September 6, 2015 / Fourteenth Sunday of Pentecost
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4; Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14; Tone 5
Commemorations: St. Romulus & 11,000 Armenian Martyrs (+110); St. Archippus of Hierapolis
(+350); St. Magnus of Fussen (+772); St. Ivan Koreisha, Fool-For-Christ (+1861).
Tuesday, September 8th
9:00 AM- Divine Liturgy (Theotokos’s Birth)
Saturday, September 12th
No Vespers here on this day
Saturday: Fr. Andrew will be in Rahway this Saturday to celebrate Vespers with Bishop
Gregory for St. John the Baptist Church’s 100th anniversary. Pray for safe travels for all of us.
Event: Church school starts next week, which also starts with our yearly custom of taking the children to an event. This time we’re going bowling after Liturgy and all are welcome to come.
Icon: We thank the donor of a big icon of St. Nicholas. It will be blessed after Liturgy.
Fest: Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Hicksville has its festival Sept. 11-13. Food and fun for everyone are offered. The flyer for it is in our kitchen.
Fall Festival: Our Fall Festival is scheduled for the Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Fr. Andrew hopes to discuss more about this after Liturgy during coffee hours.
Parish Finances:
Last week’s contributions were $1178 and expenses were $1316.
Prayers: Health= Anthony, Kathleen, Martha, Anthony, Eugenia, Gregory and Mary.
Jobs= Nicholas and Peter.
1. RESURRECTION TROPARION: (Tone 5)
We the faithful proclaim and worship the Word, * eternal with the Father and the Spirit. * He was born of the Virgin for our salvation. * He willingly ascended the cross in the flesh and suffered death. * He raised the dead by His glorious resurrection.
2. RESURRECTION KONDAKION: (Tone 5)
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
O my Savior, You descended into the realm of death. * You crushed its power, for You are the Almighty. * As Creator, You raised the dead with Yourself. * Adam, who had been condemned, was redeemed. * O Lover of mankind, we call to You, saying: “O Lord, save us!”
3. BOHORODICA: (Tone 5)
Now and ever and forever. Amen.
Hail! Gate of the Lord no one can enter! * Hail! Defense and protection of those who come to you! * Hail! Peaceful haven who has never known man, * and yet has given birth to your
Maker and God! * Never cease to intercede for those who sing the praise * of the One born of you, of those who worship Him.

4. PROKIMENON: (Tone 5)
O Lord, protect us and guard us from this generation forever and ever, forever, from this generation forever. (Psalm 12:7)
v. Help Lord; for there is no longer any that is godly, for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men. (Psalm 12:1)
O Lord, protect us and guard us from this generation forever and ever, forever, from this generation forever. (Psalm 12:7)
5. THE EPISTLE LESSON: (2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4)
The Reading is from the holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians.
Brethren: God is the one who firmly establishes us along with you in Christ. It is he who anointed us and has sealed us, thereby depositing the first payment, the Spirit, in our hearts. I call on God as my witness that it was out of consideration for you that I did not come to Corinth again. Domineering over your faith is not my purpose. I prefer to work with you toward your happiness. As regards faith, you are standing firm. I did decide, however, not to visit you again in painful circumstances. For if I cause you pain, who can make me happy again but the ones I grieved? I wrote as I did so that when I come I may not be saddened by those who should rejoice my heart. I know you all well enough to be convinced that my happiness is yours. That is why I wrote you in great sorrow and anguish, with copious tears, not to make you sad but to help you realize the great love I bear you.
