St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church

Address: PO Box 134, 108 E Main St, Clinton, CT 06413-0134 Phone: 860-664-9434 Web: http://www.stalexischurch.org Email: [email protected] Fr Steven Hosking Rector Phone: 860-866-5802 (Message) Email: [email protected] Dn Timothy Skuby Attached Phone: (808) 341-1813 Email: [email protected]

Services Schedule Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.

Bulletin for Sunday, August 22, 2021

racism and bigotry. All human beings share Welcome one common identity as children of God. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor taught us to free, male nor female, for you are all one in love and serve all Christ Jesus" (Galatian 3:28) people, regardless of their ethnicity or Members of our Parish Council are: nationality. To Barbera - Council Member at Large understand that, we Dori Kuziak - Council Secretary need to look no further Carolyn Neiss - Vice President than to the Parable of Marlene Melesko - Council Member at Large the Good Samaritan Kyle Hollis - President (Luke 10:25-37). Every Roderick Seurattan - Treasurer time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, it is offered "on behalf of all, and for all." As Orthodox Christians we stand against Pastoral Care - General Information in Hartford and is presently stationed in Djibouti as a Chaplain in the US Army, to Emergency Sick Calls can be made at any request what supplies he may need while time. Please call Fr Steven at (860) 866-5802, deployed. He informed us that he is stationed when a family member is admitted to the at a base with a PX and neither he nor his hospital. fellow troop members are in need of any Anointing in Sickness: The Sacrament of supplies or “goodies”. He did request that we Unction is available in Church, the hospital, or send supplies to support Caritas Djibouti your home, for anyone who is sick and which is a Catholic orphanage that his camp suffering, however severe. has an ongoing mission to support. The Marriages and Baptisms require early children are between the ages of newborn to planning, scheduling and selections of 19 years old. sponsors (crown bearers or godparents). See The following supplies are needed and should Father before booking dates and reception be brought to church no later than September halls! 19. Any monetary donations will also be used Funerals are celebrated for practicing to purchase these supplies. Orthodox Christians. Please see Father for details. The Church opposes cremation; we --Clothing, sandals, shoes for boys & girls (all cannot celebrate funerals for cremations. ages) --School supplies: Coloring books, Announcements pencils/pens, colored pencils, pencil sharpeners, children’s reading books (English, Many Thanks to those of you who responded French, Arabic), backpacks, personal dry- to my appeal to have some yard work and erase boards/markers, etc. cleaning done. Your efforts were greatly --Children’s dose medications: Ibuprofen, appreciated. Acetaminophen, cough syrup, etc. --First Aid Items: Band aids, antibiotic cream, Parish (Interior) Cleanup gauze, ace wraps, hydrogen peroxide, etc. --Hygiene items: Feminine hygiene products, I would like our next focus to re-opening the bar soap, bottled shampoo, body wash basement "hall" by the first weekend in September, so I would still like to have the cleanup on Saturday, August 28th. I know that there is some conversation about folks coming in earlier, and that would be fine. Please just keep me informed to plans.

Outreach Committee Request

The Outreach Committee has contacted Fr. James Parnell from All Church those considering monastic life; all Orthodox missionaries and their Prayers, Intercessions and families. All those who have perished due to Commemorations hatred, intolerance and pestilence; all Archpriest Dennis, those departed this life in the hope of Archpriest , the Resurrection. Deacon Timothy, Evelyn, ___ Katheryn, Anne, Aaron, Veronica, Richard, Afterfeast of the Dormition. Martyr Nancy, Susanne, Carol, Agathonicus of Nicomedia and his , Gail, Vincent, companions: Martyrs Zoticus, Theoprepius, Nina, Ellen, Maureen, Acindynus, Severian, Zeno, and others who Elizabeth, Christopher, suffered under Maximian (4th c.). Hieromartyr Joshua, Jennifer, Petra, Athanasius, of Tarsus in Cilicia, Ven. Olivia, Jessica, Sean, Anthusa—Nun, and her servants, Martyrs Sarah, Justin, Valery, Charesimus and Neophytus (3rd c.). Jason, Dayna, and Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona and the Martyr Gregory. Felix (ca. 303).

