Services at St Mary’s Church
Monday:
Mass 9 - 11 am
Tuesday
Liturgy 5:30 - 7am
7:30pm The Way Orthodox Fellowship in Englisg for adults - All ages
Wednesday: Mass 9 – 11 am
6:30-8pm School of Deacons Adults
Thursday
Mass 9 - 11 am - English
English Midnight Praises 7:30pm
English Bible Study 7:30pm
Friday: Mass Mass 9 – 11 am
Youth 25 and above 7-9pm
Discipleship Clas Class 7-8:30pm
Saturday: Mass: 8:30 – 11am
Sunday School 4 – 5.30pm
Vespers & youth meeting 7-8:30pm
English
Vespers &Bible Study Arabic 5:307pm
Scouts 1:30 - 3pm
School of Deaconsgip 3 - 4pm
Sunday:
1st Mass 6:30 - 8:30 Arabic & English
2nd Mass.8:30 - 10:30 English - St
Mary’s Church
3rd Mass 8:30 - 10:30 Arabic - St
John’s Chrysostom Church
Hymns Class - English 11:4512:30pm
Church Priests:
Fr Tadros Sharobeam 0414251251
Email: frtadros@me.com
Fr Habib Girgis Younan: 0401238177 – 94498871
Email: habibgirgisyounan@hotmail. com
Fr Michael Salib: 0422431821
Email: frmichael@sac.edu.au
Church Address: 5 Epsom Rd., Kensington Vic 3031 Tel: 93766651
Fr Kerillos Tawadros 0411 518 399
Fr John Makary 0433 445 636
Saint Arsany | Arsanious
The Teacher of Kings’ Children
21st May – 13th Bashans
The Beginning St. Arsany was born in Rome, about 350 A. D. His parents were Christian & very rich.. They taught him the different subjects concerning Church matters. He was later nominated as a Deacon. He was familiar with Latin, Greek knowledge, & Christian virtues in general.
The Teacher of the Kings’ Sons
One day, king “Theodosios the Great” asked for a virtuous wise man to teach his two children “Anorious” & “Arcadious”, and he found nobody like St. Arsany, who was full of wisdom & virtues. He did a good job in teaching them Christian and knowledge in general..
The way to Egypt.. to Holiness
St. Arsany used to pray in tears always for God in order to teach him His righteous way.. His way of salvation. Then, one day he heard a voice clearly saying: “Arsany.. Arsany.. Run away from people, and you’ll be saved.”
He was about Forty of age at that time when he -secretly- left Rome with all its glory, left his great positions there, his name, belongings, in short, ALL his past life, and came to Alexandria, Egypt. Then to “Sheheat Wilderness”.
The Beginning of His Monastic Life
From the beginning, St. Arsany showed great eagerness for learning. * Once while he was asking an old monk about something, another monk came and asked him: “How come do you; Father Arsany, who knows much about the great Greek & Roman knowledge, ask this illiterate monk about your thoughts?!”.
St. Arsany told him with true modesty: “You’re right about my great knowledge of Greek & Roman literature.. But the “Alpha Vita” that this Egyptian knows very well, I have not learned yet..!”. )He meant the way to virtues(.
Learning
It is said that St. Arsany was very intelligent and nimble, he did not need a direct guidance, but he learned from every single event that happened.
* It was not the monks’ habit to select the good beans from the ones ruined by mite.. Once upon a time, St. Arsany was eating beans with other monks, and he was selecting the good beans to eat. When the head of the monastery noticed that, he did not like it.. so he wanted to teach St. Arsany a lesson.
He picked one of the monks and excused him saying: “Please endure what I am going to do to you.. Go and sit beside Arsany, and choose the good beans from the bad”. The monk obeyed directly, and did what he has been told. Then the head of the monastery came to him and slapped him on his face saying: “How come do you choose the good beans for yourself and leave the bad for your brothers?!!”.
Then St. Arsany bowed to him & to the monk saying: “This slap was not meant for you, but it was addressed to Arsany’s cheek!”. Then added: “Here he is: Arsany, the teacher to the kings’ sons, don’t know how to eat beans with the Egyptian monks”!!
Some Other Stories About St. Arsany
* A messenger came to him from Rome with a will from one of his deceased relatives, giving him all his possessions.. Then St. Arsany asked the messenger:
- “When did this man died?”
- “A year ago.”
- “But I died 11 years ago!! And the dead doesn’t inherit the dead!!”.
