PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Our St. Mary Magdalene Church will hold it’s Annual Meeting on Sunday, November 16th following the Divine Liturgy. Reports from the parish ministries will be given along with an update on our St. Mary Magdalene Strategic Plan. Thanksgiving Dinner On Sunday, October, 9th following the Divine Liturgy, our parish will hold our annual Thanksgiving Banquet. Please bring your favorite Thanksgiving side dish or dessert!

Volume 13, Number 11 November, 2014 – www.st-marymagdalene.org

St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church Monthly Messenger – 2439 S. Long Lake Rd, Fenton MI. 48430. 810 -750-1401

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The Obedience of the 10 Lepers A Sermon by Fr. Paul Jannakos “Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were

cleansed.” If the gospels are clear about one thing, it is about the need for obedience. The ten Lepers were cleansed, yes. Only one of them came back to give thanks, yes. But, this entire narrative is predicated upon the fact that the ten were cleansed because they were obedient to the call of Christ. And we are going to focus on this aspect of the story this morning because the virtue of obedience, which is one of the great hallmarks of the Christian life, is a virtue which is tends to be misunderstood by the majority of us ordinary Americans.

We Americans, after all, love our freedom. We love our independence. We love the fact that, in contrast to many other cultures, we are not bound to the kinds of social restraints that would prevent us from living autonomously, that is, from being able to do what we want, when we want, and how we want. We love the fact that the secular society in which we live has exalted self-will to the status of being the highest value and good. Isn’t this what makes the American way of life what it is? The opportunity to determine for ourselves the kind of persons we want to become and the kind of good life we hope to attain? So, can any of us here today, myself included, really, truly, honestly, imagine ourselves living life any other way? Yet this is where we get into trouble with the notion of obedience, because obedience appears, quite blatantly, to run upstream from the downstream of ideals and principles that define us as an American people.

Even so, it is helpful to return to the definition that Mr. Webster gives about obedience. In his dictionary he speaks of obedience by saying that it is “The act of obeying, or of being in compliance with that which is required by authority.” So here we see, in the most basic sense, that obedience means being under someone’s authority. Soldiers are under the authority of their commanding officers. Sailors sail under the authority of their Captain. Athletes compete under the authority of their coaches. Musicians in an orchestra play under the authority of their conductor. And as denizens of the United States, we live our lives under the authority of its law. We are obedient to its tax laws, traffic laws, and to the laws that inhibit us from causing harm to others. We live our lives in obedience to these conventional laws, most of the time, without even questioning their rightful authority, because we know that without them

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Obedience Parish Life Photo Album Fr. Paul and his dad, Protodeacon Nicholas

Jannakos serving on Sunday October 5th. What a blessing for Fr. Paul!

Special thanks to Mr. Michael Onderchanin who has dedicated many many hours in the

Annex working on its renovation.

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everything would fall into chaos. So the point here is that the kind of autonomy we think we have as Americans, is not really as autonomous as it appears. We are a lot more obedient than we think. On my way to Church this morning I was obedient to the red light on the corner of Torrey and South Long Lake roads even though there wasn’t a car to be seen for miles.

This leads us to the virtue of obedience as characterized by the gospels, and which we saw employed in the behavior of the 10 lepers. Here we learn that obedience is part and parcel to the mystery of salvation. But what is really interesting is how different our notion of obedience is in the Church from that of the obedience we have just described in the civil and social sense. And this is for one reason: because nowhere in the gospels, and within the life of the Church, is any one ever compelled to be obedient. Nowhere do we ever find the words, “you must do this and you must do that.” Think about it, just for a moment. This free country in which we live compels us to follow its laws; failing to do so leads to all kinds of unpleasant consequences, to fines, and jails, and probation, and the like. Break these rules and your freedom becomes progressively diminished.

But within the Church, obedience has a much softer feel, only because no one is constrained to do anything they have not freely accepted to do. Jesus wants us to surrender our fallen, selfish, sinful wills to Him. But He does so by invitation and not by force. And He does so because love and obedience are related to each other from the beginning. Here we arrive at the crux of the matter, because as the Son of God Himself, Christ loves His Father by doing His Father’s will. Jesus is obedient to His Father’s bidding, and He does so because His love is perfect and unending. As the letter to the Hebrews states, “[And] although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchiz'edek.” Unlike the old Adam Who failed in his love on account of his disobedience, the New Adam is perfectly obedient to His Father and is, for this reason, vindicated and glorified at His Father’s right hand.

