We extend to you a warm and heartfelt Orthodox Christian welcome. Our Greek Orthodox Cathedral is dedicated to imitating the love and faithfulness of Jesus Christ by sharing the gospel with our words and living it with our lives. It exists to lead the faithful to the worship of the Holy Trinity according to the Faith and Tradition of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Our witnessing to our Faith is accomplished through the Sacramental life of the Church, its values and traditions, stewardship, fellowship, service, and Christian education. ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL AND THE CHAPEL OF SAINT THEODORE WEEKLY BULLETIN 7220 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505 Phone: 757-440-0500 Fax: 757-423-6929 Email: churchadmin@agoc.hrcoxmail.com Web: www.annunciation.va.goarch.org Very Rev. Archimandrite, Ambrose Bitziadis-Bowers, Dean Rev. Protopresbyter Constantine Rogakos, Priest Today is: Sunday, December 15, 2013 11th Sunday of Luke-of the Forefathers Eleutherios, Bishop of Illyria / Susannah, the Deaconess Published by: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral 7220 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505 Contact Information: Elizabeth Miller Tel: 757-440-0500 Fax: 757-423-6929 Email: churchadmin@agoc.hrcoxmail.com
ALTAR SERVERS Chris Katsias, Theo Malamatos, Donald Black, Harry Coureas, Alexander Sarris, Nicholas Sarris, Christopher Sarris, Michael Rea, Nicholas Neskis, Costas Delidakis, Phillip Malamatos MEMORIAL SERVICES Metropolitan Silas and Bishop George of New Jersey. Fani Antoniou One Year Memorial May their memory be eternal. EPISTLE READER Chris Katsias TODAY Join Philoptochos today in the Hellenic Center after Divine Liturgy for Christmas lunch and entertainment provided by Y.A.L. and our church community. UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS ORTHODOX LIFE - ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION : This Tuesday, December 17, at 6:30 pm, in the Bible Study room. The theme for this semester is The History of Ancient Christianity from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles to 1054, the time of the Great Schism. GOLDEN YEARS: There will NOT be Seniors until January 14. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. AGORA STORE: The Agora Store, sponsored by the Philoptochos Society of the Annunciation Cathedral, is opened every Sunday, following the Divine Liturgy, for all of your edible needs. Proceeds of the store support the needy and indigent of the Tidewater Area. supper is one that we are becoming. Saint Paul says, When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then we shall also appear with Him in glory, as at the supper. But to appear with Christ in glory means we must obey Him and live as He lives. It is entirely appropriate that the Church brings in to our attention, just before the Nativity of Christ this parable, because, without Christ, we would not have any life. So this calling to the supper, we can only obey this calling with Christ helping us, because Christ became man and lived the life that He wants us to live and made us capable of living that life. Be careful in your life. Take a look and see what excuses you are giving that you don t want to come to this supper. Think sometimes, especially in our society, what passes for Christianity is this idea that we go to glory and this glorious thing because we believe in Jesus Christ, without any of the substance of what it takes to be able to be part of this glory. What it takes is to live as Christ lived. And that is hinted in the end of the parable or near the very end when the king is very upset because so many people have not come to the supper. And he says to his servants, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in. That is a command, not just to them; it is a command to all of us. If we are to be part of this supper, then we have to have the mentality of the one who gave it. We should desire to compel others to come into it by the way we live our life. It s a very powerful word: compel. It does not abrogate that we have free will to choose whether we d want to do good or ill. And so does every man. But if our way of life is such that a person is so attracted to it, that they desire to find out and to live it, then we have compelled someone to come into the supper and become part into this heavenly kingdom.
SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS An Invitation to Become Not to Eat Today we celebrate the Sunday of the Forfathers. It is the first of two Sundays immediately preceding Nativity. We also read the parable of the great supper, the Divine feast. It is one that we become. If you understand the supper in this way, then you will understand why it is that people didn t want to come to the supper. Very few people are willing to turn down a free meal. But, this was not a free meal. This was the way of life that makes us free. The certain man, of course, is God. And that great supper is our becoming like Him so that we will know Him. In the old time supper usually was a meal at the end of the day. And this supper, in today's parable, is at the end of our life, the eschatological life, and it also our total life. So it really means two things. In the end, of course, there will be the table heavy laden, and we will be with Christ. We will know Him, see Him, face-to-face, no longer in a glass darkly, but face-to-face without fear and without shame - If we live our life now in such a way that we will be ready when things are all ready, as the parable says. So the supper is our life. The supper is our becoming. GREEK SCHOOL KALANDA SINGING: If you would love to hear the angelic voices of our Greek School come and sing Christmas Carols on December 19th or 20th, call Emilia Simmons at 481-1509 or Anna Feliberti at 486-3036. ANNUNCIATION HELLENIC DANCERS: This is the last Sunday to add your name to the Christmas Card! The Annunciation Hellenic Dancers will have a table set up during coffee hour. Donation of $25 will be appreciated. Thank you for your support BOOKSTORE: The Bookstore has a limited number of Official Vasilopita Coins designed by Father George Papadeas. This beautiful gold-tone coin is the size of a quarter and costs $12.00. POINSETTIAS: Please consider contributing towards poinsettias to add to the beauty of our Cathedral during Christmas and Epiphany. Please make checks payable to AGOC, and put the word "flowers" on the memo line; each plant will cost $12. CULTURAL COMMITTEE: Mikrokosmos Concert ticket sales in the Hellenic center and from members of the Cultural Committee. Concert day February 1, 2014. Tickets $ 15 each. LIBRARY: The Cathedral Library will be closed from December 18 to January 8th. The Library staff wishes everyone in the Parish a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Years! Look at the people that did not want to come to the supper, all because they had their own priorities and their own desires. One says, I ve got some ground that I just bought, I want to go see it. The fathers speak about that as being possessions that can tie us down. Another one says, I have five yoke of oxen; I go to prove them. The five yoke are the five senses, and therefore, all of our different desires that we have for pleasure. Another says I have a wife that I just married; I cannot come. That is also our own self desires, our own selfishness for pleasure. These excuses, in microcosm, describe all of the excuses that we have for not living the Christian life. The supper is not one that we just sit down at. The
THE EPISTLE READING II Titus 1:8-18 Timothy, my son, do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, and among them Phygelos and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphoros, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me - may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesos. WISDOM FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS This parable... proclaims beforehand both the casting out of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles; and it indicates together with this also the strictness of the life required, and how great the punishment appointed for the careless... St. John Chrysostom, Homily 69 on Matthew 22 4th Century But not by words only, but also by actions did He bid them, after His ascension by Peter, and those with him. "For He that wrought effectually in Peter," it is said, "to the apostleship of the circumcision, was mighty also in me towards the Gentiles."... St. John Chrysostom, Homily 69 on Matthew 22 4th Century What was the nature of the invitation? God the Father has prepared in Christ for the inhabitants of earth those gifts which are bestowed upon the world through Him, even the forgiveness of sins, the cleansing away of all defilement, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the glorious adoption of sons, and the kingdom of the heavens. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Translation courtesy of "The Orthodox New Testament" Volume 1 4th Century KONTAKION of this Sunday On this day the Virgin comes to the cave to give birth to God the Word ineffably, Who was before all the ages. Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God. Ἡ Παρθένος σήμερον, τόν προαιώνιον λόγον, έν σπηλαίω ἔρχεται, ἀποτεκεῖν ἀπορρήτως. Χόρευε, ἡ οἰκουμένη, ἀκουτισθεῖσα. Δόξασον, μετά ἁγγέλων καί τῶν Ποιμένων, βουληθέντα ἐποφθῆναι, παιδίον νέον, τόν πρό αἰώνων Θεόν.
