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- GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY & PARISH

OF PROPHET ELIAS NORWOOD & EASTERN

SUBURBS INC.

87 BEULAH RD. NORWOOD SA 5067 P.O. BOX 277, KENT TOWN SA 5071

ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE HON. SECRETARY

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: 8362 4139 . 8431 7789 . 0412 710 037

18-03-12

27. 1391

WEEKLY MAGAZINE

THE WORD OF GODPHONES: 8362 4139 H. 8431 7789 M. 0412 710 037

DATE 18-03-12

YEAR 27TH NUMBER 1391

WEB PAGE:WWW.PROPHETELIAS.ORG.AU

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EMAIL: PROPHETELIAS@ESC.NET.AU

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SUNDAY OF LENT (Heb. 4: 14- 5: 6) 18 March 2012

Today on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross our Church comes

to give us courage and strength to continue with our struggles according to

God. Amongst other things the ecclesiastical hymnology, gospel, and

apostolic reading all talk of the Cross of the Lord. And truly, from this the

faithful take strength and the desire to climb to great spiritual heights, they

are filled with enthusiasm and boldness, they take the decision that leads to

salvation, they discover the secret that will help them succeed in their goal-

sacrifice. As the spirit of sacrifice is cultivated within, the struggle becomes

much easier.

in all points tempted yet without sin.

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When the Apostle Paul writes to his compatriots saying that now we have a

great High Priest who was once in the Heavens and now has passed through

the furnace of tribulation, through deprivation, through evil, through

cunningness and persecution, and every temptation that tests man, to be

murdered by the creatures that He created, and then finally was resurrected.

He is now in Heaven and is waiting for us. In other words now we have theunsurpassable means through Whom we too can ascend to Heaven.

That which we need to do is to follow His way of life.

Christ experienced humanity in every way. He was tested and trialled with all

of the vices that the cunning one could think of, not only as the Omnipotent

God, but also as a man. The Lord Jesus is the only power that can help us in

our struggle against the cunning one. He is the only one who, not only was

unaffected by the devils arrows, not only made the demons tremble in fear

and flee at His passing, but ran towards them and freed many demoniacs.

Therefore it is with absolute certainty that we can say that only the Lord can

tell us how we too can protect ourselves against the arrows of the cunning

one.

The greatest miracle that is known to man dear brethren, greater than even

creation, is the incarnation of the Son of God. The Lord through His

incarnation, as the Fathers of the Church confirm and Saint John the

Damascene summarises, took on all of the physical traits that humans have.

He took on hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, tears, corruption, wanting to avoid

death, fear, agony, the need for support of the Angels etc. feelings that each

one of us has. The Lord allowed Himself to experience all of these natural

and irreproachable human passions, not because He is forced like we are, but

because He wanted to endure then and sanctify man. We remember when

the Lord was subject to three great temptations in the wilderness; thetemptation of gluttony, greed, and vainglory. And ultimately we saw the

Lord triumph and satan defeated.

Why did the devil chose these temptations to try Christ? Because it is from

these ones that stem all the other evils that influence man and draw him

away from Gods will and His Gospel. The Lord proved Himself to be above

these temptations and commanded the devil to get away from Him. Of

course there is a difference between the temptations that the Lord was

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wilfully subject to, and those that we face. The difference is that the Lord did

not allow these temptations to enter His heart. He did not allow His soul to

become an airport for the passions to land in. The temptations were

therefore external. Whereas our temptations, and our passions we have

unfortunately taken into our hearts, and for this reason we suffer. For this

reason, on our own we lack the strength to chase them away and ask for theLords help. Saint Maximus the confessor said that we are subject to

temptations for five reasons. One is to help us learn to distinguish between

virtue and evil. The second is to develop the virtues through struggle, labour

and toil, so that when we win them we will be careful not to lose them. The

third reason is so that as we progress in the virtues our ego does not tell us

that this is something we have achieved, but rather to humble us so that we

can continue in our winning struggle. The fourth reason is so that we can

recognise that through our temptations and the things that happen to us our

errors are exposed and we can correct ourselves. And the fifth reason is to

finally become passionless, and fighting the war against the demons, to

never forget our weakness and the power of He who helps us. Dear brethren

we must pay attention to these things that Saint Maximus says. He says that

God allows the temptations that we face for our own education, however He

is not the cause of them, the cause is our fallen nature. Often we bring

temptations and trials on ourselves as we allow our evil desires to rule.Instead of defending ourselves and tirelessly fighting against our desires, we

become cowardly victims and surrender.

Brethren, do you know how dangerous this retreat in the face of evil is? First

of all the mind becomes darkened and is not able to understand the

consequences. Subconsciously, and without even knowing it, the person is

attracted to the satisfaction of their evil desire. The same desires that for the

spiritual strong takes strength from the Omnipotent God, turning thetemptation into salvation. For this person temptation leads to self-

knowledge, and understanding of his terrible hell bound error, and like the

Prodigal son he comes to his senses returns and is saved. On the contrary,

for the spiritually weak temptation leads to destruction.

