January 13, 2008 Church Bulletin

Sunday, January 13, 2008

SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Today's Celebrants:  V. Rev. Fr. Timothy Ferguson;

Rt. Rev. Fr. Constantine Yanney;

Rev. Dn. Nicholas Belcher; Subdeacon Douglas Howdy;

Subdeacon Khalil Samara; Subdeacon Chadi Saad; Subdeacon James Irving

VARIATION IN TODAY'S DIVINE LITURGY

At the entrance (Service Book page 97):

1) TROPARION OF THE RESURRECTION - Tone 8: Thou didst come down from the heights, O Compassionate One, that we might be delivered from suffering. Thou didst submit to be placed in the tomb for three days. Thou art our life and our resurrection, O Lord, glory to Thee.

2) THE ENTRANCE HYMN: O Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. O son of God, who art risen from the dead save us who sing unto thee: Alleluia.

3)      Repeat #1 above.

4) TROPARION FOR THE EPIPHANY - Tone 1: When you were baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was revealed to the world. For the voice of the Father witnessed to you by calling you his beloved Son, and the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truth of his words. O Christ, our God, you have appeared to us and enlightened the world. Glory to you.

5) TROPARION OF ST. GEORGE - Tone 4: As deliverer of captives and defender of the poor, healer of the infirm, champion of kings, victorious, Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ our God for our soul's salvation.

6) KONTAKION FOR THE EPIPHANY - Tone 4: Today, you have appeared to the world, O Lord, and your light shines forth on us who sing your praises with understanding: You have come, you have revealed yourself to us, O inaccessible light.

Prokeimenon:  Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.

EPISTLE:  The reading is from Saint Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. (Chapter 4:7-13.)

BRETHREN, grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."  (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)  And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unit of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW

(Chapter 4:12-17.)

At that time:  When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfiled: 

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people who wait in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." 

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Special note:  Except for those who are elderly and/or disabled, please remain standing during Holy Communion.

NEXT WEEK'S HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:  Hebrews 7:26-2-8:2; John 10:9-16.

• WARM THE CHILDREN -  If you like to knit, crochet or sew, the Adult Fellowship will be collecting hats, mittens, scarves, or other items to keep children warm.  They will be sent to Orphanages outside of this country.  More information will be coming in future bulletins, and this will be an on-going project so anytime you have accumulated items that will keep children warm, please give them to a member of the Adult Fellowship.  If you don't knit but want to be involved to any degree, purchased items are welcome including school supplies and new shoes, etc.  The children range fro 6 - 18 years of age.

Archdiocese Survey of the Faithful - Sunday - 20 January - following Liturgy

Dear Faithful of St George Church of Boston,

At the request of his Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP and the Archdiocese Board of trustees of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, the Very Rev. Dr. Joseph F. Purpura will be visiting our parish next Sunday, for the purpose of conducting an ongoing Archdiocesan Survey of the faithful of our archdiocese.  This survey was developed by our various archdiocese departments and professionals at the request of his Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP.

The purpose of this survey is to better understand the needs of the faithful across our archdiocese.  This survey is being conducted in many parishes across the archdiocese and, St George has been chosen as one of the parishes of the Diocese of New England to participate in this survey.  The survey covers a wide range of issues, including moral and ethical beliefs, behaviors and concerns.  The survey results will be used to help our priests, youth workers, and teachers better understand and respond to the issues confronting the faithful of our archdiocese.

Please know:

1.  The survey is completely anonymous

• a. No names will appear on the survey you fill out, nor will the survey be identifiable by parish. There are personal lifestyle questions on the survey - rest assured only you will know what you personally answered on the survey.
• b. If you choose to participate, your survey will be combined with the 1,500 surveys already completed across the archdiocese and your responses will remain anonymous in every way.
• c. No one from this parish will handle your survey or see the results of this parish's responses - Fr Joseph Purpura will have a box ready for you to add your survey to the others done in this parish - and all of the surveys will be handled only by him and they will go back with him in a sealed box to be combined with all the others that have been done - they will then be scanned into the survey database along with thousands of other surveys.
• 2. Surveys will be conducted among the following age groups. Each age group will receive a different survey appropriate to their age grouping.
• a. Teens (ages 13-19):
• i. Following Liturgy any teen that did not have an opportunity to participate in during their class time will be welcomed to participate in the teen survey.
• b. Adults (ages 20 and above):
• i. Will be asked to stay following the Sunday Liturgy in the Church to participate in this survey - we hope you will all make arrangements to stay and participate. The survey will take between 18 - 30 minutes depending on your speed in answering the survey questions.
• c. Pre-teens (ages 10-12)
• i. Will be asked to participate in a pre-teen survey (please be sure they receive the pre-teen survey and not the teen or adult survey) on Sunday following Liturgy at the same time as their parent or during their classroom time. If parents do not want their children to participate in this survey they are free to exclude them from the survey process.

We appreciate your willingness to participate in this survey.

Yours in Christ,
V. Rev. Dr. Joseph F. Purpura,
On behalf of His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP and the Archdiocese Survey Team

*Please plan to remain with us in Church after Divine Liturgy on 20 January - to participate in this important survey.