Good Afternoon, to You, the Parish
The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Demetrios!
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!
The 6th Sunday of Pascha
Sunday of the Blind Man
What the Healing of the Man Blind from Birth by Jesus Signifies
By St. Cyril of Alexandria
While the Jews were raging against Him and now looking to wound Him with stones, forthwith He goes forth from the temple that is among them, and takes Himself away from the unholiness of His pursuers. And in "passing by," straightway He sees one "blind from his birth," and set him as a token and that most clear that He will remove Himself from the abominable behavior of the Jews, and will leave the multitude of the God-opposers, and will rather visit the Gentiles, and to them transfer the abundance of His mercy. And He likens them to the "blind from his birth" by reason of their having been made in error and that they are from their first age as it were bereft of the true knowledge of God, and that they have not the light from God, i.e., the illumination through the Spirit.
It is meet to observe again what Christ's visiting the blind man as He was "passing by" signifies. And it comes to me to think that Christ strictly speaking came not for the Gentiles but for Israel's sake along (as He Himself too somewhere says, "I was not sent save unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"), yet the recovery of the sight given to the Gentiles was Christ transferring His mercy to them as by the way, because of the disobedience of Israel. And this it was again which was afore-sung through Moses, "I will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a nation, with a foolish nation will I anger them." For a foolish nation was it which serves the creature more than Creator and like irrational beasts feeds on just all unlearning, and gives heed only to things of the earth. But since Israel, which was wise by reason of the law and prudent from having Prophets angered [God], it in its turn was angered by God, they who aforetime were not prudent taking the place belonging to these, for to them through faith was Christ made wisdom and sanctification and redemption, as it is written, i.e., both light and recovery of sight.
From the weblog Mystagogy.
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Meditation
There are three kinds of sight. The first is physical sight, a remarkable gift which enables us to see light, faces, colors and to move easily within our physical environment. We value this gift, and in order to protect or enhance it we provide correct lighting, optometrists, eyeglasses, eye clinics, eye surgeons.
The second is mental or intellectual sight. "I see!" we exclaim when we solve a problem or acquire new knowledge. By means of mental sight the tremendous world of science, medicine, electronics, and computers is being created. Also a precious gift of God, we seek to develop this intellectual sight by means of teachers, libraries, schools, universities, museums, laboratories.
And the third is spiritual sight, the intuitive vision of the inner person by which we come to have personal knowledge of God. Christ called this spiritual insight by different names-faith, having eyes to see, having ears to hear, the light of the soul's eye, a pure heart, seeing in the truest sense. This is the most important of the three kinds of sight because it has to do with what is ultimate in life. Spiritual sight is the best guide in the use and enjoyment of the other kinds of sight. Our teachers here are Christ, the prophets, apostles, saints and other men and women who have developed their spiritual sight. The power of spiritual sight is the power of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of spiritual sight are personal communion with God, true relationships with other human beings and right use of things in the world.
From A Year of the Lord:Liturgical Bible Studies, Vol. 4, Rev. Dr. Theodore Stylianopoulos
Want to learn more about the Sundays of Pascha?
From St. Seraphim of Sarov:
"When mind and heart are united in prayer and the soul is wholly concentrated in a single desire for God, then the heart grows warm and the light of Christ begins to shine and fills the inward man with peace and joy. We should thank the Lord for everything and give ourselves up to His will; we should also offer Him all our thoughts and words, and strive to make everything serve only His good pleasure."
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Epistle Reading (5/24/2020): Acts of the Apostles 16:16-34
Gospel Reading (5/24/2020): The Gospel According to
John 9:1-38
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SS. Demetrios & Paul, the New Martyrs
Patron Saints of Tripoli -
May 22nd
St. Demetrios the New Martyr of Peloponnesos
St. Demetrios was a Greek Orthodox Christian born in
Floka and raised in
Ligouditsa, both in the region of
Arcadia, near the regional capital of
Tripoli. As with most of Greece at the time, the region was ruled by the
Ottoman Empire. His mother died when he was very young, and his father, Elias, remarried. Due to ill-treatment by his stepmother, Demetrios left home and went to seek work in Tripoli, where he was apprenticed as a barber. He converted to Islam and took the name Mehmet, but later repented and became an Orthodox monk.
St. Demetrios had a strong desire for confession and martyrdom and was sent to the island of Chios where he met with St. Makarios Notaras. St. Makarios heard the confession of Demetrios and told him that with repentance man can be saved from whatever great sins he had committed. He urged him to abandon the idea of martyrdom, because of his young age in case he would not be able to bear the tortures and fall into the same serious sin and deny Christ a second time. The urge was too strong for St. Demetrios.
St. Makarios sent St. Demetrios to Argos with a letter to meet with a Spiritual Father there for support. Upon arriving in Argos, he found out that the Spiritual Father was away. As the days passed and the teacher was delayed, Demetrios, unable to hold back the flame in his heart, left for Tripoli. Having communed the Immaculate Mysteries, he went to the agora of Tripoli and his former master's barber shop and greeted him with: "Christ is Risen!"
From there several encounters occurred with St. Demetrios and people of the area which eventually led him to be seized by the Turks. He was tempted with flattery, high positions and terrible threats of torture to revoke his faith in Christ. The Saint continuously confessed his faith in Christ and was eventually beheaded on April 14, 1803. St. Demetrios is also celebrated on May 22nd, the day of the martyrdom of St. Paul, the New Martyr.
St. Paul the New Martyr
St. Paul was born in 1790 in the village of Sopoto, near Kalavryta of Peloponnesos, to Christian parents. He was baptized with the name Panagiotis and at a young age he went to the city of Patras and worked as a sandal maker. After 14 years he returned to Kalavryta where he rented space to continue his profession as a sandal maker.
