The Church Herald

The Church Herald Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

2053 North Road, NE

Warren, OH 44483

Church Phone: (330) 372-6240 Rectory Phone: (330) 372-9778

Pastor: The Very Rev. Protopresbyter Kenneth M. Bachofsky, D. Min.

Email: [email protected]—Parish Web Page: www.stnicholaswarren.org

Volume 36 February 10, 2019 Number 6

Vespers is an important service of the Or-

thodox Church, and one with which too many of

our people are unacquainted.

There are three basic forms of vespers:

small, daily, and great. Small vespers is done only

in monasteries before a vigil service. Daily vespers

is the normal evening service of the Church. It is

not monastic in origin or character, but is, like the

morning service of Matins, one of the church’s

main liturgical services. Vespers and Matins form

the two “poles” around which the rest of the

Church’s daily cycle of services is arranged. In

practice, most parishes do not celebrate daily ves-

pers and Matins. A third form of vespers is Great

Vespers. It is celebrated in all Churches on the eves

of Sundays and great feasts, and is sometimes com-

bined with matins to

form a vigil. Great Ves-

pers is composed of the

same basic elements as

daily vespers, although

some of the material is

rearranged, and more

hymns related to the

feast are added. In

keeping with its festal

character, most psalms

and hymns are sung

during Great Vespers,

whereas in daily ves-

pers they are chanted

by the reader.

From the begin-

ning, the Orthodox

Church followed the Jewish system of counting

days from sunset to sunset (instead of from mid-

night to midnight, as we do). In this system, the

new day begins at sunset, so the transition from

one liturgical day to the next occurs during the eve-

ning service. This is why all the stichiri we sing at

vespers on Saturday night are devoted to Christ’s

resurrection. We are nolt merely preparing for Sun-

day; in the Church, it already is Sunday. Thus,

Great vespers commences the celebration of Sun-

day and feastdays; and because this celebration

will reach its peak and goal in the morning liturgy,

Great vespers begins our vigil (or “watch”) for the

coming of the Lord in the Eucharist, and helps to

prepare us for this event.

Unfortunately, the majority of the faithful

does not attend vespers. One reason for this is the

attitude, instilled in us by American society, that

Sunday morning is the only appropriate time for

worship. The result of this attitude among the

Orthodox is that many of uor people simply do

not acknowledge the existence of any service

other than the Divine Liturgy. Another side of

this same problem is the popular view of Satur-

day as a “day off,” a day to “take it easy” and

enjoy oneself. Saturday night in particular is

considered the night to go out and socialize, to

go to movies, dances, sports events, and other

types of entertainment. Although these things

are not wrong in themselves, they are nothing

more than forms of temporary amusement and

recreation. But the Church, on that some Satur-

day night, is offering us “re-creation:” the op-

portunity to rediscover Christ as the true source

and content of our lives, and to re-establish our-

selves in Him: and the

experience of the

hope, joy, love, peace,

and energy that comes

from worshiping the

Lord and living in

communion with Him

and with each other. A

last reason for the gen-

eral neglect of vespers

is the lack of Eucharis-

tic participation of

many Orthodox. We

mentioned above that

Great vespers helps to

prepare us for the lit-

urgy and begins our

vigil for the Eucharist.

But, tragically, the Liturgy is no longer widely

understood as an ascent to the Kingdom of

Heaven, whose goal is the eating and drinking

of the Bonquet of Immortality. Since, therefore,

the majority of the people will not be taking

communion, no preparation is undertaken, and

there is nothing to keep vigil about.

