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Matins Gospel Reading

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Gospel Reading

Saints Feasts and Readings for 9/24/2017

Elder Efraim Vatopaidinos   Our treasure, our hope, what is it? The Church, which isn’t there just to give us material things, though it does that as well. It’s true that, in the difficult trial which the Greek people is undergoing, the Church has proved to be our mother and people have no hesitation in […]

Tags: Quote, Words of Life

The Antiochian Archdiocese Rewards Program team is encouraging all parishes to commit to this Archdiocese-wide initiative that supports the Clergy Retirement Fund as well as each local parish. Endorsed by Metropolitan Joseph and the Archdiocese Board of Trustees, this program generates income "painlessly," as parishioners register and make online purchases at participating retailers. A percentage of each online purchase is allotted to the Clergy Retirement Fund with the remaining percentage being allotted to the parish of each consumer's choice.

Over 4,000 retailers now participate in the awards program, including hotels, Best Buy, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Neiman Marcus, gas stations, The Gap, grocery stores, and many, many more. To register, log on to the web site, indicate your Diocese and parish, and insert your email and a password. It's that easy!

Additionally, the simple instructive video enables individuals and parish webmasters to install the "Support" button via one of three browsers: Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

AttachmentSize Archdiocese Rewards Program Flyer (PDF)244.52 KB

Watch Now as Fr. Michael discusses the great paradox that when we embrace the hardness of life as the pavement of the spiritual road, slowly we find that there is joy where others despair, prayer where others are overwhelmed. No circumstance dictates the human being who is free in Christ but only in the context […]

Tags: Led by the Spirit

Vsevolod Krivoshein, as he was in the world, was born in Saint Petersburg [on 30 June] 1900. His father served as a minister [of Agriculture] and vice-president of the Russian government. Vsevolod studied philology at the universities of Petrograd and Moscow. During his military service [with the anti-Bolshevik White Russian Army] he suffered frostbite. He […]

Tags: personalities, religion

Listen Now. We will now be including the daily reading of Epistle and Gospel with The Prayer Team. The Beatitudes Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Matthew 5:8   Good morning Prayer Team! Hopefully you never have to be in an operating room at the hospital (unless of course you […]

Tags: daily devotion, Daily Reading

John the Forerunner, the fruit of prayer, hath budded from a barren womb today. Rejoice, O wilderness, and dance for joy, O mankind! Behold, the preacher of repentance beginneth to take flesh in his mother’s womb. Come, as we rejoice over his glorious conception, O ye feast-lovers, let us form a choir, crying: O thou greatest of them that are born of women, cease not to intercede for us who with faith honor thy divine conception, that we may find forgiveness of sins and Great Mercy.

--Doxasticon from Great Vespers, Tone 6

Rejoice, O barren one, who had not given birth; for behold thou hast conceived clearly the one who is the dawn of the Sun Who was about to illuminate the whole universe, blighted with sightlessness. Shout in joy, O Zacharias, crying in favour, Verily, the one to be born is a Prophet of the High.

--Troparion, Tone 4

The Synaxarion:

Today in the Holy Orthodox Church we commemorate the conception of the honorable, glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John. On this day the mercy, miracles and wisdom of God are celebrated: His mercy toward the devout and righteous parents of St. John, the aged Zacharias and Elizabeth, who all their lives had wished for and begged a child from God; His miracle, that of John’s conception in the aged womb of Elizabeth; and His wisdom, in the dispensation of man’s salvation. God had an especially great intention for John: namely, that he be the Prophet and Forerunner of Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world. Through His angels, God announced the births of Isaac to the childless Sarah, Samson to the childless wife of Manoah, and John the Forerunner to the childless Zacharias and Elizabeth. All of these were those for whom He had special intentions, and He foretold their birth through His angels.

On September 23, we also commemorate the holy, glorious and right-victorious Martyr Raidos; New-martyrs Nicholas and John; Venerable Xanthippa and Polyxena of Spain. Through their intercessions, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us, and save us. Amen.

