Ambo ST. THEODOSIUS ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL

Mailing: 733 Starkweather Avenue SEPTEMBER 20, 2015 Cleveland, Ohio 44113 GREATMARTYR T 216. 741. 1310 EUSTATHIUS PLACIDAS AND HIS F 216. 623. 1092 WIFE, MARTYR THEOPISTES www.sttheodosius.org - Archpriest John Zdinak, Dean HOLY NEW MARTYRS OF ALASKA [email protected] Cell: 216. 554. 7282 - Dn. Daniel Boerio

- Subdeacon Theodore Lentz, Sacristan

- Reader Julius Kovach, Ecclesiarch & Choirmaster

- Casandra Vasu, Office Administrator Office Hours, M-F 9:00 AM-3:00 PM

Divine Services Eve Sundays & Feast Days 5:00 PM Confessions 6:00 PM Great Vespers Sundays and Feast Days 8:40 AM 3rd and 6th Hour 9:00 AM * AMBO: Articles for publi- cation should be submitted to: [email protected] by Wednesday of each week before noon. * CALENDAR: Event dates must be submitted by the 15th of each month. SEPTEMBER 24

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 1 On the anniversary of the arrival of the Russian missionaries in Alaska (1794), we remember the New Martyrs St Peter the Aleut, Protomartyr of America, and St Juvenal.

BIBLE READINGS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 20

Sept. 20 2 Cor. 6:1-10 Sept. 22 Eph. 2:19-3:7 Sept. 25 Eph. 4:17-25 Matt. 25:14-30 Luke 3:23-4:1 Luke 4:22-30

Sept. 21 Eph. 1:22-2:3 Sept. 23 Eph. 3:8-21 Sept. 26 1 Cor. 14:20-25 Luke 3:19-22 Luke 4:1-15 Luke 4:31-36

Sept. 24 Eph. 4:14-19

Luke 4:16-22

Parish Feast Day Dinner Sunday, September 27th at The Hall 12:00 PM - Cocktails 1:00 PM - Dinner $10 per person, $20 per household For tickets, please see Dan or Mat. Jennifer Boerio

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 2 PRAYER REQUESTS

Departed: Sandee Holod Grace Parhamovich (Karen Felon’s Ill Afflicted & Matthew Hunley (Phyllis mother) Special Intentions: Gindlesperger’s brother-in-law) Daria Petrokowski Donna Jacak Debby Pinta Matushka Catherine Jula Victor Jacak Cindy Powkowski Protopresbyter Vasilije Sokolovic Patrick Jacobson (friend of Paul Valerie Rolls (Fr. John’s cousin) Protopresbyter Rastko Trbuhovic Pangrace) Dorothy Romig Archpriest Theodore Bobosh Joy Jahans (friend of Paul Pangrace) Julia Sankovic (Child) Mother Anna Stephen Jahans (friend of Paul Elaine Sudnick (Joy Pfeiffer’s Mary Pangrace) mother) Michael Diane Kearsey (Janice Tkacz’s Janice Tkacz Betty Balasz sister) Elisabeth Wright (friend of Paul Judy Baughman Maher Khalil Pangrace) Carol Bohurjak Thomas Khalil Erin Zawolowycz Frank Byndas John Kovalski (friend of Paul Alice Zdinak (Fr. John’s Mother) Navada Coneley Pangrace) Metodije Damljanovic (Child) Dorothy Laskovich Douglas & Kaitlyn Evans Horia Dascalescu (Lavinia Morris’s Paul Laskovich & Unborn Child brother) Paul Mihal Cindy Durkalski Anna Mysiw (friend and neighbor of Congratulations: Nashwa Fam Helen Antonik) Dorothy Fowler Maude Palumbo (Michelle Rajisch’s Jason & Rachel Wojnicz Vladimir Fowler mother) & Newborn Autumn Noelle Julia Grabowski Debra Parhamovich (Karen Felon’s Roger Haupt (Lisa Theodore’s sister) cousin)

Please note that names will remain on the list for approximately one month and then removed. If you would like a name to be relisted, please contact the office at 216-741-1310.

The Altar Society will be selling baked goods at the Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival and are asking for donations to cover our expenses. We will be passing a basket after Liturgy today. Thank you for all your help!

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 3 Welcome Visitors Our parish welcomes you and thanks you for joining us at today’s Divine Liturgy. While only Orthodox Christians may approach the chalice for Holy Communion, everyone is welcome to partake of the Holy Bread after Liturgy. You are also invited to join us for fellowship in the Parish Hall following Liturgy.

