Today:  8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Liturgy & Brunch
Monday:  6:00 am Divine Liturgy (Ss. Peter & Paul)
Tuesday:  6:00 pm Vespers
Thursday:  6:00 pm Vespers
Saturday:  6:00 pm Vespers
Sunday:  8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Liturgy & Coffee Hour

Looking Ahead:
Monday – Saturday, July 6-11: Iconography Workshop with Heather MacKean

Friday / Saturday, July 10-11: Teen & Young Adult Mt. Hood Backpack Trip

Saturday, July 11: “The Language of Icons” with Heather MacKean

Saturday, July 18: 5-Year Plan Forum #2

Today:  Matins, Liturgy, Panikhida for our Fathers, Grandfathers & God-fathers; Coffee Hour, Church School Meeting

Tuesday:  6:00 pm Vesperal Divine Liturgy for the Nativity of the Forerunner

Thursday:  6:00 pm Vespers; “Naming the Child” presentation with Jenny Schroedel

Saturday:  6:00 pm Vespers; Five-Year Plan Forum #1

Sunday:  8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Divine Liturgy & Brunch

Looking Ahead:
Monday – Saturday, July 6-11: Iconography Workshop with Heather MacKean

Friday / Saturday, July 10-11: Teen & Young Adult Mt. Hood Backpack Trip

Saturday, July 11: “The Language of Icons” with Heather MacKean

Thursday, July 30: Teen & Young Adult Rafting on the Sandy River

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All Saints of North America:

Through St. Herman, the Alaskan Mission was blessed by the traditional monastic example which SS. Cyril and Methodius provided to the Slavs, centuries earlier. By SS. Innocent and Jacob, the Alaskan Mission demonstrated the linguistic adaptability, cultural sensitivity, and educational outreach characteristic of Orthodox missions from Moravia to Kamchatka. Unfortunately, the heroic missionary work of the Siberian traders who married, converted, and raised their families in the Orthodox faith, and that of their children, the first Native American Orthodox evangelists, have received less attention. Nevertheless, through all their efforts the foundations of the Alaskan Mission had been firmly laid.

With the transfer to American rule in 1867, most ethnic Russians, including the vast majority of Orthodox priests, returned to Russia, leaving the 12,000 native Christians, 9 Orthodox parishes, 35 chapels, 17 schools, and 3 orphanages to fend largely for themselves. In 1872, the diocesan see was transferred from Sitka to San Francisco, and the bishop was able to supervise the mission only from afar. Over the next 100 years, the Alaskan mission received only sporadic assistance from the Orthodox community in the “lower 48.”

Nevertheless, the mission continued to grow, largely through the efforts of indigenous leaders. Despite the fact that the mission never had more than 15 priests, scores of new parishes and chapels, as well as schools and orphanages, were built. Lay leaders continued to conduct services, preach, and teach even in the absence of clergy. The Orthodox Church in Alaska was able to survive because, from its very beginning, it was envisioned, in the best tradition of Orthodox missionary spirituality, as an indigenous church, not as a “diaspora.”

from: Orthodox Christians in North America

http://www.oca.org/MVorthchristiansnamerica.asp?SID=1&Chap=CH1

Luminaries of the American Church:

Monk-martyr Juvenal Hovorukin (+ 1796)
(widower…wife’s name unknown: + 1791)

Martyr Peter of San Francisco (+ ca. 1815)

Monk Herman (+ 12/13/1837)

Priest Jacob Netsvetov  (+ 7/26/1864)
Anna = wife (+ 1836)

Metropolitan Innocent Veniaminov (+ 3/31/1879)
Catherine = wife (+ 1838)

Priest Alexis Toth (+ 5/7/1909)
Rosalie = wife (+ ca. 1880)

Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny (+ 2/27/1915)
Miriam = mother

Priest-martyr John Kochurov (+ 10/31/1917)
Anna = mother
Alexandra = wife

Patriarch-martyr Tikhon Belavin (+ 4/5/1925)

Priest-martyr Alexander Hotovitsky (+ ca. 1937)
Maria = wife

Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich (+ 3/18/1956)
Katarina = mother

Metropolitan Leonty Turkevich (+ 5/14/1965)
Anna = wife (+1925)

Archbishop John Maximovich (+ 7/2/1966)

Matushka Olga Michael (+ 11/7/1979)
Priest Nikolai = husband

Today: 8:30 Matins; 9:30 Liturgy; Brunch; IOCC presentation
Tuesday:  6:00 pm Vespers
Thursday: 6:00 pm Vespers
Saturday: 6:00 pm Vespers
Sunday:  8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Liturgy & High Solemn Coffee Hour

Looking Ahead:
Thursday, June 25: “Naming the Child” presentation by Jenny Schroedel
Saturday, June 27: Five-Year Plan Forum #1
Mon – Sat, July 6-11 Iconography Workshop with Heather MacKean
Friday / Saturday, July 10/11: Teen Hike to Mt. Hood

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All Saints:

In the early days Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr’s death for Christ at the place of martyrdom.  In the fourth century, neighboring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the Province of Pontus.  Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration.