SAINTS AND FEASTS COMMEMORATED Saint Sebastian and his Companions December 18 This Saint, who was from the city of Milan, was a member of the Senate as well as a zealot for the Faith of Christ, and had converted many to the knowledge of God. When Diocletian and Maximian began a Persecution against the Christians, Saint Sebastian was arrested and pierced with sharp arrows, and the bones of his body were shattered with clubs; and being cut into pieces, he gave up his spirit to God in the year 288. Together with him there were others also who died while enduring various tortures. Their names are Marcellinus and Mark the brethren, Tranquillinus their father, Nicostratus and his spouse Zoe, Tiburtius, Claudius, Castulus, and Castor. APOLYTIKION of this Sunday O Merciful One, You came from on high, and condescended to Your three day burial to save us from suffering. You are our Life and our Resurrection. Glory to You. Ἐξ ὕψους κατῆλθες ὁ εὔσπλαγχνος, ταφὴν καταδέξω τριήμερον, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃς τῶν παθῶν. Ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ Ἀνάστασις ἡμῶν, Κύριε δόξα σοι. Ο ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΣ Πρός Τίτον Δευτέρας Ἐπιστολῆς Παῦλου 1:8-18 Τέκνον Τιμόθεε, μὴ οὖν ἐπαισχυνθῇς τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν μηδὲ ἐμὲ τὸν δέσμιον αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ συγκακοπάθησον τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ κατὰ δύναμιν Θεοῦ, τοῦ σώσαντος ἡμᾶς καὶ καλέσαντος κλήσει ἁγίᾳ, οὐ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἰδίαν πρόθεσιν καὶ χάριν, τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, φανερωθεῖσαν δὲ νῦν διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καταργήσαντος μὲν τὸν θάνατον, φωτίσαντος δὲ ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, εἰς ὃ ἐτέθην ἐγὼ κήρυξ καὶ ἀπόστολος καὶ διδάσκαλος ἐθνῶν. δι' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ ταῦτα πάσχω, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι οἶδα γὰρ ᾧ πεπίστευκα, καὶ πέπεισμαι ὅτι δυνατός ἐστι τὴν παραθήκην μου φυλάξαι εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν. ὑποτύπωσιν ἔχε ὑγιαινόντων λόγων ὧν παρ' ἐμοῦ ἤκουσας, ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν. Οἶδας τοῦτο, ὅτι ἀπεστράφησάν με πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ, ὧν ἐστι Φύγελος καὶ Ἑρμογένης. δῴη ἔλεος ὁ Κύριος τῷ Ὀνησιφόρου οἴκῳ, ὅτι πολλάκις με ἀνέψυξε καὶ τὴν ἅλυσίν μου οὐκ ἐπαισχύνθη, ἀλλὰ γενόμενος ἐν Ρώμῃ σπουδαιότερον ἐζήτησέ με καὶ εὗρε δῴη αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος εὑρεῖν ἔλεος παρὰ Κυρίου ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὅσα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ διηκόνησε, βέλτιον σὺ γινώσκεις.
THE GOSPEL READING 11th Sunday of Luke Luke 14:16-24 The Lord said this parable: "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for all is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and there is still room.' And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. For many are called, but few are chosen.'" ΤΟ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ Ἐνδεκάτη Κυριακή τοῦ Λουκά Ἐκ τοῦ κατά Λουκάν 14:16-24 Είπεν ο Κύριος την παραβολήν ταύτην: ἄνθρωπός τις ἐποίησε δεῖπνον μέγα, καὶ ἐκάλεσε πολλούς καὶ ἀπέστειλε τὸν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ δείπνου εἰπεῖν τοῖς κεκλημένοις ἔρχεσθε, ὅτι ἤδη ἕτοιμά ἐστι πάντα. καὶ ἤρξαντο ἀπὸ μιᾶς παραιτεῖσθαι πάντες, ὁ πρῶτος εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἀγρὸν ἠγόρασα, καὶ ἔχω ἀνάγκην ἐξελθεῖν καὶ ἰδεῖν αὐτόν ἐρωτῶ σε, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον. καὶ ἕτερος εἶπε ζεύγη βοῶν ἠγόρασα πέντε, καὶ πορεύομαι δοκιμάσαι αὐτά ἐρωτῶ σε, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον. καὶ ἕτερος εἶπε γυναῖκα ἔγημα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐ δύναμαι ἐλθεῖν. καὶ παραγενόμενος ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος ἀπήγγειλε τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα. τότε ὀργισθεὶς ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης εἶπε τῷ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ ἔξελθε ταχέως εἰς τὰς πλατείας καὶ ῥύμας τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τοὺς πτωχοὺς καὶ ἀναπήρους καὶ χωλοὺς καὶ τυφλοὺς εἰσάγαγε ὧδε. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ δοῦλος κύριε, γέγονεν ὡς ἐπέταξας, καὶ ἔτι τόπος ἐστί. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ κύριος πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον Ἔξελθε εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ φραγμοὺς καὶ ἀνάγκασον εἰσελθεῖν, ἵνα γεμισθῇ ὁ οἶκός μου. λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων τῶν κεκλημένων γεύσεταί μου τοῦ δείπνου. πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσι κλητοὶ, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί.