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 17, 2024

 

Welcome all visitors, please come again.

 

Fast Day (Fish Allowed)

Fish, oil and wine are allowed | Refrain from meat, dairy and eggs.

 

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

 

Scripture Reading: 

Matins: Gospel Reading: John 21:1-14 

Divine Liturgy: Epistle Galatians 2:16-20

Gospel Reading Luke 12:16-21 

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Welcome our Metropolitan His Eminence Nicholas and Deacon Steven Sarigianis.

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

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Dear children, Sunday December 8^th St. Nicholas will visit our church and give you gifts. 

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Daily reading of the holy scriptur, 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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Please follow us on Facebook

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What to see in Sunday Bulletin? Please send your requests, announcements and news weekly by Thursday to Fr. Zenoviy: stcatherinegoc@gmail.com 

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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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This Thursday we will celebrate the Entry into the Temple of Thotokos. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Righteous Joakim and Anna, in praying for a solution to their childlessness, gave a vow that if a child were born to them, they would dedicate it to the service of God.

When the Most Holy Virgin reached three years of age, the holy parents decided to fulfill their vow. Having gathered together their kinsfolk and acquaintances, and having dressed the All-Pure Mary in Her finest clothes, and with the singing of sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands they carried Her to the Jerusalem Temple. There the high-priest with a throng of priests met the maiden of God. In the Temple, the stairway led up fifteen high steps. The Child Mary, so it seemed, could not Herself make it up this stairway. But just as they placed Her on the first step, strengthened by the power of God, She quickly made it up over the remaining steps and ascended to the highest. Then the high-priest, through an inspiration from above, led the Most Holy Virgin into the Holy of Holies, and herein of all people it was only the high-priest that entered one time a year with a purifying sacrifice of blood. Therefore all those present in the Temple were astonished at this most unusual occurrence.
Righteous Joakim and Anna, having entrusted their Child to the will of the Heavenly Father, returned home. The MostBlessed Mary remained in the domicile for girls, situated near the Temple. Round about the Temple, through the testimony of Holy Scripture (Exodus 38; 1 Kings 1: 28; Lk. 2: 37), and also the historian Josephus Flavius, there were many living quarters, in which dwelt those dedicated to the service of God. The earthly life of the Most Holy Mother of God from the time of Her infancy to the time of Her ascent to Heaven is shrouded in deep mystery. Her life at the Jerusalem Temple was also a secret. In the Church tradition there were preserved accounts, that during the time of the stay of the All-Pure Virgin at the Jerusalem Temple, She grew up in a community of pious virgins, read diligently the Holy Scripture, occupied Herself with handcrafts, prayed constantly and grew in love for God. In remembrance of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Jerusalem Temple, Holy Church from ancient times established a solemn feast day. The decretals for the making of the feast in the first centuries of Christianity are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, where mention is made that the holy Empress Helen built a church in honour of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Mother of God. The feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Mother of God foretells the blessing of God for the human race, the preaching of salvation, the promise of the coming of Christ.

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Nativity Fast in Orthodox Church.  The Nativity fast begins on November 15, and lasts forty days. The Nativity fast is not as strict as Great Lent or the Dormition fast, and can be compared to the Apostle's fast. It was instituted by the Church so that we would worthily greet the feast of the Nativity of Christ after having cleansed our hearts by fasting, prayers and repentance - confession. The Fast of the Nativity is the Church's wise solace and aid to human infirmity. We are a forgetful people, but our forgetfulness is not unknown to God; and our hearts with all their misconceptions and weakened understandings are not unfamiliar to the Grace of the Holy Spirit who guides and sustains this Church. We who fall far from God through the magnitude of our sin, are called nonetheless to be close to Him. We who run afar off are called to return. Through the fast that precedes the great Feast of the Incarnation which itself is the heart and substance of our calling the Church helps draw us into the full mystery of what that call entails. The fast of the Nativity is a journey. "Come, O ye faithful, and let us behold where Christ is born. Let us join the Magi, kings from the east, and follow the guiding star" (Hymn of the Nativity Orthros). On the fifteenth of November, the Church joins together in a journey toward that salvation first promised to Adam in God's curse laid upon the serpent (Gen 3.14-15). The One who will crush the head of the serpent, of sin and the devil and all that is counter to the life God offers, is Him to whom the star leads us. Here the importance of the fast. As the Nativity approaches, that great feast of cosmic significance and eternal, abounding joy for which heaven and earth together rejoice, the fast calls me to consider: do I rejoice? Why do I rejoice? The hymnography of the Church makes it clear that this is a feast for all the world, for all creation; and the fast calls me to take my place in that creation, to realise that, despite all my infinite unworthiness, Christmas is a miracle for my soul too. Adam and Eve, all of humankind, are renewed and made alive in the Incarnation of God in Christ, who 'appeared on earth to save our kind'. Fallen flesh, so long bound to death, so long yearning in for growth and maturation into the fullness of life, is sewn into the garment of Christ and at last made fully alive. There is a pleasing old saying, with perhaps more than a touch of truth to it, that humankind drew its first full breath at the infant Christ's first cry. We are called, then, to approach this great mystery as God's condescension into our own lives, personally and collectively. The Nativity is not only about God's coming down to us, but about our rising up to Him, just as sinful humanity was lifted up into the person of Christ in the Incarnation itself. The faithful take up this call through the abandonment of those things which bind, rather than free, in order that a focus on God as 'all in all' might become ever more real and central to daily life. The fast is an ascetic time, designed by the Church to strip away common stumbling blocks into sin, to provide us with the means of self-perception that we lack in our typical indulgence, and to begin to grow the seeds of virtue. All these are necessary if we are ever to know even partially, or appreciate even menially, the "Depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God".We must take up the task of our own purification, gifted by God and achieved only through His grace, that we might approach Him on Christmas Day as did the Magi and the shepherds in Bethlehem.

