+
27th Sunday after Pentecost
Tone: 2 + Eothinion:
5
+ In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“O
Christ, our Lord, the true light Who illumines and sanctifies every person who
comes into the world, let the light of Your face shine upon us, that in it we
may see Your unapproachable radiance. Direct our steps in Your commandments so
that we may live in a spiritual way of life, willing and doing everything that
pleases You. For You are the light of our souls and bodies, and to You we give
glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and
unto ages of ages. Amen.”
+
The Epistle +
Verse:
The
Lord is my strength and my song. The
Lord has chastened me sorely
.
The
Chapter (
Brethren, be
strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and
blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world
rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in
the heavenly places. Therefore, take the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Stand,
therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of
the Gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which
you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
+
The Holy Gospel +
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel
according to St. Matthew
(Chapter 22:2-14)
The Lord spoke this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king
who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those
who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he
sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have
prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are
ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways,
one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants,
treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he
was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up
their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who
were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as
you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways
and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding
hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he
saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him,
‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was
speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take
him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
*
Announcements *
ü Monday December 3 , Evening Divine Liturgy for The Holy Great-Martyr
Barbara and
ü December 6, Feast of St. Nicholas the Wonder-worker (will be celebrated
on Wednesday December 5, at S. Nicholas Church in
ü Every Saturday – Great Vespers at
ü Every Sunday – Matins at
The Nativity of Christ 2007
Monday, December 24
“Paramon”
the
Great followed by the Christmas
Carols
Tuesday, December 25
ü December is the Month of the Order of
St. Ignatius of
Throughout December, members of the
Order are asked to volunteer as much as possible with collecting the donation
trays, reading the Epistles. Sundays, all members should wear their Cross. Epistle
In this parish we are going to
celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius on Sunday the 9th of December.
His Grace Bishop ALEXANDER will preside over the Service. All the members of
the Order of this Diocese and their spouses are invited to the Divine Liturgy
and the lunch to follow in the Cathedral Hall.
New
members will be inducted on Sunday, 9th December at the end of the Liturgy.
Those parishioners who wish to join the Order and help our Church and
our Archdiocese to spread the word of God and bring joy, comfort, and
assistance to those who are less fortunate than us, are kindly requested to
contact Fr. Ghattas to prepare their application forms. The active members who
would like to upgrade their membership will be inducted also at the same time.
Thank you in advance.
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 2008 Church Calendar
We have received the 2008 Church Calendar
with two beautiful Icons for your homes and offices, please take a copy from
the Vestibule today, we are asking for a generous $5.00 donation. God bless you!
ü Feast
of St. Nicholas – Invitation to Divine Liturgy in
On Wednesday evening, December 5th at
ü Induction of New Officers to Cathedral
Organizations
Some of the Officers of the Parish Council and the Church
Organizations were not inducted on November 11. So those who were not inducted,
please come forward at the end of the Divine Liturgy for Induction.
ü Next
Sunday is “Choir Sunday”
Next Sunday is “Choir Sunday”, we would like to thank in
advance our lovely Choir & Chanters for their dedication and service to the
Church. God bless you for your good work!
ü Thank You!
We would like to thank Mr. and Mrs.
Walid & Rula Skaff for the beautiful exterior
Christmas Decorations of our Cathedral. May God bless you always!
ü Teen SOYO
Weekly Meeting every Friday from
ü Fellowship of
Weekly Meeting every Tuesday from
ü Operation
Stay Warm
Seeing that the season of giving has arrived and with it the cold
season, we are once again asking all Parishioners to donate warm used or new
clothes and/or blankets to help those in need to stay warm this year. Items can
include coats, sweaters, scarves, hats, underwear, socks, boots, etc. A
donation box will be located in the Cathedral Hall in the basement of the
church for the next weeks until Christmas. The items from the box will be
delivered on a weekly basis to the Shepherds of Good Hope where different
families attend for any donations that will help them stay warm.
**A big need of men’s clothing effects
the Shepherds of Good Hope this year, please give generously**
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact
ü Christmas
Hampers 2007 - Your help is requested.
Christmas
hamper baskets are being coordinated and put together by the Fellowship of St.
John the Divine of our Cathedral for several needy families in the
ü Clergy Visits to Retirement Homes
& Shut-Ins
If you know somebody (perhaps a
relative) who is living in a Retirement Home or is unable to leave their home
(shut-in), and would like to receive Holy Communion before Christmas, Fr.
