The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese

The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese Of North America Diocese of Los Angeles and the west. St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church كنيسة القديس فيليبس الرسول النطاكية الرثوذكسية

15804 – 98 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T5P-4R9 Tel: (780) 489-7943, Fax: (780) 930-2095, www.stphilipedmonton.org , Email: [email protected]

Pastor: V. Reverend Archpriest Elias Ferzli. Attached: V. Rev. Archpriest Joseph Sakkab; Rev. Fr. Raphael Johnston; Rev. Deacon Simon Sakkab.

March 12, 2017

Second Sunday of Great Lent; Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas. سسسسس سسسسسس سس سسسسسس سسس سسسسسس سسسسسسسسس سسسسسسس.

Weekly Service Schedule: Saturday: 6:00 PM Vesper service Sunday: 9:30 AM Matins Service 11:00 AM Divine Liturgy اللحن الخامس اليوثينا الخامسة Tone 5 Eothenon 5 (Troparion of the resurrection -Tone 5) 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. (Troparion of St. Gregory Palamas -Tone 8) O Star of Orthodoxy, 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. (Troparion of St-Philip -Tone 3): O Holy Apostle Philip intercede with our merciful God to grant our souls, forgiveness of sins. :Kontakion 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!” ( ال طروباري ات) ( للقيامة – باللحن السسسس): ِِِِِِِِِِ ِِِِ ِِِِِِِِِ ِِِِِِ ِِِِِِ/ ِِِِِِِ ِِِِِ ِِِ ِِِِِ ِ ِ ِِِِِِ ِِ ِِ ِِِ ِِِِِ ِِِ/ ِِِِِ ِِِ ِ ِِ ِِِ ِِِِِ ِِِِِ ِِِ/ ِِِ ِ ِ ِِِِ ِِِِِ ِِ ِِ ِِِ ِِ ِِ ِ ِِِ ِِِِ, ِِِِِ ِِ ِِِ ِِ/ ِِِِِِ ِِ ِِِ ِِِ ِِِ ِِِِِِ ِِِِِِِ. )سسسسسس سسسسسسسسس سسسسسسس – سسسسسس سسسسسس) ِ ِ ِ ِِِ ِِ ِِِ ِِِِ ِِِِِ ِِ ِِ ِِِِِِ ِ ِِِِِِ ِِ ِِ ِِ ِِِِِِِِِ ِِِِِِِِ ِِِِِِِ ِِ ِِِِِِِِِ ِِِِِِِِِ ِِِِ ِِ ِِ ِِِِ ِِِِِِِ ِِ ِِِِ ِِِِِ ِِ ِ ِِ ِِِِِِِِ ِِِ ِِِ ِِِِِِِِ ِِِِِِ ِِ ِِِِ ِِ ِِِِ ِِِِِِ. (للقديس فيليبس الرسول - باللحن الثالث) أيها الرسول القديس فيليبس، تشفع إلى الله الرحيم، أن ينعم بغفران الزلت لنفوسنا. القنداق: إني أنا عبدك، يا والدة الله، أكتب لك راية الغلبة، يا جندية محامية، وأقدم لك الشكر كمنقذة من الشدائد، لكن بما أن ،لك ةالعزة التي ل تح حارب، أعتقيني من صنوف الشدائد، حتى أصرخ ،إليك، إفرحي يا عروسة ل 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 is 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 أنت يا رب تحفظنا وتسترنا من هذا الجيل،

.خلصصني يا رب فإن البار قد فني فصل من رسالة القديس بولس الرسول الى أهل العبرانيين 3:2-10:1 انت يا رب في البدء أسست الرض والسماوات، هي صح عن حع يديك، وهي تزول وانت تبقى، وكلها تبلى كالثوب وتطـويها كالرداء فتتغيـر، وانت انت ،وسنـوك لن تفنى. ولمن من الملئكة قال قط: عاجلس عن يميني حتى أجعل اعداءك موطئا لقدميك؟ أليسـوا جميعـهم ارواحا خادمة تح رسل للخدمة من اجل الذين سيرثون الخلص؟ فلذلك يجـب علينا ان نصغي الى ما سمعناه إصغـاء اشد لئـل يسرب مـن اذهـاننا. فانها ان كانت الكلـمة التي نحطــق بها على ألسنــة ملئكــة قد ث ب ت ـت، وكل تعد ومعصية نال جزاء عدل، فكيـف نحفلت نحن إن أهملنا خلصا عظيـما كهذا قد ابتدأ حالنطـق به على لسان الرب ثـم ثبـةتـه لنا الذين سمعـوه؟

The Gospel The Reading is 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!”

