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Home , Longinus

SAINT GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH october 16, 2016

sunday of the seventh ec. synod Today the Church remembers the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council under the holy Patriarch Tarasius (February 25). The Synod of 787, the second to meet at Nicea, refuted the Iconoclast heresy during the reign of Empress Irene and her son Constantine VI. The Council decreed that the veneration of icons was not idolatry (Exodus 20:4-5), because the honor shown to them is not directed to the wood or paint, but passes to the prototype (the person depicted). It also upheld the possibility of depicting , Who became man and took flesh at His Incarnation. The Father, on the other hand, cannot be represented in His eternal nature, because “no man has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). The Holy Martyr Longinus the Centurion, a Roman soldier, served in under the command of the Governor, . When our Savior Christ was crucified, it was the detachment of soldiers under the command of Longinus which stood watch on Golgotha, at the very foot of the holy Cross. Longinus and his soldiers were eyewitnesses of the final moments of the earthly life of the Lord, and of the great and awesome portents that appeared at His death. These events shook the centurion’s soul. Longinus believed in Christ and confessed before everyone, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54). According to Church Tradition, Longinus was the soldier who pierced the side of the Crucified Savior with a spear, and received healing from an eye affliction when blood and water poured forth from the wound.After the Crucifixion and Burial of the Savior, Longinus stood watch with his company at the Sepulchre of the Lord. These soldiers were present at the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ. The Jews bribed them to lie and say that His disciples had stolen away the Body of Christ, but Longinus and two of his comrades refused to be seduced by the Jewish gold. They also refused to remain silent about the miracle of the Resurrection. Having come to believe in the Savior, the soldiers received Baptism from the apostles and decided to leave military service. St Longinus left Judea to preach about Jesus Christ the Son of God in his native land (), and his two comrades followed him. The fiery words of those who had actually participated in the great events in Judea swayed the hearts and minds of the Cappadocians; Christianity began quickly to spread throughout the city and the surrounding villages. When they learned of this, the Jewish elders persuaded Pilate to send a company of soldiers to Cappadocia to kill Longinus and his comrades. When the

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Ἀπολυτ. Ἀναστάσιμον Ἦχος b. resurrectional apolyt. mode pl. 4. ξ ὕψους κατῆλθες ὁ εὔσπλαγχνος, ταφὴν ou descended from on high, O compassionate Ἐκατεδέξω τριήμερον, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃς YOne, and condescended to be buried for three τῶν παθῶν. Ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ Ἀνάστασις ἡμῶν, Κύ- days, so that from the passions You might set us ριε δόξα σοι. free. Our life and resurrection, O Lord, glory be to You. Ἀπολυτ. Τῶν πατερων. Ἦχος πλ. δ. apolyt. for the fathers. mode pl. 4. περδεδοξασμένος εἶ, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, upremely blessed are You, O Christ our God. Ὑὁ φωστῆρας ἐπὶ γῆς τοὺς Πατέρας ἡμῶν SYou established the holy Fathers upon the θεμελιώσας, καὶ δι’ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν earth as beacons, and through them You have πίστιν, πάντας ἡμᾶς ὁδηγήσας· πολυεύσπλαγ- guided us all to the true Faith, O greatly merciful χνε, δόξα σοι. One, glory be to You. Ἀπολυτίκιον του ναου. πλ. α. Apolyt. for the Church. Mode 5. ουκάν τον πανύμνητον καὶ ἅγιον ἀπόστο- he holy Apostle, the All-hymned Luke, * who Λλον, τὸν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας γνωστὸν συνθέτην Tis acknowledged by the Church of Christ * as τῶν Πράξεων τῶν Ἀποστόλων, τόν τε σεμνὸν the recorder of the , * and the τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου Χριστοῦ ὑπομνηματιστήν, splendid author of the of Christ. * Let us ἀξίως τιμήσωμεν ὕμνοις ὁσίοις, ὡς νοσημάτων praise with sacred hymns as a physician, * who ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ φυσικῶν ἀσθενειῶν θεραπευ- heals the infirmities of man, * and the ailments τήν, τὸν καθαίροντα πληγὰς τοῦ πνεύματος, of nature, * who cleanses spiritual wounds, and καὶ ἀδιαλείπτως πρεσβεύοντα ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν prays unceasingly for our souls. ἡμῶν. Κοντάκιον. Ἦχος b. Kontakion. Mode 2. ροστασία τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀκαταίσχυντε, Protection of Christians unshamable, Πμεσιτεία, πρὸς τὸν Ποιητὴν ἀμετάθετε, μὴ Omediation with the Creator immovable, we παρίδῃς, ἁμαρτωλῶν δεήσεων φωνάς, ἀλλὰ sinners beg you, do not despise the voices of our πρόφθασον, ὡς ἀγαθή, εἰς τὴν βοήθειαν ἡμῶν, prayers, but anticipate, since you are good, and τῶν πιστῶς κραυγαζόντων σοι· Τάχυνον εἰς swiftly come unto our aid as we cry out to you πρεσβείαν, καὶ σπεῦσον εἰς ἱκεσίαν, ἡ προστα- with faith: Hurry to intercession, and hasten to τεύουσα ἀεί, Θεοτόκε, τῶν τιμώντων σε. supplication, O Theotokos who defend now and ever those who honor you. THE READINGS OF THE DAY