God grant Many Years! To Kyle Holis, Kaitlyn Loft, Susan Egan, Theo Freeman and Edward Hayes on the ocassion of their birthdays. Parish Calendar ___ Parish Calendar Pray for: All those confined to hospitals, nursing homes, and their own homes August 22 to August 30, 2021 due to illness; for all those who serve in the armed forces; widows, orphans, Sunday, August 22 prisoners, victims of violence, and 9th Sunday of Matthew refugees; 9:30AM Divine Liturgy All those suffering chronic illness, financial hardship, loneliness, Monday, August 23 addictions, abuse, abandonment and Kyle Hollis despair; those who are homeless, those Apodosis of the Dormition of our Most Holy who are institutionalize, those who Lady the and Ever Virgin Mary have no one to pray for them; Kaitlyn Luft All Orthodox seminarians & families; all Tuesday, August 24 Orthodox monks and nuns, and all Theo Freeman Susan Egan Eutyches the Hieromartyr & of St. August 23 John the Theologian

Wednesday, August 25 Our Holy Father Ireneaus, Bishop of Lyons Return of the Body of Bartholomew the The Holy Hieromartyr was born in Glorious Apostle Asia Minor about the year 120, and in his 4:30PM Open Doors youth was a disciple of , Bishop Thursday, August 26 of Smyrna. Saint Irenaeus was sent to Lyons The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie in Gaul, to be a fellow labourer of Pothinus, Ed Hayes Bishop of Lyons (celebrated June 2), who had also been a disciple Saint Polycarp. After the Friday, August 27 martyrdom of Saint Pothinus, Saint Irenaeus Pimen the Great succeeded him as Bishop of Lyons. Besides the assaults of paganism, Irenaeus found Saturday, August 28 himself compelled to do battle with many the Black of Scete Gnostic heresies, against which he wrote his 8:30AM Akathist to greatest work, A Refutation and Overthrow of 5:30PM Great Vespers Knowledge Falsely So Called . He was also a peace-maker within the Church. When Victor, Sunday, August 29 Bishop of Rome, was prepared to Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, excommunicate the Christians of Asia Minor Forerunner and Baptist John for following a different tradition celebrating 9:30AM Divine Liturgy Pascha, Irenaeus persuaded him to moderate his zeal, and mediated peace. He made Lyons Monday, August 30 an illustrious bastion of Orthodoxy and a Anastasia Littlefield - B school of piety, and sealed his confession with Apodosis of the Feast of the Forerunner martyrdom about the year 202, during the Skuby - A reign of Septimius Severus. He is not to be confused with Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Saints and Feasts Sirmium, also celebrated today, who was beheaded and cast into a river in 304 under August 22 Diocletian.

