St. James Parish News
January 18, 2024
Feast of Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria
Even on the Cross He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker. St. Athanasius the Great
Theophany Home Blessings
In this time after the Feast of Theophany and before Great Lent (1/6 – 3/18) we bring the Holy Water newly blessed during Theophany services to each of our homes and celebrate the service of the Theophany Home Blessing. I would love to celebrate it at everyone’s home (catechumens included!) this year.
As I am still working a secular job, weekday evenings are the prefered time. Please contact me via phone or email to schedule a time. Also, while I appreciate everyone’s hospitality, I would ask that there be no food. We can celebrate the service and then have a visit over a cup of tea (or other refreshment).
For the celebration of the service, I simply need a small space near your icons. I will bring everything required with me. If you would like to light a candle and carry it around during the blessing that would be great. The service is simple: we will say the few prayers and a litany, and then we will walk through the home and bless each room with the Holy Water.
I may be accompanied by some of our altar services when I visit.
Early Christianity Class
Dear Fellow St. James Parishioners,
I am teaching a seminar on the history of early Christianity at CSU this semester.
Fr. Mark has given his approval for me to offer an abridged version of the seminar for the St. James community.
The St. James class will focus on the following topics: key church fathers who shaped Christian thought and practice in the Near Eastern territories of the Roman/Byzantine Empire; Mary in early Christian faith and devotion; Cyril of Jerusalem’s (d. 386) catechetical lectures in preparation for baptism at Pascha; Egeria’s account of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 380s; and Cyril of Scythopolis’ (d. 558) biographies of the monks of the Holy Land, especially the lives of St Euthymius and St Saba (the patron saint of our Metropolitan Saba).
The St. James class will be on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00. Beginning January 20, we will meet each Saturday until April 20—the week before Lazarus Saturday. All are welcome.
If you would like to participate in the class, please contact me at JEL1451@gmail.com, so I can send you PDFs of the readings for the first few weeks of class.
Jim
Name days, Birthdays and Anniversaries
None listed
May God grant you many years!
Upcoming Feasts / Celebrations
| Saturday January 20 | 6:45 PM | Byzantine Chant Class |
|---|---|
| Monday January 22 | 6:30 PM | Men’s Group |
| Tuesday February 20 | |
| 6:30 PM | Women’s Group |
| Sunday March 10 | |
| Meat-fare | |
| Sunday March 17 | |
| Cheese-fare | |
| Monday March 18 | |
| Great Lent | |
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
Prosphora
| Jan 21 | Shana V. |
| Jan 28 | Anna H. |
| Feb 4 | Peggy Y. |
| Feb 11 | Nana D. |
| Feb 18 | Natalia M. |
Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2024 web.pdf
Readers
| Jan 21 | James | 29th after Pentecost | Col. 3:4-11 |
| Jan 28 | Jared | 31st after Pentecost | I Tim. 1:15-17 |
| Feb 4 | Connor | 32nd after Pentecost | I Tim. 4:9-15 |
| Feb 11 | Isaac/Micah | 16th after Pentecost | II Cor. 6:1-10 |
| Feb 18 | Nate | 17th after Pentecost | II Cor. 6:16-7:1 |
| Feb 25 | Thomas | Pharisee and Publican | II Tim. 3:10-15 |
| Mar 3 | Ken | Prodigal Son | I Cor. 6:12-20 |
Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2024.pdf
Scripture Readings for this coming Sunday
Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS 3:4-11
Brethren, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. In these you once walked, when you lived in them. But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.
Gospel: LUKE 17:12-19
At that time, as Jesus entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’s feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
Spiritual Reading
St. Ignatius on the Nativity: Abolition of Death, Re-creation of the World
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Five days before the Nativity of Christ, the Orthodox Church celebrates the great hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer of Antioch. As he was traveling to Rome to be torn apart by lions, he wrote six epistles to Christians who met with him along the way, as well as an additional one sent ahead to the Roman Christians. Among these epistles is one sent to the Christians of Ephesus, in which he offers a meditation on the birth of Jesus as the nineteenth chapter. It begins this way:
Both the virginity of Mary and her giving birth escaped the notice of the prince of this age, as did the Lord’s death – three mysteries of a cry, wrought in the stillness of God.
When we consider the great feast of Christmas, the feast of Christ’s birth, we might well think of the virginity of the Theotokos – it is, after all, a major frame for the miraculous birth of the Lord.
But would we connect these “mysteries” (as St. Ignatius calls them) with the Lord’s death? It seems out of place to bring the crucifixion in when all this joy is being contemplated.
Read the entire article:
St. Ignatius on the Nativity: Abolition of Death, Re-creation of the World
St. James Orthodox Church
2610 S.E. Frontage Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970.221.4180