reading gospel reading The letter of paul Luke (8: 5-15) to titus 3:8-15

rethren, this saying is sure. Concerning these he Lord said this parable: “A farmer went things, I desire that you teach with confidence, out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some Bso that those who have believed God may be T[seed] fell along the wayside; it was trampled careful to persevere in good works. These things are under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. good and profitable to all. Avoid foolish questions, Other seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, genealogies, dissensions, and disputes about the it withered away because it had no moisture. Other law. These things are unprofitable and vain. After fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew with a first and second admonition, have nothing more it, and choked it. Other fell into the good ground, to do with anyone who causes divisions, knowing grew, and brought forth fruit a hundred times.” that such a person is perverted, sinful and self- Then his disciples asked him, “What does this condemned. When I send to you, or parable mean?” Jesus replied, “To you it is given to , do your utmost to meet me at Nicopolis, know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to for I have determined to spend the win- ter there. the rest, [it is given] in parables, so that ‘seeing they Send and on their may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ journey speedily and see that they lack nothing. Now this is what the parable means: The seed Make sure that our people also learn to maintain is the word of God. Those along the wayside are good works to meet urgent needs, so that they may those who have heard. Then the devil comes and not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you! takes away the word from their heart, so that they Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock all! Amen. are those who receive the word with joy when they hear. But they have no root; they believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. What ince love that’s cultivated in the fell among the thorns is those who have heard, Sdesolate wilderness has nothing and as they go on their way, they are choked with of the world in it, it can’t fit into worries, wealth, and the pleasures of life; and they the world. Nor can it fit into the bring no fruit to maturity. As for the seed that fell in “ the rich soil, this is those who have heard the word brain of many people (who think in a worldly way), which is why it with an honest and good heart, who retain it and can often be misunderstood. bring forth fruit with endurance. As he said this, he exclaimed, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” —st. paisios the athonite” announcements Saturday, January 25, Great Vespers, 5pm

memorial service: John (Silouan) Hinchie, 3yrs. upcoming church services: Monday, October 17, Vigil for St. Luke the Apostle, 7pm Friday, October 21, St. Socrates the Presbyter, Divine Liturgy, 9am Saturday, October 22, Great Vespers, 5pm

$18,000 by October 18 hope and joy Join us in our new Capital Campaign Drive for Children are encouraged to submit a drawing of 2016. We only need $2485 to reach our goal! Please a Gingerbread House for the Ronald McDonald join us and help us reach our goal by October House competition. Please submit drawings by 18. Please see flyer for details. Please prayerfully next Sunday, October 23. One winner will be consider your Capital Campaign Pledge. Thank chosen. Save November 12 on your calendars to you! help construct the Gingerbread house. See Calin feastday of st. luke - oct. 18 Chindris if you have any questions. This Monday, October 17, we will celebrate Dinner Dance/Silent Auction Meeting a Vigil in honor of our patron, St. Luke the There will be a committee meeting on Sunday, Evangelist. Services will begin at 7pm with Great October 30 after Divine Services. If you are Vespers, followed by Orthros and Divine Litrugy. interested in helping out with the Dinner Dance/ Please make every effort to attend at least part of Silent Auction, please plan to stay for the meeting. the vigil as we ask for St. Luke’s intercession before bookstore His Master and our Lord for the protection and We have many new books and other items from growth of our parish. Greece. Please visit the bookstore today! pot-luck coffee hour Join us today in honor of our parish feast day Celebrating a birthday, name day or anniversary? for a parish