In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each.  But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all.

The first trace of this can be found in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost.  There is also mention of this day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407).  At first only martyrs and St. John the Forerunner were honored by a special day.  Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization / glorification was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Orthodox Calendar a “Commemoration of the Confessors” for the Friday after Pascha.

The Feast of All Saints came to be an important event in the ninth century, during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, “the Wise” (886-911).  His wife, Empress Theophano lived a deeply pious and devout life.  After her death in 897, Leo built a church, intending to dedicate it to her.  When the patriarch forbade him from doing this, he decided to dedicate it to “All the Saints,” so that if his wife were in fact one of the righteous, she would also be honored whenever the feast was celebrated.  According to tradition, it was Leo who expanded the feast from a commemoration of All Martyrs to a general commemoration of All Saints, whether martyrs or not.
This Sunday marks the close of the Paschal season. To the normal Sunday services are added special scriptural readings and hymns to all the saints (known and unknown) from the Pentecostarion.
The Sunday following All Saints Sunday (i.e., the second Sunday after Pentecost) is set aside as a commemoration of all locally venerated saints, such as All Saints of America.  The third Sunday after Pentecost may be observed for even more localized saints, such as “All Saints of Alaska.”

(It appears that in the Christian West the Feast of All Saints originated in the early 7th century and was kept on May 13.  By the mid 8th century it was transferred to November 1.  Both of these dates were connected with ancient Roman and Celtic commemorations of the dead.  The celebrations were ”baptized” and became part of the Christian calendar.)

Today: Matins, Divine Liturgy, Kneeling Prayers & BBQ

Tuesday:  6:00 pm Vespers

Thursday:  6:00 pm Vespers

Saturday: 10:00 Portland parishes IOCC Training Workshop being held here; Middle School – College Students outing & dinner; 6:00 pm Vespers & Panikhida for June; IOCC presentation for Portland area teens and young adults by Vasi Jankovich

Sunday:  8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Divine Liturgy & Brunch

Looking Ahead:
June 27: The Five–Year Plan Forum
June 28: “Naming the Child” presentation by Jenny Schroedel
July 6 – 11: Iconography Workshop with Heather MacKean
July 10 – 11: Teen Hike to Mt. Hood
July 11: “The Language and Theology of Icons” presentation by Heather MacKean

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The Feast of Pentecost / The Feast of Weeks (i.e., the closing festival for the 7 weeks of Passover = 50 days) was called Pentecosté (i.e., 50) in the Greek speaking Jewish world (Ex. 34:22; Lev. 23:11; Deut. 16:10).  It was a harvest feast also connected with the giving of the Law (Torah) on Mt. Sinai on the 50th day after the original Passover / Exodus events (Ex. 19:11).  It was a great homecoming feast for 1st century Jews from all parts of the world (Acts 2:5-11).  Fifty days after the Resurrection of Christ, the extraordinary events in the Upper Room took place.

It is often called Whitsunday due to the white garments worn by those who were baptized during the Pentecost Vigil…i.e., the catechumens who had not been baptized at Pascha.  In Italy it was customary to scatter rose leaves from the ceiling of the churches to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues.  In France it was customary to blow trumpets during Liturgy to recall the sound of the miracle of the great mighty rushing wind.  In England horse racing was customary on Whitsunday.  In the Christian East the extraordinary service of Kneeling is held — whereat the faithful kneel for the first time since Pascha.  In Russia, the faithful carry flowers and green branches in their hands and decorate the church interiors with greenery, branches and the like on the Feast of Pentecost (which commemorates the Holy Trinity as well as the Descent of the Holy Spirit.)

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According to St. Seraphim of Sarov, the aim of the Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit…

Galatians 5 = Fruit of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 12  = Gifts of the Spirit

Having received our personal incorporation into the Pentecost event at Baptism (immersed in Christ; die and rise with Christ; clothed in Christ), Chrismation (Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit) and Holy Communion (Holy Things for the Holy, “you are what you eat,” mystical wedding supper of the Lamb of God), and when our thoughts, words, actions and lives can be characterized by the above Fruit and Gifts, we could be considered to be on the way to sainthood…