St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church
1100 Hicksville Rd. • Seaford, NY, 11783
Rev. Fr. Andrew Gromm
(516) 541-3628 / onearthasinheaven@yahoo.com
Website: www.sgnseaford.org/
Sunday Mornings: Hours- 9:15, Liturgy- 9:30, Church School- 10:40
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July 19, 2015 / Seventh Sunday of Pentecost; Fathers of the First 6 Ecumenical Councils
Epistle: Hebrews 13:7-16; Gospel: Matthew 9:27-35; Tone 6
Commemorations: St. Macrina (+380); St. Dius (+430); St. Theodore, Bishop (+848); St. Paisius
of the Kiev Caves (+1360); St. Sophronius of Svyatogorsk Monastery (+1921).
Monday, July 20th
Saturday, July 25th
9:00 AM- Divine Liturgy (St. Elijah)
5:30 PM- Vespers
Chi-Rho: Hannah and Cathryn cleaned up the icons and candles stands for their Chi-Rho
service hours. They did a wonderful job.
Camp Nazareth: Our deanery’s week at camp is this week. Pray for the camp at this time.
Fall Festival: It’s the time of year to start analyzing our fall festival. Fr. Andrew will talk with you
about it this month after Liturgy during coffee hour.
Parish Finances: Last week’s contributions were $1071, while expenses were $1141.
News: Paying our monthly bills is not always easy. We thank you for remembering your weekly
donations for God’s weekly worship.
Prayers: Health= Anthony, Kathleen, Martha, Anthony, Eugenia, Gregory.
Jobs= Nicholas, Peter, Caesar.
Rubrics for 7th Sunday after Pentecost
1.
RESURRECTION TROPARION: (Tone 6)
Angelic powers were before Your grave, * and the guards became like dead men; * Mary
stood at the grave, * seeking Your most pure Body, * You captured death, but were not tempted
by it. * O Giver of life, You met the Virgin. * O Lord, You arose from the dead. * Glory to You!
2. TROPAR OF THE COUNCIL FATHERS: (Tone 8)
O Christ our God, You are above all praise, * for You established our Fathers as lights to all
the earth. * You led us to the true Faith through them. * O Most Merciful Lord, glory to You!
3. KONDAK OF THE COUNCIL FATHERS: (Tone 8)
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, * now and ever and forever. Amen.
The preaching of the Apostles * and the decisions of the Fathers * have established the true
faith of the Church, * which she wears as the garment of truth * fashioned from the theology on
high. * She justly governs and glorifies the great mystery of worship.
4. PROKIMENON: (Tone 4)
Blessed are You and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our Fathers and glorious forever is
Your Name.
v. In all that You have done Your justice is apparent.
Blessed are You and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our Fathers and glorious forever is
Your Name.
5. THE EPISTLE LESSON:
(Hebrews 13:7-16)
The Reading is from the holy Apostle Paul to the Hebrews.
Brethren: Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider how their lives
ended and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not be
carried away by all kinds of strange teaching. It is good to have our hearts strengthened by the
grace of God and not by foods which are useless to those who take them as a standard for
living. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. The
bodies of the animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sin
offering are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus died outside the gate, to sanctify the
people by his own blood. Let us go to him outside the camp, bearing the insult which he bore.
For here we have no lasting city. We are seeking one which is to come. Through him let us
continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which acknowledge his name.
Do not neglect good deeds and generosity. God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.
6.
ALLELUIA: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
v. The God of gods, the Lord has spoken and summoned the earth, from the rising of the sun
to its setting.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
v. Summon before Me My people who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
7. THE GOSPEL LESSON:
(Matthew 9:27-35)
Let Us All Be Attentive: At that time, as Jesus was passing on, two blind men followed him,
crying out and saying, “Have pity on us, Son of David!” And when he had reached the house,
the blind men came to him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this to you?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done to you
according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying,
“See that no one knows of this!” But they went out and spread his fame abroad throughout all
that district. Now as they were going out, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man
possessed by a devil. And when the devil had been cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the
crowds marveled, saying, “Never has the like of this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees
said, “By the prince of devils he casts out devils.” And Jesus was going about all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the kingdom, and
curing every kind of disease and infirmity in the people.
8. COMMUNION HYMNS:
1st Hymn: Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the highest. Alleluia! (Psalm 148:1)
2nd Hymn: Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; praise befits the upright. Alleluia! (Psalm 33:1)
9.
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.
“He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his Mother.”
St. Cyprian of Carthage (+258)
St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church, 7/19/15
Fr. Andrew’s Religious Observations of China
Chinese thought is varied & in important ways analogous to modern Christian experience, even Orthodox
thought. Secular scholars assume that the original religion of the 1st Chinese people was paganistic.
However, Christians, & even some Chinese & Western scholars have noticed certain interesting parallels
between the teachings of the Bible’s Prophets & the most ancient Chinese beliefs & practices. This
evidence shows the original religion of China was a belief in one god, with fascinating prayers about this
god being a trinity of some kind. Adding to this, a team of Protestant missionaries, including at least one
Chinese Christian scholar, has written a series of books detailing how the Chinese writing system reveals
the same or similar ideas as those presented in our Bible regarding the Creator, Adam & Eve, Paradise, the
first sin, the Devil, the Flood & the Tower of Babel. Even prominent prophecies of Christ which are in the
Old Testament are presented in the word-pictures of Chinese writing.
