SS.

kosmas & damianos Orthodox Church (goa)

703 W. Center Street, Rochester, MN (507) 282-1529 http://www.rochesterorthodoxchurch.org

office@rochesterorthodoxchurch.org Rev. Fr. Mark Muoz, Proistamenos

/APOLYTIKIA FOR TODAY

,
, ,
. ,
, , ,
, .
The heavenly powers appeared at Your tomb, and those guarding
it became like dead. Mary stood at Your grave seeking Your pure
body. You stripped the power of Hades, not touched by its
corruption. You met the virgin woman as one who grants life. O
Lord, who rose from the dead, glory to You.



,
.
O Gregory the Miracle Worker, light of Orthodoxy, support and teacher of the Church, beauty of
Monastics, invincible defender of theologians, the pride of Thessalonica, and preacher of grace,
intercede forever that our souls may be saved.
/KONTAKION FOR TODAY
Ti ypermacho stratigo ta nikitiria, os lytrotheisa ton deinon efharistia, anagrafo si e polis sou Theotoke,
allos ehousa to kratos aprosmahiton, ek pantinon me kyndinon eletheroson, ina krazo si, Here nymfi
anymfefte.
O Champion Leader, we your faithful inscribe to you the prize of victory as gratitude for being rescued
from calamity, O Theotokos. But since you have invincible power, free us from all kinds of perils so that
we may cry out to you: Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.

2nd Sunday of lent: st Gregory palamas

Theophylact the Confessor, Hermas the Apostle of the 70, Paul the Confessor
March 8th, 2015
+Fast: Wine/Oil Allowed+

Todays scripture readings

Epistle reading

St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 1:10-14; 2:1-3

Prokeimenon. Mode Plagal 1.
Psalm 11.7,1
You, O Lord, shall keep us and preserve us.
Verse: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed.
"IN THE BEGINNING, Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are
the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a
garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same,
and thy years will never end." But to what angel has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand, till I
make thy enemies a stool for thy feet?" Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for
the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Therefore we must pay closer attention to what
we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the message declared by angels was valid and
every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we
neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by
those who heard him.
Gospel pericope

Mark 2:1-12
At that time, Jesus entered Capernaum and it was reported that he was at home. And many were
gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was
preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when
they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had
made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he
said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there,
questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is a blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but
God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,
said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins
are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man
has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he said to the paralytic-"I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and
go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they
were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

Announcements
Liturgical/Program Schedule:
TODAY: Youth Wide Outing: Ice skating at Rec Center 1-3pm
Mon. Mar. 9th: Great Compline, 6pm
Mon. Mar. 9th: Mental Disorders and Spiritual Healing Class, after Compline Service
Mon. Mar 9th: Choir Practice, after service
Wed. Mar. 11th: Pre-sanctified Liturgy & Lenten Potluck, 6pm
Wed. Mar. 11th: GOYA Faith Night after service
Fri. Mar. 13th: 3rd SALUTATIONS to the Holy Theotokos, 6pm
Todays Memorial Services:

Mr. Ioan Bucevschi- 1 yr

Mr. Konstantine Lecakis- 1 yr

Youth Wide Outing Next Sunday: Please join us TODAY @ 1pm for some fun on the ice! We will gather
at Rochester Rec Center for two hours of open skating: Adult $4, Youth $3, skate rental $2
Important Baking Date: we need as many volunteers as possible to assemble/bake baklava on Saturday,
March 22nd @ 10am for a very important upcoming fundraising event! Please let Penny Kolas know if you
are able to volunteer!
Holy Week Liturgical Books: We have ordered several copies of the official Holy Week Book endorsed
by our Metropolis. This comprehensive book, compiled by Fr. Pappadeas, will be used exclusively for all
the liturgical celebrations from Palm Sunday evening through the Agapi Vespers on Pascha. Each book is
$25, and ARE NOW AVAILABLE.
HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNIONOnly Orthodox Christians (i.e. the Orthodox Church
does not observe open communion) in good standing are encouraged to receive Holy Communion frequently,
provided they have prepared themselves spiritually, mentally and physically. They must be on time for the Divine
Liturgy, and be in a Christ-like, humble state of mind. They should be in a confession relationship with their priest
or spiritual father, have observed the fasts of the Church, and they should have self-examined their conscience.
On the day of receiving Holy Communion, it is not proper to eat or drink anything before coming to church. When
you approach to receive Holy Communion, state your Christian (baptismal) name clearly, and hold the red
communion cloth to your chin. After receiving, wipe your lips on the cloth, step back carefully, hand the cloth to
the next person and make the sign of the Cross as you step away. Please do not be in a rush while
communing! Please take special care not to bump the Holy Chalice.