* He used to repel Satan’s wars by praying a lot.. So, one day the devils came to him in the shape of angels, blessing him for his holiness and determination )in order to make him commit the sin of pride(. But he cried for God: “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to
help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil..
“Oh Lord.. Don’t let me down.. for I did not do you any good at all.. But give me the strength now to do your own will, and to start doing what is right.”
Just then all the devils evaporated in the air.. And St. Arsany always used to ask God to show him the right way, then he heard the same old voice again: “Arsany.. Keep your serenity, and go away from people, then you’ll be saved”.
# He used always to remind himself saying: “Arsany.. Arsany.. Remember what you are out for”. In order not to lose the way, and never deviate from the hard way..
# His routine was:
+ when the sun rose, he started to pray
+ then worked in braiding palm leaves till 6:00
+ then he engaged himself in reading till 9:00
+ then again to prayer
* In Sundays & in the Feasts, he used to stand in the desert, giving his back to the sun, and started praying with his hands up till the sun rose over on his face!!!
* A noble women once came to him from Rome after hearing about his holiness, and before she was leaving after talking with him for a while, she asked him to remember her in his prayers.. But St. Arsany said to her: “I hope God erases your memory from my mind!”.
She was very angry and sad because of these words, so she went to Pope Theofelos telling him about that. The Pope explained to her that what St. Arsany’s words meant, was his fear that the devil could use her against him.
* He was very cautious of talking, and when he was asked about it, he answered:
“Often have I spoken and regretted, but for silence I never did”.
* St. Arsany was very humble, and lived over what he was getting from selling his own hand work )braiding palm leaves(, and gave the rest of the money to the poor.
He used to cry a lot )to repent his sins...(, and in the church he used to stand behind a certain pillar crying, till that column had a small gully from his tears!
And his eyelashes started to fall from crying too much!! )P. S.: this pillar still stands here in Egypt; at El-Baramous Monastery(.
* It was said that when he used to stay at the royal palace in Rome, nobody wore more precious clothes than him.. Whereas after getting to the way of monasticism, no one wore less than he did!
* When braiding palm leaves, one had to wet them in order to be soft enough. The water must be changed regularily, but St. Arsany used to change this water only once a year! And whenever it was less, he just added water over that rotten water. )as a kind of austerity!(.
When St. Macarious the Alexandrian came to him once, he asked him about that, St. Arsany answered: “Truly I say unto you, that I can’t stand this smell too, but I over burden myself with this bad smell instead of the pure smells that I got pleasure of using them in the world!”.
* He told his disciples a vision, which was seen by another monk : “One day while an old monk was sitting in his room, he heard a voice telling him: “Go out, and I’ll show you the peoples’ deeds”.
“When he went out he saw a black man cutting firewood, and when he started to lift it up he couldn’t. And instead of lessening the weight, he added on it!! So he couldn’t hold it again, and so on..!
“Then he walked a little while and saw another man beside a well, taking water out of it and pouring it on a punctured pot, so the pot was never filled!!
“Again he saw two horsemen holding a column together, and every one of them was holding it from his side, but when they came to the door,
no one of them humbled himself to go behind or after his friend in order to enter the column vertically, so they stayed out!!!”
Then St. Arsany started to explain this vision:
+ The firewood holder is like a man full of sins, and instead of repenting, he does more and more sins!
+ The man who was trying to fill the pot, is like a man who is used to giving donations, but that money is taken from people by force, so his reward is wasted!!
+ And the people who were holding the column, are the ones who are holding our Lord Jesus Christ’s yoke, with no humbleness or modesty, so they stay out of the Kingdom of the Lord!!!
* Once two strangers came to “Cheheat wilderness” to see St. Arsany, they knocked, and St. Arsany opened the door for them, but he kept silent all the time.. till they were sad, and went away..
On their way back, they went to the place where St. Moses The Black lived )who used to be a thief(. They knocked, and he met them very well, talked to them, and fed them too…
When they left him, one asked the other about the saint he preferred. The stranger told him that the Egyptian satisfied him better.
Another monk heard that, he was very confused, and prayed a lot for God to tell him the right thing saying: “Please Lord.. Uncover this matter to me.. Some people run away from people for the sake of Your Name; and others accept and meet them, for the sake of Your Name too?!!!”
Then he saw a vision showing two ships, and on board of one was St. Arsany sailing in serenity accompanied by the spirit of the Lord.. And on board of the other ship St. Mosses, accompanied by God’s Angels, and they were feeding him honey.
His Last Days
When St. Arsany became older, about 97 years old, there came the time of the Holy Fast, so he went to his special room to stay there these 40 days, eating a little every three days..
