Holy anargyroi Greek Orthodox Church

703 W. Center Street, Rochester, MN (507) 282-1529 http://www.holyanargyroi.org

church@holyanargyroi.org Rev. Fr. Mark Muñoz, Proistamenos
ΑΠΟΛΤΣΙΚΙΑ ΣΗ΢ ΗΜΕΡΑ΢/APOLYTIKIA FOR TODAY
Ἀγγελικαὶ δυνάμεις ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμά σου, καὶ οἱ φυλάσσοντες ἀπενεκρώθησαν, καὶ ἵστατο Μαρία
ἐν τῷ τάφῳ, ζητοῦσα τὸ ἄχραντόν σου σῶμα. Ἐσκύλευσας τὸν ᾅδην, μὴ πειρασθεὶς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ,
ὑπήντησας τῇ παρθένῳ, δωρούμενος τὴν ζωήν, ὁ ἀναστὰς ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Κύριε δόξα σοι.
The heavenly powers appeared at Your tomb, and those guarding it became like dead. Mary stood
at Your grave seeking Your pure body. You stripped the power of Hades, not touched by its
corruption. You met the virgin woman as one who grants life. O Lord, who rose from the dead,
glory to You.

Ἀνελήφθης ἐν δόξῃ, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, χαροποιήσας τοὺς Μαθητάς, τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου
Πνεύματος, βεβαιωθέντων αὐτῶν διὰ τῆς εὐλογίας, ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ λυτρωτὴς τοῦ
κόσμου.
You ascended in Glory, O Christ our God, and gladdened Your disciples by the promise of the Holy
Spirit. Your blessing assured them that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Ὑπερδεδοξασμένος εἶ, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ φωστῆρας ἐπὶ γῆς τοὺς Πατέρας ἡμῶν
θεμελιώσας, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν πίστιν, πάντας ἡμᾶς ὁδηγήσας,
πολυεύσπλαγχνε, δόξα σοι.
Most glorified are You, O Christ our God, Who has established our Fathers as luminous stars upon
the earth, and through them did guide us all to the true Faith. O Most Merciful One, glory be to
You.

ΚΟΝΤΑΚΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΗΜΕΡΑΣ/KONTAKION FOR TODAY

Τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πληρώσας οἰκονομίαν, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ἑνώσας τοῖς οὐρανίοις, ἀνελήφθης ἐν δόξῃ,
Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, οὐδαμόθεν χωριζόμενος, ἀλλὰ μένων ἀδιάστατος, καὶ βοῶν τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί σε,
Ἐγὼ εἰμι μεθ' ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐδεὶς καθ' ὑμῶν.

O Christ our God, upon fulfilling Your dispensation for our sake, You ascended in Glory, uniting the
earthly with the heavenly. You were never separate but remained inseparable, and cried out to those
who love You, "I am with you and no one is against you."

Sunday of the holy fathers of the 1st ecumenical synod

St. Theodoros the Sanctified, St. Peter the Martyr of Blachernae
May 16th, 2010
 Today’s scripture readings

Epistle reading
Acts of the Apostles 16:16-34

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesos, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia;
for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to
Ephesos and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: "Take
heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for
three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to
God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all
those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these
hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that
by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'it is more
blessed to give than to receive.' " And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

Gospel pericope
John 17: 1-3
At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that
the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom
you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do;
and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the
world was made. "I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours
they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that
you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have
received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I
am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are
mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the
world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which
you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your
name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world,
that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
 COMMUNION PRAYERS
I believe and confess, Lord, that You are truly the Christ, the Son of
the living God, Who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
am the first. I also believe that this is truly Your pure Body and that
this is truly Your precious Blood. Therefore, I pray to You. Have
mercy upon me, and forgive my transgressions, voluntary and
involuntary, in word and deed, known and unknown. And make me
worthy without condemnation to partake of Your pure Mysteries for
the forgiveness of sins and life eternal. Amen.

