St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKinney,
Texas
Electronic Newsletter
January 31/ February 13 2011
Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
Commemorations, past week, coming weeks
Schedule of Divine Services in the Coming week
Who is St. Valentine?
The secular
commemoration of Valentine's Day originates with the Roman Catholic observance
of the memory of St. Valentine, an early Roman martyr. The Orthodox Church also
commemorates St. Valentine, but at a different time in the year.
St. Valentine's life, like that of all the martyrs, exhibits love
for God taken to the end, for "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). St. Valentine, according to popular
accounts of his life, suffered in prison during a time of persecution because of his
love for Christ.
Near the end of the saint's life, the account goes, he cured a
young girl of blindness after first restoring her spiritual sight by bringing her to
know our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of his life, he left her a letter exhorting
her to hold fast to Christ -- a letter signed "from your Valentine."
The best way to honor St. Valentine's memory is then to follow his
example and heed his exhortation to hold fast to Christ. The first and greatest
commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart. Let us then, on this
day when the world celebrates commercialized romantic love, reaffirm first of all our
love for God by honoring Him first.
Monday evening is the Vigil service for the Feast of the Meeting
of our Lord. On this day we celebrate the time when our Lord -- as a child 6 weeks
old -- was brought into the temple and held in the arms of St. Symeon, who proclaimed
his ministry as Savior of the world. Let us gather together in the holy temple to
sing His praises, at the same time preparing our souls to love Him more deeply and
looking ahead to our celebration of His Cross, Resurrection and Ascension in the
coming months.
More on St. Valentine can be found
here.
Announcements
Fr. Seraphim will be at the Monastery of the Holy Cross in West
Virginia this week, for a much needed retreat. Our usual Wednesday and Thursday
services will be canceled.
We will have reader's services for the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord
on Tuesday:
- 6:30 Monday: Vigil
- 9:00 Tuesday: Typica
Our new facility brings with it many new maintenance and upkeep tasks. Matushka
Marina and Reader David Hawthorne need volunteers to help get all
the work done.If you can give a few hours of our time to help care for God's house,
please contact Matushka Marina, Reader David or Deacon Nicholas and we'll tell you
how you can help.
We have updated our list of things our parish needs. If
you or somebody you know wish to supply one of these items, please contact us.
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), President of the Department for External Affairs of
the Moscow Patriarchate, will be in Dallas this weekend for the performance of his
composition, the St. Matthew's Passion. The performance will be held at 5:30pm
on Sunday at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas and is free of charge.
Prayer Requests
For the Health and Salvation.
- Kateryna (Kayla) Bayda.
- Alexander (Yuliya Guzman's father)
- David and Elizabeth Ash.
- Priests Jean and Grégoire and all the faithful and suffering of Haiti
For a more complete listing, please see our parish prayer list (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dzgvjb6_16f2pcdrhn).
Commemorations, past week, coming weeks
- Saturday, February 12th is the anniversary of the repose of Ruth Ash. Please pray for her repose.
If you have corrections or additions, e-mail Deacon Nicholas. We would love to announce your birthdays and anniversaries as well, but our records are very incomplete, so please give us this information.
Schedule of Divine Services in the Coming week
Saturday, 2/5.
- Confession, 4pm.
- Vigil, 5pm.
Sunday, 2/12
- Divine Liturgy, 10am
- Church School, 12:45pm (Elementary and Adult)
Monday, 2/13
- Vigil, 6:30pm
Tuesday, 2/14.
- Typika, 9:00AM
Saturday, 2/19.
- Confession, 4pm.
- Vigil, 5pm.
Sunday, 2/20
- Divine Liturgy, 10am
- Church School, 12:45pm (Elementary and High School)
Our ongoing calendar of services
is posted
here:
Our "Redeeming the Time" blog usually has at least several posts
a week - https://www.orthodox.net//redeemingthetime.
NO Fasting in the Coming week
This Sunday we read the Gospel
about the Publican and Pharisee. One of the reminders we are given in this reading
is that our acts of piety -- such as fasting, which is specifically mentioned in
the reading -- do not save us and should cause us to be lifted up with pride.
Rather, we are saved by repentance and by humbly putting all of our hope in
God.
Fasting is important for our spiritual life, and therefore forms one of the
essential disciplines of Great Lent. However, we must not allow ourselves to think
that fasting is a virtue in and of itself or to take pride in our labors.
For this reason, the Church has appointed that the week after the Sunday of the
Publican and the Pharisee be FAST-FREE. Eating freely of all foods during the
coming week, let us reflect on the fact that we are saved by God's grace, received
with humility and repentance. With the proper attitude, we will then be ready to
fast profitably in a few weeks' time.
Permanent links to this document:
https://www.orthodox.net//newsletter/newsletter-2011-03-13-sunday-of-the-publican-and-pharisee.html
https://www.orthodox.net//newsletter/newsletter-2011-03-13-sunday-of-the-publican-and-pharisee.doc
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