While he was praying and meditating, the devils were very angry because of that, and they wanted to enter his room, but they couldn’t because he was praying, so they started to make a bad noise outside to disturb him, but he scolded them saying: “Why do you make this noise you enemies of truth?! If you have the power, then come.. enter.., or else fade away.. I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, who destroyed all your powers”. And when he said that, the devils ran away with disgrace.
After that, he was visited by the Divine Care, then he started to study the Bible more, praying a lot, and crying.. And in Lazarus Saturday, he was visited by his disciples, and he opened to them, and talked to them..
When he knew that his departure was soon to come, he went out to visit his disciples as usual, and he told them: “Dear sons.. Let it be known unto you that my time had come. And I advise you not to care for anything but your own salvation”. His tears were flowing.. So everybody cried a lot, and bid him farewell..
After seven days, while his disciples were beside him, he started to cry telling them that his hour had come.. But they were very surprised of his terrified shape, so they asked him: “Even you Father fear death?!!” He answered: “The truth I say to you: the fear of this hour is with me since I’ve came to the monasticism”.
Then he crossed over his body, and peace returned to his face, and died. After that a great light column appeared over the place, and his face shone.. Everybody then knew about his death, and many people came )monks and laymen( to take the blessing from his body, and a lot of sick people recovered.
He died on the 13th of Bachance, )May, 21st 445 A. D.( The Departure of St. Pachomius )Pakhom(, the Father of the Spiritual Com- Pakhom(, Com munal Monastic life )Cenobitic life(. 22nd May - 14 Bashans
On this day, of the year 64 A.M. )348 A.D.(, Abba Pachomius, the father of the spiritual communal life )Cenobitic life(, departed. He was born in Thebes
)Luxor( from pagan parents, who forced him to worship idols. He rejected and mocked this worship, then became a monk with St. Balamon )Palaemon( He lived in submission to him for many years, and he mastered well the ways of the monastic life. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to establish a communal and holy monastic life. Many monks gathered together to him, and he built for them many monasteries and established for them a system of manual labor, the times of prayers, and eating. He was the father of them all, with an Abbot in every monastery. He visited all the monasteries, from Aswan to Edfu to Donasa to the end of Upper Egypt to the north. He did not permit any one of his sons to become a priest for the sake of the vainglory of this world, and not to overlook the purpose of their monastic life of worship by being away from the world. He invited a priest from outside for each monastery to officiate the Divine Liturgy. When Pope Athanasius wanted to ordain him a priest, he fled from him. St. Athanasius asked his disciples to tell him that he who built his house on the rock that can not be shaken, and fled from the vainglory of the world, is blessed, and his disciples are also blessed. He desired once to see Hades, and he saw in a night vision the habitation of the sinners and places of torment. He remained the father of the Cenobites for forty years. When the time of his departure drew near, he called the monks, strengthened their faith, and appointed someone to take over his place after him, then departed in peace. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
The Commemoration of St. John The Evangelist. 24th May - 16th Bashans
On this day the church commemorates St. John the Evangelist and his preaching in Asia Minor, the city of Ephesus, and the cities that are around it. Commemorates, the afflictions that he suffered and what befell him from the evil men who worshipped idols until he brought them to the knowledge of God and delivered them from the error of Satan by his teachings. The miracles that God performed through him. The writing of his Gospel, uttering in it with the eternity of the Son and His incarnation. His ascension to heaven in the Spirit, he saw the heavenly ranks and heard their praising and wrote about it in the book of Revelation.
This was during the reign of Emperor Domitianus )Domitian(, when he exiled St. John, after he placed him in a cauldron filled with boiling oil, and was not harmed, to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.
