Great Prokeimenon for Pentecost Day Vespers
Priest: Peace be unto all.
Deacon: Wisdom! The Great Prokeimenon in the Seventh Tone.
What God is as great as our God? Thou art God Who workest wonders.
Chanters: What God is as great as our God? * Thou art God Who workest wonders.
Deacon: Stichos 1: Thou hast made Thy power known among the peoples
Chanters: What God is as great as our God? * Thou art God Who workest wonders.
Deacon: Stichos 2: And I said: Now have I made a beginning; this change hath been wrought by the right hand of the Most High.
Chanters: What God is as great as our God? * Thou art God Who workest wonders.
Deacon: Stichos 3: I remembered the works of the Lord; for I will remember Thy wonders from the beginning.
Chanters: What God is as great as our God? * Thou art God Who workest wonders.
Deacon: What God is as great as our God?
Chanters: Thou art the God Who workest wonders.
All About Christ
Orthodoxy is about Christ, not religion
Orthodoxy is not a religion, but a way of life that is centered in Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy, as a way of life, has the cure to what ails us and can return us to that state of wholeness that was God’s original intent for human kind. Because Orthodoxy is not about religion, it can offer the transformation of the heart that comes with entering into a relationship with our Creator.
This transformation begins with repentance, that moment when we decide to return to that pure state of communion with God, for which we were created. When we renounce ourselves, we become a different person through the action of God’s grace. Where we became corrupt because of the fall, through repentance we are returned to that state for which we were created.
“One cannot say that Christianity is a religion. Christianity is a revelation of eternity & life. The angels rejoice greatly because God has revealed Himself mystically to His creature, man. Our human nature has become part of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and that is a great gift which we do not even appreciate; instead, we have cleaved to the things of this world. We have been given the opportunity to prepare ourselves for eternity, to vanquish evil, and to always be with our Heavenly Father (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica).”
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Words of compassion from Metropolitan Gerasimos regarding the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Beloved in the Lord,
Our country endured another tragedy with the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida this weekend. The lives of 49 innocent people were lost, with over 50 more injured, amidst the sad anticipation that the death toll from this senseless crime will increase.
These acts of violence – be they hate crimes or terrorism – are becoming far too frequent headlines in our news. Friends and families are mourning the loss of their loved ones, and our nation once again responds in a unified voice that violence of any nature will not be tolerated.
May God’s mercy and healing be granted upon all those who are suffering as a result of this horrific crime, and we beseech the Lord that peace may one day triumph in our world.
With Love in Christ,
+ G E R A S I M O S
Metropolitan of San Francisco
Sunday June 19, 2016 / June 6, 2016
Pentecost – Trinity Sunday.
“Lesna” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1696) (movable holiday on the Trinity Sunday).
Holy Fathers and Mothers of Atchara (18th c.) (movable holiday on the Trinity Sunday) (Georgia).
Venerable Bessarion the Wonderworker of Egypt (466).
Venerable Hilarion the New, abbot of the Dalmatian Monastery (845).
Venerable Raphael confessor (1957).
St. Jonah, bishop of Perm (1470).
Venerable Paisius, abbot, of Uglich (1504).
Venerable Jonah, abbot of Klimetz (1534).
Virgin-martyrs Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna, beheaded at Salerno (293).
“Pimen” Icon of the Mother of God (was brought to Moscow from Constantinople in 1381 by Metropolitan Pimen).
Five virgins of Caesarea in Palestine: Martha, Mary, Cyria, Valeria, and Marcia (Greek).
Venerable Attalus the wonderworker (Greek).
Martyr Gelasius (Greek).
Venerable Photius, monk (Greek).
St. Justus, patriarch of Alexandria (130).
Martyrs Amandus, Amantius, Alexander, Lucius, Alexander, Alexandria, Donatus, and Peregrius at Noviodunum in Scythia Minor (320).
St. Claudius of Besancon (699) (Gaul).
St. Basil of Mangazea, Siberia (1602).
St. Jarlath of Cluain Fois (560) (Celtic & British).
Scripture Readings
John 20:19-23
The Apostles Commissioned
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Acts 2:1-11
Coming of the Holy Spirit
2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
The Crowd’s Response
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
John 7:37-52
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing[a] in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Who Is He?
40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
Rejected by the Authorities
45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”
47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”
52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen[e] out of Galilee.”
John 8:12
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”