ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN ARCHDIOCESE OF NORTH AMERICA Diocese of Los Angeles and the West

ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX OF THE REDEEMER

380 MAGDALENA AVE, LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA 94024 PHONE: (650) 941-1570 FAX: (650) 948-6045 www.orthodoxredeemer.org

V. REV. FR. SAMER YOUSSEF, PASTOR

March 12, 2017 Second Sunday of Commemoration of , archbishop of Thessalonica أحد القديس غريغوريوس باالماس Venerable Theophanes the Confessor of Sigriane; Gregory the Dialogist, pope of Rome; Venerable Simeon the New Theologian; Righteous Phineas, grandson of Aaron the High Priest

RESURRECTIONAL IN TONE FIVE Let us believers praise and worship the Word; coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, born of the Virgin for our salvation. For, He took pleasure in ascending the Cross in the flesh to suffer death; and to raise the dead by His glorious Resurrection.

طروبارية القيامة على اللحن الخامس لنسبحْ نحن المؤمنين ونسج ْد للكلمة, المساوي لآل ِب والروحِ في األزلي ِة وعدم االبتداء, المولو ِد من العذرا ِء لخال ِصنا, ألنه ُس ّر أن يصع َد بالجس ِد على الصلي ِب ويحتم َل الموت, ويُنه َض الموتى بقيامتِه المجيدة. APOLYTIKION FOR ST. GREGORY PALAMAS IN TONE EIGHT O Star of , support of the Church and its teacher, O comeliness of ascetics, and incontestable champion of those who speak in theology, Gregory the wonder-worker, the pride of Thessalonica and preacher of grace, implore thou constantly for the salvation of our souls.

طروبارية االحد الثاني للصوم الكبير( القديس غريغوريوس باالماس )على اللحن الثامن

يا كوك َب األرثوذكسية, وثبا َت الكنيسة ومع ِّل َمها, يا جما َل المتوحدين, والمجاهد َد الدذي ال يُ ْقهَدر عدن المتكلمين, وفخر تسالونيكي, والمبشر بالنعمة, غريغوريوس المجترح العجائب, إبتهل على الدوام في خالص نفو ِسنا.

TROPARION OF TRANSFIGURATION – TONE 7 When Thou was Transfigured on the mountain top, O Christ our God. Thou didst reveal thy glory to thy disciples as they could bear it. Enlighten us poor sinners as well with thine everlasting light through the intercessions of the , O Thou Giver of light, glory to Thee.

طروبارية التجلي على اللحن السابع لما تجليت أيها المسيح اإلله في الجبل, أظهرت مجدك للتالميذ بحسبما استطاعوا. فأشرق لنا نحن الخطأة نورك األزلي, بشفاعة والدة اإلله, يا مانح النور المجد لك. FOR THE ANNUNCIATION (AND GREAT LENT) IN TONE EIGHT To thee, the Champion Leader, do I offer thanks of victory, O Theotokos, thou who hast delivered me from terror; but as thou that hast that power invincible, O Theotokos, thou alone can set me free: from all forms of danger free me and deliver me, that I may cry unto thee: Hail, O Bride without Bridegroom. قنداق آحاد الصوم على اللحن الثامن إني أنا عبدك يا والدة اإلله, أكتب لك رايات الغلبة يا جندية محامية, وأقدم لك الشكر كمنقذة من الشدائد. لكن بما أن لك العزة التي ال تحارب, أعتقيني من صنوف الشدائد, حتى أصرخ إليك: افرحي يا عروسا ال عروس لها . THE EPISTLE O Lord, Thou wilt preserve us and keep us from this generation. Save me, O Lord, for the godly man hath disappeared. The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews. (1:10-2:3) “In the beginning, Thou, O Lord, didst found the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands; they will perish, but Thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle Thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years will never end.” But to what angel has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a stool for thy feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the message, declared by angels, was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard Him.