The Holy Martyr Agathonicus August 25 The Martyr Agathonicus, because he converted pagans to Christ, was seized in Titus the Apostle of the 70 Nicomedia, violently beaten, haled about in bonds, and beheaded in Selyvria, during the reign of Maximian, in the year 298. Saint Titus was a Greek by race, and an Saint Moses, who is also called Moses the idolater. But having believed in Christ through Black, was a slave, but because of his evil life, the Apostle Paul, he became Paul's disciple his master cast him out, and he became a and follower and labored with him greatly in ruthless thief, dissolute in all his ways. Later, the preaching of the . When Paul however, coming to repentance, he converted, ordained him Bishop of , he later wrote and took up the monastic life under Saint to him the which bears his name. Isidore of Scete. He gave himself over to Having shepherded in an apostolic manner prayer and the mortification of the carnal the flock that had been entrusted to him, and mind with such diligence that he later became being full of days, he reposed in peace, some a priest of exemplary virtue. He was revered ninety-four years of age. by all for his lofty ascetical life and for his great humility. Once the Fathers in Scete asked Moses to come to an assembly to judge August 26 the fault of a certain brother, but he refused. When they insisted, he took a basket which The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie had a hole in it, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. When the Fathers saw him The holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie confessed coming they asked him what the basket might the Christian Faith during the reign of mean. He answered, "My sins run out behind Maximian, in Nicomedia, in the year 298. me, and I do not see them, and I am come this Adrian was a pagan; witnessing the valor of day to judge failings which are not mine." the Martyrs, and the fervent faith with which When a barbarian tribe was coming to Scete, they suffered their torments, he also declared Moses, conscious that he himself had slain himself a Christian and was imprisoned. When other men when he was a thief, awaited them this was told to his wife Natalie, who was and was willingly slain by them with six other secretly a believer, she visited him in prison monks, at the end of the fourth century. He and encouraged him in his sufferings. Saint was a contemporary of Saint Arsenius the Adrian's hands and feet were placed on an Great (see May 8). anvil and broken off with a hammer; he died in his torments. His blessed wife recovered part of his holy relics and took it to Hymns of the Day Argyropolis near Byzantium, and reposed in peace soon after. Tone 8 Troparion (Resurrection)

You descended from on August 28 high, O Merciful One! You accepted the three Moses the Black of Scete day burial to free us from our sufferings!// O Lord, our Life and Resurrection, glory to Tone 2 Kontakion (Dormition) You! Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Tone 1 Troparion (Dormition) Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in In giving birth you preserved your virginity. her intercessions. In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, For being the Mother of Life,// O Theotokos. she was translated to life by the One Who You were translated to life O Mother of Life,// dwelt in her virginal womb. and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death. Tone 8 Prokeimenon (Resurrection)

Tone 4 Troparion (St. Agathonicus) Pray and make your vows / before the Lord, our God! (Ps. 75:10a) Your holy martyr Agathonicus and his companions, O Lord, V. In Judah God is known; His Name is great in through their sufferings have received Israel. (Ps. 75:1) incorruptible crowns from You, our God. For having Your strength, they laid low their Tone 3 Prokeimenon (Song of the adversaries, Theotokos) and shattered the powerless boldness of My soul magnifies the Lord, / and my spirit demons.// rejoices in God my Savior. (Lk. 1:46-47) Through their intercession, save our souls! (Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:) Tone 8 Kontakion (Resurrection) The , as they looked upon the By rising from the tomb, You raised the dead Dormition of the Virgin, and resurrected . were struck with wonder, Eve exults in Your Resurrection,// seeing how the Virgin went up from earth to and the world celebrates Your rising from the heaven. dead, O greatly Merciful One!

Tone 1 Kontakion (St. Agathonicus) The limits of nature are overcome in you, O Pure Virgin: Having received the good calling, O divinely for birthgiving remains virginal, and life is wise one, united to death; you abandoned the cult of evil men, not a virgin after childbearing and alive after fearing their tortures, O glorious Agathonicus. death, Therefore, you have inherited good things// you ever save your inheritance, O Theotokos. and worthily received the incorruptible crown with your fellow martyrs. Communion Hymn Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him one destroys God's temple, God will destroy in the highest! (Ps. 148:1) him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple I will receive the cup of salvation and call on you are. the Name of the Lord. (Ps. 115:4) Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Gospel Reading Gospel and Epistle Readings 9th Sunday of Matthew Epistle Reading The Reading is from Matthew 14:22-34