Leave-taking of the Elevation of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross

Beloved in Christ,

With Archpastoral love, I embrace all of you – my brother hierarchs, reverend clergy, and Christloving faithful. Once again, I write to you in the midst of tragedy, witnessing the results of the devastating earthquake that struck our brothers and sisters in Mexico. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, when "one member suffers, all the members suffer with it."

When I reflect on the heartrending disasters of the last several weeks, I take heart that we have been commemorating the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross. As we raise on high the Cross, we remember the sacrificial love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember how He transfigured that instrument of cruel torture and death into a "weapon of peace and trophy invincible." We remember that the tears of mourning shed by the Ointment Bearing Women were transformed into inexpressible joy on the morning of Pascha.

As the Body of Christ, we do not lose hope in the face of suffering. Armed with the power of the Life-giving Cross, we follow the example of our Lord in our offering of sacrificial love to those in need, and in our co-working with Him, transfiguring life's crosses into moments of grace-filled reconciliation between God and humanity, humanity and creation.

With all of the images of human suffering we have seen, let us not become desensitized to yet one more tragedy. Let us, taking our strength from this feast, renew our commitment to sacrificial and co-suffering love. Once again, I ask for your generosity towards our suffering brothers and sisters in Mexico. Once again, I ask you to offer fervent prayers on behalf of the suffering. We will have a
special collection this Sunday – please mark the memo of your check with "Earthquake Appeal."

As your Father in Christ, I have every confidence we will share the love and peace, hope and joy of our Savior during these trying times. Please assured of my own fervent, heartfelt prayers on behalf of all of you.

Your Father in Christ,

+JOSEPH
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America

AttachmentSize 9.21.17 Metropolitan Joseph Letter Regarding the Earthquake in Mexico (PDF)106.16 KB

"When my friend Elissa’s daughter was still a baby, she had to undergo a risky liver transplant. Elissa and I think back on that time and the way our experience of time changes during times of illness, whether it’s we who are sick or a loved one": Host Dr. Nicole Roccas on a new "Time Eternal."

Listen Now.    Join us as guest host Fr. Gregory Joyce speaks with Ranae Rice, the Principal at Agia Sophia Academy in Beaverton, Oregon.  Agia Sophia is the only Orthodox Christian elementary school in Oregon and its “mission is to educate the whole child by providing a rich academic and arts curriculum, grounded in Orthodox […]

Tags: Orthodox Christian Education

Listen Now.  Join us today as we discuss a Christ-centered marriage and the five love languages, how couples give and receive love, and how we must learn to speak our spouse’s primary love language if we want that person to feel loved.  To learn more about the five love languages visit our Amazon store for […]

Tags: 5 love languages, Marriage, relationships

Fr. Constantin Voicescu   ‘No matter how bad pain is, it has no meaning other than the cleansing of the soul which longs for salvation’ (Valeriu Gafencu). The prison in the town of Târgu-Ocna was an oasis in the desert of pain. Not that there was no pain there. On the contrary. Pain, sickness in […]

Tags: Pastoral Care, Prison

Listen Now. We will now be including the daily reading of Epistle and Gospel with The Prayer Team. The Beatitudes Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Matthew 5:7   Good morning Prayer Team! Mercy is one quality that is sorely missing in the world today.  The business world is built around hard […]

Tags: daily devotion, Daily Reading

On September 8, 2017, I entered Holy Trinity, a parish on the other side of town from where we lived. It was the Nativity of the Theotokos, the God-bearer, who’s will to remain sinless cooperates with the miracle of Christ’s becoming man and saving humankind. The Mother of God’s birthday is celebrated at the beginning […]

Tags: Christ's love, faith and culture

Is there something you are afraid about? You might not know that the thing people are most afraid about is…spiders! Yes, more people are afraid of spiders than any other thing. Usually, people are afraid of something that is stronger than they are, or more powerful. Some spiders might have a strong poison, and you […]

Tags: Children's Orthodox Prayer

Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite   The great martyr for Christ Eustace (Eustathios) was a solider of renown in Rome at the time of the Emperor Trajan in about the year 100, and was known as the most acclaimed of all for his virtue, courtesy, disposition, charity and sympathy towards the poor. He had previously been […]

Tags: Lives of Saints, saints