COFEE HOUR & GREETERS SCHEDULES Coffee Hour: Greeters: 9/20/15 Cathy Weber & Mat. Jenn Boerio Michael Tabeling & Linda Smotzer 9/27/15 Lauren Miklos & Chandra Czaruk Karen Felon & Paul Pangrace 10/4/15 TBA Mat. Jenn Boerio & Tammy Ponomarenko 10/11/15 TBA Sonia Vorell & Karen Felon 10/18/15 TBA Linda Smotzer & Virgina Medvec 10/25/15 TBA Nina & Elizabeth Antonik 11/1/15 TBA Michael Tabeling & Tammy Ponomarenko

FOOD PANTRY

GOD’S GIFTS TO US - Our Food Pantry ministry continues through Merrick House. They currently use the bags in their Moms OUR GIFTS TO GOD Weekly expenses: $ 6,538.00 First program. We can always use your help by "sponsoring a bag". Envelopes are in the foyer, $10 Last week’s collection $ 3,642.00 fills a bag. Thank you and God bless you for helping Over/Under < $ 2,896.00 > those in need. - Dan Morris

Dome Lighters Donations to offset the cost of lighting the domes can be made for The Health Of or In Memory Of your loved ones. Contact the Parish Office if you are interested. For the entire 2015 year: In loving memory of Olga Fritskey from John & Ruth Fritskey

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 4 Before His Ascension, Our Lord commissioned His disciples to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

SUPPORT OUR SEMINARIANS!

I While all of God’s People are called to proclaim the Good News, our have been given the special task of “equipping the for ministry” by planting the seeds of faith and nurturing spiritual growth. I For three quarters of a century, our seminaries have devoted themselves to imparting information about our faith and to pursuing the formation of those called to the ordained ministry. I Our diocesan seminarians have chosen a truly difficult and selfless path, especially in terms of funding their studies and related living expenses. I September 2015 has been SEPTEMBER 27 designated “Support Our Seminarians Month” IS SOS SUNDAY! in the Diocese of the Midwest, culminating in “SOS Sunday” on September 27. Please be Please send your generous as we join together to help lighten our donations to the seminarians’ financial burdens. Diocese of the Midwest 927 North LaSalle Blvd. I All funds will be given directly to our Chicago, IL 60610 seminarians!

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 5 MEET YOUR SEMINARIANS / Diocese of the Midwest Mark Chenoweth, Holy Assumption, Canton, OH—Mark was born into a Protestant family, and irst encountered through a college professor. Upon graduating, and during an internship in Wash- ington DC, his Catholic roommate showed him the riches of the Fathers. After navigating through the differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, he began attending an Orthodox parish in Virginia. He returned to school to study theology after immersing himself in Orthodoxy for a few years, inally being Chrimated in 2012. Mark hopes, by God’s grace, to bring everything he encounters at St Vladimir’s back into parish life and into academic life and to strengthen the church in any way he can.

Basil Ferguson, Holy Transiguration, Livonia, MI—Basil attended an evangelical liberal arts college where he met his wife, Marina, a foreign student from St. Petersburg, Russia. They were married, and Basil began attending an evangelical seminary in Chicago. Basil briely served as an associate pastor at an evangelical church. Questions about evangelicalism and the historical Church that emerged in college, however, had expanded and intensiied. Eventually, Basil resigned from the evangelical church so that he and Marina could become catechumens; they were eventually received into the Church. Spurred by a seminarian’s visit to their parish, Basil and Marina received a blessing to attend seminary.

Megan Haak, Christ the Savior Church, Chicago, IL—Megan attended Wheaton College, a non- denominational Protestant liberal arts college, where she majored in Christian Formation and Minis- try. There she encountered Orthodoxy through a friend, and was increasingly drawn to the Church. After graduating, Megan moved to Chicago and found Christ the Savior Orthodox Church, where she was Chrismated. Megan’s desire has always been to devote all of her time to ministry. With the guidance of her priest, she inally decided to pursue that call by applying to St. Tikhon’s Seminary. She hopes to be- come more fully grounded in Orthodoxy, better equipped to facilitate the growth of the Church, and more strongly fortiied to reach those outside the Church with Christ’s love.

John Kennerk, Christ the Savior Church, Chicago, IL—John attended Calvin College in Grand Rap- ids, Michigan, where he met his wife Michelle. He continued his studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked in the auction industry as a ine art specialist, and Michelle worked for a textile design company. During the Baptism of their daughter, Inez, John and Michelle were received into the church. They are overjoyed to be at St. Tikhon’s, where their son Anthony George was baptized in 2014.

William Rettig, Holy Church, Paul, MN—William studied theology and philosophy at Bethel University, where he became aware of Orthodoxy through the study of church history, reading of the , and a trip to Turkey and Greece. William began attending Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in St. Paul along with Jillian, whom he met in a college tutoring program, ultimately being received into the church, and marrying. William worked as a retail buyer before realizing the need to do something different with his life. After discussions with trusted mentors, including his priest, Fr. Jonathan Proctor, he pursued a blessing to attend St. Vladimir’s Seminary. MEET Jonathan Lincoln, Holy Assumption Church, Canton, OH—Jonathan graduated from Malone Univer- sity, where he began to reexamine his faith more closely. He embarked on a spiritual journey which led him to study in Israel and England. After a friend’s invitation to visit an Orthodox church, he quickly fell in love with the rich theology, deep reverence in the services, and liturgical singing. Jonathan was Chrismated, worked for three years, continued to read about Orthodoxy, and visited St. Monastery whenever possible. He desired a future of helping others along their spiritual paths. Jonathan looks forward to possibly becoming a teacher or chaplain.

