Sunday, March 31, 2024

2nd Sunday of Great Lent: St Gregory Palamas

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March 2024

As we begin the month of March, we are already in the preparation Sundays for the Great Fast. We tend to look at the Fasts as an inconvenience in our lives, but the Great Fast is supposed to disrupt our life, to make us realize how much we need to rely on Christ and not the things of the world. The season of the Great Fast and the Holy Week Fast is the time of preparation for the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. If we just go through the motions of the Fast, not really participating in it, and then approach the Resurrection of Christ as just another Sunday service then we will have missed the opportunity to work on our soul and purify it. Without this proper preparation, the deeper meaning of Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection is lost. This is a time we renew ourselves through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a time that we take a deep look into ourselves, which should bring us to repentance, to a real changing of our minds, hearts, and deeds in obedience to Christ and his teachings. It is the time, most of all, of our return to the great commandments of loving God and our neighbors. In the Orthodox Church, Great Lent is not a season of morbidity and gloominess. On the contrary, it is a time of joyfulness and purification. We are called to “anoint our faces” and to “cleanse our bodies as we cleanse our souls.” The very first hymns of the very first service of Great Lent set the proper tone of the season:

Let us begin the Lenten time with delight . . . let us fast from passions as we fast from food, taking pleasure in the good words of the Spirit, that we may be granted to see the holy passion of Christ our God and his holy Pascha, spiritually rejoicing.

As St John Chrysostom tells us, the fast is not only abstinence from food but all sins. The fast should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands, and all members of the body. The eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip, and the hands from acts of injustice, it is useless to fast from foods, and yet to indulge in criticism and slander. It is our repentance that God desires, not our remorse. We sorrow for our sins, but we do so in the joy of God’s mercy. We mortify our flesh, but we do so in the joy of our resurrection into life everlasting. We make ready for the resurrection during Great Lent, both Christ’s Resurrection and our own. May we all have a spiritually beneficial Great Fast!

Fr. Mikel

 

Today's Saints >

 

Regular Services

Saturday: Vespers, 5:00 pm

Sunday: Divine Liturgy, 9:00 am

 

Address

1614 E. Monte Vista Rd.

Phoenix, Az 85006

 

Phone / Email

Fr. Mikel: 907-444-8545

Church: 602-253-9515

 

Directions To Saints Peter & Paul

 

Schedule of Upcoming Services

Weds March 27th 540pm 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Fri March 29th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Sat March 30th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy 5pm Vespers
Sun March 31st 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy

Pan-Orthodox Vespers

March 31 - 6pm St. John the Baptist, Romanian Orthodox Church
Weds April 3rd 540pm 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Fri April 5th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Sat April 6th 5 pm Vespers

Sun April 7th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy

Pan-Orthodox Vespers

April 7 - 6pm St. Sava, Serbian Orthodox Church

Weds April 10th 540pm 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Fri April 12th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Sat April 13th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy 5pm Vespers
Sun April 14th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy

Pan-Orthodox Vespers

April 14 - 6pm St. Katherine, Greek Orthodox Church

Weds April 17th 540pm 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Fri April 19th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Sat April 20th 10am Baptisms 5pm Vespers
Sun April 21st 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy

Pan-Orthodox Vespers

April 21 - 6pm Sts. Peter & Paul, Orthodox Church

Weds April 24th 540pm 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy
Fri April 26th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy 6pm Matins
Sat April 27th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy 5pm Vespers Blessing of Palms
Sun April 28th 840am Hours/Divine Liturgy Noon or so Bridegroom Matins

Mon April 29th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy 6pm Bridegroom Matins
Tues April 30th 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy 6pm Bridegroom Matins
Weds May 1st 840am 9th Hour/Presanctified Liturgy 6pm Matins
Thurs May 2nd 840am 9th Hour/Vesperal Liturgy 6pm Matins w/12 Gospels
Fri May 3rd 8am Royal Hours 4pm Vespers 6pm Matins w/Lamentations
Sat May 4th 840am 9th Hour/Vesperal Liturgy 11:30pm Nocturns/
Sun May 5th 12:01am Procession/Matins /Hours /Divine Liturgy/Blessing of
Baskets in the Hall 1pm Vespers
Mon May 6th 850am Hours/Divine Liturgy

Donations
Photos

Visit of Metropolitan Tikhon - 11/03/2019

(110 images)


Parish News
 
Announcements
 

This Week...

March 23, 2024

Bible Study/Class will be on Mon and Tues evenings at 6 starting March 25th &26th, then in April class will be 1st &2nd, 8th & 9th, 15th & 16th, 22nd & 23rd. And then back to Weds on May 15th.

The Great Fast has begun, and Presanctified Liturgies will be held on Weds Evenings during the Fast, please volunteer to bring Lenten meals for after the service.  A sign up sheet will be in the hall near the kitchen. 

On Tuesday the 26th, will be the burial of Barbara Peterson at 1pm at West Resthaven Park Cemetery, W Northern Ave, Glendale, AZ 85301.

A Lenten Soup Sale will be held on March 31st.

 When parking please be courteous and do not block anyone in.  If the church lot is full you may park on the street or across the street at Bamboo Bakery.

On April 21st St Peter and Paul will host the Pan-Orthodox Vespers at 6pm.  Please mark this on your calendars.

 April 20th at 6:30 pm at Pollack Cinema in Tempe for a viewing of "Sacred Alaska" and "Amphilochios Saint of Patmos." Here is the link for ticket purchases: Sacred Alaska and Amphilochios Saint of Patmos

Please remember to tithe, this is very important. The tithe goes into the operating budget to keep the church running, and in this way we are able to bring Christ to the community.    

For the value of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially disparages it. Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works! Is it said by what kind of works? If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see an enemy, be reconciled to him! If you see a friend gaining honor, envy him not! If you see a handsome woman, pass her by! For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. 

St John Chrysostom

 

The Mission of The Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church, is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

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The Holy Scripture is a collection of books written over multiple centuries by those inspired by God to do so. It is the primary witness to the Orthodox Christian faith, within Holy Tradition and often described as its highest point. It was written by the prophets and apostles in human language, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and collected, edited, and canonized by the Church.

Daily Readings >

Holiness or sainthood is a gift (charisma) given by God to man, through the Holy Spirit. Man's effort to become a participant in the life of divine holiness is indispensable, but sanctification itself is the work of the Holy Trinity, especially through the sanctifying power of Jesus Christ, who was incarnate, suffered crucifixion, and rose from the dead, in order to lead us to the life of holiness, through the communion with the Holy Spirit.

Today's Saints >

Saints Peter & Paul Orthodox Church
1614 E Monte Vista Road
Phoenix, Arizona 85006