Saints Cyril
& Methodius
Bulgarian Orthodox
Mission
and
St. George
the Greatmartyr
Bulgarian
Orthodox Church
Jointly celebrate their Patronal Feasts
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St. George the Greatmartyr, SS Cyril & Methodius
Victory-bearer, Equals of the Apostles
and Wonderworker and Teachers of the Slavs
Sunday, May 9, 2010
2:00
PM
Jointly
celebrated by:
The Very Reverend Archpriest Timothy Perry
and
The Reverend Deacon Chterion Zaprionov
Held at:
St. Luke Orthodox Church
6801 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101
Church
Leadership
The
Orthodox Church in America
His Beatitude, the Most Blessed JONAH
Metropolitan of All America and Canada
Archdiocese
of Washington
His Beatitude, Metropolitan JONAH
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington
The Very Reverend Timothy Perry
Bulgarian
Diocese
The Right Reverend Bishop MELCHIZEDEK, locum tenens
The Rev. Deacon Chterion Zaprionov
2010 PARISH
COUNCILS
Saint
George Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Mr. George Kehaiov, President
Mr. George Georgiev, Treasurer
Ms. Georgina Slavoff, Secretary
Mrs. Kathy Bennett
Saints
Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Orthodox Mission
Mr. Evgeniy Anguelov, President
Mr. George Kochev, Vice-President
Mrs. Elena Murphy, Treasurer
Mr. Larry Woods, Secretary
Ms. Nadiya Baltiyska
Ms. Lazarina Petrova
Mrs. Nadya Choparinoff
Upcoming Service
Schedule:
Services at
SS Cyril & Methodius Mission begin at 2:00
Services
at St. George Church begin at 12:00
May 16 – First Ecumenical Council,
celebrated at St. George Church
May 23 – PENTECOST, celebrated at
SS Cyril & Methodius Mission
May 30 – All Saints Sunday, celebrated at St. George
Church
June 6 – Second Sunday of Matthew, at SS Cyril & Methodius Mission
June 13 – Celebrated at St. George Church
Commemorated
Saints for Today
6th SUNDAY OF PASCHA — Tone 5. Blind Man. Prophet Isaiah (8th c. B.C.). Martyr
Christopher of Lycia, and with him Martyrs Callinica and Aquilina (ca. 250).
Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari
(1087). Ven. Shio of Georgia (6th c.).
The
Next SS Cyril & Methodius Parish Council Meeting
The next Parish
Council Meeting will take place on May 23 following the Divine Liturgy. Everyone is invited to attend and listen or
discuss the issues, however, only Parish Council members may cast a vote.
† May Their Memory Be Eternal †
The
newly departed servants Georgi [Markov], Maria and Megan,
the
Patriarchs ALEXEI and PAVLE,
the
Archbishops GREGORY and JOB;
the
Archimandrite Innocent;
the
Priests Peter, Ishmael, Michael, Leo, Homer, Thomas, and Victor;
the
Matushki Mary, Platonida, Sophronia, and Barbara;
the
Readers Philemon, John, John, and Robert Michael; and
the
Servants of God Georgi, Bojanka, Magdalena, Alexander, Sophia, Shafik, Michael,
Steven, Christo, Julia, Rada, Radka, Anna, Dale, Mary, Carmel, Thomas, Vasili,
Mary Ellen, Andrew, Irene, Stamatia, Peter, Steven, Olivera, George, Marianthe,
Panaigioti, Christophor, George, Stephen, & Stefan.
Those
Who Are In Need of Prayer
The Priests Photius, Anthony, Milorad,
Vadim, and Joseph;
the Presbyteras Artemis, Marie, Miriam,
Juliana, Anne, & Alexandra;
the servants of God John, Alexandra, Victor,
Erin, Catherine, Albana, Mathew, Helen, Venko, Tanya, Vera, Kyriaki,
Yekaterina, Sasha, John, Carmeta, Charlie, Helen, 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, and
Those whose names we cannot remember
for the multitude of names.
