APOLYTIKION OF SAINT NECTARIOS
The offspring of Silyvria*
and the guardian of Aegina* the true friend of virtue who appeared in the
last years. O Nectarios* we faithful honor you* as a godly servant of
Christ, * for you pour forth healing* of every kind for those who piously
cry out. * Glory to Christ who has glorified you; * Glory to Him who has
shown wonders in you; * Glory to Him who works healing through you for
all.
ΑΠΟΛΥΤΙΚΙΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΟΥ
Σηλυβρίας
τὸν γόνον
καὶ Αἰγίνης
τὸν ἔφορον,
τὸν ἐσχάτοις
χρόνοις
φανέντα ἀρετῆς φίλον γνήσιον,
Νεκτάριον
τιμήσωμεν
πιστοί, ὡς ἔνθεον
θεράποντα
Χριστοῦ. Ἀναβλύζει
γὰρ ἰάσεις
παντοδαπὰς
τοῖς εὐλαβῶς
κραυγάζουσι :
Δόξα τῷ
σὲ δοξάσαντι
Χριστῷ, δόξα τῷ
σὲ θαυμαστώσαντι,
δόξα τῷ
ἐνεργούντι
διὰ σοῦ
πᾶσιν ἰάματα.
Sunday of All Saints
Reading
Honouring the friends of God with much reverence, the Prophet-King
David says, "But to me, exceedingly honourable
are Thy friends, O Lord" (Ps. 138:16). And the divine Apostle,
recounting the achievements of the Saints, and setting forth their
memorial as an example that we might turn away from earthly things and
from sin, and emulate their patience and courage in the struggles for
virtue, says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every burden, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).
This commemoration began as the Sunday (Synaxis) of All
Martyrs; to them were added all the ranks of Saints who bore witness (the
meaning of "Martyr" in Greek) to Christ in manifold ways, even
if occasion did not require the shedding of their blood.
Therefore, guided by the teaching of the Divine Scriptures
and Apostolic Tradition, we the pious honour all the Saints, the friends
of God, for they are keepers of God's commandments, shining examples of
virtue, and benefactors of mankind. Of course, we honour the known Saints
especially on their own day of the year, as is evident in the Menologion. But since many Saints are unknown, and
their number has increased with time, and will continue to increase until
the end of time, the Church has appointed that once a year a common
commemoration be made of all the Saints. This is the feast that we
celebrate today. It is the harvest of the coming of the Holy Spirit into
the world; it is the "much fruit" brought forth by that
"Grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died" (John
12:24); it is the glorification of the Saints as "the foundation of
the Church, the perfection of the Gospel, they who fulfilled in deed the
sayings of the Saviour" (Sunday of All Saints, Doxasticon
of Vespers).
In this celebration, then, we reverently honour and call
blessed all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors,
Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known
and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be
added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been
perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives. All these,
as well as the orders of the Angels, and especially our most holy Lady
and Queen, the Ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, do we honour today, setting
their life before us as an example of virtue, and entreating them to
intercede in our behalf with God, Whose grace and boundless mercy be with
us all. Amen.
Nativity of the Forerunner John the Baptist
Reading
He that was greater than all who are born of women, the
Prophet who received God's testimony that he surpassed all the Prophets,
was born of the aged and barren Elizabeth (Luke 1: 7) and filled all his
kinsmen, and those that lived round about, with gladness and wonder. But
even more wondrous was that which followed on the eighth day when he was
circumcised, that is, the day on which a male child receives his name.
Those present called him Zacharias, the name of his father. But the
mother said, "Not so, but he shall be called John." Since the
child's father was unable to speak, he was asked, by means of a sign, to
indicate the child's name. He then asked for a tablet and wrote,
"His name is John." And immediately Zacharias' mouth was
opened, his tongue was loosed from its silence of nine months, and filled
with the Holy Spirit, he blessed the God of Israel, Who had fulfilled the
promises made to their fathers, and had visited them that were sitting in
darkness and the shadow of death, and had sent to them the light of
salvation. Zacharias prophesied concerning the child also, saying that he
would be a Prophet of the Most High and
Forerunner of Jesus Christ. And the child John, who was filled with
grace, grew and waxed strong in the Spirit; and he was in the wilderness
until the day of his showing to Israel (Luke 1:57-80). His name is a
variation of the Hebrew "Johanan,"
which means "Yah is gracious."
