A!!!

SS. kosmas & damianos Orthodox Church (goa)

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

office@rochesterorthodoxchurch.org Rev. Fr. Mark Muoz, Proistamenos

/APOLYTIKIA FOR TODAY

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While the tomb was sealed, You, O Life, did shine

forth from the grave, O Christ God; and while the

doors were shut, You did come unto Your disciples, O

Resurrection of all, renewing through them an upright

Spirit in us according to Your great mercy.

/KONTAKION FOR TODAY

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Though You went down into the tomb, You destroyed Hades' power, and You rose the

victor, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, "Rejoice!" and granting peace

to Your disciples, You who raise up the fallen.

Sunday of st. thomas The Holy Hieromartyr Symeon, Kinsman of the Lord, Eulogios the Innkeeper of Constantinople

April 27th, 2014

Todays scripture readings

Epistle reading

Acts of the Apostles 5:12-20

IN THOSE DAYS, many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the

apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but

the people held them in high honor. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord,

multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and

laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of

them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those

afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up and all who

were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the

apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the

prison doors and brought them out and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the

people all the words of this Life."

Gospel pericope

John 20:19-31

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples

were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: "Peace be with

you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were

glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has

sent me, even so I send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to

them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the

sins of any, they are retained." Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with

them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to

them: "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the

nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe." Eight days later, His disciples were

again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood

among them, and said: "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and

see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but

believing." Thomas answered Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to Him: "Have you

believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this

book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and

that believing you may have life in His name.

Announcements

Liturgical/Program Schedule:

TODAY: Spring General Assembly after Divine Liturgy

Mon. April 28th Thurs. May 1st: Metropolis of Chicago Clergy Retreat *Fr. Mark away*

GOYA Fundraiser Luncheon: Please join us next Sunday for a luncheon to benefit our GOYANS

upcoming mission trip this summer! A detailed email will be sent through parishs list serve this

week! Help our GOYANS help others!

Icon Dedication: Please join us next Sunday as an agiasmos service will be celebrated after the

Divine Liturgy wherein the newly installed icons, along with the existing, will be sanctified and

dedicated. Also in next Sundays bulletin there will be included a comprehensive list of all the

icons and their donors.

Special Thanks: to all those who helped make Holy Week a memorable experience by donating

their time and talents to beautify the church and make the services even more meaningful!

Palm Sunday Luncheon Thank You: Our Philoptochos Society would like to thank all those who

contributed towards our Palm Sunday luncheon fundraiser. We raised nearly $1,000 for our

philanthropic endeavors. Thank you to our coordinator Ann Kolas for her continued dedication

towards this fundraiser. Thank you to Yogi Kereakos for his donation of $150 towards the food

cost which allowed us a higher profit margin. Yogis support to our Society is very uplifting to us

all. Thank you to all the Society members who worked the luncheon and to Loredana Jerghiuta

who added special touches such as flowers for the hall.

Sunday School: will resume its regular schedule today, please send your children to their

respective classes after receiving Holy Communion.

HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNIONOrthodox 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.

Todays liturgical commemorations

The Holy Apostle Simeon

Simeon was one of the Seventy Apostles. He was the son of Cleopas who was the brother of Joseph, the

betrothed of the All-Holy Mother of God. Seeing the miracles of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Simeon believed and was numbered among the Seventy Apostles. He preached the Gospel of Christ with

great zeal and courage throughout Judea. When the nefarious Jews killed James, the brother of our Lord

and first bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, by hurling him from the heights of the Temple and beat him

over the head with a hoe, then this Simeon, a cousin of James, was appointed Bishop of Jerusalem. And

Simeon, as the second bishop of the Holy City, governed the Church of God with wisdom and strength

until a ripe old age. He was over one hundred years old when he suffered. His suffering was in this

manner: during the reign of Emperor Trajan, a two-fold persecution began: one in Palestine against the

descendants of David and the other persecution against the Christians. The wicked people accused

Simeon of being both one and the other (a Jew and a Christian). St. Simeon endured enormous pains and

finally was crucified on a cross, as was his Lord, Whom he faithfully served on earth.

Venerable Stephen, the Bishop of Vladimir

Stephen was a disciple of St. Theodosius of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. For a while, Stephen was

abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and labored much in the regulation and organization of the monastic

life and in adornment of churches. The devil incited malice among the monks against Stephen and, not

only did they remove him as abbot, but banished him from the monastery. God, Who does not abandon

the righteous for long under the humiliation of the unrighteous, directed the life of Venerable Stephen so

that he was elected as Bishop of Vladimir. As a hierarch of God, Stephen governed the Church until old

age and died peacefully in the Lord in the year 1094 A.D.

The Burning Relics of St. Sava

Sava was the Archbishop of the Serbs. The body of St. Sava was buried in Mileshevo Monastery. During

the time of the Turkish tyranny, the Serbian people gathered around the relics of their saint to seek

comfort and healing. Fearing that an insurrection might arise from that place against the Turks, Sinan

Pasha of Belgrade ordered that the relics of St. Sava be translated to Belgrade and there to be burned on

Vracar, April 27, 1594 A.D. With the burning of the relics of this saint, the rabid Pasha did not burn the

saint who remained alive before the Throne of God in the heavens and in the hearts of his people on

earth.

Gems From the Desert

A truly merciful person is not one that deliberately gives away superfluous things, but one that

forgives those who deprive him of what he needs.

