Sunday AFTER PENTECOST

The Great Fast is upon us and that means it’s time for pierogies! 

We will be selling perogies after our 4pm Divine Liturgy on March 15th. 

All donations benefit our mission. 

Cost: $15/dozen

Flavors: cheese, potato

Pick up location: St. Philip Neri ministry center, Fort Mill, SC

Payments: Cash or check only; payable to "Byzantine Catholic Mission"

Pre-orders: pre-order 3 dozen by March 5th; email petromissionfortmill@gmail.com. Please include full name & amount in email. 

Get them while supplies last! 

Do you think I should make the pre order deadline March 1st or keep it the 5th? As you saw, we are making them on the 9th at John's house.  

SPN gave us a hard time about using their kitchen...they wanted a $500 usage + $500 cleaning fee...that would wipe out our whole proceeds.

For payments, does that sound good? We can't take venmo or zelle or anything like that.  I will need to coordinate with John to withdraw $100 starting cash to make change for customers.

Do you think $100 is a good amount?The Sunday following Pentecost is dedicated to All Saints, both those who are known to us, and those who are known only to God. The Descent of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to rise above our fallen state and to attain sainthood, thereby fulfilling God’s directive to “be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16, etc.). Therefore, it is fitting to commemorate All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost. This feast may have originated at an early date, perhaps as a celebration of all martyrs, then it was broadened to include all men and women who had borne witness to Christ by their virtuous lives, even if they did not shed their blood for Him. The feast of All Saints achieved great prominence in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). His wife, the Holy Empress Theophano (December 16) lived in the world, but was not attached to worldly things. She was a great benefactor to the poor, and was generous to the monasteries. She was a true mother to her subjects, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful. Even before the death of Saint Theophano in 893 or 894, her husband started to build a church, intending to dedicate it to Theophano, but she forbade him to do so. It was this emperor who decreed that the Sunday after Pentecost be dedicated to All Saints. Believing that his wife was one of the righteous, he knew that she would also be honored whenever the Feast of All Saints was celebrated. 

The Merciful Lord sent the prophet to appear before King Ahab, and proposed that two sacrificial altars be built: one for the priests of Baal, and the other for the Prophet Elijah who served the True God.The Prophet Elijah told them to call on their gods to consume the sacrificial animals with fire, and he would call on his. Whichever was first to send fire on the sacrifice would be acknowledged as the true God. The prophets of Baal called out to their idol from morning till evening, but the heavens were silent. Towards evening the holy Prophet Elijah built his sacrificial altar from twelve stones, the number of the tribes of Israel. He placed the sacrifice upon the wood, gave orders to dig a ditch around the altar and commanded that the sacrifice and the wood be soaked with water. When the ditch had filled with water, the prophet turned to God in prayer. Through the prayer of the prophet fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and even the water. The people fell down to the ground, crying out: “Truly, the Lord is God!” Near the end of his life The Lord told him that the next day Elijah would stand in His presence.  There was a strong wind that crushed the rocks of the mountain, then an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in them. The Lord was in “a gentle breeze” (3 Kings 19: 12). Because of his fiery zeal for the Glory of God the Prophet Elijah was taken up alive into Heaven in a fiery chariot.
According to the Tradition of Holy Church, the Prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Dread Second Coming of Christ. He will proclaim the truth of Christ, urge all to repentance, and will be slain by the Antichrist. This will be a sign of the end of the world.
In iconography the Prophet Elijah is depicted ascending to Heaven in a fiery chariot, surrounded with flames, and harnessed to four winged horses. We pray to him for deliverance from drought, and to ask for seasonable weather. 

The Saturday before the Feast of Demetrius is a day of special commemoration of the dead observed by the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe and Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics in the Americas. (October 26 / November 8).

Saint Demetrius was born in the Greek city of Thessalonica. After the passing of his father, the emperor Galerius appointed the young man as proconsul of the Thessaloniki region. The ruler instructed Demetrius to protect the land from the barbarians and to persecute the local Christians. Instead of following the emperor's instructions, he began to openly teach the inhabitants of the city the true faith.

When the emperor became aware of this, his anger was boundless. St Demetrius accepted martyrdom in 306.

