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Saint Mary’s Orthodox Church February 21st, 2021 The Bells of St. Mary’s

[email protected] | Father Nathaniel Choma | 1(330) 402-0352

Scripture Readings The Herald Epistle: 2 Timothy 3: 10 - 15 hile their anniversary was Gospel: Luke 18: 10 - 14 W mentioned last week, we Music will give a special blessing to John & Patricia Loposky Beginning of the Triodion after Liturgy for their 25th wedding anniversary this Publican and the Pharisee week. May God grant them Tone of the week: Tone 4 - many more blessed years! Pages 105 - 107 & 197 (Special) Mnohija L’ita!

Upcoming Services: Urgent board meeting! 2/21: Sunday School 9:15 AM; here will be a quick board meeting today after the Divine Divine Liturgy 10 AM; Liturgy in which we ask all board members and those Panachida for Helen & T interested in helping with Nut Roll sales and bakes to attend. George Nimec, Patricia, This is to form a plan regarding bakes and sales so that we can Mike, & Helen Cherinko, and move forward and begin without undue delay! Bill, Helen, & Mike Balanda req. by Donna Nimec.

2/24: Spiritual Education 7PM The “real” board meeting oard members please be advised and mark your calendars. 2/27: Confessions 3 PM; Great The frst board meeting will be Tuesday, March 2nd at 7 PM. Vespers 4 PM B From here on out, all board meetings will be at 7PM the frst 2/28: Sunday School 9:15 AM; Tuesday of each month. Please set aside these dates in advance Divine Liturgy 10 AM and plan to attend.

3/3: Moleben to St. Nectarios 6:30 PM; Spiritual Education Swearing in of Ofcers 7 PM or all ofcers of the Church and of the ACRC, please plan to 3/6: Confessions 3 PM; Great F attend Liturgy on March 7th and take the oath of ofce Vespers 4 PM following services that morning. We look forward to seeing you!

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Commemorations this week: Large Hearts: Congratulations and blessings for John & Patricia Loposky on their 25th Anniversary req. by the Loposky & Zades families.

Small Hearts: For the health and salvation of St. Mary’s Parish!

Eternal Lamp: Happy Birthday! Christ Lamp: Lamp: Best wishes are extended to Muss, Elizabeth Scinto, St. Nicholas Lamp: Nadine Kaschak, & Kenneth Chou for their birthdays this week! May Dormition Lamp: God grant them many more! Mnohija L’ita! Prayer List Blessed Candles

All of the candles at the front of Clergy & Family Michael the Church are free for all to Nicholas Metropolitan Gregory take as many as they would like. Anna Michael Fr. Kenneth These were blessed at the feast Joshua Debbie Pani Mary of the Presentation of the Lord Pani Nicole Scott Fr. Michael Laity Megan in the Temple last Monday. You Fr. Edward Benjamin Zachary may light them here at the Fr. Kenneth Shawn Ben Church or take them home and Fr. Michael Austin Wayne allow them to illuminate your Fr. James Georgeanne Sharon home and your prayer corners. Pani Kathy Ron Joyce Fr. James Judy Charles Stewardship Info Fr. Stephen Gail Mary Pani Daria Please see the Church entryway Olga Doug next to the St. Nectarios for the pamphlets regarding Church Stewardship that were Ladies’ Guild Cookbooks mentioned during the Annual lease continue to spread the word about the sale of the Meeting. Please consider P cookbooks. In addition, if people require another method of viewing the pamphlet, flling out placing orders, please direct them to stmarysendicott.org or everything therein, and stmarysnutrolls.square.site to fnd the cookbooks and place their returning it to Fr. Nathaniel. order online! Thank you for your continued help and work in this He’s also open to questions wonderful endeavor of our parish and the continued legacy of the about stewardship! ladies’ guild. God bless you all!

2 Saint Mary’s Orthodox Church February 21st, 2021 of the Day Great- Theodore Stratelates ("the General") of Heraclea (319)

e was a renowned commander in the Imperial army, and dwelt in Heraclea of Pontus. The Emperor H Licinius heard of Theodore's fame as an ofcer, and also that he was a devout Christian; the Emperor determined to visit the general, ofcially to honor him, but secretly to turn him from Christ. When the Emperor came to Heraclea, Saint Theodore met him with all honor, and the Emperor in turn praised him for his service to the state. Licinius then publicly bade Theodore make sacrifce to the gods. Theodore asked that he be given the most venerable gods, made of gold and silver, to attend upon at home, and promised that the following day he would return and honor them before the people. The Emperor, thinking that he had succeeded in restoring Theodore to , gladly agreed. That night the Saint smashed all the idols he had taken home, and distributed the gold and silver pieces to the poor. When this was discovered, Theodore gladly admitted his deed and confessed Christ boldly. The Emperor, in a fury, had the Saint subjected to many tortures, then crucifed. On the cross, he was subject to further torments and mutilations: parts of his body were cut of, his eyes put out, and he was shot with arrows, fnally being left on the cross for dead. The next day Licinius sent men to cast his body into the sea, but to their amazement they found the Saint alive, his body perfectly intact. Through this, many spectators and some of the Emperor's own men turned to Christ. Seeing that the Saint, far from renouncing Christ, was leading others to Him, the Emperor promptly had him beheaded. His holy relics were returned to his family home in , where they worked so many miracles that the town came to be known as Theodoropolis.