After Domitian had been killed in the year 96 A.D., St. John returned to Ephesus. He found some heretics of the Nicolaitans )Rev. 2:6( who taught that Christ’s birth was a natural birth from both Joseph and Mary. For this reason, he wrote his Gospel to refute their heresy. St. John had ardent zeal for the salvation of sinners. Once he saved a youth, delivered him to the bishop, and told him: “I entrust you with the safe keeping of this soul,” but the youth, because of his bad conduct and the evil company that he kept, spoiled his morals and he became the head of a band of robbers. When St. John returned, he asked the bishop about the young man, who expressed his sorrow to St. John for the condition that became of this young man and told him what had happened. St. John rode a horse, took with him a guide, and travelled to his place. When he arrived to that place, he was caught by the thieves and they took him to their leader. When the leader saw St. John, he knew him, and was ashamed and tried to flee. St. John told him: “My son, be merciful to yourself, because the door of hope is still open for your salvation, and I will be your intercessor before the Lord Christ.” Then, the young man wept, returned repenting, and St. John administered to him the Holy Communion to strengthen him. The biography of St. John is written under the 4th day of Tubah. This feast is a commemoration for his evangelism, and also because on this day a church was consecrated after his name in the city of Alexandria. May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
Meditations on the bible readings of 2nd Sunday of the Holy Pentecost
John 6 :35 – 45
“all He has given Me I should lose nothing” John 6:39 It might be that humans are suffering from a disease best described as wasting or wasteful loss; and mankind generally wastes too many things … food for example, is one of the best paradigms for this … )for example( to make one loaf of bread to put on your table which half might be eaten and the other half is thrown away … maybe enough wheat to produce 3 loaves is used … and through the manufacturing steps, packaging and distribution; only one loaf will be delivered and the other two are rejected and thrown in the refuse and rubbish … energy is another example of the wasting human race … for in only fifty years man has used of the stored energy what the earth took to store it thousands of years, and what is disturbing is that more than two thirds of the energy produced is consumed as exhaust, heat )in the surrounding atmosphere( and noise polluting the air. The water ways and the earth … a third example … is raw materials … like wood for example … the forest which is formed in thousands of years man will chop it’s woods in one month and with the use of modern tools, the forest is )quickly( transformed into an arid land not fit for any use … and where do all these woods go??? More than half will be thrown and refuse, and left-overs with no use …
Mankind free admits his inability to produce a machine or a motor which has a hundred percent efficiency that is the useful energy produced is equal to the amount of energy spent as fuel and furthermore modern science had proven this fact according to all the modern theories of science.
Beloved … do you know that a city like Melbourne throws away in rubbish bins, every day enough food which can sustain another city like Melbourne in population in another place in the world for a whole week??? Then, isn’t this a wasteful human … and the more civilized and advanced the city, the more is the wastage …
This is about humans??? But the loving God, Who cares for all … there are no wastage with Him nor depletion, even modern science attest that matter and energy does not vanish … since the natural law of God’s creations on earth has no wastage or depletion … and thus all things in man’s hand is subject to wastage and depletion … but in God’s hand there are no wastage or lost ones …
Beloved … you are in God’s hand and you will not be lost … and what you commit to God’s hand will never be depleted …
+ He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst …
“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken … Nor his descendants begging bread” )Psalm 37:25( … have you experienced this in your life ??? do you live with these principals?? Do you truly feel even if you walked through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil ) Psalm 23: 4( … one of the very impressive stories about God’s amazing care of His children … is the story of Tobit which is listed in the book of Tobit )one of the Deuterocanonical Scripture books, which has been deleted by the protestant churches( … Tobit the son of Tobias … the righteous man who performed many acts of charity and cared for the orphans and widows )Tobit 1:3( … he remembered the feasts of the saints … but there was a time when it seemed to the outsiders that all the good deeds he did was of no benefit to him … he became blind and poor with no possessions … all his friends and loved ones had forsaken him … and in another nearby city there lived a righteous man called Raguel … he loved God and feared Him and did abundantly charitable acts … he had an only daughter called Sarah )Tobit 3:7( … but Satan was fixated on her and killed every man she married … again, it appeared that God had forsaken him and left him … but, this is not true??? Indeed never … the rest of the story reveals God’s amazing care which has no wastage of lost )refer to the book of Tobit( … truly, man in God’s hand will never be lost or wasted … A story – we heard – about a Christian young man and during the 1973 war he was enlisted to fight on the front line and he was carrying his bible in his pocket … he was a deacon in the church … his mother was praying for him … and the church was raising prayers for him … his heart is filled with God’s care and faith … this young man was injured with a stray bullet directly aimed at the heart … but, God’s care was the bullet went through the bible )in his pocked( and rested in the book … do you know beloved, where the bullet stopped … exactly at page which had the verse “who will harm you if you become followers of what is good” )1 Peter 3:13( … this is a true story and this person is still alive … and the bible with the bullet is still present … Beloved, what do you say of those who had sacrificed their physical comforts and all pleasures of the physical body because of their love of the Lord Jesus??? What do you say of those
who vowed their purity and celibacy )to Christ( … and those who had sacrificed; the riches of the world, it’s status, gains, appearances and desired )for the sake of Christ(??? Perhaps in some people’s view they are people who deprive themselves for no reason or gains … and what do you say of those who offered their bodies to fires, furious animals or the to the sword of the executioners because of their faith and keeping their purity … are they just a group of fools as they said of them in antiquities … the holy bible says of them; “whom the world was not worthy” )Hebrew 11:38( … they gained what the world missed … for they gained the heavenly glory … and gained the crowns )of martyrdom( … they had faith that whoever eats the earthly manna will die … but whoever eats the heavenly Manna, will have eternal life )and never dies( … they sacrificed the world because of their love of the heavenly.
