Byzantine Catholic Mission
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Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission |
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O ye incorporeal angels who stand before the throne of God, luminous with the brilliance thereof and everlastingly shining with radiance. As secondary luminaries, entreat Christ, that He grant unto our souls peace and great mercy. O immortal messengers of the truly incorruptible Life, ye most blessed ones who received life from the first Life, ye have become holy beholders of the eternal Wisdom, full of light, and reflecting lamps shown forth as is meet. O ye archangels and angels, principalities, thrones, dominions, six-winged seraphim, and divine, many-eyed cherubim, instruments of wisdom, virtues and powers most divine. Pray ye to Christ, that He grant our souls peace and great mercy. Archives:
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HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
FATHER THOMAS O’CONNELL, PASTOR FATHER MICHAEL MAPLES, ASSISTANT PASTOR FATHER DEACON RON VOLEK, PASTORAL ASSISTANT HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH 307 BLACK OAK RIDGE ROAD PO BOX 817 SEYMOUR, TN 37865 PHONE: 865-609-1081 www.hrbcc.org
Slava Isusu Christu! Slava Na Niky!
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
Divine Liturgy begins at 4 p.m. Every Sunday
Ninth Hour Prayer precedes Liturgy at 3:30 p.m.
Potluck supper follows Liturgy on the third Sunday of the month
Also at this time non-perishable foods and items for those in need
FEBRUARY 10, 2008
FIRST SUNDAY OF THE GREAT FAST SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY MEMORY OF THE HOLY PROPHETS THE HOLY MARTYR CHARALAMPAS
Our Offerings
GREAT FAST SERVICES THIS WEEK
FRIDAY, FEB. 15: Small Compline and Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, 7:30 PM, at the home of Darrell
and Julie Drouhard
SATURDAY, FEB. 16: All Soul’s Day Great Panachida prayed at 12 noon at the Oak Ridge Memorial Cemetery
Sunday of Orthodoxy
Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy. It commemorates the victory of the true teachings of the Lord over the iconoclastic
heresy, which forbade the veneration of images of the Lord, His mother, or the saints. The true teaching, hence the word
“orthodox,” meaning “true doctrine,” is that we use those icons to remind us of the Lord and the
saints. Considering this Sunday’s meaning, we may say it is time for us to paint an icon of the Lord in our hearts.
It is a time to let His countenance shine in us.
From the Church Fathers…
“Those who refuse to venerate an icon also refuse to worship God’s Son, who is the living image and unchanging
reflection of God the Invisible. Be it known, that anyone who seeks to destroy the icons of Christ, the Blessed Theotokos,
or any of the saints — is the enemy of Christ, His Mother, and the saints — and is the defender of the devil
and his demons!”
—St. John Damascene
On the Reverencing of Icons
(Taken from a sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, in the book, The Icon as Scripture.)
When we enter an Eastern Church, the first thing we do is reverence and kiss the icons. What does this signify? What does
this teach us? We know that we are not reverencing the object itself, the wood and paint; we understand that our reverence
is being shown for the person to the one portrayed. Because a saint has become a saint, because he or she truly has Christ
dwelling in them, the reverence we show to any icon, no matter who is portrayed in it, passes to Christ, the source of
holiness.
Let us pause for a moment and think: The veneration and reverence we show to an icon passes over to the prototype.
Humankind is created in the image—the icon—of God. This, then, is the first lesson that we must learn from the
veneration of icons. If each human being is created in the icon of God and the reverence we show toward the icon passes
over to the prototype; what should our relationship with our neighbor, with every human being, be? If we reverence an icon,
we reverence the prototype; if we hate or disdain an icon, does this not also pass to the prototype of the icon?
Brothers and sisters, each human being is an image of the living God. Are we not taught by our reverence of icons that the
way in which we treat any other human being is the manner in which we are treating God? If we have love and reverence for
another person, does that love and reverence not pass over to the prototype to God? And if we have hatred, malice, or
disdain for another person, does not that also reflect to the prototype to God?
This is just what Jesus Christ told us when He said, “As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you
have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40).
PASTORAL PONDERINGS
Fast from judging others
Fast from apparent darkness
Fast from anger
Fast from complaining
—Father Thomas O’Connell
Last updated: 9-Feb-2008 |
