Update for the week Thursday, September 25, through Thursday, October 2, 2014

THIS WEEK

BIBLE STUDY - Join us this evening - Thursday, September 25 - at 7:00 pm in the church library, as we discuss an introduction to Leviticus, using the podcasts found at http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/leviticus-part-1-2/ and http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/leviticus-part-2-2/ The Bible Study at St. Mary, sponsored by the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, meets every other Thursday, and is based on a course originally broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio, entitled Search the Scriptures. For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mailto:mksayeg@gmail.com) or Fr. Antony (mailto:frawhj@gmail.com). New members are always welcome.

PARISH COUNCIL WORKSHOP – There will be a workshop for parish councils from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 27, at St. John of Damascus Church in Dedham. The topic of this workshop will be “Missions and Outreach: Developing strategies to enhance the witness and growth of our parishes.” For more information go to www.worcesterdiocese.net.

ST. THEKLA AND ST. RAPHAEL PILGRIMAGE - Registration is open for the annual St. Thekla & St. Raphael Pilgrimage, held at the Antiochian Village on Friday-Sunday, September 26-28, with His Grace Bishop Thomas of the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic presiding. Lodging for both adults and children is available for the weekend. Registration form and additional information is available at http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default/files/2014_brochure.pdf

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
INTERNET PROBLEM - St. Mary's church is currently having trouble with its internet equipment. We expect it be corrected in the next few days, but if you have emailed anything to the church recently and are looking for a response, please wait patiently for that response.
Also, note that the LIVE BROADCAST of our Divine Services may not be available this coming Sunday (September 28).

WOMEN'S CLUB SFEEHA SALE – The Women's Club is offering for purchase freshly made Sfeeha (ground lamb-meat pizza pies with onion, pine nuts & seasonings). Order deadline is Sunday, October 19. Please use the order form in your Sunday bulletin. Pickup date is Sunday, October 26.

HELP MAKE SFEEHA – Please come to the church on Saturday morning, October 25, starting at 9:30 am to help make meat pies with the Women's Club. Lots of help will be needed – young and old, women and men are all welcome - and it's always lots of fun. Lunch will be provided.


REMINDERS
ATTENTION COLLEGE STUDENTS – If you are a new or returning college or university student, please fill out a yellow “College Student Address Form” on the Bengarri (desk in Narthex) so that we can send you St. Mary’s church announcements and information about college activities.  Please leave the form on the Bengarii or give directly to Greg or Hannah Hakim (greghakim@gmail.com ).

TEEN SOYO ELECTIONS – Elections for Teen SOYO officers will take place in late September. See Hannah or Greg if you're interested in running for office.

DIOCESAN FALL MEETINGS – The Fall Diocesan Delegates Meetings of Teen SOYO, Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and Antiochian Women will be held on Saturday, October 4, at Emmanuel Church, Warren, MA. Morning Prayer (Western Rite) will be at 9:30 am, meetings at 10:30 am. A hot lunch will be served at noon – please RSVP to frchris@emmalueloc.org or 413-436-5582.

ENQUIRERS CLASS - The St. Ignatius Catechetical Group (Enquirers’ Class) will begin meeting on Sunday, October 5 at 9:00am in the library (next door to Fr. Antony’s office). The group is for non-Orthodox adults who are interested in exploring the Christian Faith as it has been – and continues to be – understood, preached, and lived by members of the Holy Orthodox Church who descend from the early Christian community of Antioch, where “the disciples were for the first time called Christians” (Acts 11:26). Bob Kowalik will be teaching the group using materials developed and piloted by St. Mary catechist emeritus David Vermette. If you would like to participate, please talk to Bob during coffee hour; or get in touch by phone 617-889-3436 or e-mail r.kowalik@comcast.net. For those seeking to be received into the Orthodox Church, participation in the group and Fr. Antony’s blessing are required.

PATRISTICS CONFERENCE - The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross will hold its upcoming conference on “Patristic Homilies and their Reception History,” on the campus of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Thursday-Saturday, October 9-11, 2014. Download more info at http://goo.gl/9FuBOU

COME SEE THE MESSIAH! - Join friends from St. Mary’s for the Handel and Haydn Society’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, on Sunday afternoon, November 30, at 3:00 p.m.  Tickets are just $25 – even less if we have a big enough group. We will carpool to Symphony Hall after Liturgy and have lunch together before the concert. Those who have done this before have thoroughly enjoyed it - not only do we hear a world-class orchestra and chorus with famous soloists singing glorious words (taken directly from the Bible), but we also have an opportunity to spend time getting to know some fellow parishioners we normally may not encounter.  Good seats go fast - please contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com by Sunday, October 19.

CHARITY BAKE SALE -
The Women’s Club will hold a Charity Bake Sale Sunday, October 19, immediately following Liturgy, in the church hall. All proceeds will benefit the charitable projects we sponsor, from the YWCA Family Shelter in Cambridge to the Antiochian Women’s project “Operation Lace Up” providing children with shoes nationwide.

2015 CONVENTION COMMITTEE – St. Mary will be hosting the 2015 National Convention of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. The next meeting of the Convention Committee will be on Tuesday (note correction), October 21, at 7:30pm at the church.

