St. Barnabas Indian Orthodox Mission, DC: February 2015

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Mark 4:1-20

Third Wednesday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Luke 9:44-50, 57-62

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Luke 12:32-40

Third Thursday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Luke 13:18-30

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Mark 9:30-42

Third Friday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Matthew 6:5-15

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Luke 18:9-17

Third Saturday of Great Lent

Before Holy Qurbana

Holy Qurbana

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Great Lent - Week 2 Readings

Elisha Refusing Naman's gifts [source:wikipedia.com]

Second Sunday of Great Lent (Lepers' Sunday)

Evening

St. Mark 1: 32-46

Morning

St. Mark 9:14 - 29

Before Holy Qurbana

Holy Qurbana

Second Monday of Great Lent

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Luke 6:27-36

Second Tuesday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Luke 6:37-49

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Mark 4:21-34

Second Wednesday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Matthew 18:1-11

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Luke 11:1-13

Second Thursday of Great Lent.

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Luke 16:1-13

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

Second Friday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Matthew 16:21-28

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Matthew 5:38-48

Second Saturday of Great Lent

Before Holy Qurbana

Holy Qurbana

Great Lent Week 2 - Lepers' Sunday

Leprosy - What is That and What Are We Doing About It?

During the second Sunday of the great lent, we commemorate the miracle Jesus performed 2000 years ago, a leper cured of his leprosy.

24-year-old man from Norway,

infected with leprosy, 1886
[Source: wikipedia]

"Unclean! Unclean!" these were the words of lepers as they announced their presence among the un-afflicted in biblical times. The fear of physical disfigurement and the loss of social status that it brings, has made leprosy one of the most dreaded of all diseases. Lepers have been detested and isolated in colonies, where they live until the end of their lives.

Leprosy is a disease known from ancient times (4000 BC). It causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms and legs. Initially, infections are without symptoms and typically remain this way for 5 to 20 years. Nerve damage and muscle weakness can lead to deformities, crippling, blindness and isolation. We do not see lepers in plain-sight these days, leading to think leprosy does not exist today or is eradicated similar to smallpox. However, it still occurs in more than 100 countries worldwide. According to leprosy.org:

· More than 3 million people have disabilities as a result of leprosy
· 75 children a day are diagnosed
· India, Brazil and Indonesia have the most new cases of leprosy
· 168 new cases were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2012
· Leprosy is curable with treatment.

In a day and age when nobody would want to be near a leper, Jesus, touched the leper and healed him [Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:42; Luke 5:12-13] . Here Jesus taught us that it is our responsibility to take care of the downtrodden, the outcasts and the vulnerable. Each Sunday of the great lent reminds us of the ardent faith of the men and women healed by Jesus.

Jesus Healing the Leper
[source:wikipedia.com]

Indian Orthodox Church Charitable Organizations

The Orthodox Church runs institutions in India that takes care of the needy, the vulnerable, the physically and mentally challenged, and the terminally-ill. Below, we take a look at some of the institutions that operate outside of the state of Kerala, India.

St. Gregorios Balagram

St. Gregorios Balagram, located at Yacharam in Telengana (formerly Andhra Pradesh), India (31 miles from Hyderabad), takes care of healthy male children of people afflicted with leprosy. It was founded on the Lepers’ Sunday in 1985 by L.L. H.G Geevarghese Mar Osthathios. Balagram now also runs a home for the aged (Pratyasha Bhavan) and an Eye Hospital.

Children at the Balagram

St. George Balikagram

St. George Balikagram, located at Dehu Road in Pune, India, takes care of the female children of the people with leprosy. To learn more about the St. George Balikagram visit http://www.balikagram.org/about-us.php

St. Paul’s Balagram

St. Paul's Balagram, located at Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, India, takes care of the children of leprosy patients unaffected by the disease and orphans. To learn more about the St. Paul’s Balagram visit http://goo.gl/u33Qoy

Kalahandi Development Projects

Very few of us have heard of Kalahandi, the impoverished and drought-hit district in Odisha (Orissa), India. Because of such severe drought, people in Kalahandi district is said to prepare for drought by beginning to eat less and less so that their bodies adjust to lack of food. Fasting is not an option, it is a way of living for these people. Many of the children die due to starvation. The Indian Orthodox Church has a series of projects for the development of Kalahandi. To learn more about Kalahandi projects of the Church, visit http://providenceusa.com/balagram/kalahand.htm

St. Gregorios Dayabhavan

St. Gregorios Dayabhavan located at Vanigere Village,Tumkur District, Karnataka State, India, provides care and support to the HIV/AIDS infected and affected, rehabilitating the HIV- kids of HIV+ parents and HIV+ kids and a runs a hospital exclusive for the HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis patients. To learn more about Dayabhavan, visit http://www.dayabhavan.org/

What shall we do?

