Update for the week Friday, July 19, through Thursday, July 25, 2013

THIS WEEKEND

VESPERS - There will be a Vespers service at St. Mary this Saturday, July 20, at 5:00 pm.

SUMMER HOURS – During July and August, Sunday services start half an hour earlier than usual: Orthros starts at 8:15 am, and Divine Liturgy 9:30 am.

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

FR. ANTONY TO BE AWAY – From Monday through Friday, July 22 - 26, Fr. Antony will be in Houston attending the 2013 National Convention of the Antiochian Archdiocese. The Church Offices will be open Monday through Friday  In case of emergency, please contact Dino Takles, Vice President of the Parish Council, at 617-650-2417 (cell).

TANGLEWOOD OUTING CANCELLED – The trip to Tanglewood originally scheduled for Sunday, July 28, will not take place.

MEMORY ETERNAL – We regret to inform you of the falling asleep in the Lord of Martha Hicks Rowell of Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Sunday, July 14, 2013.  Martha was the mother of Melissa Nassiff.  A Memorial service will be held on Saturday July 27, 2013 at St. James Episcopal Church in Black Mountain.

PARISH COUNCIL – The next meeting of the Parish Council will be Wednesday August 7, at 8:00 pm, following the Paraclesis service, in the Church hall.

FSJD MEETING – The Fellowship of St. John the Divine is now opening a new Vice President role. Please contact Julie Wasilko (julie31415pi@gmail.com) if interested. Also, the next FSJD meeting will be Sunday, August 25 in the church hall during coffee hour, where we'll be reviewing the new calendar for many of St. Mary's 2013-2014 events and activities. All are welcome.

REMINDERS
 
ARCHDIOCESE CONVENTION – The 2013 national convention of the Antiochian Archdiocese will be held Sunday, July 21 through Sunday, July 28 in Houston TX, hosted by St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. For information and registration see http://www.achouston2013.com.

PAPPAS PATRISTICS INSTITUTE SUMMER PROGRAM - The Pappas Patristics Institute is pleased to announce the seventh annual week-long Summer Patristic Studies Program on the campus of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA on July 21-26, 2013. This week-long program is a unique opportunity to study and discuss classic texts of the early Church through small group-study and brief lectures from leading patristic scholars. The intended audience for the program includes theology and religious studies students at the masters and undergraduate levels, along with clergy, lay people, and undergraduates with an interest in learning more about the Church Fathers. Course offerings include "Exploring the Ancient Baptismal Liturgies" taught by our own Teva Regule, Doctoral Candidate at Boston College. For more information, or to register, please send an email to the Director of the Pappas Patristic Institute, Dr. Bruce Beck (pappaspatristic@comcast.net) at your earliest convenience. Complete information found here: http://www.hchc.edu/assets/files/patristics/2013_SumInst_AnnouncmentProgram_Short_130607.pdf

BIBLE STUDY – The Bible Study at St. Mary, sponsored by the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, meets every other Thursday and is based on a lecture series originally broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio. Join us at 7:00 pm on Thursday, July 25, in the church library, for a discussion of the School of Alexandria, Part 2 (http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/school-of-alexandria-part-2) and St. Basil and St. Gregory (http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/st-basil-and-st-gregory). For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mksayeg@gmail.com) or Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). New members are always welcome!

CHURCH SCHOOL TEACHERS NEEDED - The Church School is looking for several Teachers, Assistants and Substitutes for the 2013-2014 school year. Being a Church School Teacher can be a very rewarding and exciting opportunity. Teachers are provided with all the materials they will need. If you are interested, please see Barbara Shoop as soon as possible.

HELP GIVE SHOES TO CHILDREN IN NEED – FOCUS North America and the Antiochian Women of the Archdiocese are working with a major American shoe company to distribute thousands of pairs of shoes to economically disadvantaged children in Boston and other large cities throughout the US. Volunteers are needed to help sort, organize, and distribute these shoes and other items. Your efforts are essential to the program’s success! For more information or to volunteer, please contact our own Kailen Hodge, the FOCUS “Operation Lace Up” coordinator in our area, at 857-277-8323 or Kailen.Hodge@gmail.com. Information can also be found on the web at www.FOCUSna.org/LaceUp.

HALL FLOOR REFINISIHING - On Saturday, August 3rd, the church hall floor will be refinished. Therefore, there will not be Vespers on Saturday evening August 3rd and there will not be a coffee hour on Sunday, August 4th. Please do not walk on the floor in the church hall from Saturday August 3rd-Monday August 5th.

