Our lenten journey begins with a recognition of our own sinfulness, just as Zacchaeus recognized his. He promised to make restitution by giving half of his wealth to the poor, and by paying to those he had falsely accused four times as much as they had lost. In this, he went beyond the requirements of the Law (Ex. 22:3-12).

The example of Zacchaeus teaches us that we should turn away from our sins, and atone for them. The real proof of our sorrow and repentance is not just a verbal apology, but when we correct ourselves and try to make amends for the consequences of our evil actions.

We are also assured of God’s mercy and compassion by Christ’s words to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation is come to this house” (Luke 19:9). After the Great Doxology at Sunday Matins (when the Tone of the week is Tone 1, 3, 5, 7) we sing the Dismissal Hymn of the Resurrection “Today salvation has come to the world,” which echoes the Lord’s words to Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus was short, so he climbed a tree in order to see the Lord. All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). We are also short in our spiritual stature, therefore we must climb the ladder of the virtues. In other words, we must prepare for spiritual effort and growth.

There are few things more vital to our lives than our homes. In our homes we pray, we work, we talk to others, we order our lives, we work out our marriages, etc. What more important place to reclaim for the Kingdom of God – or is it better to continue living in a place which is occupied by the enemy. For the most effective working out of our salvation, we must drive the enemy out of our homes, and keep him at bay by our prayers, our righteous life, and the annual sprinkling with Holy Water, by the priest, at Theophany. The custom of having our homes blessed on the Feast of the Theophany and the days which follow, is found among Russian Orthodox Christians. The priest comes to bless our homes in the name of the Holy Trinity and, in blessing our homes, he asks God to purify us from all evil and sins that we have committed during the year, to forgive us our iniquities, and to ask God to grant to us His protection during the coming year.
In preparation for the coming of the priest, every home should have a deep bowl ready with newly blessed holy water, a lit candle, an icon of the Theophany or a Cross, and a list of all the names of the people living in the home so that they may be mentioned in the Litany. In the procession from one room to another, someone in the household should go before the priest with the lit candle. This is symbolic of St. John the Baptist before Jesus, the Light that came to enlighten the entire world.
All radios and televisions should be turned off. Please remember that this is a liturgical service and should be treated as such.

BAZAAR “TEAR DOWN” – 3:30 PM (Men and boys are asked to come help take down the tables and re-set the classroom area.  All help will be welcomed.  Trucks will be appreciated to help return borrowed tables.

The city of Constantinople was in great danger in the year 903 A.D. There was great pestilence and sickness in the city and a great fleet of warships manned by pagans surrounded the city. The people knew that if the wild pagans took the city, it would be destroyed, and with it the Orthodox Faith. People gathered in the cathedral and prayed day and night to God and the Holy Theotokos for deliverance from this tragedy.
Among those present was St. Andrew who suffered abuse for believing so strongly in God because he was a simpleton. He had a vision in which he saw the Holy Virgin spreading her stole (omofor) over the people and the city. He told this to all present and to the bishop. As part of the Holy Theotokos’ gown was kept in the cathedral, it was taken and with great care it was carried, with prayer, from the cathedral to the sea. The bishop dipped this piece of the Blessed Mother’s garment into the water. The pagans in the ships watched as all this took place. As soon as the gown touched the water, a great storm came upon the sea and the pagan fleet was destroyed and scattered. Among the pagan leaders were Prince Askold and Prince Dier who survived the storm. They were so awed by the miracle they witnessed that they asked to be baptized into the Holy Orthodox Faith. In reality, they were the first to introduce Christianity to Russia from Greece.
Our Church believes that whenever we turn to the Holy Theotokos with our prayers, she will cover us with her stole (omofor) and protect us from all evil. It seems very strange that the Greek people who were saved by the Holy Virgin from destruction do not celebrate this holy day, while we whose forefathers were defeated and scattered over the sea, honor this day. We believe that the reason for this is that we are thankful to the Blessed Mother for protecting the Orthodox Faith and, by her miracle, for planting the first seeds of Orthodoxy among the Russian people.
(Taken from The Holy Days of the Russian Orthodox Church)

I contacted the company when I was made aware that our website was affected by a hacker defacing the front page.  InMotion hosting stated:

“At around 4am EST, our system administration team identified a website defacement attack affecting a large number of customers. We are still investigating, but it appears that files named index.php have been defaced.

