Newsletter December 21, 2023

From our Patriarch JOHN:
https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/1873

From our Metropolitan SABA:
https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/1870

Camden, Stasio: Sunday, Dec 24, 8:30 AM

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 2023 web.pdf
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2024 web.pdf

Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2023.pdf
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2024.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE HEBREWS 11:9-10; 32-40

BRETHREN, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. 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 armies 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 tempted, 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: MATTHEW 1:1-25

The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.

the Ethos of the Orthodox Church

Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou

Oh! Let me say this, too. Saint Iakovos told me these things, what is the Orthodox Ethos, that is, to learn from the Saints, and to wait, to desire to become a disciple of the Saints; and the Holy Spirit will take care of how this discipleship will take place. Don’t rush things. “Come and dwell is us”—isn’t that what the prayer says, “Heavenly King”—and cleanse us from every stain of sin.” You, there in prayer, wait, expect: “Come!” And according to your desire, He will come, my father. Longing is needed, desire is needed. In our times, these are things that have dwindled. It is not the examples that some say. Even from Heaven God will send the Heavenly Saints, if the earthly ones have dwindled, to guide the person who longs for the Orthodox Ethos.

…

Saint Païsius once told me, “In difficult times say, ‘Great is the Name of the Holy Trinity. Most Holy Theotokos protect us.’ That is the entire Church,” he tells me. “And then the prayer,” he told me, “will of itself give birth to prayer.” We always start, however, with the Name of Christ. He is the One who took flesh from the Virgin Mary. So, in this way the heart begins now through the inner voice—and in the beginning we say it with our mouths. There is the inner voice and the spoken word, the two ways in which a person can rationally pray. Either with the mouth, orally, or internally, from within us, with the inner voice, that is. We begin orally, and little by little, it is also achieved with the inner voice. These are the ways, my dear; and let’s not forget that we all, the Orthodox, have a wonderful partner and ally in us, whom the Apostle Paul constantly mentions. Whoever read him carefully will have seen it. The Holy Spirit.

…

Let me tell you. Yes, yes, I understand what you mean. Many say a lot about tears. I will tell you something, something else. I think the greatest gift is longing, the longing for God. Because when you see that you are constantly longing, you are expecting your God, when you thirst—in other words, what David says: “My soul hath thirsted for Thee, how often hath my flesh longed for Thee, in a land barren and untrodden and unwatered.” When you feel this continually, whether you are eating or sleeping or waking up or getting angry or calming down or liturgising and you are constantly in an expectation, a sweet expectation, and you want more and more God.

Read the entire article:
https://www.orthodoxethos.com/post/the-orthodox-ethos-interview-with-metropolitan-neophytos-of-morphou