Saint Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church 146 Third Avenue, Rankin, PA 15104 Pastor: Very Reverend Nicholas Ferencz, PhD Cantor: Professor Jerry Jumba Parish President : Carole Bushak
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever! Slava Isusu Christu! Slava vo v’iki!
Rectory Phone: 412 271-2725. E-mail: [email protected] Hall Phone: 412-294-7952 WEB: www.stmichaelsrankin.org
Christ Is Risen! Christos Voskrese! Christos Anesti! Feltamadt Krisztus Al Massih Kam! Indeed He Is Risen! Vo Istinu Voskrese! Alithos Anesti! Valoban Feltamadott! Hakkan Kam!
MAY 23, 2021 SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC MAN SUN., MAY 23 SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC MAN. Apostle Simon the Zealot 9:00 AM Divine Liturgy Panachida: Jake Ingelido by his Dad Gary Ingelido
Wed., May 26 Mid-Pentecost. Martyr Glyceria of Herakles
Fri., May 28 Monk Pachomius the Great 12:00 noon Pittsburgh Clergy Deanery Meeting (tentative)
SUN., MAY 30 SUNDAY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN. Apostles Andronicus and Junia of the 70 9:00 AM Divine Liturgy Panachida: Fr. Bazyl Zawierucha, Angie Grant, Charlene Borsic -
Mon., May 31 Holy Martyr Theodotus and the Holy 7 Virgin martyrs Memorial Day! – No services today.
Holy Mystery of Confession: I am available for Confession before or after any service this week. It will help if you let me know ahead of time, if you can, when you plan on coming. PEOPLE STUFF Prayer List: Deceased: Maxim Lysack, Sr. Living: Fr. George Livonas. Kristina Anatakis. Gregory Michael Aurelio. Jeff and Chastity Bache. Walter Bolbat. Nicholas Burkhart. Barbara Chappie. Dal Cosgrove. Gerontissa Eugolia. Nun Agatha. Rebecca, David & Bradley Noah Cozad. Arlene Cubakovic. Delores Cubakovic. Martha Danchak. Nicholas Duranko. Margaret Dorogy. Breanne Glass. Dorothy Glass. Eddie Gombos. Aspasia Goode. Joseph Hlavac. George Hrabchak. Raymond Hrabchak. Shirley Hrubic. Gary Ingelido. Andrea Kerkentzes. Bobby Malackany. Joan Martell. Michael Mehalik. Helen Mihalik. Millie Phillips. Dimitri and Kelli Stathogiannis. Diana Terezis. Josh Walendziewicz. Prosphora Bakers: Trudy Trifanoff. Delores Cubakovic and their intentions.
Page 1 of 4 F(E)ASTING Our Gifts to God and our Regarding Feasting: We are in the Paschal Season. ‘Nuff said! Church Regarding Fasting: Ditto! Sunday, May 16, 2021 PARISH STUFF Attendance 22 A NEW Covid Update! The Parish Council held an ad hoc Parish Communions 13 Council meeting held last Sunday, to discuss the latest changes in official CDC guidelines about the pandemic. Here is what the Collections Council decided in light of these new guidelines: Monthly Collection 50.00 1. No one will be required to wear a mask. However, if anyone Sunday 870.00 wishes to wear a mask, you are certainly welcome to do so. Pascha 300.00 2. Spacing: for the time being, we are going to keep every All Votive Candles 195.00 other pew blocked off, just to provide a comfort zone for Paschal Candles 10.00 each person in attendance. Blding Maintenance 70.00 Diocesan Membership 63.00 3. We will be using one spoon at communion. Sale of old lawn tractor 100.00 4. We will be continuing to bag the antidor bread for the time Total Offerings: 1658.00 being. 5. Panachidas: we are going to start again to use the memorial Building and Repairs Donations bread at Panachidas. which are available for upcoming repairs to date are $7166! God bless If you have any questions, please see Carole or any member of your generosity! the Council. New! Grave Blessings! Also at that meeting, it was decided to keep our current practice in scheduling Grave Blessings: Saturday, June 19, is the 5th and final All Souls Saturday for the year. We will celebrate Divine Liturgy and the reading of the Hramoty of the deceased, and then proceed immediately to the cemetery for grave blessings. All are welcome to come and participate in this annual tradition! Reminder! Sandwiches For the Homeless: Prep and making the lunches: Friday, June 4, starting at 6 PM. Delivery: Saturday at 10:30 AM. We welcome any donations that folks would want to offer to support this worthy cause. God bless our parish and our parishioners! Update! Triangle Hoagie Sale Pickup! PROFIT $500!!!! This was really a great Fund raiser. Thanks and God bless! Building and Repairs Donations which are available for upcoming repairs to date are $7166! MEMORIAL DAY Memorial Day! We remember and pray for all those who have died in the Armed Forces to protect our country and our freedom. May we as a nation strive to honor their sacrifice by continuing to work toward making the ideals and goals that are the bedrock of our country’s existence true for every person: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” – Constitution of the United States