Panagias Icon
One of the most beloved Lenten services is the Salutations to
the Holy Theotokos which are chanted every Friday night
during the Fast. It is customary to honor her by decorating her
icon with flowers which is then placed on the solea. Five services
will be chanted with a decorated icon at each service. The cost
for each icon is approximately $75, any individuals/families who
would like to donate to help defray the cost please see Fr.
Mark. Thank you in advance!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LENTEN POTLUCK
Every Wednesday eve of great lent the liturgy of the
Presanctified gifts is celebrated. Afterwards we gather in the
library for a simple Lenten meal. Please plan on attending
these compunctionate services and bring a fasting meal to
share!
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Pascha flowers: A table will be set up in the Narthex for collections of monetary
donations towards the Pascha flowers on Sundays from March 1st until April 6thDonations can also be made at any time to the Church during Lent, please mark Pascha
flowers with your check or donation. Thank you!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Pearls from the desert

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ
beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left Christ
where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of
every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks
of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
St Patrick Enlightener of Ireland

Todays liturgical commemorations

1. SAINT THEOPHYLACTUS, BISHOP OF NICOMEDIA
When the emperor's advisor Tarasius, as a layman, was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, then with him
and from him, many of his friends, admirers, and others of the laity received the monastic tonsure.
Among them was Theophylactus. Tarasius appointed him Bishop of Nicomedia. As a bishop,
Theophylactus was a good shepherd to his entrusted flock and proved to be exceptionally filled with
compassion toward the less fortunate and indigent. After the death of St. Tarasius, the Patriarchal Throne
was occupied by Nicephorus and shortly after that, the Imperial Throne was occupied by Leo the
Armenian, who was an Iconoclast and, as such, raised up a absolute storm in the Church of Christ. Even
though Iconoclasm had been anathematized by the Seventh Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 783 A.D.],
nevertheless, Emperor Leo re-instated it and by this wanted to supplant Orthodoxy. Saint Theophylactus
opposed the emperor to his face and, when the emperor would not yield, Theophylactus said to him, "O
emperor, violent injury will unexpectedly befall you, and you will not find anyone who will save you
from it." Because of these words and by the order of the emperor, Theophylactus was ousted from his
position and banished into exile, where he spent thirty years undergoing many hardships and insults and,
where, in the end, he rendered his soul to the Lord about the year 845 A.D.

2. THE HOLY PRIEST-MARTYR THEODORETUS

The Emperor Constantine built a cathedral church of special beauty in Antioch. The people called this
church "the golden church" because of the gold-plated exterior and interior and because of the many
appointments of gold and silver housed in it. The emperor donated a great deal of land to this church for
the upkeep of the clergy whose number was significant. The custodian of these appointments and all other
precious items in the church was the presbyter Theodoretus,(*) and rare devotion. When Julian the
Apostate began his reign, he denied Christ and, even though he was baptized, stirred up a persecution
against Christians. Julian, his uncle of the same name, came to Antioch and began to plunder the "golden
church." He summoned Theodoretus, the custodian of the treasury, to court and counseled him to deny
Christ. Not only did Theodoretus refuse to deny Christ, but he also insulted the Emperor Julian because of
his apostasy from the True Faith and his return to idolatry, as a dog returning to his own vomit. When the
wicked judge, out of rage, urinated in the "golden church," St. Theodoretus prophesied a horrible death
for him, which shortly happened. Theodoretus was beheaded by an axe for his faith in Christ. From the
time that Judge Julian had urinated in the church, he felt pains in the lower part of his body. The entire
lower half of his body was eaten away by worms, so that he vomited up his apostate soul in the most
horrible pains. Also, according to the prophecy of Theodoretus, Felix, Julian's assistant, diedof a
hemorrhage from the mouth immediately after the beheading of this righteous man. St. Theodoretus was
beheaded in the year 362 A.D. and was translated to the All-glorious kingdom of Christ the King.]

