Sunday, August 8 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost
8:30 AM Matins
9:30 AM Divine Liturgy:
Friday, August 14
7:30pm Vespers for the Dormition
Saturday, August 15 – Dormition of the Theotokos
7:30am Matins for the Dormition
8:30am Divine Liturgy for +Joseph Parrot, from Jerome Parrot
7:30 PM Vespers
Sunday, August 16 – 11th Sunday after Pentecost
8:30 AM Matins
9:30 AM Divine Liturgy:
Please remember the following people in your prayers: Estella Biedenbender, Ken Bosak, Julie Carlin, Fletes Family: Alicia, Frankie, Layla, Lupita & Veronica, Victoria Flores, Larry Goodwin, Holly Garlow, Michelle Grana, Virginia Harrington, Jeanne Hart, Michael Hefferon, Rob Hooper, Chris Johnson, Patricia Kurczak, Irene Lehman, Elizabeth & John Mallas, Dylan Mancia, Toni Martin, Marg Mauro, Juan Gabriel Martinez, Pedro Medina, Mina family: Mila, Diana, Rev. John & Mike, Shannon O’Neill, Tanya Petach, Casandra Porch, Diane Romano, Paul Saucedo, Kathleen Savko, Robert Stamer, Leanne Steuer, Mary Washko, Dina & Matthew Wiggins, Carmen Zambrano, Lana Zimmerman, Patrick Zimmerman, Fr. Chris Zugger and all those who serve in the Armed Forces
Collection: $3645.00; Candles: $25.00; Online: $100.00; Church Improvements: $225.00
Total: $3,895.00 / Attendance 56
St. Mary’s has donated $20,567.00 of our $16,388.20 goal from 26 families. Our goal is to have 100% participation! It’s not too late to donate! Please donate any amount that you can. Donate online: http://ephx.org/giving Thank you all the families who have contributed so far!
The origin of the feast of the Dormition of theTheotokos is closely connected with her public veneration since the beginning of the fourth century. It developed from the early celebration of Christmas in which the Theotokos, the Mother of God our Savior, played an important role. The solemn proclamation of Mary as “the Theotokos” at the Council of Ephesus (431) greatly enhanced her public veneration as the “Mother of God.” This is evidenced by the fact that a few years later her divine maternity was celebrated in Jerusalem as the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God, on August 15.
At the beginning of the sixth century, a magnificent basilica was erected over the tomb of Mary in Gethsemane. With this, the feast of Mary celebrated on August 15 took on a new meaning and became the solemn celebration of Mary’s death and assumption into heaven under the name of the Feast of the Dormition. In some liturgical calendars of the East, the feast was referred to as the Journey of the Theotokos into Heaven, or the Deposition of Mary, i.e. the internment of Mary into her grave.
In Constantinople, the Empress St. Pulcheria asked St. Juvenal of Jerusalem (d. 458) for some relics of the Blessed Mother to be enshrined in St. Mary’s Church at Blachernae, near Constantinople. The saintly Bishop replied: “We have received from ancient and the most reliable tradition that at the time of the glorious dormition (falling asleep) of the Mother of God, the whole company of the Apostles were brought together in Jerusalem. So, amid divine and heavenly praises, they commended her holy soul to the hands of God and, taking her God-conceiving body, they carried it in procession to Gethsemani and there placed it in a little tomb.
“For three days a choir of Angels continued to sing above Her tomb. After the third day, when finally St. Thomas arrived, (he had been absent and desired to venerate the body that had borne Christ God), they (the Apostles) opened the tomb and found no trace of her blessed body. Thus, taking the winding sheets, which were filled with fragrance, the Apostles closed the tomb. Wondering at this mystery, they could only think that He, Whom it had pleased to be born of her in the flesh, the Lord of Glory, desired that after her departure from this life, her immaculate and all-pure body would be honored by incorruptibility, being translated (to heaven) before the universal resurrection of the dead.”
According to an old custom, flowers and medicinal herbs are blessed after the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Dormition. This custom most probably originated from the traditional belief that after Mary’s glorious assumption into heaven, her holy tomb was filled with a “heavenly fragrance” and flowers..) The herbs, used by our people as natural medicine, are blessed in commemoration of the numerous healings and extraordinary graces bestowed on the pilgrims at Mary’s tomb.
(Full article at https://www.archpitt.org/category/byzantine-catholic-faith/)
Sunday, August 9 –