So, on this Sunday, when we commemorate the healing of the leper, let us remember that there are many people in our society who are struggling with maladies such as leprosy, HIV/AIDS, poverty, starvation. Let us also remember and pray for the fathers who have begun these missions and all those who have set apart their lives for taking care of the needy. Each one of us shall contact one or more of these missions and see how we can help them. For a list of the church missions, visit malankara orthodox web site. Every year, as per the Kalpana of the Catholicos [e.g., 2014 in Malayalam], we pray for these institutions on the Lepers' Sunday of great lent and collections from this Sunday (of the great lent) at each Malankara Orthodox Parishes all over the world is sent to those institution(s) as directed by HH Catholicos.

Sources:

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Leprosy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy

http://www.leprosy.org/

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Great Lent - Week 1 Readings

Jesus in the wilderness [source:wikipedia]

First Monday of Great Lent

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Matthew 4: 1-11

Shub-khono

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered…Halleluiah (Psalm 32:1)

St. Matthew 18: 18-35

First Tuesday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Luke 4: 1 - 15

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Matthew 6: 1-6

First Wednesday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Matthew 6: 25-34

First Thursday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Matthew 7: 1-12

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:20)

St. Matthew 7: 13-27

First Friday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.. Halleluiah (Psalm 118:19)

St. Matthew 5:17 - 26

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Lord, hear my voice in the morning and in the morning, I have prepared myself to be present before You. Halleluiah.. (Psalm 5:3)

St. Matthew 5:27-37

First Saturday of Great Lent

Evening

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.. Halleluiah (Psalm 45:2)

St. Matthew 10: 24 - 38

Morning

Halleluiah.. Halleluiah.. Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.. Halleluiah (Psalm 35:28)

St. John 15:17-16:3

Before Holy Qurbana

Holy Qurbana

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Sunday of the Departed Faithful

Preparation for Great Lent: Remembering the Departed Faithful of the Holy Church

The Church has set apart two Sundays after the Nineveh Lent to remember the departed priests and the departed faithful of the Holy Church. Following this the Great Lent begins.

The significance of remembering our parents and forefathers before the great lent was discussed last week.

An excerpt from the memorial service of the faithful departed:

"Glory be to Him, Who is the hope of the living and the Raiser of the dead, in Whose hands are the souls of the just and the righteous, Who restores the bodies of His creation and brings them up from the dark chambers of the Sheol and sends them to the paradise which overflows with felicity and delight. To him be glory, honor, and adoration at this time.. and at all festivals, times, hours, seasons and through all the days of our life forever and ever."

Are not the Departed Asleep?

One of the questions we are constantly being peppered with his why do we pray for the departed or seek their blessings? Are they not "asleep" to the point they are unaware of anything happening around and what good is to pray for them anyway?
While it is true that we have not visited them after they departed from us, nor have we seen the state of their soul, scripture leaves no room for any misinterpretation. The Church is the Church of the living and the departed. Even the church architecture reminds us of this, we have designated space for the departed in the church, and it reminds us that they are ever present with us while we worship the living God!.

A simple answer to the question would be that our faith and beliefs were not invented/interpreted in the 16th century, but handed down to us from antiquity by our forefathers. Our Church is Apostolic, as we profess in the Nicene creed formulated in 325 AD, meaning we follow the teachings of the apostles and the early Church.

If we turn to the scripture, there are numerous scriptural references about the state of the departed. Let us take a close look at few of them here:
1. Luke 20:27-38: ".......34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Do we need any other verses from the bible that tells the state of the departed more than what Jesus Himself has stated? Let us take a look at one more:
2. Luke 9:28-34 "....29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem..."

Transfiguration: Jesus with Moses and Elijah [source:wikipedia]

It is clear from old testament what happened to Moses and Elijah. Moses died, Israelites mourned for him and he was buried. Elijah ascended into the heavens in a chariot. Now, one had clearly died and the other was taken alive to the heavens. How did they both, the one who died and the one who ascended into the heavens show up at the same place talking to the living one, the Jesus, and the whole encounter witnessed by apostle Peter?. So what Jesus said above in Luke 20:38 is truly true: "He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive".
Finally, a word on praying for the departed. Can praying for the departed do anything for them? We believe in a merciful Lord. In the post communion song we sing:

"If by the blood of beasts - the law absolved
Reuben who did sin
Much more - shall be absolved - the faithful dead
For whom a living sacrifice was made"

St. Paul in 2 Timothy 1 prays for Onesiphorus:"16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain; 17 when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me 18 —may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!." Here St. Paul is referring to the judgment day. Similarly, we also pray for our departed that they will find mercy from the Lord on the day of judgment.

For a comprehensive list of scriptural references on praying for the departed, refer to Fr. Dr. Jacob Kurian's (Principal, Orthodox Theological Seminary) article on this topic.