From the hymnography for Holy Cross:
Come, all you nations, let us fall down in worship before the blessed Tree, by which eternal justice has come to pass!
For he who deceived Adam by a Tree is caught by the lure of the Cross; and he who held under his tyranny the creature endowed by God with royal dignity is brought down in a headlong fall.
The serpent’s venom is washed away by the blood of God, and the curse of just condemnation is undone when the Just One is condemned by an unjust judgment.
For it was fitting that the Tree should be healed by a Tree, and that by the Passion of the passionless God what was wrought on the Tree should destroy the passions of man, who was condemned.
But glory to Your dread dispensation for our sakes, O Christ the King, through which You have saved us all since You are good and the Lover of mankind!
Rejoice, O Cross of the Lord, through which mankind has been delivered from the curse!
You shatter our enemies by your Elevation.
O Cross, worthy of all honor, you are our help.
You are the strength of kings.
You are the power of the righteous.
You are the majesty of priests.
All who sign themselves with you are freed from danger.
O rod of strength, under which we like sheep are tended, you are a weapon of peace around which the Angels stand in fear
You are the divine glory of Christ, Who grants the world great mercy.
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Today: 8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Divine Liturgy & Brunch
Monday: 6:00 pm Vespers & Litia
Tuesday: 6:00 am Divine Liturgy (Holy Cross: strict fast day)
Thursday: 6:00 pm Vespers
Saturday: 5:00 pm Inquirers’ Class; 6:00 pm Vespers
Sunday: 8:30 am Matins; 9:30 am Divine Liturgy, Classes, Brunch
Looking Ahead:
• Late Vocations Classes will be on hold for a brief time.
• Saturday, September 25 at 9:30 am OCA DCE Workshop for parents and teachers
• Sunday, September 26 during pot-luck brunch: DRE discussion “Knowing & Presenting Our Faith”
• Sunday, September 26 at 1:30 pm St. Nicholas “Sole Supporters” Team for the Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon Walk (Willamette Park — 1k or 5k).
Check out one of the earliest patristic commentaries on Islam — not the most objective and possibly somewhat mis-informed in facts, but this has strong historical value: “The Ishmaelites” by St. John of Damascus (676 – 749) from his book “On Heresies”
(PG 94:1864:763-773, found in St. John of Damascus: Writings, Fathers of the Church Series, Washington: CUA, 1958):
http://books.google.com/books?id=H9wlrya9lXYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=st+john+of+damascus+ishmaelites&source=bl&ots=R8llZlf-Ox&sig=i7M6dr1-xUAFTg6TxoBSMow4wck&hl=en&ei=fZKLTNqHCIL4swOvvv2oBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false
(Scroll to pp. 153 – 160.)
