Newsletter December 5, 2025

Male and Female He Created Them, in Complementarity

There is a complementarity between man and woman that the Orthodox Church proclaims. And it teaches that this complementarity requires a life of spiritual struggle and ascetic discipline, so that both may overcome the passions that push men to dominate women, and women to flatter or deceive men in self-protection. One does not gain his or her rights by imitating the other or by suppressing his or her own personality, but by realizing his or her own true self. A man does not gain his freedom by dominating a woman, nor by feminizing himself, nor by abandoning his masculinity. A woman does not gain her freedom by becoming a second man, nor by abandoning her femininity. Without the struggle to purify and elevate the self, through the cooperation of both man and woman, the world will continue to witness injustice here and confusion of roles there.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2653

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 2025 web.pdf
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2026 web.pdf

Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2025.pdf
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2026.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS 5:8-19

Brethren, walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.

Gospel: LUKE 13:10-17

At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

Words Without Grace are Poison!

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man (Col. 4:6), teaches the Apostle Paul. Speech is our main means of communication, and it is precisely speech that can build up or destroy, bring light or utter darkness. The Apostle Paul is speaking about everyday speech—the words we use in all of life’s ordinary situations. Even the simplest words we say on the phone, in a shop, or type in comments should be filled with grace. Every word of ours should bear witness to God’s presence in our life. That means it should contain stillness, peace, love, meekness, and humility.

If we speak with irritation, malice, hatred, and the like, this testifies that an evil spirit lives in our heart. The Apostle Paul says that speech must be with salt, not with sugar. Our speech should not be cloyingly sweet, but moderately salty. There can’t be too much salt in the sense that it prevents the soul from rotting and decaying. But if you oversalt your words, they become harsh and severe. If you oversweeten them, they begin to corrupt by their softness and lack of grace.

That is why good measure is so important—not only in the quality, but also in the quantity of words. There should not be too many, but not too few either. The Apostle Paul says, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Our speech must be living and flexible. There is no single standard of communication that would be suitable for every hearer. Our interaction with others must be such that different people can each receive, in their own way, the grace that ought to be contained in our words.

Read the entire article: https://orthochristian.com/174231.html