second SUNDAY OF THE FAST: st. gregory palamas

This divine Father, who was from Asia Minor, was from childhood reared in the royal
court of Constantinople, where he was instructed in both
religious and secular wisdom. Later, while still a youth, he
left the imperial court and struggled in asceticism on
Mount Athos, and in the Skete at Beroea. He spent some
time in Thessalonica being treated for an illness that came
from his harsh manner of life. He was present in
Constantinople at the Council that was convened in 1341
against Barlaam of Calabria, and at the Council of 1347
against Acindynus, who was of like mind with Barlaam;
Barlaam and Acindynus claimed that the grace of God is
created.
At both these Councils, the Saint contended courageously
for the true dogmas of the Church of Christ, teaching in particular that divine grace is not
created, but is the uncreated energies of God which are poured forth throughout creation:
otherwise it would be impossible, if grace were created, for man to have genuine
communion with the uncreated God. In 1347 he was appointed Metropolitan of
Thessalonica. He tended his flock in an apostolic manner for some twelve years, and
wrote many books and treatises on the most exalted doctrines of our Faith; and having
lived for a total of sixty-three years, he reposed in the Lord in 1359. His holy relics are
kept in the Cathedral of Thessalonica. A full service was composed for his feast day by
the Patriarch Philotheus in 1368, when it was established that his feast be celebrated on
this day. Since works without right faith avail nothing, we set Orthodoxy of faith as th e
foundation of all that we accomplish during the Fast, by celebrating the Triumph of
Orthodoxy the Sunday before, and the great defender of the teachings of the holy Fathers
today.

Let not one think, my fellow Christian, that only priests and monks need to pray without ceasing
and not laymen No, no; every Christian without exception ought to dwell always in prayer.
+ St. Gregory of Palamas

Bishop Kallistos on
The True Nature of Fasting
What do we find, then, in this book of preparation that we term the
Lenten Triodion? It can most briefly be described as the book of the fast.
Just as the children of Israel ate the 'bread of affliction' (Deut. 16: 3) in
preparation for the Passover, so Christians prepare themselves for the
celebration of the New Passover by observing a fast. But what is meant
by this word 'fast' (nisteia)? Here the utmost care is needed, so as to
preserve a proper balance between the outward and the inward. On the
outward level fasting involves physical abstinence from food and drink,
and without such exterior abstinence a full and true fast cannot be kept;
yet the rules about eating and drinking must never be treated as an end
in themselves, for ascetic fasting has always an inward and unseen
purpose. Man is a unity of body and soul, 'a living creature fashioned
from natures visible and invisible' , in the words of the Triodion; 3 and
our ascetic fasting should therefore involve both these natures at once. The tendency to over-emphasize external
rules about food in a legalistic way, and the opposite tendency to scorn these rules as outdated and unnecessary, are
both alike to be deplored as a betrayal of true Orthodoxy. In both cases the proper balance between the outward and
the inward has been impaired. The second tendency is doubtless the more prevalent in our own day, especially in the
West. Until the fourteenth century, most Western Christians, in common with their brethren in the Orthodox East,
abstained during Lent not only from meat but from animal products, such as , eggs, milk, butter and cheese. In East
and West alike, the Lenten fast involved a severe physical effort. But in Western Christendom over the past five
hundred years, the physical requirements of fasting have been steadily reduced, until by now they are little more
than symbolic. How many, one wonders, of those who eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday are aware of the original
reason for this custom to use up any remaining eggs and butter before the Lenten fast begins? Exposed as it is to
Western secularism, the Orthodox world in our own time is also beginning to follow the same path of laxity.
One reason for this decline in fasting is surely a heretical attitude towards human nature, a false 'spiritualism' which
rejects or ignores the body, viewing man solely in terms of his reasoning brain. As a result, many contemporary
Christians have lost a true vision of man as an integral unity of the visible and the invisible; they neglect the positive
role played by the body in the spiritual life, forgetting St. Paul's affirmation: 'Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
. . . glorify God with your body' (I Cor. 6: 19-20). Another reason for the decline in fasting among Orthodox is the
argument, commonly advanced in our times, that the traditional rules are no longer possible today. These rules
presuppose, so it is urged, a closely organized, non-pluralistic Christian society, following an agricultural way of life
that is now increasingly a thing of the past. There is a measure of truth in this. But it needs also to be said that fasting,
as traditionally practiced in the Church, has always been difficult and has always involved hardship. Many of our
contemporaries are willing to fast for reasons of health or beauty, in order to lose weight; cannot we Christians do
as much for the sake of the heavenly Kingdom? Why should the self-denial gladly accepted by previous generations
of Orthodox prove such an intolerable burden to their successors today? Once St. Seraphim of Sarov was asked why
the miracles of grace, so abundantly manifest in the past, were no longer apparent in his own day, and to this he
replied: 'Only one thing is lacking - a firm resolve'.

