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ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE The Vicariate For P/J Christian Orthodox Communities In America 3`7"%9 >= 5+!_/X' 5+W+^O]Z(' 5+O4\$[/X' 5+ZBYX' 5:3+W(' St. George Orthodox Church/San Francisco $`O+O!'"= c3Y/ b$+#/03# a7@B(' 5O+W4 Archiepiscopal Vicar Father George Jweinat Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne Damaskinos Alazrai The Very Rev. Father Issa Awwad Rev. Father Hanna Khoury Office Phone:# 415-334-2234 Fr. George’s Cell: 415-860-4447 Home Phone# 650-692-4519 Office Fax: # 415-334-2275 Sunday March 5th, 2017 First Sunday Of Lent Tone 4 < ;:96$ -8#276$ 543(210$ /.& -,+*)('&%$ #"! Volume 24 Number 10 www.Stgeorgesf.org [email protected] Monday February 27th, Great Lent Started !"#$%#$&%'()*&%+,%'+-%+.(%/)#$&(%0&%)(&%+1%#$&%+1*&%)2)"1%+1%#$&% #$(&3$+4-%+,%'(&)#%5&1#6 )1- 0&%0"3$%7+.%0$+4&$&)(#&-47 !"#$$%"!&%"'()**)%"#+)!,"()&,- 8)7%#$&%5+(-%9):&%.3%)44%0+(#$7%#+%&;<&("&1*&%"#% "1%$&)4#$%)1-%%)1%.<4",#"12%+,%#$&%3+.4=% >1-%#+%?&%(&)-7%3<"("#.)447%#+%0+(3$"<%@"3%@+47%A)33"+1 )1-%*&4&?()#&%@"3%'4+("+.3%B&3.((&*#"+1= First Sunday of Lent: The Sunday of Orthodoxy -6#15$ 432(10%$ /.& -,+*)('&%$ #"! Lent was in origin the time of final preparation for candidates for baptism at the Easter Vigil, and this is reflected in the readings at the Liturgy, today and on all the Sundays of Lent. But that basic theme came to be subordinated to later themes, which dominated the hymnography of each Sunday. The dominant theme of this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that year the iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726, was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, that Sunday been commemorated as the "triumph of Orthodoxy."Orthodox teaching about icons was defined at the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787, which brought to an end the first phase of the attempt to suppress icons. That teaching was finally re-established in 843, and it is embodied in the texts sung on this Sunday. The name of this Sunday reflects the great significance which icons possess for the Orthodox Church. They are not optional devotional extras, but an integral part of Orthodox faith and devotion. They are held to be a necessary consequence of Christian faith in the incarnation of the Word of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, in Jesus Christ. They have a sacramental character, making present to the believer the person or event depicted on them. So the interior of Orthodox churches is often covered with icons painted on walls and domed roofs, and there is always an icon screen, or iconostasis, separating the sanctuary from the nave, often with several rows of icons. No Orthodox home is complete without an icon corner, where the family prays. Icons are venerated by burning lamps and candles in front of them, by the use of incense and by kissing. But there is a clear doctrinal distinction between the veneration paid to icons and the worship due to God. The former is not only relative, it is in fact paid to the person represented by the icon. This distinction safeguards the veneration of icons from any charge of idolatry. Although the theme of the victory of the icons is a secondary one on this Sunday, by its emphasis on the incarnation it points us to the basic Christian truth that the one whose death and resurrection we celebrate at Easter was none other than the Word of God who became human in Jesus Christ. C'$B(' A/ 37 5%@? >= <3;:/9 8$7 64 54/321'0 /$.-(' ,+*)(' &% $#"! <3O% K 5P3O(' 83*N >= HIJK/L/M G='$1' <3;:/F' 8$7 &% <'@E:D Please Join Us Wednesday March 8th, 2017 @ 7:00 pm At The Service of Great Compline <3O% K 5P3O(' 83*N >= HIJK/L/L G='$1' 5;*)(' 8$7 &% <'@E:D 5;*# 8$7 64 <'/V;(' UT'@% SRQ And Every Friday Akathist Hymn Services, Starting This Friday March 3rd, 2017 @ 7:00 pm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" St. George Orthodox Church 399 San Fernando Way San Francisco, Ca 94127 St. George Orthodox Church %#$!403/2& 10#,/.-, +*)('& %$#"! San Francisco ,+)*)('&! %$# "! Matins 12 Noon Liturgy 12:30 pm Archiepiscopal Vicar Father George Jweinat ARCHIMANDRITE OF THE ECUMENICAL THRONE DAMASKINOS ALAZRAI TheVery Rev. Father Isa Awwad Rev. Father Hanna Khoury 8576543 $#"! 210 /.-,+ *)! $#"!( '&%! $#"! LIVE IN LADY TO HELP ELDERLY COUPLE IHG! FD&"! EDC /% BA@6?! >5=<( ;!:9 WITH PAY /.)-, +*)( '&%$#"! For More Information please call Father George PQRS/T/U O+!KG! :NM! LKJ @415-860-4447 8!:@X3 W#7V /.