The Themes

For those who are not yet attending ves-

pers, and for those who are, we will give a short

review and explanation of the plan of this ser-

vice. The order of service is built around four

basic themes: creation, the fall of man into sin,

salvation, and the Kingdom of Heaven. These

themes are the four major stages of the history

of our salvation: the world and man were cre-

ated good; but man sinned and separated him-

self from God; then Christ came to save us from

sin and death, and when He comes again, He

Vespers: The Sunset Service

will take us into His Kingdom! Each theme is

expressed by different psalms and hymns, and

they succeed one another in this order during the

course of the service. It must be mentioned at

this point that there was a certain tendency in the

Russian musical tradition to rather arbitrarily

select and set to music only a few verses of some

of the vespers psalms, instead of arranging the

entire psalm. (In fact, this happened to the

psalms in almost every one of the Church’s ser-

vices). This has led to a “standard” parish prac-

tice that eliminates large sections of certain key

psalms. The reduction of these psalms to only a

few verses is most unfortunate.; Not only does it

empty the individual psalms of their meaning, it

also obscures the logic behind the order of ser-

vice by making it almost impossible to recognize

each theme and to follow the progression from

one theme to the next. Fortunately, there is now

a movement underway in some communities in

our Church to restore the psalms in their entirety

to vespers (and other services too), and some

new musical settings now exist for this.

The Structure

1) Psalm 104. Vespers begins with the

theme of creation. As we are beginning the new

day, we are reminded of the first day of creation:

“And God said, ’Let there be light;’ and there

was light. And God saw that the light was good;

and God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light Day, and the darkness He

called Night. And there was evening and there

was morning, one day.” (Genesis 1:3-5). In

psalm 104 we praise the goodness, beauty, order

and diversity of His creation, and His continual

care for it: “How manifold are Your works, O

Lord! In wisdom have you made them all!” 2) The Great Litany. This is the great in-

tercessory prayer of the Church, and is con-

cerned with the general welfare of the Church,

the people, and the country, asking for the

“peace from on high.”

3) The First Kathisma. (“Blessed is the

man…”) The Book of Psalms is divided into

twenty sections called “kathismi.” All twenty

kathismi are read in the Church throughout the

course of the week, and the cycle begins at Sat-

urday evening vespers with the first kathisma.

The entire first kathisma is eight psalms, but in

current practice it has been reduced to sic verses.

4) “Lord I call…” (Psalm 141-2,130)

This is the core of vespers, and it coincides with

the offering up of the evening incense: “Let my

prayer arise in Your sight as incense, and let

the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacri-

fice.” We have moved from the theme of crea-

tion into that of the Fall. Man separated himself

from God by sin, and now he finds himself far

away from his Creator: “Give heed to my cry,

for I am brought very low!...Out of the depths I

have cried to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my

voice!” From this lowest point there is a gradual

movement towards hope in the mercy of God:

“If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O

Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness

with You...O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with

the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plente-

ous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel

form all his iniquities!” Usually at eight or ten

verses from the end of this psalm, “stichiri,” or

short hymns, begin to be inserted between the

psalm verses. These stichiri are devoted to the

feast we are already beginning to celebrate.

5) The Entrance/”O gladsome Light.”

The theme of salvation comes to prominence

with the entrance of the celebrant into the sanctu-

ary and the procession to the high place behind

the altar, which accompanies the singing “O

Gladsome Light.” This is one of the most ancient

Christian hymns known, possibly dating from as

early as the second century A.D. At this point in

the service, since it was sundown, the lamps in

the Church were lit, and this hymn was sung to

Christ, the “Light of the World!” And the

“Never-Setting Sun,” Who will be with us

through the darkness of the coming night!

6) The Prokeimenon. This is a psalm

which normally introduces a reading form the

Scriptures. Its text and tone change daily. AT

Great vespers for a feast, these readings, called

“paramia” remain. There are usually three read-

ings from the Old Testament images (or “Types)

of the people or events of the feast. Although no

reading are presently called for a Sunday, the

prokeimenon is still sung.

7) Vouchsafe. The prayer “Vouchsafe, O

Lord…” has its roots in the “Song of the Three

Young Men” recorded in the Book of Daniel,

and asks that we be preserved “this night with-

out sin.” “Vouchsafe” is also the “official” tran-

sition point from one Liturgical day to the next

during the service. It should be sung, rather than

chanted, at Great vespers.

8) The Apostica. This is another combi-

nation of a psalm and hymns, alternating verses

of the psalm with stichiri, on the same pattern as

“Lord I call…”

9) St. Simeon’s Prayer/Trisagion through

“Our Father.” “Lord, now let Your servant de-

part in peace…” This is the prayer that the right-

eous elder Simeon sang when, after a lifetime of

waiting, he finally saw Christ and recognized

Him as the Messiah. Simeon saw: Christ only as

an infant in the temple, yet he could say, “...my

eyes have seen Your Salvation!...” We Chris-

tians have seen the whole drama of our Salvation

- The Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension—

accomplished; we have been baptized into

Christ, and we know that in the Church, “The

Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst.” We have

now come to the theme of the Kingdom. This

section ends with the “Our Father,” and with

the fervent hope that His Kingdom will come.

