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 5:30-7pm
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
Family Meeting fortnightly 11:30am
Hymns Class - English 11:45 - 12:30pm
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
The Departure of St. Mary Magdalene.
4th August - 28th Abib
On this day, St. Mary Magdalene, departed. The Lord Christ cast seven demons out of her, she followed Him, and she served Him during His passion, crucifixion, death, and burial. She came early with the other Mary to the sepulcher, and saw the stone had been rolled back and the angel was sitting on it. When they became frightened the angel told them, «Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not her; for He is risen.» (Matthew 28:1-7( The savior appeared to her and told her, «Go to my brethren, and say to the, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.» (John 20-17(
She came and told the disciples about the resurrection of the Lord, and after the ascension of the Lord, she remained ministering to the disciples. She received the gifts of the Spirit of Comfort, fulfilling the prophesy of Joel the prophet which said, «And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.» (Joel 2:28( This saint preached with the disciples, and brought back many women to the Faith of Christ. The apostles ordained her a deaconess, to teach the women, and to assist in their baptism. She received many insults and humiliation from the Jews, and she departed in peace while she was still ministering unto the disciples.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen. The Martyrdom of St. Ouarshenoufa (Warshenofius(. (. 5th August - 29th Abib
On this day also, St. Ouarshenoufa (Warshenofius( was martyred. He was well learned, righteous, and pious. When they asked him to become a bishop, he fled to the city of Tahmoun (Galgamoun, or Dalgamoun(, and spent the night there with two God loving, Christian brothers. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and told him to go to the governor, and confess Christ before him. When he woke up, he told the two brothers about the vision. They all agreed to go together to go to the governor. They came to the governor, confessed the Name of Christ before him, and he tortured them severely. Then he took them with him to Sanhour where he continued to torture them. Then he took them to the city of Sa, gathered all the confessors and read to them the edict of the emperor to worship the idols. St. Ouarshenoufa jumped and took the emperor›s edict and tore it to pieces. The governor was enraged and ordered him to be thrown in a fiery furnace and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
The Martyrdom of St. Apoli, Son of Justus.
7th August - 1st Mesra
On this day, St. Apoli (Aboli(, son of Justus, son of Emperor Nomarius, was martyred. This Saint was the crown prince of the Roman empire. He was away in war, and when he returned to Antioch, he found Diocletian had already established the pagan worship of idols. Although Apoli was capable of killing him
and taking the empire over from him, he preferred the heavenly everlasting kingdom. St. Apoli came forward, and confessed Christ before Diocletian. In the beginning, Diocletian handled him gently, but when he failed to attract him to the worship of the idols, he banished him along with his father, Justus, and his mother, Theoclia to the city of Alexandria. He wrote to Armanius, its governor, to persuade them to offer sacrifice to the gods, and if they refuse, to separate them from each other. Armanius, knowing their royal positions, sent Justus (the father( to Ansena (Antinoe(, his wife to the city of Sa, and Apoli, their son, to Basta. He also left to each of them one of their servants to minister unto them. When Apoli arrived in the city of Basta, he confessed Christ before its governor who tortured him severely. He beat him, burned him, and dismembered him. When the governor saw that many became Christians because of what they saw from the steadfastness of the Saint to the tortures, and that the Lord was healing him from his wounds, he ordered to cut off his holy head, and thus received the crown of martyrdom. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
The Departure of St. Pa’esa (Athanasia(. (. 8th August - 2nd Mesra
On this day, St. Pa’esa, departed. She was born in Menouf, to pious and rich parents. When her parents died, she turned her house into a shelter for the poor and the sojourner. She accepted everyone that came to her fulfilling their every need until she ran out of money. Evil people gathered around her, and turned her mind to the ungodly way. She turned her home into a house of prostitution. When this news reached the elders of Shiheet, they sorrowed for her with great sorrow. The elders called upon St. John, the Short, and asked him to go to her, as an act of mercy, and to aid her in saving her soul, in turn for the good that she had done for them.
The saint obeyed the elders and asked them to support him with their prayers. When St. John came to where she lived, he asked her maid to announce his presence. When the maid informed her, Pa’esa adorned herself, and called him in. As he was walking, he was saying, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For thou art with me.” (Ps. 23:4( When he sat down, he looked to her and said, “Why did you belittle the Lord Christ, and do this evil deed?” She trembled, and her heart was melting from the words of the Saint who bent his head and started weeping. She asked him, “Why do you weep?” He answered, “Because I see the devils playing on your face, and therefore I weep for you.” She asked him, “Is there any repentance for me?” He replied, “Yes, but not in this place.” She said to him, “Take me wherever you wish.” Then he took her to one of the convents close by the wilderness of Shiheet. On their way it became dark. St. John told her to sleep in one place, while he slept far away from her. When he stood up to pray the midnight prayer, he saw a pillar of light coming down from heaven to earth, and the angels of God were carrying the Soul of Pa’esa. When he approached her, he found that she had departed. Then he knelt down and prayed fervently, with tears, asking God to reveal to him concerning her fate. He heard a voice saying, “Her repentance was accepted in the
moment that she repented.” After the saint had buried her, he returned to the Elders and told them what had happened. They all glorified the Lord who accepts the repentants and forgive their sins.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen. The Relocation of the Body of St. Simon (Simeon( the Stylite to ( the city of Antioch.
