February  23,  2015        

Holy Nativity of the Lord

Christ Is in our Midst

 

Divine Liturgy for February 15 (Sunday’s Readings & Hymns)

Tone2 Troparion

We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One; and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ our God. Of Your good will You were pleased to ascend the cross in the flesh and deliver Your creatures from bondage to the Enemy. Therefore with thankfulness we cry aloud to You: “You have filled all with joy, O our Savior, for You alone have come to save the world.”

Tone 8 Kontakion

No one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former state by uniting it to divine beauty.We confess and proclaim our salvation in words and images

Tone 4 Prokeimenon

Blessed are You, O Lord God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your name forever! (Song of the three Holy Children, v. 3)

Epistle: Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2 Gospel: John 1:43-51

   

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Monday   Tuesday   Wednesday   Thursday     Friday   Saturday   Sunday  

Clean  Monday  Strict  Fast  

St.  Nicholas  the  reading  of  the  Canon  of  St.  Andrew  6:00  

 Strict  Fast    

                                     St.  Nicholas  the  reading  of  the  Canon  of  St.  Andrew  6:00  

Strick    Fast                

                     Presanctified  Service  at  St.  Nicholas    6:00  

Fast  

                                             St.  Nicholas  the  reading  of  the  Canon  of  St.  Andrew  6:00  

Fast        

                                           St.  Nicholas  Salutations,  6:00  

 

 

Fast   Fast  

Divine  Liturgy  St.  Barksdale  10:00  Meatfare    Pan-­‐Orthodox  Vespers,  6:00  @  St.  George  

 

Weekly  Service  Schedule  

Service A reminder to those who serve Holy Nativity this week. Your service is greatly

appreicated!

Coffee Hour – Stacy Cosse

and Prosphora wil l be taken care of by Stacy Cosse

  Choir  

NO  Choir  Practice  this  week.    

Long  Practices  scheduled  for  March  12  &  26,  5:00-­‐8:00  

   

*  Fr.  Jason  will  be  out  of  town  this  week.    There  will  be  no  services  at  our  house.    Please  attend,  as  many  as  you  can,  at  St.  Nicholas.  Services  for  Holy  Nativity  will  resume  Sunday  for  Divine  

Liturgy.  

   

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The Prayer of St. Ephraim – during Lent we pray this prayer in almost all of our gatherings.

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.

Good Reads for Great Lent

The Lenten Spring: Readings for Great Lent by Thomas Hopko (daily devotional)

Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Alexander Schmemann

"...We must then so moderate our rightful use of food that our other desires may be subject to the same rule. For this is also a time of peace and serenity, in which having put away all stains of evil doing we strive after steadfastness in what is

good. Now is the time when generous Christian souls forgive offences, pay no heed to insults, and wipe out the memory of past injuries. Now let the Christian soul exercise itself in the armour of justice, on the right hand and on the left, so that

amid honour and dishonour, evil report and good, the praise of men will not make proud the virtue that is well rooted, the conscience that has peace, nor dishonour cast it down. The moderation of those who worship God is not melancholy, but

blameless." - St. Leo the Great - "Lent the Season of Purification’  

   

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This Sunday, Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, is celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent. It is the celebration of the victory of the iconodules over the iconoclasts by the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Therefore, the service is to commemorate the restoration of icons for use in services and private devotional life of Christians. The icon to the left commemorates the Restoration of the Holy Icons.

This Sunday (March 1st) the Orthodox community will gather at St. George at 6:00 for this pan-Orthodox vespers. Bring your favorite icon for the procession.

ʻNo one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former beauty. We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images.ʼ (kontakion).

