|
WELCOME! If you are a first time visitor to Saint George’s today. We are glad to have you! Please stay for the coffee social in the parish hall after liturgy so we can get acquainted.
SCRIPTURE READINGS THIS WEEK
Feb 22nd Uncovering the Relics of the Holy Martyrs at the Gate of Eugenius at Constantinople
Genesis 3:21-4:7 Proverbs 3:34-4:22
Feb 23rd Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; Ascetics of the Syrian deserts
Genesis 4:8-15 Proverbs 5:1-15
Feb 24th 1st and 2nd Finding of the Head of the Honorable Glorious Prophet, and Baptist John
Genesis 4:16-26 Proverbs 5:15-6:4
Feb 25th St. Tarasius, Archbishop of Constantinople
Genesis 5:1-24 Proverbs 6:3-20
Feb 26th St. Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza: Martyr Sebastian
Genesis 5:32-6:8 Proverbs 6:20-7:1
Feb 27th Repose of St. Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn; Venerable Procopius the Confessor
Hebrews 13:17-21 John 10:9-16
Activities/Services this Week:
Pan Orthodox Lenten Vespers: Sunday, February 21st, 6 PM, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Rossford/Toledo Book Club: Monday, February 22nd, 10 AM, at the Dedes home
Presanctified Liturgy: Wednesday, February 24th, 6:30 PM, at the church, Lenten pot luck follows in hall
Akathist to St. Herman of Alaska: Friday, February 26th, 6:30 PM, at the church
Bowling Green Book Club: Thursday, February 25th, 6:30 PM, at Grounds for Thought in BG
Great Vespers: Saturday, February 27th, 5 PM, at the church
The Sanctuary Lamp is burning this week for the in memory of Fr. Venseslav Dimitroff who fell asleep in the Lord two years ago. A Trisagion service will be offered after liturgy on the 21st in his memory. Stay afterwards for a Lenten luncheon that is being provided courtesy of Kathy Dimitroff.
Last Sunday, February 14th, 39 Adults and 21 Youth attended Divine Liturgy.
For the month of February, please bring cans of chili in whatever amount you can afford to donate for the All Saints Food Pantry. Thanks you for your help.
The next meeting of the Rossford/Toledo Book Club will be on Monday, February 22nd, 10 AM at the home of Mary Dedes in Toledo. We will discuss Chapters 12 and 13 of “Bread, Water, Wine, & Oil; an Orthodox Experience of God”. The Bowling Green Book Club will meet next on Thursday February 25th, at 6:30 PM at Grounds for Thought on Main St. in Bowling Green. We will study Chapter Eight and Nine of the same book. Please read the material so we can properly discuss it.
The first Lenten Vesper service will be Sunday, February 21st, 6 PM, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Nicholas will speak after the service. Our church will be hosting the Pan Orthodox Vesper service on Sunday, February 28th, at 6 PM. The presentation that day will be, “College life and Orthodox presence on Campus.” A panel of Orthodox Christian College Students will share their thoughts on the above theme. The panel will consist of: Jessica Precop, Sarah Kersey, Michael Moussa, and Anastasia Widmer. Lenten potlucks will follow all of the Lenten Vespers services. For those times, go to our web page or see the newsletter.
Fr. Paul is available to hear Confessions the following times during Lent:
Wednesdays 5PM to 6:15 PM,
Fridays: 5 PM to 6:15 PM (and after the Akathist Service),
Saturdays 4:30 to 5 PM (and after the Saturday Vesper service)
Or you can call and make an appointment with him.
Starting on Friday, February 26th, there will be an Akathist service to St. Herman of Alaska offered each Friday at 6:30 PM, during Lent to ask for St. Herman’s prayers and intercessions for the qualitative, and quantitative spiritual growth of our community. This will eventually replace the Wednesday evening Compline service after Easter.
The St. Anna’s Women’s Guild will hold its monthly meeting on Sunday, February 21st, after the Divine Liturgy.
The church council is seeking to recruit three people that would be willing to chair three projects in the coming year. They are: the fall dance event, the Easter breakfast, and to form a marketing committee. If you are able to help out in any of these areas, please speak with Steve Timofeev.
St. Raphael of Brooklyn, February 27th
Founder of 30 parishes; magazine publisher; fluent in Arabic, Russian, Greek and English; spiritual father to Orthodox from New York to California and Mexico to Canada: these are partial descriptions of Saint Raphael, commemorated on February 27.
Born in Syria in 1860, Rafla Hawaweeny had to flee to Lebanon with his family to escape persecution of Christians. His parish priest, like many believers in much earlier centuries, was martyred, a victim of the anti-Christian riots that roared through Damascus the year Rafla was born. Though his family was able to return to Syria, Rafla never forgot that the faith is often under attack and must be defended.
The young boy's education was always geared toward the priesthood, and at 17, an excellent student, he was chosen to attend the School of Theology on the island of Halki in Greece. After graduation he returned to Syria, visiting parishes with the Patriarch. In 1889 he was sent to Moscow, where he was ordained to the priesthood, and then given the rank of archimandrite, with the name Raphael.
In 1895, Archimandrite Raphael came to New York at the invitation of the Syrian Orthodox community there. He served New York faithfully, but felt great concern about other Arab Christians in towns and cities across the country who had no pastors and were often drawn to non-Orthodox churches that offered worship in English and the chance to be part of a church community. In 1896, he set out across the country to find and minister to these people. He would sometimes walk around visiting families all day Saturday, then take a long journey by train to another town so that he could perform the Sunday Divine Liturgy there. He preached, taught, performed the sacraments, and with loving firmness encouraged everyone to remain strong in their Orthodox faith.
As leader of the Russian Mission to America, the Russian hierarch was acknowledged as the head of the Church in America and of all the ethnic groups within it; no ethnic jurisdictions as yet existed. In 1903, the hierarch was Bishop Tikhon, later to be canonized. Needing help with his growing American flock, Bishop Tikhon asked the Holy Synod of Bishops in Russia to name Saint Raphael as Bishop of Brooklyn, which they did. He became the first bishop to be consecrated in America.
In the next years he assisted Bishop Tikhon in administering the Diocese, consecrated the grounds for St. Tikhon's Monastery, and began publishing "The Word" (in Arabic "Al-Kalimat) Magazine to reach the far parishes of the Syro-Arab Mission which he still led. He also continued his pastoral visits, urging the use of English where appropriate, until his death in 1915.
One reading for this week is Proverbs 6:6, advising us to "go the ant" and "consider her ways, and be wise." Saint Raphael had the energy and wisdom that the verse praises. But more important, he had the love for people, whatever their ethnicity, that makes a bishop a true father to his flock. St. Raphael labored here in the Toledo area as well.
Taken from the OCA Web page; www.oca.org
|