Christopher Stoops, Holy Apostles Church, Normal, IL—Chris graduated with a BA in Journalism from Eastern Illinois University, and began attending Orthodox services in 2002 at Holy Apostles Parish in Normal, IL. Two years later, he was received into the Orthodox Church. After moving with his wife to Champaign, Il, they began attending services at the Three Hierarchs Church, where Chris served in the altar. In 2014, they went to St. Vladimir’s, being drawn to its pan-orthodox nature, as well as ield education opportunities leading to institutional chaplaincy. This summer Chris will complete a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan.

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 6 St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 7 St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 8 St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 9 St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 10 A Hesitant Hero

This weekly bulletin insert complements the curriculum published by the Department of Christian Education of the Orthodox Church in America. This and many other Christian Education resources are available at http://dce.oca.org.

September 26th is the feast day of Gideon, an Old Testament hero who is named and praised in Hebrews 11.

But Gideon's story is not altogether heroic. He first appears in Judges 6, which begins with a melancholy description. God has delivered faithless Israel into the hands of her enemies. Now, whenever the Israelites plant seed, the Midianites "encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or ass" (6: 4). The Israelites have cried out to God to deliver them from the Midianites' ravages.

Gideon is humbly beating out wheat—doing it in the wine press to hide it from the Midianites—when the angel of the Lord appears to him and says, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor."

Gideon isn't feeling valorous. He answers, "Pray, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this befallen us? And where are all His wonderful deeds which our fathers recounted to us...?" When the angel tells Gideon that he will be the one to deliver Israel from Midian, Gideon replies doubtfully that he is the least of his small clan.

Yet when the angel asks Gideon to destroy his pagan family's idol and build an altar to the Lord, he readily does so, an indication that there is courage in him. He does it by night, however, fearing his family and the townsmen.

Gideon's hesitation continues. He asks God (named in 6: 36) to produce dew on a fleece, leaving the ground around it dry, as proof that He has chosen Gideon to deliver Israel. Then he asks God to leave the fleece dry while wetting the surrounding ground. Father Eugen Pentiuc writes in "The Old Testament in Eastern Orthodox Tradition" (Oxford University Press 2014), that Gideon is "...redundant and almost ridiculous in his request." Even so, God is patiently compassionate: "Instead of being indignant at Gideon's nagging tests, God responds without hesitation."

As Gideon's confidence grows, God requires him to act with greater faith. He radically reduces the size of Gideon's army (using some tests of His own to determine which soldiers are fit for battle) so that Israel must depend on Him and won't be able to boast that "my own hand has delivered me" (7:2).

God supports His successful warrior, whose stature becomes so great that the men of Israel ask him to become their king, because he has saved them from Midian. But Gideon's faith in God has also increased, and he tells them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you" (8: 23).

But Gideon, like many Biblical heroes, succumbs to temptation, described in 8: 24-27. After he dies, the people again turn to pagan worship, forget God, and fail to show kindness to Gideon's family.

Israel will continue to test God's patience, and Gideon, like all the Old Testament personages listed in Hebrews 11, will have to wait for God to send salvation so that they can be "made perfect."

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral Ambo - Page 11 WEEKLY

SCHEDULE

Sunday, Sept. 20 2015 Thursday, Sept. 24 GREATMARTYR HOLY NEW MARTYRS EUSTATHIUS PLACIDAS OF ALASKA AND HIS WIFE REMINDER: 11:00 AM Faith Enrichment @ MARTYR THEOPISTES Please be sure The Hall that cell phones 9:00 AM Divine Liturgy are turned off 12:00 PM Tremont Arts & Cultural before entering Friday, Sept. 25 the temple. Festival REPOSE OF VEN. SERGIUS OF RADONEZH Monday, Sept. 21 APOST. QUADRATUS OF THE 70 Saturday, Sept. 26 ST. DIMITRY, REPOST OF ST. JOHN METR. OF ROSTOV SEPTEMBER THE THEOLOGIAN Special Collection 6:00 PM Great Vespers

Tuesday, Sept. 22 HIEROMARTYR PHOCAS YOUTH WORK Sunday, Sept. 27 PROPHET JONAH MARTYR CALLISTRATUS AND 6:30 PM Fr. Prislopsky Memorial HIS 49 COMPANIONS Dinner Lecture @ Woodside SOS Sunday Party Center 9:00 AM Divine Liturgy 12:00 PM Parish Feast Day Dinner @ Wednesday, Sept. 23 The Hall CONCEPTION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral 733 Starkweather Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44113 SEPTEMBER

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