THE MOSAIC
This Issue
A Monthly Newsletter of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church
PAGE 2 News & Events PAGE 3 Calendar & Spotlight PAGE 4 Practicing the Faith & World News PAGE 5 Liturgics 101 & Sophia
“I’m glad she’s being quiet right now,” said Opalka, holding Neo in a carrying cage. “I think she’s a bit nervous around all these dogs.”
While most of the canines barked and tussled on their leashes, Odin and Murphy stood at attention throughout the half-hour ceremony occasionally looking curiously at their more animated companions.
October 2016
The two German Shepherds are part of the Bergen County Sheriff ’s K-9 unit where they’re assigned to sniff out both narcotics and suspects. Neither barked or barely moved during the entire ceremony.
Pet Blessing at Holy Apostles gets Coverage by Local Newspaper SADDLE BROOK — Like a toddler in church, Beau was fidgeting throughout the entire ceremony. The 6month-old beagle kept yapping as Rev. Matthew Brown lead a prayer service Saturday morning before blessing about a dozen dogs and one African Grey Parrot in a little picnic area outside Holy Apostles Orthodox Church.
On the other side of the decibel meter was Beau who was adopted when he was 12 weeks old by Mary Jo Simeone, of Cliffside Park. Beau was sent to a New Jersey rescue group from a shelter in Tennessee that euthanizes dogs if they’re not adopted within a certain period of time.
“It’s usually this noisy in church too, except it’s people talking in the back,” said Brown, drawing laughter from congregants and their friends after he sprinkled holy water on the assembled pets. It was church’s second annual pet blessing in what has become a popular ceremony among several Christian denominations in the region.
“Angels were made for God’s purposes, dogs were made for ours,” she said after the ceremony.
Brown said Saturday’s service had special meaning with the Eastern Orthodox church celebrating its new year on Sept. 1. It allows congregants to reflect on “their responsibility to the Earth,” he said. “The main connection we have with animals and nature is our pets,” he said. Christine Opalka brought Neo, her African Grey Parrot whose favorite PG-rated sayings are “Hey baby” and ...
… “Good morning.” She also knows a lot of less polite words since they get the most reaction from people.
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Beau still gets a bit nervous when he’s around a bunch of other dogs. Simeone plans to take him to her church in Fairview where in October for another blessing. “Beau needs all the help he can get,” she said laughing.
PARISH NEWS
Congrats to Joe Stark Winner of the $2,500 Grand Prize 50/50 Raffle
September was a busy month. It started off with our second annual pet blessing. This year there were over a dozen dogs two of which were from the County K-9 unity. The parish held its annual Labor Day Picnic at Father Matthew’s home. Parishioners and friends grilled out and enjoyed the fine weather. Church School has begun. It meets prior to the Divine Liturgy every Sunday and is open to children ages 4 to 12. On the second Sunday of the month there was a special blessing held at the end of the Liturgy for all the school age children as they return to their studies both in school and in church school. September also saw the welcoming of Julian Kery the new temporary choir director at Holy Apostles. The parish also celebrated the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady and the Elevation of the Cross. Parishioners from Holy Assumption in Clifton joined Holy Apostles for the Feast of the Nativity. Vespers has been temporarily moved to 6 PM during the Fall. The Parish Council met for their monthly meeting, parishioners volunteered at the monthly work night at church, and the drawing for the 50/50 raffle was held at Sunday the 18th.
Thanks to everyone who participated and helped raise funds for the parish
UPCOMING EVENTS College Student Sunday will be Sunday the 9th. A special collec tion will be taken to support OCF and special prayers offered during the Liturgy. October has been designated as Stewardship Month. Father Matthew will be giving a special homily series on the topic. Parish Council meets on Wednesday the 19th at 6 PM. Bible Study begins on Monday at 7 PM on the 10th. It will be a six week series on the read ings for Christmas & Theophany. Cleaning Night on Wednesday the 12th at 6 PM 2
THE SPOTLIGHT
O CTOBER 2016
IOCC: INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES
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In response to a need expressed by the Orthodox Christian in North America, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) was established in March 1992 and serves as the official international humanitarian organization of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. IOCC offers emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide, without discrimination to enable them to continue to improve their own lives and communities and to have means to live with dignity and hope. From its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, the IOCC staff supervises overseas operations, tracks grants, ensures reporting to donors, and guides programs to foster greater awareness and support for IOCC. An example of one of these programs is IOCC’s response to the crises in Syria. The quality of a school education is rapidly deteriorating for millions of Syrian children displaced by the civil war that is ravaging their country. IOCC is helping to bridge the learning gap for Syria's school children across the region. Working in Syria with a church partner, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, IOCC is offering remedial primary and secondary level classes to children displaced from their former neighborhood schools. In Jordan, IOCC is providing Syrian refugee children with uniforms
required to enroll in Jordanian schools. For Syrian children now living in Lebanon, IOCC is rehabilitating and repairing schools to accommodate the influx of refugee children in Beirut and Bekaa Valley.