الرسالة أن َت يا ر ُّب تحف ُظنا وتستُرنا من هذه الجي ِل, خلصني, يا ر ُّب, فإ َّن البا َر قد فني. فص ٌل من رسال ِة القديسِ بول َس الرسو ِل إلى العبرانيين. أنت, يا ر ّب, أسس َت األر َض في البد ِء, والسماوا ُت هي صن ُع يديك, هي تزو ُل وأنت تبقى, وك ّلها كالثوب تَبلى, وتطويها كالردا ِء فتتغير. وأن َت أن َت, وسنوك لن تنتهي. ولِ َمن من المالئك ِة قال يوم ًا: اجل ْس عن يميني حتى أجع َل أعداءك موطئ ًا لقدميك؟ أ َما هم أروا ٌح خادم ٌة ُترسل لخدمةِ الذين يرثو َن الخالص. لذلك يجب علينا أن ُنصغ َي إلى ما سمعناه إصغا ًء شديداً, لئال نض ّل. فالرسالةُ التي جاءتنا على لسا ِن المالئك ِة ثب َت صد ُقها, فنا َل ك ّل من خال َفها أو َع صاها جزا َءه العادل. فكيف ننجو إ ْن أهملْنَا خالص ًا عظيم ًا كهذا؟ فقد أع َلنه الر ّب أوال, وأثبَتَه لنا الذين سمعوه. THE HOLY GOSPEL The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (2:1-12) At that time, when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and He was preaching the Word to them. And they came, bringing to Jesus a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now, some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the paralytic – “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all. So that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” اإلنجيل المقدس

فص ٌل شري ٌف من بشار ِة القديسِ مرقس االنجيلي البشير والتلميذ الطاهر. في ذلك الزمان, دخل يسوع كفرناحوم, فسمع الناس أنه في البيت. فتجمع عدد كبير, ولم يبق موضع خاليا حتى عند الباب, فأخذ يخاطبهم بالكلمة, فأتوه بكسيح يحملة أربعة رجال, فلما لم يقدروا أن يصلوا اليه لكثرة الجمع, نقبوا السقف وكشفوا فوق المكان الذي كان يسوع فيه ودلوا الفراش الذي كان عليه الكسيح. فلما رأى يسوع إيمانهم قال للكسيح: "يا بني, مغفورة لك خطاياك!" وكان بين الحاضرين هناك بعض معلمي الشريعة, ففكروا في قلوبهم: "ما بال هذا الرجل يتكلم كالما كهذا؟ إنه يكفر! من يقدر أن يغفر الخطايا إال هللا وحده؟" وعرف يسوع بروحه أنهم يفكرون في ذلك في أنفسهم, فقال لهم:"لماذا تفكرون في ذلك في قلوبكم؟ أيما ايسر: أن يقال لهذا الكسيح: مغفورة لك خطاياك, أم أن يقال له: قم واحمل سريرك وامش؟ فلكي تعلموا أن ابن البشر له سلطان على األرض ليغفر الخطايا- قال للمخلع- أقول لك قم واحمل فراشك واذهب إلى بيتك!" فقام في الحال وحمل فراشه وخرج بمشهد من الحاضرين. فدهش كلهم ومجدوا هللا قائلين: "ما رأينا مثل هذا قط".  The of St. Basil the Great continues as usual with the following variables.

ST. BASIL LITURGY MEGALYNARION In thee rejoiceth, O full of grace, all creation: the angelic hosts, and the race of men, O hallowed Temple and noetic paradise, glory of Virgins, of whom God was incarnate and became a little child, even our God Who is before all the ages; for He made thy womb a throne, and thy body He made more spacious than the heavens. In thee rejoiceth, O full of grace, all creation; and it glorifieth thee. Schedule of Lent for 2017 Great Lent started February 27th Every Wednesday Pre-Sanctified Liturgy at 6:30 PM Every Friday (Madayeh) at 6:30 PM Next week services will be Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesday March 15th at 6:30pm Akathist (Madayeh) on Friday March 17th at 6:30pm Feast of the Annunciation on Saturday March 25th at 10:30am

LADIES AUXILIARY March is the Antiochian Women’s Month. Our Ladies will be in leadership role as they participate in reading the Epistle, ushering and giving a Sermonette. - Sermonette: Maria Segal - Epistle-English: Lisa Eways - Epistle-Arabic: Nadia Akra - Ushers:Nawal Jaber, Marisa Villafuerte, Hala Aboujudom, Irena Dibs.

HOLY BREAD OF OBLATION OFFERED BY: Fr. Samer, the and the parishioners for the good health of all the ladies and their families on the occasion of the women month. Many Years! OFFERED BY: Elias and Fadwa Jildeh for the good health of their son Salem on the occasion of his 13th Birthday (March 12) and for the good health of Elias, Fadwa and Christopher Jildeh. Many Years! OFFERED BY: Basim and Amal Ayoub for the good health of their grandchildren on the occasion of their birthdays, William (March 6) and Edward (March 23) and for the good health of their parents Daniel and Amany Ayoub. Many Years! OFFERED BY: Wardia and Elias Hanani for the good health of their son Mousa on the occasion of his birthday (March 11), and for the good health of the Hanani, Alhadad and Jaghab families. Many Years! OFFERED BY: Charlie Kawwas and Carol Sara in memory of Bishara Kawwas (died 1999). ! OFFERED BY: Najwa Saah for the good health of David, Kimberly, Andrew, Laith, Dahila, Rami, Suhair, Sabrina and Ryan Saah. Many Years! OFFERED BY: Najwa Saah in memory of Samaan Saah. Memory Eternal!

