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Sunday, March 5, 2023

Tone 5

First Sunday of Great Lent

Sunday of Orthodoxy

First Sunday of Great Lent:

Sunday of Orthodoxy

(OCA) The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts, i.e. those heretics who refused to honor the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed by the evil doctrine of iconoclasm.

The first Emperor to persecute the Church was Leo the Isaurian, and the last was Theophilos, the spouse of Saint Theodora (February 11), who reigned after her husband's death and re-established Orthodoxy in the time of Patriarch Methodios (June 14). Empress Theodora proclaimed publicly that we do not kiss the Icons as a sign of worship, nor do we honor them as "gods," but as images of their prototypes.

In the year 843, on the first Sunday of the Fast, Saint Theodora and her son, Emperor Michael, venerated the Holy Icons together with the clergy and the people. Since that time this event has been commemorated every year, because it was definitively determined that we do not worship the Icons, but we honor and glorify all the Saints who are depicted on them. We worship only the Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and no one else, neither a Saint, nor an Angel.

Originally, the Holy Prophets Moses, Aaron, and Samuel were commemorated on this Sunday. The Alleluia verses appointed for today’s Liturgy reflect this older usage.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

This Sunday is the First Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Please bring an icon the short procession with icons after Liturgy. 

Sunday is also the first of the Madison area pan-Orthodoxy Lenten Vespers, 6 pm at St Ignatius. If you can please attend.

We're hosting the second Sunday Lenten and we need volunteers to bring finger foods and beverages. There is a sign up sheet in the fellowship room. Based on last year, we're expecting about 50 people.

In Christ,

Fr Gregory

This Week at Ss Cyril & Methodius

Monday, February 27

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Compline & Great Canon

Tuesday, February 28

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Compline & Great Canon

Wednesday, March 1

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts

Thursday, March 2

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Compline & Great Canon

Friday, March 3

• 7:00 AM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts
• 6:00 PM: Akathist

Saturday, March 4

• 3:30-4:30 PM: Inquirers/Catechumen Class
• 4:30 PM: Confessions 
• 5:00 PM: Vespers
• 6:00 PM: Confessions

Sunday, March 5 (Sunday of Orthodoxy)

• 9:00 AM: Hours/Pre-Communion Prayers
• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 10:45 AM: Procession with Icons
• 6:00 PM: Pan-Orthodox Lenten Vespers (St Ignatius)

Looking Ahead

Wednesday, March 8

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts

Thursday, March 9

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: OCF Meeting

Friday, March 10

• 7:00 AM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts
• 6:00 PM: Akathist

Saturday, March 11

• 3:30-4:30 PM: Inquirers/Catechumen Class
• 4:30 PM: Confessions 
• 5:00 PM: Vespers
• 6:00 PM: Confessions

Sunday, March 2 (Sunday of St Gregory Palamas)

• 9:00 AM: Hours/Pre-Communion Prayers
• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 6:00 PM: Pan-Orthodox Lenten Vespers (Ss Cyril & Methodius)

Hymns After the Small Entrance

Sunday Readings

Epistle: Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2

Brethren, by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Gospel: Matthew 6:14-21

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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By the age of 25, about 60% of those baptized as infants will no longer consider themselves members of the Orthodox Church. A parish on a university campus is an important witness not only to the surrounding community but also to high school age and younger parishioner. Establishing a parish on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison helps remind young people that graduating high school doesn't mean "graduating" from the Church. Please consider joining those who have committed their time, treasure and talent in establishing an Orthodox community on the Isthmus. Help us reach your children and grandchildren with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

By the age of 25, about 60% of those baptized as infants will no longer consider themselves members of the Orthodox Church. A parish on a university campus is an important witness not only to the surrounding community but also to high school age and younger parishioner. Establishing a parish on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison helps remind young people that graduating high school doesn't mean "graduating" from the Church. Please consider joining those who have committed their time, treasure and talent in establishing an Orthodox community on the Isthmus. Help us reach your children and grandchildren with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.