النجيل فصل شريف من بشارة القديس مرقس النجيلي البشير 12-1:2 في ذلك الزمان دخل يسـوع كفرناحوم حوسمع انه في بيت. فللوقت اجتمع كثيرون حتى انه لم يعد موضع ول ما حول الباب يسع، وكان يخاطبـهم بالكلمة. فأتوا اليه بمخلةع يحمله أربعـة، واذ لم يقدروا ان يقتربوا اليه لسبب الجمع كشفوا السقف حيث كان، وبعدما نقبوه دلةوا السرير الذي كان المخلةع مضطجعا عليه. فلما رأى يسوع إيمانهم، قال للمخلةع: يا ةبني، مغفـورة لك خطاياك. وكان قـوم من الكتبـة جالسين هناك يفكـةرون في قلوبهم: مـا بـال هذا يتكلم هكذا بالتجديف؟ مـن يقدر ان يغفر الخطايا ال ا وحده؟ فللوقت علم يسـوع بروحه انهم ةيفكرون هكذا في انفسهم فقال لهم: لماذا تفكرون بهذا في قلوبكم؟ ما اليسـر، أأن يقال مغفورة لك خطاياك، ام ان يقال قم واحمل سريرك وامـش؟ ولكن لكي تعلموا ان ابن البشر له سلطان على الرض ان يغفر الخطايا، قال للمخلع: لك أقول قم واحمل سريرك واذهـب الى بيتك. فقام للوقت وحمل سريره وخرج امام الجميع حتى دهـش كلهم دومجدوا ا قائلين: ما رأينا مثل هذا قط. ST GREGORY PALAMAS .... Now at the same time as St Gregory was living in extreme fasting and prayer, there lived a clever philosopher, also a Greek, a Hellenist, whose name was Barlaam. He said that, logically, it was impossible to know God, indeed God was by definition unknowable and inaccessible to the human mind. On hearing and studying Barlaam's philosophy. St Gregory recognized in the so-called logic of Barlaam a blasphemy, a heresy. He recognized that Barlaam lacked purity of heart and therefore mind and that his logic was the logic of the godless who only trusted in his own mental powers and imagination, the mental powers of the created, not of the Creator. For if Barlaam were right, then all of Christ's work for us, from His Conception and Birth as a man, His Circumcision, His Presentation in the Temple, His Baptism, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection, His Ascension, to His Sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, are futile, they are all in vain. Unlike Barlaam, St Gregory said that since Christ the Creator had become man and part of creation, He had made human nature potentially holy - like His own human nature. By sending down the Holy Spirit, He had given us all access in our human nature to holiness. Just as the Sun is known to us through its energies of heat and light, so God can be known to us through the uncreated energies of the Holy Spirit. Quite simply, if we reject the teaching of St Gregory on this, we reject all the work of Christ and therefore also reject the coming of the Holy Spirit. Barlaam's philosophy would mean that we cannot know God, that there is no purpose in fasting and prayer. In fact, Barlaam's philosophy was a denial of God and therefore the foundation-stone of the last century's atheism and disbelief with all its massacres and genocides with their hundreds of millions of victims. Indeed, Barlaam's philosophy is the basis of all those recent ideas which said that there is no God, that man stands alone and lonely at the head of the Universe, for there is nothing greater than man - that he quite magically created himself in an empty and godless Universe. St Gregory asserted the opposite to Barlaam. He affirmed that man carries in himself two tendencies, one for good, the other for evil. However, the tendency for good can only be developed in man through acquiring the grace of God, the divine energy sent to us from God, accessible insofar as our hearts and minds are pure enough to receive that grace. But this grace which enlightens and brightens us can only come to us if we repent, if we accept the process of fasting and prayer, tears and self-sacrifice. It is vital for us to understand that the thoughts of St Gregory, expressed in detail in his writings, are not just thoughts, not just another philosophy like Barlaam's, but they were based on his experience, they were divinely inspired. He was not talking about an idea, but about the reality which he had experienced as an ascetic in that cave which you can still visit today. And the fact is that it is the wonder-working relics of St Gregory which go in procession through the streets of Salonica today, not the graceless dust of the bones of Barlaam. This is the reality of the Church, this is the grace of the energies of God, this is holiness, the experience and