Newsletter May 8, 2026

The Sanctifying Dimension, Part Two

Let us begin by speaking of the richness of the Orthodox rite, in particular the Byzantine rite. This rite is distinguished by its liturgical richness and by the way it liturgically embraces the full range of human life. The Church accompanies the believer with her prayers from conception to birth, to the child’s first entrance into the church, then through Baptism, Holy Communion, and spiritual growth. She blesses life through the divine sacraments, blesses the home through the sanctification of water, and likewise blesses fields and possessions. She accompanies the faithful in sickness, travel, study, engagement, marriage, and even to the moment of departure from this life. Nor does she cease afterward, for she continues to pray for the repose of the soul.

The concern of the Church is to embrace and spiritually nourish the human person, so that he may become a citizen of the heavenly Kingdom, receive the saving and salvific gifts of God, and have the abundant life (John 10:10) which Christ came to give.

For this reason, the Orthodox rite has been enriched with salvific events and with events of daily life that the Church has baptized and clothed with a Christian character, so that they may become spiritual windows contributing to the salvation of the faithful. Thus, the feasts of our Lord, of the Mother of God, and of the saints are distributed throughout the year. There is scarcely a day without one feast or more. Each feast has its own liturgical texts, scriptural readings, and beautiful devotional hymns, though they differ in length, importance, beauty, and popularity.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2791

Congratulations to everyone who was Baptised/Chrismated during Holy Week! Glory to God!

One more reminder to the Newly Illumined (and to everyone): Please say your Saint’s name (which is your new Christian name!) out loud as you approach the Chalice. This is, firstly, your proclimation to God of who is approaching for Communion. (It is also a help tp me so that I also can state your name as I gserve you Holy Communion).

It was pointed out to me by one of the altar servers that I, too, say my name out loud at the altar as I partake of Holy Communion.

Friends, please give me one more week (next week).

We will resume Wednesday evening Divine Liturgy and adult class on Wednesday May 20 (5:30 & 6:3). Thank you for your patience and generosity.

For the catechumens and inquirers, since Wednesday evening was our main time for meeting together, I want to emphasize that I will still be available to meet one-on-one. Please continue your reading / studying, and as questions arise, please let me know and we will get together to discuss them.

Our diocesan Parish Life Conference (which is the annual gathering of our diocesan community for fellowship and worship) will take place in Denver this summer (June 10th – 13th)! This is a great opportunity to experience the event. The culminating event is the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning, where all of the priests of the diocese celebrate together. It is, literally, awesome.

Here is the link for the PLC website. It contains schedules, location, registration, etc.
https://www.antiochianevents.com/wichita
Please note that you will need to register and pay for admittance to any of the events (except, of course, any of the liturgical services…).

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: ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 11:19-30

In those days, those apostles who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabos stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius. And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Gospel: JOHN 4:5-42

At that time, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, “What do you wish?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the city and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him food?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we know that this is indeed Christ the Savior of the world.

The Everything of Orthodoxy

Fr. Stephen Freeman

Orthodoxy has many “trees” within its traditioned existence, but it has received them in the form of a forest. Orthodoxy is not “many things” – it is everything. Orthodox conversations (and there are so many in our internet-ed world) are frequently drawn into the cultural habit of focusing on details. Whether on doctrinal matters, or just practical, pastoral matters, our conversations can become discussions of “trees” of details-divorced-from-their-context. Inevitably, such conversations run the risk of misunderstanding and distorting the object of their focus.

Orthodoxy is everything – by definition. Anything less than everything is not Orthodoxy.

St. Paul describes, in Eph. 1:

the mystery of [God’s] will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.”

This is the Church – “everything gathered together in one in Christ.”

Read the entire article: https://glory2godforallthings.com/2026/05/08/the-everything-of-orthodoxy/