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, August 17, 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 

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Scripture Reading: Matins: Gospel Reading: John 20-19:31. Divine Liturgy Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:9-16. Gospel: Matthew 17:14-23.

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 

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 remember them during the Liturgy. The list of the names located near the Sundays Bulletins. Thank you. 

Thank you Yiota Souzas for decorating the icon of the Theotokos!

We pray for those who celebrate their birthday. Хρόνια πολλά & ευλογημενα! God grant you many years!  August 17 Ally Serrano, 19 Presbetyra Nataliya Zharsky, 21 John Frank. 

Sunday, August 24^th - Ukrainian Independence Day! 

Sunday, August 31 - Blessing for all our children before the new School Year.

Philoptochos will be hosting the annual Student Luncheon on September 7^th. We welcome the OCF - Orthodox Christian Fellowship students with a luncheon and gift bags. Please contact Angela Teeter for donations for the gift bags and Paulette Manos for helping with the meal. 

Sunday, September 14 - The Philoptochos will hold a second collection at church to support the IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities and aid the people in the Holy Land and Palestine. 

Sunday, September 28 - Philoptochos will hold a second collection to support the children in Ukraine who have been wounded, as well as those who have lost their families due to the Russian war of occupation. 

Sunday, August 24^th - Trisagion in memory of John Besirganian - 40 days August 26, and Nickolas Poulos - Death Anniversary, August 26. Memory to them Eternal!

 

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, August 18 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" 

 

Tuesday, August 19 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"

 

Wednesday, August 20 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercyon 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, August 21- 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" 

 

Friday, August 22 - 3:00 PM. JesusPrayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Every Friday we commemorate Christ's Crucifixion. Day of Fasting.

 

Saturday, August 23 - 12:Noon. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony for Angela and Zachary Teeter.

3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"                        

6:00 PM. Great Vespers/Confession. Reading the life of the Saints. Catechism classes following the Vespers. 

 

Sunday, August 24 - 8:45 AM Orthros/Confession. 

10:00 AM Divine Liturgy. Trisagion in memory of John Bezirganian and Nickolas Poulas. Every Sunday we commemorate Christ's resurrection. 

 

WISDOM OF THE SAINTS! 

"Do I read, or listen to the Word of God? If I read it, do I read it according to the guidance of the Holy Church? And if I do not read or listen to it, then why not? The Word of God contains the rules according to which we must conduct our lives, that they may be pleasing to God, and that we may finally be found worthy to be in the Kingdom of God." 

"If your heart has been softened either by repentance before God or by learning the boundless love of God towards you, do not be proud with those whose hearts are still hard. Remember how long your heart was hard and incorrigible." /Venerable Nilus the Faster of Sinai/ 

What more do we need we who live in these schizophrenic times of the modern age than peace in our hearts and in our minds, peace from the Lord? We can see and feel this peace in the humility and modesty of our white-haired holy elders, who never permit people to address them as though they were divinities or idols. /Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica/   

Let us ask ourselves. We ask ourselves what is the aim of the Christian life: what can we do to be true Christians? A simple, but very realistic reply is to say "Fulfil all the commandments, and you will be a Christian". And yet, we may fulfil all the commandments, we may feel that we are right before God, but if our heart is not in what we do, we have not done what a Christian is called to do, to be, because the commandments which Christ left us are not drilling orders. In the commandments God reveals to us what we should do if our heart were pure, if we communed with God, if we were true to ourselves. These are the things God says that should become natural to you, and therefore, you can judge yourselves by comparing not your deeds to the commandments, but your heart to the inspiration that would make them natural. And so it is not simply by doing things that this is achieved, but by becoming the kind of person for whom these things are their true nature; in other words, by willing to be the true, undistorted image of Christ. But where do we begin then? It is easy to be doers how can we change our hearts, how can we find inspiration indeed to do it? It we think of God, if we think that God has so loved us that, to use the words of Saint Paul, "He came to save us while we were still His enemies, that He gave his life that we may live free from evil." Then what should be our first reaction, our first response? I think, at that level we should say, "Let my whole life be evidence to God that I have understood: understood that He believed in me and felt it was worth giving His own life for me, that He hoped that I would respond, and He loved me unto life and unto death." If we have understood this, not only the love of God, but the faith He has in us, the hope He has placed upon us, then our first step should be to build our life in such a way as to be a joy for God. If we only could think of our lives as a way of giving God a little joy not the exulting joy of perfect victory, but a joy which a mother, a father has when a child, a youth, a grown up man or woman says, "I do understand, I have understood, and now all my life I will strive to show my understanding". And showing our understanding of God's love, of God's faith and hope does not consist in singing praises to Him; it consists in making all our life a hymn of gratitude, so that seeing what we do, how gradually we become new people, how our hearts, full of gratitude and of joy, make us shine with an inner light, then we will have begun on our spiritual life. There is a passage in the Gospel, in which we are told, "Let your light so shine before men that seeing this light they may give glory to the Father Who is in Heaven...". What is this light which we must reveal, unveil, let freely shine around us? It is not our own light, it is not manifesting our intelligence, our human warmth, our talents; it is becoming so filled with what is God's, so transparent to His light, that His light may shine freely, and not be kept, as it were, in the darkness of our soul. Again, it is the only way we can cast light, share light with others, because our talents, our intelligence, our hearts, may well be below those of others, while this light is life, this light is enlightenment, this light can help others to become new. So let us begin with simply being actively grateful to God, actively grateful: not emotionally, but in deed, to the core of our being, in every thought, in heart, in our will and action. 