Following a disagreement with his landlord over paying increased rent, Panagiotis found himself in prison and shouted in anger: "I would sooner become a Turk than pay more." This phrase alone was seen to be sufficient for his Islamization. Eventually he paid the rent and was released from prison. Panagiotis went to Tripoli where he ate and drank with friends he met and called himself a Turk.
Not long after, Panagiotis came to his senses when his conscience began to bother him for giving up his Christian faith. He therefore decided to seek peace by going to Mt. Athos, and there he entered the Holy Monastery of Great Lavra. After some time he became a monk and took the name Paul. Then he and his Spiritual Father Timothy went to settle in the Skete of St. Andrew, where weeping for his sins day and night, it was there that Paul became inflamed with a desire for martyrdom. Paul was put under a 40-day period to make sure he was ready to enter the contest of martyrdom. After days of fasting, prayer, vigils and thousands of prostrations, he received the blessing of his elder and returned to Tripoli a spiritual giant.
In Tripoli, and again after another 40 days of strict asceticism, Paul went to receive permission to be seen by a judge. He stood before the judge and confessed his faith in Christ as the true God, while rebuking and reviling Islam. For this Paul was sentenced to be burned alive. However, certain Turks prevailed upon the judge to make him suffer more by being beheaded with three strokes instead of one, which is a most painful death.
As St. Paul was led to be executed he was beaten. At the place of execution, Paul knelt, prayed and then told the executioner: "Now I want to see if you are as brave as you say." The executioner then beheaded Paul with one stroke. This took place on May 22, 1818. His body was left out to hang for three days for all to see and then thrown into a garbage dump near the residence of the pasha so as not to be discovered by the Christians. But 20 days later two Christians found his body and secretly took it, and after carefully washing it they had him buried at the Monastery of St. Nicholas Varson, about 12 kilometers from Tripoli, where the Holy New Martyr Demetrios was also buried on April 22, 1803.
Both Saints Paul and Demetrios are considered patrons of Tripoli.
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MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day
honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.
May God bless America, and all of those who have sacrificed so greatly for our freedom, and faithfully served our nation!
May their memory be eternal.
Join us, as we do each year, to sing
(at the end of the Divine Liturgy) for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom:
St. Demetrios Parish
Information & Updates
This Week at St. Demetrios...
Sunday, May 24th
6th Sunday of Pascha-Sunday of the Blind Man
Orthros, 8 a.m. & Divine Liturgy, 9:30a.m.
Monday, May 25th
Memorial Day - Church Office Closed
Tuesday, May 26th
Apodosis of PASCHA Vigil, 8p.m.
Wednesday, May 27th
Great Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension, 6:30p.m.
Note: Service will begin with the final Xristos Anesti...leading into Great Vespers
Thursday, May 28th
Feast of the Ascension of our Lord
Orthros, 8a.m. & Divine Liturgy, 9a.m.
The services will be LIVE-STREAMED on our:
1. Our Church
Website (Live-Stream Feed)
We encourage everyone to stay home, healthy & safe!
If you are in need of anything from our parish during this time, please do not hesitate to contact the Church Office at 630.834.7010.
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Calling all 2020 Graduates!
Even though we cannot be together to celebrate your graduations, united in the love of Christ
we wish to honor you.
As in the tradition of The Greek Orthodox Church of
St. Demetrios we are going to publish our program book that will include our graduates from PCA Kindergarten & 5th Grade;
PGS & PSGS Kindergarten;
PGS & PSGS 6th Grade.
***If you have graduates from
8th Grade; High School; College, University & Beyond, please submit their official names, school and grade of the graduates to the
Church Office (630.834.7010)
by Wednesday, June 10th.
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Please don't forget to visit our Church's Website where you can find all our updated information - from service schedules, live-stream links, Metropolis news, social media links and more...
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Parish Registry as of May 24th:
Baptisms 10 Chrismations 1
Weddings 1 Funerals 16
Shut-Ins 16 Hospital & Home Visitations 386
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2020 Stewardship
The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Demetrios
Stewardship as of
Friday, May 24
th- 368
Stewards
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Y
ou
may NOW register ONLINE!
It is very simple!
Just fill out the online application &
make your deposit via paypal!
Be sure to visit them online at
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Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago
Communications & Events
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With the cancellation of our Fanari Summer Camp in-person program,
we are excited to announced our "Together in Spirit" virtual summer
program
for campers!
When: Begins June 7.
What: Virtual events include: song night, bonfires, virtual games, & more
Event Details
June 7, 2020 - August 7, 2020
Fanari Camp Facebook, Instagram, and Zoom accounts
www.fanari.camp/contact
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A Partnership With Those Who Have Lost Their
Jobs
Due to Covid-19
The Metropolis of Chicago is partnering with
Medix
, a national workforce solutions firm, to help displaced workers belonging to the Metropolis find work during the pandemic.
In the coming weeks, look for additional announcements from the Metropolis offering assistance to those in our community who have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. Employers and businesses are invited to partner with the Metropolis to offer job opportunities and humanitarian assistance to our community.
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COVID-19 Resources
(Liturgical Live-Streaming Links, Public Health Notifications & more)
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Though the current times have separated us from family, friends & neighbors, we remain united to each other as members of the Body of Christ.
As Orthodox Christians, there are few greater truths present in our faith.
In this spirit, the Metropolis of Chicago will share with the faithful sermonettes, prayers, reflection or stories from the clergy members and others of the Metropolis on a daily basis.
Please visit this webpage every day and share the pastoral messages with your family, friends and neighbors. The Metropolis asks the faithful for their continued prayers for our first responders, doctors, nurses and for the people under their care.
Your Church Office of
The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Demetrios Elmhurst, IL.
630.834.7010
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