Simply put, being obedient to Christ means giving up our fallen, selfish, sinful wills in favor of God’s will whose will for us is always for good. At first, this is an incredibly painful thing to do, because it means doing the things we don’t feel like doing. It means surrendering ourselves to our daily prayer even though we may not be in the mood for prayer. It means participating faithfully in the liturgical life of the Church even though we may not feel like going to Church. It means confessing our sins in the sacrament of confession even though everything inside of us is screaming that we can do it later, at a more convenient time. It means giving ourselves up to the Christmas fast even though we are surrounded by all of the holiday goodies that tempt us to forsake the virtue of fasting whose beginning is obedience to the discipline of the fast. Obedience is really, when it comes down to it, the way we cut off our selfish, willful compulsions by giving ourselves up to the little things that all add up to a life of faith. And here I will add my own suggestion, which is that it is ok for us to acknowledge the fact that quite often we might not feel like doing what we know deep down is God’s will for us to do, be it liturgizing, confessing, fasting or praying. For by acknowledging it we are simply confessing to ourselves and to the Lord that this is how we are at this moment. And we do this because we can then counter these feelings and thoughts and moods with the words “so what?” “Yes, I’m not in the mood. But so what, I’ll do it anyway. And I’ll do it because I know and believe in my deepest heart of hearts that by doing it God will bring about something good in the end.” “Go and show yourselves to the priests, and as they went, they were cleansed.”

This is what obedience looks like within the life of the Church. We cut off our own self-will in favor of God’s will because we know that apart from this, we cannot truly love God.

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Praying for our sick: Archimandrite Roman (Braga) Fr. Deacon Basil Frenchek Dr. Dan Sak Larry Shipley Andrew Marko Richard Ziats Sue Walton Dennis Perez Helen Phillips Marcella Moorman Josephine Baker Mike Centala (Terri Oginsky’s husband) Anna Branoff Elaine Gejoff Kosta Papathanisiou Helen Soroka (Maria Sak’s mother). Anton Petrenko (son of Larissa Lesho) Elizabeth Barrows (Ruth Karabinas’ mother) Doug Lyon James Lyon ( brother of Melissa Auxier) Violette Griffin Anastasia Karabinas Lynn Larson – (Andy Marko’s friend). Helen Sak – (Dr. Dan Sak’s mother). Autumn Smith, (Jeanette Hildreth’s friend.

Our prayers and consolations are extended to Mrs. Terry Oginsky and her family upon the death of her mother, Mrs. Margaret Steep on Monday, October 28th. May her memory be eternal!

Do Christians Have a Political Responsibility?

+Father John Meyendorff, Witness to the World, pp 99-100 & 101-2

In a democratic society---an “apolitical” stance is impossible. Even abstention from voting invites a condonement of the status quo, which is itself a political attitude. On the other hand, the Christian faith, which announces the coming of an eternal Kingdom of God, also implies that the disciples of Jesus are sent into the world to transform and transfigure it. The real danger for Christians lies not in political activity, as such, but in a loss of their Christian identity.

All Christians must realize their responsibility in shaping events---at least by voting. One of the greatest fallacies which is held by many is that it is possible to abstain from politics and thus remain immune to a process which is, of necessity, ambiguous and frequently dirty. In fact, abstention means a passive, unconscious and irresponsible support to whomever is or will be ---in power. Very often the wrong people came to power at the wrong time because of the majority’s indifference.

In the past, the Church has lent unconditional and uncritical support to emperors, tsars, or other powers-that-be simply because they were considered as having been appointed by God Himself to exercise leadership. Indeed, St Paul himself teaches us that power comes “from God” in as much as it encourages us “to do what is good” (Rom 13:1-3). We will not discuss here whether in the past “Christian states” and theocracies were faithful or not to their Christian commitment, but we should all agree that they do not exist anymore, and that in our modern secular societies, the people themselves---not God---are responsible for the way in which government is run. Only we, as faithful Christians, acknowledge our responsibility before God, not only for ourselves and for our salvation, but also for the world as a whole.

One of the greatest mistakes one can make in either taking part in political process or in abstaining from it is to believe that all political choices are choices between the absolute Good and the absolute Evil. In fact, such absolute choices exist only in the spiritual realm, where Evil is called sin and God Himself is identified with absolute Goodness. Politics rarely involve such radical dichotomies. When we vote for a candidate we do not vote for or against God, but for a person who, in our opinion, will do better (or not as bad) as another. When we support a program, we do not equate that program with absolute Justice, for we do not believe that absolute Justice is a man-made accessible and realizable ideal. Rather, as responsible Christians, we must have opinions about what is “better” or “worse” for people, for society, for our country. If we do not as least try to have an opinion, we sin by irresponsible self-centeredness. Of course, very often the choices offered to us are very ambiguous, but we always must try to choose, if not that which is truly “good”, at least that which appears to us as a lesser evil.

As Christians, we may also have different opinions on many issues, while remaining united in faith in One Church. But we have no right to be selfish and indifferent.

