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+ A Parish of +
The Orthodox Church in America www.oca.org
Most Rev. Archbishop Benjamin, Diocese of San Francisco and the West
www.dowoca.org
Very Rev. Fr. Archpriest John Armstrong [email protected]
Rev. Fr. Deacon John Manutes [email protected]
+ Worship Services +
Saturdays, 5:30 pm Great Vespers
(3rd & 6th Hour Prayers, 9:10 am)
Sundays, 9:30 am Divine Liturgy
Feast Days (See Monthly Calendar)
+ Parish Prayer List +
Please pray for and ask the Lord to have mercy on:
Hieroschemamonk Ambrose (Young) Mother Theodelphi Peter Anderson Benjamin, Justus, Kalena & Anthony Bertie Ericson; Linda & Kelly Armstrong Kathryn Birmingham Jeanie (Mary) Cooper Agnes Craig Kafa Dalal Michael & Dagmar Drakulich Andrea Gaines Lauren Hansen Ronald Maue & Rhonda Grace George; Sarah; Nikolai and “Z” Joshua & Shannon Mead Joyce Mikita Shaun & Cheryl Matthew & Oleg Barbara Murray John & Michael Palmer St. Anthony Mission in Bozeman (Fr. David) St. Elijah Mission in Durango (Fr. Benjamin) St. Sophia Mission in CO Springs (Fr. Lawrence) St. Tikhon Mission in Parker (Fr. Alexander) Jonathan Paul Barbara Payne Natalia Perrin Martha Rapso Irina Reynolds John Russell John Salmon Sona Sarkissian, Mardig, and Seta Esther Schafer Kathleen Smith Christopher Sprecher Mary Streech Dana Such Don, Norma, Thomas & Jung Sook; Greg & Mary Muriel Weisman Blake & Michelle Natalia Zolotoochin
Missionaries and Ministries: Michael, Lisa and Liam Colburn; Fr. David Rucker & family; James Hargrave & family; OCPM (“25:36”); “Dipes Wipes”
Catechumens: Troy Nunley (Vladimir), Brandon Boyle (Constantine), Kristina Spargo (“Mary” Magdalena), and Vicki (Photini) Miller
Memorial: Ralph Paich (2/16)
Saint Herman
Orthodox Church
991 W. Prentice Ave. Littleton CO 80120 303-798-7306 www.sthermanoca.org
+ Pastoral Ministries +
Please contact Fr. John anytime for the following: Confession; Hospital Visits / Holy Unction; Memorial Services; Slavas; Moliebens; or, just to talk ... You can call me at: 720-971-5931, or email me at: [email protected]
Saint Herman Orthodox Church
February 12, 2017
Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Tone 1
Holy Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; St. Luke 15:11-32
+ Today + February 12, 2017
Welcome to St. Herman Orthodox Church!
We’re glad you came to worship with us!
Patron Saints:
Birthdays:
“Preserve them, O Lord, for many years!”
Coffee Hour
Church School... (...is postponed until the floor in the Nave is com-
pleted because the classrooms are not accessible.)
+ This Week +
Tuesday, February 14, 7:00 pm, Parish Council Wednesday, Feb. 15, 10 am & 6:30 pm, Book Study: (TBD) Friday, February 17, 6:30 pm, Intro. to Orthodoxy Saturday, February 18:
9:30 am, Memorial Liturgy 11 am, Panikhida for Michael Craig 5:30 pm, Great Vespers / Confession
Handmaiden Schedule for February
Today, Feb. 12, Sophie & Abigail Reynolds February 19, Tori & Katherine Pyle February 26, Tori Pyle & Cassia Brown
Greeters Schedule for February
Today, February 12, Dorothy Zang February 19, Julia Urdenis February 26, Christine Salmon
+ Looking Ahead +
House Blessings will continue thru Saturday, Feb. 25. Schedule yours today with Fr. John. (An elaborate meal is not necessary, but okay. A cup of tea & a chat is fine with me!) Saturday, February 25, 11:00 am, Women’s Brunch at the Gaines’s home: 6644 S. Prescott Way, Littleton 80120 Forgiveness Sunday is February 26 with Great Lent beginning Monday, Feb. 27. Great Vespers on Saturdays will change per-manently to 6:00 pm, Saturday, March 4th. Sunday, March 12, 8:30 am, Baptism of Brandon & Kristina
Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life-Giver, for my spirit rises early to pray towards Thy
holy Temple, bearing the temple of my body all defiled, but in Thy compassion purify me
by the loving-kindness of Thy mercy! Lead me on the paths of salvation, O Mother of God,
for I have profaned my soul with shameful sins, and have wasted my life in laziness, but by
your intercessions deliver me from all impurity. When I think of the many evil things I have done,
wretch that I am, I tremble at the fearful Day of Judgment, but trusting in Thy loving-kindness
like David I cry to Thee: Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me,
O God, according to Thy great mercy!
