SCHEDULE OF WEEKLY DIVINE SERVICES SUNDAY, MAY 24 - SUNDAY OF THE MAN BORN BLIND 9:00AM Sunday Divine Liturgy followed by a Panachida in Memory of +Departed

Veterans; and +Ann Papp (40th day), offered by Fr. Michael.WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 12-1PM Church Open for Private Prayer - Facemasks/Social Distancing required.THURSDAY, MAY 28 - FEAST OF ASCENSION 9:00AM Holyday Divine Liturgy.SATURDAY, MAY 30 12-1PM Church Open for Private Prayer - Facemasks/Social Distancing required.5:00PM Saturday Evening Vespers.SUNDAY, MAY 31 - FATHERS OF THE 1ST COUNCIL 9:00AM Sunday Divine Liturgy followed by a Panachida in Memory of +Mike &

Irene Popik, offed by Anne Wanca.10:30AM-12PM Church Open for Private Prayer - Facemasks/Social Distancing required.

All Services will be streamed as noted on our Parish Facebook Page or Website

TETRAPOD FLORAL ARRANGEMENT given in memory of +ANNE GALLANT (24th anniv.), offered by the Gallant, Sarno and Turco Families.

PLEASE PRAY for the Servants of God: His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, Fr. Michael Psenechnuk, John Billy, Pani Ileana Bennett & newborn twins, Kristy Stallard & unborn son, Taryn Kowalczyk and newborn son,Betty Roman, Bill Kobasz, Helen J. Dunham, CPL Michael Delcher, Anneta Elrod, Joann Kolator, Irene Tobin, Oleg Alber, Olga Mitko, Richard Pratscher, Lynn Beres, Maryann Dudash, Pat Yurcisin, Eleanor Aleksza, Martha Merula, Pat Post, Sandy DiLeo, Eleanor Dussling, Dorothy Szczecina, Olga Medvigy, Lilly Perry, Nino Krataschvili, John & Suzanne DiBiasi, Helen Hrehowsik, Michele Camisa, Abigail Billy, Joseph Santalla, Sussi Howard, Amanda Orender, Helen Deliman, Melanie McHenry, Peggy Patrick, Lillian Kalog, Maryann Della Serra, John Popadin, Victoria Dean, Stephen Skasko, George Kratsashvili, John Paul Hall, Veronica Houser, Fr. John Baranik, Joshua Skoog, Joan Winters, Michael Ascher, Elizabeth White, PO Daniel Langner, LCPL Matthew Fetchina, PFC Tomas Beebe, 2ND LT Jonah Strenski, US Armed Forces, the unborn children of this world and more vocations to the Holy Priesthood.

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PASTOR VERY REVEREND

FR. MICHAEL T. CHENDORAIN

CLERGY FATHER DEACON GREGORY BENC

FATHER DEACON ANDREW WYTHE

CHOIR DIRECTOR PROFESSOR GEORGE HANAS

CONTACT INFORMATION ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

ORTHODOX CHURCH

145 BROAD STREET

PERTH AMBOY, NJ 08861

FMCHENDORAIN@GMAIL.COM

(201) 486-2123 (MOBILE)

(732) 826-1970 (OFFICE)

(732) 826-4442 (RECTORY)

SJACROD@GMAIL.COM (EMAIL)

www.sjacrod.org (WEBSITE) www.facebook.com/sjacrod

stjohnperthamboy

A n O r t h o d o x C h r i s t i a n community of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the USA under the protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

WEEKLY BULLETIN SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2020

SUNDAY OF THE MAN BORN BLIND

TONE IV ✠ ACTS 16:16-34 ✠ GOSPEL: ST. JOHN 9;1-38

!! CHURCH RE-OPENING DATE ANNOUNCED !!Yesterday morning (at 10:48AM), Fr. Michael received word from Metropolitan Gregory on the planned re-opening of St. John’s Church. He has permitted the church to be open on June 07 for the Feastday of Pentecost! This is welcome news to all of us and we should be prayerfully thankful. After some discussion with His Eminence and out of caution and concern for our faithful, more information will be forthcoming in the next two weeks as to the logistics of such a move. It is desired to see what changes in the mandates the State of NJ are made as the situation appears to evolve every two days. Fr. Michael is planning to print details in next week’s bulletin as to the parameters surrounding our parish-specific re-opening which will vary from those of our other deanery churches and surrounding brethren. Please be patient as we assess our needs and abilities in order to satisfy both God and mammon.

CALLING ALL GRADUATES - CLASS OF 2020 Any of our faithful graduating from high school, college or grad-schools are asked to give Father Michael a list of accomplishments and future plans. High School Seniors are asked to submit a photo which will be returned. We would like to have a Graduate Sunday in June if at all possible in some way, shape or form. Please submit materials by June 07. Graduate Sunday is set for June 14th!

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EMERGENCY CONTACT

Please remember, if you are admitted to the hospital in an emergency or for any reason, or are undergoing surgery, please notify Fr. Michael so he can make arrangements to visit and pray with you ASAP. He may be reached on his cell phone, at any hour of the day by calling (201) 486-2123. If he cannot be reached: Fr. Andrew Fetchina will assist; (732) 382-8844.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Soon. We hope!

WELCOME VISITORS

We are happy that you have joined us

today. Please join us in the church hall

(behind the church) for coffee and a bite

to eat. You have just experienced the

Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

which is the ordinary service of worship

celebrated on regular Sunday’s in the

Orthodox Church. The Liturgy—as

experienced at Holy Ghost Church—

stems from the 4th century though its

practices were inherited from the time of

the apostles in the book of Acts. (Acts

1:14) It also represents a time when all

Christians worshipped in One Undivided

fully Catholic Christian Church. if you

have any questions in regards to our

worship or the Orthodox Church in

general please see Fr. Michael and he will

gladly answer any of your questions to

the best of his ability. He looks forward

to meeting you.

At our best we are known for our

we l com ing a t t i t ude , ho sp i t a l i t y,

prayerfulness, generosity and compassion.

At our worst, we are sinners, but we’re

working out our salvation together, and

could use your help. If you are looking for

a church home, we hope you will

consider making St. John’s Church that

place.

DIOCESAN WEB & ELECTRONIC SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES are available at the following locations for your benefit. As Great Lent approaches, they will provide you with additional materials for your consideration and understanding as well as links to other resources across the globe.

Diocesan Website: http://www.acrod.org Camp Nazareth: http://www.campnazareth.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acroddiocese Twitter: https://twitter.com/acrodnews

You Tube: https://youtube.com/acroddiocese

“LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS” The time had come for our Lord to bid farewell to His Apostles and other beloved followers. For three years, Jesus had prepared them for this inevitable day. They had listened intently to His preachings and instructions. They had seen Him work wonders of miraculous proportions. They observed Him carefully as He set the perfect example of how to live a righteous life. Yes, they were nearly ready to begin the work that Christ had commissioned them to do when He said “GO AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.”

Christ knew that this assignment was not a simple one. He was aware that these faithful and loyal men would meet with doubt, skepticism, hostility, and even persecution. So as He PHYSICALLY departed from their midst when He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, Jesus left them with this comforting assurance: “LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS.” Jesus had promised His Apostles that He would send them the Holy Spirit, Who would give them the strength, courage, and guidance necessary for them to accomplish their missionary objectives. They were called upon to put their trust in their Master one final time and return to Jerusalem until that blessed moment when the Comforter would come to them.

The icon of the Ascension of our Lord shows the robed angels mentioned by St. Luke in the Book of Acts. They encouraged the Apostles with these words as Christ vanished from sight: “MEN OF GALILEE, WHY ARE YOU STANDING HERE STARING AT THE SKY? JESUS HAS GONE AWAY TO HEAVEN, AND SOME DAY, JUST AS HE WENT, HE WILL RETURN!” This is the day that we ALL await ... the day when WE will always be with HIM!