In reality- and so that we can even further uncover the work of the cunning

one- those who the cunning one overcomes and fall into sin through various

temptations are the ones that he does not allow to ask for help. Because if

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the cunning one is negligent and he allows the sinner to ask the Lord for help,

then he knows that he will be saved. He understands, even better than we

do the words of the Lord: without Me you can do nothing. (John 15: 5).

Therefore before we ask for the Lords help he (satan) rushes in many

cunning ways to stop us.

We must understand that man, on his own, has nothing good. No matter

how much he tries there is no way to say that even the most insignificant

good thing that he has is of himself, because he is created in the image of

God. When he tries to find something good outside of this image, then it

does not come from him, but from outside of himself. For this reason we

mentioned above that it is necessary to recognise who we realy are. And in

this way overcome the difficulties of this life with the help and energy of the

Lord Jesus.

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News from our Community-ParishProgram for LentEvery Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening, Great

Vespers, 6.30 7.30. Every Wednesday and Friday morning, theHours, Beatitudes and Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, 7.15 9.00.

Every Saturday evening (except next Saturday 17th March), Vespers,

5.306.15. Every Sunday morning, Matins and Divine Liturgy, 8 11

and every Sunday evening (except tonight), Contritional Vespers, 6

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7. A detailed program, in Greek and English, of services at Prophet

Elias is available from the front counter.

Bible StudyThis Wednesday, we are focusing on the topic: The Old Testament

Divine Revelation. My dear brothers and sisters, do you sincerely want

to learn more about your faith? Come to these spiritual gatherings

every Wednesday evening, 7 pm 8 pm. Everyone is welcome. The

topics are very informative and are relevant to every Orthodox

Christian. Programs are available at the Front Counter of the Church.Celebration of 25 th MarchThis year, we shall hold the official Doxology for the 25th March 1821 in

our Church, officiated by His Grace Bishop Nikandros of Doryleon in

the presence of his Excellency the Consul-General Mr Christos

Maniakis Grivas, leaders of the Government and the Opposition, and

various officials. At the end of Divine Liturgy, there will be a luncheon

with fish and skordalia for everyone in our Community Centre Hall. The

Greek School students will recite poems and songs and our Dance

Group will perform. Afterwards, we shall go by bus to the city for the

march.

Greek SchoolThe school-year is well and truly underway. Our Greek School classes

are as follows: Pre-school to Year 6: Tuesday 4 pm 7 pm with

dancing, Friday 4 pm6.30 pm with dancing and Saturday 9 am12

noon with dancing. High School: Thursday 4 pm6 pm. More than 110

students are studying Greek at our school. We thank all those who

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have embraced our school and speak of it in the highest terms in

relation to both its location, which ensures the tranquillity of our

students, and the quality of our teaching-staff.

25TH MARCH CELEBRATIONS AND OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIONSERVICE AT OUR CHURCH & THE WAR MEMORIAL - SUNDAY

25 MARCH 2012

This year, the 25th March celebrations including the official Doxology

Service in our Church and the Commemorative Service of the national

anniversary of the 25 March 1821 will be held on Sunday 25 March

2012.

Parents are advised that the 25th March celebrations are a

compulsory part of the school curriculum for all students. Parents

are requested to make a special effort to ensure that students

participate in these important celebrations. We must instill the

spirit of freedom in the hearts of our children and teach them

our duty in honouring the self-sacrifice of the heroes of 1821.

We must actively show our respect to those that gave their livesfor our freedom.

All students are toassemble at the communitys hall at the rear of

the church at 9.30am dressed in the Greek national costumes or

in the traditional colours of blue and white. For those that don't

have their own costume, the community has a range of Greek

national costumes for boys and girls to wear on the day.

The students will come into the church at 10.45am a short time prior

to the Doxology Service, holding the Greek and Australian flags as in

other years. Following the service, the students will first receive the

blessed bread and assemble at the back of the church where they will

be fed hot chips and spring water free of charge.

At approximately 11.45am, selected students will recite poems and

sing patriotic songs commemorating the 25 March celebrations in the

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Hall. The students will board the bus to the War Memorial at North

Terrace (corner of Kintyre Ave.) at approximately 12.15pm. The

official commemoration service will be conducted by His Grace

Bishop Nikandros of Doryleon, commencing at 12.30pm. At the

conclusion the students will assemble at the War Memorial and wait

for the bus to arrive to pick them up. At approximately 1.15pm, thestudents will again board the bus. The bus will return to the church

at approximately 1.30pm. Students who have dressed up in the

community's national costumes are to then change into their normal

clothes and return their costume, neatly hung on the hangers

provided.

Please note that parking in the Torrens Parade Ground is prohibited

to everyone including the bus drivers that are taking the children tothe War Memorial.

The students will be supervised at all times by teachers and parents

that come along on the bus (if room permits). Parents are advised

to note that for safety reasons, students taking part in the

parade will only be allowed to be picked up when the bus

returns back to the church, unless prior arrangements have

been made with a member of the teaching staff.

All students who take part in the official Doxology Service and

the Commemorative Service at the War Memorial will be

presented with a Certificate of Participation at the conclusion of

the church service on a Sunday in April. You will be notified of

the exact date in the near future.

We like to remind you that plenty of our famous fried fish chips

and skordalia will be at the hall for everyone to sit, eat and

enjoy.

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