This hope will be fully realized when Christ

comes again, but our prayer is already answered

“in anticipation” when we eat and drink at His

Table, in His Kingdom, at the Divine Liturgy!

10) The Troparion. This troparion is the

theme song of the feast, and sets the tone for our

celebration. On Sundays, there are eight

(“Octoechos” or “Eight Tones”) different

troparia to the Resurrection, one for each musi-

cal tone.

We encourage all Orthodox Christians to

rediscover the service of vespers, and to experi-

ence its richness!

- By: Barbara Sevansky -

Our Worship Schedule

Sunday, Feb-

ruary 10th

9:30 a.m. The

Reading of

the Third

Hour.

10 :00

a.m. The Sun-

day of Zac-

cheus, Tone

4, (Page 90).

The Hiero-

martyr Hara-

lambos, Vir-

gin Martyrs:

E n n a t h a ,

Valentina & Paula are commemorated.

Epistle—I Timothy 4:9-15

Gospel—Luke 19:1-10

Wednesday, February 13th 4:00 p.m. The

Akathist Service to the Theotokos with prayers

for the sick and anointing of the Myro of the

faithful!

Saturday, February 16th 4:00 p.m. The Evening

Vesper Service followed by Bible Study Class.

Sunday, February 17th 9:30 a.m. The Reading

of the Third Hour.

10:00 a.m. The Lenten Triodion: Sunday

of the Publican & Pharisee, Tone 5 (Pages 93

&175). The Great Martyr Theodore of Tyro,

Venerable Roman of Ternov and Relics of Me-

nas of Alexandria are commemorated.

Epistle—2 Timothy 3:10-15




for the sick and anointing of the faithful!

Saturday, February 23rd 4:00 p.m. The Evening

Vesper Service followed by Bible Study Class.

Sunday, February 24th 9:30 a.m. The Reading

of the Third Hour.

10:00 a.m. The Lenten Triodion: Sunday

of the Prodigal Son, Tone 6 (Pages 96 & 175).

The 1st & 2nd Discovery of the Head of St. John

the Baptist, and St. Erasimus is commemorated.

Epistle—1 Corinthians 6:12-20




for the sick and anointing of the faithful.

Happy Birthday!

Nina Christley…………………….

Trisagion Service

There will be a Memorial Service offered

this morning, at the conclusion of the Divine Lit-

urgy. This Trisagion is offered for the repose of

the souls of +Gus Tsimpinos, on the anniversary

of his repose and the newly departed,

+Eleftherios Karakatsanis in ovservance of the

40th day of his repose. All are invited to attend

to lend their voices to ours. The blessed Koliva

can be shared in the Fellowship Hall after the

service.

With the Saints, O Lord, grant rest to

Your departed servants: +Gus Tsimpinos and

+Eleftherios, where there is no pain, sorrow nor

mourning but only Life-Everlasting! Eternal be

their Memories!!!

Home Blessing

T h e

T h e o p h a n y

Home Bless-

ing season is

now coming

to an end. If

Father Ken

has not yet

c o n t a c t e d

you, you are assured it is by accident. The best

way to proceed now is to give Father Ken a call

so that a day and time for your Home Blessing

can be scheduled. It is always his intention to

bring the Blessings of the Jordan River to each

home of our faithful parishioners!

Father Ken would like to express his sin-

cere thanks to everyone for their hospitality, pa-

tience and generosity! It has been a very pleasant

Theophany season because of your cooperation.

May the Blessings of the Lord, from the Jordan

River be with all of you in peace, good health,

joy and salvation, this year and many more to

come!!!

take outs was $2,768.55 dollars. The weekly ex-

penses came to $812.43. This gave us a net profit of

$1,956.12 for the week. What a great blessing this is

for us!

The cabbage has already been taken care of

already. Now Kitchen Crew workers will be needed

on Tuesday morning for rolling the Holupki and in

the evening for cooking/mashing the potatoes.

Wednesday crew members will pinch and cook the

Perohi and of course, Thursday is the heating of the

food, serving the dinners, as well as packing the take

-outs.

Your stewardship of time and talent will be

greatly appreciated this week, and until the conclu-

sion of this season. May the Lord bless you abun-

dantly for your time, talent and enthusiastic dedica-

tion to this fund raiser of our parish!

Lenten Retreats

Informa-

tion concerning

the upcoming

Diocesan Lenten

Retreats has been

released by the

Diocesan Chan-

cery. The central

region, which

includes our

Y o u n g s t o w n

Deanery, Lenten

Retreat has been

scheduled for

Saturday, April 6,

2019. It will be held at St. Nicholas Church, 903 Ann

Street in Homestead, Pennsylvania. It will be held

from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

The adult/teen Lenten Theme is: “Focusing

On the Ladder of Divine Ascent and Our Spiritual

Journey: One Step At a Time” with the speaker be-

ing Metropolitan Gregory. The children’s Lenten

Theme is “Windows to Heaven—Icon of Divine As-

cent & The Feasts of the Lord” by Father David Ur-

ban.

There will be a Free Will Offering collected

at registration that will include a continental Break-

fast and light Lenten Lunch. Information Packs with

the schedule and additional information are available

on the table in the Parish Atrium. Those wishing to

attend are to kindly inform Father Ken. We will try

to have a car pool for transportation to the retreat.

Our Gifts to the Lord!

One of the many acts of worship conducted at

each Sunday Divine Liturgy, is performed in our

Samaritan Outreach

The next event on

the schedule for our St.

Nicholas Samaritan Out-

reach will be a Free Din-

ner! This has been sched-

uled for Tuesday, Febru-

ary 26, 2019 at the

American Legion Hall in

Windham, Ohio. We are

now soliciting your stew-

ardship of time and talent

for this ministry of our

parish. We need help set-

ting up, cooking and cleaning after the meal. If

you are able to assist us in any of these responsi-

bilities please either contact: Father Ken, Sis

Albers or Jeff Yenchochik during the Sunday cof-

fee socials.

So far, the menu for this dinner will be:

Beef and Noodles, Vegetables, Potatoes, Dessert

and a Beverage. The food will be cooked in the

Church kitchen on Tuesday afternoon. The food

will be transported to the hall that Tuesday and

dinner will be served from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m.

Take out dinners will be packed after everyone has

been served their meal.

You are asked to aid us in this ministry of

feeding those in need in some of the parts of our

area that have the least ability to receive needed

aid! We offer this ministry to the Glory of the Lord

and in honor of our beloved Patron, St. Nicholas of

Myra, Patron of those in need!

There will be a

short meeting of our St.

Nicholas Book Club

after the Divine Liturgy.

We ask that everyone

interested in joining us

please stay in the front

two pews for the meet-

ing. We will not pick

out the new book to

read, especially during

Great Lent, which is the

perfect time to devote to

spiritual reflection.

If anyone is interested in learning more of

their Orthodox Christian Faith and how to better

implement it in their lives, consider join us for this

meeting and the St. Nick’s Book Club! The more

that we have the greater insights we can share!

Our Church Kitchen

Our Internationally Renowned Perohi &

Holupki Dinners were served, in our Fellowship

Hall this week! We are forever grateful to the

Lord, for His blessings, our valued customers and

especially our dedicated Kitchen Crew! This is

always the key to our success in this fund raiser of

our parish!

The income from the sale of dinners and

TEST PAGE 5 TEXT

generous donations made during the Church Offer-

ing! This is an excellent way of expressing our

love, devotion to the Lord, as well as our thanks-

giving, for the many blessings received from His

Hands!

We would like to share with you the Church

Offerings from last Sunday’s Church Offering:

Regular Offering $1,150.00/ Candle Offering

$81.00/ Church Dues $600.00/ Donation 460.00/

Total Church Offerings = $1,891.00.

The financial officers of our parish issued a

plea for parishioners to contribute their $75.00 dol-

lar, per adult, head stipend last month. This is one

of the financial requirements required for each

adult of our parish. The other financial requirement

is the weekly offerings. We would like to thank

those who have paid this obligation thus enabling

our parish to submit our financial obligations to the

Diocese in a timely manner.

If you have not yet paid your Annual

“Dues” Stipen, please check your records and take

care of this responsibility as soon as possible. Your

kind cooperation is greatly appreciated!

May our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

magnify your gracious gifts 100 fold, for the con-

tinuing salvic work being done here at our beloved

St. Nicholas Church and the extension of His Heav-

enly Kingdom!!!

Camp Nazareth News

N o w

that we are

facing some

w i n t e r

w e a t h e r

what better

way to get

over the

“ w i n t e r

blues” than thinking about activities for the sum-

mer! We want to inform our parishioners about

some important activities that have been planned

for Camp Nazareth!

First of all: the Second Annual Diocesan

Senior Retreat that has been scheduled for May 13-

16, 2019 at Camp Nazareth! The theme of this ex-

citing conference is: “How’s Your ’Eyesight’?”

Keeping Your Focus on God as a Senior”!

This is geared to seniors’ needs and inter-

ests 55+ and will offer something for everyone. The

event promises laughter, joy and relaxation, along

with fun activities and delicious meals! The sched-

ule will include Church services, social hours,

meals, presentation, free-time, evening entertain-

ment, and more! Place this on your calendar and

sign up at acrod.org or call the camp at 1(724) 662-

4840. Info packs are on the table in the Atrium!

Secondly, The annual “Kick-Off” to the

2019 Camping Season is the celebration of Family

Day! This has been scheduled for Sunday, June 2,

2019 beginning to the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

beginning at 10:00 a.m. that morning. Following

the services there will be a delicious meal in the

Main Dining Hall of the Main Lodge, along with

other activities during the afternoon!

In conjunction with this “Kick-Off” week-

end will be the Annual Camp Nazareth Family

Camp! For one low price the entire family can stay

at the camp this weekend! This will be held from

May 31st until June 2nd. This year’s theme is:

“Being in a Believing Family” There are examples

of families that kept believing even when it was

difficult. Come and learn about them and help your

family believe and rejoice in God!

Register online at CAMPNAZA-

R E T H . O R G / e m a i l : C A M P N A Z A -

[email protected]/ or call: (724) 662-4840.

The Third Item: Applications for various

positions on the Camp Nazareth Summer Staff are

now being accepted. Staff positions such as, coun-

selors, head counselor, kitchen workers, janitorial,

etc. If anyone from our parish 18 years of age and

older are interested please contact Father Stephen

by email or phone. These applications should get to

him by March 15th so that interviews for potential

staff members can be scheduled.

And Finally, The Youngstown Deanery

Camping Session has been scheduled for July 28th

until August 3rd! Online registration will begin on

March 1st! This is for all of our youth from 8 to 18

years of age!

Parents, get ready to sign up your children!

The camping fee for 2019 will be: Diocesan Mem-

ber $320.00 and Non Diocesan Member $370.00.

There are Full Summer Camping Scholarships

available through our Church School and other

sponsors. If you need a scholarship, please contact

Father Ken.

Take advantage of the “Early Bird Special”

by registering your child and paying by May 15,

2019 and receive a discount, per child, (one time

only, not per week)! Registrations received after

June 15th will incur an additional $20.00 late fee!

Scholarships Available

Applications for two scholarships adminis-

tered by the Department of Philanthropy of the

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America are now

available to students from Orthodox Churches af-

filiated with the Assembly of Bishops. The Malta

Scholarship is for undergraduate studies, and the

Paleologos Scholarship is awarded for graduate

work of a non-theological nature.

Each of these scholarships was established

through generous gifts from dedicated Greek Or-

thodox Christians who wanted to provide financial

assistance towards the education of young people

from the Orthodox Christian community.

Applications can be downloaded from the

website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese fo

America at: www.goarch.org/-/scholarships. For

more information, please email: scholar-

[email protected], or call: (212) 774-0283. The

deadline for submitting an application for these

scholarships is May 3, 2019!

This information is also posted on the bulle-

tin boards of our parish complex. Please consult

this for additional information.

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