Peter and Paul, the Holy Apostles
Reading
The divinely-blessed
Peter was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of Jonas and the
brother of Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman by trade,
unlearned and poor, and was called Simon; later he was renamed Peter by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who looked at him and said, "Thou art
Simon the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by
interpretation, Peter)" (John 1:42). On being raised by the Lord to
the dignity of an Apostle and becoming inseparable from Him as His
zealous disciple, he followed Him from the beginning of His preaching of
salvation up until the very Passion, when, in the court of Caiaphas the
high priest, he denied Him thrice because of his fear of the Jews and of
the danger at hand. But again, after many bitter tears, he received
complete forgiveness of his transgression. After the Resurrection of
Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit, he preached in Judea, Antioch,
and certain parts of Asia, and finally came to Rome, where he was
crucified upside down by Nero, and thus he ascended to the eternal
habitations about the year 66 or 68, leaving two Catholic (General)
Epistles to the Church of Christ.
Paul, the chosen vessel
of Christ, the glory of the Church, the Apostle of the Nations and teacher of the whole
world, was a Jew by race, of the tribe of Benjamin, having Tarsus as his
homeland. He was a Roman citizen, fluent in the Greek language, an expert
in knowledge of the Law, a Pharisee, born of a Pharisee, and a disciple
of Gamaliel, a Pharisee and notable teacher of the Law in Jerusalem. For
this cause, from the beginning, Paul was a most fervent zealot for the
traditions of the Jews and a great persecutor of the Church of Christ; at
that time, his name was Saul (Acts 22:3-4). In his great passion of rage
and fury against the disciples of the Lord, he went to Damascus bearing
letters of introduction from the high priest. His intention was to bring
the disciples of Christ back to Jerusalem in bonds. As he was approaching
Damascus, about midday there suddenly shone upon him a light from Heaven.
Falling on the earth, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou Me?" And he asked,
"Who art Thou, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus Whom
thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks." And that heavenly voice and brilliance made him
tremble, and he was blinded for a time. He was led by the hand into the
city, and on account of a divine revelation to the Apostle Ananias (see
Oct. 1), he was baptized by him, and both his bodily and spiritual eyes
were opened to the knowledge of the Sun of Righteousness. And
straightway- O wondrous transformation! - beyond all expectation, he
spoke with boldness in the synagogues, proclaiming that "Christ is
the Son of God" (Acts 9:1-21). As for his zeal in preaching the
Gospel after these things had come to pass, as for his unabating labors
and afflictions of diverse kinds, the wounds, the prisons, the bonds, the
beatings, the stonings, the shipwrecks, the
journeys, the perils on land, on sea, in cities, in wildernesses, the
continual vigils, the daily fasting, the hunger, the thirst, the
nakedness, and all those other things that he endured for the Name of
Christ, and which he underwent before nations and kings and the
Israelites, and above all, his care for all the churches, his fiery
longing for the salvation of all, whereby he became all things to all
men, that he might save them all if possible, and because of which, with
his heart aflame, he continuously traveled throughout all parts, visiting
them all, and like a bird of heaven flying from Asia and Europe, the West
and East, neither staying nor abiding in any one place - all these things
are related incident by incident in the Book of the Acts, and as he
himself tells them in his Epistles. His Epistles, being fourteen in
number, are explained in 250 homilies by the divine Chrysostom and make
manifest the loftiness of his thoughts, the abundance of the revelations
made to him, the wisdom given to him from God, wherewith he brings
together in a wondrous manner the Old with the New Testaments, and
expounds the mysteries thereof which had been concealed under types; he
confirms the doctrines of the Faith, expounds the ethical teaching of the
Gospel, and demonstrates with exactness the duties incumbent upon every
rank, age, and order of man. In all these things his teaching proved to
be a spiritual trumpet, and his speech was seen to be more radiant than
the sun, and by these means he clearly sounded forth the word of truth
and illumined the ends of the world. Having completed the work of his
ministry, he likewise ended his life in martyrdom when he was beheaded in
Rome during the reign of Nero, at the same time, some say, when Peter was
crucified.
Special Announcement:
·
If someone wants to sponsor the coffee hour,
there is a sign-up sheet in the Hall. Please write legibly your name next
to the date you want to sponsor
·
We need oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) for the
Church, please donate.
·
Please notify us if someone in the member of
the family or yourself is sick, so that we may offer healing prayer.
·
We would like to remind all
members of the Saint Nectarios Philoptochos Society that there will be no meeting for the rest of
Summer (from June, July, and August, 2019). As usual, we go dark this
summer.
·
On Sunday, June 30, 2019, there will be 40th
day Memorial Service for soul of the departed Servant of God, Toula Kontakiotis who died in Cyprus, Greece. Eternal
be her Memory. Lunch will be offered by Erasmia
Ioannou family.
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