 The Apostle Andrew was the first of the Apostles to follow Christ, and he later brought his own brother, the holy Apostle Peter, to Christ (John 1:35-42). When the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John began to preach, Saint Andrew became his closest disciple. Declaring Christ to be the Lamb of God, Saint John the Baptist himself sent to Christ his own two disciples, the future Apostles Andrew and John the Theologian.

After the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Saint Andrew went to the Eastern lands preaching the Word of God. He went through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, he reached the River Danube, went along the coast of the Black Sea, through Crimea, the Black Sea region and along the River Dniepr to where the city of Kiev now stands. He went up even further along the Dniepr and reached a settlement of the Slavs, where Novgorod was built. From here the apostle went through the land of the Varangians towards Rome for preaching, and again he returned to Thrace, where in the small village of Byzantium, the future Constantinople, he founded the Church of Christ. The name of the holy Apostle Andrew links the mother, the Church of Constantinople, with her daughter, the Russian Church.

“The Holy Fathers were convinced that the commemoration of the departed by alms and sacrifices (Divine Liturgies) brings great com­fort and benefit to them.”  

The custom of offering prayers and sacrifices for the departed comes to us from the Old Testa­ment. Holy Scripture praises the custom as holy and wholesome or pious, as is written in the II Book of Maccabees, ch. 12, v. 45: “lt is therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins.”  

ln the Byzantine Rite, we commemorate the deceased every day at the Divine Liturgy imme­diately after the Consecration with the petition: “Remember, O Lord, all those who have departed in the hope of resurrection unto eternal life … N.N. … , and grant them rest where the light of Your face shines.” (Liturgy of St. John Chrysos­tom) 

The Byzantine Church has, since the ninth century, established a special day of prayer for the departed popularly known as “Za dušna Subota” (Gr. Psycho-sabbaton; psyche-soul) which literally translated means Souls Saturday. Since the Synaxarion calls for the “universal commemoration” and prayer for “all the souls departed in the faith,” fittingly then, in English, we call these Saturdays – All Souls Saturdays.  

ln the Byzantine Liturgical Year there are five All Souls Saturdays – namely, Meat Fare Saturday, the Second, Third and Fourth Saturdays of the Great Lent, and Pentecost Saturday. Meat-Fare Saturday as a special day of prayer for the deceased can be traced down to the sixth and seventh century, the time when the Typikon of St. Saba, known as the Jerusalem Typikon, had developed. On Meat-Fare Sunday we liturgically com­memorate the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-46). Therefore, on the previous day, we, in our charity, intercede with the merciful Judge for the de ceased that they be placed at His right hand when He will come to judge the Living and the dead. During the ninth century, the Second, Third and Fourth Sat­urdays of Lent were also dedicated to the com­memoration of the dead. On Pentecost Saturday we commemorate “all the departed souls since Adam” (cf. Pentecosta­rion).  

Every year, just before Meat-Fare Saturday, the families give the lists of their de­parted loved ones (Hramoty) to the pastor with the request that they be mentioned at the services held for the deceased on the All Souls Saturday.  Members of the family are encouraged to attend these ser­vices on the All Souls Saturdays for by their presence and by their personal prayers and re­ceiving Holy Communion they strengthen the bond of love with their departed loved ones and indeed keep their memory everlasting!  

PRAYER FOR THE DECEASED (Ascribed to St. John Chrysostom) O God of all spiritual and corporeal be­ings, You trampled death, broke the power of Satan and granted life to the whole world; now, O Lord, grant also rest to the soul of Your departed servant N. in a place of light, freshness, and peace, where there is no pain, sorrow, or mourning. As a gracious God and loving mankind, forgive him (her) every transgression committed by him (her) in word, deed, or thought, since there is no man alive who has not sinned. You alone are without sin and Your justice is everlast­ing justice, and Your word is always the truth. For You are the resurrection, the life and the rest of Your departed servant N., O Christ our God, and we render glory to You, together with Your Eternal Father, and Your most Holy, gracious, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen. 

Excerpt from Byzantine Leaflet Series No.6 With Ecclesiastical Approbation March, 1977  BYZANTINE SEMINARY PRESS Pittsburgh, Pa. 15214

https://archpitt.org/an-explantation-of-the-byzantine-rite-liturgical-practive-of-observing-all-souls-saturdays/