Singing the Lord's Song

From Father Marcus: Regarding 'chanting', a few things come to mind:

1. The Orthodox Church is VERY scriptural, and the Scriptures themselves seem to say that we 'sing or chant to the Lord' (see many of the Psalms, eg Psalm 96), but never that we 'read' to the Lord. In

this the early church was simply following temple/synagogue practice, where (as far as we know) everything, especially the scriptures, was chanted. Lest one think this is simply an 'Old Testament'

phenomenon, several passages in the New come to mind. In Revelation, for instance, the 'elders' sing a new song before the Lamb, and St. Paul summons the faithful to 'reach and admonish one

another...by grace singing in your hearts to the Lord.' (Rev 4:9; 14:3; 15:3 and Col 3:16; cf Eph 5:18-19).

2. Projection. The voice projects much better when singing or chanting as opposed to trying to push that much sound out in a reading voice. Also, chanting or singing helps to avoid oratorical flourishes

and individual vocal idiosyncrasies.

3. A reading voice is the voice of the lecture hall, the court room, and oratory when we are speaking to other people. But in divine service as we are speaking, for the most part, to God, We don't lecture

God; we entreat Him.

That being said, underlying all of this really is a deep connection to music/singing being the means through which God Himself creates. And the 'Word' which is spoken is always a 'poetic' word (the world 'poem' itself coming from the Greek word to create ---JRR Tolkien actually writes about this!)

The human voice is most exalted and beautiful (Potentially) when singing. So the language of worship is always poetic (this is lost in translation from the Greek in many of our hymns, but they are all poetic

compositions), and the means by which this is always conveyed is singing or chanting...  

   

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The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Its Meaning and Practice in Today’s World

It is impossible to understand the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts – its ritual, origin, and necessity – without love for the Mysteries and for the practice of frequent Communion. Say

what you will and think what you will, but if the tradition of the Early Church had been to Commune five or six times a year, then the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts would never have

arisen.

Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent are not considered fasting days. This is not because non-fasting foods are allowed on these days. (Non-fasting food is prohibited until Pascha for the physically healthy.) Rather, it is because on Saturdays and Sundays the full, real Liturgy is served. The Liturgy is the cornerstone of the Church, and whether or not it is celebrated determines whether it is a feast day or a day of mourning. If during all of Great Lent you go to church only on Sundays you will not sense that it is Lent, regardless of abstention from food. One also needs to attend the special Lenten services to experience the contrast between these days and the other days of the year and to breathe in deeply the healthful spirit of the Forty Day Fast. The most important of these special services is the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The difference between the Presanctified Liturgy and the more common types of the Eucharist is that the Precious Gifts have already been sanctified as Body and Blood earlier, at the Divine Liturgy on the previous Saturday or Sunday The availability of the Presanctified Gifts demonstrates the Church’s desire to meet the spiritual needs of its members. As the prime expression of the sacramental community, the Holy Eucharist is a necessary feature of the life of the faithful. Its absence would weaken the bond of the faithful with the Eucharistic assembly, but its presence, even through the dispensation of having the Presanctified, fortifies the faithful in prayer and fasting during the bright sadness that is Lent.

 

 

                   Holy  Nativity  of  the  Lord  Mission  Rev.  Fr.  Jason  Foster,  Pastor  Visit  or  contact  us  at:  5490  Barksdale  Blvd,  Bossier  City  (Barksdale  Federal  Credit  Union)  Email:  frjasonfoster@gmail.com,318-­‐455-­‐4219    

 

 

 

Are you ready for Great Lent? To give you a boost, Be the Bee has made a playlist of all the "Be the Bee" episodes on fasting and prayer! These videos are great for youth and adults. May God give us strength. Be the Bee - Fasting Playlist http://goo.gl/6Lt9x5

To  our  Catechumens  As  a  tool  to  extend  and  deepen  your  Christian  

education,  check  out  these  podcast  on  Ancient  Faith.    This  is  actually  a  3-­‐year  diploma  program  provided  by  

the  Antiochian  Archdiocese  of  the  British  Isles,  however  anyone  may  access  the  lectures  for  free.  Click  

on  the  link  below:  

http://www.ancientfaith.com/specials/e_quip