17 Αυγούστου:Τω αυτώ μηνί ΙΖ', μνήμη του Αγίου Μάρτυρος Μύρωνος Τι μοι κεφαλής η τομή Μύρων λέγει,
Προς το στέφειν μέλλον με πάντιμον στέφος; Εβδομάτη δεκάτη τε Μύρων τάμε ξίφος οξύ. Ούτος ήτον κατά τους χρόνους του βασιλέως Δεκίου, και Αντιπάτρου άρχοντος Αχαΐας, ήτοι της Λιβαδίας, εν έτει σν' [250]. Πρεσβύτερος κατά το αξίωμα, αγαθός κατά την γνώμην, έντιμος κατά το γένος, πλούτον έχων πολύν, και παρά Θεού και ανθρώπων φιλούμενος. Επειδή λοιπόν ο ρηθείς Αντίπατρος επήγεν εις την Εκκλησίαν κατά την ημέραν των Χριστού Γεννών, με σκοπόν δια να πιάση πολλούς Χριστιανούς, και να τιμωρήση αυτούς, δια τούτο ο Άγιος ούτος Μύρων, ζήλου θείου πλησθείς, ύβρισε τον Αντίπατρον. Τούτου χάριν εκρέμασαν αυτόν και εξέσχισαν. Έπειτα τον έρριψαν μέσα εις ένα καμίνι, το οποίον τόσον πολλά ανάφθη, ώστε οπού ο κτύπος της φωτίας ηκούετο εις πολύ διάστημα τόπου. Αλλ' όμως το καμίνι δεξάμενον τον Άγιον, εφύλαξεν αυτόν αβλαβή. Η δε φωτία ευγαίνουσα έξω από το καμίνι, κατέκαυσεν εκατόν πενήντα ανθρώπους Έλληνας. Ύστερον ανάγκασαν τον Άγιον να θυσιάση εις τα είδωλα, και επειδή δεν επείσθη, δια τούτο εύγαλαν λωρία από τους ώμους έως εις τα ποδάριά του, από τα οποία πέρνωντας ο Μάρτυς ένα λωρί, το έρριψεν εις το πρόσωπον του Αντιπάτρου. Αφ' ου δε έγδαραν αυτόν, πάλιν εξέσχισαν τας εγδαρμένας του σάρκας. Μετά ταύτα έδωκαν τον Άγιον εις τα θηρία δια να τον φάγουν, αλλ' εκείνα τον εφύλαξαν αβλαβή και ολόκληρον. Όθεν βλέπωντας ο Αντίπατρος, πως εφυλάχθη αβλαβής, δεν υπέφερε την εντροπήν, δια τούτο εθανάτωσε τον εαυτόν του με τας ιδίας του χείρας. Ο δε Άγιος εφέρθη εις την Κύζικον, και εκεί εδέχθη από τον ανθύπατον την του θανάτου απόφασιν. Όθεν αποκεφαλισθείς, απέλαβεν ο μακάριος τον του μαρτυρίου αμάραντον στέφανον.

 20 Αυγούστου: Τω αυτώ μηνί Κ', μνήμη του Αγίου ενδόξου Προφήτου Σαμουήλ Μύσας τελευτή και Σαμουήλ ο βλέπων,

 

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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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