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Home , Theodore Stratelates

SAINT GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH august 16, 2015

11th sunday of matthew

The Transfer from Edessa to Constantinople of the of our Lord Christ Not-Made-by-Hands oc- curred in the year 944. , in his HISTORY OF THE CHURCH (I:13), relates that when the Savior was preaching, Abgar ruled in Edessa. He was stricken all over his body with leprosy. Reports of the great miracles worked by the Lord spread throughout Syria (Mt.4:24) and reached even Abgar. Without having seen the Savior, Abgar believed in Him as the Son of God. He wrote a letter requesting Him to come and heal him. He sent with this letter to Palestine his own portrait-painter Ananias, and commissioned him to paint a likeness of the Divine Teacher. Ananias arrived in Jerusalem and saw the Lord surrounded by people. He was not able to get close to Him because of the large throng of people listening to the preaching of the Savior. Then he stood on a high rock and attempted to paint the portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ from afar, but this effort was not success- ful. The Savior saw him, called to him by name and gave him a short letter for Abgar in which He praised the faith of this ruler. He also promised to send His to heal him of his leprosy and guide him to salvation. Then the Lord asked that water and a cloth be brought to Him. He washed His Face, drying it with the cloth, and His Divine Countenance was imprinted upon it. Ananias took the cloth and the letter of the Sav- ior to Edessa. Reverently, Abgar pressed the holy object to his face and he received partial healing. Only a small trace of the terrible affliction remained until the arrival of the disciple promised by the Lord. He was St Thaddeus, Apostle of the Seventy (August 21), who preached the Gospel and baptized Abgar and all the people of Edessa. Abgar put the Holy Napkin in a gold frame adorned with pearls, and placed it in a niche over the city gates. On the gateway above the icon he inscribed the words, “O Christ God, let no one who hopes on Thee be put to shame.” For many years the inhabitants kept a pious custom to bow down before the Icon Not-Made-by-Hands, when they went forth from the gates. But one of the great-grandsons of Abgar, who later ruled Edessa, fell into idolatry. He decided to take down the icon from the city wall. In a vision the Lord ordered the of Edessa to hide His icon. The bishop, coming by night with his clergy, lit a lampada before it and walled it up with a board and with bricks. Many years passed, and the people forgot about it. But in the year 545, when the Persian emperor Choz- roes I besieged Edessa and the position of the city seemed hopeless, the Most Holy appeared

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Ἀπολυτίκιον τησ εορτησ. Ἦχος α. apolytikion for the feast. Mode 1. ν τῇ Γεννήσει τὴν παρθενίαν ἐφύλαξας, ἐν τῇ Κοι- n giving birth you retained your virginity, and in dormi- Ἐμήσει τὸν κόσμον οὐ κατέλιπες Θεοτόκε. Μετέστης Ition you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You πρὸς τὴν ζωήν, μήτηρ ὑπάρχουσα τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ταῖς were translated unto life, being the Mother of Life. And πρεσβείαις ταῖς σαῖς λυτρουμένη, ἐκ θανάτου τὰς ψυχὰς thus by virtue of your intercessions you deliver our souls ἡμῶν. from death. Ἀπολυτ. Ἀναστάσιμον Ἦχος α. resurrectional apolytikion. tone 2. τε κατῆλθες πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, ἡ Ζωὴ ἡ ἀθάνατος, hen You descended unto death, O Lord who yourself Ὅτότε τὸν ᾍδην ἐνέκρωσας τῇ ἀστραπῇ τῆς Θεό- Ware immortal Life, then did You mortify Hades by the τητος, ὅτε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ἐκ τῶν καταχθονίων lightning flash of Your Divinity. Also when You raised the ἀνέστησας, πᾶσαι αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἐκραύ- dead from the netherworld, all the Powers of the heavens γαζον· Ζωοδότα Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν δόξα σοι. were crying out: O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory be to You. Ἀπολυτίκιον toy Μανδυλίου. Ἦχος β. apolytikion for the icon. Mode 2. ὴν ἄχραντον Εἰκόνα σου, προσκυνοῦμεν ἀγαθέ, e venerate Your immaculate icon, O good Lord, and Tαἰτούμενοι συγχώρησιν τῶν πταισμάτων ἡμῶν, Χρι- Wentreat You to forgive