9th August - 3rd Mesra
On this day, St. Simeon (Simon( the Stylite, departed. He was from Syria and he had shepherded his father’s flocks since he was young. He regularly attended the church. The Grace of God moved him and he came to one of the monasteries, where he stayed and worshiped God in great asceticism. He exerted himself with much fasting and excessive thirst. Then he tied a rope around his loins until it pierced his flesh, and a repulsive smell came out of him. When the other monks were offended by his smell, he left the monastery and came to a pit where he dwelt for a short time. The abbot of the monastery saw in a vision, as someone was telling him, “Why did you send away My servant Simon? Seek him, and bring him back,” as if the voice was rebuking them for his dismissal from the monastery. The abbot informed the brethren of this vision and they became troubled and they began to look for St. Simeon until they found him in the pit, without food or water. They confessed to him their transgression, asked for his forgiveness, and brought him back to the monastery. When they started to exalt him, he felt that he was unworthy, so he left the monastery secretly, and came to a certain rock, where he lived for sixty days without sleeping. Afterwards, the Angel of the Lord came to him, comforted him, and told him that God had called him for the salvation of many souls. Then he dwelt over a pillar, thirty cubits in height, for fifteen years. He performed many signs and great wonders, and preached to all those who came to him. His father sought him, but did not find him and he died without seeing him. His mother, after a long time, found out about him, so she came to him where he was staying on that pillar. There she wept greatly, then she slept under that pillar. The Saint asked the Lord Christ to have mercy on her. His mother died while she was sleeping, and they buried her under the pillar. Satan became envious of the saint for all his good deeds, and moved against him. He smote him in one of his legs with ulcerations which forced him to use the other leg for many years, until the diseased leg rotted, and worms dropped from it under the pillar. A chief of a band of thieves came to him and slept under his pillar. The Saint prayed to Christ on his behalf, and he stayed for a few days, and died. The Saint asked Christ to supply him with water, and a spring of water sprang up at the foot of the pillar. Then he moved to a taller pillar, where he stayed on top for thirty years. After he completed forty-eight years in worshipping, he departed to the Lord. He preached many people, taught them, and brought many back to the knowledge of Christ. When the patriarch of Antioch heard about his departure from this world, he came to him and took his body to Antioch in great veneration.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Departure of Hezekiah the King
10th August - 4th Mesra
On this day, the righteous King Hezekiah son of Ahaz the King, departed. He was of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah. There was no king appointed over the children of Israel, like this righteous man, after David. The other kings worshipped the idols and built altars for them. After becoming King, Hezekiah destroyed the idols, and demolished their altars, therefore God rewarded him for more than what he had done. In the fourteenth year of his kingdom, Sennacherib, King of Persia, came and besieged Jerusalem. He was a great and very powerful king, and all the other kings in his time were afraid of him. Hezekiah also feared him, and sent him large sums of money, but Sennacherib was not satisfied with them. Instead, he threatened and intimidated Hezekiah, and he reviled, with his unclean tongue, God, the Glorious and Most High, saying, Do not be deceived by your God that you are depending on him saying, ‹Do not deliver Jerusalem to the hands of King of Persia.› Then Hezekiah wept, rent his garments, and he put on hair sackcloth, and went into the House of the Lord and prayed saying, O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men›s hands; wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone. (2 Kings 19:15-19( Then King Hezekiah sent a letter to Isaiah the Prophet to inform him about what Sennacherib had said and asked him to pray for him. Isaiah answered and told him that God would strengthen his heart and God will do to Sennacherib an action, the like of which has never been heard of in all the earth. That night, the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. The rest were conquered and returned to their countries. When Sennacherib went to worship in the house of his gods, his sons slew him with the sword and killed him. (2 Kings 19:35-37( Thus Hezekiah escaped his hands and glorified God. In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, Thus says the LORD: ‹Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.› Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD. Then it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Return and tell Hezekiah ... I will add to your days fifteen years ... Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is the sign that the LORD will heal me ... Then Isaiah said, This is the sign to you from the LORD, ... the shadow of the sun will be brought ten degrees backward ... (2 Kings 20:1-11( All the kings feared him and they brought tribute to him, because they knew that God was with him. King Hezekiah reigned for twenty-nine years and all the days of his life were fifty-four years when he departed in peace. His prayer which he uttered through the Holy Spirit when he was healed of his sickness is written in the book of Isaiah (38:10-20(. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Meditations on the Bible Readings
Forth Sunday of the blessed month of Abib
John 11:1-45
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live”
John 11:25.
