Holy Byzantine Catholic Church

The Holy Ancestors

December 22, 2019

Sunday before Nativity - of the Holy Ancestors The Holy Great Martyr Anastasia December 22, 2019 Schedule of services for the week of December 23 - December 29 Tuesday, December 24 – Paramony (Vigil) of the Nativity; The Holy Venerable Martyr Eugenia 9:00 AM – Royal Hours 4:30 PM – Carols 5:00 PM – Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil followed by “God is with us” Great Complines with Lytia For all parishioners Wednesday,December25– The Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God and Savior, Christ 7:45 AM – Festal Matins 9:00 AM – Divine Liturgy For all parishioners Thursday,December26– Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos; The Holy Hieromartyr Euthymius, bishop of Sardis 9:00 AM – Divine Liturgy For all parishioners Friday,December27– The Holy Apostle, Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen; Our Venerable Father and Confessor Theodore the Branded, brother of St. Theophanes the Hymnographer 9:00 AM – Divine Liturgy For all parishioners Saturday, December 28 – The Saturday after Nativity; The Holy Twenty Thousand Martyrs Burned in Nicomedia 9:00 AM – Divine Liturgy 5:00 PM – Great Vespers Sunday, December 29 – Sunday after Nativity: David, Joseph, and James; The Holy Fourteen Thousand Infants Slain for Christ’s Sake in of Judea by Herod; Our Venerable Father Marcellus, hegumen of the Monastery of the Sleepless Ones 8:40 AM – Third Hour 9:00 AM – Divine Liturgy For all parishioners We welcome all visitors and guests. Please join us in our hall for refreshments and fellowship after the Divine Liturgy!