Holy Prophet Zechariah (6th c. BC)

e was among those who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, following the decree H of Cyrus in 538 BC. With the Prophet (December 16) he began to prophesy in Jerusalem in 520, to encourage the Jews to return to their task of rebuilding the Temple, which they had given up in discouragement. His prophetic ministry is described both in the Book of Ezra and in the Old Testament book that bears his name. His prophecies, in addition to speaking to the situation in which he lived, are replete with prophecies of the coming, and second coming, of Christ. His name means "The Lord is renowned." Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History reports that under the Emperor Honorius, Zacharias' holy relics were discovered by divine revelation in Palestine, and were found to be incorrupt.

St Sabbas II, Archbishop of Serbia (1271)

e was the son of St Stephen the First- Crowned King of Serbia (September 24), and the nephew of H St Sabbas (Sava) (January 14), the frst Archbishop of Serbia. Like his uncle, he became a at the monastery of Chilandar on Mt Athos, where he zealously lived the ascetical life until he was elected of Zachounios, then Archbishop of Serbia. He fell asleep in peace in 1271, having shepherded his fock with love and wisdom. His holy relics are in the monastery of Pech.

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Don’t be led astray By: Fr. Powel I usually get in trouble when I do this, but it just fts so well with our lesson today, I’m going to take the chance! One of my favorite songs from The Eagles reunion efort is “Learn to Be Still” and the second verse sticks in my head every time I hear it: “We are like sheep without a shepherd. We don’t know how to be alone. So we wander around this desert And wind up following the wrong gods home. But the fock cries out for another. And they keep answering that bell. And one more starry-eyed messiah, Meets a violent farewell. Learn to be still.”

That line “wind up following the wrong gods home” is such a perfect picture of our struggles in today’s world. We are desperate for answers. We are desperate for direction and meaning. And we are leaderless which leads us in the wrong direction even with all the right intentions. I see this in the political world with all these voices saying “this is how to fx things” and then they try it and when it doesn’t work they start making excuses or saying “well we didn’t do enough.” The poverty of our ideas and our shallow answers always disappoint but we still keep going back to them in hopes that “this time it will work.”

The despair that these consistent dead ends produce pass on despair to our children that doesn’t bode well for our society. So, what are we to do? Good question.

Look at our lesson today in Mark 13:1-8:

At that time, as came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.” And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?” And Jesus began to say to them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the suferings.”

Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem, a major overhaul and reconstruction efort from 25 BC to 15 BC, was one of the ancient wonders of the world. It could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful. This central structure of the Faith of , , and , had all the rituals described in the Torah and all the priestly work for the Jewish people. The gold plating around the Temple meant it glinted in the sunshine and glowed at night under the moon. It was the Temple of the God of Abraham and it held all the symbols of the relationship between God and the Jewish people.

It was this building that the Lord’s disciples were so impressed by and they were convinced the beauty of the building matched the correctness of their faith in God. But Jesus needed to teach these precious men

4 Saint Mary’s Orthodox Church February 21st, 2021 a powerful lesson. As beautiful and as impressive as this Temple was, within a few decades from the very moment Jesus is speaking to them this very building would be destroyed by the Romans, and “not one stone” would be left on another. This would become literally true as the Roman soldiers burned the Temple to the ground and the precious gold melted in between the stones. The soldiers literally dug up all the stones to get at the gold!

On hearing the fate to befall this magnifcent building, the disciples immediately wanted to know when it would happen.

And Jesus gives them the frst principle to keep them from stumbling when their Temple is destroyed. Don’t be led astray. Keep your focus on Jesus and not on the multitude of other voices out there who will be claiming to speak for God. If I want to protect my soul from being led astray, I have to keep my focus on Jesus Christ. HE is the True Temple of God and He will tell them and the Jewish leaders in another place “Destroy this Temple and in 3 days I will raise it up.” Of course, He meant His body being crucifed and then he would destroy death by His glorious resurrection. The True Temple is the fulfllment of the shadow of a Temple in Jerusalem.

Today, as we enter into the Preparation Sunday’s for Great Lent, let’s not be so impressed with temporary things that we get led astray by them. Keeping my focus on Jesus is the only way to keep being Orthodox on Purpose!

P.S. Dear Lord, I confess I can be distracted by temporary beauty. I know that there is great value in making the Lord’s House beautiful and that I am called to make Your Home beautiful. But that calling is to remind me to make my own life, which is Your True Home, beautiful in righteousness and faithfulness. Help me keep my eyes on You so I don’t lose that perspective. Amen.

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