The Road of Happy Destiny ries of sermons over the course of...

Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church

Falls Church, Virginia

The Road of Happy Destiny

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

As we celebrate the birth of Life and Light,

as well as the beginning of a new year (may it be

blessed!), I thought I would share with you a little

behind the scenes information and give you a pre-

view of the next three months or so. Many of you

know that I have been enrolled at St. Vladimir’s

Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York to

pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree over the last

two and half years. This experience has been one

of the most personally enriching I’ve had in my

priesthood but it has not been primarily for me. But

to equip me better to serve you. I hope it has al-

ready been of some benefit to you in some way,

and I am grateful for the parish’s support in this

worthy pursuit.

Currently I am in the final and most difficult

stage, writing the final project. I humbly ask for

your moral support and invite you to inquire with

me regularly as to my progress—it will help me

keep on track if I know I must give an account! Do

not be afraid to be specific and ask me how many

pages have I written each week! Remember, this

is your investment as well as mine! My final project

is concerned with developing an approach to min-

istry which combine the spiritual insights of the Ho-

ly Fathers such as St. John of the Ladder and the

writers of the Philokalia with the experience,

strength and hope of the 12 Step recovery fellow-

ships, the first of which is Alcoholics Anonymous.

You may recall that in 2009 I began a se-

ries of sermons over the course of nine weeks,

beginning on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son and

ending on Palm Sunday that dealt with the 12

Steps as a roadmap for Christian repentance. That

was the beginning of my investigation of this

theme and I hope those of you who were present

have found much benefit in them. 8 years later,

there are many of you have not heard these ser-

mons (nor remember them particularly even if you

had!) and also, my own experience with both the

Fathers and the 12 steps has deepened.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce the

return of the “Sinaholics Anonymous” series in

2017, in a new and expanded form beginning Jan-

uary 8 and running all the way to Palm Sunday,

April 9. With your feedback, this series will eventu-

ally provide a major portion of the “applied minis-

try” component of the final project. (The other ma-

jor component was the Adult Education course of-

fered last Fall, “Defense Against the Dark Arts.”)

My prayer is that this may be a coopera-

tive, community effort for the building up Christ’s

Holy Church and the equipping of the saints, start-

ing with our own parish family. You may not be

sure if this topic will have anything to say to you…

I encourage you to have an open mind and come

anyway. Sometimes you have to bring the body

first and the spirit follows. Again, I beseech your

prayers and input throughout the weeks to come.

May God enrich us all through the words of

the Scriptures and the lives of those who have re-

pented, even those considered lost and least

among us!

—Fr. David

2

January Birthdays:

Greg Zimmerli

Christina Jatras

Armand Scala II

Dionne Manos

Demitri Apodaca

Mina Coleman

Rodica Morosanu

Adrian Apodaca

Maria Lerner

Luna Asghedom

Anne Wright

Kristine Lorentz

Toni Robertson

January Anniversaries:

Sarah & Arthur Zimmerli

January Saint’s Name

Days

7 St. John the Baptist:

Ioana Lutai

12 St. Tatiana, Martyr in

Rome-Dsa.Tanya

Danilchick

14 St. Nina the Enlight-

ener of Georgia: Nina

Apodaca

21 St. Maximus the Con-

fessor: Maximus Masick

21 St. Agnes: Ursula Rij

February Birthdays:

Nick Jones

Elaine Devine

Ursula Rij

Forest Thola

Nishan Asghedom

Hayden Birchfield

Susan Zimmerli Matelski

Lauren Chadwick

Eugene Ephraim Huang

Alethea Tan

Gregory Lutai

Maria Rosca

George Codrea Jr.

Thomas Robertson

Jonathan Jacobson

Paula Yuskavage

February Anniversaries:

Christopher & Marilyn

Marie Thomas

The Veil

A Ministry of The Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church

Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, OCA Archbishop NATHANIEL of Detroit, Hierarch

Parish Priest: Rev. Fr. David G. Subu, Parish Deacons: Prodn. Peter Danilchick, Dn. Nicholas

Dujmovic Sub-Deacon Nicholas Jones, Int. Choir Dir.

