Newsletter January 2, 2026

Great Vespers on Saturday evening (January 3) and Orthros on Sunday morning (Jan 4) are cancelled.

Divine Liturgy will be celebrated as usual at 9:30 AM by Fr. Stephan Close.

Please take the opportunity during fellowship to get to know Fr. Stephan and Kh. Annette!

On Religious Cinema

Wherever images appear, whether in cinema, television, or modern social media, they form a vast field for implanting ideas that the producer wishes to promote through his work. Not all viewers can follow, notice, or discern these ideas, nor recognize their falsehood. Such implants are etched into the minds of viewers, who then believe them to be true, while they may be the exact opposite.

…

If we recognize the power that imagery has attained today, especially through modern propaganda, and acknowledge how difficult it has become to distinguish truth from falsehood, particularly in news media, then the necessary awareness becomes an urgent need.

In conclusion, dramatic portrayals of religious matters are often marred by inaccuracies—sometimes intentional, sometimes not. They must be approached with serious critical discernment, not watched naively or casually. You cannot protect yourself from falsehood by silencing the voice of others, but by growing in knowledge and continually seeking the truth.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2694

In this time after the Feast of Theophany and before Great Lent (1/6 – 3/2) 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.

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.

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 SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY 4:5-8

TIMOTHY, my son, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Gospel: MARK 1:1-8

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John was baptizing in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”

Archbishop Averky (Taushev)

Brethren! The Lord came onto the Earth not to judge the world, but to save the world, as he himself attests. As a guide to the world for his salvation, he left His Divine Word. We must attentively listen and try to fulfill this Word carefully, for this very Word will judge us on the last day. “I did not come to judge the world,” says the Lord, “but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (Jn 12:48).

This Word at the Dread Judgment will decide our fate for eternity. How can we madly neglect the Word of God! Brethren! Let us be attentive to God’s Word, let us read the Divine Gospel and the Holy God-inspired books, and reading them, impress their commands in our hearts lest we fall under the terrible eternal condemnation to never-ending torments.

Read the entire article: https://orthodoxlife.org/sermons-and-homilies/averky-homily-21-sunday-pentecost/