Newsletter January & February 2018

THE MOSAIC A Monthly Newsletter of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church

January & February 2018 Saint Nick’s Family Night A First at Holy Apostles In December on the Eve of Saint Nicholas Holy Apostles held its first Saint Nick’s Family Night. Nearly all the children of the parish and their families were present.

Vespers was served followed by a reading of the story of Saint Nick for the kids and then a visitation by Saint Nick himself! Saint Nicholas handed out traditional goodies from his bag to all the children (gold coins, candy canes, and oranges) and for a few of the adults he handed out pieces of coal. Afterwards everyone stayed for light refreshments in the parish hall which was filled with laughter and children playing. Everyone, even the adults, loved the event and look forward to it next year with the hopes of opening the event up to neighboring parishes. The more the merrier!

Buy Grocery Cards and Support Your Church 5% of all Grocery Card Sales goes to Holy Apostles and you get 100% of what you purchase to go towards groceries at either Stop & Shop or Shop Rite.

Stop by the candle desk on your way out of church or contact Sandra Stefanik to order by mail: sands105@gmail.com 1

PRACTICING THE FAITH:

This Issue

SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES & SACRAMENTS Baptisms When Orthodox Christians want their infant baptized in the Church they should ideally begin speaking with the priest prior to the birth of the child, not only to plan a date for the baptism but also for the priest to visit the family shortly after the birth for special prayers said over the child and mother. The baptism of infants is usually done after the 40th day and before the 6th month. Baptism may be performed at any time of the year, but are most appropriate for adult converts on Theophany, Pentecost, and Holy Saturday. Throughout the rest of the year baptisms are typically performed on Saturdays, Sunday prior to the Divine Liturgy, or as part of the Liturgy. It is customary for one of the godparents to be an Orthodox Christian and also for the newly baptized to be the first to partake of communion at the following Liturgy. It is also customary for the adult, or the child’s parents to choose a baptism name after one of the saints in the Church. The date when that particular saint is commemorated on the church calendar marks the namesday of the newly baptized and is celebrated by the church community and the godparents. Baptism is principally a communal event. This is why the entire community ought to be present when a new member is joining their ranks. The candidate is not receiving their own baptism as much as sharing in everyone else's baptism. This is itself a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. The theme of death and resurrection is prevalent in the baptism service, which is why Holy Saturday is the pre-eminent day for baptizing.

Other themes which are prominent in the baptism service include the cleansing and washing away of sins, much like you would wash away a stain on your clothes, and the drowning of the devil and evil. In reference to the latter, the flood of Noah is used as a type. As the evil which had spread in the world was drowned in the flood, so too is

Parish News & Events Calendar History of Christmas Fasting & Photos History of Halloween World News Sophia & Practicing the Faith Spotlight on DDB

the devil drowned in the baptismal waters, freeing the newly-illumined to live a holy and righteous life; loving God, loving his neighbor, and no longer being the slave of destructive habits.

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PARISH NEWS

Sophia Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life

In November Father Matthew and Deacon John attended the annual Diocesan Assembly, which was held in Endicott this year. Clergy and lay representatives vote on the diocesan budget, special resolutions, hear departmental reports, worship together, and attend educational courses for both lay leaders and clergy during the two day event. Father Matthew also accompanied Archbishop Michael the UN Prayer Meeting hosted by the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Manhattan which was attended by several ambassadors, bishops in the city, and even the prince and princess of Serbia. This year’s theme for prayer and speeches given was refugees and their plight. In December the parish hosted its first ever Saint Nicks Family Night which was a success and drew nearly all of the families and children of the parish together. And as usual Peter and his little elves baked with zeal and pulled off another successful Christmas bake sale which was held the Sunday before Christmas. Services for Nativity were held and the choir did a beautiful job singing. And a group of parishioners visited long time member of the parish Mary Zizik who is in hospice to sing her carols and to accompany Father Mather as he gave her Christmas communion. The year ended with Liturgy on Sunday followed by the cutting and distribution of the Vasilopita. One lucky parishioners got the piece with the coin in it.