Ken Liu, Parish Council President Irene Liu & Renee Lerner, Church School Principals 7223 Roosevelt Ave, Falls Church, Virginia 22042

703.280.0770 (Office) www.stmaryorthodox.org [email protected]

2016 Nativity

Flower Donations

In Memory of

Fr. George and Psa. Adriana Calciu

Cecilia, David, Ivan, and Tsvetanka

Joseph Sikorski, John and Kathryn Sikorski, Stephen and Anna Salask,

Peter and Florentina Kozemchak

Barbara, Martin, George, Florence, Martin, Martha, Karl, Luise, Douglas, Otto, Edith,

Mary, Dmitri, Anna, Bogdan, Nicholas, Rich-ard, Clinton, Eleanor, Margaret, and Elaine

Julie, Mary, and Raymond King

Sue Lettow

Ovidiu, Dimitrie, and Ionut

Julietta, Antoneta, Niculaie, and Adriana

Andrew, Elizabeth, Lydia, Sonia, Mary, Michael, Andrew, Tekla, Nicholas, Constan-

tine, Ann, Alice, Mary, Nellie, Frederick, Earl, Carol, Fred, Lulabelle, Jeannette,

Lonzo, Kent, and all of the departed mem-bers of the Sweet and Konon families

Esperanza, Vesaline, Nicholas, Stephan, all of the departed members of the Sarenac

family, and those who have no one else to pray for them

Mother Theodora, Julia, Paul

Members of the Yuskavage and Tapyrik families

In Honor of

Grandmother Eugenia



http://www.stmaryorthodox.org/mailto:[email protected]

3

THANK YOU to all who supported

St. Juliana Fellowship Soup Luncheon

Due to your generosity, we collected $2,340.00!

50% will be donated to Floyd Frantz in Roma-nia who started a 12-step program and trains others to lead meetings.

50% will be donated to Jennifer Rice, a re-

cent graduate of Holy Cross Seminary. Jen-nifer is fund raising to begin her first year in Guatemala.

Thank you to the soup cooks, the servers, those who cleaned up afterwards, those who at-tended the luncheon and those who made a do-nation.

We couldn’t have had a successful event without YOU.

Next St. Juliana Fellowship Meeting:

January 8, 2017

Everyone is encouraged to attend. The

Fellowship invites new members to bring new and

exciting ideas and new life to the Fellowship.

Please join us for election of officers and

setting the calendar for 2017 activities. Twice a

year, during lent we hold a soup luncheon with all

proceeds given to designated OCMC missionar-

ies. Proceeds earned from this year’s annual

yard sale this year was donated towards church

renovations to accessibility for parishioners and

visitors to our church.

—Carolyn Pritchyk, Auxiliary President

Call to Order of the

Annual Parish Assembly

Protection of the Holy Mother of God

Orthodox Church

7223 Roosevelt Ave., Falls Church, VA

22042

FY 2016 Parish Assembly Agenda (Proposed)

Sunday, January 29, 2017

12:00 PM until completion of business

Opening Prayer

Roll Call

Approval of Parliamentarian and

Tellers

Review and Approval of January

2017 Parish Council Minutes

Pastor’s Report

Deacons’ Reports

Parish Council President’s Report

St. Juliana Fellowship Report

Church School Report

Group Ministry Reports

Strategic development Report

Auditors’ Report

Treasurer’s Report

Recommended 2017 Budget Pro-

posal from the Parish Council

Recommended 2017 Parish Council

Slate and Election of the Parish

Council

Election of Delegates to the 2017-

18 Episcopate Congress

Adjournment and Closing Prayer

parishioners must be officially enrolled

as a member 6+ months and be in good

standing in order to vote at the Assem-

bly.



4

Road to Inner Stillness

Anna Caraveli

(From our Book Study on Fridays at noon. )

St. John of Karpathos—For the Encouragement of the Monks in India who had Written to Him: One Hundred Texts

The Fathers tell us that every sin and path to des-pair begins with a single thought. It is in this realm of un-controllable thoughts that flood us at every moment of the day that the scene of our spiritual warfare is located. Engaging with these thoughts even for a minute opens the floodgate and, before long, they become habits and drive our lives.

Dwelling on perceived insults against us, jealousy, career advancement, self- pity over wrongs suffered, con-trol of our children or spouses, etc. can become addic-tive. The more we indulge the angrier or more envious we become and despair sets in. John alerts us to the dan-ger but fills us with hope and courage.