our offences, O Christ our στὲ ὁ Θεός· βουλήσει γὰρ ηὐδόκησας σαρκί, ἀνελθεῖν God. By Your own choice you were pleased to ascend the ἐν τῷ Σταυρῷ, ἵνα ῥύσῃ οὓς ἔπλασας, ἐκ τῆς δουλείας Cross in the flesh, to deliver us, whom You created, from τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· ὅθεν εὐχαρίστως βοῶμέν σοι· Χαρᾶς ἐπλή- our slavery to the foe. Therefore we cry to You with grati- ρωσας τὰ πάντα ὁ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν, παραγενόμενος εἰς τὸ tude: You have filled all things with joy, O our Savior, by σῶσαι τὸν κόσμον. coming to save the world. Ἀπολυτίκιον. Ἦχος α. apolytikion. Mode 1. ν τῇ Γεννήσει τὴν παρθενίαν ἐφύλαξας… n giving birth you retained your virginity… Ἐ Ἀπολυτίκιον του ναου. πλ. α. I Apolytikion for the Church. Mode 5. ουκάν τον πανύμνητον καὶ ἅγιον ἀπόστολον, τὸν he holy Apostle, the All-hymned Luke, * who is ac- Λτῆς Ἐκκλησίας γνωστὸν συνθέτην τῶν Πράξεων Tknowledged by the Church of Christ * as the recorder τῶν Ἀποστόλων, τόν τε σεμνὸν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου Χρι- of the Acts of the Apostles, * and the splendid author of στοῦ ὑπομνηματιστήν, ἀξίως τιμήσωμεν ὕμνοις ὁσίοις, the Gospel of Christ. * Let us praise with sacred hymns as ὡς νοσημάτων ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ φυσικῶν ἀσθενειῶν θε- a physician, * who heals the infirmities of man, * and the ραπευτήν, τὸν καθαίροντα πληγὰς τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ ailments of nature, * who cleanses spiritual wounds, and ἀδιαλείπτως πρεσβεύοντα ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν. prays unceasingly for our souls. Κοντάκιον. Ἦχος πλ. β. Kontakion. Mode pl. 2. ὴν ἐν πρεσβείαις ἀκοίμητον Θεοτόκον, καὶ προστα- he Theotokos, unsleeping in intercession * and the im- Τσίαις ἀμετάθετον ἐλπίδα, τάφος καὶ νέκρωσις οὐκ Tmovable hope of protection, * could not be retained by ἐκράτησεν· ὡς γὰρ ζωῆς Μητέρα, πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν μετέ- any tomb or death. * For being Life’s own Mother, she was στησεν, ὁ μήτραν οἰκήσας ἀειπάρθενον. transferred to life by Him * who dwelt in the ever-virgin womb. THE READINGS OF THE DAY

epistle reading gospel reading The first letter of paul Matthew 18: 23–35 to the corinthians 9:2–12

rethren, you are the seal of my apostleship he Lord said this parable: “Therefore, the in the Lord. My defense to those who ques- Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted Btion me is this: Have we no right to eat and Tto settle his accounts with his slaves. When to drink? Do we not have the right to take along a he began the settlement, someone was brought in sister—a wife—even as the rest of the apostles, and who owed him ten thousand talents. But because the brothers of the Lord, and Keph- as? Or is it only the slave could not pay, his lord gave orders that he and I who are obliged to work? What sol- be sold, with his wife, children, and all that he had, dier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a so that payment may be made. At this, the slave fell vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who feeds down on his knees before him, saying: ‘Lord, have a flock and does not drink from the flock’s milk? patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ The lord Do I speak these things according to human ways? of that slave, moved with compassion, released him, Does not the law say the same thing as well? For and forgave him the debt. However, that slave went it is written in the law of , “You shall not out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for him one hundred denarii. He grabbed him and the oxen that God shows care, or does he say these took him by the throat, saying: ‘Pay me what you things for our benefit? Yes, it was written for us, owe!’ And so, his fellow slave fell down at his feet because whoever plows should plow in hope, and and begged him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, whoever threshes in hope should have a share in and I will repay you!’ But the first man would not his hope. If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it [have compassion] but went off and had him cast [such] a great thing if we reap your material things? into prison, until he should pay back what was due. If others partake of this right over you, should we When his [other] fellow slaves saw what had been not even more? Nevertheless, we did not use this done, they were extremely distressed and came to right, but we bear all things, so that we may cause their lord to report all that had taken place. Then no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. his lord summoned the [first] slave and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt be- cause you begged me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ His lord was angry and delivered him to the jailers until he would pay all that was due. This is how my heavenly Father will also treat you if you do not each forgive each other their trespasses from your hearts.” announcements Saturday, January 25, Great Vespers, 5pm

MEMORIAL: Rev. Fr. John Orfanakos, 1yr upcoming church services: Saturday, August 22, Great Vespers, 5pm

flower donations consecration - assumption st. louis Thank you to all who donated towards the flowers Assumption Greek Orthodox Church will be con- for the upcoming Vigil for the Dormition. secrated on Sunday, October 4 by His Eminence bookstore Metropolitan Iakovos. If you are interested in at- tending and would like to travel by bus to event, are available for special order; please see please sign up in the Narthex - cost will be deter- Matthew Monos. Visit today! mined by how many people sign-up - with 40 peo- community pot-luck ple, the cost will be $22 / person. There are only Save the date! On Sunday, August 30 we will be 40 seats on the bus. The bus will leave at 6am - you having a community pot luck. Please plan to bring must be at the Church by 5:45am. Services will be- a dish to share. gin at Assumption at 7:45am. The sign-up sheet is in the narthex. hope and joy Information about future events will be forthcom- ing. school supply drive Voluntary Action Center is in need of school sup- ply donations to help insure that Boone County’s low-income children are prepared for the upcom- Fervent love for Christ nour- ing school year. Please join Philoptochos by pur- ishes more than any material chasing some supplies; please see the list in Nar- food and gives lots of calories thex for items most needed. Donations must be “to the soul and body. It often received by August 23. Thank you! heals incurable diseases, with- give a month towards our future out medicines, and bring re- We would like to offer families and individuals the opportunity to help offset our mortgage payment pose to the soul. with a donation of $640. If you would like to spon- —st. paisios the athonite sor one month for 2015, please contact Fr. . ” synaxarion to Bishop Eulabius and ordered him to remove the During the time of the Iconoclast heresy, those icon from the sealed niche, and it would save the who defended the veneration of icons, having their city from the enemy. Having opened the niche, blood spilt for holy icons, sang the Troparion to the the bishop found the Icon Not-Made-by-Hands: Icon Not-Made-by-Hands. In proof of the validity in front of it was burning the lampada, and upon of Icon-Veneration, Pope Gregory II (715-731) the board closing in the niche, a copy of the icon sent a letter to the Byzantine emperor, in which was reproduced. After a church procession with the he pointed out the healing of King Abgar and the Icon Not-Made-by-Hands had made the circuit of sojourn of the Icon Not-Made-by-Hands at Edessa the city walls, the Persian army withdrew. as a commonly known fact. The Icon Not-Made- In the year 630 Arabs seized Edessa, but they by-Hands was put on the standards of the Rus- did not hinder the veneration of the Holy Nap- sian army, defending them from the enemy. In the kin, the fame of which had spread throughout all Russian Orthodox Church it is a pious custom for the East. In the year 944, the emperor Constantine a believer, before entering the temple, to read the Porphyrogenitos (912-959) wanted to transfer the Troparion of the Not-Made-by-Hand icon of the icon to the Constantinople, and he paid a ransom Savior, together with other prayers. for it to the emir of the city. With great reverence The Diomedes was born in Cilician Tar- the Icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands and the sus. He was a physician, and a Christian, and he letter which He had written to Abgar, were brought treated not only ills of the body but also of the soul. to Constantinople by clergy. He enlightened many pagans with belief