The Orthodox Messenger

Vol. IX, No. 07 – Sunday, February 21, 2010

Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church - Presentation of Christ at the Temple

The Hellenic Orthodox Mission of Hernando County, Florida – “A Pan-Orthodox Christian Community”

Ecumenical Patriarchate + Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America + Metropolis of Atlanta

Church Location: 13460 Olympic Village Lane, Brooksville, FL 34614 + 352-796-8482

Website: http://orthodoxhernandocountyfl.org

THE SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT

n this day, the Orthodox Church commemorates the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council which dealt with the controversy regarding icons and their place in Orthodox worship. It was convened in Nicaea in 787 and was attended by 367 bishops.

   Almost a century before this, a controversy had shaken the foundations of both Church and State in the Byzantine empire. Excessive religious respect and the ascribed miracles to icons by some members of society, approached the point of worship (due only to God) and idolatry. This provoked excesses at the other extreme by which icons were completely taken out of the life of the Church by the Iconoclasts (“Breakers of Icons”). The Iconophiles (“Friends of Icons”), on the other-hand, believed that icons served to preserve the teachings of the Church; they saw icons to be man's dynamic way of expressing the divine through art and beauty. The Council decided that icons should be venerated but not worshipped. The decree of the Council gives us the rationale for using and venerating icons in the Orthodox Church to this very day:

   "We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype. We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor, but not of real worship (latreia), which is reserved for God alone. The veneration accorded to an icon is in effect transmitted to the prototype; he who venerates the icon, venerates in it the reality for which it stands".

 

Service Hours: Sundays and Feast Days: Orthros at 9:30 a.m.; Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

TRIODION – CHEESEFARE SUNDAY – Gospel Entrance & Other Hymns

Divine liturgy of st. basil

Dismissal Hymn of the Feast

  Sung in Greek before the Entrance by the Leader “Ten Achranton Ekona Sou . . .”

Dismissal Hymn of the Resurrection -  4^th Tone

   (Sing in English after the Entrance) “When the tidings . . . ”. Hymnal, 84-85.

Dismissal Hymn of the Feast

    (Read) We venerate Your immaculate icon, / O good Lord, / and entreat You  to forgive our offences, / O Christ our God. / By Your own choice / you were pleased to ascend the Cross / in the flesh, to deliver us, / whom You created, / from our slavery to the foe. / Therefore we cry to you with gratitude: / You have filled all things with joy, / O our Savior, / by coming to save the world.

Dismissal Hymn of the Presentation of Christ – See paper in the pews.

Kontakion of the Feast

  Sing in Greek “Te Ypermacho . . .” Hymnal, 98-99

   (Read) To you as champion / unto victory invincible, / your City offers thanks, / giving unto you. / From our trials Theotokos / have you redeemed us / for you possess invincible might and power. / From all dangers Theotokos deliver us, / as we cry unto you – Hail O Bride unwedded!

EPISTLE – Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-40 (Sunday of Orthodoxy)

rethren, By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets --  who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated -- of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.