In todays world, we lead a very fast paced life style in every thing (we do(, all our surroundings , are very fast. Mankind, eats and walks quickly and what we considered to be fast, some 10 years ago, today is considered very slow, even sleep, some want to achieve quickly and wake up quickly, so they will use sleeping drugs and alertness drugs to keep us awake. Life around (modern( ( man is ever changing, one can not look at one place for a week without noticing some change. Even what is called new inventions after a few days it becomes old news and everywhere. In such a whirlpool of speed, mankind had forgotten himself and no longer has the time for one’s self and applies the same speed rules to his or her relation with God. Therefore, there is no time for meditations and prayers nor self-examination. Mankind is demanding similar speed (in God’s relationships( in quick measures and short sounds and this speed trend one will forget what has passed.
Such a person is excusable to see everyday a new and hear new thing all the time and thus this person is faced with contradictory news all the time. Among all this, one might rush without knowing towards self-destruction and there must be a way for one to stop, recovers one’s breath and see where to one is going. This maybe is one of the reasons which made the Lord slow in replying to Martha’s message “he whom You love is sick” (John 11:3( and despite this slowness in reply has resulted in Lazarus’ death and much grief and sadness to Mary and Martha and even the Lord Himself was saddened for their sorrow, but these four long days had revealed God’s loving heart to us and made us touch His love to us and left our eyes to see His divinity and powers. + Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick Often, among life’s many responsibilities and the speed of the wheel of living, we forget that God loves us and we in the midst of this speeding life forget the meaning of love. This fast life man leads now a days, makes mankind’s thought more materialistic and puts a price to everything and for all things there is a reward, even love itself has price of this world monitory system. In fact, man has forgotten what love is? (man( has
forgotten God’s amazing love to him and because the heart is void of love, man is always aiming to be satisfied with the temporal and physical pleasures. Samson was chosen by God and his birth was announced by an angel and he was a Nazirite of God since his birth. The signs were clear that he had a special place before God and he is to be a judge to the Israelites and will save them from their enemies. He was successful in all his works but the love of the world creeped into his heart and started to seek the pleasures of his physical body and here Samson had forgotten his royal origin and forgotten God’s love for the sake of love of the world and in an astonishing simplicity, he revealed his heart’s secrets to (the enemy( and delivered himself to sin, to be captured by the enemy, shaved his hair and Samson lost his powers and he became a like an oxen grinding wheat in the jail house (Judges 13-16(. What happened ( to Samson? He was preoccupied with the love of the world? And when he remembered God’s love to him, it was too late.
What happened to Saul? Saul the king, the first to be chosen by God to reign over Israel, the tallest among all his people despite he was from the smallest tribe but he was loved by God and was anointed a king and delivered the Israelites from their enemies for many years. Then, one day the envy and jealousy entered his heart, envy from David’s bravery and success and this was followed by pride and disobeyed God’s commandments and did not follow God’s instructions to eliminate the Amalek and thus God’s love in his heart dwindled down and diminished and his state was miserable and even attacked by evil spirits and was not in his right mind (1 Samuel 15-16(. His heart is . barren to the extent that he reverted to mediums to ask for advice and direction. The dwindling of love is state which attacks many, even the saints but to continue in this state of dwindling (love( to reach the state of absolute dryness (of love( and this is the danger that ( love dies completely in the heart and man becomes a machine working without any feelings, love or aims. And you, beloved, what has happened to you? Has the love of the world taken roots in your heart? Has your love to God dwindled down to a great extent and God is now in the second place in your heart (after the world(. Do you complement other on account of God, (. do you attend the church to socialise with the people but not because of your love of God? Do you do well to others as a complement but not to fulfil God’s commandments. You willing to work Saturday and Sunday for a materialistic gain but you are not willing to wake up an hour earlier on Sundays to spend it with God. You are willing to spend hours and hours before the TV and not willing to spend a few minutes with God.