To all our parishioners: if you wish to offer holy bread for the good heath or in memory of loved one and you are unable to make the actual bread you can allocate a $35 donation to the church instead. COFFEE HOUR Sponsored by: Sunday School Bake Sale. (To host the Coffee Hour, please contact Norma Hanani Alhadad at (408) 225-8372 or [email protected] ) UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE CHURCH - March 12: Sunday school bake sale. - March 19: Falafel luncheon sponsored by Wissam Salameh. - April 5: Kaak and Maamoul workshop. More info will be available. - April 9: Palm Sunday/ bake sale. - April 15: Holy Saturday/ midnight potluck. - April 16: Easter/ Egg hunt and lunch provided by the ladies auxiliary.

Young Adult Professional Educational Class All young adult professionals are invited to a short meeting at the Sunday school, for a spiritual educational discussion led by John Dibs; we had a great initial meeting of the young adults at Church of the Redeemer after church on March 5. Mark your calendar for the next meeting, to be held at Church of the Redeemer after church on Sunday, March 19 to talk about starting a book or discussion group for young adults - those in college or in the working world, single or married. Possible Activities:  Lenten Retreat on the theme, “Love Thy Neighbor,” at Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral in San Francisco, Sunday April 2. Would likely attend liturgy there in the morning.  Ronald McDonald House in Palo Alto - Serve dinner to families and children in residence. Mazen and Dn. John will look into possible dates for this volunteer opportunity.  Bible Bowl at the Parish Life Conference 2017 hosted by St. Michael’s Church in Van Nuys, Calif., July 5 to 9. Start planning ahead if you can help attend and represent the parish on an adult Bible Bowl team. Topics for Learning: Dn. John solicited topics of interest to explore, and we came up with the following:  The Old Testament

 Pharisaical behavior in the Gospel of Matthew

 Book study on the lives of the  Differences between Orthodox and other churches

 Bible Bowl study Thanks for your participation and interest! In Christ, Dn. John

Parish Council Members The Parish Council members’ of 2017; Henry Veizades (Chairman), Rabih Filfili (Vice-chair), Mazen Manasseh (Secretary), Roula Haddad (Treasurer), Sana Eideh, Jad Bateh, Sal Hanhan, Marwan Akkary, Hadi Barghash, Bassam Khoury, Maha Elserougi (president of the Ladies), Victoria Mapar (superintendent of the Sunday school).

SOYO (YOUTH GROUP 12-17 YEARS Our SOYO (Youth Group) is being active through the leadership of the advisor; Laila Kreitem, officers; Serafina Alhadad, president; Dimitry Youssef, vice-president; Taline Kassis, secretary; Gabi Elserougi, treasurer; Zena Fasheh and Damian Youssef, Public relations; Barbara Altawil and Serena Alhadad, Historian; Jonathan Juha, junior treasurer; Dina Kassis, attendance tracker. SOYO UPDATES Volunteering: So most of us are interested in volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank. The next available group volunteering date that is on a weekend (weekdays are only in the morning) is Saturday, April 8 from 9AM to 12PM. Mark your calendars and please respond if you’re interested so I can get a head count! You must be at least 14 years old to volunteer here, so for the younger SOYO members I’m sorry! But we’ll find other fun volunteering for you to partake in as well! Fundraisers: Sunday, March 19 you will be helping out with a camp fundraiser! We will be selling cross bracelets for $5 each. We can set this up next to the bake sale so that it will be easier to sell to customers. We will be advertising about camp to the other kids too since it is a camp fundraiser. Holy Week: The week of April 13 - 16 is Holy Week, and there are lots of fun events that week! Friday April 14 = Good Friday All Night Vigil - most of you did this last year which is awesome. Make sure to save the date and plan on being there! We’ll have dinner, spiritual talks, confession, and of course stay up all night reading from the bible. Woohoo! Saturday April 15: Holy Saturday midnight mass. You don’t have to attend this but it’s personally my favorite day of the whole week. We get to stay up till 2am eating eggs and other goodies after a long 40 days of fasting. Yum. Camp: CAMP ST. SAVA is scheduled for June 19-23, 2017. I was a counselor last year and it was a LOT of fun! I know most of you already said you were interested, but we have to start registering as soon as possible so please talk with your parents to confirm if you are going or not! We will have more information about this at the fundraiser. Alright that's all I got! Hope you read to the bottom! Let me know if you guys have any questions or concerns. Much love to all. Laila Kreitem - Soyo Adviser

