glory. May our eyes be cast, this August, upon the Holy Virgin who lived the
deified life. May our .... glory hidden beneath the pain of the crucifixion. Rather ...
The Saint Andrew News St. Andrew Orthodox Church - Riverside, CA Dear St. Andrew Parishioners, The Lord's blessing be with each of you in these wonderful August days. We are soon to celebrate the Holy Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord was transfigured on top of Mt. Tabor, and there we see the glory of human nature when united hypostatically with divinity. There our Lord was joined by the Holy God-Seer and Prophet Moses and the Holy Prophet Elias. Both of these men had climbed mountains before: Sinai and Horeb. Both had seen remarkable sights. Moses beheld the mountain shake, the dark cloud, the earthquake, the frightful voice, the lightning, the thunder! Elias saw the fire of God descend! But neither Moses nor Elias had ever seen anything as great and glorious as our Lord's Transfiguration. They had a foretaste but now they gazed upon the salvation of the human race. In prayer, called the "divinizing virtue" by the Holy Fathers, our Lord Jesus was radiant with the uncreated energies of God. His flesh was permeated with divine light brighter than the sun. And there in this deified existence our Lord, Moses and Elias spoke about our Lord's coming Passion, His suffering, His Crucifixion, His Self-Offering and Holy Oblation for the sins of the world on the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.
Prayer, suffering, Unspeakable Glory.
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We celebrate the transfiguration in the midst of the two-week Dormition Fast, in the month of August which is almost completely dedicated to honoring our Most Pure and Holy Lady, Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. She is the best example of theosis, of deification, of a life united to God in imitation of Jesus Christ. And she too was glorified in and through the Cross of our Savior and in and through the smaller cross that Jesus gave to His own mother. Her cross was a sword which pierced her heart, as she beheld her precious Son betrayed, mocked, and murdered. She bore her sufferings in faith, and through them became the Queen of the Heavens. May our eyes be cast, this August, upon our Lord's glory. May our eyes be cast, this August, upon the Holy Virgin who lived the deified life. May our eyes be cast, this August, upon the Lord's Precious Cross and our own cross which we bear in His name and for His sake and may we all find the glory which is our destiny. Fr Josiah
Volume 19 Issue 8 August 2010 Published Monthly
St. Andrew Orthodox Church of Riverside is a parish of the Selfruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, the See of the Right Reverend Bishop JOSEPH. Saturdays: Great Vespers, 5:30 p.m. Sundays: Matins, 9 a.m. Divine Liturgy, 10 a.m. Feast Days: Liturgy, 6 p.m. On Eve of Feast Church School follows The Divine Liturgy For additional services and events, and for the latest updates, go to www.saintandrew.net
4700 Canyon Crest Drive Riverside, CA 92507 (951) 369-0309 V. Rev. Josiah Trenham, pastor Submit articles to the editor at
[email protected]
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Meditation on the Transfiguration By Dr. Jacob Affolter In my first years as an Orthodox Christian, I failed to notice the position of the Feast of the Transfiguration. Its position in the Liturgical Year closely parallels its position in the Gospels. In all three Synoptic Gospels, the Transfiguration leads quickly to one of Christ’s prophecies of the Cross. In the Gospel of Matthew, it leads first to Christ’s lament over someone’s lack of faith, and then to a prophecy of the Cross. As the Synaxarion notes, there is a tradition that the Transfiguration occurred forty days before the Crucifixion. For this reason, the Church has placed the Feast of the Transfiguration between two festivals dedicated to the Cross. Forty days after Transfiguration, we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross. Five days before Transfiguration, we commemorate the Procession of the Life-Giving Cross.
beheld Christ’s revelation of his glory “as far as they could bear”. What the Apostle Peter did not understand was that Christ was about to reveal his glory in a manner beyond anything that men or angels had seen. The Lord himself was going to undergo betrayal, pain, and death such as no man has ever experienced. He himself would bear the weight of the sins of all mankind. And yet, this act did not show weakness, but rather the greatest strength that the world will ever know. It was the strength of the only love strong enough to conquer death.
Like the Gospels, the hymns of the Church emphasize the relationship between the Transfiguration and the Cross. In Matins for Transfiguration, parish practice calls for the chanters to sing the Canon of the Cross, along with the Kontakion of the Transfiguration. The Kontakion points out that one of the purposes of the Transfiguration was to help the disciples to understand the meaning of the Cross. As it says, “You were transfigured … that when they beheld thee crucified, they would know that thy passion was voluntary.”
What the Gospel and the hymns of the Church show us is that in the end the Transfiguration is not the deepest revelation of God’s glory. Rather, the Transfiguration is a small foretaste of the greater exaltation of the Cross. As the Kontakion says, “You were transfigured … that when they beheld thee crucified, they would know that thy passion was voluntary, and would know that thou in truth are the fullness of the Father’s glory.” I would suggest that this hymn does not just mean that the Transfiguration would remind them that Christ was the fullness of the Father’s glory. Rather, it means that it would enable them to see that the cross is a manifestation of the Father’s glory. The Kontakion could simply mean that when they saw the crucifixion, the memory of the Transfiguration comforted them and gave them hope of the Resurrection. However, I expect that the Kontakion implies something more. It implies that the Lord’s Transfiguration was not a glory hidden beneath the pain of the crucifixion. Rather, it shows that our Lord’s passion was an even greater manifestation of the Father’s glory.
