Weekly Bulletin

His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas

120 W. Seneca St. Ithaca, NY 14850 http://www.stcatherine.ny.goarch.org

TEL. 607-273-2767 e-mail: stcatherinegoc@gmail.com

Fr. Zenoviy Zharsky /607/ 245-9988

 

Sunday, November 30, 2025

 

Welcome all visitors, please come again.

 

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"By changing ourselves in Christ, we are able to change the world around us"

 

Please let Father know who is in need of visiting and prayers. 

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Daily reading of the holy scripture, Saints for the day, liturgical schedule, news from the parish life, announcements and more, please read the Sunday Bulletin on the parish websitewww.stcatherine.ny.goarch.org 

Please submit to the parish priest all announcements for the church bulletin website before Thursday evening. Thank you.

Follow us on Facebook: St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church of Ithaca, NY.

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Scripture Reading: Matins: Gospel Reading: Mark 16:9-20. Divine Liturgy Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:9-16. Gospel: John 1:35-51.

When you write your will, won't you please remember St. Catherine's Church? Such a gift will live forever as our church minister to our spiritual needs and others it's an investment in the Gospel of our Lord and life eternal.

If you know someone who would like to rent church apartment please see Ike Nestopoulos or Fr. Zenoviy. Thank you. 

Please mark your calendar. December 19 and 20 Philoptochos Bake Sale.

Philoptochos is once again supporting the Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family program. Donations are being accepted until 12/7/2025. Please also consider donating ingredients for the bake sale: walnuts, butter, sugar are needed for group baklava baking. Thank you to all who have graciously committed to baking again this year! Please see Angela Teeter for more information. 

Saturday, November 15 Nativity Fast Begins. We keep fast till December 24

The 60th Anniversary luncheon held last Sunday, sponsored by Philoptochos, was a huge success due to the delicious fasting food offerings prepared by several of our community members! Many thanks go out to Candy Filios, Katerina Papachryssanthou, Eleni Filios Pettengill, Paul and Kathie Karakantas, Presvytera Nataliya, Souvlaki House, Tasia Stavropoulos, Sophia King, Maria Nicolaides, Eleni Malamis, Spiros Halkiopoulos, George and Marcy Avramis and Evan Lambrou.Thank you!

Announcement: If you didn't give names and date of your birthdays and your families birthdays please provide them. Also please give the names and dates of your family members who fell asleep in the Lord. We will pray for them. The list of the names located near the Sunday Bulletins. Thank you.

Sunday, December 7 - St. Nicholas will visit our church and give out presents for all of our children.

Sunday, December 7 - All children and parents following the Divine Liturgy are welcome to join Christmas crafts with Presbytera.

During this season of Christmas as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ Nativity we hear another name applied to our Lord. It is the name taken from the day of His birth in Bethlehem, and this name is Emmanuel. The first to say this name in a prophetic manner was Isaiah, who proclaimed eight centuries earlier: "Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His nameImmanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). St. Matthew the Evangelist recalls this prophecy from the words of the Angel, who announced to Joseph the birth of Jesus (see Matthew 1:23). There is also the icons of the Lord, with the name Emmanuel. We know that Adam and Eve, by their disobedience to God, brok communion with Him. The Son of God came into the world as a man in order to reconnect humanity with God, which we will celebrate with solemnity and devotion. In the case of Isaiah, he had foreseen that when people see God as a human being, living and interacting with the people, then they will call him Emmanuel a name which means "God is with us" God is in our midst. It was in this way that for the first time, people who were separated from God because of their sins not only heard God, but also spoke with Him. They saw Him with their own eyes, and touched Him. It was ultimately through Emmanuel-Jesus Christ, that humanity was united with the Triune God, and the long tragic separation of humanity from the Creator came to an end. The possibility of joyful eternal life became a reality once more. God humbled Himself to a point that the human mind cannot conceive! Not only that, but Emmanuel was already in danger as an infant, for Herod was looking to put Him to death. He experienced life as a refugee in Egypt, and in the end, suffered horribly in order to set humanity free from the bonds of sin, and elevate us to heaven. It is at this point then that a question arises, my dear ones: How do we respond to that great love of Emmanuel, and to His desire for us to be in constant communion with Him? There are those who think that praying or going to Church to fulfill a duty for the sake of Christ is enough. They believe that in doing this, God owes them something! What ends up happening, is that when trouble comes to their lives, they complain to God. They do not understand that God is self-sufficient, and needs nothing from anyone. "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and because He is all love, whatever He does is for our benefit and to help us. If Emmanuel, who is "The Treasure of all Blessings," wants us to be in communion with Him, it is in order for us to receive everything good that we need. That is why He also wants our relationship with Him to be one of love. St. Maximos the Confessor writes, "The love for God offers wings to the mind. So that man may live constantly with God." Dear brothers and sisters. When we are in communion with Emmanuel, we never feel alone, even if everyone else has abandoned us. We are not overtaken by any fear whatsoever; "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). We should give thanks to God for everything good in our life, and entrust every pain to His love. As the Lord said, "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15) Let us open our hearts to ceaseless relationship with Emmanuel - God with, who came into the world to be with us. 

December 6 Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia +345 Divine Liturgy Saturday December 6^th - 10:00 AM  St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was a a great saint pleasing unto God. He was born in the city of Patara in the Lycian region (on the south coast of the Asia Minor peninsula), and was the only son of pious parents Theophanes and Nonna, who had given a vow to dedicate him to God. As the fruition of longtime prayer of his childless parents, the infant Nicholas from the very day of his birth revealed to people the light of his future glory as a wonderworker. 