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Orthodox Christian Fellowship students are requesting a ride to church every Sunday. Please contact Sophia Georgiou King, Philoptochos President, if you are able to help bring a few students to church from Cornell and IC campus's. Sophia.georgiou47@gmail.com 607-3396107

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Mary Bling /Salvation Army. Adopt a family..Accepting Donations until Dec. 10^th. Be a part of this Christmas Tradition: Every year the Philoptocos Society of Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church, has generously adopted one or two families for the Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family program. We are inviting our whole community, in this spirit of giving, for this year's Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family program. The children are in need of clothes, coats, and boots. Please sign up or donate by Sunday, December 10^th Call or email Angela Teeter at 315-406-1521 or angelaht@ymail.com for sizes and any additional information. We will also accepting monetary donations by passing a tray following services in November, to do the shopping for you, in you so choose. Or please mail your check to St. Catherine GOC 120 W. Seneca Stg. Ithaca NY. 14850 made out to Philoptochos with Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family in the memo, to purchase gifts. At this season of giving, there are so many families in need. We appreciate and thank you in advance for your generosity! Philoptochos Society of Sty. Catherine's GOC 

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Our St. Catherine Philoptochos will be having their annual Christmas Bake Sale. Friday, December 6th from 4-6 pm and Saturday, December 7th from 10-noon. If you are interested in placing an order after the 11/17 deadline, please see Angela Teeter or Sophia King. Ithacabaklava@gmail.com is our website. We will be baking Saturday 11/23 at noon, and Sunday 11/24, after coffee hour. Please donate 3lb bags walnut ($8.00 Wegmans). We also need many pounds of unsalted butter to make baklava and cookies. The price for phyllo is $4.00 Please see Sophia Georgiou King to place your holiday phyllo order or call (607) 3396107 

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Sunday School: Children please go to class after Holy Communion. Please see Emeline Mandeville for more information. 

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

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

Tuesday, November 19 - 3:00 PM. JesusPrayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Nativity Fast.

Wednesday, November 20 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Day of Fasting. 6:00 PM. Prayers near Miraculous Icon Mother of God "The Tender Heart" St. George's Orthodox Church in Taylor, PA. Nativity Fast. Every Wednesday we remember when Judas betrayed Christ. 

Thursday, November 21 - 10:00 AM. Divine Liturgy. Feast Day. Entrance of Theotokos into the Jerusalem Temple. 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Nativity Fast.

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

Saturday, November 23 - 3:00 PM. Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" Nativity Fast. 6:00 PM. Great Vespers/Confession. Reading the life of the Saints. Catechism classes following the Vespers. Nativity Fast. 

Sunday, November 24 - 8:45 AM. Orthros/Confession. 10:00 AM. Divine Liturgy. Nativity Fast. Every Sunday we commemorate Christ's resurrection 

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If you need prayer ropes for yourself or as a gift please use the following link to order one: ropestoheaven.etsy.com These prayer ropes are made with 100% wool yarn and made by my eldest daughter. For our college students, if you message the shop owner she will give a discount code. Thank you. 

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Wisdom of the Saints  "Endure sorrow in the Lord, that joy might embrace you. Labor, that you might receive abundant reward."

 

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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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