Behold, my Maker, I approach Holy Communion. Burn me not as I partake, for You are fire
which burns the unworthy, but cleanse me from every stain.

Receive me today, Son of God, as a partaker of Your mystical Supper. I will not reveal Your
mystery to Your enemies, nor will I give You a kiss as did Judas. But as the thief I confess to
You: Lord, remember me in Your kingdom.

Seeing the Divine Blood, have fear, O man, for it is coal that burns the unworthy. It is God’s
Body that deifies and nourishes me; it deifies the spirit and nourishes the mind mystically.

You have smitten me with yearning, O Christ, and with Your divine love You have changed me.
Burn away my sins with spiritual fire and make me worthy to be filled with Your joy, that
rejoicing in Your goodness, I may magnify Your two Comings.

How shall I, who am unworthy, enter into the splendor of Your saints? If I dare to enter the bridal
chamber, my clothing will accuse me, since it is not a wedding garment; and being bound up, I
shall be cast out by the angels. In Your love, Lord, cleanse the vileness of my soul and save me.

Loving Master, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, let not these holy Gifts be to my condemnation
because of my unworthiness, but for the cleansing and sanctification of soul and body and the
pledge of the future life and kingdom. It is good for me to cling to God and to place in Him the
hope of my salvation.

Receive me today, Son of God, as a partaker of Your mystical Supper. I will not reveal Your
mystery to Your enemies. Nor will I give You a kiss as did Judas. But as the thief I confess to
You: Lord remember me in Your kingdom.
 Announcements
Liturgical/Program Schedule:
Mon. May 17th: Philoxenia Meeting, 5pm
Wed. May 19th: JOY Faith Night: Holy Vestments, 5pm
Wed. May 19th: Parish Council Meeting, 7pm
Fri. May 21st: Sts. Constantine & Helen, Orthros/Liturgy 8:30am
Sat. May 22nd: NO Great Vespers
Sun. May 23rd: Philoptochos Meeting, after Liturgy/Kneeling Vespers

Last day of Sunday School/Graduation: today will be the last day of Sunday School, and we
will honor the students/teachers at the end of the Divine Liturgy. Thanks to all the
teachers/parents for their dedication and participation!

Philoptochos Luncheon to honor Sunday School Students: please join us after Liturgy today
for a free-will offering luncheon for the Sunday School participants. All proceeds to benefit
Philoptochos Outreach.

OCMC Coin Boxes: thanks to all the children who participated in the coin box drive for the
Missions Center. We were able to raise $227 that will be forwarded to OCMC on behalf of our
youth!

HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION—Orthodox Christians in good standing are encouraged to