ST THEOPHAN THE RECLUSE:

What does one say to the person who asks: "How can I save my soul?"
This: Repent, and being strengthened by the power of grace in the Holy Mysteries, walk in the path of God's
commandments, under the direction which the Holy Church gives you through its God-given priesthood. All of this
must be done in a spirit of sincere faith which has no reservations. What then is faith? Faith is the sincere
confession that God, Who is worshipped in, the Trinity, Who created all things and provides for all, saves us who
are fallen, through the power of the death on the Cross of the incarnate Son of God, by the grace of the Most Holy
Spirit in His Holy Church. The beginnings of renewal, which are established in this. life, will appear in all their
glory in the future age, in a way that the mind cannot comprehend nor the tongue express.
O our God, how great are Thy promises! How then does one walk in the path of the commandments unswervingly?
This cannot be answered in one word, for life is a complex matter. Here is what is necessary:
a) Repent, and turn to the Lord, admit your sins, weep for them, with heartfelt contrition, and confess them before
your spiritual father. Vow in word and in your heart before the face of the Lord not to offend Him further with your
sins.
b) Then by abiding in God in mind and heart, endeavour to, fulfil in body the duties and affairs which your station in
life imposes upon you.
c) In this labor most of all guard your heart from evil thoughts and feelingspride, vainglory, anger, judging of
others, hatred, envy, scorn, despondency, attachment to things and people, scattered thoughts, anxiety, all sensual
pleasures and everything that separates the mind and heart from God.
d) In order to stand firm in this labor, resolve beforehand not to: withdraw from what you recognize to be necessary,
even if it may, mean death. To achieve this, when you first resolve to do so, offer your life to God in order to live
not for your own sake, but for God alone.
e) A support for life in this manner is a humble offering of one's self to the will of God, and not depending on one's
self; the spiritual arena in which this life is accomplished is patience or an unswerving stand in the ranks of
redeemed life, with a cheerful endurance of all the labors and unpleasantness that are linked with this.
f) A support for patience is faith, or the assurance that, working in this way for God, you are His servant and He is
your Master, Who sees your efforts, is gladdened by them and values them; hope that the help of God which is ever
protecting you, is always ready and waiting for you, and will descend upon you in your time of need, that God will
not forsake you to the end of your life, and preserving you as one faithful to His commandments here, among all
temptations, He will lead you through death to His eternal Kingdom; love, which meditates day and night upon the
beloved Lord, In every way strives to do only what is pleasing to Him, and avoids everything that might offend Him
in thought, word or deed.
g) The weapons of such a life are: prayers in church and at home, especially mental prayer, fasting according to
one's strength and the rules of the Church, vigilance, solitude, physical labors, frequent confession of sins, Holy
Communion, reading of the Word of God and the writings of the Holy Fathers, conversations with God-fearing
people, frequent consultation with one's spiritual father about all the events of one's internal and external life. The
foundation of all these labors in measure, time and place is wisdom, with the counsel of those who are experienced.
h) Guard yourself with fear. For this remember the enddeath, judgment, hell, the heavenly Kingdom.