Χριστός Aνέστη!!!

SS. kosmas & damianos Orthodox Church (goa)

703 W. Center Street, Rochester, MN (507) 282-1529 http://www.rochesterorthodoxchurch.org

office@rochesterorthodoxchurch.org Rev. Fr. Mark Muñoz, Proistamenos

ΑΠΟΛΥΤΙΚΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΗΜΕΡΑΣ/APOLYTIKIA FOR TODAY

Τόν συνάναρχον Λόγον Πατρί καί Πνεύματι, τόν εκ Παρθένου

τεχθέντα εις σωτηρίαν ημών, ανυμνήσωμεν πιστοί καί

προσκυνήσωμεν, ότι ηυδόκησε σαρκί, ανελθείν εν τώ σταυρώ, καί

θάνατον υπομείναι, καί εγείραι τούς τεθνεώτας, εν τή ενδόξω

Αναστάσει αυτού.

Let us worship the Word, O you faithful, praising Him that with the

Father and the Spirit is co-beginningless God, Who was born of a pure

Virgin that we all be saved; for He was pleased to ascend the cross in the

flesh that He assumed, accepting thus to endure death. And by His

glorious rising, He also willed to resurrect the dead.

Ὡς θεῖον θησαύρισμα, ἐγκεκρυμμένον τῇ γῆ, Χριστὸς ἀπεκάλυψε, τὴν

Κεφαλήν σου ἡμῖν, Προφῆτα καὶ Πρόδρομε, πάντες οὖν συνελθόντες,

ἐν τῇ ταύτῃ εὑρέσει, ᾄσμασι θεηγόροις, τὸν Σωτῆρα ὑμνοῦμεν, τὸν

σῴζοντα ἡμᾶς ἐκ φθορᾶς ταῖς ἱκεσίαις σου.

Christ God hath revealed to us thy truly ven'rable head as a divine

treasure that had been concealed in the earth, O Prophet and Forerunner. Wherefore, as we gather on the

feast of its finding, with our hymns inspired of God, we praise Christ the Saviour, Who by thy mighty

prayers saveth us from every kind of harm.

ΚΟΝΤΑΚΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΗΜΕΡΑΣ/KONTAKION FOR TODAY

Ει καί εν τάφω κατήλθες αθάνατε, αλλά τού Άδου καθείλες τήν δύναμιν, καί ανέστης ως νικητής,

Χριστέ ο Θεός, γυναιξί Μυροφόροις φθεγξάμενος, Χαίρετε, καί τοίς σοίς Αποστόλοις ειρήνην

δωρούμενος ο τοίς πεσούσι παρέχων ανάστασιν.

Though You went down into the tomb, You destroyed Hades' power, and You rose the victor, Christ God,

saying to the myrrh-bearing women, "Rejoice!" and granting peace to Your disciples, You who raise up

the fallen.

Sunday of the blind man

3rd Finding of the Precious Head of St John the Forerunner

May 25th, 2014

Today’s scripture readings

Epistle reading

St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:6-15

Prokeimenon. Grave Mode.

Psalm 63.11,1

The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord.

Verse: Oh God, hear my cry.

Brethren, it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the

light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen

vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way,

but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not

destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested

in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of

Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the

same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believed, and so we speak,

knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His

presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase

thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Gospel pericope

Gospel of John 9:1-38

At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi,

who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man

sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the

works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the

world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and

anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means

Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before

as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but

he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He

answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and

wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not

know." They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day

when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his

sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said,

"This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a

sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the

blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He

is a prophet." The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his

sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked

them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His

parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how

he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of

age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for

the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be

put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him." So for the

second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the

praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do

not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him,

"What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told

you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too

want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but

we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man,

we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You

do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God

does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of

God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since

the world began has it been heard that anyone opened

the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from

God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You

were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And

they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out,

and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son

of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may

believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him,

and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe":

and he worshiped him.

Announcements

Liturgical/Program Schedule:

TODAY: Baptism of Mark Mirza after Liturgy, ALL are invited to sacrament and reception in

the Hall afterwards!

