Join Us for Holy Week
Come receive the light from the Light that never sets, and glorify Christ who is risen from the dead
April 7-15, 2012
The Orthodox Holy Week and Pascha services set before us a rich feast of Christian experience that no seeker of God should miss. The four Gospels devote more space to the week before our Lord’s death than all the rest of His life and teaching. Beginning with the Raising of Lazarus, the Orthodox services give us each day scriptures, hymns, and liturgical actions that enable us experience these saving events as realities in our time. Make plans to join us for these.
Observation of Our Worship
One of our members, Sophia Lawson, was asked to write a college paper on her observations of a place or event. Here is her observation of Liturgy at Holy Resurrection on August 28:
Observation Paper:
I want to observe my church back home in Clinton, MS. The service took place at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton, MS and began at 9:30 am Sunday morning, with big metal bells rung to make a sound that announces the beginning of the service. It’s a pretty large church, about 50 by 25 feet, and then the altar which is about 30 by 20 feet. The space where the service takes place is a rectangle and is a very wide open space without pews except for some benches and chairs along the wall. This space is actually called the nave, which historically comes from the word “naval”, imitating the biblical ship the Ark. All Orthodox churches around the world are somewhat like this. The walls are a baby blue on top, brown at the bottom of the wall, and those two colors are divided by a gold trim. Everything in our church means something. The church is an image of heaven meeting earth, so that is the meaning of the blue and brown parts of the walls. There are six very large windows with shutters covering them that only let a little bit of light in. There are candles and a few chandeliers that help to light the rest of the church. The ceiling is a beautiful baby blue, to imitate the sky, with a large icon of Christ in the middle called the “Pantocrator”, which means “Almighty”. There are icons lining all the wall space and covering the altar, showing the presence of the saints and the heavenly beings with us. The floors are a beautiful, warm cherry wood. The sweet, smokey smell of incense is all through the room. It was a very comfortable temperature of 70 degrees throughout the entire service. Holy Resurrection is looking more beautiful than ever with freshly cut flowers decorating the icons. It is a very comfortable atmosphere. Even if you have never been to the church someone is sure to approach you and make you feel as welcome as possible. You always feel the presence of God while in the church but on this particular day there was a different presence, sadness. The night before we lost a great man that basically founded our church and everyone who knew him was mourning his loss. Our bishop, Archbishop Dmitri, had just died.
There was a fair amount of people at the church that Sunday, about 50 to 60 people. I would have to say that it was a good 50/50 ratio between the amount of men and woman attending. In my opinion, babies outweigh the adults. Holy Resurrection now has a huge population of children and unfortunately that is usually noticed more than anything else because of the crying and their constant activity. The majority of people were dressed in their “Sunday clothes” but there were also a few dressed more casually with t-shirts and jeans on. At Holy Resurrection you stand for most of the service, unless you have some sort of disability, are old, or because you are new to the church. The early Christians always stood for worship so we do too. As you walk in you immediately hear these beautiful voices singing and praising God. Everyone is serious but happy. You can tell they love God and are there to join in prayer and spend the Sunday morning worshipping Him. Most people don’t bring too many things into the church –other than a prayer book. Women bring in their purses. Everyone is joined in singing and prayer.
Father Paul is wearing his traditional robes and his glasses. He looks completely different than any other person in the room. He has a full head of white hair and a full white beard. Fr. Paul has such a happy face with very rosy red cheeks and a glowing smile. On this Sunday the loss of the Bishop caused not only a change in his sermon topic, which is usually about the Gospel reading, but a complete change in Father Paul’s attitude. He has been doing sermons for over thirty years so he is a very good speaker. He never gets nervous but he does get emotional. He always has a piece of paper with him which I honestly never know what is written on it because he hardly looks at it during his sermon.
Great Lent Begins February 27
Let us fast with a fast pleasing to the Lord. This is the true fast: the casting off of evil, the bridling of the tongue, the cutting off of anger, the cessation of lusts, evil talking, lies and cursing. The stopping of these is the fast true and acceptable.