Christ is born! Glorify Him! January 5 – Christmas Potluck During the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity, it On is the custom of Eastern Christians to greet one another withthejoyous exclamation, “Christ is the twelfth born!”, to whichtheone greeted responds, day of Christmas... “Glorify Him!” House Blessings let’s feast! Parish Potluck It is the custom among many Eastern Christians with special Nativity play (.) to have their homes blessed with the holy Please sign water sanctifed on Theophany (the feast up in the which commemorates the Baptism of the church hall. Lord in the Jordan River). If you would like your home blessed, please put your name Fast Free Period on the sign-up sheet in the Narthex. If you The celebration of Christmas begins on Christmas have any questions about house blessings, and concludes on February 9, with the leave taking what is involved, why we bless our homes, of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple. At the center of this longer celebration is etc., please speak with Fr. James. not a mere one day observance, but a twelve day celebration of the fact that God has become man Christmas Items for us men and our salvation. During these twelve days of Christmas we do not fast, even on Christmas Cards and otheritems are Wednesday and Fridays. A one day fast is observed forsale in the Church Hall. on January 5th, the Eve of Theophany. "One night therewentoutoverthestillness of an evening breeze, out over the white chalk Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the hills of Bethlehem, a cry,agentlecry. The shame; courage follows repentance. Did you sea did not hear the cry, for the sea was filled with its own voice. The earth did not hear the pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the cry, for the earth slept. The great men of the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame earth did not hear the cry, for they could not understand how a Child could be greater than to repentance. a man. "There were only two classes of men who – St. John Chrysostom, Homily 8, heardthecrythatnight:Shepherds and Wise On Repentance and Almsgiving Men. Shepherds: Those who know they know nothing. Wise Men: Those who know they do Is Plump a Prerequisite? not know everything. The Shepherds found their Shepherd, and the Wise Men discovered Wisdom. A holy man was having a conversation And the Shepherd and the Wisdom was a Babe with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I in a crib." would like to know what Heaven and Hell –Venerable Fulton Sheen are like." The Lord led the holy man to two The Rock and Sand Story: doors. He opened one of the doors and the Two friends were walking in the desert. At a certain holy man looked in. In the middle of the point they had an argument and one of them slapped room was a large round table. In the middle the other. The one who was slapped was hurt, but of the table was a large pot of stew, which without saying anything he wrote on the sand: Today smelled delicious and made the holy man's my best friend slapped me. They continued walking mouth water. The people sitting around the until they came upon an oasis where they decided to go table were thin and sickly. They appeared to for a swim. But the one who was slapped almost be famished. They were holding spoons with drowned and his friend saved his life. When he very long handles that were strapped to their recovered he wrote on a rock: Today my best friend arms and each found it possible to reach into saved my life. The one who slapped him and then the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But saved his life asked him: “When I slapped you, you because the handle was longer than their wrote on the sand and now you wrote on the rock. arms, they could not get the spoons back into Why?...” The other friend replied: their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the “When someone hurts us, we must write it on sand sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord where the winds of forgiveness can wipe it out. But said, "You have seen Hell." when someone does something good to us we must They went to the next room and opened engrave it on rock, where no wind can wipe it out.” the door. It was exactly the same as the first Learn to write the wounds caused by others on sand, one. There was the large round table with the and engrave the benefactions done by them on rock. large pot of stew which made the holy man's (from Sacred Convent of Holy Angels) mouth water. The people were equipped God With Us ONLINE Upcoming Programs with the same long-handled spoons, but here Live webinars, free of charge. the people were well nourished and plump, Register at EasternCatholic.org/events laughing and talking. The holy man said, "I don't understand." It is simple," said the BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST: The Mystery of Lord. "It requires but one skill. You see they Initiation & Identity of the People of God have learned to feed each other, while the by Fr. Sabastian Carnazzo greedy think only of themselves." Wednesdays January 8, 15, & 22 @5:00-6:00 pm PST Put the Dickens back in Christmas December 20, 2017 · Fr.StephenFreeman In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the throughout every part of the story-line. There is celebration of Christmas was against the law. a brief mention of Bob Cratchit and his son, Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Tiny Tim, attending Church on the day. But it Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the was not this part of the story that caught the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a popular imagination. All told, it was the “spirit” season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest. of Christmas that sold America on the However,in themid-1800’ssomeinterestingthings importance of the day. changed the cultural response to the feast and, in Dickens wrote in the depths of the Victorian era. 1870, Christmas was declared afederalholiday That period was marked, both in England and (which is to say that prior to 1870, Christmas was America, by a rise of romanticism, a popular not a day-offinAmerica).Whathappened? sentimentality for “old things,” “traditions,” and American Christmas demonstrates the amazing “customs.” The century before had been influence of literature onaculture. The first Dominated by the Enlightenment, when all important book was by the author, Washington things rational ruled the day. Indeed, it is not Irving (of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle fame): incorrect to see the sentimentality of the In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving Victorian period as a reaction to the coldness of wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, reason. It was a swinging of the cultural gent., a series of stories about the celebration of pendulum. Christmas in an English manor house. The America’s religious history has been a conflicted sketches feature a squire who invited the mix since the very beginning. The New England peasants into his home for the holiday. In colonies (among the earliest) were settled contrast to the problems faced in American largely by Puritans, dissenters from the Church society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In of England, who wanted a radical reform of Irving’s mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, English Christianity. Unable to achieve their warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together desires in England, they came to America and across lines of wealth or social status. Irving’s established their Churches here. They opposed fictitious celebrants enjoyed “ancient customs,” Church festivals and frivolities of almost every including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule. sort. Their strict and dour form of Christianity Irving’s