By the 4th century B.C., this original religion of China’s one god had disappeared, except in ancient rituals
& legends. Confucius & other scholars were aware of this lost religion & they tried to reconstruct what the
original beliefs were. Though some of the Chinese believed in paganistic ideas by this time, Chinese
thought developed more in line with Secularism & Philosophy. For instance, Confucius, like other great
Chinese minds of the time, including some ancient Jewish Sadducees, didn’t believe in life after death since
there was no tangible proof of it. This view dominated China until Western Socialism destroyed it with Karl
Marx’s ideas of determining good & evil according to man’s relationship with money, not with man’s
approaches to morality.
By the time Christ was born, Confucius’s teachings dominated Chinese beliefs; but soon after this, Taoism
& Buddhism converted most of the Chinese within a few centuries. Buddhism & Taoism preach pantheism &
reincarnation. Instead of thinking that human nature is a reality & instead of thinking that God became man,
they believe that man & animals & trees & dirt & all things have always been God, so that any idea that
differs from this is presumed to be an illusion. But like the original religion of China, the original beliefs of
Buddhism & Taoism have been compromised by leftover ideas & practices of the old Paganism. But since
the 1980’s, Chinese thought has shifted from a traditional form of Buddhism-Taoism to the modern version
of Secular-Humanism, which treats ancient religion as inferior.
More Chinese people are becoming Christian. But their Christianity is regulated by the State. Peking
chooses China’s Roman Catholic bishops, which the Vatican struggles to bypass. But Protestantism is most
regulated. Peking outlawed all Protestant denominations & combined all of the doctrines uniting them, thus
making a brand-new theology, a generic Protestantism! Eastern Orthodoxy is allowed, but only if priests &
bishops are born & raised in China.
Since the 1980’s, fewer Chinese people go to temples. Some just pray at home for a few minutes in front
of a statue of Buddha with a stick of incense. But many people ignore religion, except at certain times.
Fireworks in China’s old religion represent birth, joy & good luck (not grace), so they shoot fireworks on New
Year’s Day and weddings. Five days after New Year’s there’s another celebration, where more fireworks
are for financial luck. Then 10 days later, they have their lantern celebration to honor the dead & pray for
future life, symbolized by a rabbit.
Religious people in China today are heavily influenced by an ancient spirituality of happiness, normally
through financial success. It’s great to have conversations where there is no hatred and bigotry against rich
people. But it’s not so great to see this mentality in Buddhist and Taoist temples. Their priests and monks
do palm reading and spend hours at their temples selling their craft. They stand in an area of the temple,
waiting for customers. People go to these monks and get their palms read, maybe with some spiritual
advice. Then the people pay the monk for his service, who in turn will later do a number of prayers for them
according to how much he was paid. It is also normal to see vendors & kiosks of people selling religious
artifacts and tourist things along the walls of the temples. Jesus Christ dealt with such a practice at the
Jerusalem Temple by whipping the merchants and destroying their earnings. He was teaching us to lay
aside all earthly cares and pray with all our hearts, souls, minds and bodies.
Shop and Help Our Diocese at the Same Time
(Fr. Andrew looks forward to buying books this way)
Dear Diocesan Clergy, Glory to Jesus Christ!
We have been asked to forward to your attention the following information:
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.
Please include this information in your parish bulletin. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
The Diocesan Chancery Staff
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St. Macrina
Saint Macrina, the sister of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, was born in
Cappadocia at the beginning of the 4th century. Her mother, Emilia, saw an angel in a dream, naming her
unborn child Thekla, in honor of the holy Protomartyr Thekla. St Emilia fulfilled the will of God & named her
daughter Thekla. Another daughter was named Macrina, in honor of a grandmother, who suffered during
the time of persecution under Emperor Maximian Galerius.
St Emila guided the upbringing and education of her elder daughter. She taught her reading and writing in
the Scriptural books, selecting examples from the sacred books which spoke of a pious & God-pleasing life.
St Emilia taught her daughter to pray and to attend church services. Macrina was also taught the proper
knowledge of domestic governance & various handicrafts. She was never left idle & did not participate in
childish games or amusements.
When Macrina grew up, her parents betrothed her to a pious youth, but the bridegroom died. Many young
men sought marriage with her, but Macrina refused them all, having chosen the life of a virgin & not wanting
to be unfaithful to the memory of her dead fiancé. St Macrina lived in the home of her parents, helping them
with the household tasks as an overseer together with the servants, and she helped with the upbringing of
her younger brothers & sisters. After the death of her father she became the chief support for the family.
When all the children grew up and left home, St Macrina convinced her mother, St Emilia, to leave the
world, free their slaves and settle in a women’s monastery. Several of their servants followed their example.
Having taken monastic vows, they lived together as one family, they prayed together, worked together,
possessed everything in common, and in this manner of life nothing distinguished one from another.
After her mother’s death, St Macrina guided the sisters of the monastery. She enjoyed the deep respect of
all who knew her. Strictness towards herself & temperance in everything were characteristic of the saint all
her life. She slept on boards & had no possessions. St Macrina was granted the gift of wonderworking. The
sisters of the monastery to St Gregory of Nyssa, after the death of St Macrina, told how St. Macrina healed
a girl of an eye-affliction. Through the prayers of the saint, there was no shortage of wheat at her monastery
in times of famine.
St Macrina died in the year 380, after a final prayer of thanks to the Lord for having received His blessings
over all the course of her life. She was buried in the same grave with her parents.