–Monday Vespers of the First Week
The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.
But grant rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother,
For blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
Father Thomas Hopko
will speak at Holy Resurrection on
The Revelation to St. John
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
February 14-16, 7 p.m.
Fr. Thomas Hopko
Father Thomas is one of the most popular Orthodox speakers in America. He is Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York and was Professor of Dogmatic Theology there for many years. He studied with such renowned Orthodox theologians as Father Alexander Schmemann, Father John Meyendorff, Nicholas Arseniev and Serge Verkhovskoy. He received his Ph.D. in Theology from Fordham University. He now lives at Ellwood City, PA, and serves at the Holy Transfiguration Monastery there.
For many Christians the last book of the Bible is either hopelessly unintelligible or the playground of sensationalist speculation. Fr. Thomas will show us its timeless message in the perspective of the Church fathers.
Concerning the Revelation, Father Hopko says
What the Christian shares with Jesus is the Kingdom and the Tribulation. …After Jesus is crucified, raised in glory and the Holy Spirit is given, the content of life in this world is the Tribulation. We are in the Tribulation, the End Time, until He comes again. And in the time of the Tribulation we are also in the Kingdom because we belong to Christ.
So we are in two worlds. Spiritually …we are in the Kingdom. But we are also still in this history, in the time of Tribulation … the time when the children of the Kingdom get nailed by the children of this world. That’s what the End Time is all about. And the children of the Kingdom have to stand fast in the Tribulation.
Father Thomas speaks frequently in the South, to which he feels drawn because of his fondness for the writer Flannery O’Connor and Mississippian Elvis Presley.
The public is invited to the talks and to Vespers, which will be served each evening at 6 p.m. in the Church. Fr. Thomas’ talks will begin at 7 p.m. in the Mount Salus Christian School Gymnasium behind the Church. For more information call 601 924-2441.
Short Article by Fr. Thomas on the Revelation
Are you looking for a church . . .
• … that teaches the whole historic Christian tradition, entire and undistorted?
• …that has the most beautiful worship in Christendom?
• …that offers realistic guidance for personal prayer and spiritual warfare?
• …that clearly calls us to obey the moral commands of Christ, but always has mercy for those who fall and struggle?
One of our members says he was looking for the Orthodox Church all his life but did not know what it was called. Today more and more Americans are finding in the original Christian Church the wholeness, sanity, and joy in the Body of Christ they had long been seeking.
Come and see! • Inquirers Class – Wednesdays
Vespers Service 6 p.m. • Classes 7 p.m.
Taught by Father Paul Yerger
• January 11 – Worship – Heaven on Earth
• January 18 – Personal Prayer – The Unseen Warfare
• January 25 – Orthodox Life
If You’re Just Curious . . .
No one will pester you to join or come to your house. Some people visit our Church for years without joining. The three Inquirers Classes will be followed by more detailed classes on Orthodox teaching and life each Wednesday. These are open to all. Those who do wish to join may be received as Catechumens (learners), and after about a year of preparation may become members.
For more information call 601 924-2441.
Theophany: The Baptism of the Lord
On January 6 Orthodox Christians celebrate the Baptism of Christ.
Services at the Church:
- Thursday, January 5, 6 p.m. – Blessing of Water
- Friday, January 6, 6:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy
The following Sunday, January 8, at 4 p.m. the four Orthodox Churches in the Jackson-Vicksburg area will celebrate this together by blessing the waters of the Ross Barnett Reservoir and plunging a Cross into it. Participating Churches are Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church, Jackson, St. George Orthodox Church, Vicksburg, St. Peter Orthodox Church, Madison, and Holy Resurrection.
Join us at 4 p.m. Sunday, January 8, at Old Trace Park on the Reservoir.
Our Lord’s Baptism is one of the major events of His life. It is the inauguration of His public ministry. It is an image of His entire work of salvation: He descends into the water just as He has descended from Heaven to earth to take our life as His own, and as later He will descend into death to take our death as His own, win the victory over death and raise us to life with Him. It is the pattern of our own baptism, in which we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)”
Services for the Nativity of the Lord
Saturday, Dec. 24, 6 p.m.
