Update for the week Thursday, July 11 - Wednesday, July 17, 2019
THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY’S
SUNDAY 7/14 – Orthros 8:45am, Divine Liturgy 10:00am
WEDNESDAY 7/17 - The Parish Council will meet on Wednesday, July 17 at 7:30
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
SCAM E-MAIL – Please be advised that a scam e-mail was recently sent to people claiming to be from Fr. Antony, requesting urgent help. The e-mail’s purported sender is revantony.stmaryorthodoxchurch@gmail.com. Please do not open the email or respond to the e-mail. If you click on the e-mail it is requesting you to buy a $300 gift card and send back the PIN from the card. Delete this e-mail if you should receive one. DO NOT OPEN!!!
MEMORY ETERNAL – We regret to inform you of the falling asleep in the Lord of Mark Ayoub on July 9. Mark was the son of Gretchen and the late Robert Ayoub and brother of Corinne. More information will be available once final arrangements have been made. Our parish family extends heartfelt sympathies to Gretchen and her family.
CHURCH SCHOOL – Registration for new students, and for children who have reached the age of 3, will be held on Sunday, September 8. Classes will begin on Sunday, September 15 with a short lesson after the Procession of the Holy Cross.
+ Please contact Deno Takles, our new Church School Superintendent (at takles67@yahoo.com) if you would be interested in helping with the Church School. We are looking for a Teacher and an Assistant for Grades 2/3, and a Teacher for Grades 4/5.
ORTHODOXY 102 – “Orthodoxy 102” is an Adult Sunday Class designed for Christians who've spent many years in the Orthodox church, but have never been given any formal teaching on the theology and liturgical structure of the Eastern Christian faith. Beginning September 22 at 9:00am, this new class will meet weekly to journey through the structure of the Divine Liturgy, while taking an in-depth look at Scripture, the Ecumenical Councils, our iconography, and the meaning and application of Orthodox theology. If you would like more information or would care to join, please email drjamesis@gmail.com (Or introduce yourself to Subdeacon James on any given Sunday following the liturgy).
FREE TABLE - If anyone is interested in the antique wood table in the back room by the kitchen please see Barbara in the Church Office. It was the altar table when the church was a Congregational church.
REMINDERS
ANTIOCHIAN ARCHDIOCESE NATIONAL CONVENTION – This year’s Convention will be in Grand Rapids, MI, July 21-28, 2019. See https://ac2019gr.org
+ Fr. Antony will be attending the Convention from July 22- 27. In case of emergency contact Deno Takles at 617-650-2417 or takles67@yahoo.com. You can also contact the Church Office during office hours, 9:30am-2:00pm.
DORMITION FAST and FEAST – The fast preceding the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Theotokos, our patronal feast day, begins on Thursday, August 1 and continues through Wednesday, August 14.
+ Paraclesis for the Dormition will be held on Wednesday, August 7 at 6:30pm
+ On the eve of the Dormition Feast, Wednesday August 14, we will have Vespers at 4:15pm, Orthros with Lamentations at 5:30pm, and Festal Divine Liturgy at 7:00pm, followed by a Dormition feast in the church hall, hosted by Mary Winstanley O’Connor
TANGLEWOOD OUTING – Join your music-loving friends from St. Mary’s and carpool out to Tanglewood after Liturgy on Sunday, August 4. We’ll picnic on the lawn and listen to music by Rachmaninoff and Sibelius, featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For more information see https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/100161. The concert starts at 2:30; lawn tickets are $22.00 - pay at the door; children are free. Bring lawn chairs if you want them, and picnic food for yourself and to share. For more information and to let us know you're coming, contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com.
CONGRATULATIONS TO PLC CONTESTANTS – Our Teen, Pre-teen and Adult Bible Bowlteams won FIRST PLACE at the Parish Life Conference, competing against our sister churches in the Diocese of Worcester and New England. The Teen Team participants were Benjamin Crea, Nicholas Mazzoni and Nicholas Bezzerides; the Pre-teen team participants were Joseph Soloman, Saron Soloman, Elnathan Daniel and Ruth Samson. The Adult participants were Furtuna Risom and Charlie Marge. Additionally, Nicholas Mazzoni won the Junior Division in the Oratorical Festival. Many thanks to coach Violet Robbat, who spends many, many hours preparing and coaching the teens for the competition. Congratulations to them all!