knowledge of God, not imagined, not the fruit of fantasy and the studies of the mind, but the reality of God known to and experienced by those who are pure in heart and mind. For as it is written: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God'. And this precisely is the aim of all true Christian hearts and minds. صحة النفس والجسد بعد ان كان السيةد ةيتجول في الجليل عاد إلى كفرناحوم عند بحيرة طبريدا - وهي المدينة التي سكنها بعد الناصرة - وكان يعظ النداس بكلمة ا. يعرف انهم جائعون، ليس فقط إلى الخبز، بل ةبالدرجة الولى إلى هذا الكلم الذي ينقذهم من خطاياهم. ومع ان شغله ةالشاغل كان الكلمة، كان يتحنةن على الفقراء والمرضى لن ةالشفاء كان يكشف لهم ان ملكوت ا قد دنا. أتوا اليه بمخلةع ودلةوه من السقف بسبب الزدحام. لمةا رأى يسوع إيمان الةذين كانوا يحملون المريض شفاه في الحال قائل: «يا ةبني مغفورة لك خطاياك». جاء المخلةع يطلب ةصحة وما أعطاه يسوع ةصحة في البدء، لكنةه أعطاه ما هو فوق ذلك وأهم. كشف له ان ا غفور وان ةالمهم هو أن يحصل على رضى ا. ةتذمر اليهود لنهم ظنةوا ان يسوع ةيجدف لنه نسب لنفسه ما هو ل. «من يقدر أن يغفر الخطايا ال ا وحده؟» ولكن إثبات ا لهم انه ا وانه يستطيع ةكل شيء قال للمريض: «قحم واحمل سريرك واذهب إلى بيتك». في مكان آخر قال يسوع للمخلةع الذي شفاه: «شفيت الن فل تخطئ ةلئل يكون لك ةأشر» (يوحنا ٥: ١٤). هل يعني هذا ان الخطيئة تسبةب المرض؟ تذكرون عجيبة من حولد أعمى في إنجيل يوحنا. عندما حسئل السيةد عنه: أهذا أخطأ أم أبواه؟ قال لهم: ل هذا أخطأ ول أبواه ولكن لتظهر أعمال ا فيه» (يوحنا ٩: ٣). أي ليس ةكل مريض أصابه المرض بسبب الخطيئة. لذلك القول الشعبي: فلن ل ةيستحق، غير ةمبرر إنجيلي ا. المرض ليس قصاصا. يأتي المرض لسباب طبيعية «ل هذا أخطأ ول أبواه». تعليمنا ان ةكل ةتأخر ةوكل سقوط في الحياة الطبيعية ناتج عن الخطيئة العامةة الموجودة في الكون. ةكل انحدار في الجسد، ةكل موت مرتبط بالخطيئة ولكن هذا ل يعني ان هذا النسان الذي ،مرض ارتكب خطيئة عاقبه ا عليها فمرض. هذا ليس تعليم الكنيسة. كم من الخطأة يسرحون ويمرحون ةوصحتهم ممتازة وكم من البرار مرضى. ليس من تلزم بين الخطيئة والمرض ولكن من مرض يجب ان ةيتذكر ا. المرض يمكن ان يكون نوع من ةالدق على باب النسان. ا يقرع عليه الباب لكي ةيذكره بضرورة التوبة. نوع من التنبيه أو من الفتقاد. المرض افتقاد ةإلهي وليس بعقاب ةبالرغم من انةه متةصل بالخطيئة الكونيةة، ةبالشر ةالمتفشي في العالم. ان ا يعطي عافية بعد المرض. ليس فقط عافية جسديةة، بل عافية روحيةة تشمل ةكل وجودنا. من هنا ان المريض ةالمسيحي ل ةيتذمر بل يزداد اقتراب ا من ةالرب. من هنا أيضا نقول في الكنيسة عند المناولة: «يحناول عبد ا فلن جسد ودم ربنا ومخلةصنا يسوع المسيح لشفاء النفس والجسد». العافية الكاملة للنفس والجسد. لذلك نقول بالعاميةة: «صحتين» نتمنى عافية جسديةة وعافية روحيةة أي ان يكون النسان معافى بالجسد ةوبالروح أي معافى من الخطيئة، معافى من السقوط. هذا ما نطلبه نحن المؤمنين. ل ةبد ان يقوى إيماننا بالصلة، وإذا قوي إيماننا بالمسيح نتغلةب على السقوط الذي يصيب النسان من ةجراء المرض، ونتغلةب على اليأس الذي يصيب النسان من ةجراء الخطيئة حتى نكون ناهضين منها كما نهض المسيح من بين الموات. جاورجيوس مطران جبيل والبترون وما يليهما (جبل لبنان) A nnouncements The Feast of Holy Annunciation: Saturday March 25 10:00 am: Festal Orthros. 11:00 am: Festal Divine Liturgy. 12:30 pm: Lunch - Lenten Potluck with fish. 1:30 - 4:30 pm: Retreat open to all (sponsored by Antiochian Women) - The Mystery of the cross according to the Gospel of St. Mark - Offered in Arabic. 5:00 pm: Vespers. Youth Retreat: Saturday March 18 On Saturday March 18, the youth of St. Philip Church are invited to a Mini-Retreat, 1:00 - 5:00, studying the Gospel of St. Mark. This will include 3 sessions, meals, games, and it will be followed by a vespers at 5:00 pm. (schedule to be announced)

Great lent daily services starting Monday February 27: Monday at 6:00pm: Great Compline (Arabic) Tuesday at 6:00 pm: Great Compline (English) Wednesday at 6:00pm: The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (English) Thursday at 6:00 pm: Great Compline (Arabic) Friday at 7:00 pm: Akathist (Madayeh) Service. Saturday at 6:00 pm: Vespers Service + Little Compline (Including the Canon of Metalipsi)

Antiochian Women Lenten Brunch: Sunday March 19. Lenten Brunch: following the Divine Liturgy. (funraising)

Church School: Food for hungry people boxes: Collection boxes are to be distributed today and returned on the first Sunday after Holy Pascha. Collected money will be sent to the archdiocese as our portion toward the “Food for Hungry fund”.