ALL SAINTS: NOTICES -- CHRIST'S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM, 2024
*** HOLY SERVICES EVERY DAY UNTIL 5th MAY. For FULL DETAILS check PARISH WEBSITE, FACEBOOK PAGE and previous NOTICES. ***
Beloved Christians,
Today is a beautiful feast day, a little Pascha, set as a precious jewel between the end of Great Lent and the start of Great & Holy Week. However...
THE EVIL WITHIN
Today, as ever, we are witnesses to spite and hatred. Ioúdas Iskariṓt (just like Pontios Pilate, a few days from now) cannot see the truth before his eyes. Ioúdas complains that Mary's fragrant oil should have been sold and the money given to the poor, but this is all a ruse as Ioúdas is a thief. And there are those with revenge in their hearts: the agents of evil, the priests plotting to kill Lazaros and Christ, who will soon have their murderous way.
THE CULT OF CELEBRITY', THE SHALLOWNESS OF THE MOB
We witness also the foolish 'fan mentality', the shallowness of those who are obsessed with the spectacle of 'celebrity' and come simply to gawp at someone 'famous'. Cheering today, screaming with anger tomorrow.
SEEING THE TRUTH
Very soon the priests will soon have blood on their hands; Ioúdas the complainer will kill himself after being unmasked as thief and traitor; and the 'fair-weather-friends' who are all cheering today, will melt away like snow before the rising sun, leaving Christ alone to face His crucifixion.
Few even among Christ's close followers understand what is to come. Certainly, Ioudas doesn't! But Mary does; and - in love and humility and in silence - she anoints Christ’s feet with precious nard. The anointing is both a sign of Christ’s majesty and a prefiguring of His death; and Mary herself is an eikon, a type, of the Holy Church, of the reverent and holy disciple honouring our Lord, faithful to the very end. Mary will still be there, sure and constant; among the Holy Myrrh-bearers, she will bring ointment to the tomb, and be among the first to witness the miracle of our Lord’s Holy Resurrection.
CHRIST TRIUMPHANT!
Christ enters Jerusalem. Christ is triumphant. Today, the last Sunday before Holy Pascha, our Lord is entering Jerusalem. His entry is a triumph; not in the sense of the 'Triumphs of Caesar', not an act of hubris or the culmination of a military campaign. In fact, it is quiet and there is little by way of pomp and precision, but there is joy. Christ has defeated death! Righteous Lazaros is raised from the dead- he is a living eikon of the Lord's Resurrection, and - God willing! - a pre-imaging of our own potential resurrection. Lazaros offers us an image (eikon) of what we must endure and of what we might potentially become. Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικᾷ ('Iesous Christos nika') the holy eikons announce: Jesus Christ, Victorious! Our Lord has triumphed over the ways of the world, and He has truly 'trampled down death by death'.
Christ fulfils the prophecies and demonstrates that His Kingdom is agios, 'holy' - 'not of this world'. But He does so quietly, 'like a sheep who is dumb before His shearer so He opened not His mouth,' and so, the drama of Our Lord's Holy Passion unfolds...
SILENCE
Embrace stillness. If we can turn off the deafening (and death-ening) barrage of the media, put aside the mobile phone, TURN DOWN THE VOLUME, and stop worrying, we just might start to 'redeem the time' [Ephesians 5:16], and make good use of the blessing of silence. Even at the very heart of the secular whirlwind God is granting us time and space and peace for prayer. Let us sincerely pray to God that we all make of our life what God intends it to be: to become people of prayer, people of love.
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A SECOND PSALTER GROUP - a reminder
All glory to God for those of you who have shown interest (your names have been noted)!
We need a few more people to form a second Psalter Group. These people do not have to be from our parish, or even to live in the UK.
What is this about? In the Group, you will pray one kathisma of the Holy Psalms every day (this takes approx. 15 minutes, which amounts to a tiny 1.042% of the day); and together, the Group pray the entire Psalter every day. Such a small addition to our daily prayers, but such a great blessing!
Do Let Presbytera Susanna or myself know please, if you are interested.
Reluctance to join may very well be a sign that the evil-one does not want you to grow spiritually. Fight this temptation!
