5th Sunday of Great Fast Memory of Mary of Egypt
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
5th Sunday of Great Lent: Saint Mary of Egypt
April 6, 2025
Sat 4/5/25 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Helen Uram by Maria Ligas
Sun 4/6/25 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Karen Bohin by Andy Bohin and Family
Wed 4/9/25 7:00pm Liturgy of Pre-Sanctified Gifts +Irene Simko (40 Days) by John and Karen Matichko
Fri 4/11/25 7:00pm Liturgy of Pre-Sanctified Gifts + Mary
Sat 4/12/25 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Jim Jarvie by The Sychak Family
Sun 4/13/25 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Stanley Gawlikoski by Drew Moniot
Variable Parts - Tone 5 - Pages 146— 147 5th Sunday of Great Lent Pages - 230 — 232
The Beatitudes - During Lent the 3rd Antiphon of the Liturgy will be Beatitudes. on pg 23 of the Green Divine Liturgy book
Epistle Hebrews 9:11-14
Gospel Mark 10:32-45
Memorial Candle Request - +Irene Simko by Family
Epistle Readers 5-Apr Mary Troyan 6-Apr Eva Babick 12-Apr John Baycura/Mary Motko 13-Apr Liz/John Pocchiari
Please Pray for: Ole J. Bergh, Erik Bergh, Liz Moyta, Fr. Michael Huszti, Fr. Laska, Susie Curcio, Teresa Milkovich, Robert Saper, Anna Habil, Martha Sapar, Mike Dancisin, Karen Smaretsky Vavro, Diane Sotak, Anna Pocchiari, Larry Hamil, Beverly Jones, Marilyn Book, Maryann Russin Schyvers, Nick Russin, Ken Konchan, Beverly Zavacky
Attendance: 3/23 — 74 3/30 - 86 Collection: 3/29 and 3/30 - $
Food Prep - Help Needed: We will be baking Easter bread on April 10th and 11th. If you are available, please help. The starting time is 9am.
Paska Bread: Pickup for previously submitted orders is Saturday April 12th 10am — 1pm.
Salad Bingo: Please save the date on April 26th for Salad Bingo.
Donation Request: 1. We need Gift Card donations for the salad bingo. Cards of $10.00 or higher value are being requested for door prizes and the basket auction. Cards may be placed in the collection basket. Please mark the cards with their appropriate monetary values. Thank you! 2. If anyone is aware of businesses that may consider making donations, a tax exemption number will be required. Please ask Shari for the donation letter which contains the tax number.
Ladies Guild: There will be a Ladies Guild meeting TODAY at 11:00am in the church.
Mary of Egypt lived during the sixth century, and passed away in a remarkable manner in 522. She began her life as a young woman who followed the passions of the body, running away from her parents at age 12 for Alexandria. There she lived as a harlot for 17 years. One day, however, she met a group of young men heading toward the sea to sail to Jerusalem for the veneration of the Holy Cross. Mary went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. But when the group reached Jerusalem and actually went tewards the church, Mary was prohibited from entering by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church patio, where she looked up and saw an icon of the Theotokos. She began to weep and prayed with all her might that the Theotokos might allow her to see the True Cross; afterwards, she promised, she would renounce her worldly desires and go wherever the Theotokos may lead her. After this heart-felt conversion at the doors of the church, she fled into the desert to live as an ascetic. For another 17 years, Mary was tormented by "wild beasts—mad desires and passions."
After these years of temptation, however, she overcame the passions and was led by the Theotokos in all things. Following 47 years in solitude, she met the priest St. Zosima in the desert, who pleaded with her to tell him of her life. She recounted her story with great humility while also demonstrating her gift of clairvoyance; she knew who Zosima was and his life story despite never having met him before. Finally, she asked Zosima to meet her again the following year at sunset on Holy Thursday by the banks of the Jordan. Zosima did exactly this, though he began to doubt his experience as the sun began to set that night. Then Mary appeared on the opposite side of the Jordan; crossing herself, she miraculously walked across the water and met Zosima. When he attempted to bow, she rebuked him, saying that as a priest he was far superior, and furthermore, he was holding the Holy Mysteries. Mary then received communion and walked back across the Jordan after giving Zosima instructions about his monastery and that he should return to where they first met exactly a year later. When he did so, he found Mary's body with a message written on the sand asking him for burial and revealing that she had died immediately after receiving the Holy Mysteries the year before.
Akathist: One of the greatest Marian hymns is called the "Akathist to the Mother of God." Though the authorship is disputed by scholars, it is traditionally attributed to Romanos the Melodist, a prolific sixth-century hymn writer. Some modern scholars think the Akathist is much older— dating to the fourth century. The Akathist is so called because it is a hymn that is sung while standing. The "a" means "not" and the "kath" refers to a seat; you can hear that root in the word "cathedral" which designates the church where the bishop's chair is. The Akathist to the Mother of God, which is the model for all other Akathist hymns, was apparently written for the celebration of the Annunciation. What is significant about the hymn?
The four parts are dedicated to four different themes: the Annunciation, Christ's Nativity, Christ, and the Mother of God herself. The four parts are spread out over twenty-four smaller parts ("oikoi"), each of which begins with a different letter of the Greek alphabet and includes a seven-line stanza followed by six couplets. The longer stanzas conclude with the line, "Rejoice, thou unwedded bride!" The shorter stanzas begin with Gabriel's greeting, "Hail!" and end with "Alleluia!"
The themes covered are many. Since they dwell on the whole mystery of the Incarnation, many of them are focused on the remarkable humility and love of God who came down to live among us and take away all of our spiritual debts and pride. They do indeed dwell on the blessedness and wonder of a woman becoming the mother of God—what the title "Theotokos" means.
But they also dwell on that greater blessedness of her giving birth to God in her heart and doing what St. Paul says is the Christian task: "We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor 10:5).
In the hymn, Mary is the teacher because she is the one who receives the word and keeps it. The hymn addresses her as "sweet-sounding echo of the voice of the prophets." One verse reads, "Hail, O you who exceed the knowledge of the wise; 0 Hail, O you who illumine the minds of the faithful!" Another: "Hail, O you who deliver us from pagan doctrine; Hail, O you who rescue us from the flames of passion."
The Akathist to the Mother of God is known in the East, but it belongs to the whole Church. St. John Paul II knew this. He prayed it in public on several occasions. The most notable were in 1981 on the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Chalcedon, which gave the title Theotokos to Mary, and on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1999 to prepare for the third millennium.
Pope Benedict XVI knew and loved the prayer, too. In Vahan Domini, his 2010 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God, he urged Christians to get to know the Akathist, which "represents one of the highest expressions of the Marian piety of the Byzantine tradition," He continued, "Praying with these words opens wide the heart and disposes it to the peace that is from above, from God, to that peace which is Christ himself born of Mary for our salvation."