SUNDAY SCHOOL CORNER Welcome back to Sunday school! The staff hopes you have had a wonderful summer. We look forward to welcoming you back as a returning or new student for the 2016-17 year! Our Sunday school offers opportunities for learning which supplement the learning-taking place in Divine Liturgy. Let us commit ourselves to learn more about God and our Orthodox Faith. It is our hope that together we can make this a successful year! School Schedule: Sunday school starts 9/25/16 ends 5/14/17. Sunday school graduation ceremony will be on 5/14/17. Sunday school classes begin after communion and end at 12:30 p.m. Pre-Kindergarten through First Grade children must be picked up from their classrooms. Snacks - We suggest that each parent provide juice and healthy snack to share twice during the school year or monetary donation. Please bring them to your classroom teachers as soon as possible i.e. Apple Juice, Cranberry or Grape Juice Fresh fruits, Cheese sticks, Graham crackers, raisins, Gold-fish. Please do not bring any peanut butter products because of Allergy problems. Attendance – Students need to be here on a regular basis and on time for Divine Liturgy. There are a total of 28 lessons. A special certificate and gift will be given at the end of Sunday school for those students who attend 50% or more. A participation certificate will be given to all students who attend at least 25% Victoria Mapar – Superintendent

Phase 6 of Iconography are available for donations for the Good Health or In Memory of loved ones. The Name of the The Location Donation St. Euphrosyniaus (September 11), Back Wall Over The $ 1,000 ea. St. Ambrose of Milan, Doors St. Theodore the Soldier St. Susannah (December 15), Back Side Left Wall $ 1,000 ea. St. Dorotheus of Gaza (August Back Side Right Wall $ 1,000 ea. 13), St. Isaac the Syrian (January On the Left and Right $ 1,200 ea. 28), Front Wall St. Macrina, (July 19) Back Side Left Wall $ 1,500 St. Sabas The Great Back Side Right Wall $ 1,500

Three Holy Youths Camp June 19-23, 2017 Three Holy Youths Camp at Camp St. Sava located at the Burial sight of St. Sava. Diocese of Los Angeles and the West’s very own Northern California Deanery brings you Summer camp 2017. Starting June 19th to 23rd. For registration and more information please contact Ghada Zarzar @ 650-773-5150 or Norma Hanani Alhadad @408-230-5358 www.norcaldeanerycamp.org

ORTHODOX SINGLE RETREAT 2017 SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA Come join other Orthodox Christian singles on May 26th-May 29th at the Pan-Orthodox Single Retreat in San Diego, California. Sponsored by the University of Katherine. Email Donna Fletcher to get registration information at [email protected].

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY As we start this Lenten season, please remember the hungry by picking up a Food for the Hungry box from the Narthex and using the Calendar. Keep it at your home throughout this Lenten season to deposit your change. Boxes will be collected on Easter and contributions will directly help in feeding the hungry people. May "God who is at work in you" make your contributions generous? “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.” Proverbs 19:17

Church of the Redeemer New Website (www.orthodoxredeemer.org)

Online Giving so parishioners can securely donate online using a credit card or bank account. Thank you to the parishioners who used it. 1. Pledge & Census form can now be filled out and submitted from within the website. To do that navigates to Stewardship - Pledge & Census Form.

PLEDGE MEMBERS Thank you to all the members who submitted their pledge form either using our online website or filling out the paper form. Members pledging online 2017 Members pledging Offline 2017 Roula Haddad James & Cynthia Newman Mazen Manasseh Nuha Naser Maria & Mitchell Segal Najwa Saah George Skaff Marwan & Mona Awad James Stroud Suleiman & Diana Fasheh Harissis Veizades Nahida Fattaleh Henry & Sheila Veizades Ibtisam Kreitem Fr.Samer & Julianna Yousef Salwa Muaddi Dania & Jonathan Baker Marwan Mukhar Dn. John Dibs Hilda Sakkab John Mogannam Elias & Fadwa Jildeh Amanda Salameh Bassam & Barbara Saffouri Basim & Amal Ayoub Salim & Wardeh Asfour Amine & Andalusia Kechfe Eve Voydat Margaret Hanna Nicholas Bechwati.

"Members, who had a recurring pledge donation setup online against the "2016 Pledge Fund", please setup your recurring donation again against the new "Pledge Fund". Going forward, your recurring donation will apply to the following years automatically, unless you cancel it. Sorry for the inconveience.

Please submit your pledge form as soon as possible in order to update our records.