book, however, was not based on any waned and morphed over the decades, becoming holiday celebration he had attended – in fact, a fairly moderate version of generalized many historians say that Irving’s account Protestantism. The lower colonies (Virginia and actually “invented” tradition by implying that it to the South) were settled (officially) by described the true customs of the season. Anglicans. However, migrations quickly The second book, however, was, by far, the more populated those areas with dissenters, influential: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. particularly the Scots-Irish who were largely When Dickens is dubbed, “the man who Presbyterian with Baptists as well. Catholics invented Christmas,” it is not far from the truth. were a tiny minority, restricted, for the most For the American cultural celebration of part, to Maryland. Christmas largely began through the popularity English Churches outside of the Catholic and Of Dickens’ classic story. That same fact, Anglican were non-liturgical. The “feast” of though, accounts for much of the non religious Christmas was as absent as the “feast” of aspects of America’s celebration. anything else. It was not part of their consciousness. Thus, the growth of a popular Dickens’ A Christmas Carol does not overlook th the birth of Christ. It presumes the religious Christmas in the mid to late 19 century took aspects of the day and its presence is woven place outside the walls of the Church. It became aculturalholiday,withanemphasisonfamily his delightful A Christmas Carol. If you do not and the home. want to read, the single most faithful movie Surprisingly, Christmas is probably far more a presentation of the book is (to my mind) the part of Protestant Church life in America today version with Jim Carrey . than at any time in our history. But the echoes of But, more than this, would be the moral of cultural Christmas remain strong. When Dickens’ story: Christmas is well-kept by a life Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, Christianity in of generosity and kindness. That dear story is America revisits its conflicted past. It is not one of profound repentance, the healing of unusual to see Churches of a more Evangelical relationships and the righting of wrongs. background cancelling Sunday services, Dickens’ Christmas was synonymous with a life deferring to Christmas as a “family” celebration. lived in accordance with the gospel. He said it For liturgical Churches (Catholic, Orthodox, well at the end of his story: Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) such a practice seems Bob Cratchit was very surprised, and so scandalous in the extreme. were many people who found Scrooge so Imightnote, however, that the “power” of changed. Scrooge became a better person. Christmas as an event in our culture, is rooted in To Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a the culture rather than the Church. In the second father. Scrooge became as good a Orthodox Church, Christmas is but one of twelve friend, as good a master, and as good a man, major feast days. If those feast days fall anytime as the good old city knew, or any other good other than a Sunday, attendance at Church will be old city or town in the world could know. It thin indeed. And though Christmas is one of the was always said of Scrooge, that he knew three greatest of the twelve (Pascha, Christmas, how to keep Christmas well. May that be Theophany), only Christmas and Pascha (always truly said of us, and all of us! on a Sunday) receive great attention in America. I absolutely think that Christmas should be atime Those of us who feel a certain superiority in our for Christians to gather in Church to give thanks Church’scelebrationofthe Christmas feast, for the birth of Christ. But outside its doors, no would do well to reflect on our own neglect of the one of us could do better than Scrooge. The busy- other feasts. ness of Christmas, as well as the business of This is not an article about what “should” be. Christmas, could do well to listen to the words of Cultures are what they are and got that way by Scrooge’spartner, Jacob Marley,thetortured soul their peculiar history. If America were an doomed to wander the world in chains. Scrooge Orthodox or Catholic country in its beginning, observed to him that he was always a good man many of the other major feasts would likely be of business. Marley replied: national holidays and their customs would be “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its widespread. Such is the case elsewhere in the hands again. “Mankind was my business. world. The common welfare was my business; There are protests against the secular Christmas charity, mercy, forbearance, and that say, “Put the Christ back in Christmas!” benevolence, were, all, my business. The From a liturgical point of view I’ve wanted to dealings of my trade were but a drop of add, “And put the back in Christmas!” It is, water in the comprehensive ocean of my after all, a feast of the Christian Church. Neither business!” of these, however, will likely be dominant in a Would that such business were as popular as the culture that once had little Christmas at all. tinsel and trees. Thank you Charles Dickens, for Another suggestion I might make is to “put the having said it so well. Dickens back in Christmas.” I can think of no better homage to the man who “created” the modern celebration of the holiday than to read Jesus is Not Your Imaginary Friend November 27, 2015 · Fr. Stephen Freeman blogs.ancientfaith.com At some point in our history, we began to eating and drinking belongs to Christ. It is how He attribute a merely mental reality to anything that described the action. was not an object and reduced the importance of I will push the envelope a bit further. The objects to what they could contribute to our mental Eucharist in many Christian communities is reality. We live in a sea of psychology. Things, we properly equated with the “sacrifice of praise and believe, are only what we think they are. My thanksgiving.” “relationship” with you means nothing more than Therefore by Him let us continually offer the the set of inner experiences and dispositions I have sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of towards you. In many ways, a very good version our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Heb of “virtual reality” is just as good as “reality” 13:15) itself. The assumptions behind this are absurd. First, Of course, in the various anti-sacramental we posit something called “psychological” that is theologies of some Protestant groups, this concept somehow distinct from our bodies. But, more is used to trump the idea of the Eucharist as importantly, we ignore the most obvious forms of sacrifice. What we offer to God are words, ideas, relationship that are biological at their very core. thoughts and commitments. It is these How I “feel” about something or someone is psychological aspects that have come to have considered the actual definition of what takes value while physical notions have been relegated place between us. to the category of “superstition.” I have written recently about the culture of The Scriptures do not view praise and sentiment. I want to turn our attention in this thanksgiving as psychological events: article to how our sentimental psychology distorts But You are holy, You who inhabit the praises our concept of God and what it means to be in of Israel. (Psalm 22:3) relationship with Him. When many Christians speak about “having a relationship with Jesus,” God inhabits the praises of Israel. This is not they have in mind something psychological. It the language of psychology nor a description of means that they think about Jesus and talk to Jesus mere verbal and mental communication. It is the and trust that He thinks about them and will do language of ontology, the language of being. It what