Newsletter July 11, 2024

On the Ministry of the Diaconate, Part One

Holy Tradition considers the diaconate an essential and complementary part of apostolic service. Since the early days of Christianity, the diaconate has been considered the third rank of the three priestly ranks.[5] This means that it was not a temporary or transitional service, a mere stage or step towards entering the priesthood, as it has become in many churches today due to the shortage of priests.

From the canons of various councils that discussed this matter, as well as the writings of some theologians and historians, it is clear that the diaconate was a service designated for a specific mission, and at the same time necessary for the era in which it existed, as evidenced by its relative cessation in other times.

As Byzantine canon law developed, we notice an administrative dimension for male deacons forming, especially after Christianity stabilized and the Church became institutionalized. The deacon was considered, for example, the bishop’s hearing, tongue, and hand,[6] as someone whose ministry is in “fulfilling the bishop’s need.” With the establishment of the liturgical form of worship, the deacon’s role in facilitating the service was primarily defined, especially in the presence of the bishop. Even today, at least in the Byzantine rite, as in other rites, the bishop and deacon almost entirely serve the Divine Liturgy, and the service order (Typikon) allocates only a few proclamations to the priest.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2103

Please remember that our full calendar continues to be available at our parish web site. Here is a link:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Calendar/calendar.php

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2024 web.pdf

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2024.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO TITUS 3:8-15

Titus, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned. When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful. All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

Gospel: MATTHEW 5:14-19

The Lord said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Are We Blind Also?

Hieromonk Gabriel

And today, my dear brothers and sisters, Christ’s divine warnings ought to ring out loudest of all in your ears and in mine: in the ears of all Orthodox Christians, and especially in the ears of us monks and us priests. For truly, “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). It is to us that all the riches of Orthodoxy have been given; it is to us that the gates of Heaven have been thrown open wide. But are we, in fact, actually choosing to walk through those gates? Are we truly availing ourselves of such infinite treasuries of grace? Or do we pay mere lip services to these truths and treasures, acknowledging and claiming them for our own outwardly, yet in our heart of hearts forsaking them each day in favor of the cares and desires of this vain and transitory life? Or worse yet: do we take up the spiritual treasures we have been given, only to use them to bludgeon one another in the head, through our judgment and condemnation and pride? If so, then truly we are hypocrites indeed, and find ourselves in a state far more unenviable even that that of the Pharisees: for though we have seen with our eyes and confess with our lips the risen Lord Christ, yet we have not seen fit to give Him the highest place in our hearts. And what form of blindness could possibly be worse than this?

But even so, the mercy and the healing grace of God are never far from any of us. The waters of repentance are always close at hand to wash away even our most grievous sins, just as Christ used the waters of Siloam to wash away an entire lifetime of blindness in today’s Gospel story. And truly, today’s Gospel assures us beyond any doubt that there is no form of blindness which is any obstacle at all to seeing God: in the end, only our own stubborn refusal can possibly prevent Him from opening our eyes to all the fullness of His divine glory.

So let none of us by any means despair. Rather, let us humbly acknowledge all our past blindness and error and sin, and let us then press forward, entrusting ourselves — with sincere repentance and heartfelt faith — to the infinite mercies of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, for truly: “In Him [is] life; and the life [is] the light of men” (John 1:4). And let us call out to Him with our whole hearts in the words of the kontakion of today’s feast: “Having the eyes of my soul blinded, I come to Thee, O Christ, like the man blind from birth, and with repentance I cry to Thee: Thou art the bright Light of those in darkness.”

Read the entire article: https://www.rememberingsion.com/p/are-we-blind-also