Tone 2 - Prokeimenon (Resurrection) Holy Ascension Orthodox Church -The Lord is my strength and my song; / He has become my 209 S. Lehigh Ave. Frackville, PA 17931 salvation. Web Page — HAOCA.org -The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me V Rev. James M. Jadick 570-874-3162 [email protected] over to death. John Malinchok 570-590-2669 [email protected] Tone 3 - Prokeimenon (Song of the ) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -My soul doth magnify the Lord, / and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Sunday February 7, 2021 - 35th Sunday of Pentecost Afterfeast of the Meeting Epistle - 1st Timothy 1:15-17 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Timothy my child: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save Tone 1 - Tropar (Resurrection) sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained When Thou didst descend to death, O Life immortal, / Thou mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long- didst slay hell with the splendor of Thy Godhead. / And when suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe from the depths Thou didst raise the dead, / all the powers of on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, heaven cried out: // “O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and Thee!” ever. Amen.

Tone 1 - Troparion (Feast) Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Rejoice, O Theotokos, Full of Grace! / From thee shone -May the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble! May the name of the Sun of Righteousness, ^Christ our God, / enlightening those the God of protect thee! who sat in darkness. / Rejoice and be glad, O righteous Elder, / -Save the King, O Lord, and hear us on the day we call! thou didst accept in thine arms the ^Redeemer of our souls, // -Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according Who grants us the Resurrection! to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation!

Tone 2 - Kontakion (Resurrection) Gospel - Matthew 15:21-28 Hell became afraid, O almighty Savior, / seeing the of Let us attend: Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the Thy Resurrection from the tomb! / The dead arose! Creation, coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan with , beheld this and rejoiced with Thee, // and the world, came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have my Savior, praises Thee forever. mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of ; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. Tone 1 - Kontakion (Feast) And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her By Thy Nativity Thou didst sanctify the Virgin’s womb / and didst away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am bless ’s hands, ^O Christ God. / Now Thou hast come not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then and saved us through love. / Grant peace to all Orthodox came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he Christians, // O only Lover of Man! answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs have ordered all 6 liturgical colors. Two have arrived so far, and eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then the rest are being made. Each set costs $1300. 2 sets have Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: been donated leaving 4. Perhaps your family would like to be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made remember loved ones with a donation that will be put to good whole from that very hour. use for many years to come!

(Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ O Virgin Theotokos, hope of all Christians, / protect, preserve, and save those who hope in thee! David, of

In the shadow and letter of the Law, / let us the faithful discern a Saint David, Patron of Wales, said to figure: / every male [child] that opens the womb is holy to God. have been the son of a Welsh Therefore we magnify the firstborn Word of the Father Who has chieftain, lived in the latter half of the no beginning, // the Son firstborn of a Mother who had not sixth century. Ordained to the known man. priesthood, he studied under the tutorship of a of Saint Communion Hymn Germanus, who later became Bishop - Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! of the Isle of Man, and engaged in - I will receive the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the missionary work and the building of Lord. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! churches in many places. Eventually, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ he settled in the southwest corner of Wales, at Menevia. There he founded Altar Vigil Candles: Thanksgiving for my Nephew and Godson a monastery known for its extreme Nicholas Butler's Birthday from Elaine Kasmer austerity, in imitation of the . Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the primatial See of Wales, Menevia, Center Table Vigil Candles: For the health and well- being of afterwards known as Saint David’s in his honor. He reposed in Joe Clark's mother Anne Clark from Elaine Kasmer the Lord about the year 601 AD and, through the years, has been venerated as one of the greatest and most beloved Bulletins: In gratitude for all of our blessings from Joe Clark of the British Isles. and Elaine Kasmer ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Bulletin & Candle Listing - The contact person for the offerings "For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the of weekly bulletins, candles and newsletters is Cheryl Ruschak. stumblings of sinners by force...it is necessary to make a man You can contact Cheryl at 570-617-3559. better not by force but by persuasion. We neither have authority granted us by law to restrain sinners, nor, if it were, should we New Covers - If you watched the service of Theophany, you know how to use it, since God gives the crown to those who are would have seen the new gold table covers! We now have the kept from evil, not by force, but by choice." same covers for all the tables that we use in the church! We ~ Saint 5. Prayer is learned only by praying. No one can teach another Fifteen Notes On Prayer to pray. But a good way to begin to pray is to use the prayers of By Fr. Thomas Hopko the prayer book. This is so because, since "we do not know how to pray," the Holy Spirit reveals in the prayers of [the Son and] 1. Prayer is a specific activity that must be a part of a person’s the saints the proper form and content of prayer. In the prayers life. It is, as the catechism says, "a lifting of the mind and heart of the books — especially the Lord's Prayer — we not only pray to God." It is a talking with God, and a listening to Him. It is truly by putting ourselves into the words of the prayers, but we communion with God in the most direct, experiential way. also learn what we must pray.