Prokeimenon. 8th Tone. Psalm 75.11,1. At that time, Jesus made the disciples get into Make your vows to the Lord our God and the boat and go before him to the other side, perform them. while he dismissed the crowds. And after he Verse: God is known in Judah; his name is had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the great in Israel. hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter was many furlongs distant from the land, to the Corinthians 3:9-17. beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he Brethren, we are God's fellow workers; you came to them, walking on the sea. But when are God's field, God's building. According to the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they the grace of God given to me, like a skilled were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they master builder I laid a foundation, and another cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to man is building upon it. Let each man take them, saying "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one me come to you on the water." He said, builds on the foundation with gold, silver, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each man's walked on the water and came to Jesus; but work will become manifest; for the Day will when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and disclose it, because it will be revealed with beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save fire, and the fire will test what sort of work me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand each one has done. If the work which any man and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little has built on the foundation survives, he will faith, why did you doubt?" And when they receive a reward. If any man's work is burned entered the boat, the wind ceased. And those up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not are the Son of God." And when they had know that you are God's temple and that God's crossed over, they came to land Spirit dwells in you? If any at Gennesaret. How Each of Us Can and Ought to Serve the Church

Wisdom of the Fathers Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky So absolutely nothing does it avail to be near (Prominent theologian of Christ, if not being near Him by faith .... the Russian Church Signifying therefore that not the assault of the Abroad, 1888-1988) wind, but his want of faith had wrought his overthrow, He said, "Wherefore did you doubt, O you of little faith?" If we love the Church, if She is dear to us, then how can each of us serve Her? And if someone were to ask you: "How have you St. served Her?" what activities can you boast of? When this question was put to the holy Homily 50 on Matthew 14, 4th Century Apostle Paul and he had to defend his authority before the Corinthian Christians, he answered in this way: I will glory of the things So that if his faith had not been weak, he which concern mine infirmities (II Cor. 11:30). would have stood easily against the wind also. Glory in our infirmities? Without question, the And for this reason, you see, even when He humble realization of our infirmities is had caught hold of Him, He suffers the wind beneficial for each of us, but how can we serve to blow, showing that no hurt comes thereby, the Church in this way? At the same time, the when faith is steadfast. holy Apostle insists on his answer and explains: For when I am weak, then am I strong (II Cor. 12:10). St. John Chrysostom Then, this is no paradox, no play on words, no Homily 50 on Matthew 14, 4th Century contradiction. The Apostle shows no trace of being "imaginative" or "witty." He writes from the fullness of his heart, from deep conviction. His meaning is direct. He speaks of the Beyond the Sermon Christian principle of life.

