Saints Cyril & Methodius

Bulgarian Orthodox Mission

Orthodox Church in America

Archdiocese of Washington

 

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St. Demetrios the Myrrhbearer and

 Great Martyr of Thessaloniki

(Commemorated annually on October 26)

 

Sunday, October 24, 2010

2:00 PM

 

Services at:

St. Luke Orthodox Church

6801 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101

 

 

His Beatitude, Metropolitan JONAH

The Very Reverend Archpriest Timothy Perry

The Reverend Deacon Chterion Zaprionov

 

 

 

 

St. Demetrios the Myrrhbearer & Great Martyr of Thessalonika

 

  Saint Demetrius was a Thessalonian, a most pious son of pious and noble parents, and a teacher of the Faith of Christ. When Maximian first came to Thessalonica in 290, he raised the Saint to the rank of Duke of Thessaly. But when it was discovered that the Saint was a Christian, he was arrested and kept bound in a bath-house.

  While the games were under way in the city, Maximian was a spectator there. A certain friend of his, a barbarian who was a notable wrestler, Lyaeus by name, waxing haughty because of the height and strength of his body, boasted in the stadium and challenged the citizens to a contest with him. All that fought with him were defeated. Seeing this, a certain youth named Nestor, aquaintance of Demetrius', came to the Saint in the bath-house and asked his blessing to fight Lyaeus single-handed. Receiving this blessing and sealing himself with the sign of the precious Cross, he presented himself in the stadium, and said, "O God of Demetrius, help me!" and straightway he engaged Lyaeus in combat and smote him with a mortal blow to the heart, leaving the former boaster lifeless upon the earth.

  Maximian was sorely grieved over this, and when he learned who was the cause of this defeat, he commanded straightway and Demetrius was pierced with lances while he was yet in the bath-house, As for Nestor, Maximian commanded that he be slain with his own sword.

 

 

 

Hymns to St. Demitrios

 

*Troparion to the Saint *

The world has found you to be a great defense against tribulation
and a vanquisher of heathens, O Passion-bearer.
As you bolstered the courage of Nestor,
who then humbled the arrogance of Lyaios in battle,
Holy Demetrius, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.

* Kontakion to the Saint *

God, who has given you invincible might,
has tinged the Church with streams of your blood, Demetrius!
He pre-serves your city from harm,
for you are its foundation!

 

 

 

 

2010 Annual Parish Meeting

 

  This is the first announcement of the SS Cyril & Methodius Annual Parish Meeting.  As required by our parish Bylaws, the Parish in its entirety meets once a year to hear reports, elect Parish Council members, and to orient the parish for that year.

  Reports will be heard from the, 1/ Parish Priest, 2/ Parish President, 3/ Parish Treasurer, 4/ Parish Secretary, and 5/ a report on the social activities of the Parish.

  As required in the Bylaws, the meeting will be held after the last Divine Liturgy of the month.  At this time, the draft Divine Liturgy schedule determines the meeting will be held on January 23, 2011.  As you are well aware, winter weather sometimes interrupts safe travel so, if the Divine Liturgy schedule is altered, announcements to that effect will be made well in advance by updates in this Bulletin, in church, and by email.

  Members of the public are welcome to attend by only members of the parish may vote at an Annual Meeting.

 

 

 

Upcoming Service Schedule:

Services at St. George Church begin at 12:15 PM

Services at SS Cyril & Methodius Mission begin at 2:00 PM

 

October 24 – St. Demetrius the Myrrhbearer, at SS Cyril & Methodius Mission

October 31 – SS Cosmas and Damian, Unmercenaries, at St. George, Potomac, MD

November 7 – Archangel Michael and all the Powers at SS Cyril & Methodius

November 14 – Apostle Philip, at St. George, Potomac, MD

November 21 – Entry of the Theotokos to the Temple, SS Cyril & Methodius

November 28 – Apostle Andrew, at St. George, Potomac, MD

December 5 – St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, SS Cyril & Methodius

December 12 – Sunday of the Forefathers of Christ, St. George, Potomac, MD

December 19 – Sunday before the Nativity of Christ, SS Cyril & Methodius

December 25 – Christmas (Nativity of Christ), at St. Mark Church, Bethesda, MD

 

 

 

Saints Commemorated Today


22nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 5 (5th of Luke). Martyr Arethas and 4299 Martyrs with him (523). Ven. Arethus (12th c.), Sisoë (13th c.), and Theóphil (Theophilus)—(12th-13th c.), Recluses, of the Kiev Caves (Near Caves). Bl. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia (ca. 553-55). Martyr Syncletica and her two daughters (6th c.). St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (1311). Ven Zomsima Verkhovskoy (1833). Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos “THE JOY OF All WHO SORROW” (1688).

 

 

†     May Their Memory Be Eternal     †

 

The Priests Peter, Ishmael, Michael, Leo, Homer, Thomas, Victor, and Milorad;

the Matushki Mary, Platonida, Sophronia, and Barbara;

the Readers Philemon, John, John, and Robert Michael; and

the Servants of God Ruby, Timothy, Maria, Megan, Bojanka, Magdalena, Alexander, Sophia, Shafik, Christo, Julia, Rada, Radka, Anna, Dale, Olivera, Marianthe, Panaigioti, & George.