pot luck. All are welcome to join us, Please consider being a coffee hour sponsor. The even if you were not able to bring a dish for this Coffee Hour sign up sheet is in the Narthex. If you community event. would like to help with a Philoptochos sponsored make a difference day coffee hour, see the additional sign up sheets in the Today, in honor of Philoptochos National Make a Narthex for upcoming events. Thank you! Difference Day, we are asking everyone to make or sign a get well card for the children at Women and Children’s Hospital. Cards will be available after the Pot Luck. soldiers arrived at Longinus’s village, the former and be consoled. God has numbered him with centurion himself came out to meet the soldiers and those in His heavenly Kingdom. Now take my head took them to his home. After a meal, the soldiers and your son’s body, and bury them in the same revealed the purpose of their visit, not knowing that casket. Do not weep for your son, for he will rejoice the master of the house was the very man whom forever in great glory and happiness.” they were seeking. Then Longinus and his friends The woman carried out the ’s instructions identified themselves and told the startled soldiers and returned to her home in Cappadocia. There to carry out their duty. The soldiers wanted to let she buried her son and the head of St Longinus. the go and advised them to flee, but they Once, she had been overcome by grief for her son, refused to do this, showing their firm intention to but her weeping was transformed into joy when she suffer for Christ. The holy martyrs were beheaded, saw him with St Longinus. She had sought healing and their bodies were buried at the place where the for her eyes, and also received healing of her soul. saints were martyred. The head of St Longinus, Saint Eupraxia, Princess of Pskov, in the world however, was sent to Pilate. Euphrosyne, was the daughter of the Polotsk prince Pilate gave orders to cast the martyr’s head on Rogvolod Borisovich, and an aunt to the holy a trash-heap outside the city walls. After a while a Prince Dovmont-Timothy (May 20). She was the certain blind widow from Cappadocia arrived in wife of the Pskov prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. with her son to pray at the holy places, Prince Yaroslav fled from Pskov to Livonia and there and to ask that her sight be restored. After becoming married a German. Together with the Teutonic blind, she had sought the help of physicians to cure knights he made incursions several times upon the her, but all their efforts were in vain. Russian lands, and in 1231 he seized Izborsk. After The woman’s son became ill shortly after the departure of her husband, Euphrosyne turned reaching Jerusalem, and he died a few days later. to deeds of piety. In the year 1243, she built a The widow grieved for the loss of her son, who monastery on the banks of the River Velika named had served as her guide. St Longinus appeared to for St John the Forerunner, and became its abbess. her in a dream and comforted her. He told her that Invited to Livonia for a meeting with her former she would see her son in heavenly glory, and also husband in the city of Odenpa (Bear’s Head), she receive her sight. He told her to go outside the city was murdered (May 8, 1243) by a stepson, more walls and there she would find his head in a great accurately, the son of Yaroslav by his German pile of refuse. Guides led the blind woman to the wife. She was buried at the cathedral of the rubbish heap, and she began to dig with her hands. monastery she founded. Ten days after the death As soon as she touched the martyr’s head, the of St Eupraxia, a miracle occurred over her grave, woman received her sight, and she glorified God when myrrh issued from an icon of the Savior. and St Longinus. The icon was called “The myrrh-bearing Savior”. Taking up the head, she brought it to the place The countenance of the righteous princess was she was staying and washed it. The next night, St preserved on two icons. On the one she is depicted Longinus appeared to her again, this time with her at prayer with St John the Forerunner and the holy son. They were surrounded by a bright light, and St Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The other icon Longinus said, “Woman, behold the son for whom with her likeness is beside the wonderworking icon you grieve. See what glory and honor are his now, of the Savior. saving beauty heart begins with the ideal of the Theotokos by Fr. Stephen Freeman (Madonna) and ends with the ideal of Sodom. What’s still more awful is that a man with the “God will save the World Through Beauty” ideal of Sodom in his soul does not renounce the ideal of the Madonna, and his heart may be on This saying, often attributed to Fyodor fire with that ideal, genuinely on fire, just as in his Dostoevsky, never occurs in precisely this form days of youth and innocence. Yes, man is broad, in his novels – though the idea is present in