receive Holy Communion frequently, provided they have prepared themselves spiritually, mentally and physically.
They must be on time for the Divine Liturgy, and be in a Christ-like, humble state of mind. They should be in a
confession relationship with their priest or spiritual father, have observed the fasts of the Church, and they should
have self-examined their conscience. On the day of receiving Holy Communion, it is not proper to eat or drink
anything before coming to church. When you approach to receive Holy Communion, state your Christian
(baptismal) name clearly, and hold the red communion cloth to your chin. After receiving, wipe your lips on the
cloth, step back carefully, hand the cloth to the next person and make the sign of the Cross as you step away.
Please do not be in a rush while communing! Please take special care not to bump the Holy Chalice.
 Mexican Luncheon to benefit
GOYA Mission
Please join us after the Liturgy for
Pentecost, next Sunday May 23rd, for a
Mexican Feast! Food will be prepared by Michael Brekke &
Johnny Mangouras under the expert eye and guidance of Fr.
Mark! All proceeds to benefit Project Mexico!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Today’s liturgical commemorations
1. Our Holy Father Theodore the Sanctified.
He was a disciple of St Pachomius, being born and growing up an unbeliever. Coming to the true Faith as a young
man, he was baptised and, having heard of St Pachomius, fled to him in his monastery unknown to his parents. St
Pachomius made him a monk and came to love him for his rare zeal and his obedience. When his mother came to
fetch him back home, he would not let her see him, but prayed to God to enlighten her with the truth. And indeed, his
mother not only did not take her son back home but herself did not return. Seeing a women's monastery, ruled by
Pachomius's sister, close by, she entered it and was tonsured. After a certain time, Paphnutius, Theodore's brother,
also came to the monastery and was tonsured. It once happened that the Bishop of Panopolis invited Pachomius to
build a monastery for the many people who were desirous of the monastic life. Pachomius took Theodore with him,
and entrusted to him the duty of building the monastery. Upon Pachomius's death, Theodore became abbot of all
Pachomius's monasteries and lived until great old age, guiding a multitude of monks on the way of salvation. He
entered peacefully into rest and went to the Kingdom of eternal light in the year 368.
2. The Blessed Maiden Musa.
St Gregory the Dialogist relates of her that she was a mere nine years old when the most holy Mother of God
appeared to her on two occasions, surrounded by virgins bathed in light. When Musa expressed her desire to be
included in the resplendent company of the Queen of heaven, the Mother of God told her that she would come for her
and take her within a month, outlining for her how she should spend those thirty days. On the twenty-fifth day, Musa
took to her bed and on the thirtieth day the most pure and holy Mother again appeared to her, calling to her in a quiet
voice, to which Musa replied: 'Here I am waiting, my Lady! I'm ready!', and she breathed forth her spirit. She passed
from this life to life eternal in the fifth century.
3. St Nicolas Mysticus, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He was renowned for the rare austerity of his life. The Emperor Leo VI had married four times, and the
Patriarch therefore forbade him entry to the church, and the priests who had married him were unfrocked.
The Emperor cast the Patriarch out and drove him into a monastery. The delegates of the Roman Pontiff,
Sergius III, gave their approval to the Emperor's fourth marriage, but, when the Emperor died, Nicolas
was restored to the patriarchal throne and called a Council in 925, at which fourth marriages were in
general forbidden to Christians. 'Mysticus' signifies the senior member of the imperial council.
 Holy Land &
Constantinople
“Seeing with our eyes that which our heart beholds”
Join us for a unique life changing pilgrimage to the land
of the Prophets, the Apostles, Panagia, and Jesus
Christ Himself.

Fr. Mark will be leading the 13 day pilgrimage in mid-June of 2011. Sites will
include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Mt. Tabor, Sea of Galilee, Cana,
Nazareth, Capernaum, River Jordan,
Dead Sea (Qumran), and several days in
Constantinople with visits scheduled to
Hagia Sofia, Blachernae, Chora
Monastery, and a private audience with
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Confirmed Dates:
June12-24
 “Let this mind be in you…”
By Fr. David Moser

Each culture has its own "language," its own mindset, its own "idiom," if you will. Orthodoxy
also has its own "language," one that can be and is expressed in many different tongues. Some people
seem to have a greater facility than others for learning this language. It has nothing to do with linguistic
ability. Rather, it requires humility and obedience; it is a matter of the heart. Inevitably, those of us who
are converts bring with us to the Faith our "baggage", our old way of thinking and understanding. We
grew up with a "language" of a different religious culture, be it Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish,
humanist, or some other. It is not possible to understand the fullness of the Orthodox faith while
continuing to use a different "language." Therefore, we must change the way we think; we must acquire
the mind of the Church (something which has also been called the mind of Christ, or the mind of the
Fathers). This is not accomplished overnight; it is a long process, like learning a foreign language;
progress is gradual and requires a great deal of effort. Those of us who were not brought up in the Church
and who did not acquire an Orthodox outlook as children, must set aside our old way of thinking, our old
way of expressing Christian ideas and replace that old "language" with the "language" of Orthodoxy.