The emphasis on the Cross helps us to understand the true meaning of the Crucifixion. All three accounts in the Gospels emphasize that the Apostle Peter asked the Lord that they build tents and remain on the mountain. Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid explains that the Apostle did this because he did not want the Lord to come down from the mountain and be crucified. Blessed Theophylact’s comment sheds light on the Gospel’s statement that the Apostle Peter did not know what he was saying. The Apostle Peter had just
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2011 Parish Life Conference and Creative Festivals Theme for the 2011 Parish Life Conference and All Creative Festivals is “Be Mindful, O Lord, of the priesthood, the diaconate and every priestly rank.” (From the Anaphora of St. Basil the Great). For more information on these themes see http://www.antiochian.org/ festivals. The 2011 Parish Life Conference will be hosted collaboratively by St. Mark Church of Irvine and St. Barnabas Church of Costa Mesa and will meet right here in So. Cal. next June at the Irvine Marriott.
Our host pastors guarantee it will be fun in the OC sun!
The Bible Bowl study theme is the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew as found in “The Orthodox Study Bible.” Go to: http:// www.orthodoxyouth.org/matthew/ Study guides and quizzes will begin appearing in September and will be uploaded on a weekly basis— one chapter per week.
St. Andrew Temple Construction Progress:
Note the brown trim on the Main Dome as painting progresses and the red tiles stacked on top of the roof ready to be installed.
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61 Major Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled in the Life of JESUS CHRIST Jesus Christ (and His apostles) pointed to prophecy as one means of substantiating His claim to Messiah, Savior of mankind (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39-40; Matthew 26:56; 2 Peter 1:19-20). When the “fullness of time” came (Gal. 4:4), Jesus fulfilled all 300 predictions from the Old Testament as the coming Messiah, 61 of which were Major Messianic prophecies. When applying the modern science of probability, the chances of just eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in only one person would be one chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Hence, coincidence is ruled out. (See Science Speaks by Peter W. Stoner)
trial,
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trial,
St. Andrew Monthly Income and Expense Report for May & June 2010 May General Fund
May Building Fund
Income
$24,777.00
Income
$26,444.24
Expense
$18,040.18
Expense
$187,134.90
June General Fund
June Building Fund
Income
$16,511.80
Income
$16,499.84
Expense
$41,399.56
Expense
$182,389.71
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St. Andrew Community News, May, June & July 2010... Two of the stars of the festivities: Sylvana Debassai modeling her Eritrean costume and Ben Alcala serenading the attendees with a Spanish love song!
On May 8, the parishioners of St. Andrew and their guests enjoyed another successful International Dinner Dance. Traditions represented were American, Eritrean, South of the Border and Middle Eastern.
From June 30 to July 4th, parishioners of St. Andrew joined their brothers and sisters from around the diocese at the Parish Life Conference where they worshipped together as well as conducted business while having fun to boot! Way to go Jim and Regina!
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AXIOS! HE IS WORTHY! MUSTAHIQ! On Sunday, June 20, 2010 , Reader Daniel Meyer was ordained to the Subdiaconate and then to the Diaconate by the laying on of the hands of His Grace Bishop JOSEPH during a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. Deacon Daniel and his family are spending their Summer in Riverside where Deacon is once again serving as summer youth director at St. Andrew Church. In the fall they will head back to St. Tikhon’s Seminary where Deacon Daniel will complete his third and final year of theological studies. May God grant him and his family many years!
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE…. THE PREACHER’S DONKEY In a small town a man bought a donkey from the town’s preacher. The preacher informed the man that this donkey was trained in a very special way suitable for a preacher’s donkey. The only way it will walk is to tell it “Alleluia”, and the only way it will stop is to tell it “Amen”. The man was very happy with this rare find and immediately got on the donkey to try it out and followed the preachers instructions. Sure enough, the donkey started walking when he shouted “Alleluia” and stopped when he shouted “Amen”. He completed the transaction and went on his way riding the donkey in the mountains for a very long distance until he got close to the edge of a cliff. Suddenly, he could not remember the word to make the donkey stop. He cried “stop, stop, stop”, but the donkey kept on going. As they got closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, he remembered that it had something to do with the church. He cried “Church”, “Bible”, “Altar”, “please stop”, but the donkey kept on going. By then the man was sure that he was going to fall off the cliff and die, so he started praying fervently: “Lord, please make the donkey stop, make him stop before we fall off the cliff, please God, in Jesus’ name, Amen”. At hearing the word “Amen”, the donkey stopped just short of the edge. The man was so happy, he screamed “Alleluia”. Well, you know what happened next!!!!
St. Andrew Orthodox Church 4700 Canyon Crest Drive Riverside, CA 92507
