHIP
of ST. JOHN THE DIVINE COMMITTEE PRESENTS
"DINNER AND A MOVIE NIGHT"
Friday, November 30th in the Cathedral Hall (the
basement of the church)
Join us for dinner and for the viewing of the foreign movie "Paradise Now", winner of a Golden
Globe award for best foreign language film and nominated for an Oscar in
the same category.
Tickets are only $12 (price includes dinner) and can be purchased from
several members of the committee including,
The dinner will be a Lenten dinner because of the Nativity Lenten season, consisting
of veggie burgers or hot dogs, fries and popcorn with a soft drink.
The proceeds will be Fellowship's contribution to our Cathedral.
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
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO PARISHIONERS FROM ST. ELIAS CHURCH
SCHOOL
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT 17 PEWS on the SOUTH SIDE of the Church
are RESERVED for the CHURCH SCHOOL CHILDREN.
There are WHITE ROPES across the pews and SIGNS at the ends of
the pews
to indicate this. We have 165 children enrolled and we need this
much space! It makes for a lot of
confusion when we go for Communion if adults are in our pews as Father Ghattas
gives Communion ONLY to the
Thank you for your co-operation,
Yours in Christ,
Joann Nicholson, Superintendent,
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!!!
Tithing
witnesses the dedication of the faithful
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 22
(Taken
from: Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
… Redemption… (5)
And this is
how the Church prays at the divine liturgy of Saint Basil the Great:
He was God
before the ages, yet He appeared on earth and lived among men, becoming
incarnate of a holy Virgin;
He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,
being likened to the body of our lowliness, that He might liken us to the image
of His Glory.
For as by
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so it pleased Thine
Only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of Thee, the God and Father, who was
born of a woman, the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, who was born under
the law to condemn sin in His flesh, so that those who were dead in Adam might
be made alive in Thy Christ Himself.
He lived in
this world and gave commandments of salvation; releasing us from the delusions
of idolatry, He brought us to knowledge of Thee, the true God and Father. He
obtained us for His own chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation.
Having cleansed us in water, and sanctified us with
the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself as a ransom to death, in which we were held
captive, sold under sin.
Descending through the cross into Sheol -- that He might fill all things with Himself -- He
loosed the pangs of death. He arose on the third day, having made for all flesh
a path to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible for the
Author of Life to be a victim of corruption.
So He became the first-fruits of those who have
fallen asleep, the first-born of the dead, that He might be Himself truly the
first in all things ...
(Eucharistic
Prayer of the Liturgy of St. Basil)
Jesus, the
Destroyer of Death
The third
and final aspect of the saving and redeeming action of Christ, therefore, is
the deepest and most comprehensive. It is the destruction of death by Christ's
own death. It is the transformation of death itself into an act of life. It is
the recreation of Sheol -- the spiritual condition of
being dead -- into the paradise of God. Thus, in and through the death of Jesus
Christ, death is made to die. In Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life, man
cannot die, but lives forever with God.
Truly,
truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has
eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into
life (Jn
"I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in me, though he die,
yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (Jn 11:25-26).
It is Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the
right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us! Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? [...] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:34-39).
For in Him the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily, and you have come to
fullness of life in Him ... and you were buried with Him in baptism, in which
you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised
Him from the dead. And you were dead in trespasses ... God made alive together
with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having cancelled the bond
which stood against us with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to
the cross. He disarmed the [demonic] principalities and powers and made a
public example of them, triumphing over them ... for you have died, and your
life is hid with Christ in God (Col 2:9 ff).
This is the
doctrine of the New Testament scriptures, repeated over and again in many ways
in the tradition of the Church: in its sacraments, hymnology, theology, iconography. Christ's victory over death is man's release
from sins and man's victory over enslavement to the devil because in and through
Christ's death man dies and is born again to eternal
life. In his death sins are no longer counted. In his death the devil no longer
holds him. In his death he is born again to newness of life and is liberated
from all that is evil, false, demonic, and sinful. In a word, he is freed from
all that is dead by dying and rising again in and with Jesus.
But we see
Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with
glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God
He might taste death for every one. [...] 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
(Heb 2:9-15).
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who
have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a
Man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ shall all be made alive. [...] The sting of
death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor
15:20ff; 56-57).
(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