St. James Parish News
July 23, 2026
Commemoration of St. Apollinaris of Ravenna
Therefore, my good beloved sister, make a review of your life. Examine in what manner you have passed your life. Recall the innumerable benefactions of our Savior Jesus Christ and His sweetest Mother, and be patient in the temptations that come.
God always helps. He always comes in time, but patience is necessary. He hears us immediately when we cry out to Him, but not in accordance with our own way of thinking. Elder Joseph the Hesycast
New Icons Program
Our resident Icnographer, Jeff Alipy, is preparing to help us with a new set of hand-painted icons in our sanctuary. We will be adding to the existing set of large icons around the top of the walls between the existing large print icons, The new icons will be large, but a little smaller than the existing ones.
If you would like to sponsor one of the new icons and choose the saint to be depicted, we would like to offer that. The sponsorship donation still needs to be set, but will be on the order of $1000.00. Final selection of the saint and depiction will need to be accomplished together with Jeff Alipy and Fr. Mark.
Jeff Alipy is currently completing a new icon of the Theotokos to be installed over the candle stand in the narthex. This was also a private commission sponsored by some of our parishioners. It will be installed shortly!
Volunteerism
I would like to begin a discussion regarding responsibility for and participation in the work of keeping our St. James parish a functioning and thriving community. Just like our own homes, our parish requires much ongoing labor and input to keep it alive and thriving.
I would like to start with acknowledging the persons already giving of themselves and committing their time and effort to our community. I fail to thank all of these people often enough. So this is an opportunity to express my thanks. It is also an opportunity to demonstrate how true volunteerism functions.
I will begin by thanking Khouria Rebecca and Silouani for all of their time and work leading the music for all of our services. Like all of the volunteerism about which I will be speaking, this work includes much more than what we see in the services themselves. The music for all of our services varies constantly according to the liturgical season. Kh. Rebecca and Silouani have committed themselves to researching, learning, and then applying their knowledge in selecting, learning, preparing and then performing the music for each service.
Silounani and Rebecca have taken responsibility for these tasks. That is, they do not merely volunteer randomly or at their convenience. They have committed to their work and take the ownership to assure that this work gets consistently accomplished. I never question or wonder if their tasks will be filled. They show up for their responsibilities, constantly and for every service, many times when they are ill and do not feel well. In the rare times when they actually are unable to be present, they take responsibility to arrange a substitute so their commitments are still fulfilled.
Just their work of leading / singing in the services is awesome. And yet their work is so much more than even all of that!
Both Kh. Rebecca and Silouani have been doing all of this work the entire time I have been priest at St. James. Many people have come and gone, but they are still here constantly and consistently giving so much for all of the services of the Church. Our St. James parish would never be the great awesome spiritual home that it is without all of their loving dedicated service.
I say Thank you! to Kh. Rebecca and Silouani. I hope that you will also express this to them and hold them as very excellent models of volunteerism for our community.
Name days, Birthdays and Anniversaries
Natalia M. – Birthday: 07-30
May God grant you many years!
Upcoming Feasts / Celebrations
| Thursday July 30 | |
|---|---|
| 9:30 AM | Women & Children Prayer Group |
| Dormition Fast | |
| August 1-14 | |
| Transfiguration | |
| Thursday August 6 | |
| 5:30 PM | Orthros |
| 6:30 PM | Divine Liturgy |
| Dormition | |
| Saturday August 15 | |
| 8:30 AM | Orthros |
| 9:30 AM | Divine Liturgy |
| Tuesday August 18 | |
| 7:00 PM | Women’s book study |
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
| July 26 | Anna H. |
| August 2 | Kari H. |
| August 9 | Nana D. |
| August 16 | Natalia M. |
| August 23/td> | Shana V. |
Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2026 web.pdf
Readers
| July 26 | Isaac | Paraskeva of Rome | Gal. 3:23-4:5 |
| August 2 | Nate | 9th after Pentecost | I Cor. 3:9-17 |
| August 9 | Jeff Alipy | 10th after Pentecost | I Cor. 4:9-16 |
| August 16 | Zach | 11th after Pentecost | I Cor. 9:2-12 |
| August 23 | Thomas | 12th after Pentecost | I Cor. 15:1-11 |
| August 30 | Ken | 13th after Pentecost | I Cor. 16:13-24 |
| September 6 | Jared | 14th after Pentecost | II Cor. 1:21-2:4 |
| September 13 | Connor | Sunday before Elevation of the Cross | Gal. 6:11-18 |
Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2026.pdf
Scripture Readings for this coming Sunday
Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS 3:23-29; 4:1-5
Brethren, before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Gospel: MATTHEW 14:14-22
At that time, Jesus saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
Spiritual Reading
The Foundation of Faith
Igumen Gabriel
And this egoism is precisely the main obstacle to a true and living faith in the Lord God. We cannot fully place our faith in God as long as we still retain any faith whatsoever in ourselves. Therefore, if we wish to acquire the faith of the centurion in today’s Gospel story, we must first strive with all our might to acquire his humility.
How are we to do so? Quite simply by following the example the centurion gives to us in today’s Gospel lesson, and eagerly looking for every possible opportunity to humble ourselves before God and others. We ought even to be “greedy” for such opportunities, if one may speak in such a way. We must train ourselves to hunger and thirst for humility — and even, perhaps, for humiliations — more than we do for our daily bread, or for any of the pleasures of this vain and passing life. We must learn, with God’s help, to rejoice and to give fervent thanks for every occasion on which we are misunderstood, or mocked, or scorned, or rejected, every time we are passed over for some honor or praise, every time our opinion is ignored, every time our advice is not followed, every time someone else is preferred before us, every time we have the chance to remain silent rather than to presume that our own voice deserves to be heard, every time we have the opportunity to put someone else’s needs and desires before our own.
Why is all of this so necessary? It is not because we are supposed to develop some pathological hatred of ourselves — indeed, to do so is often merely another symptom of our fundamental self-centeredness. No, we are by no means supposed to hate ourselves; rather, we are supposed to forget ourselves, and begin to learn at long last to live purely for the sake of God and one another. But we cannot do so when we are constantly nourishing our own ego and vainglory and pride. The old man cannot be defeated if we are constantly feeding and strengthening and arming him with every possible weapon for the battle against the new man. And that is why we need to learn to cultivate a genuine longing and an active search for humility: so that gradually, little by little, we will stop being the most important thing in our own lives, and God Himself can begin to pour out the infinite and incomprehensible riches of His love and grace, without the danger that we will mistake His gifts for our own accomplishments.
Read the entire article: https://www.rememberingsion.com/p/foundation-faith-sermon-4th-sunday-pentecost
St. James Orthodox Church
2610 S.E. Frontage Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970.221.4180
To unsubscribe from our newsletter click here.