in Christ, On August 16, the icon of the Savior was placed and baptized them. The Church venerates him as in the Tharossa church of the Most Holy Theoto- a healer and mentions him during the Mystery of kos. There are several traditions concerning what Holy Unction. happened later to the Icon Not-Made-by-Hands. St Diomedes traveled much, converting people According to one, crusaders ran off with it dur- to the true Faith. When he arrived in the city of ingtheir rule at Constantinople (1204-1261), but Nicea, the emperor Diocletian (284-305) sent sol- the ship on which the sacred object was taken, per- diers to arrest him. Along the way from Nicea to ished in the waters of the Sea of Marmora. Nicomedia, he got down from the cart so as to pray, According to another tradition, the Icon Not- and he died. Made-by-Hands was transported around 1362 to As proof of carrying out their orders, the sol- Genoa, where it is preserved in a monastery in hon- diers cut off his head, but became blinded. Diocle- or of the Apostle Bartholomew. It is known that the tian gave orders to take the head back to the body. Icon Not-Made-by-Hands repeatedly gave from it- When the soldiers fulfilled the order, their sight self exact imprints. One of these, named “On Ce- was restored and they believed in Christ. ramic,” was imprinted when Ananias hid the icon in Cherimon was an ascetic in in the a wall on his way to Edessa; another, imprinted on a Skete desert monastery, either at the end of the cloak, wound up in Georgia. Possibly, the variance fourth century, or the beginning years of the fifth of traditions about the original Icon Not-Made-by- century. His name is remembered in the LAUSIAC Hands derives from the existence of several exact HISTORYof Palladius and in the alphabetic Pa- imprints. terikon. His cave stood at a distance of 40 stadia from Nevsky died on November 14, 1263 at the monas- church and 12 stadia from a spring of water. The tery founded by his father, the icon was taken by his saint died at handicraft at more than 100 years of younger brother Basil. age. St Cherimon is remembered by St Theodore Numerous copies of the Kostroma Theodore the Studite (November 11) in the Lenten Triodi- Icon were made, and one of the first was commis- on, in the Service for Cheesefare Saturday, in the sioned and brought to Moscow by Tsar Michael’s 6th Ode of the Matins canon. mother, the Martha. From the second half On August 16 we commemorate the miraculous of the seventeenth century, various copies of the finding of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Theodore Icon were enlarged with scenes depict- St Theodore. According to Tradition, the Theo- ing events from the history of the wonderworking dore Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the icon. Evangelist Luke, and resembles the famous Vladi- The Theodore Icon is two-sided. On the reverse mir Icon of the Mother of God. side is the image of the holy Paraske- This icon received its name from St Alexander va, depicted in the splendid attire of a princess. It is Nevsky’s father Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodov- believed that the image of Paraskeva on the reverse ich (+ 1246), who in holy Baptism was named of the icon is connected with the wife of St Alexan- Theodore in honor of St Theodore Stratelates der Nevsky. (February 8). Saint Gerasimus the New Ascetic of Cephalonia According to Tradition, his elder brother, St was born in the village of Trikkala in the Pelopones- George (February 4), had found the icon in an old sos. As a young adult, he became a on the wooden chapel near the city of Gorodets. Later, the island of Zakynthos. On the Holy Mountain he be- Gorodets monastery of St Theodore was built on came a schemamonk and studied with the ascetics this spot. When the citizens of Gorodets fled the of Mt Athos. Receiving a blessing from the Elders, city at the approach of Khan they did not have time the monk went to Jerusalem to worship at the Life- to take the Icon with them. bearing Tomb of the Savior. After visiting many In 1239 the residents of Kostroma saw the Icon holy places in Jerusalem, Mount Sinai, , being carried through their city by a radiant figure Damascus, and Egypt, he returned to who resembed St Theodore Stratelates. The next Jerusalem where he became a lamp-lighter at the day the Icon was found in a tree by Prince Basil of