Why should the devil be the tormentor and we his pas-sive victims? he asks. Have we considered that we can reverse roles and become his tormentors instead?

79. We are aware of the torment that the enemy frequently inflicts upon us visibly or invisibly. But we do not perceive the torment and anguish that we inflict upon him, when we sometimes succeed in practicing the virtues, when we repent over our transgressions or show long-suffering and perseverance in our difficul-ties, pierce him to the heart…

John empowers us to be fierce warriors using as weapons is discipline, war and hope. When in despair, our clouded vision fails to recognize God’s mercy and love.

81. Sometimes our soul grows despondent at the huge swarm of its sins and temptations, and says, ‘Our hope is gone and we are lost’ (Ezek. 37:11 LXX). Yet God, who does not despair of our salvation, says to us: ‘You shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord’ (Ezek. 37:6).

But our God-given nature aims at goodness. If we main-tain hope, no amount of adversity can derail us.

84…But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise again each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death.

He illustrates this point through the contrast between

Judas and Peter--two men who sinned against Christ by denying him, and who came to a point of painful recogni-tion of the nature of their sin. Yet Judas despaired of for-giveness and salvation and hence was incapable of true repentance. Without the hope of forgiveness and renew-al motivating you to change your ways, there can be no real repentance; and without repentance, there is way out of darkness and into a new life. Unlike Judas, Peter grieved but did not lose hope. Instead of giving up, he repented and transformed his life, becoming the rock of the church.

85. The traitor Judas was a defeatist, inexperi-enced in spiritual warfare; as a result, he was reduced to despair by the enemy’s onslaught, and he went and hanged himself. Peter, on the other hand, was a firm rock: although brought down by a terrible fall, yet be-cause of his experience in spiritual warfare he was not broken by despair, but leaping up he shed bitter tears from a contrite and humiliated heart. And as soon as our enemy saw them, he recoiled as if his eyes had been burnt by searing flames, and he took to flight howling and lamenting.

It is hard to block out the noise that has become part of the way we think and become impervious to anger, envy or praise. Yet in a beautiful passage John reassures us that “the holy place of God” and ‘all the glory of the king’s daughter is within.’ It is within our power to resist evil and to pull ourselves up from the depths of despair no matter how many times we fall.

In the end, the ultimate destination that makes

our spiritual warfare worthwhile is love. Freed from passions and nourished by hope we can experience God’s love in its fullness. And when our heart is open and filled with love, there is no room for hopeless-ness and despair. Judas is tortured by his betrayal of

*The Philokalia (in Greek "love of the beautiful, the good") is a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centu-ries by the Fathers of the Orthodox Church. They are the foundation of Hesychasm ("quietness" or “stillness”), a spir-itual tradition based on the practice of prayer, contempla-tion and the repetition of the Jesus prayer to journey from “noise” to inner stillness. By emptying ourselves from pas-sions and the tyranny of destructive thoughts and habits that embed them in our souls, we can experience divine love and union with God.



5

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 • St. Basil/ Circumci-sion of the Lord • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School

2

3

4 • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 7:30pm Vespers • 7:40pm - 9pm Adult Education/ Catechesis

5 • Theophany Eve (strict fast) • 6pm - 8pm Vesperal Liturgy with blessing of water

6 • Theophany • 10:30am - 11:30am Festal Liturgy with blessing of waters • 12pm - 1pm Book Study

7 • St. John Bap-tist • 10:30am - 11:30am Divine Liturgy • 12pm - 4pm Youth group/ St. John Dinner prep • 5pm - 6:30pm Vespers with Group Confes-sion

8 • Sunday after The-ophany • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 12pm - 1pm St. John Dinner/ SJF Meeting

9 • House Bless-ings Available • 7pm - 8pm Byzantine Chant Class

10 • House Bless-ings Available • 10am - 12pm Office Hours


12 • House Blessings Available • 10am - 12pm Office Hours

13 • 12pm - 1pm Book Study

14 • House Bless-ings Available • St. Nina • 10am - 11am Divine Liturgy • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

15 • St. Paul of Thebes • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12pm Visit of M. Maria of Uganda • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School


17 • House Bless-ings Available • St. Anthony the Great • 10am - 12pm Office Hours




21 • House Bless-ings Available • St. Maximus Confessor • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