Christianity upset the usual concepts dominant in the world, and in particular the concept of power. According to Christianity, power is what "seems" to the world to be impotence, what appears to its short-sighted His sufferings on the Cross, Be of good cheer, view to be a contemptible weakness. Christian I have overcome the world. power is meekness. Meekness is the law of the new life and action, under whose banner the The meek Christian virtues are a mighty power Gospel declared war on the world: Blessed are in God's world - they are an artery by which the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that the power of God comes down into the world. mourn. Blessed are the meek, for they shall In order to understand this, we must pull back inherit the earth. The poor in spirit, the the veil from our own personal world-view. A mourning, the meek - is this not infirmity veil usually hangs before our mental eye that (weakness) in the usual human limits our thoughts and our actions in earthly understanding? life. But when we pull back the veil, before us open perspectives of eternity, with faith in the Yes, "in the world," without Christ, without immortality of our soul, with faith in God, with faith, outside the Church and apart from faith in the radiant kingdom of eternal life. In Christianity one cannot pit meekness and the face of eternal life, concepts are spiritual poverty (humility) against the mighty, completely changed: much that is great against all that has power and authority in the becomes of no consequence, and the world; nor can they oppose the proud power of insignificant becomes great. He who believes the will, so often brutal, hardened, and harsh. and beholds the Kingdom of God with spiritual They cannot stand against sheer physical eyes is like a giant whose head reaches the power, the power of naked force; nor can they heavens. Who has strength enough to throw withstand the power of a refined and clever him down? They can slay his body, they cannot mind or the power of the simple majority. kill his soul and spirit. The words of St. Paul How is it possible to take up arms against the can be applied to such spiritual giants: For I entire arsenal of this world armed only with am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor the weapons of "meekness and temperance, angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not purity and chastity, love of brother and the things present, nor things to come, Nor height, poor, of patience and vigilance," as we hear, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be for example, in the prayer to St. of able to separate us from the love of God, Pochaev, one of the strugglers for the life, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38- rights, and dignity of the Orthodox Church in 39). Here there is an authentic feeling of his Western Russia against Roman Catholicism. power, which the Apostle expresses in the words: We then that are strong ought to bear But He of Whom the prophet said, A bruised the infirmities of the weak, and not to please reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax ourselves (Rom. 15:1). shall He not quench (Is. 42:3), Who bore His obedience, being obedient even unto death, And so two contradictory laws of life stand even to the death on the Cross: He, our Lord, against one another, two kingdoms: the stated even before kingdom of the meek and the kingdom of the powerful. The kingdom of the meek is national, even partisan. It creeps in through forced to wage war against the kingdom of indulging our weaknesses of the flesh, through power while located in the midst of it and replacing authentic virtues with seeming ones; surrounded on all sides by the kingdom of in a word, through the help of those powerful, power and force. poisonous means which are called the spirit of flattery (or deceit). The struggle continues. It is difficult for the Church. It is not surprising that the human By nature the Church is meek and it is easy to powers of the Church weaken towards the end insult Her. If we attentively read the history of of the struggle. But the end has been written the Church, we can see how many have beforehand in heaven: victory is on the side of insulted Her from within, entering into Her the kingdom of the meek. And should it not very heart and thus all the more painfully turn out this way by the laws of logic? For the wounding Her. But it is insufficient to say that Church has been standing against the there have been offenders: it is more grievous kingdom of the world for two millennia now. If that so-called scientific history attributes the meekness were not power, then how could she actions of those offenders to the Church and have survived for even the shortest time in the blames and blasphemes Her for these actions. struggle? Still, there come moments in the history of the Church when Her powers, We should all remember this when our exposed to popular view, weaken in the thoughts are directed to the Russian Orthodox struggle. Why? Is this because the meek Church Abroad. Someone may think: this is a Christian weapons turn out to be useless or peculiar little handful of Orthodox scattered insufficient? No! This happens when, under over the far ends of the earth. What kind of the influence of discouragement and weakness social force do we represent? If the of faith, those who serve the Church forget numerically, materially, and morally powerful their true armament and adopt a foreign kind. branches of historical Christianity are The evil world urges its own weapons on withstanding the powers of this world with them: worldly power, force, deceit. If those difficulty, then what are we to think of our who serve the Church yield to the enticement, Church? In answer to such a thought, we must they weaken and bring Her internal sufferings remember that the power of the Church is not as well. History gives us sufficient examples of in numbers. Rather that in order to preserve this sort. inner, spiritual strength one should stand apart, and such is the situation of the Russian The world creeps into the Church by an even Church Abroad. Thus, if we are children of the simpler method: by human passions, self-love, Russian Church Abroad, if we are devoted to and ambition, love for the first place, Her, if we love Her and wish to see Her insistence on one's own will. The world of the internally mighty and glorious, then how can proud creeps in with the wish to submit the each of us serve Her? Church