By the waters of Babylon there we sat down, we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.
Alleluia. On the willows, on the willows there, we hung up our harps, we hung up our harps.
Alleluia. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Alleluia. If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand whither, let my right hand whither. Alleluia. Blessed is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the Rock. Alleluia. (Ps. 136/7)
+ Synaxarion +
The Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Through the parable of today’s Gospel, our Savior has set forth three things for us: 1) the condition of the sinner, 2) the rule of repentance, and 3) the greatness of God’s compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition —inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries — we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.
Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts from such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the fore-courts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God’s compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin — no matter how great it may be — that can overcome at any time His love for man. St. Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch. This great and holy man was an outstanding interpreter and defender of Orthodoxy. The whole of his life was devoted to the fight against the Arian heresy, which did not recognize the Son of God and blasphemed against the Holy Trinity. He was three times removed from his archiepiscopal throne by the heretics, and driven off into Armenia. The struggle between the Orthodox and the heretics became so bitter that once, while St. Meletius was preaching to the people in church on the divine Trinity in unity, his own deacon, a heretic, ran up to the bishop and shut his mouth with his hand. Being unable to preach with words, Meletius preached by signs. Thus, he raised his arms on high, opened three fingers to their fullest extent and showed them to the people, then closed his hand and raised the one fist. He took part in the 2nd Ecumenical Council in 381, where the Emperor Theodosius showed him specially great honor. At that Council, God showed a mystery through His archbishop. When Meletius was propounding the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to the Arians, he first raised three fingers, separated one by one, then brought them together; and at that moment lightning flashed from his hand before the gaze of all present. At that Council, Meletius established Gregory of Nazianzen, “the Theologian,” in the seat of Constantinople. While the Council was still in session, St. Meletius finished his earthly course in Constantinople. His relics were taken to Antioch.
St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. A great hierarch of the Russian Church in a difficult per iod of Tar tar oppression of the Russian people. Once in childhood he went bird hunting, then went to sleep and in a dream heard a voice that said: 'Alexis, why rush around so fruitlessly? I will teach you to catch men!' He became a monk at the age of twenty, and in time became Metropolitan of Moscow. He twice went among the' Golden Horde' of the Tartars, once to sooth the wrath of Verdevir Khan against the Russian people, and the second time at the invitation of Amurat Khan, to cure his wife's blindness. This women had been blind for three years, but was healed and her vision restored when Alexis prayed and anointed her with holy water. After a life of great endeavor and fruitfulness, Alexis entered into rest in 1378 at the age of 85, and went to the Court of the Lord.
Our Holy Mother Mary (Marius). Mary was a woman with a man's courage. After the death of her mother, her father desired to become a monk. Mary would not be separated from him, so they decided to go together to a men's monastery — Mary with short hair and in man's raiment as a youth. Her father died, and Mary became a monk and received the name Marius. There was an inn near the monastery, and the innkeeper's daughter fell in love with the pious monk Marius. After pursuing him without success, she accused Marius of unlawful relations with her, because she had known some other man and borne him a son. Mary did not defend herself and was driven forth with scorn from the monastery. With the strange child in her care, she lived for three years in a grove belonging to the monastery, enduring hunger and hatred, and every sort of hardship and privation. As a result of all this, the innkeeper's daughter became deranged and, a little later, Mary died. Immediately after her death, it was discovered that the 'Monk Marius' was a woman. As soon as the innkeeper's daughter touched the relics of St. Mary, she was healed of her insanity and confessed her terrible sin. St. Mary entered into rest and went to eternal joy in 508.
