Newsletter April 11, 2024

All services at 5:00 PM

These are also listed on the parish calendar: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Calendar/calendar.php

REMINDER: Lenten confessions must be competed before Holy Wednesday (April 1). There will be no confessions from Holy Wednesday (April 1) until the weekend of Thomas Sunday (May 11-12).

Sunday, during fellowship

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 THE HEBREWS 6:13-20

BRETHREN, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel: MARK 9:17-31

At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.

Revelation: Removing the Veil (Part 3)

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

We don’t read Revelation to evaluate the circumstances of our times, or learn about future events, or figure out how many years we have left.

The Revelation of St. John the Theologian has the specific purpose of helping us draw near to God and giving us blessed hope and conviction that God will prevail in the end and that people who have hope and patience will be with God eternally.

…

This book, as the text says, contains the revelation that God gave Jesus Christ to show His servants what is coming soon. The word “revelation” means there was something unknown, hidden, under a veil, and now it is being revealed. So God gives us the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Christ says in the Gospel that no one knows when the end of the world will come. No one, not even the Son. Neither the angels, nor the Son. And here we’re talking about the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ. God gave this revelation to Jesus Christ not because there’s anything He doesn’t know about or because the Father hides something from the Son. Elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures it says that everything the Father has He has given to the Son. The Son knows everything. There’s nothing unknown to Him. But we should know that the two natures of Christ are often manifested in Holy Scripture. Christ often acts as God, and sometimes as Man. In His human nature, Christ experienced hunger, thirst, He got tired, He slept, He died, because He was also Man. And as God, He resurrected Himself and others, worked miracles, and manifested His supernatural power. As Man, He asked: “Where have they laid Lazarus?” Not because He didn’t know, but because His human nature was showing its nature. Christ is perfect Man and perfect God.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him means that Christ received this knowledge as Man, because His two natures are inseparable in Him. Christ is the God-Man. Christ’s human nature received this revelation from His Divinity and reveals to His servants all that we will read. The revelation is given to the servants of God.

Read the entire article: https://orthochristian.com/159111.html