Mon. May 26th: Memorial Day office closed

Wed. May 28th: Feast of Ascension Great Vespers 6pm

Thurs. May 29th: Feast of the Ascension, Orthros/Divine Liturgy 8:30am

Parish Directory Update: The Parish Council is working with the Stewardship and Outreach

committees to enhance the Parish directory to eventually develop a calendar to show special

occasions in the lives of our fellow parishioners (anniversaries, saints names days, birthdays,

etc) and facilitate communication (email addresses, mobile phone numbers, etc). These special

days can be shared in the weekly bulletin and the Box and Spoon if you would like to share that

information. See Fr. Mark, Angie Chafos or Don Jenkins to provide your information or ask any

questions.

HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION—Orthodox Christians in good standing are encouraged to

receive Holy Communion frequently, provided they have prepared themselves spiritually, mentally and physically. They must be on time for the Divine Liturgy, and be in a Christ-like, humble state of mind. They should be in a confession relationship with their priest or spiritual father, have observed the fasts of the Church, and they should have self-examined their conscience. On the day of receiving Holy Communion, it is not proper to eat or drink anything before coming to church. When you approach to receive Holy Communion, state your Christian (baptismal) name clearly, and hold the red communion cloth to your chin. After receiving, wipe your lips on the cloth, step back carefully, hand the cloth to the next person and make the sign of the Cross as you step away. Please do not be in a rush while communing! Please take special care not to bump the Holy Chalice.

ETIQUETTE REMINDER:

“For this holy house and for those who enter it with faith, reverence, and the fear of God, let us

pray to the Lord.”

The summer months will soon be upon us and that means enjoying warm weather and “fun in the sun”. While

shorts (for males & females), capris, flip-flops, tank tops, ‘spaghetti’ straps, etc. are practical and may be

acceptable at the pool or the lake front they are not appropriate attire at church, and must not be worn during the

Divine Services of the Church. At every Eucharistic celebration we are spiritually and physically brought in the

awesome presence of Jesus Christ Himself, and when we commune He comes to dwell within us in a miraculous

way. Therefore the sanctity, solemnity, and dignity of the Divine Liturgy must be preserved for the wellbeing of all.

******Parents, your assistance and guidance are most especially helpful and appreciated.******

Today’s liturgical commemorations

The Third Finding of the Head of John the Baptist

In the eighth century, during the bitter violence of iconoclasm, the head of St. John was brought to Comana, the

place of exile of St. John Chrysostom. When iconoclasm ended in the year 850 A.D., during the reign of Emperor

Michael and the Patriarch Ignatius, the honorable head of St. John was translated to Constantinople and there

was placed in the chapel of the imperial court.

The Priestly-Martyr Therapontus, Bishop of Cyprus

Therapontus was a monk and an ascetic on the island of Cyprus. He was found worthy of the episcopal rank, but

during the time of the persecution of Christians, he was found worthy of an even greater wreath, the crown of

martyrdom. His body reposed in a church on Cyprus. When, during the reign of Emperor Nicephorus in the

year 806 A.D., the island of Cyprus was attacked by the Hagarenes, the saint appeared to the sexton of that

church and told him that the infidels will attack Cyprus and ordered him to remove his relics to Constantinople.

The sexton did this immediately. While the boat was traveling on the sea with the reliquary, a great storm arose

but the sea was calm around the boat and a sweet-smelling fragrance emitted around the entire boat in all

directions. The sexton opened the reliquary and everyone witnessed that it was filled with myrrh (oil) which

flowed from the saint's relics. By rubbing themselves with this oil, many of the sick were healed. A church was

built in Constantinople over the relics of this miracle-worker, who continued to grant healing to all those who

with faith touched them. By the Grace of God, the gravest illness of possession, of cancer, of hemorrhaging, of

insanity, of blindness, of barrenness and of various other maladies were cured by the relics of St. Therapontus.