We are evaluating how this has occurred and our security team will have more information shortly.”

I also read various online articles detailed the hack that occurred:

“This morning (Sunday, September 25, 2011) Inmotion Hosting and Webhosting hub, two very good hosting providers were hacked by a Rock-star hacker from Bangladesh. This wasn’t a simple hack of a few servers; it was a mass attack that brought down all servers. The hacker replaces every index file in every major directories of every account including the provider’s official sites.”

Since this occurred, our webpage has been restored and the issue has been resolved.  InMotion Hosting is working to secure their servers from further attack.  This same hacker has also successfully disrupted large websites such as American Express and Bangladesh’s Google site.  We apologize for any inconvenience and are continuing to try and improve our website.

Please be assured that this hacker targets large websites to gain fame and press coverage, and in no way will this hack or what happened to our website negatively affect your personal computers.

-Alex Uram

“Pray constantly to find God. Love greatly to know God. Partake of His Sacraments to experience God.” – Unknown
Most of us desire a sincere communion with God. Yet, it may seem like an impossible task. In fact, even with a great commitment of time and energy we may never be satisfied with our prayer life. THAT’S THE IDEA!!! WE SHOULD NEVER BE SATISFIED WITH OUR PRAYER LIFE BECAUSE WE CAN ALWAYS BE CLOSER TO GOD AND MORE COMMITTED TO OUR LIFE IN CHRIST.
First and foremost we should remember that prayer, like any exercise, is a process and a discipline. With this thought in mind, we have a number of decisions to make before we begin:
When am I going to pray? Suggestion: pick a regular time each day to pray during which you are AWAKE and have few disturbances. Where will I pray? Suggestion: find a place that is quiet, comfortable and practical and make it sacred space. What do I need to pray? Suggestion: you should have whatever will help you in your efforts i.e., prayer/service book, bible, icons, candles, a Cross. What will my posture be when I pray? Suggestion: Is it more comfortable to stand, sit or use a combination of these (you should not lay down as you are in a dialogue with someone, God!). Will you prostrate yourself at any time? What will the content of my prayer be? Suggestion: warm-up by reading from Scripture and the Church Fathers or a particular saint. Then begin your prayer with a Doxology (praise) e.g. “blessed is our God, always now and forevermore. Amen.” Second, offer thanks to God for all of His blessings. Third, ask God for forgiveness of your sins as you forgive others their trespasses against you. Fourth, petition God for the health and well being of others and then yourself. Finally, end with a doxology e.g. “for you are blessed now and forevermore.”
Origen, an early Christian writer tells us to work on prayer by:
1. Pausing and preparing ourselves, so that our prayer may become more intense. 2. Recalling the grandeur and greatness of God. 3. Setting aside everything else from our minds. 4. Turning our soul to Him. 5. Forgiving those who have upset us or hurt us. 6. Kneeling down as a symbol of surrender to God.
There exists no set formula for prayer. One can simply utter the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner” if this is an effective means of communion with God. Try various methods of prayer, talk to your spiritual father, follow the life of the Church, and pray about your prayer life. The important thing to do is find something that works for you.
“Prayer is essential. It is the very life…it is the very breath of the human soul.”

On 8/28/11 we shall celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.  Bunches of flowers are brought to be blessed in honor of the “greatest flower of womanhood,” the Holy Theotokos and Virgin Mary.  In the prayers read at the blessing of these herbs and flowers, we ask that they be used in curing the ailments of our body through the Theotokos’ prayers before the heavenly throne of Her Son, and, as the herbs are to cure our bodies, we must not forget the cure of the souls (the Blessed Sacraments of Confession and Communion), and may our prayers be as pleasing as the aroma and smell of the flowers!  Make this Feast of the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos a spiritual one by partaking of the Blessed Sacraments on the day of the Feast.  This is a day of obligation for all Orthodox Christians – make every effort to be in attendance.  Flowers and herbs will be blessed at the Matins service and the Divine Liturgy.  Please continue these customs by participating – bring a bundle of flowers and herbs to be blessed for your family.  Be prepared to meet your Maker and Creator by living a spiritually renewed life – put God and the Church first and seek out salvation in the world to come.  Remember, life here on earth is short!  Live your life for the world that follows – face God without shame and knowing that you did not ignore His Word and Teachings.  Begin living a life centered around Christ – begin today, if you have not already done so.

-From the weekly bulletin of St. John’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Mayfield, PA