He has promised. But such relationships are describes what is real. simply a caricature of what God intends for us and The praise that we offer to God is not simply an distorts the nature of the Christian life. idea. It is a sound. And sound is a physical event. For example, in the single most important Just as bread and wine become the Body and moment of His ministry with His disciples, Christ Blood of Christ, so, too, does God inhabit our takes bread, blesses and breaks it saying, “Take, praise. We do not communicate telepathically, no eat. This is my body…” This event has been the matter how many might think it superior and occasion for endless thought and discussion ever possible. The Second Person of the Trinity is since. But all of the thought and discussion mean called the “Word of the Father.” The Logos nothing unless we take and eat. For it is important [Word] is not a mental concept within the mind of to know that the “relationship” we have with Jesus the Father. He is Word. In Hebrew, He is Davar. is rooted in something quite concrete: We eat His And interestingly, the word “Davar”canmean flesh and drink His blood. And though being quite both “word” and “action.” This notion of word is concrete about this essential Christian act may common and important in the Scriptures: seem somehow too literal for some, and not “For as the rain comes down, and the snow “spiritual” enough, the opposite is the case. The from heaven, And do not return there, but water error lies with the “imaginary” communion that the earth, making it bring forth and bud, giving has come to be the feature of modern Christianity. seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so We do well to remember that the language of shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but shall We also offer to You this reasonable worship: accomplish what I please, and prosper in the for the whole world, for the holy, catholic and purpose for which I sent it. (Isa 55:10-11) apostolic Church; and For the precious gifts offered and For the word of God is living and powerful, and sanctified…that our God, Who loves mankind, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing receiving them upon His holy, heavenly, and even to the division of soul and spirit, and of ideal altar as a sweet spiritual fragrance, will joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the send down upon us in turn His divine grace and thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12) the gift of the Holy Spirit… Our modern habits of mind immediately read [You] alone are holy, You accept the sacrifice such passages and translate them into the terms of of praise from those who call upon You with mental imagination and psychological function. their whole heart. Accept also the prayer of us This is deeply contrary to the understanding of sinners, and lead us to Your Holy Altar. Enable Scripture and the traditional Christian treatment. us to offer You gifts and spiritual sacrifices for In Ancient Israel (and generally in modern Jewish our sins and for the errors of the people. practice as well), the Divine Name (YHVH) is Account us worthy to find grace in Your sight, never spoken. It may be written (clearly the that our sacrifice may be acceptable to You, concept can be thought), but the physical and that the good Spirit of Your grace may expression of the Name with the voice is dwell upon us and upon these gifts here offered, forbidden. Instead, the word for Lord (Adonai), is and upon all Your people, voiced. This is not superstition, but a recognition Not only are the holy gifts of bread and wine of the substantial, sacramental character of the offered as a “bloodless sacrifice,” but so, too, the Word. prayers and praises are described as offerings. The In a similar manner, our voiced praise is itself a incense is described as an offering as well. And sacrament. It is united with God – “He inhabits the with all of these we pray that God will accept them praises of Israel.” “upon His heavenly altar and send down upon us The psychologizing of relational realities is a in turn the grace of His all-holy Spirit.” relatively modern phenomenon. At its worst, it has It is more than proper to understand all of this created the current notion that “my reality” is in a manner far more substantive than the merely “whatever I feel.” This absurdity has created a mental and imaginary notions of modernity. Our rash of neurotic protests over “perceived” slights praise is not mere words. Our words are and “micro-aggressions.” But such notions are themselves a true substance, inhabited by God. only the most recent development in a long And so is the whole of our spiritual sacrifice. The process of substituting psychological abstractions sacrifice is not spiritual by virtue of being mental for true ontological realities. Recovering the true or somehow non-material. There is pretty much nature of reality is essential to a healthy Christian nothing about a human life that is immaterial. We spiritual life. are material beings, embodied souls. We offer to It is interesting that the Scriptures put as much God the spiritual sacrifice of substantive praise, emphasis on truth-telling as they do. The issue is the spiritual sacrifice of burning incense, the not a moral abstraction (“don’t tell lies because spiritual sacrifice of bread and wine, the spiritual it’s wrong”). Rather, speaking a lie is an attempt to sacrifice of our souls and bodies. And in this create a false reality, to put forward a creation that primary exchange, we receive again from God the competes with the true creation of the good God. reality of His grace, the Divine Energies, the Life The damage of a lie is greater than its mere of His all-good and life-creating Spirit. psychological effects. It is an “anti-sacrament,” an We live in a world of true wonder, not in a attempt to instantiate hell in our midst. world of the imagination. We give to God what He The Divine Liturgy is easily the most profound has given to us: Thine Own of thine Own. example of the substance of praise. The service must be understood as offering and sacrifice (for so it is self-described throughout). Dear Beloved Parishioners, Friends, and Benefactors of Our Parish, Each Christmas, as wecelebrate the birth of the Son of God intheflesh, we exchange gifts withone another as a token of our love and brotherly affection. This is an age oldpracticerecalling the gifts of , , and , offered to the by the wise men who had traveled from afar to Bethlehem inordertopay homage to the newly born King and Savior of the world. As we know, not long after the wise men presented their gifts, St.James,the first bishop of Jerusalem, wrote in his Epistle to the early Christians that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17) As descendants of these first Christians, and joint heirs withthemofGod’s rich bounties, we not only share these samesentiments of St. James but we alsorecite these exact same words at every Divine Liturgy. Likewise, we alsoacknowledge with him that of all the good and perfect gifts of the Lord there was none so great or so perfect as that of the Only-Begotten Son – the One who was givenbytheFatherbecause He so loved the world, and the One who gave Himself up on the Cross so that we might share inHis divine lifeand kingdom. And so, as we rejoice in the gift of divine life offered to us by Jesus Christthrough His Incarnation,let us also resolve to offer back to God a gift of like kind and value. As He hasgivenHis lifetousand for us,let us alsocommend ourselves and eachother and all our life unto Him.There is no greater gift that we can offer to God for the One great and perfect gift He hasgiventous–HisOnly-Begotten Son. Finally, I extend to you my heartfelt prayers and best wishes for the festive season and New Year. May the Lord bless you, your families, and friends withpeace, good will, and love!