FAILING YOUR WAY TO CHARACTER Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 The biggest danger in the spiritual life is not failure, but wallowing in it. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). So if you have failed do not fret, so has everybody else. And more importantly so have the saints and every great person of virtue. The way of acquiring virtue is filled with failure. What separates those who have found personal transformation and those who are spiritually stagnant is whether they have learned to recover from failure or not. It is knowing how to get back up that matters most in building character. There is a saying in the Church that “the measure of a saint is not how often he avoids sin, but how often he gets back up.”

progress, our recovery is halted.

Elder Thaddeus, a contemporary monastic priest from Greece known for his holiness and wisdom writes this about looking back: “It is important to get up immediately after a fall and to keep on walking toward God. Even if we fall a hundred times a day, it does not matter; we must get up and go on walking toward God without looking back. What has happened has happened – it is in the past. Just keep on going, all the while asking for help from God.”

The acceptance of our failures and mistakes is a sure sign that we have taken hold of humility. Compulsively looking back, paralyzed by the horror of our own misdeeds, Repentance is an important word in the Christian life. In being haunted by thoughts which obsess over our sin is Greek it literally means to change the direction of one’s the fate for those who have not accepted their failure. It mind. So repentance is not feeling bad about your peris a denial and a refusal to admit that we are a sinner. Onsonal failures but turning the direction of your life ly by humbling our selves will we be able to admit and around. Aldous Huxley a 20th century British novelist accept. The humble person has accepted his failure, the and essayist writes poignantly on the danger of what proud just can not believe it. And perhaps this is what might be called ‘false repentance’: “Chronic remorse, as all makes true repentance so powerful in the pursuit of virthe moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you tue: it fosters humility. And humility is like the wild card have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and adin the spiritual life. It gives us an edge in every battle or dress yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no actrial we face. count brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.” Repentance is not about looking Failure is our best teacher. It is inescapably how we learn. backwards but looking ahead. And it is this aspect which No one accomplished anything without their friend failsaves us from wallowing in our mistakes. And it is the ure. My wife who is a teacher recalls a visit to her school mastery of this discipline (not looking back) which makes from a well known children’s author who had strung tothe saint. On this very point Saint Paul encourages us gether all her rejection letters she received prior to pubsaying: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have lishing her first children’s book; it spanned the length of taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and the entire gymnasium. It was to show the kids how much straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13). failure and rejection is necessary till we find success.

The scriptures are full of good examples and bad examples which help us on our journey towards the good and virtuous life. One of these is Lot’s wife and she serves as a warning to those who look back (Genesis 19:26). All of Lot’s family was warned to not look upon Sodom as they fled, but Lot’s wife could not resist the temptation. As a consequence she turned into a pillar of salt. The same happens to us internally when we look back on our failures—we turn into pillars of salt and are paralyzed. Our

UPCOMING EVENTS ❖ Church School to move to after ❖ Parish Council Meeting: Saturcoffee hour starting on January 21st day Feb. 10th at 3 PM, followed by Vespers. ❖ Adult Bible Study to start on ❖ Memorial Saturday with PanJanuary 21st after coffee hour. We will be studying the book of James. ikhida prior to Vespers on Sat. the 10th of February. ❖ Parish Council Meeting: Satur- ❖ Great Lent Starts Monday Febday Jan. 13th at 3 PM, followed by ruary 19th Vespers. ❖ Memorial Saturday with Pan❖ Blessing of the Brook: Sunday ikhida prior to Vepers on Sat. the Jan. the 14th following coffee hour. 3rd of March. ❖ Annual Meeting Scheduled for Sunday March 4th

Failure is not our enemy. Ungodly remorse is. Failure, in fact, is a wonderful teacher. It can show us things about ourselves and the world around us we never knew. With this attitude we can say as Thomas Edison once did, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Let us put our hands to the plow and not look back.

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Orthodox World News

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Metropolitan Tikhon, OCA delegation return from celebrations commemorating St. Tikhon of Moscow His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and the members of the delegation of the Orthodox Church in America who had traveled to Moscow to participate in celebrations marking the 100th Anniversary of the Election and Enthronement of Saint Tikhon as Patriarch of Moscow and the Restoration of the Patriarchate returned to the US on Friday, December 9, 2017. His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow had extended invitations to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches to participate in the celebrations and services marking the historic occasion.

