Newsletter February 27, 2026

The Orthodox Liturgy: Its Theology and Spirituality, Part One

The Orthodox liturgy stems from the Orthodox view of humanity, which holds that humankind occupies a unique position in the universe, distinguishing it from all other creatures. Humans alone bless God for all they receive from Him, including the life-giving food; they alone bless God in response to God’s blessing.

The only natural, not supernatural, response for humankind after God has bestowed upon it this blessed and holy world is to bless God in return, to offer thanks, to see the world as God sees it, and consequently to know the world, to name everything in it, and to possess it.

Therefore, in the Orthodox faith, man is considered priest, called to present the world to God again after purifying and sanctifying it. Humanity is called to sanctify the world, restoring it to its state before the Fall. Man stands at the center of the world, uniting it and blessing it with God, receiving it from Him and offering it back to Him: “Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, in behalf of all and for all” (from the Orthodox liturgy).

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2740

Denver area Lenten Sunday evening pan-Orthodox Vespers will be held again this year. All services begin at 5:00 P.M.

Sunday of Orthodoxy (March 1): Assumption Cathedral, Denver
St. Gregory Palamas (March 8): Transfiguration Cathedral, Denver
Sunday of Cross (March 15): St. Elias, Arvada
St. John of the Ladder (March 22): St. Catherine, Greenwood Village
St. Mary of Egypt (March 29): Ss. Peter & Paul, Boulder

(These are also listed on the parish calendar, with map pins and addresses)

We will celebrate the baptism of Natalie G. on Sunday March 8 at 1:00 PM (following fellowship). Everyone is invited!

Silouani has startedp a new women’s book study group. She has offered her home as the gathering place. The gatherings will be on the 3rd Tuesdays of the month.

The first book will be “On the Mystical Life, The Ethical Discourses: St. Symeon the New Theologian, Volume I: The Church and The Last Things”. Here is a link to the publisher:
https://svspress.com/on-the-mystical-life-the-ethical-discourses-st-symeon-the-new-theologian-volume-i-the-church-and-the-last-things/

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 2026 web.pdf

Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2026.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE HEBREWS 11:24-26, 32-40

Brethren, by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets — who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated — of whom the world was not worthy — wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Gospel: JOHN 1:43-51

At that time, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Current State of Affairs

Photios Kontoglou

The Sunday of Orthodoxy was established in order for the Church to celebrate the restoration of the Icons and the victory of true religion over the Iconoclasts. The Iconoclasts were the modernists of that time, who began with the abolition of iconography, so that they might proceed gradually, as all such people are wont to do, to other destructive reforms, the end result being to leave nothing in Orthodoxy intact. The Icon was the symbol of Orthodoxy, and Byzantium was in turmoil over the Icons, in civil war, for 116 years. In 787 A.D., the Seventh Ecumenical Synod took place in Nicaea. This Synod proclaimed the restoration of the Icons, and put an end to the Iconoclasm which had started in 726, in the reign of Leo the Isaurian. But even after the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, Iconoclasm was revived, and so another Synod took place in Constantinople in 842, and this Synod confirmed the Seventh Ecumenical Synod. Thus did that madness of Iconoclasm cease.

Unbelief and rationalism are the causes from which every heresy and modernism in religion proceed. This is why the Iconoclasts were men of cold hearts, unbelievers, braggarts, vainglorious, deprived of spiritual depth, and impelled in whatever they did from political and other similar non-spiritual purposes. The leaders of this movement, emperors and courtiers, attracted to their side the vainglorious and the self-seekers, who counted on the political and social power that these leaders of the Iconoclasts had.

Read the entire article: https://www.mystagogyresourcecenter.com/2025/03/the-sunday-of-orthodoxy-and-current.html