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College Student Sunday Church School 9:15 AM Divine Liturgy 10 AM Bible Study Coffee Hour To Follow 7 PM 16
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Church School 9:15 AM Divine Liturgy 10 AM Coffee Hour To Follow NO BIBLE STUDY 3
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Konevets Quartet Concert 7 PM
Church School 9:15 AM Divine Liturgy 10 AM Coffee Hour To Follow
Another humanitarian effort of IOCC is the medical aid given to Zimbabwe. IOCC has delivered over $13 million in medicines and medical equipment to the people of Zimbabwe. IOCC works in partnership with local hospitals including the St. Nectarios Clinic, which is supported by the Orthodox Church and the Luisa Guidotti Hospital in Mutoko, Zimbabwe. The shipments have included critical medicines, hospital and surgical supplies, wheelchairs and other ambulatory equipment. IOCC is always looking for donors and volunteers. There are many ways to donate, including legacy giving, gift matching, vehicle donation, and memorial gifts. Volunteer opportunities include becoming a parish representative for IOCC, joining IOCC planning committees, and participating is charitable races. There are even job opportunities and internships available. The best way to find out more is to visit IOCC’s website, www.iocc.org.
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Orthodox World News
PRACTICING THE FAITH:
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES & SACRAMENTS
Edited by Sub-Deacon Peter Eagler
Almsgiving is an ancient and central Christian practice. It is not something only the rich do. It is something required of every Christian. If we desire to be made worthy of the name Christian then we need to love our neighbor, even the stranger, by giving of our material wealth. Even a cursory glance at the Gospels will show how important the poor are to Christ. There are numerous commands to give and several parables that warn us of the dangers of hoarding our wealth and wasting it on our own selfish desires rather than sharing with another human who is in need. Take the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. The Rich Man ignored the opportunity to love a poor man like Lazarus whom God had put into his life. As a result he inherited the poverty of his own soul, which was bereft of virtue. Are we acquiring spiritual riches and virtues to adorn our souls—riches we can carry with us beyond the grave? Or are we living impoverished lives, by failing to love those around us in tangible ways?
Relics of St. Nicholas of Japan placed in St. Tikhon’s Monastery, St. Sergius Chapel With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, Archimandrite Sergius, Abbot ofSaint Tikhon’s Monastery, South Canaan, PA and Hierodeacon Maximus visited the Orthodox Church in Japan in July 2016. During their visit, Archimandrite Sergius was given relics of Saint Nicholas of Japan, which have been placed in the Monastery Church of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk and Saint Sergius of Radonezh Chapel at the Orthodox Church in America Chancery, Syosset, NY.
Compassion is a repeated word in the Gospels and whenever the word is used in relation to Jesus. We often read “and he was moved to compassion.” Such statements about Christ are always followed by some action by Him. Likewise, we are taught as Christians that we are not only to feel bad about our neighbor’s plight, but are to take action. We need to get involved, share in her or his hardship, and use our own wealth for the benefit of another.
“Saint Nicholas was a great Apostle to Japan and tireless laborer working for the people of Japan and for the Lord,” said Archimandrite Sergius. The first Orthodox missionary to and Bishop of Japan, Saint Nicholas spent several years mastering the Japanese language, after which he translated the Old and New Testaments and numerous liturgical and related works. By the time of his repose in 1912, he had brought some 33,000 individuals into the Orthodox Faith, had trained and ordained a number of indigenous Japanese clergy, and had established parishes across the country. He also built Tokyo’s impressive stone Holy Resurrection Cathedral, popularly known as “Nikolai-Do,” or “Nicholas’ House,” which remains one of the city’s most prominent architectural sites.