Metropolitan Tikhon and the OCA delegation, which included His Grace, Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa; Archpriest Daniel Andrejuk, Rector of Saint Tikhon of Moscow Church, Anchorage, AK; Melanie Ringa, OCA Treasurer; Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak; and Subdeacon Roman Ostash, arrived in Moscow on Friday, December 1. Metropolitan Tikhon, Bishop Daniel and Father Daniel paid a introductory visit to the US Ambassador, His Excellency Jon M. Huntsman.

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The following afternoon, Metropolitan Tikhon and delegation members attended a session of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. During the session, each of the Primates and representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches in attendance addressed the assembly. On Sunday morning, December 3, Metropolitan Tikhon presided at the Divine Liturgy at the Valaam Monastery Representation Church in Moscow, at which Bishop Daniel and the clergy members of the OCA delegation served. Following the Divine Liturgy, Igumen Joseph [Kryukov], a graduate of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA, hosted Metropolitan Tikhon and the delegation for a festive lunch with members and friends of the monastic community. In the evening, Metropolitan Tikhon attended a dinner honoring the Primates, hosted by Patriarch Kirill.

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The highlight of the visit was the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at Christ the Savior Cathedral on Monday, December 4, at which His Beatitude, Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, presided as senior hierarch. The Primates and their representatives concelebrated. The relics of Saint Tikhon had been brought from the Donskoy Monastery, where they are enshrined, to the cathedral for the Divine Liturgy. Later that evening, Metropolitan Tikhon and the other Primates attended an anniversary concert in the State Kremlin Palace and a dinner hosted by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

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Edited by Sub-Deacon Peter Eagler

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The following morning, December 6, Metropolitan Tikhon and delegation members had the rare opportunity to visit the room in which Saint Tikhon fell asleep in the Lord in 1925. At the time of his repose, the site was a medical clinic, although today it contains offices. They also visited the 14th century Monastery of the Conception of Saint Anna. On Thursday morning, December 7, the Feast of Saint Catherine, Metropolitan Tikhon, Bishop Daniel and the OCA delegation celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint Catherine Church. Established in 1992 with the appointment of Protopresbyter Daniel Hubiak as the OCA’s first Representative to the Moscow Patriarchate, the OCA Representation has been based at Saint Catherine Church since the mid1990s. Also in attendance at the Divine Liturgy were His Excellency, John Kur, Ambassador of Canada and Her Excellency, Ms. Norma Pensado, Mexican Ambassador. Representing the US Embassy was Political Minister Counselor Christopher Robinson.

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Theophany: Its Meaning and Traditions

F EBRUARY 2017

Theophany (or Epiphany) is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ child, and thus Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some Western Christian denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide. Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus, seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The traditional date for the feast is January 6. However, in Catholicism since 1970, the celebration is held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Eastern Churches following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what for most countries is January 19 because of the 13-day difference today between that calendar and the generally used Gregorian calendar. In many Western Christian Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night. Popular customs include Epiphany singing, chalking the door, having one's house blessed, consuming Three Kings Cake, winter swimming, as well as attending church services. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries historically remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of Epiphanytide.

On the Feast of the Epiphany in some parts of central Europe the priest, wearing white vestments, blesses water, frankincense, gold, and chalk. The chalk is used to write the initials of the three magi over the doors of churches and homes. The letters stand for the initials of the Magi (traditionally named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar), and also the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates as "may Christ bless the house". According to ancient custom, the priest announced the date of Easter on the feast of Epiphany. This tradition dated from a time when calendars were not readily available, and the church needed to publicize the date of Easter, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on it.[63] The proclamation may be sung or proclaimed at the ambo by a deacon, cantor, or reader either after the reading of the Gospel or after the postcommunion prayer.

The name of the feast as celebrated in the Orthodox churches may be rendered in English as the Theophany, as closer in form to the Greek Θεοφάνεια ("God shining forth" or "divine manifestation"). Here it is one of the Great Feasts of the liturgical year, being third in rank, behind only Paskha (Easter) and Pentecost in importance. In parts of the Eastern Church, January 6 continued for some time as a composite feast that included the Nativity of Jesus. Today in Eastern Orthodox churches, the emphasis at this feast is on the shining forth and revelation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Second Person of the Trinity at the time of his baptism. The feast is also one of only two occasions when all three Persons of the Trinity manifested themselves simultaneously to humanity (the other occasion was the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor).