The Holy Martyr Pasicrates, Valentian, Julius and Others

They were all Roman soldiers. They all suffered for Christ in Macedonian Dorostol about the year 302 A.D.

When Pansicrates' brother Papian, who apostatized from Christ because of fear, began to persuade him to deny

Christ and remain alive, St. Pansicrates answered him: "Depart from me, you are not my brother!" Pansicrates

and Valentian were beheaded together. At the trial, St. Julius said: "I am a veteran; for twenty-six years I have

faithfully served the emperor and since I was faithful to a lesser one, how can I not be faithful to a greater one?"

i.e., to the Heavenly King. After that, Nicander was brought before Maximus the Perfect. Nicander's wife

encouraged her husband to die for Christ. "Foolish old woman" Maximus said to her angrily, "You just want a

better husband." The woman answered him: "If you think that of me, give the order and let them kill me now

before my husband!" Marcian was also slain with Nicander. Marcian's wife approached the scaffold carrying her

son in her arms. Marcian kissed his son and prayed to God: "O All-powerful Lord, You take care of him!"

Following that, they were beheaded and were translated into the kingdom of Christ.

Gems From the Desert… "If you guard your tongue, my brother, God will give you the gift of compunction of heart so that you

may see your soul, and thereby you will enter into spiritual joy. But if your tongue defeats you -

believe me in what I say to you - you will never be able of escape from darkness. If you do not have a

pure heart, at least have a pure mouth. -St. Isaac the Syrian

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Memorial Day Commemorations In the United States “Memorial Day” was originally and specifically dedicated to remembering those military men and women who fell in service to their country, as opposed to a general commemoration of all loved ones. In addition we as Orthodox Christians should defer, and give priority to, the liturgical calendar of the Church for commemorating our departed loved ones (i.e. the four ‘Saturday of Souls’ commemorations) thereby uniting our prayers with the Church at large through the offering of the Divine Liturgy. Notwithstanding, it has now become ‘tradition’ to

remember all departed loved ones on this day. We will gather Monday, May 26th-9am in Austin, MN and 10am, at Oakwood Cemetery, Rochester to chant the Trisagion Service for our departed loved ones. Please bring a list of your family members (baptismal first names only). You may include those departed relatives who are not laid to rest at Oakwood in your lists.

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Our parish hosted two successful fundraisers last weekend!

Last Saturday the 17th, the Philoptochos Society held a walkathon at Silver Lake for its Magdalene Ministry. $700 was raised for us to provide funeral lunches for those who have lost a loved one and have family far away and for us to develop a bereavement packet for Father Mark to give the newly bereaved. Thank you to all of you who participated in the walk and donated to our cause.

Last Sunday, the 18th, the Kid Council, which is a group of philanthropic youth in our parish between the ages of 6 and 11, hosted a bake sale to support the mission work of Gabriela and Nathan Hoppe, our (OCMC) Orthodox missionaries in Albania. The children are inspired to help the Hoppe’s open a coffee shop at a major university in Tirana, Albania with the purpose to introduce the college students to Christianity and the Orthodox Church. The Hoppe’s need $5,000 and the children raised $500 last Sunday. May God help them add a one more zero to that number! Thank you for all of you who

support the children’s efforts.

THE HOLY ANARCHISTS

As of the 4th century A.D., the desert lands of Egypt saw the beginning of the longest-

living anarchic society of all time: that of the Christian anachorites. These were

people who had chosen to live there, in order to find the tranquility that was necessary

for their praying. Comparatively speaking: when we want to listen very attentively to

some very subtle music, we usually shut doors and windows and isolate ourselves in

our quietest corner (according to Fr. Sophrony of Essex). The same applies when you want to hear the

voice of God – you isolate yourself in the quietest place you can find. You don’t do it out of spite or

aversion to the world, or to your body or to the joys of life etc.. This has been made clear innumerable

times in the history of Christianity; quite simply, the quietest place on earth that enables one to hear is the

desert. This amazing “ultra-desert” society -as it was called- albeit host to several monasteries (which

were organized societies complete with a hierarchy), was basically an “anarchic” society overall, because

it did not possess any authoritative structure whatsoever, except for the informal (but most essential)

relationship between teacher and pupil, i.e. that of a “Geron” (Elder) and a “subject” (pupil). Every new

addition to the denizens of the desert would be initiated through this form of relationship to the spiritual

sciences, for example to humility and discernment (the ability to evaluate spiritual experiences). This

form of relationship was liberal: you had to be absolutely obedient to your Elder (to trust him with your

very life, in order to release yourself from your dependence on your personal desires), but you could also

leave him to go to another Elder, or even to live without an Elder. No-one would force you to do

anything. In this society -which was replete with more love than our secular, conventional societies-

many lost the path; however, thousands did attain sainthood.

The “Gerontikon” (a collection of narrations about the desert Elders) mentions how saint Jacob of

Panepho, when asked by a certain wavering monk to what spiritual heights a denizen of the ultra-desert

can reach, the saint lifted up his arms in prayer and flames sprang from his fingertips. “If you want to,

make your whole become a fire” he replied. Naturally the ultra-desert society was not cut off from the

worldwide Church, nor was it hostile towards the other

expressions of Christian living. Even more so, it did not deny

priesthood and the holy sacraments, which were given to us by

God to help us in our union with Him as well as between us. This

is why monasteries and anachorites coexisted harmoniously,

while some anachorites even ended up as Bishops and Fathers of

the Church, without regarding that this conflicted with “their

special way” of approaching God. Anachorites would visit (or

have among them) priests canonically ordained by a Bishop; they

would officiate and they would partake of the Body and the

Precious Blood of Christ. But in the ancient and the Orthodox

Church, priesthood was not an “institution of power”; it was seen

as a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the priest was not some kind of

“representative of God”, but was the bearer of that gift (and of the responsibility) of performing the

Divine Liturgy, of confessional and the other fundamental ecclesiastic

practices and of bringing the immaculate sacraments to other Christians. As a person, that same priest

could well be subject (as a pupil) to a holy teacher, who could quite easily not be a priest.

Modern-day, rebel thinkers who have removed God from their hearts without ever having discovered Him

have instead discovered anarchism; and yet, they never learnt of the existence of this anarchic society,

despite the fact that during the time they were struggling or writing about it in their own various ways, at

least the Russian and the Athonite ultra-deserts were already flourishing. The latter (the Holy Mountain

Athos) continues to prosper to this day, albeit confronting the various difficulties and adventures of

human history.

Saints have been produced and continue to be produced, even in bustling cities, unobtrusively and

humbly, in the way that befits our humble God (which is nothing like the bogey-man that others

acknowledge, known as ‘morality’). Most certainly, every saint – man or woman – regardless whether

they live in a condominium or a wooden shack, possibly even raising ten children, also has a piece of

desert in his/her heart. They need it, in order to withdraw there and to hearken to the subtlest music in the

world: prayer.

By focusing our gaze on the saint-producing ultra-deserts, either by actually visiting them or by perusing

books like the “Gerontikon” (Elder Fathers), the “Miterikon” (Elder Mothers), the “Leimonarion” (the

Prairie narratives), the “Thebes of the North”, the “Hagiorite Fathers” and the “Hagiorite Narrations” by

the Elder Paisios and many other such books, I am convinced that it is the best way, for one who desires

to truly become acquainted with Christianity, to begin their journey. It is possible that the experience they

will encounter may become scandalous, and it may be that they will even –unwittingly– stray onto a

wrong path. Whatever the case, may the blessing of all the saints of the deserts - the sandy desert of

Egypt and Palestine, the wooded desert of Athos, the wooded, boggy or frozen desert of Russia, the

woods of Rumania or Serbia, even the frozen desert of Alaska where Saint Herman of Alaska, Saint

Innocent Beniaminov, Saint Jacob Netchetov and others attained sainthood, but also the cement desert of

Omonoia Square in the heart of Athens where the Elder Porphyry attained sainthood – be their valuable

companions and their polar star that will guide them along the way.