St.
George the Greatmartyr, Victory-bearer, and Wonderworker
According
to Tradition,
George was born to a Christian family during the late 3rd century. His father
was from Cappadocia and served as an officer of the army. His mother was from
Lydda, Palestine. She returned to her native city as a widow along with her
young son after the martyrdom of George's father, where she provided him with a
respectable education and raised him in piety.
The youth, it would seem, followed his father's example in joining the army
soon after his coming of age. He proved to be a charismatic soldier and
consequently rose quickly through the military ranks of the time. By his late
twenties he had gained the titles of tribunus (tribune) and later comes
(count). By that time George had been stationed in Nicomedia
as a member of the personal guard attached to Roman Emperor Diocletian
(reign 284–305).
In
303, Diocletian issued an edict authorising the systematic persecution of
Christians across the Empire. His caesar, Galerius, was supposedly responsible
for this decision and would continue the persecution during his own reign
(305–311). It is believed that George was ordered to take part in the
persecution but instead confessed to being a Christian himself and criticised
the imperial decision. An enraged Diocletian proceeded in ordering the torture
of this apparent traitor and his execution.
Then,
after innumerable forms of torture, George was executed by decapitation in
front of Nicomedia's defensive wall on April 23, 303. The witness of his
suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest,
to also become Christians, and so they also joined George in martyrdom as
consequence. George's body was then returned to Lydda for burial, where
Christians soon came to honour George as a martyr.
SS Cyril & MethodiusEquals to the Apostles and Teachers of the Slavs
Constantine (later Cyril) and Michael
(later Methodius) were born early in the 9th
century in Thessalonika into a senatorial family. The years of their birth are
uncertain. Constantine, the older, may have been born in 826, while Methodius
is believed to have been born in 827. Their father, Leon, was Drungarios of the
Byzantine Roman Thema of Thessalonika, which position included the Slavs of
Macedonia. Their mother is believed to have been Slavic. Being raised in an
area with both Greek and Slavic speakers endowed the brothers with a good
knowledge of the two languages. As befitting their family's position, they were
well educated.
At a young age the brothers lost their father and they were raised
under the protection of their uncle Theoctistos, who was a powerful official in
the Byzantine government, responsible for postal services and diplomatic
relations of the empire. In 843, he invited Constantine to Constantinople to
continue his studies at the university there. He was ordained a deacon in Constantinopole.
As Constantine was knowledgeable in theology and had a good command of the
Arabic and Hebrew languages, his first state mission to the Abbasid Caliph
Al-Mutawakkil was to discuss the principle of the Holy Trinity
with Arab theologians and thus improve the Empire's diplomatic relations with
the Abbasid Caliphate.
Theoctistos also arranged for Michael a position as an official in
the Slavic administration of the empire. He soon went to the monastery at Mount
Olympus where he was tonsured
with the name Methodius.
In 860, Emperor Michael III and Photius,
Patriarch of Constantinople,
sent the brothers to the Khagan of the Khazars on a missionary expedition in an
attempt to forestall the Khagan from embracing Judaism. The mission was
unsuccessful as the Khagan chose Judaism for his people, but many people
embraced Christianity. Upon their return, Constantine was appointed professor of
philosophy in the university.
Then in 862 the two brothers were invited by
Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia to preach Christianity in his domains. This
request was a fallout of the efforts of the Slavic princes in central Europe
attempting to maintain their independence from their Germanic neighbors.
Rastislav was looking for Christian missionaries to replace those from the
Germans. In the end this mission would continue for the rest of the brothers'
lives, as the brothers were dedicated to the idea that Christianity should be
presented to the people in their native languages as was the practice in the
East. To accomplish their work they developed the Glagolitic alphabet, the
precursor of the Cyrillic alphabet, and began the translation of the Scriptures
and Christian literature into the Slavic language.