Paramony: The Eve of the Feast is called Paramony (Greek: παραμονή, Slavonic: navechérie). Paramony is observed as a strict fast day, on which those faithful who are physically able, refrain from food until the first star is observed in the evening, when a meal with wine and oil may be taken. On this day the Royal Hours are celebrated, thus tying together the feasts of Nativity and Good Friday. The Royal Hours are followed by the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil which combines Vespers with the Divine Liturgy. During the Vespers, fifteen Old Testament lections which foreshadow the Baptism of Christ are read, and special antiphons are chanted.

Blessing of Waters: The Orthodox Churches perform the Great Blessing of Waters on Theophany.[66] The blessing is normally done twice: once on the Eve of the Feast—usually at a Baptismal font inside the church—and then again on the day of the feast, outdoors at a body of water. Following the Divine Liturgy, the clergy and people go in a Crucession (procession with the cross) to the nearest body of water, be it a beach, harbor, quay, river, lake, swimming pool, water depot, etc. (ideally, it should be a body of "living water"). At the end of the ceremony the priest will bless the waters. In the Greek practice, he does this by casting a cross into the water. The person who gets the cross first swims back and returns it to the priest, who then delivers a special blessing to the swimmer and their household. The water that is blessed on this day and is taken home by the faithful, and used with prayer as a blessing. People will not only bless themselves and their homes by sprinkling with holy water, but will also drink it. Theophany is a traditional day for performing Baptisms, and this is reflected in the Divine Liturgy by singing the baptismal hymn, "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia," in place of the Trisagion.

House Blessings: On Theophany the priest will begin making the round of the parishioner's homes to bless them. He will perform a short prayer service in each home, and then go through the entire house, gardens and outside-buildings, blessing them with the newly blessed Theophany Water, while all sing the Troparion and Kontakion of the feast. This is normally done on Theophany, or at least during the Afterfeast, but if the parishioners are numerous, and especially if many live far away from the church, it may take some time to bless each house. Traditionally, these blessings should all be finished before Lent.

Afterfeast: The Feast of Theophany is followed by an eight-day Afterfeast on which the normal fasting laws are suspended. The Saturday and Sunday after Theophany have special readings assigned to them, which relate to the Temptation of Christ and to penance and perseverance in the Christian struggle. There is thus a liturgical continuum between the Feast of Theophany and the beginning of Great Lent.

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New Year Resolutions for Orthodox Christians

whatever. But go on record, and get disciplined about giving. Don’t give until it hurts, but until it actually feels good.

Adapted from the same titled article by Father Andrew Damick

4. Pray at home.

Around this time of year, many people start thinking about ways they can change for the better. While New Year’s resolutions are not particularly a feature of the Orthodox faith, change certainly is, and resolving to change based on times and seasons is certainly part of our liturgical tradition. So adapting the cultural custom of New Year’s resolutions to become a better Orthodox Christian seems perfectly fine to me. Anyway, here are some suggestions for Orthodox Christians resolving to change for the better in the New Year, things every Orthodox Christian can do.

Even if all you do is say the “Our Father” when you wake up (saying it three times a day is the most ancient known prayer rule), you will notice a change in how you think and feel about your faith. It will become more present for you and will define you more. Oh, and, parents? It will have a huge impact on your kids. Watching parents pray at home and (in time) joining them in that prayer is one of the biggest contributions that kids can receive toward their long-term spiritual viability. If you don’t bring the faith home, you can forget about it mattering in the long run, either for you or your kids.

1. Get serious about coming to church (more).

8. Invite someone to church.

While many who read this are no doubt at least every-Sunday attenders at church, it is statistically true that only 26% of Orthodox Christians in America come to church weekly (the statistic is drawn from people who are actually involved in parish life, not from anyone who was ever baptized Orthodox; that statistic would be much worse). That’s really a horrible percentage. If you’re not coming to church weekly, why not? There are probably some good reasons out there, but most of those 74% almost certainly do not have good reasons. If you’re not serious about coming to church weekly, it’s time to get serious. This is eternal life we’re talking about, not a religious club.