From the time of his childhood Nicholas thrived on the study of Divine Scripture. His uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patara, rejoiced at the spiritual success and deep piety of his kinsman. He ordained him a reader, and then elevated Nicholas to the dignity of presbyter, making him his assistant and entrusting him to speak instructing the flock. In serving the Lord the youth was fervent of spirit, and in his proficiency with questions of faith he was like an elder, which aroused the wonder and deep respect of believers.  In setting off on pilgrimage to the holy places at Jerusalem, the bishop of Patara entrusted the guidance of the flock to Saint Nicholas, who fulfilled this obedience carefully and with love. When the bishop returned, he in turn asked blessing for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Having reached the ancient city of Jerusalem and having come to Golgotha, Saint Nicholas offered up thanksgiving to the Saviour of the race of mankind and he made the rounds of all the holy places and making prayers. By night on Mount Sion the closed doors of the church opened by themselves in front of the arriving great pilgrim. Going round the holy places connected with the earthly service of the Son of God, Saint Nicholas decided to withdraw into the wilderness, but he was stopped by a Divine voice, urging him to return to his native country. Having returned to Lycia and yearning for a life of quietude, the saint entered into the brotherhood of a monastery, named Holy Sion. But the Lord again announced another pathway, awaiting him.
Upon the death of archbishop John, he was chosen bishop of Lycian Myra after one of the bishops of the Council gave a decisive reply on the question of choice of a new archbishop the choice of God as directed him in a vision Saint Nicholas. Summoned to the flock of the Church in the dignity of archbishop, Sainted Nicholas remained a great ascetic, appearing to his flock as an image of gentleness, kindness and love towards people. This was particularly precious for the Lycian Church during the time of persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Bishop Nicholas, locked up in prison together with other Christians, sustained them and exhorted them to bravely endure the fetters, punishment and torture. Upon the accession to rule of the holy equal-to-the-apostles Constantine, Saint Nicholas was restored to his flock, which joyfully received back their guide and intercessor. In the year 325 Saint Nicholas was a participant in the First Ecumenical Council. This Council proclaimed the Nicean Symbol of faith, and he stood up with the likes of saints Sylvester bishop of the Rome, Alexander of Alexandria, Spyridon of Trimiphuntum and others of the 318 fathers of the Council against the heretic Arius. Saint Nicholas, in the heat of denunciation and fired up with zeal for the Lord, struck the heretic Arius. For which he was deprived of his bishop's omophor and put under guard. But several of the holy fathers shared a vision revealing that the Lord Himself and the Mother of God had made the saint to be bishop, bestowing upon him the Gospel and omophorion. The fathers of the Council, having concurred, that the audacity of the saint was pleasing to god, gave glory to the Lord and restored His holy saint to the dignity of bishop. Having returned to his own diocese, the saint brought it peace and blessings, sowing the word of Truth, nipping in the bud defective and spurious claims of wisdom, uprooting heresy and healing the fallen and those led astray through ignorance. He was indeed a light in the world and the salt of the earth, wherein his life did shine and his word was mixed with the salt of wisdom. Even during his life the saint worked many miracles. Having reached old age, Saint Nicholas expired peacefully to the Lord. His venerable relics were preserved undecayed in the local cathedral church and flowed with curative myrh, from which many received healing. In the year 1087 his relics were transferred to the Italian city of Bari, where they rest even now. The name of the great saint of God Nicholas is famed in all the ends of the earth, in many lands and among many peoples. 

 

Wisdom of the Saints.  "The fact is that the heart corrupted by sin stubbornly refuses to believe in the future sufferings that await sinners, and no miracles can convince it otherwise."

"A passion which reveals itself more frequently than others should be treated with special attention, because it can become the ruling element in the child's life."

"If a soul remains in humility, then the Lord enlightens it more and more." /Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica/ 

 

Liturgical Schedule:  Daily 3:00 PM. Let's pray Jesus Prayer for 10 minutes straight saying,"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."  

Monday, December 1 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Day of Fasting 6:00 PM Festive Fespers 

Tuesday, December 2 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Day of Fasting. 

Wednesday, December 3 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Day of Fasting.  Every Wednesday we remember when Judas betrayed Christ. 6:00 PM. Prayers near Miraculous Icon Mother of God "The Tender Heart" St. George's Orthodox Church in Taylor, PA.

Thursday, December 4 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Day of Fasting. 

Friday, December 5 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Every Friday we commemorate Christ's Crucifixion. Day of Fasting. 

Saturday, December 6 - 10:00 AM. Divine Liturgy. St. Nicholas.  3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"Day of Fasting. 6:00 PM. Great Vespers/Confession. Reading the life of the Saints. Catechism classes following the Vespers. 

Sunday, December 7 - 8:45 AM Orthros/Confession. 10:00 AM. Divine Liturgy. Every Sunday we commemorate Christ's resurrection. Day of Fasting

 

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Methods of Giving:

Cash and checks can be brought to the church and put in the donation baskets.

 

Checks made out to Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church can also be mailed to:

St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church

120 W. Seneca St Ithaca, NY 14850

 

When you write your will, won't you please remember St. Catherine's Church? Such a gift will live forever as our church minister to our spiritual needs and others. It's an investment in the Gospel of our Lord and life eternal.

 

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