-,+ Our Venerable Mother Philothea of Athens (1589) Forty Days Memorial For the Child Of God !"This bright star of compassion arose in the NICOLAS FADI SHATARA dark days of the Turkish occupation to shed This Sunday March 5th, 2017 God's mercy upon the oppressed people of By His Beloved Parents FADI & LUSIANA, His Grandparents Athens and to guide many endangered souls GEORGE & WAFA SHATARA & all the SHATARA & onto the path of righteousness." She was BARAJAS Families in blessed Forty days memorial for the Child of born in 1528 to the prominent Venizelou God NICOLAS FADI SHATARA . May his blessed memory be family, miraculously answering her eternal. mother's prayer of many years. Though Bread Altar Offering: even in childhood she showed a love for The Holy Bread Altar Offering (Corban St. Mark 7:11) will be specially offered for the Holy ascesis and prayer, she was much sought- Sanctify of the Divine Liturgy. after as a wealthy heiress, and was married at the age of twelve to a By the St. George Parish Family in blessed Memory of our Brother in Christ IBRAHIM KHALIL BATSHON. Our rough, violent man. She endured his ill-treatment nobly, and prayed Deepest sympathies to our Beloved Father ISA & Khourieh daily for his conversion. After three years, the brutal husband died, FAIZEH AWWAD. May His blessed Memory be eternal. and Philothea gave herself entirely to a life of prayer and fasting, living like a hermitess though still in her parents' house. When her By GEORGE & WAFA, NIMITALLAH & HANAN, parents died ten years later, she used her entire fortune to found a MUNTAHA SHATARA & Their Families in blessed memory convent. Its design had been given her in a vision by the Apostle of beloved Parents & Grandparents NASER, FARIDEH, AZIZ Andrew, and it was dedicated to him. Alongside the monastery, she & JAMILEH SHATARA, GEORGETTE & IBRAHIM founded a hospital, a hospice for the poor, and schools where boys SALAMY , SAMI & SANDRA TOTAH, JALIL, TINA & and girls could receive a Christian education, something obviously RITA TOTAH, SALEM & JULIA JILDEHY . May Their not provided by the Turkish rulers. As soon as the monastery was Blessed Memory begun, she took monastic vows under the name of Philothea, and By GHASSAN & GEORGINA, SAMI & GEORGE & she, her own maidservants, and many young women of the city, NAWAL TOTAH in blessed memory of beloved Daughter & became the first nuns there. Philothea continued in her boundless Sister & Grand daughter SANDRA TOTAH. May Her Blessed compassion for the poor and infirm, whom she visited and tended. Memory Be Eternal. She was so free in her almsgiving that more than once the By the St. George Parish Family in Thanksgiving to God and monastery was left without food or other necessities of life, and the in Congratulations to HAIL & SAIDA JWEINAT on the sisters began to complain about her. But each time, large donations occasion of the Baptism of their Child of God ANABELLA appeared unexpectedly and saved the community from starvation. ANA JWEINAT. Philothea offered asylum and refuge to Christian slave women who By the St. George Parish Family in Thanksgiving to God for had fled their masters to preserve their faith and chastity. This the continued good health of JAMILEH MUHAWIEH. angered the Turks, who surrounded the monastery, seized Philothea, and brought her before the judge. She was told to deny Christ or die, By the St. George Parish Family in Thanksgiving to God for and when she refused was sentenced to death; but some influential the continued good health of KARIMEH RAFIDI. Athenian Greeks were able to intervene on her behalf and to obtain By the St. George Parish Family in Thanksgiving to God for the her release. Immediately upon her release she redoubled her continued good health of NABEEHA SAHOURIEH. prayers, her apostolic labors and her works of mercy, and was soon granted the gift of working miracles and healings. So many disciples By the St. George Parish Family in Thanksgiving to god for the came to join her that she established a second monastery. Her growing continued good health of FAYEQ KHOURI. ********************************************************************* influence aroused the hatred of some of the Turks, who broke into the Head Ushers: Maher Haddad, monastery one night and beat her violently, leaving her half-dead. She bore Ushers: Milad Dalo, Basem Husary & Elias Husary the effects of her injuries patiently, and after a short time gave back her Head of Altar Boys: Michael Batshon, soul to God in 1589. Twenty years after her repose, a beautiful scent began Altar BoysOmar Jweinat, Isa Kaleh, Sami & George Totah to issue from her tomb. Her precious relics, venerated at the Cathedral in Athens, remain incorrupt to this day. The First Sunday of the Great Lent ,+*)! (' &%"! $#"! Known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our Fathers. For thou 98765+43"! $#21 0%/.-! art just in all that thou hast done to us ;F1 ?N.G ;' M6 LG &K;J I>HG .;FE;1D C)B A3 ;@ ?>= <3;:' Section from the Epistle of St.