(Katechumens: You are welcome to join, but the Group will not start praying until you are received.)
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CONFESSION - HOLY RECONCILIATION
At this time, we should strive to maintain our orthodox Christian praxis. It is a necessity to make confession before Holy Pascha. Clearly, a confession to God, in the holy temple, witnessed by the priest, is the NORM and the IDEAL. However, I will - in extremis - hear confession by phone or preferably by email. When making confession by email, please mark the subject CONFESSION. Naturally, the email will be treated as strictly confidentially and I will delete it after reading it. You can make confession in your native tongue, I will translate it. Rest assured, God will know what you have to say! If you do this, you will still need to receive absolution in the holy temple.
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ON GOD'S WILL
"When you wish deeply to act always according to the Will of God, He will reveal It to you. This is what He asks. He wants us to reach out our hand for His Grace, so that His Grace may guide us and His Holy Spirit may shine on us. And then, it is Paradise on Earth! Have no doubts whether it is or it isn't the Will of God. Because when you doubt about what is to be done, it will not be done properly. Don't forget that when it is not the Will of God, He makes it quite clear, for then He shuts all the doors. When you go here and there and find obstacles everywhere, change course, don't insist on your own will. Make your Prayer and change your mind." - Gerontissa Gavriela [Papayiannis], 02/10/1897 – 28/03/1992.
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GO IN PEACE AND SERVE THE LORD
We shall continue to state the truth: with great suffering there is ALWAYS great mercy and self-sacrifice. We, as Orthodox Christians, are called upon to manifest Christ in the midst of all people, to serve the Lord, and to love His entire world.
May we all, through the prayers of the Most Holy Mother of God and of All the Saints, patrons of our holy temple, be granted the strength to bear our cross with faith and fortitude, so that all we do may be to the glory of the Holy Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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ALL GLORY TO GOD!
All who brought food & drink to share, and shared fellowship after the holy services.
Susannah - for printing teaching-materials for our children.
Valentina & Louis- for olive oil.
Ted (katechumen)- for home-made bread for Presbytera and for Natasha.
Tanya & Tanya- for helping Larisa.
Otilia & Iulia- for cleaning the servers' sticharia.
Angel and Dan (katechumen)- for hoovering.
All those who attended the choir-practice yesterday.
Joshua- passed exam.
Aaron (seeker, non-orthodox)- for beeswax.
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YOUR HOLY PRAYERS
That we truly love others, help the sick and poor, pray, fast, confess; and, above all, serve God to the very best of our ability during this holiest week of the year.
Tsvetanka- reposed in the Lord. Memory eternal!
Tom- unwell.
Florentina- unwell (back pain).
Evelyn (child)- unwell.
Delia- important meetings: Monday (tomorrow) and Tuesday.
Valentina, Louis, Irenaios, Raphael, Stephen (Brett), Lucy- travelling this week.
George (katechumen)- unwell.
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With love in the Lord,
Father Jakob,
unworthy presbyter and fellow struggler
Please feel free to share this online and with your family & friends
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https://www.antiochian-orthodox.com/post/the-former-priest-matei-vulcanescu-has-been-deposed
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LOOKING AHEAD -- TWELVE GREAT FEASTS
To help you plan ahead, for those of you who are able to take time off work, etc., here are the dates of GREAT FEASTS for the year ahead.
These are dates upon which we should try to be in Church (sadly, many of us do not always have this choice).
These are days upon which the Divine Liturgy should be served at All Saints. Servers, singers, helpers- please do whatever you're able.
14th SEPTEMBER -- EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
21st NOVEMBER -- ENTRY OF THE THEOTOKOS INTO THE TEMPLE
25th DECEMBER -- NATIVITY OF CHRIST
6th JANUARY -- HOLY THEOPHANY
2nd FEBRUARY -- PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE
25th MARCH -- HOLY ANNUNCIATION
17th APRIL -- ENTRY OF OUR LORD INTO IERUSALM*
5th May -- HOLY PASCHA*
13th JUNE -- HOLY ASCENSION*
24th JUNE -- HOLY PENTEKOST*
6th AUGUST -- HOLY TRANSFIGURATION
15th AUGUST -- HOLY DORMITION
[ * The dates of these feasts vary from year to year. ]
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ORTHODOXY 101 : ATTENDING THE DIVINE LITURGY
Christianity is experiential; it is not just 'read about', it must be lived. The Holy Eucharist is at the centre of our worship, at the centre of our Life in Christ.