to one's own plans, to make her an instrument that is political, Of course, the fullest form of serving the Church is for a person to give himself to Church," each with his talents and means. Her completely for his entire life as a pastor or However, the principal power of service does in another life of service, close to the not lie in our knowledge, abilities, and pastorate. But we must not feel that only the callings. The principal power is in the ordained servants of the Church are called to "infirmity" through which the power of Christ be Her soldiers while the others are only comes to abide. It is in our morality, in our observers - some sympathetic, others critical. living according to the law of the Gospel, Each of us has a place in the ranks of the according to the law of the Church. soldiers of the Church, and the forms of participation in service to the Church are How we are to bring this about in a practical varied. The Apostle writes: Let every man way is taught by the most perfect example of abide in the same calling wherein he was the holy martyrs and ascetics; it is called (I Cor. 7:20). Translating this quotation demonstrated also by I the Orthodox into contemporary concepts, we can say that monasteries, the builders of Russia, such as there does not exist a constructive, honest the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Optina profession and a social position where a good Hermitage, the Lavra of Pochaev and others person could not at one time or another that existed before the Revolution. But since contribute his good mite to the work of the all this remains in the past, in order to find an Church. Look at how the fruits of pagan example in the present, let us look at least to higher education were used to great the handful of modest monastic communities advantage by the great hierarchs Basil the of our Church in the corners of the Russian Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John diaspora - to these small groups of people, Chrysostom. What a precious heritage they both men and women, who have given gave to the Church! themselves over to the law of meekness and obedience. Concerning them we can say The Church is meek. For this reason She is in rightfully with the Apostle: For ye see your need of protection and defense. Only they calling, brethren, how that not many wise men must be good means for her defense. In the after the flesh, not many mighty, not many past, both the Byzantine and Russian noble, are called; but God hath chosen the Churches had external defenders: a foolish things of the world to confound the governmental system, the emperors, the tsars; wise; and God hath chosen the weak of the although one must admit that there were times world to confound the things which are when this defense was worse than none. Times mighty; and base things of the world, and have changed. Now the care of the Church is things which are despised, hath God chosen, entrusted by the Lord to the people of the yea, and things which are not, to bring to Church Herself, and so to each Orthodox nought things that are (I Cor. 1:26-28). The Christian. In this regard we are returning to quiet, meek, laborious life of the monastery the times of the first Christians. Our times call sheds such a beneficial and varied influence us all to a conscious, constant sacrificial "stand far beyond its own physical limits! And what a for the good result is granted just by contact with this world, as many different persons can testify! Of in particular; from this source come mutual course the same can also be said about the understanding, obedience, unanimity in goals, Orthodox monasteries that are not of Russian friendly labor for the glory of God and the background. glory of the Church. Thus a completely unique Church atmosphere is established. In such an Those who think that prayer, fasting, atmosphere a person feels that he is in a temperance, ascetic labor, and the struggle special world, which gives rest and joy to the with vices have only the goal of personal soul, refreshing and renewing it. One strives salvation and thus those who practice these to come to it as if to a new earth, the earth of good works, as it were, conceal in themselves the meek. In it one feels the beneficial power a subtle spirit of egotism, are gravely of the Church within oneself. It is easier in mistaken. Rather, internal work on oneself is such circumstances for the soul to open up to an investment in the Church. This is a the reception of the breath of the Grace of gathering in of the powers of the Church, a God that abides in the Church. But if this collecting of the Church's wealth, which does spirit is absent; if within the groups of the not consist in the number of persons, not in Church there are divisions, discord, the large and opulent church buildings, not in struggle of ambition and self-love, then can sonorous choirs, not even in impressive one, in such circumstances, speak of the statistics about philanthropy - but rather in power of the Church? the moral life of Her members. Therefore, to the question of how we can One must serve the Church as the one body of serve the Church, the answer is simple: by Christ, a single organism, a single substance. active obedience to Her. Active obedience to Each one's personality is the plot of land Her is a life according to the rules of the entrusted to him for him to labor over, clean Church, observance of moral laws, zealous up, and produce fruit on. In working on attendance at church services, prayer at ourselves, we work for the whole, for the home, a Christian foundation and direction in entire Church, for Its Head, the selfless home life. We can say then, in general, that for Saviour. In letting one's plot grow over, us it consists of the joy of belonging to the neglecting it, condemning it, we bring harm Russian Church Abroad as a true confessor of not only to ourselves but also to the Church. the Orthodox Catholic faith and a herald of By not gathering for our own soul, we scatter righteousness, and a corresponding attitude in what belongs to the Church. our personal life which worthily reflects that membership. Our service to the Church consists in this: that through our personal Christian life the spirit of From "Orthodox Life," January-February, 1976 the Gospel values flows into the life of the world, thus putting the enemies of the Church to shame. In our personal qualities lies the pledge of the internal unity of the Church as a whole and of the parish