{"id":2540,"date":"2014-05-20T18:37:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T22:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=2540"},"modified":"2014-05-20T18:37:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T22:37:22","slug":"st-peter-newsletter-may-20-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-newsletter-may-20-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter Newsletter — May 20, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/div>\n

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
The Healing of the Blind Man<\/h4>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sixth Sunday of Holy Pascha is observed by the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Blind Man. The day commemorates the miracle of Christ healing the man who was blind since birth. The biblical story of this event is found in the Gospel of Saint John 9:1-41.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lord Jesus was coming from the Temple on the Sabbath, when, while walking in the way, He saw the blind man mentioned in today’s Gospel. This man had been born thus from his mother’s womb, that is, he had been born without eyes (see Saint John Chrysostom, Homily LVI on Matthew; Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V:15; and the Second Exorcism of Saint Basil the Great). <\/p>\n

When the disciples saw this, they asked their Teacher, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” They asked this because when the Lord had healed the paralytic at the Sheep’s Pool, He had told him, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14); so they wondered, if sickness was caused by sin, what sin could have been the cause of his being born without eyes. But the Lord answered that this was for the glory of God.<\/p>\n

Read more. . .<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

Last Sunday of Christ is Risen!<\/h4>\n

This is the last Sunday we sing Christ is Risen. Officially it ends on the leave-taking of Pascha which is the day right before Ascension. See the announcement for the Ascension Divine Liturgy below.<\/p>\n

Ascension Liturgy on Wednesday, May 28, 6:30pm<\/h4>\n
\"The<\/div>\n

Mark you calendars! A vesperal-liturgy for Ascension will be held at our sister parish St. Paul’s Antiochian Orthodox Church (get map<\/a>) on Wednesday, May 28 starting at 6:30pm.<\/p>\n

The Ascension marks the end of the earthly ministry of Christ where He ascends back to His place at the right hand of the Father. Next up? Pentecost. <\/p>\n

George Chronis Doing Well After Surgery<\/h4>\n

Many people have asked about George Chronis who underwent major surgery last week.<\/p>\n

George is doing well. The surgery went well and George returned home on Monday, May 20, 2014 where he is recovering. No word yet on when we see see him back at St. Peter’s.<\/p>\n

Keep George and Bea in your prayers. We will continue to pray for a full recovery. <\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

The Sunday Scripture Readings<\/h4>\n

The Epistle Reading<\/h4>\n

How great are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast Thou made them all.
\nBless the Lord, O my soul!<\/p>\n

The Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. (11:19-30) <\/p>\n

The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord. O God, hear my voice. <\/p>\n

The Reading from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. (4:6-15) <\/p>\n

\n

Brethren, it is the God Who said, \u201cLet light shine out of darkness,\u201d Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. <\/p>\n

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. While we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus\u2019 sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death is at work in us, but life in you. <\/p>\n

Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, \u201cI believed, and so I spoke,\u201d we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that He Who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/div>\n

The Gospel Reading<\/h4>\n
\"Ancient<\/div>\n

(For the Sixth Sunday of Pascha) <\/p>\n

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (9:1-38) <\/p>\n

\n

At that time, when Jesus was passing, He saw a man blind from his birth. And His Disciples asked Him, \u201cRabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cIt was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. I must work the works of Him Who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

As He said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man\u2019s eyes with the clay, saying to him, \u201cGo, wash in the pool of Siloam\u201d [which means Sent]. So he went and washed and came back seeing. <\/p>\n

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, \u201cIs not this the man who used to sit and beg?\u201d Some said, \u201cIt is he\u201d; others said, \u201cNo, but he is like him.\u201d He said, \u201cI am the man.\u201d They said to him, \u201cThen how were your eyes opened?\u201d He answered, \u201cThe man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, \u2018Go to Siloam and wash\u2019; so I went and washed and received my sight.\u201d They said to him, \u201cWhere is He?\u201d He said, \u201cI do not know.\u201d <\/p>\n

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, \u201cHe put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.\u201d Some of the Pharisees said, \u201cThis man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.\u201d But others said, \u201cHow can a man who is a sinner do such signs?\u201d There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, \u201cWhat do you say about Him, since He has opened your eyes?\u201d He said, \u201cHe is a prophet.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, \u201cIs this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?\u201d His parents answered, \u201cWe know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.\u201d His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, \u201cHe is of age, ask him.\u201d <\/p>\n

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, \u201cGive God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.\u201d He answered, \u201cWhether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.\u201d They said to him, \u201cWhat did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?\u201d He answered them, \u201cI have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become His disciples?\u201d And they reviled him, saying, \u201cYou are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He comes from.\u201d <\/p>\n

The man answered, \u201cWhy, this is a marvel! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.\u201d They answered him, \u201cYou were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?\u201d And they cast him out. <\/p>\n

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him He said, \u201cDo you believe in the Son of God?\u201d He answered, \u201cAnd Who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cYou have seen Him, and it is He who speaks to you.\u201d He said, \u201cLord, I believe\u201d; and he worshiped Him. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!The Healing of the Blind Man Introduction The sixth Sunday of Holy Pascha is observed by the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Blind Man. The day commemorates the miracle of Christ healing the man who was blind since birth. The biblical story of this event is found<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}