WOMEN'S CLUB - The Women’s Club will be going out to the Cheesecake Factory in Chestnut Hill for an October dinner meeting on Monday, October 27, at 7:00. We welcome all women of the parish to join us! Any woman interested in going out, please call Mary Ellen Mabardy (781-729-6303) or the church office (617-547-1234) for more information. The Women’s Club does charitable work both locally and internationally and supports the Church School. We would love for you to join us. Call Mary Ellen or the church office if you have any questions or want to be a part of this wonderful group of Women.


OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE
There are a number of ways you can help the Church, your fellow worshipers, and those in need.  Consider serving in one of these ways:

BE A GREETER – If you do not sing in the choir, or chant, serve in the Altar or at the Bengarri, and  are not a Church School teacher,  please consider serving the Church as a Greeter!  Greeters arrive 15 minutes before Liturgy, get a Greeter Name Tag from the Bengarri, pin it on and greet visitors/parishioners at the Church Entrance and direct them upstairs to the Church, or to the cloakroom or restrooms.  Greeting time ends when Communion starts.  Send your name and e-mail address to Buddy Mabardy: buddymabardy@cjmabardy.com or phone him 781-729-6303. Or call the Church office 617-547-1234.

LITURGICAL SERVICE – Each Sunday, members of the congregation are needed to read the Epistle and assist during Communion by holding the Communion Cloths and Blessed Bread.  All Orthodox Christians in the Parish are welcome and encouraged to participate. We usually need one Epistle reader and four people to hold the cloths.  If you would like to read the Epistle or assist during Communion, please contact Jeff Wasilko, 781-820-0882, jeffw@smoe.org
Also, members of the Church School and others help by carrying the Icon, Candlesticks, and Bread Baskets in procession during the Great Entrance, and presenting the Bread to be blessed during the Liturgy. To volunteer for this service please contact Teva Regule at teva@mit.edu.

COFFEE HOUR – People are needed every week to provide coffee, juice and cookies, or more if desired, and set it up Sunday morning. To sign up for an available Sunday, please put your name on the new signup sheet on the bulletin board outside the Hall or call Barbara Shoop in the Parish Office and she will write your name in. If you need any help with figuring out what to bring or do, check the list below the signup sheet (also printed in the monthly Cornerstone), or ask Barbara at secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org or 617-547-1234.

PRISON MINISTRY – If you would like to find out more about Prison Ministry at St. Mary’s Church, please subscribe to our mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/ocpm-concord.
Also - please donate unwanted past issues of Orthodox magazines such as The Word, OCMC or other periodicals to our prison ministry to hand out to inmates.  Please remove any personal mailing address for security purposes and give them to Mitrophan Chin.

VIDEO EDITING – Volunteers are wanted to assist with video editing of sermons and lectures. We are looking for volunteers to assist with some basic video editing to post the sermons and lectures from St. Mary's online. If you have experience with digital video editing, please let Jamil Samara or Erick Straghalis know you are interested - email live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.

PHOTOGRAPHERS AND GRAPHIC DESIGNERS – Are you a photographer or a graphic designer? Would you be willing to share your talents with St. Mary Church and her ministries? We are looking for you to help photograph the divine services and events and to design promotional material for events and programs at our parish. Please contact Jamil Samara at webmaster@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org with any questions, and to let him know that you are interested in getting more involved.

"As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," says our Lord.

LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Thursday, September 25: Bible study 7:00 pm

Saturday, September 27: Great Vespers 5:00

Sunday, September 28: Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; followed by Church School
lesson 2

Scripture Readings for Sunday, September 28:
   Epistle: Second Corinthians 6:1-10
[W]e entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. …

   Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
... he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ... And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.


LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, October 4: Great Vespers 5:00

Sunday, October 5: Enquirers Class (St. Ignatius Catechetical Group) 9:00 am; Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; followed by Church School lesson 3

Sunday, October 12: No Church School

Sunday, October 19: Women's Club Charity Bake Sale


REFLECTION
The Lord spread His thirst over the well, and caught her that was thirsty with the water that He asked of her.  He caught one soul at the well, and again caught with her the whole city. Twelve fishers the Holy One caught, and again caught with them the whole world.
   - St. Ephraim the Syrian

...willing obedience is an action which shows more courage and strength of spirit than subjugating great kings and ruling over them...
   - Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare

The greatest thing each person can do is to give himself to God utterly and unconditionally - weaknesses, fears, and all. For God loves obedience more than good intentions or second-best offerings, which are all too often made under the guise of weakness.
   - St. Dionysius

There is no shorter ascent to the royal and Divine mansions...than through subduing the five passions hostile to obedience, namely: disobedience, argumentativeness, self-gratification, self-justification and pernicious high opinion of oneself. … But he who, through obedience, conquers the first, by one stroke cuts off all the rest and with one stride reaches heaven.
   - St. Gregory of Sinai

He is not yet a faithful servant who bases himself on bare knowledge alone; a faithful servant is he who professes his faith by obedience to Christ, Who gave the commandments.
   - St. Mark the Ascetic