Ghattas & Dn. Dimitri Choueiri would like to visit them this month. Please
contact the Cathedral Office (738-2222) to inform us of somebody who needs to
be visited.
ü
In order to restart and extend our
spiritual studies in
Explanation
of the Nicene Creed – Part 25
(Taken
from: Orthodox Faith - Volume 1 - Doctrine)
… Ascension … (1)
And ascended into heaven, and
sits at the right hand of the Father
After his resurrection from the dead Jesus appeared to men for a period of
forty days after which he "was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the
right hand of God" (Mk
The ascension of Jesus Christ is the final act of his earthly mission of salvation.
The Son of God comes "down from heaven" to do the work which the
Father gives him to do; and having accomplished all things, he returns to the
Father bearing for all eternity the wounded and glorified humanity which he has
assumed (see e.g. Jn 17).
The doctrinal meaning of the ascension is the glorification of human nature,
the reunion of man with God. It is indeed, the very penetration of man into the
inexhaustible depths of divinity.
We have seen already that "the heavens" is the symbolical expression
in the Bible for the uncreated, immaterial, divine "realm of God" as
one saint of the Church has called it. To say that Jesus is "exalted at
the right hand of God" as St. Peter preached in the first Christian sermon
(Acts 2:33) means exactly this: that man has been
restored to communion with God, to a union which is, according to Orthodox
doctrine, far greater and more perfect than that given to man in his original
creation (see Eph 1-2).
Man was created with the potential to be a "partaker of the divine
nature," to refer to the Apostle Peter once more (2
Pet 1:4). It is this participation in divinity, called theosis (which
literally means deification or divinization) in Orthodox theology, that the
ascension of Christ has fulfilled for humanity. The symbolical expression of
the "sitting at the right hand" of God means nothing other than this.
It does not mean that somewhere in the created universe the physical Jesus is
sitting in a material throne.
The Letter
to the Hebrews speaks of Christ's ascension in terms of the
...we have
a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.
... (Heb 4:14)
For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless,
unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ... He has no
need like those high priests to offer sacrifice daily, first for his own sins
and then for those of the people; he did this once and for all when he offered
up himself.
Now, the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high
priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which is set up not
by man but by the Lord (Heb 7:26; 8:2).
For Christ
has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb
9:24).
... when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of God, then to wait until his enemies should be made a
stool for his feet (Heb 10:12-13; Ps 110:1).
Thus, the ascension of Christ is seen as man's first entry into that
divine glorification for which he was originally created. The entry is made
possible by the exaltation of the divine Son who emptied himself in human flesh
in perfect self-offering to God.
(To be
continued…)
Join us with family and friends
On
for a memorable
New Year’s Eve Gala!
At
Featuring
The Stevens & Kennedy Band
Accompanied
by
DJ Nick
Enjoy an elegant
atmosphere, and delicious dinner.
Cocktails at
Ticket
Price: Adult: $100.00, children 12 years and under $40.00 (Includes Child Care
Services), for more information please contact the Cathedral’s Office @ 738-2222
+ 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 Most Rev. Metropolitan PHILIP
Archbishop
of New York and Metropolitan of all North America
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
What is the Incarnation of the Son of God to us?
In
the Book of the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah foresaw the incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ and he describes Him as such:
“For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be
upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
It
is not enough that Christ was born 2000 years ago. What is important is that he was born for
us. We should receive Him to be born in
our lives. We should invite Him to be incarnated
in us. That our minds thinks always
about Him, and our hearts feel the love for Him, and our spirits praise and
glorify Him, and our bodies kneel humbly worshipping Him. The Old Testament people waited long for
Him. The prophets foretold Him. There was with the angels a multitude of the
heavenly host praising Him. What about
you what did you do to Him?
The
government shall be upon His shoulder. At the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. What is important is that He must govern our lives, our thoughts
and deeds. We who profess being
Christians; does He govern our lives? We say to Him ‘your kingdom come’ but is
He the king who rules our lives? Is He
the one who owns our hearts?
Otherwise;
what will profit us Christmas with all the pleasures and gifts? For if our lips praise Him, but our hearts do
not belong to Him, Christ will be speaking to us today: “This people honour Me
with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men.