NEW SKETE PILGRIMAGE – The annual New Skete Pilgrimage is set for Saturday, August 10 this year (the Saturday after Transfiguration). In years past, a number of St. Mary people have gone out for the weekend (this year, 8/9-11, 2019) to help the Communities with this event—to be extra sets of “helping hands” for the day. They are hoping a number of us will do so again this year. In the past, this has been a wonderful community building activity for all of us. Moreover, if you have never been to the monastery, this may be a good way to be introduced to their life and work. In addition to the services, there are tours of the church and talks by various members of the communities about their lives. The main talk will be given by Gayle Woloshak, Ph. D. who is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Cell and Molecular Biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. (In addition, she is Past President of the Orthodox Theological Society of America and Treasurer of the International Orthodox Theological Association and wears MANY other “hats” in the Orthodox world. (Her ecclesial resume is quite long…) Her talk is entitled, “Good Earth: Caring for God’s Creation." There are also the dogs, great hiking trails, nearby tubing, and more (e.g. usually a picnic at Hedges Lake on that Sunday), etc. More information about the Pilgrimage can be found here: https://newskete.org/events.
Once again, Teva Regule (teva@mit.edu) will be coordinating the Boston helpers and as much housing as she can. (In particular, any women wanting to "camp out" at the nuns’, let her know. The Emmaus house is now a guest house - anyone wishing to stay there should contact Br. Gregory directly at brgregory@newskete.org) Housing is first come, first served.
TRANSFIGURATION – Note change: Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Transfiguration will not be celebrated at St. Mary’s on Monday, August 5. The Feast will be celebrated at St. George W. Roxbury with Orthros at 5:30p and Divine Liturgy at 6:30p.
ADULT CAMP – Antiochian Village Adult Camp is summer camp for adults at the Village, Friday-Monday, September 13-16. Adult Camp is open to all adults ages 21+ who want to spend the weekend in an Orthodox Christian Environment growing in their faith. Cost of $195 includes lodging, food and activities. More information can be found at https://avcamp.org/other-programs/adult-camp.
FAMILY CAMP – You’re invited to Diocese Family Camp Friday 10/4 through Sunday 10/6 at St. Methodios Faith & Heritage Center in Contoocook, NH,. Families from our Diocese come together for a weekend of camp activities, prayer, relaxation, fellowship, and learning. More information and pictures can be found at www.soyofallcamp.org Registration information will be posted soon.
JOIN US ONLINE - 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 or online). If you have questions or comments about this ministry please contact us at live@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org
REFLECTION
Everyone possessing experience can but laugh when contradicted by those who lack experience; for such a person is taught not by argument but by the exertions he makes and the experience that comes from these exertions. It is from experience that we reap what is profitable, and it is experience that refutes the fruitless arguments of contentious braggarts.
- St. Gregory Palamas
What does it mean, "that they be careful to maintain good works"? That they wait not for those who are in want to come to them, but that they seek out those who need their assistance. In this way the considerate man shows his concern, and with great zeal will he perform this duty. For in doing good actions, it is not those who receive the kindness that are benefited, so much as those who do it that make gain and profit, for it gives them confidence towards God. But in the other case, there is no end of contention: therefore he calls the heretic incorrigible. For just as neglecting those for whom there is a hope of conversion is slothfulness, so bestowing pains upon those who are diseased past remedy is the extreme of folly and madness; for we render them more bold. … For almsgiving is the mother of love, of that love which is the characteristic of Christianity, which is greater than all miracles, by which the disciples of Christ are manifested. It is the medicine of our sins, the cleansing of the filth of our souls, the ladder fixed to heaven; it binds together the body of Christ.
- St. John Chrysostom, Homily 6 on Titus