But giving our money away is not only about the needs of others, or the bills the church has to pay. We need to give away our money for our own sake. Almsgiving is a spiritual discipline in detachment. It is a discipline because it is hard and requires consistent long-term practice to yield results. The results it produces is freedom. By giving our money away we become free from the anxiety that comes with being attached to it and the false security it produces. Our souls become lighter and our disposition is one of generosity. We even become happier as we look to eternal unchanging things to bring us hope and fulfillment rather than the instability of money.
In a letter to His Eminence, Metropolitan Daniel of Toyko and All Japan, dated September 12, 2016, Metropolitan Tikhon his gratitude and that of the OCA for the relics. “I would like to thank you for the gift of the relics of Saint Nicholas of Japan,” Metropolitan Tikhon wrote. “Having the relics of Saint Nicholas will not only be a joy, comfort and strength to our people who will venerate them, but the presence of these holy relics of Saint Nicholas will serve as a bridge and a reminder of the brotherhood that exists between the Orthodox Church in America and the Orthodox Church in Japan.” Metropolitan Tikhon also expressed his “gratitude for the care, love and hospitality shown to our Archimandrite Sergius of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery. As always, it is a blessing from our Lord when the clergy and monastics of our local churches have the opportunity to worship and meet together. I pray such meetings are as much an inspiration to Your Beatitude and the faithful under your care as they are to us. “I look forward to a time when we might greet each other in person either here in the United States, or God-willing within Your Beatitude’s God protected territory of Japan,” Metropolitan Tikhon concluded.
The Church gives us many opportunities to practice almsgiving. We give when we are in Church to support its ministries. We give whenever we are the recipient of a sacrament or service of the church to show our gratitude to God. We pledge to support our local church. We leave a portion of our estate to the Church when we die. We give to our fellow parishioners who are in need. We give to charities like IOCC to help those we don’t even know. We give to our neighbor who is fallen on hard times. If we take advantage of these opportunities and take seriously the discipline of almsgiving we will find ourselves generous, happy, and free.
During their visit to Nikolai-Do, Archimandrite Sergius and Hierodeacon Maximus served the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Daniel, who presented the relics. They also prayed at the grave of Saint Nicholas in Tokyo’s Yanaka Cemetery and visited other sites associated with Saint Nicholas’ legacy.
BUY GROCERY CARDS AND SUPPORT
In related news, Archimandrite Sergius represented the OCA at a monastic conference in Moscow during the week of September 19, 2016. Hosted by His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the conference was attended by monastics from across Russia, the USA, Syria, Romania, Bulgaria and other countries. According to Archimandrite Sergius, the purpose of the conference was to bring “abbots and abbesses together for instruction and mutual edification—a convocation for learning and prayer.”
YOUR CHURCH
Holy Apostles earns 5% of every dollar you buy in grocery cards. The cards work like any gift card. Cards for Stop & Shop and Shop Rite are available. Purchase cards at the candle desk. 4
While in Moscow, Archimandrite Sergius celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the OCA’s Representation Church of the Great Martyr Catherine.
Sophia
Liturgics 101 By Sub-deacon Ben Kalemba
Practical Wisdom for Everyday Life
Vespers – Part 8 If the Vespers being celebrated is for a Holy Day or saint’s day, after the singing of the Angel of Peace Litany, the Peace, and the bowing of the heads, an additional group of hymns and prayers, known as the Litya, takes place. During the singing of the Litya stichera, the priest, deacon, and altar servers with the censer and candles, proceed either to the narthex (the vestibule) or to the back of the church. In some places, the clergy and people will process around the outside of the church.
Generosity and the Happy Life
Two possible explanations have been suggested for the origins of this procession. (1) The fourth century pilgrim Egeria states that after Vespers at the Tomb of Christ a procession would go to the site of Golgatha where further prayers were said after which the congregation were dismissed. (2) At the monastery of Mar Sabbas in the Judaean wilderness at the end of Vespers the monks would go to the tomb of St. Sabbas where the litya prayers would be said. In fact, the latter tradition may have been a monastic adaptation of the Jerusalem practice and since the liturgical traditions of the monastic community of Mar Sabbas became of central importance in the development of the Byzantine liturgical traditions, especially after the thirteenth century, the litya would have spread to the rest of the Byzantine world from there.