6. ALLELUIA: (Psalm 89:1-2)
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! v. I will sing of Your steadfast love, O Lord, forever. With my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
v. For Your steadfast love was established forever, Your faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
7. THE GOSPEL LESSON: (Matthew 22:1-14)
Let Us Be Attentive: At that time, the Lord told this parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a marriage feast for his son. And he sent his servants to call in those invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. Again, he sent out other servants, sayin g, “Tell those who are invited, behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatlings are killed and everything is ready. Come to the marriage feast.” But they made light of it and went off, one to his own farm and another to his business. And the rest laid hold of his servants, treated them shamefully and killed them. But when the king heard of it, he was angry. And he sent his armies, destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, “The marriage feast indeed is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the marriage feast whomever you shall find.” And his servants went out into the roads and gathered all those they found, both good and bad. And the marriage feast was filled with guests. Now the king went in to see the guests and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” But he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind his hands and feet, take hold of him, and throw him out into the darkness, where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.
8. AMVON PRAYER:
O Lord, who blesses those who bless You & sanctifies those who put their trust in You, save
Your people & bless Your inheritance, preserve the fullness of Your Church, sanctify those who love the beauty of Your House, glorify them by Your divine might, & forsake us not who put our hope in You. Grant peace to Your world, to Your churches, to Your priests, to the honorable government of our country, its armed forces & to all Your people. For every good & perfect gift is from above, coming down from You, the Father of lights & to You we give glory, thanksgiving & worship, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, always, now and ever and forever.

The Miracle of the Holy Chief Commander Archangel Michael at Colossae. In Phrygia, not far from the city of Hieropolis, in a place called Cheretopos, there was a church named for the
Archangel Michael, built over a miraculous spring.
This church was built by an inhabitant of Laodicea in gratitude to God for healing his mute daughter. The holy Chief Commander Michael appeared to this man in a dream and revealed to him that his daughter would receive the gift of speech after drinking from the water of the spring.
The girl received healing & began to speak. After this miracle, the father, his daughter & all their family were baptized. In fervent gratitude, the father built the church in honor of the holy Chief
Commander Michael. Christians began going to the spring for healing, as well as pagans. In so doing, many of the pagans turned from their idols and were converted to the faith in Christ.
At this church of the holy Chief Commander Michael, a pious man by the name of Archippus served for 60 years as church custodian. He was a son of devout Christians from Hieropolis. At age ten went to pray in the church of the holy Chief Commander Michael and to serve as church caretaker. He led a strict & ascetic manner of life, constantly fasting & prayer.
By his preaching
& by the example of his saintly life, he brought many pagans to faith in Christ, persuading many pagans who came to the holy spring to accept holy Baptism, to forsake pagan impiety & to turn to the One True God and Savior Jesus Christ. Tenacious pagans headed by idolatrous priests repeatedly tried to kill St Archippus, but each time the Lord delivered him. With general malice of that time towards Christians, especially to St. Archippus, the pagans thought to destroy the church in order to prevent people from going to that holy place of healing and to kill Archippus.
Finally, the pagans devised a plan to destroy the church and at the same time kill Archippus by flooding the spot where both the church and the curative spring stood. Toward this end they made a confluence of the Lykokaperos and Kufos Rivers and directed its combined flow against the church. Seeing the preparations for this wicked deed, St Archippus firmly resolved not to abandon the holy place. He prayed to God and to the Archangel Michael to preserve the church and the spring. Through his prayer the Archangel Michael appeared at the temple, and with a blow of his staff, opened a wide fissure in a rock and commanded the rushing torrents of water to flow into it. The Lord heard his prayer, and the saint witnessed the great Miracle of the Chief
Commander Michael at Colossae. The temple remained unharmed. Seeing such an awesome miracle, the pagans fled in terror. Archippus and the Christians gathered in church, glorified God
& gave thanks to the holy Archangel Michael for the help. The place where the rivers plunged into the fissure received the name “Chonae”, which means “plunging.” Miraculously delivered from death, St Archippus lived at the church into his old age, and he died peacefully at the age of 70. Christians buried the saint at Colossae, at the place of his deeds.
The Martyr Romulus lived during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117). He was a confidant of the emperor by virtue of his office of military commander, while the emperor was waging war in the East to put down the uprisings of various peoples against the Romans, mostly the Iberians, the Sarmatians and the Arabians.