The German clergy
had used their liturgical language, Latin, as a measure to maintain their
influence in Moravia and therefore were unhappy with the work of Constantine
and Methodius, and they used this difference to attack the brothers. After
laboring for about four years, the brothers were called by Nicholas I to appear
in Rome
to defend their work. The area in which they worked was within the jurisdiction
of Rome. However, before their arrival, in 869 Nicholas died and was succeeded
by Adrian II. After Adrian was convinced of the orthodoxy of the brothers, he
approved their use of Slavonic in their church services and commended their
work. He then consecrated Methodius bishop. Constantine took
monastic vows in a Greek monastery in Rome. He was given the name Cyril,
the name by which he is now commonly known. Cyril was not to return to Moravia
as he died shortly thereafter. The date of Cyril's death is uncertain, but
appears to have been shortly after his consecration, both perhaps in February
869, with his death most probably on February 14.
Adrian II reestablished the old diocese of Panonia, as the
first Slavonic diocese of Moravia and Pannonia, independent of the Germans, at
the request of the Slavic princes Rastislav, Svatopluk, and Kocel. Here
Methodius was appointed to the new diocese as archbishop.
However, on returning to Moravia in 870, King Louis and the German bishops
summoned Methodius to a synod
at Radisbon, where they deposed him and sent him to prison. After the Germans
suffered military defeats in Moravia, John VIII freed him three years later and
restored Methodius as Archbishop of Moravia. Soon his orthodoxy was again under
question by the Germans, particularly over the use of Slavonic. Once again John
VIII sanctioned the use of Slavonic in the liturgy but with the
stipulation that the Gospel
must first be read in Latin before the reading in Slavonic. Also, Methodius'
accuser, Wiching, was named a vicar bishop to Methodius, and from this
position he continued to oppose him. With his health damaged during his long
struggle with his opponents, Methodius died on April 6, 885, after having
recommended as his successor his disciple, the Moravian Slav, Gorazd. The brothers are
remembered on May 11.
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His Beatitude Metropolitan His Grace, the Right Reverend JONAH [Bishop] MELCHIZEDEK
Parish Bulletin
The Parish Bulletin
is prepared by Fr. Timothy for services at SS Cyril & Methodius Mission
parish. Should you have any questions
regarding contents, please contact him.
The Bulgarian Churches of SS Cyril & Methodius Mission, St. George
Church, and St. John of Rila Church are under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox
Church in America. In addition, the
website of the Orthodox Church in America contains news, articles, explanations
of Orthodox information, events, news, and links to other autocephalous
churches. That website may be accessed
at: www.oca.org
/
DIPTYCHS of the World Orthodox
Churches
To His Holiness, BARTHOLOMEW,
Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch: Many
Years!
To His Beatitude, THEODOROS,
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, IGNATIUS,
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, THEOPHILUS,
Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine: Many Years!
To His Holiness, KIRILL,
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia: Many Years!
To His Holiness, ILIA,
Catholicos and Patriarch of All Georgia: Many Years!
To His Holiness, IRINEJ,
Patriarch of Serbia: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, DANIEL,
Patriarch of Romania: Many Years!
To His Holiness, MAXIM,
Patriarch of Bulgaria: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, CHRYSOSTOMOS,
Archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, IERONYMOS,
Archbishop of Athens and All Greece: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, ANASTASIOS,
Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, SAWA,
Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, KRYSTOF,
Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia: Many Years!
To His Beatitude, JONAH,
Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada: Many
Years!
To all Orthodox Metropolitans,
Archbishops, and Bishops: Many Years!
To all Orthodox Christians: Many Years!
Bulgarian Diocese
2010 Annual Conference
The 2010 Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Diocese of Toledo will be
held during the month of June at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Fenton,
Michigan. The Diocesan website has not posted date, time, or agenda. Stay tuned.
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Bulgarian Diocese |
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Archdiocese of Washington
2010 Annual Conference
The 2010 Annual Archdiocesan
Conference will be held at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC in the
month of September. The date, time, and
agenda have not yet been announced.