Newsletter November 7, 2026

Tomorrow (Sunday) we will celebrate the Baptism of Tatiana, Will and Lilli-Anne’s daughter, at 8:30 AM in place of Orthros.

On Demons

There is a widespread tendency to deny the existence of the devil and to refuse to regard him as a real being. Some people—especially among those considered intellectuals—believe that the devil is a human invention and that evil exists essentially within man alone, not also outside him. Yet those who hold this view do not adequately explain the origin of man’s inclination toward evil. Nor do they offer a clear answer to the perennial question: How can finite man possess such seemingly limitless energy for immensely destructive evil?

It would be understandable if those who denied the devil were found only among unbelievers. Recently, however, it appears that some preachers and teachers have also begun either to deny the devil or to exclude him and his influence from the lives of believers. They are driven to this either by personal conviction—forgetting that they belong to an integrated system of faith—or by a desire to remove the fear of the devil from the consciousness of believers. Secular thought has begun to invade the Church, and the matter under discussion is but one sign of this invasion.

Opposed to this tendency is the inclination to attribute the cause of every evil to the devil, thereby absolving human beings of personal responsibility and neglecting the effort to understand the evils that occur and investigate their various causes.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2987

Many thanks to Jeff Alipy for the new icon of the Lord’s Supper over the Holy Doors of our iconostasis. Jeff Alipy and his family are dedicating this icon to the memory of his recently reposed mother Virginia.

Get ready! Our Fast in preparation for the Great Feasts of the Lord’s Nativity and Theophany begins Noveember 15 and continues through December 24.

I am beginning to put together the schedules for next year for the Bakers and the Epistle readers. If you would be interested in joing into either of them, please speak with Fr. Mark.

It is a joy and blessing for me to see everyone’s desire to venerate the newly placed icons at the front of the Church (nave)! If I may make one point for the sake of clarification. Coming forward to venerate the cross being held by the priest and to receive the antidoron (bread) is the end of the Divine Liturgy and is the proper manner and way to leave the Church. In our practice at St. James, the reader reads aloud the Prayers After Holy Communion. These are beautiful and important prayers. They are also read to provide a prayerful environment for us as we depart the Church (and to remind us to NOT begin chatting and greeting each other until we reach the Parish Hall). I thank you all for the piety with which this is all conducted every Liturgy! Now for the practical note. For those who wish to venerate the icons in front of the Church after the cross veneration, it is appropriate to do so immediately after the veneration has concluded, even if the reader is still reciting the Prayers After Holy Communion. As I said above, those prayers are there as a background: so please continue to listen to them, but still come forward and venerate the icons as you do so. Thank you!

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 2:2-10

Brethren, if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Gospel: LUKE 8:41-56

At that time, there came to Jesus a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue; and falling at Jesus’ feet he besought him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As he went, the people pressed round him. And a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years and had spent all her living upon physicians and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those who were with him said, “Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!” But Jesus said, “Some one touched me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” While he was still speaking, a man from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she shall be well.” And when he came to the house, he permitted no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and bewailing her; but he said, “Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once; and he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed; but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Why do people choose to become monks?

Monk Hilarion

Monastic life is a life aimed entirely at learning to practice the commandments of the Gospel, in preparation for being judged by God. Saint Ignatius brings forward the testimony of ancient monastic saints concerning this: “The holy monks of old called the monastic life a life according to the commandments of the Gospel. Saint John of the Ladder defines a monk thus: ‘A monk is one who is guided only by the commandments of God and the word of God in every time and place and matter.’ The monks subject to Saint Pachomius the Great had to learn the Gospel by heart so as to have the laws of the God-man like a continually open book in the memory, in order to have them constantly before the eyes of the mind and have them printed on the soul for their easier and more unfailing fulfillment.”

Read the entire article: https://orthodoxlife.org/monasticism/why-do-people-choose-to-become-monks/