 

 

 

 

Those Who Are In Need of Prayer

 

The Priests Photius, Anthony, Vadim, and Joseph;

the Presbyteras Artemis, Marie, Miriam, Juliana, & Anne;

the servants of God, William, Stella, Douglas, Alexandra, Victor, Erin, Catherine, Kyriaki, Helen, John, Carmeta, Jane, Daniel, Oliver, Charlie, and Patricia;

Those who are traveling or are sick and suffering and those who have asked us to pray for them, unworthy though we may be.

 

 

 

Orthodox Church in America represented

at celebrations in the Republic of Georgia

 

MTSKHETA, GEORGIA -- On October 14, 2010, with the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah and at the invitation of the Georgian Orthodox Church, His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, and Archimandrite Zacchaeus, Representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate, participated in the celebration of the 1000th Anniversary of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Life-Giving Tree here.

  Also accompanying Bishop Michael was Archpriest Alexander Tandilashvili, a cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church who serves in the OCA’s Diocese of New York and New Jersey.

  The celebration began with the festal Divine Liturgy, at which His Holiness and Beatitude, Ilia II, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, presided. Concelebrating were His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durres and All Albania; His Beatitude, Metropolitan Christopher, Archbishop of Prague and Primate of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia; the representatives of each of the 15 Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches; and numerous hierarchs and clergy of the Patriarchate of Georgia.

  Following the Divine Liturgy, congratulatory remarks were offered to Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia by the Primates of the Churches of Albania and the Czech Lands and Slovakia. His Eminence, Metropolitan John of Pergamon, read official greetings from His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Later that day, Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia received Bishop Michael and Archimandrite Zacchaeus for a private meeting, during which the greetings of Metropolitan Jonah and the Holy Synod of Bishops, clergy, monastics, and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America were conveyed.

 

 

Administration of the Sacraments

  The parish priest, responsible to the diocesan bishop and answerable to God, is the sole administrator of the sacraments in the Orthodox parish.

  The preparation for receipt of any sacrament whether the receipt of the Eucharist at the Divine Liturgy, marriage, baptism, or any other is preceded by a period of preparation and sober contemplation.  In the case of reception to adults into the Church, a period of study, careful thought, and instruction is involved.

  Fr. Timothy is to be contacted well in advance of planning for any sacrament outside of the receipt of the Eucharist by Orthodox Christians.

Fr. Timothy’s email address: revtperry@hotmail.com

 

Orthodox Unity in America

QUESTION:
  I've been studying the Orthodox Church for a little while.
  I don't understand why there are both hierarchies in North America that answer to their home authorities back across the ocean and why there is a separate Orthodox Church in America. How does this work, and are the relations between the Orthodox Church in America, the Greek Orthodox Church in America, and other jurisdictions amicable?
  Has there been any effort to consolidate all Orthodoxy in North America into one organization? Would that be a good thing?

 

ANSWER:
  Orthodox Christianity came to North America in 1794 when missionaries arrived in Kodiak, Alaska. They were sent by the Russian Orthodox Church. As time went on the Russian Church organized a missionary diocese for North America. Almost all Orthodox Christians were nominally under this united jurisdiction, regardless of ethnic background.
  In 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out and communications with the Mother Church in Russia were greatly limited and, by the early 1920s, almost non-existent. Patriarch Tikhon had been placed under house arrest. The Church in North America organized itself as an administratively-independent entity until such time as "normal" relations with the Mother Church could be reestablished.
  In the meantime, Orthodox of other ethnic backgrounds -- Greek, Serbian, etc. ­- organized their own separate jurisdictions, usually under the administration of the Church hierarchies in their respective countries of origin. This explains the break-up of the original Orthodox diocese in North America into separate, ethnic-based entities.
  In 1970 the Russian Orthodox Church granted autocephaly, or self-governing status, to its former North American Diocese, which had been renamed the "Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America" during the earlier part of the 20th century. At a Church Council which met at St Tikhon’s Monastery in 1970 the name of the Church was changed to "The Orthodox Church in America."
  Within the OCA are the former Russian parishes, as well as the Romanian Episcopate, Albanian Archdiocese, and Bulgarian Archdiocese. The OCA today has nearly 200 parishes (out of over 600) that are of no ethnic background -- many of these were formed after the granting of autocephaly in 1970.
  The OCA is a full member of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA).
  Yes, it would be wonderful if administrative unity were to occur among the various Orthodox jurisdictions in North America, and much work has been done to this end. The Standing Conference, mentioned above, has met for many, many years and is currently under the presidency of His Eminence, Archbishop Spyridon of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The Conference maintains a variety of inter-Orthodox agencies which coordinate educational, charitable, and other ministries. Hopefully in the near future, administrative unity, for which Orthodox Christians fervently pray, will become a reality.