We come to the Church, we remain in the Church in order that our souls be saved. That is all. It is our soul's salvation - there is nothing else.
The Holy Services are a store-house of spiritual treasures. To be saved, we need to gain knowledge of ourselves. We do this by discovering our sins and weaknesses, and by fighting against their pull. Our faith is war on personal pride. When our pride is wounded in the course of Church life, we should thank God!
We fight best when we are supported. For support we have the Holy Gospels; the Holy Fathers, their Lives and Teachings; we have God and we have each other.
The Church Community (both living and departed) is our Family in Christ. Our God is LOVE. And we are giving of our best, when we give love to God and to each other.
The Holy Eucharist is the body and Blood of Christ. It is life itself, it is Salvation. It is our treasure: "Where your treasure is there will your heart be also"(Matthew 6:21). We spend time with - we are attentive to - the people, the things we love the most.
Canon LXXX (Sixth Oecumenical Council) reads, "A cleric or layman shall not go three consecutive Sundays without attending church, unless some necessary business requires him to leave his town. The usual penalties apply: deposition for a cleric; excommunication for a layman".
It is not always possible to come to every holy service, but our good practice, and simple good manners, is to notify the priest of our absence, or if we have moved away. Notification demonstrates love and humility, and allows the priest and community to pray for us, for example - when we are sick.
We pray for those who are absent from the divine services for legitimate reasons. The others, who come infrequently or have not attended for long periods, have become prodigal sons, wanderers. They have distanced themselves from Christ and from their Christian family. Their love has become luke-warm. A full and proper return to Church requires a full and proper repentance, taking responsibility for our failings.
Church life is about responsibility. It is about stepping up and being adult. This is done by singing, standing throughout the holy services, fasting, making regular confession, reading in Church, serving, cleaning and tidying, cooking, reading the morning and evening prayers every day, preparing properly for confession and communion. Above all it is about praying.
To be blunt, Church (parish) life is about giving time and money to the glory of God. Church life is about commitment. Without commitment, we will never become deeply Orthodox or even remain Orthodox.
Love of God and love of neighbour are entwined. We cannot love God if we do not love our neighbours, especially our fellow Christians; and we cannot love our neighbours if we do not love God (1 John 4:20).
We spend time with God, we spend time with each other. We do so not because we feel 'obliged' or even because we 'want to' but simply because our heart draws us, and we follow Christ's new commandment (Luke 10:27): "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself".
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AΓAΠH = CARITAS = CHARITY = LOVE
John 4:16: Ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη (koine Greek) = Deus caritas est (Latin) = God is Love (English)
GIVING TO OTHERS
All glory to God! Our small parish has been able in little ways to help the poor, offer love to the stranger, to help heal the wounded.
GIFTAID
This past year we received £2,000 back from the UK government. Our parish trustees have authorised this and future monies raised through giftaid to be passed on to our poorer neighbours. If more of us donated by giftaid we could do even more to help the poor, the wounded, and the marginalised who are our neighbours.
'HOW CAN I HELP?'
Every penny helps! Donate to our parish via gift aid. If you pay tax in the UK you can use giftaid. It's free, it's easy, and as you can see above, it helps us to help others. The UK government pays us back for what you give to us via gftaid. This is the only official help that UK charities receive.
Our hope and ambition is that every penny given to us by you comes through giftaid.
LAZAROS, OUR NEIGHBOUR
The dying Lazaros is lying outside our door (Luke 16:20). We Christians have a duty of care (John 21:17), this is a constant in our life (Matthew 26:11), we must not ignore him (1 John 3:17). Let us do all that we are able to help to help our neighbour (John 15:12). May I ask you - please make a start, and donate to the parish by giftaid.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
In the Risen Lord,
Father Jakob
Presbyter, All Saints North Benfleet
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