The Lord dwelt on earth for forty days after His Resurrection. But He was not with the disciples constantly, but appeared and spoke with them from time to time, sometimes in another form, for which reason the Apostles could not outwardly recognize their Teacher (Mark 16:12). Thus, on the road to Emmaus the disciples knew the Lord only in the breaking of bread, later lamenting that they had not hearkened to the voice of their hearts burning within them while Jesus spoke with them along the way. The Lord, as it were, accustomed the Apostles to another kind of communication, not like when He spoke and exhorted them directly, but to a transfigured and loftier communication in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Earthly life cannot go on forever; it is not the goal of our cherished aspirations. We are only guests and wanderers here, as we accomplish our procession into eternity. Now, forty days after His Resurrection, the Lord shows us the path of this ascent through His Ascension. It would seem that the Lord could have simply disappeared, once He had parted with the disciples, by melting nicely into the air. But He commanded His disciples to climb the Mount of Olives, where He presented Himself to them before ascending. Imagine the disciples standing with their heads thrown back, having forgotten everything earthly, looking rapturously into the heavens. They probably could neither disperse nor tear their eyes away from the heavens for a long time… I think there is a hidden, deeper meaning in this ascent, in this total upward striving. The spiritual heavens are not, of course, located above our heads. After all, the Lord did not ascend into the cosmos, where cosmonauts later “didn’t see” Him, but into other, unfathomable heights – into the Kingdom that is “within us.” But this difference from our customary horizontal life is expressed outwardly through an upward ascend, as a reminder that we need to strive upwards towards God. We must all rise above vanity, above agitation, above everyday cares, and to step over our human fears – fear, in general, is false – that repeat to us: “What prayers? What ascension? Look around: you need to sink your teeth into this earthly firmament, to dig your claws into it, in order to live, to exist, to take back your place under the sun!” This is a perfectly natural feeling. But there was a reason why the Apostle Paul said that the natural man does not inherit that which comes from the Spirit of God. What is “natural” for us stands in irreconcilable conflict with the “supernatural” call to perfection. The Lord tells us: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). As for what you will eat or drink, or how you will be clothed, all of that will be added onto you. But we do just the opposite: we persistently and diligently seek what to eat, what to drink, and how to be clothed. But as for the Kingdom of God – well, we think, it will somehow get added on by itself… Alas! We turn God’s commandment upside down without even realizing it! Instead of ascending to God, we want Him to descend into our darkness and “bless” it without changing or scattering it, to “approve” and sanction it, leaving things exactly as they were… We persistently and stubbornly make “gods” in our image and likeness and want to live only as we like, the way we want to, in whatever way seems right and convenient to us. Recall the Eucharistic canon: “Let us lift up our hearts.” Of course, we need to put everything aside at least sometimes and lift up our gaze and our heart. When we look upwards, we cannot engage with anything earthly; at that moment we cannot even take a single step. But this standstill, this prayer, this standing in the Spirit is not a fruitless waste of time when we could, it might seem, be doing so many useful and necessary things. This is a time of gathering, of communion with God. In this communion we can acquire the most important thing: a clear vision and understanding of what we need to do and how. It is this understanding that we often lack when we toss and turn and do a thousand things at once, but without really accomplishing anything necessary. We ultimately end up back where we started. Perhaps it was to bring us to a standstill, to make us look on high, to direct our attention upwards, towards God, that the Lord exhorted us with such extraordinarily inspiring words when ascending to Heaven: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). This means that the Ascension is neither a withdrawal nor a break, but a call to transfiguration, to our own active ascent to God, to our humble ascent upwards. Let us follow the Lord into His Kingdom!

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WHERE

should we ascend? priest dimity shishkin

pravmir.com