NEW SKETE PILGRIMAGE - The Monastic Communities of New Skete Monastery in Cambridge, New York (www.newskete.org), invite you to their Annual Pilgrimage on Saturday, August 10, 2013, between 8:30am - 6:00pm. The day will include Church Services, Church Tours, a Photo Exhibit, and a Healing Service with Anointing as well as talks by the monastics on Monastic Life and Iconography and by Chapel Community members on their relationship with the monastery. This year’s guest speaker will be Art Historian, William Hood. His talk is entitled, "Praying with Two Eyes: Icons in the Christian Life." A event flier can be found here: http://www.newskete.org/pdfs/2013Pilgrimage%20SchedulePosterAccommodationsFINAL.pdf
   In the past, a crew from Boston has usually gone out to help with the logistics of the day. If you would like to do so (and also stay at the monastery), please contact Teva Regule at teva@mit.edu by July 28. (Caveat: Housing requests for the monks' guest rooms must be received before July 10. We have more time with other housing requests.)

GREETERS NEEDED – We’re still looking for Summer Greeters – please help out! Volunteers are needed for these Sundays: August 11, 18, 25, and September 1. As a Greeter, you will welcome people into the Church and help to direct visitors upstairs to the Liturgy, as well as keeping an eye on the Vestibule, Hallways and Entrance ways during Church. Arrive at Church 15 minutes before Liturgy. Greeting time ends when Communion starts. Please contact Buddy Mabardy at 781-729-6303 or e-mail: buddy@cjmabardy.com. Summer Hours are: Orthros: 8:15 am, and Liturgy: 9:30 am. Summer might be a great time for you to start participating in this Ministry!

OUR PRISON MINISTRY ON RADIO - Our own Deacon Jeff Smith can be heard in a recent interview with Ancient Faith Radio, talking about the blessings of ministering to prisoners in Concord, MA. Deacon Jeff gives listeners an inside look at prison ministry, recounting the nervousness of visiting a prison for the first time, the deep faith he's encountered among men in prison, and how his parish has even involved their Sunday school children in the ministry. Listen to Deacon Jeff's heartfelt interview here: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/prison_ministry_awareness_sunday1

PRISON MINISTRY - Please donate unwanted past issues of Orthodox magazines such as The Word, OCMC or other periodicals to prison ministry to hand out to inmates. Please remove any personal mailing address for security purposes and give them to Mitrophan Chin.

STREAMING VIDEO – St. Mary’s Church services are broadcast live each week through an internet video stream. If you can't attend a service in person or want to share this ministry with a friend or loved one, the live stream can be viewed at www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/live during regularly scheduled service times (see the schedule of services below or online). If you have questions or comments about this ministry please contact us at live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org

PARKING RESTRICTIONS – Please do not park in the Church parking lot if you need to leave quickly after church. Cars parked there will be staying until the end of coffee hour.
   Additionally, do not park beyond the sign that prohibits parking at the corner of Inman Street and Bishop Allen Drive. (An orange cone will be placed in that No Parking area.) It is difficult for large vehicles to turn the corner if cars are parked there. Failure to heed this warning may result in the City preventing parishioners from parking on Inman Street. Your cooperation is appreciated.
   And remember, there is no parishioner parking in the church parking lot Monday through Friday until after 6:00 pm.

THIS WEEK'S VOLUNTEERS
 
Greeter:  Barbara Shoop

Coffee Hour:  Previous volunteers

LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
 
Saturday, July 20: Great Vespers 5:00 pm

Sunday, July 21: Summer hours: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am

SCRIPTURE READINGS for Sunday, July 21:
   Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 6:18-23
Brethren, having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.  When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

   Gospel:  Matthew 8:5-13
At that time, as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.

LOOKING AHEAD
 
Saturday, July 27: No Vespers at St. Mary

Sunday, July 28: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM

Saturday, August 3:  No Vespers at St. Mary

Sunday, August 4: Orthros 8:15 AM, Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM

Monday, August 5: Vesperal Liturgy for Feast of Transfiguration 6:30p.m.

Wednesday, August 7:  Paraclesis for the Dormition 6:30 p.m.

Friday, August 9: Paraclesis for the Dormition 6:30 p.m

Monday, August 12:  Paraclesis for the Dormition 6:30 p.m

Wednesday, August 14:  Vigil for the Dormition of the Theotokos (our Patronal Feast) - Vespers  4:15 pm,  Orthros with Lamentations  5:30 pm,  Festal Divine Liturgy  7:00 pm

Saturday, August 31: No Vespers at St. Mary