Sepulchre of the Lord. Kostroma, St Alexander Nevsky’s younger brother The monk was ordained a deacon and then a while he was hunting in the forest. The Icon was priest by the of Jerusalem, Germanus placed in the church of St Theodore Stratelates, (1534-1579). St Gerasimus maintained the disci- and many miracles took place before it. pline of an ascetic. For soltitude he withdrew to the Prince Yaroslav-Theodore became the Great Jordan, where he spent forty days without respite. Prince of Vladimir after his brother St George Having received the Patriarch’s blessing for a life of perished in battle with the Mongols at the Sita silence, St Gerasimus withdrew to Zakynthos in River. He gave the icon which he inherited from his solitude, eating only vegetation. brother to his own son, St Alexander Nevsky. After five years he was inspired to go the the The wonderworking Theodore Icon of the island of Cephalonia, where he lived in a cave. Mother of God was constantly with St Alexander, He restored a church at Omala, and he founded a and he often prayed before it. After St Alexander women’s monastery where he lived in constant toil and vigil for thirty years. He prayed on bent knees tion, St Constantine had to watch as his sons were stretched out on the ground. For his exalted life he beheaded before his eyes. was granted a miraculous gift: the ability to heal the On the Feast of the Dormition (August 15), The sick and cast out unclean spirits. sixty-year-old prince, his sons, and his counsellor At 71 years of age, the venerable Gerasimus Ianache Vacarescu died as for Christ. Their knew that he would soon die. He gave his blessing bodies were left unburied for three days, then they to the and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord were thrown into the sea. Their relics were recov- on August 15, 1579. Two years later, his grave was ered by Orthodox who brought them to opened and his holy relics were found fragrant and the Monastery of the Theotokos on the island of incorrupt with a healing power. Chalki. Since the Feast of the Dormition falls on August St Constantine’s wife Marica brought his holy 15, St Gerasimus is commemorated on August relics back to Bucharest and placed them in the 16th. Today’s Feast celebrates the uncovering of his church of St George the New, which he had found- holy relics in 1581. ed. He was glorified by the Orthodox Church of The holy Prince Constantine Brancoveanu, the Romania in 1992. son of Prince Matthew Basarab, was born in 1654. The New Martyr Stamatius was a native of the When his parents died, he was raised and educated city of Volos, Thessaly. They accused him of ac- by his uncle, Constantine Cantacuzino. When an- cepting Islam, but he bravely confessed himself other uncle, Prince Serban Cantacuzino died on on a Christian and was beheaded by the sword at October 19, 1688, Constantine was chosen to suc- Constantinople in 1680. ceed him as Prince of the Romanian Land (Walla- It is commonly believed that St. Christopher chia). St Constantine was a wise and just ruler who Guruli was martyred, but little information exists was guided by Christian principles, and worked for about him to prove this. Christopher’s name has the benefit of his people. He also built and restored been preserved in the nation’s memory, and he is many churches and monasteries. His philanthropy commemorated in the Church calendar. extended even into Transylvania and Moldavia, The Georgian ancestry of Holy Martyr Chris- which were ruled by others. topher is indicated by his appellation, “Guruli,” In 1714, after a reign of twenty-five years, St which means “from the province of Guria (in west- Constantine, his sons, and his sons-in-law were ern Georgia).” From this, Church historians have arrested by soldiers sent to Bucharest by Sul- been led to believe that Holy Martyr Christopher tan Ahmed III (1703-1730).The prisoners were labored in Georgia. brought to Constantinople, where they were tor- tured for four months. Prince Constantine was told that if he and his sons wanted to escape death, they would have to convert to Islam and pay a large sum of money. Constantine did not have the money re- quired by the Turks, and he did not wish to convert to the Moslem faith. Seeing that neither tortures nor threats would induce the prisoners to forsake Christ, the Turks sentenced them to death. Before his own execu-