In the year 107, and a second time in 115, the emperor conducted a review of the military strength of his army & found in his troops about 11,000 Christians. Trajan immediately sent these Christians into exile in Armenia in disgrace. St Romulus, in view of this, reproached the emperor for his impiety and the sheer folly to diminish the army’s strength during a time of war.
St Romulus then acknowledged that he himself was a Christian. The enraged Trajan had the holy martyr subjected to a merciless beating, after which St Romulus was beheaded. The
Christian soldiers sent into exile in Armenia were killed by various forms of execution.

1. This week’s book is “Journeys To Orthodoxy” by Thomas Doulis. This book is a collection of reports of people who found the True Faith in Eastern Orthodoxy. It tells of people who left a life of not wearing wedding garments, or partially having them, and converting to Eastern Orthodoxy from other religions.
You can find in some of these stories that one statement, that one good deed, that one answered prayer, among other single events, which led a person to find deeper spirituality and truer salvation in the
Eastern Orthodox Church. It’s a short book and easy to read, especially with various persons’ lives and insights about the fullness of our Faith. Like last week’s book about some of the Church’s female martyrs, it sits on the table in the kitchen for anyone to read. Both books contain short accounts of men and women who put on their eternal wedding garments in the most powerful ways.
2. This week’s Bible passage is Psalm 131:9 (132:9): “Your priests shall clothe themselves in righteousness; Your saints shall greatly rejoice.” The last of his vestments which a priest puts on is the phelon, which is the long flowing robe or cape-like garment. As he puts it on, he says this prayer from
Psalm 131:9 about being clothed in righteousness. Augustine in the 5th century applied this Bible verse to today’s Gospel reading about our wedding garments, which the Lord Jesus in a parable said was needed for entering the Kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ also gave a vision to the Apostle John, which is now our Book of Revelation. In 19:8, he saw in a vision of the Lamb of God & His Bride, the Church, who wore fine linen, which “is the righteous deeds of the saints”. Righteousness & wedding garments are often associated with each other in the
Bible. And so is God’s Kingdom associated, as Jesus says in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness.” Right action & right belief in the Apostolic Church are the general meanings of these associations, in the sense of shedding our sins by repentance and confession and by acquiring the deeds and faith of the Holy Spirit.
3. This week’s religious science fact for the Bible is coal. Here is a report from “creation.com”: Carbon-
14 is an unstable form of carbon that decays into Nitrogen-14 at a measured rate, and this forms the basis of Carbon-14 dating. In 2003, a group of researchers performed an unusual test of 10 coal samples obtained from Pennsylvania State University. The researchers wanted to see if Carbon-14 could be detected in the coal samples. This test might be considered ‘unusual’ because Carbon-14 decays relatively fast & should not be detectable after a maximum of 90,000 years. Yet the coal samples tested came from strata allegedly ranging in age from 37 million to 318 million years.
The laboratory results were clear; all the 10 coal samples contained Carbon-14; and similar amounts.
This seriously undermines the evolutionary dates for the rock strata containing the coal because the presence of Carbon-14 affirms that the coal samples cannot be millions of years old. The results fit nicely with the coal forming from vegetation buried in Noah’s Flood. (The report assumes the readers know that the Bible’s worldwide Flood was about 5500 years ago.)
As this report proves, scientists who say that a rock is millions of years old are either deceiving you or deceiving themselves. In fact, after proving that coal isn’t millions of years old, I would bet big money that these researchers at Pennsylvania State University still believe that coal is millions of years old. Delusion is the most effective weapon demons have against us because one’s identity depends on it.
Dear Diocesan Clergy, Glory to Jesus Christ!
The on-line shopping store, Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese of the USA whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.
Simply go to the home page of our Diocesan website http://www.acrod.org and click on the Amazon
Smiles button in the far left column and then shop as usual.
Sincerely, The Diocesan Chancery Staff