Where is your earlier Love (to God(? Who is “whom (? the Lord loves”? Lord, behold, he whom You love is lost far away from You (Lord(, behold, he whom You love is preoccupied with love of the world, whom You love, Lord, loves the (socialising with( people more than he loves You Lord, behold he whom You love, Lord, is sick with love of the world and its lusts. How troublesome is love of the world when it reigns over one’s heart. Ask yourself, today, is Gods love in your heart? Are you willing to forgo of evil friend who waste your time in worthless (socialising( because of ( God’s love? Are you willing to deprive yourself of the pleasures of arousing films and social parties which are not suitable because of your love of the King Christ? Are you willing to give up unsuitable and (revealing( ( fashionable dresses because of the Lord Christ Who loves you? Are you willing to tread upon your pride a little and forgive those who annoyed or gossiped bout you because of God’s love?
+ I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Among this world fast pace and all its responsibilities, we forget God’s work, we seek and run after the human solutions and forget the Strong Arm of God. We become petrified when we mention sickness, but even some specific illness when mentioned, we are terrified and shiver to the extent that we don’t want even to say its name. Thus, as mankind advances and his knowledge, science and civilization, the more is his horror and fear of the unknown which is not known to him and scared of it. The person who is more reliant on the materialistic (gains(, his or her fear and panic which will push him or her to lie and deceive in order to solve problems.
The Gibeonites were scared of the children of Israel who had conquered all the nations around them and eliminated them so the Gibeonites reverted to trickery and sent ambassadors to the Israelites and pretended to come from a far away country to form a treaty with the Israelites not to eliminate them. And without seeking God’s advice, the Israelites made a treaty to spare them, then they discovered their deception therefore Saul cursed them to be woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation. After the flood and as the number of the people increased on earth once more, and because of the fear of another flood and disbursement all over the land, the people started to think of building a great tower heading towards heavens to take shelter in it, this thinking indicates they were not dependant on God and forgotten God’s covenant not to destroy the earth again and indeed they started in building the tower of Babel but the Lord Babbled their speech and scattered them all over the earth.
Are you a petrified person of the unknown or are you worried of the unseen and unknown and therefore feel insecure in your work for it is (possible( between a day and night that you find ( yourself without work, or are you worried about your health, for today you are healthy but suddenly one can get a malignant disease and finds him or herself at the edge of death. One every day, hears news of accidents on the road or hear of disasters, destruction and devastations.
Beloved, why all this fear? Be assured God is with you, and He truly loves you and He will not abandon you even at the time of tribulations, listen as He assures you even at the time of death itself and says “your brother will rise again” even after four days in the tomb. How comforting it is to feel that one will surpass all tribulations in God’s Hands. The Lord wanted to show His care to one of His children, so He showed a vision him his foot-prints in life, so he saw his foot prints marked on earth a beside it another set of accompanying foot-prints for every step, but he noticed that at certain period, there was only one set of foot-prints, so he wondered and said; Lord these are the times of tribulations and You left me walk alone, then the Lord answered him and said these are My foot-prints and not your foot-prints, at normal times I walked alond side of you but at the times of tribulations I carried you on My shoulders and walked you to overcome the pain and tribulations. Do not be afraid of the unknown nor of any illness and don’t be afraid of anything, just put all things in God’s Hands and He is with you and feels your pains. Do you know all that you have to do? Just lift the stone, lift the stone from your closed heart and let the Lord enter inside (your heart( and He will ( remove all your troubles. + Lazarus, come forth Once, you lifted the stone, the Lord commanded the dead be alive but you must start first, you must have a will and desire in a righteous life, because there are many who love to cry at the tombs aut even there are those who love to dwell in the tombs but God’s children, do lift up the stone even after four days or after a long and argues struggle, therefore let us be assured God is working and He will save us from every tribulation, trail, suffering and ordeal in an amazing strength, the dead will rise. The lord commands that you loosen him and let him go for he is no longer dead and there is no tombs but release in a holy freedom and absolute love with God.
Departed to the Lord in Swiseland Dr Fawzy Tadros Matta brother of Mr Magdy
Tadros Matta. Family recives condoloncs next Sunday 4th August at St Beshoi
5 - 7 pm
Departed to the Lord yesterday night the beloved father Mr Nagy Guindi Tawadros husband of Late beloved mother Mrs Fifi Tawfik, father of : Erini Nagy Ghaly wife of Hany Ghaly in Melbourne, Arsanios Nagy husband of Amira Gerges in Egypt, Arwa Nagy wife of Micheal Atef in Egypt, and Arnest Nagy husband of Lydia George in Egypt. Grandfather of:
Holy Maria, Heaven, Hosanna, Arishia, Armia, Mackenzie, Melina and Angelica. Brother of Dr Nabil Guindi husband of Mrs Samira Guindi and uncle of Dina Guindi and Dalia Gadelas.
May the Lord repose his soul and grant peace and comfort for all family members.
St. Mary’s Church New Building Financial Report
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(