22 • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School • 5:30pm - 7:30pm Young in Faith


24 • House Bless-ings Available • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 8:30pm Women's Bible Study




28 • House Bless-ings Available • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

29 • Zaccheaus • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 12pm - 2pm Parish Assembly

30 • House Bless-ings Available • Three Hier-archs • 7am - 8am Divine Liturgy • 7pm - 8pm Byzantine Chant Class


1 • St. Brigid of Kildare • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 8pm Great Vespers with litya • 7:40pm - 9pm Adult Education/ Catechesis

2 • Meeting of the Lord • House Blessings Available • 10:30am - 12pm Festal Liturgy with Blessing of Can-dles

3 • Righteous Sime-on and Anna • 12pm - 1pm Book Study

4 • House Bless-ings Available • 5pm - 6pm Vespers with Group Confes-sion

January 2017

6

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

29 • Zaccheaus • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 12pm - 2pm Parish Assembly

30 • House Bless-ings Available • Three Hierarchs • 7am - 8am Divine Liturgy • 7pm - 8pm Byzantine Chant Class


1 • St. Brigid of Kildare • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 8pm Great Vespers with litya • 7:40pm - 9pm Adult Education/ Catechesis

2 • Meeting of the Lord • House Blessings Available • 10:30am - 12pm Festal Liturgy with Blessing of Candles

3 • Righteous Sim-eon and Anna • 12pm - 1pm Book Study

4 • House Bless-ings Available • 5pm - 6pm Vespers with Group Confes-sion

5 • Publican and Phari-see • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School






11 • House Bless-ings Available • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

12 • Prodigal Son • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School

13 • Clergy Confre-treat (office closed) • 7pm - 8pm Byzantine Chant Class

14 • Clergy Confre-treat (office closed)

15 • Clergy Confre-treat (office closed) • 7pm - 7:30pm Vespers • 7:40pm - 9pm Adult Education/ Catechesis

16 • St. Nicholas of Japan • Clergy Confre-treat (office closed)

17 • Clergy Confre-treat (office closed)

18 • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

19 • Last Judgment/ Meatfare • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School

20 • 7pm - 8pm Byzantine Chant Class

21 • 10am - 12pm Office Hours


23 • St. Polycarp of Smyrna • 10am - 12pm Office Hours


25 • 5pm - 6pm Vespers

26 • Cheesefare • 9am - 10am Choir Practice • 10am - 11:40am Divine Liturgy • 11:40am - 12:30pm Fellowship/Church School

27 • First Day of Great Lent • 7pm - 8:30pm Great Canon

28 • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 8:30pm Great Canon

1 • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 10:30am - 11:30am Pre-sanctified Liturgy • 7pm - 8:30pm Great Canon

2 • 10am - 12pm Office Hours • 7pm - 8:30pm Great Canon

3 • 10:30am - 11:30am Pre-sanctified Liturgy • 12pm - 1pm Book Study

4 • St. Theodore Saturday • 10am - 11am Divine Liturgy • 5pm - 6:30pm Vespers with Group Confes-sion

February 2017

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Home Blessings/Liturgy Commemorations

Please fill out the form below in preparation for house blessings. Those named will also be remembered in the Divine Liturgy throughout the year. First names only. Please Print.

Family Name: ______________________________ Year Submitted: __________

Health and Blessings for: (Living)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In honor and memory of: (Departed)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the Home Blessing: Have this list, a lit candle, an Icon, and a medium sized bowl of fresh water on a clean table ready. The head of the household should lead the priest through the house with the candle at the appropriate time.

Protectio n of the Hol y Mother of God Orthodox Church

FALLS Church, Virginia

8

THE VEIL

St. Mary Orthodox Church

7223 Roosevelt Avenue

Falls Church, Virginia 22042

Happy New year!

St. John’s Dinner

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8th

Join us and the St. Mary’s Youth group as we celebrate the Mew year with tradition-al Eastern European Foods to support the Pro Vita Orphanage in Valea Plopului, Ro-mania.

Menu

Sarmale (Romanian Stuffed Cabbage) Schmidt’s New Year’s Sausage (Artisan

made, straight from Harrisburg, PA) Mamaliga cu Branza (Polenta with

Cheese) Fasole Frecata (Refried Northern

Beans) Apa Minerala (Mineral Water)

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