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Nativity Vigil: Great Compline and Matins
Sunday, Dec. 25, 9:30 a.m.
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Divine Liturgy of St. Basil
About the Incarnation of the Lord
New Murals Installed
We recently installed icon murals of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost, each eight feet high and four and a half feet wide, on the front walls of the Temple on either side of the Altar area opening.
The icon of the Ascension depicts the Lord’s mother and His disciples standing on the ground, with Christ above, enthroned on the clouds and flanked by angels, just as we are told we shall see Him when He comes again. (Acts 1:1-12; cf. Mark 13:26).
The icon of Pentecost shows the apostles seated in a semicircle as elders, but the center seat, where the teacher would be, is empty, as the Lord is no longer visible on earth. Instead we see a blue cloud at the top from which the “rushing mighty wind” of the Holy Spirit descends, and flames above each apostle’s head. At the bottom is a man wearing a crown in a dark space; he is this world and its rulers, now sitting in darkness, waiting to be enlightened by the Spirit-bearing apostles.
The murals were painted on canvas by Fr. Andrew Tregubov of Claremont, NH, a Russian priest and iconographer. They were installed by local wall covering installer Gary Atchley. Local artist Debbie O’Neill of Raymond painted red borders and trim to integrate them with the building and other icons. The icon of the Ascension is a memorial to our member Melinda Haddad, who fell asleep in the Lord November 26, 2009.
Icons (images) in Orthodox churches are not considered “art” as the term is used today, because they are not intended to express the painter’s personal creativity. They proclaim what the Church teaches about the persons or events depicted. Each must be painted according to traditions handed down for many centuries, as the icons are one of the ways the Faith is taught. When we stand in Church to worship, we are surrounded by icons of the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) of Christians who have gone before us, and the saving works of God in history, in which we now participate.
These icons are part of a long-range plan by which the whole interior of the Temple will be painted. Already there is a large icon on the ceiling of Christ Pantocrator (ruler of all things), and other large icons of his Mother, of the Raising of Lazarus, the Crucifixion, the Descent of Christ into Hades, the Appearance of Christ at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1), and St. John the Baptist, as well as many portrait-size icons of the saints.
We invite you to visit the Church and see these beautiful murals.
Talent Smackdown
On October 16 we enjoyed our second annual Talent Smackdown, at which we learned what entertaining talents some of our members have. To see a video of it click here
Our member Robert Hegwood offered an original song about Orthodox worship and prayer. Later he made a video of it with pictures – see it here.
THAT’S THE WAY THE WHEAT BOWS
© 2011 by Robert W. Hegwood
Shuffle to the side a little
Room for another
Shuffle to the front
To greet your mother
Light a little candle
Place it in the sand
Say a little prayer
With a gesture of your hand.
Refrain:
That’s the way the wheat bows
When the wind blows
That’s the way the wheat bows
When the wind blows.
That’s the way the wheat bows
When the wind blows
That’s the way the wheat bows
When the wind blows.
Step a little closer
Hear the story told
Treasure for a clay pot
Silver and gold
Shuffle up the middle
Taste the fountain from a spoon
Go live it outside
Come back soon
(Refrain)
Sitting in candle light
Knots on a string
Counting’s not the hard part
Heart takes wing
Mercy on my father, mother,
Mercy on me
Mercy on my sister, brother,
And my enemy
(Refrain)
Fall to the ground again
Seed for the sower
Tears drop silently
Seas for the rower
Counting all the peekers
Peering from the wall
Watching through their windows
At the shufflers all
(Refrain)
Shuffle to the side a little
Room for another
Shuffle to the front
To greet your Brother
Light a little candle
Place it in the sand
Say a little prayer
With a gesture of your hand.
(Refrain)
ALS Walk for Tony Varner
More than a dozen Holy Resurrection members participated in the annual Walk to Defeat ALS on October 15 in honor of our member Tony Varner.
Member Jim Thorn ran in a marathon that day and presented his medal to Tony.