such a too broad, indeed. I’d have him narrower. The strong sense that the phrase is correctly attributed devil only knows what to make of it! What to the to him. It is a phrase that is easily misunderstood. mind is shameful is beauty and nothing else to For Dostoevsky, in good Orthodox fashion, the heart. Is there beauty in Sodom? Believe me, beauty is far more than a matter of aesthetics – it that for the immense mass of mankind beauty is is the very goodness of creation itself. found in Sodom. Did you know that secret? The However (and this is the great writer’s awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as genius), Dostoevsky sees beauty in strangely terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and contradictory forms. The beauty that Dostoevsky the battlefield is the heart of man.” sees as potientially salvific is itself a great mystery. There is no simple definition of beauty for In a very powerful paragraph in the Brothers Dostoevsky. He recognizes the contradictions Karamazov, the Brother, Dmitri, states the within it. “I can’t endure the thought that a man problem very clearly. Drawing on a line of poetry of lofty mind and heart begins with the ideal that says that God gave to the insects “sensual of the Mother of God and ends with the ideal lust,” Dmitri begins by calling himself an insect ofSodom.” He even recognizes that the man who and says that all the Karamazovs are insects. has fallen into the clutches and bondage of the I am that insect, brother, and it is said of me ideal ofSodomstill has in his heart the ideal of the specially. All we Karamazovs are such insects, and, Mother of God. Such contradiction. as you are, that insect lives in you, too, and Dmitri Karamazov speaks of beauty as a will stir up a tempest in your blood. Tempests, hunger, a passion: sometimes for the Mother of because sensual lust is a tempest worse than a God, the Madonna, sometimes for Sodom. But tempest! Beauty is a terrible and awful thing! It we are people whose heart envisions and propels is terrible because it has not been fathomed and us forward. This sense of passion is expressed in never can be fathomed, for God sets us nothing the Fathers as eros, or desire. Eros can be desire but an enigma. Here the boundaries meet and for God when rightly directed, or misdirected all contradictions exist side by side. I am not a becomes the engine of our destruction. cultivated man, brother, but I’ve thought a lot In gospel terms, we would say that everyone about this. It’s terrible what mysteries there has a hunger for the Kingdomof God. It is a deep are! Too many mysteries weigh men down on hunger for the most profound relationship, for earth. We must solve them as we can, and try a beauty that is beyond the reckoning of this to keep a dry skin in the water. Beauty! I can’t world. It is a beauty that is made manifest in endure the thought that a man of lofty mind and forgiveness and responsibility for all and to all. It The field of battle is the human heart. is the beauty of suffering love. But Dmitri says more about this seed – this Solzhenitsyn, the great survivor of passion. He indicates that from his perspective, the Soviet Gulag and prophetic giant among the the madness of humanity is that it can direct Dissidents of theSoviet Union, said much the its passion in either direction: the Madonna same thing: orSodom– and even when it is inSodom, still It was only when I lay there on rotting prison maintain a passion for the Madonna. There straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings have been many examples of this in our modern of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the world: the ugliness of the totalitarian state and line separating good and evil passes not through yet the beauty of Shostakovitch. states, nor between classes, nor between political In Dmitri’s notions, I hear later echoes in parties either, but right through every human Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Zhivago (whose heart, and through all human hearts. This line name is itself a play on the Russian word for shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even life) is both doctor and poet. Surrounded by the within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small collapse of his world, both as a child, and later bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the as an adult, he nevertheless has this heart and best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of passion for life. In David Lean’s movie version evil. (From Gulag Archipelago) of the novel (which is different enough to make Beauty, whether a hunger for the Mother of it almost mandatory that one read the novel), God or a thirst forSodom, are both found within this passion for life is represented by the music the human heart. One is a true hunger, man’s of “Lara’s Theme.” From the moment of his true end – the other a distortion, a missing of the mother’s funeral, to the end of his