Page 2 of 4 The Declaration of Independence lays out the basic ideals and principles which form the bedrock of this country’s existence. They are self-evident, but they are not self-creating. I mean that they do not exist unless we make them exist. As I think about this, I realize that these “Truths” are in fact true. As Truth, they can only come from the One Source of all Truth: God Himself, as the Declaration acknowledges. This beginning of the Declaration gives a good summary of the reasons that God created the world in the first place: that we may have life, be free and pursue the One Source and therefore the One Goal of all happiness: union with God, Who treats us all as if we were actually equal to Him. Well, we see how well that worked out for God: we managed to thwart God’s purpose through our own human choices to not pursue those Truths. God always wins in the long run (hence the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son), but we must do our part to share in that perfect life He offers us. So, the Truths of the Declaration, are not a one-and-done. We as persons and as a nation must choose them, and constantly choose them. And in choosing them every day, we bring ourselves and each other closer to the perfection those Truths, those Ideals express. So, how do we do this? In terms of our nation, the Preamble of the Constitution lays out the “How”. It provides the map, the guidebook, for living out the “How” as a country, a people. The United States was specifically created “in Order to form a more perfect Union, to establish Justice, to insure domestic Tranquility, to provide for the common defence, to promote the general Welfare, and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” When this country was formed, it was absolutely unprecedented in human history to purposely found a nation just so that it could embody and live out the “How”. Anyone else who has tried to do the same since has basically followed the American pattern and purpose. But note: the Constitution does not say or imply that these purposes were automatically completed by ratifying it. Rather, the infinitive forms of the verbs (to form, to establish, etc.) imply an ongoing and continuous effort to put these goals into practice in a constantly fuller and more complete way. (Remember, the writers of the Constitution got the ideas from God’s Word, so if this sounds kinda like a religious call to Faith, just consider the Source.) Clearly, we as a nation have not yet accomplished all of the goals established in the Constitution. We must continue to strive to perfect the ideals put forth by the Declaration, ideals which guide our very existence as a country. As we do so with the help of God’s grace, I am confident that we will achieve the goals put forth by our country’s Founders. May God continue to bless America!
Page 3 of 4 HOLY APOSTLE SIMON THE ZEALOT May 10/23. From a variety of sources. The Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot hailed from Cana of Galilee. He was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, and hence a brother of the Lord after the flesh, and he was also one of the 12 Apostles. The first miracle which the Saviour worked, -- the transforming of water into wine, occurred at the house of Simon: at the time of a wedding-feast there was insufficient wine for the guests. Then the Lord, at the prompting of the Most Holy Mother of God, transformed water into wine. Struck by the miracle, Simon with all his heart and soul believed in the Lord Jesus as the Promised Messiah and, having left behind everything, he followed after Him. Simon received the title "the Zealot", i.e. meaning a person who is zealous. His nickname distinguishes him specifically from Simon Peter, and also the other 12 Simon’s mentioned in the New Testament. No one is exactly sure what the nickname specifically refers to. Many, as in the traditional text from the Synaxarion above, think it means that he was “zealous” for the Mosaic Law, meaning that before he met Jesus, he was an advocate of very strict observance of the Jewish Law. This is a very good possibility. Others, especially in more recent biblical scholarship, suggest that it means the Simon was of the Zealot party. The Zealots promoted the idea of taking back their own land, the Promised Land, and having their own country again. Of course, this would involve rebellion and violence, and the Zealots led at least two rebellions against the Roman Empire around the year 100 AD, long after Jesus died and rose from the dead. So Simon would have belonged to a group that was completely antagonistic to Roman rule and violently opposed it. The Zealots also, by the way, advocated a very strict observance of the Jewish Law. So, either way, Simon was a man dedicated to the Jewish Law and the Jewish way of life. If that’s what “the Zealot” refers to, then like Matthew the Tax Collector, the Apostle Simon’s presence among the Twelve represents a powerful picture of the gospel. Matthew would have been in the employ of Rome directly or of the Jewish officials who ruled with Rome’s blessing. So Matthew the publican and Simon the Zealot were from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Their presence among the Twelve Apostles demonstrates so well that Jesus’ call is to All People, regardless of who they are or where they come from. When Jesus’ call is answered by people of any philosophy, political stance, or contentious ideas, then we are all also called to accept each other regardless of our feelings for those ideas, because of our greater allegiance to Jesus. On the day of Pentecost Simon received the gift of the Holy Spirit together with the other Apostles. The holy Apostle Simon preached the teaching of Christ at Judea, Egypt, Libya, Cyrenia and Britain. At Abkhazia he accepted a martyr's death, and was crucified on a cross. He was buried at the city of Nikopsia around Sukhum. Afterwards (in the XIX Century), at the place where the holy Apostle Simon asceticised near Mount Iveria, there was established the Novoathonite monastery of Simon the Canaanite. To the present day is preserved the cave wherein the holy Apostle Simon asceticised.
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