We pray for those in the Armed Forces: Jacob Yonan – Airman 1st Class – Air Force Matthew Beck – First Lieutenant – Air Force Stephanie Bishop –US Navy Robert Faulkner – Private First Class – US Marines Michael Oginsky – Major – US Marines Jason Wilburn – Corporal – Army Rangers Patrick Tejkl - US Marines

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Zachary Wilkinson 04 Gregory Auxier 06 Paul Hildreth 07 Thomas John Yonan 07 Brian Walton 11 Susan Walton 12 Dr. Janet Frick 14 Justin Auxier 15 Pam Grubaugh 19 Renea Becklehamer 22 Matthew Kilbourne 22 Julia Auxier 30

NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Hinshaw 28

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November(16,(Pat(Smith(and(Margaret(Shipley((

November(23,(Mike(and(Irene(Onderchanin(((

November(30,(Scott(and(Tina(Shephard(

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((October(11th,(Wedding(of(Mr.(&(Mrs.(John(&(Brianna(Walton(

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St. Mary Magdalene Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

Roast Pork & Turkey

Sunday, November 9th following the Divine Liturgy

Bring your favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish or Dessert!

Cost: Free will offering…

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ST. MARY MAGDALENE ORTHODOX CHURCH – NOVEMBER 2014

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 30 FAST DAY Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called Adult Ed. 9:00 am Ch. School, 9;00am Divine Liturgy, 10 am Coffee Hour, 11:30

1 Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian 2 Cor. 1:8-11. 2:9-14 Luke 8:16-21 NO VESPERS

2 20th Sunday after Pentecost Adult Ed. 9:00 am Ch. School 9:00am. Divine Liturgy, 10 am Coffee Hour, 11:30am

3 Martyrs Acepsimus, Joseph and Aithalas Phil. 4:10-23 Luke 11:29-33 Community Bible Study, 7:00pm.

4 Venerable Joannicius the Great Col. 1:1-2, 7-11 Luke 11:34-41

5 FAST DAY Martyrs Galacteon and his wife Episteme Col. 1:18-23 Luke 11:42-46

6 St. Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constanti-nople Col. 1:24-29 Luke 11:47-12:1

7 FAST DAY 33 Holy Amartyrs of Melitene Col. 2:1-7 Luke 12:2-12 Eve. Div. Liturgy for St. Michael the Archangel, 6:30pm.

8 Synaxis of the Archangel Michael Great Vespers 6:00pm at St. George n in Southfield. (Archbishop Nathaniel’s 30th Anniversary).

9 21st Sunday after Pentecost Adult Ed. 9:00am Ch. School 9:00am. Div. Liturgy 10:00am THANKSGIVING BANQUET, 11:30AM.

10 Apostles of the 70: Erastus, Olympas, Herodion, Sosipater, Quartus & Tertius Col. 2:13-20 Luke 12:13-15, 22-31 Community Bible Study, 7:00pm.

11 Martyrs Menas, Victor, Vincent & Stephanida Col. 2:20-3:3 Luke 12:42-48

12 FAST DAY St. John the Merciful Col. 3:17-4:1 Luke 12:48-59

13 St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople Col. 4:2-9 Luke 13:1-9

14 FAST DAY Holy Apostle Philip Col. 4:10-18 Luke 13:31-35

15 FAST DAY Nativity Fast begins Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Abibus of Edessa Great Vespers, 5 pm, followed by Confessions

16 FAST DAY Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew Adult Ed. 9:00 am Divine Liturgy, 10 am Ch. School 9:00am. Parish Annual Meeting, - 11:30 am .

17 FAST DAY St. Gregory the Wonderworker 1 Thess. 1:1-5 Luke 14:12-15 Community Bible Study, 7:00pm.

18 FAST DAY Martyrs Platon and Roman 1 Thess. 1:6-10 Luke 14:25-35

19 FAST DAY Prophet Obadial 1 Thess. 2:1-8 Luke 15:1-10

20 THANKSGIVING Forefeast of the Entry Ven. Gregory Decapolites 1 Thess. 2:9-14 Luke 16:1-9

21 FAST DAY Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple Divine Liturgy, 10:00am. Heb. 9:1-7 Luke 10:38-42;11:27-28

22 FAST DAY Apostles of the 70; Philemon, Archippus and Martyr Apphia Great Vespers, 5 pm, followed by Confessions

23 FAST DAY 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Adult Ed. 9:00 am Ch. School 9:00am. Div. Liturgy, 10:00 am Coffee Hour, 11:30

24 FAST DAY Greatmartyr Catherine 1 Thess. 2:20-3:8 Luke 17:20-25

25 FAST DAY Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome 1 Thess. 3:9-13 Luke 17:26-37

26 FAST DAY Ven. Alypius the Stylite 1 Thess. 4:1-12 Luke 18:15-17, 26-30

27 FAST DAY Great Martyr Jacob (James) of Persia 1 Thess. 5:1-8 Luke 18:31-34

28 FAST DAY Monk Martyr Stephen 1 Thess. 5:9-13, 24-28 Luke 19:12-28

29 FAST DAY Martyr Paramon and his Companions Great Vespers, 5 pm, followed by Confessions