Withprayerful best wishes, And with love inChrist, Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Church 2235 Galahad Road San Diego, CA 92123-3931 Fr. James Bankston, Administrator Fr. Deacon Jonathan A. Deane Rectory/Office: 858-277-2511 Social Hall/Ethnic Foods: 858-268-3458 Email: [email protected] Website: www.HolyAngelsSanDiego.com Facebook: Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Church

Bless, O Lord, the worship and Stewardship of your faithful servants: Last Sunday: attendance: 65; Adult Tithes: $1765.00; Non-Parishioners: $65.00; Improvement Fund: $150.00; Retired Religious Fund: $240.00; Loose Change: $111.00; Church Usage Donation: $220.00; Renovation Fund: $1500.00; Total: $4051.00 Vocation Icon: This week (December 22): The Huber Family Next week (December 29): The Chambers Family Please sign up in the narthex to host the vocation icon. All those requesting Holy Mysteries must be parishioners for at least six months.

Mysteries of Initiation: Requires Pre-Baptismal instruction. The Mysteries of Initiation are celebrated on Saturdays or Sundays within the Divine Liturgy. At least one sponsor must be a Catholic and the other a practicing Christian. Both sponsors must present documentation that they are in good standing with their church.

Mystery of Crowning: Requires Pre-Marriage instruction. Consult Fr. James at least six months prior to making wedding plans. Marriages cannot be celebrated during the fasting seasons of the Church.

Funerals: Contact Fr. James.

Liturgy, Panachyda and Eternal Lamp Intentions: Schedule with Fr. James. It is “holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead” (2 Maccabees 12:46) especially on the 9th and 40th days, and on the anniversary of their falling asleep in the Lord.

Holy Mystery of Confession: First Wednesday of the month from 6PM - 7PM. Also available before all services or by appointment. Confessions end 15 minutes prior to services.

Sick calls / Holy Anointing / Hospital Visits: Requested by parishioner, friend, or family.

Please submit all Bulletin announcements to Fr. James for approval by Wednesday of each week.

Last Sunday’s bulletin is available in the Narthex or on our website.

Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 10:AM - 5PM. Please call ahead to make sure Fr. James is on-site. Call anytime in case of an emergency.