life, this drive mark. for life compels him. And like the ambiguity of Dmitri’s beauty, Zhivago is able to find beauty n Orthodox teaching this is the very nature in his marriage to Anna or in his adulterous of sin. Sin is not the breaking of a law and thus relationship with Lara. His relationship with the acquiring of guilt. Sin is missing the mark. both is a reaching for life – despite the immorality Man was created, the early Fathers taught, not of his life with Lara. Both he and Lara are aware as an absolutely perfect being who fell from of the wrongness of their situation (Sodom) but paradise – an infinite sin – worthy of an infinite are sustained by the sheer beauty of the life they guilt (and punishment). Rather man was created have between them (Madonna). with a proper end. He is created without sin, There is this strange contradiction and with no imperfection, but he was not made at the mystery to beauty within the hunger of the beginning as he was to become. human heart. Dmitri expresses this with great St. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the late 2nd insight: “What’s awful is that beauty is not only century, described Adam and Eve as adolescents. a terrible, but also a mysterious thing. Here the Their turning aside from God was a turning devil struggles with God, and the field of battle is aside from the fullness of life in union with God the human heart.” that was intended for them. Thus St. Paulcalls Christ, “the Second Adam.” He is the true Adam, the true man, the One who is what man was prevented her from entering. She tried repeatedly always meant to be. As Christ will say of himself, but could not enter. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and In a single moment she is struck with the the end.” Or asSt. Paul will say of Jesus, “He is the reality of her life and the work of repentance author and finisher of our faith.” begins. It matures over the course of a lifetime as In the world of Orthodox Tradition, no story she becomes an anchorite in the desert. By the captures the transformation from the distortions end of her life she has lost all outward beauty. of passion to the pure desire of God more Withered by sun and heat she is almost ghost-like deeply than that of St. Mary ofEgypt. Far more in her appearance. But within there is a beauty than an obscure story about an obscure desert that is the glory of sainthood. saint, hers is perhaps the best known story of a Her story is read aloud in the Orthodox woman saint in the Church (not including the Church every year. It is a model of repentance Mother of God). The fifth Sunday of Great Lent and of the forgiveness of God. The most vile is always dedicated to her. Earlier in the week, in prostitute becomes a most holy woman. She has preparation for her service on Sunday, a lengthy abandoned false beauty and been redeemed by a service of repentance is done in the Church, beauty that is not of this world but of God. This during which her Life, first told to the Ven. St. transformation is at the heart of the Orthodox Zossima (another 6th century saint), is read way of life. It does much to explain the more or aloud in its entirety. less canonical requirement that our churches be She begins life (at least in her teen years) as made beautiful. (Sometimes it’s a challenge if a prostitute in Alexandria. She makes it clear you’re doing church in a warehouse, a storefront, that she did not do this out of necessity, but or buildings not designed to be used for Orthodox because she liked it. She added to this all of the worship. Nonetheless buildings, like the people debauchery and drunkenness that one might in them, should strive for beauty, the beauty of have. She admits that she often engaged in evil heaven.) It certainly is a large component in the not for profit, but simply for the pleasure she making and veneration of icons. found. In the creation story in Genesis, God looks at One day, hearing a party going on (or what what He has made and says, “It is good.” In the she supposed to be a party) she followed the Greek translation of the passage, God looks at the sound down to the wharves. There a group world and says that it is kalos a word that means was gathering and preparing for a pilgrimage “good” – but also means beautiful. The Hebrew to Holy Jerusalem. As a lark, she decides to carries some sense of this as well. The goodness join them (working the price of her passage off God sees can be described as Beauty. We can thus by corrupting various young male pilgrims). say with great confidence that whether God will Arriving inJerusalemshe goes with them to the save the world through Beauty, Beauty certainly Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ’s will be the result of salvation. true Cross was exposed for veneration, as well May God make us truly beautiful with the as his empty tomb. Coming to the doors of beauty that is ours in Christ Jesus. the Church, something like an invisible wall,