Some of you readers will say, "I've done that. I use words like 'Theotokos,' and 'liturgy' instead of 'mass,'
and 'mystery' instead of 'sacrament'." That's not the point. It's not a matter of semantics. What we are
talking about here is a profound change of heart and mind. I was raised in the Evangelical Protestant
tradition. If I attempt to understand the Orthodox Faith in the context of the Christianity in which I was
raised, such an understanding will be incomplete and faulty, because the concepts, the expressions, the
meanings are either not there or are different. For example, a Protestant will say, so-and-so is "saved," or
someone "got saved," as something that happens when a person accepts Jesus Christ as God and Saviour,
whereas in an Orthodox context that person is said to be in the process of being saved (cf. Orthodox
Dogmatic Theology, p. 259), of working out his salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12-a passage
never quoted by Protestants). Or again, Protestants commonly refer to believers as "saints," and while
this is true in the sense in which it is used by St. Paul, within the Orthodox tradition a "saint" is someone
worthy of awe and veneration, a model of Christian perfection. To take another example, the word
"ascetic" and "asceticism" are virtually missing from the Protestant vocabulary, while they are among
Orthodoxy's ABCs. These distinctions have significant ramifications. Until a convert to Orthodoxy turns
his back on his former understanding and retrains himself to think and understand in the ways of the
Church, he will not be able to comprehend even the simplest spiritual truths.

Over the past five years there has been a growing influx of former Protestants into the Orthodox Church.
This is cause for rejoicing. But there are dangers here. Catechism is often inadequate, and assumptions
are made about the level of understanding that these new converts have of the Faith, which may not be
accurate. The conversions often result in a change of external habits with little change of heart, and, in
many cases, no realization that such a change is needed. Outwardly, these converts may be Orthodox
(sometimes more Orthodox than those raised in the Faith): they have icons, they fast, they cross
themselves; but their mentality is still Protestant; they have not acquired the mind of the Church. In order
to meet the pastoral needs of these new converts, some of them are taken straight from the Protestant
tradition and ordained to Holy Orders (the priesthood or diaconate); before they themselves have learned
the "language" of Orthodoxy, they are given the responsibility of teaching others. This is unfortunate.
Heterodox training is at best inadequate for passing on the Orthodox Faith. One can be steeped in
Orthodoxy intellectually, but this is still not enough.

The Apostle Paul writes: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...(Phil. 2:5-11). This
passage is assigned by the Church to be read at certain feasts of the Mother of God, the paragon of
Christian obedience and humility, indicating to us that it is precisely these virtues that are the key to
acquiring the mind of the Church, the mind of Christ. first we must obediently acquire the external
appearance, put on the robe of the Church, as it were, resisting the tendency-in our pride of mind-to alter
those parts which feel uncomfortable, as if they were simply something "ethnic" which we should
"Americanize"; but humbly conforming ourselves to its contours, recognizing that this is the robe of
Christ and His saints. Then we must begin to effect that internal change, obediently submitting our mind
and heart to the instruction of the Church. This is available to us in many forms: in the guidance of an
experienced spiritual father, in the church services, in the writings of the Holy Fathers, in the Lives of
Saints (here the "savor" of Orthodox is readily apparent)... If there is some aspect of the Church's
teaching or her tradition that doesn't make sense to us we must be patient and humble, realizing that it is
our understanding which is still deficient, not the Church.

The most important means of acquiring the mind of the Church is prayer. This again is a learning process;
we must learn to pray in the "language" of the Church. The Apostle Paul writes, we know not what we
should pray as we ought... (Rom. 8:26), and therefore the Church gives us the prayers of saints-those who
have mastered the art-to guide us, to help us develop an Orthodox consciousness, a proper disposition of
mind and heart. Here again, we must not rely on our heterodox experience. By carefully attending to the
prayers in our prayerbooks and the public prayers of the Church, we will be steered away from the
presumption of the pharisee and towards the soul-saving humility and compunction of the publican.
Christian, it is imperative that you acquire the mind of the Church, but to do so you must relinquish your
pride, your previous learning and experience outside the Church and become like a little child. Start at
the beginning; set aside whatever you think you have, and, humbly and obediently following the direction
of the Church, allow yourself to be molded into the image of Christ.