And you beloved … where is your life??? Is it in hands of the wasteful world? Who wastes everything … or is it in the hands of God, whoever comes to Him; shall never hunger, and he who believes in Him shall never thirst … are you still adhering your future and end to what this world offer to you, even if it is not right??? Is your bank account being dependant on your experiences at work?? Then you are excused when you become lost, desolate and depressed when you lose one of these things … but, if your life is in God’s hand then you will feel an amazing comfort, rest and peace of the heart at all that happens around you … for, in God’s hands there is nothing lost … + all He has given Me I should lose nothing +++ Why are all these wastes??? This is Judas )Iscariot’s( cry … and it is the cry of the people of the world when they find you pouring )the rare( perfume on the Lord Jesus’s feet … truly … in their view it is a waste … for the world still says to the widow who offered a cake to Elijah )1 K ings 17:8-16( “why such waste”??? And Still would say to the widow given the two mites )a f raction of a pence( … all she owns )Luke21: 1-4(, why all that waste??? Maybe they will say to saint Arsenius while he is leaving the king’s palace to wilderness … why do you throw away your future Arsenius??? Indeed, many must have heard this question??? … truly this world is poor … for )the world( still accounts for the relationship with God with numbers and rules of economics … inflation … cost of living … unemployment … therefore, in the world view giving the tithe to God is a waste … not knowing the blessings of the tithe … “I will open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you” Malachi 3:10 …
But there are some who will withhold from his or her
children, the Christian name which can be a source of blessing in their lives for them with the excuse it is a hard name and no-one understands what it means …
One day some time ago … a widow sent a telegram to her son who was in a war zone … the telegram said “He who keeps Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep will protect you )Psalm 121( … and the telegram came to the attention of the unit commander … at this time for this word )Israel( a lot of sensitivity … and the son is sent to the military prison … for interrogation … and they sent for the mother to interrogate her as well … and the mother who is a simple villager answers with all simplicity; God bless you my son, this is a verse from )the bible( God protects His people and children and the interrogating officers were satisfied with the spiritual meaning of this verse after referring to priests of the church … mean while this interrogations is taking place away from the battle field, a bomb is targeted the camp where the entire unit was stationed and all are killed except this young man who was away from the battle field in prison … and the son is released and returns to his village and his mother who prayed to God to protect him … indeed “all He has given Me I should lose nothing” …
Beloved … all you put in God’s hand will not be lost … a word of love or a good deed … even to those who in your point of view or the view of others are undeserving, such will never be lost or wasted … your money in God’s hand will gain a lot … and will never be lost as it is an investment in heavens and not on the earthly world …
Your children and family in God’s hand will never be lost …and maybe in the world point of view they will be deprived of some pleasures )of the world( … such as being deprived from parties of mad dancing and alcohols … or from impure films … or friends of ) bad company( for fun and vain pleasures … or maybe they will be deprived of gaining money from un-orthodox means of the world … all these are waste in the world’s point of view … but in God’s hand it is a gain … the gain of the everlasting life … + that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life +++
This is the good part )which will not be taken away from us( )Luke 10:41-42( … and we desire nothing else … and we have no desire but Him … and for Him … and we count all things are loss and count them as rubbish ) Philippians 3:8( … and we trust in God’s promises to us as all is true …
That we may “have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” +++++
Blessed Baptism
Baby Anna daughter of Adel and Abber Soliman
Sunday 12th May 2024
St Mary’s Church
Blessed Marriage
Michael Moawad & Mariane Younan
Sunday 12th May 2024
St. Mary’s Church
New Church, New Building and Car Park are ready We started to use the New Building and church last on Lazarus Saturday 27th April 2024. church services are continuing as normal as in the Timetable inside the Bulletin. You can donate monthly contribution using Direct Debit forms available in the church or downloaded from church website. We thank Our Lord for this great Gift Cost of building works is around $13,000,000. Your support and donations will be blessing and very appreciated.
Donations to St Mary’s Church and Building project can be made by the following Link
https://www.stmc.org.au/donate )Copy & Paste on Web Browser(