Did you know that 82% of the unchurched say that they would come if invited? Did you know that only 2% of church members invite someone to church in a given year? (source) If your parish is dying (and many Orthodox parishes in the US, especially in the Northeast, are indeed dying), don’t you think it’s time you invited someone to church? If your parish is healthy, don’t you think it’s time it gave birth to another healthy one? Do you really believe that you’ve found the true faith, seen the true light and received the heavenly Spirit, like you sing near the end of the Liturgy? Then why are you keeping it to yourself ? Think of at least one person you know who isn’t in church. Make him or her a spiritual priority this year. Pray every day for that person. And when the time is right, give the invitation.

Statistically speaking, they are probably going to say yes. And when you make the invitation, don’t say, “You should come to church with me sometime.” “Sometime” is no time. Say, “We’re celebrating the Divine Liturgy this Sunday at 9am at my church. Can I pick you up and bring you with me?”

And if you’re already coming to church weekly, consider adding at least one service per week. Most parishes are doing Vespers and/or Matins at least once a week (usually Saturday night or Sunday morning). What are you normally doing when those services are going on? Your priest and other parishioners are there praying, including praying for you. Why don’t you join them? You won’t regret it.

9. Visit a monastery.

2. Tithe.

You won’t believe how amazing monastic visits are until you go on one. There are few things that underline for us how much is really possible in the Christian life like visiting people who are actually making a go at being 24/7/365 Christians. And don’t you think that people who practice prayer that much might know a thing or two about it? Monasteries aren’t just for monks and nuns. They’re for all Christians. They are not only spiritual havens but also spiritual powerhouses. And don’t just visit once and say you did it. Develop a relationship. And maybe if you’re really blessed, one of your kids will join a monastery and pray for you a whole lot. I hope one of mine does.

Nothing says you’re serious like giving 10% of your income to something.

Giving 10% to God sounds crazy to a lot of people, but the reality is that it’s actually totally normal for many Christians—even for generations. Orthodox people in the US aren’t used to tithing (10%) or even giving some other percentage, mainly because many of their forebears across the sea gave to their churches just by paying their taxes. That doesn’t work anywhere in the English-speaking Orthodox world. Your taxes do not go to support your church. (I know of one church where a parishioner was shocked to discover that the electric company would turn off the electricity if the church didn’t pay its bill. Who would do that to a church?)

11. Attend an adult education class.

It’s actually kind of crazy how uneducated many Orthodox people are in their own faith. I sometimes hear the excuse that that stuff is just for seminarians and clergy, that it’s too intellectual, too far above the heads of the average parishioner, etc. But the very same people can give you detailed information about what the rules and records in the Super Bowl are, what their least favorite politician has done to wreck the country, and what the latest gossip is on various celebrities, all in remarkable detail. But when it comes to what will last into eternity, we are suddenly the dumbest people on the face of the earth.

And other parishioners inherited a system based on union dues. So many may think that giving $500 a year (less than $10/week) is a lot. But if you have a parish of 100 families and each family only gives $500 a year, then you only have an annual income of $50,000. With that, you cannot support your priest, and you certainly cannot pay for a building and its maintenance. Other people are picking up the slack for you. If they’re not, your priest may be on food stamps or welfare. I know some who are. But if those 100 families each made the median household income for the US (about $52,000), and they all tithed, that same 100-family parish would have $520,000 to work with. If they even gave just 5%, they’d have $260,000.

Don’t sell yourself short. You are probably pretty smart about many things. Why don’t you use that same talent to get smart about your faith? It’s also quite frankly true that most Protestants are far more educated about their Protestant faiths than Orthodox are about their own. Are we really supposed to believe that Protestants are just smarter? They’re not. But they’ve developed a culture of education. A culture of education is not a uniquely Protestant thing. It’s Orthodox, too. It’s been part of our tradition for 2000 years. It’s just that some of us have forgotten it. It’s time to bring it back.

Meanwhile, you are probably spending a lot more just on cable TV. Or Internet access. Or your smartphone. Or eating out. Or coffee. Or a lot of other things. But the most important thing about pledging and tithing is not about meeting parish budgets or supporting your priest like the hardworking, educated man he is. It’s about worship. Your heart is where your treasure is (Matt. 6:21). Where’s your treasure? Follow the money, find the heart. If you’re not up for 10% yet, then try 8%. Or 6%. Or 6

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