The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much.” - Saint John Chrysostom The generous man is the happy man because he is free. Freedom, freedom of the spirit, is a treasure few possess. It is this treasure of which Saint John speaks in the above quote. Stinginess or reluctance to give is a result of fear. We are afraid to part with money, or perhaps it is our time. We fear what might happen if we lose those things. But the man who trusts in God’s love and believes in this love has nothing to fear. He is secure in his spiritual riches. Christian character, things like self-control, perseverance, honesty, respect, and compassion are gifts from God which we cannot loose. Often with greater material riches comes greater anxiety because we have more to lose, but with spiritual treasure there is safety and security. As Jesus says in the Gospels, “Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where rust and moth do not destroy and thieves do not steal” (Mt. 6:20). A Christian man or woman is generous because they are free; free from fear and free to give.
After the singing of the (final) Glory…Now and ever… verse, the deacon or priest will intone the Prayers of the Litya with the choir responding with a solemn singing of Lord have mercy. Priest/Deacon: O God, save Your people and bless Your inheritance. Visit Your world in mercy and compassion. Exalt the horn of Orthodox Christians, and send down on us Your rich mercies; through the prayers of our most-pure Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary; through the power of the precious and life-giving Cross... People: Lord, have mercy. (12x)
Deacon: Again we pray for [His Beatitude] Metropolitan ______, for [His Grace] our Bishop ______, and for all our brotherhood in Christ; and for every Christian soul afflicted and weary in well-doing, in need of God’s mercies and help; for the protection of this city (or countryside, or town, or village, or holy abode), and for those who dwell therein ... People: Lord, have mercy (12x) Deacon: Again we pray for the President and all civil authorities of this country, and for those serving in its armed forces. Again we pray that He will keep this city (or countryside, or town, or village, or holy abode) and every city and countryside from wrath, famine ...
People: Lord, have mercy (12x)
True generosity is self-sacrifice. “Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment” (Jean de la Bruyere). It is not just what we give but how we give. It is the spirit of the giving. The widow’s mite demonstrates that even the smallest gift, if it is given out of our need and poverty, reaps great benefit. For giving to truly be generous, it must hurt a little. It must be a sacrifice.
Jesus our God is an example of such self-giving. He came and shared our poverty by become human with all its problems and hardships and then gave his life for us. He gave it all and in his greatest moment of need. “No greater love has a man than he lay Generosity with material things is the result of realdown his life for his friend” (Jn. 15:13). izing that with such giving greater riches are purchased. By giving my time, talents, or treasure I pur- Giving money or our time is more than charity; it is chase things like greater faith in God, friendship, de- the by-product of a greater spiritual condition. We liverance from anxiety, and true happiness which should ask ourselves, “what is my spiritual condicomes from living totally for others and not for my- tion? What is my default?” That is, is it my default to self. The measure of happiness is not in what we be generous, or fearful, unconcerned, and stingy? gain, but in what we give away. Let us take Jesus as The generous spirit is an asset, a Christian virtue and our example. He gave everything he had, including like any riches must be worked for. Let us start today his own life. by resetting our default and cultivate a generous spirit. Like trying to get back in shape, the first few However, not all giving is true generosity. Francois steps are most difficult and hurt the most. But as the de la Rochefoucauld, a French essayist of the 17th adage goes, “no pain, no gain.” Live the generous century, wisely noted: “What we call generosity is life and find the happiness that lasts. for the most part only vanity of giving; and we ex-
Deacon: Again we pray that the Lord God will hear the voice of supplication of us sinners and have mercy on us. People: Lord, have mercy (3x) Priest: Hear us, O God, our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of those who are far off on the sea; and be gracious, be gracious, O Master, to us sinners and have mercy on us. For You are a merciful God, the Lover of mankind, and to You we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. People: Amen. Priest: Peace be unto all. People: And to your spirit. Deacon: Let us bow our heads to the Lord. People: To You, O Lord. Priest: O Master, great in mercy, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, through the intercessions of our mostpure Lady, and of all the saints, make our prayer acceptable, grant us forgiveness of our trespasses, hide us under the shelter of Your wings, drive away from us every enemy and adversary ... At the conclusion of the Litya, the clergy and altar servers proceed to the center of the church and stand in front of the Tetrapod where the Litya Tray has been set up (on which has been placed 5 loaves of bread, wheat, wine, and oil) while the choir sings the Apostikha. (To be continued…)
ercise it because we are more fond of the vanity than of the thing we give.” Shows of generosity can be occasions for drawing attention to ourselves, assuaging guilt, or helping to inflate our self-esteem, rather than demonstrating compassion for another and finding one’s happiness in the happiness of another.
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