2. Christians must pray. We cannot substitute anything in the 6. The catechism classifies prayer in three types: asking [for place of prayer. We cannot think that prayer is "anything good ourselves in petition and for others in intercession], thanking, that we do" in the sense of replacing the actual act of prayer and praising. A fourth category can [also] be added: the prayer about which Christ spoke when He said: "When you pray, go of questioning or complaining to God. To learn to come to God into your room and close the door, and pray in secret…" in every situation, and with each of the four categories operating Although everything good done by man glorifies God, the all the time, is a very important achievement: the achievement specific activity of prayer must be retained and perfected. "If you of a prayerful life. are not successful in your prayer, do not expect success in anything. Prayer is the root of all." (Bishop Theophan) 7. What may we ask for in prayer? For everything good; and nothing good is too small. For what should we thank [Him]? For everything. For what should we praise [Him]? For everything. 3. When we Christians pray, we must be consciously aware of About what may we question? About all things not understood. the fact that our prayer goes on "within God"; that in prayer we About what may we lament and complain? About all that is are already somehow "inside of God." We are not lonely, frustrating, confusing, and tragic in our lives. But in all things: isolated creatures attempting by our prayer to call out in solitude thanksgiving and praise, for this is the essence of faith. And in across and unpassable abyss to a God "way out there." We are all things: Thy will be done. in God. The Holy Spirit is in us, making us Children of God in Christ, enabling us to call the Transcendent, All-Holy God, "our 8. Prayer must be private, personal, and secret. It cannot be Father". "For you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really limited just to the liturgy ["common work" or services] of the dwells in you… for all who are led by the Spirit are sons of Church. Strictly speaking, the liturgy of the Church is not merely God…when we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit Himself a form of personal prayer, a form done corporately and openly, bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…for together with others. Liturgy is more than a prayer. It is we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself gathering, being together, singing, celebrating, processing, intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words…" Romans 8. announcing, teaching, listening, interceding, remembering, offering, receiving, having communion with God and each other, 4. Prayer is not merely the recitation of words. Prayer may begin being sent into the world with an experience of something to be by reading or saying the words of prayers. But a mere reading witnessed to. Its efficacy depends upon our personal prayer or saying of words, without feeling or attention, is not prayer. It is done alone in secret. The liturgy cannot be our only prayer. If it not even poor prayer. It is not prayer at all. is, we should seriously question its meaning and power for us. 9. How can we begin to pray? Just by beginning. But how to said, that "our brother is our life." There is no touching God, no begin, with what sort of methods? Everyone's way will be genuine prayer, which does not directly result for the one who different, but the saints give two absolute rules: be brief, and be prays in the sufferings of Christ for the love of creation. regular. These are the pillars of prayer. Brevity to ensure humility, to discourage despair, and to enable us to do what can 14. If we are not willing to do the commandments of Christ and reasonable be done. And regularity to build the rhythm of prayer to take radical decisions and actions toward God, ourselves, into the rhythm of life as an unchanging element of our others and the very world we live in, then we had better not existence. It is a million times more effective and pleasing to even begin to pray. For in prayer, God will push us to do things, God to have a short rule of prayer rigidly kept at regular times things our natural man might not want to do. To dare pray (as than to "do a lot" just any old time, whenever we happen to do it. one Church father put it) and not to do what prayer will demand of us is to court insanity. If we are not ready to "put up" in our 10. Suppose we cannot — or will not — be regular in prayer, not life, we had better "shut up" in our prayer. "It is a terrible thing to even with the shortest of rules? Is everything lost? Not at all. In fall into the hands of the living God" Hebrews 10:31. this case we are told by our saints to take a small prayer or just a few words (like the Jesus Prayer, or "Lord, have mercy", or a 15. "Young man, do not forget to say your prayers. If your prayer line from a Psalm) and to say it as often as we can, whenever or is sincere, there will be every time you pray a new feeling wherever we happen to be. Anyone can do this, as it requires containing an idea in it, an idea that you did not know before, nothing but to do it, and it can lead us to union with God. which will give you courage. Then you will understand that prayer is an education […]" (Dostoevsky). Prayer is a teacher. 11. "Remembrance of God" is the purpose of prayer — to "walk By praying, we are taught of God by God Himself. And one of in His presence", to stand before His Face", to be conscious of the things that we learn is itself how to pray. "O Lord, teach me His Spirit in us making us His children. Remembrance of God is to pray: pray Thou Thyself in me" (Metropolitan Philaret of the way to keeping His commandments, and doing His Moscow). commandments is our salvation and life.

12. What about sweet feelings, consolations, comforts, visions, images, sentiments, emotions, graces of special sort? Forget them all! They are not the purpose of prayer, not the purpose of Christian faith. If God wants to give them to us, we will get them. But we must not seek them or look for them. We must reject and doubt them if we think that we have them. This is the doctrine of the Orthodox saints. For faithful prayer has one singular goal: to allow us to accomplish God's will.

13. Prayer is in no way separated from good works and social action. When prayer is perfect and we see the Face of God in communion with Him in the depths of the , He shows us two things: He shows us Christ's Cross and our brother. True prayer teaches us, as the Elder Silouan of Mount Athos has