The greater the pain you feel, the more you should welcome the person whose reproof makes you

feel it. For he is bringing about within you that total purification without which your intellect cannot

attain the pure state of prayer

-St. Ilias the Presbyter ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Doubting Thomas By St. Gregory the Great

The following is an excerpt from the homilies of St. Gregory the Great (also known as St. Gregory the

Dialogist). In both East and West, the Sunday after Easter (Pascha) is devoted to the beautiful unbelief of Thomas, whose doubt stands as a proxy, making our own unnecessary:

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only

disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched

and believed? It was not by chance but in Gods providence. In a marvelous way Gods mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his Masters body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christs wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out: My Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed.

Paul said: Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what cannot be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: You have believed because you have seen me?

Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: My Lord and my God.

Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see. What follows is reason for great joy: Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts One we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say:

They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works. Therefore James says: Faith without works is dead.

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5k to benefit Philoxenia House @ Holy Apostles GOC in Chicago

Calling all runners and power walkers! Please

join us as we travel to Chicago to participate in the Holy Apostles 5k run/walk to benfit our own Philoxenia House Ministry. We will leave Rochester Friday, May 10th @ 3:30pm and return the following day immediately after the event. If you are interested in participating please contact Bradley Holman at 507-

280-8219 or holman.bradley@mayo.edu

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Spring general assembly after

Divine liturgy!

All stewards in good standing are invited

and encouraged to participate!

Our Current Salutation: In multiple languages

English: Christ is Risen! Indeed He is risen!

Albanian: Khrishti unjal! Vertet unjal!

Aleut: Khristus anahgrecum! Alhecum anahgrecum!

Arabic: El Messieh kahm! Hakken kahm!

Armenian: Kristos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnial eh harootyunuh kristosee!

Bulgarian: Hristos voskrese! Vo istina voskrese!

Chinese: Helisituosi fuhuole! Queshi fuhuole!

Danish: Kristus er opstanden! I sandhed Han er Opstanden!

(or Sandelig Han er Opstanden!)

Dutch: Christus is opgestaan! Ja, hij is waarlijk opgestaan!

Eritrean-Tigre: Christos tensiou! Bahake tensiou!

Ethiopian: Christos t'ensah em' muhtan! Exai' ab-her eokala!

Finnish: Kristus nousi kuolleista! Totisesti nousi!

French: Le Christ est ressuscite! En verite il est ressuscite!

Georgian: Kriste ahzdkhah! Chezdmaridet!

German: Christus ist erstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig erstanden!

Greek: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!

Spanish: Cristo ha resucitado! En verdad ha resucitado!

Romanian: Cristos a inviat! Adevarat a inviat!

Russian: Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!

Where are the children? -from the blog Orthodox Women

This Holy week I attended Holy Protection Russian Orthodox church for the rite of the washing of the feet. In the

church were many, many children..from 0-12 attending the service. A twelve year old solemnly and perfectly read

the prayers after communion. A three year old danced and spun in the beam of sunlight coming through the dome

windows as she tried to embrace it. A younger child stared in awe at the icons and demanded to be brought to each

one on the walls to reverence. The church was without talkativeness, cell phones or plastic wrappers. Everyone

solemnly paid attention and stood through the service which was nearly five hours long. Where are our children you

say? Why do you ask now that they are grown? Where were your children when they were young? Did you take

them out of school to come to the services? Did you bring them to everything, or did you say, this service is not for

children. Did you insist that Sunday was the Lords Day, or was it ok to be in soccer or little leaguebecause its

only a few weeks? Did you pry them from bed as you would for School or a camping trip on Sunday mornings or

did you say, thats ok, its been a tough week. Where are our children? Why do they not understand the

importance of the church? The children have a natural desire to know God, their Father and their creator. But like

most things which are natural in a child, unless this love and desire is fostered and nurtured it will become silenced

in the face of our world. Bring the children to church from the day they are baptized. Bring the church into your

home. Be the example of the faithful Christian you desire your children to become. Encourage each of the youth in

your parish. Encourage and support the young mothers. Be the example of the faithful Christian you desire the

children of your parish to become. Within the church one thing that will set me off against anyone is the complaint

about the young adults. They are not interested They do not like depth The dont care They dont

understand Primarily because I personally hate sitting in a room with the older generation speaking in generalities

about my generation with the all-encompassing they. If I speak up I am promptly put in my place that I am simply

an anomaly. Shouldnt we be looking to the anomalies and fostering their leadership in the church? Shouldnt we be

looking at the parents of the anomalies and asking, what did they do RIGHT Personally, I feel blessed. I have

mentioned it before and will mention it again. Every single one of my childhood friends is still actively involved in

the church and many are current priest-wives or soon to be priest-wives. My closest friends from college all have a

very active life in the church. We do weird things like have random akathist services and chanting parties. I have a

friend who has become a monk recently. My husband has a similar story. His closest friends have all found their

way to the seminary eventually. Last I checked, these are the kinds of things we WANT our young adults doing, but

the older generation continues to label us as the strange anomaly. The minority. Here is a crazy thought: The young

adults who have left the church? No special activity or program is going to bring them back. Like anything else,

getting someone hooked is about relationships. So stop putting down any young adult who has interest in the

church and getting involved and stop complaining about all of the young adults who have left. I wouldnt want to be

around you either, and I WILL find somewhere else to go. Where are the young adults? Not at your parish where

you complain all the time, thats for sure. The current youth of the parish who have no say in where they go their

parents need to make church a priority, not a if theres time thing and if the week wasnt too busy . It is the

responsibility of the people in the church to educate those parents so they can educate their children. It is also the

responsibility of the parishioners to make the church a place a parent wants to be! Would YOU come back if people

kept staring funny at your rowdy 3-year-old? Me neither. To be continued in next Sundays bulletin