Services at St Mary’s Church
Monday:
Mass 8:30 - 11 AM
Tuesday
Liturgy 5:30 – 7 AM
The Way Orthodox Fellowship in English for adults - All ages 7:30 PM
Wednesday:
Mass 8:30 – 11 AM
Hymns class for adults 7 – 8:30 PM
English Bible Study 7:30 PM
Thursday
Mass 8:30 - 11 AM
English Midnight Praises 7:30 PM
Friday:
Mass 8:30 – 11 AM
Youth meeting 25 and above 7-9 PM
Discipleship Class 7-8:30 PM
Saturday:
Mass: 8:30 – 11 AM
Scouts 1:30 – 3 PM
Choirs and Theatre 2 – 4 PM
Vespers Praises 2:45 – 4 PM
Sunday School for grades 7-10 4 – 6:30 PM
Sunday School for primary 4:30 – 6 PM
Vespers & youth meeting 7-8:30pm English
Vespers &Bible Study Arabic 6-7:30 PM
Midnight Praises 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Sunday:
1st Mass 6:30 - 8:30 Arabic & English
2nd Mass.8:30 - 10:30 English - St Mary’s
Church
3rd Mass 8:30 - 10:30 Arabic - St John’s Chrysostom
Psalmist School of Hymnology 11:15 AM –12:15 PM
Church Priests:
Fr Tadros Sharobeam 0414251251
Email: frtadros@me.com
Fr Habib Girgis Younan: 0401238177 – 94498871
Email: habibgirgisyounan@hotmail.com
Fr Michael Salib: 0422431821
Email: frmichael@sac.edu.au
Fr Kyrillos Tawadros 0411 518 399
Fr John Makary 0433 445 636
Church Address: 5 Epsom Rd., Kensington Vic
3031 Tel: 93766651
The Departure of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus.
25th May - 17th Bashans
On this day, of the year 42 A.D., the great father St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, departed. He was born to Jewish parents, his father died, and left him with a sister and their mother brought them up well.
His father left him an untrained donkey and his mother asked him to sell it. He met a Christian man called Philotheus who wanted to buy the donkey, but the donkey kicked Epiphanius in his thigh, and he fell down on the ground unconscious. Philotheus made the sign of the cross over the place of injury and Epiphanius was cured of his pain instantly. Then Philotheus cried out over that donkey asking God that the donkey would die God answered his prayer, and the donkey fell down and died. Epiphanius inquired about the secret of the donkey’s death and Philotheus told him that it was the cross. He guided him to the crucified Christ, the Son of God, Whom the Jews crucified in Jerusalem by His own will for the Salvation of the world. This remained in the mind of Epiphanius.
When one of the rich Jewish men died and had no one to inherit him, he left all his inheritance to Epiphanius. He used this inheritance to spend on the teachers of religion and Law. Once, when he was walking in the road, he saw a poor man asking for charity from one of the monks, and as the monk did not have any money to give, he took off his garment and gave it to him. As the poor man took this garment, St. Epiphanius saw a white dress coming down from heaven upon the monk instead off the garment that he gave away. He was astonished and went to the monk and asked him: “Who are you and what is your faith?”
The monk told him that he was Christian. He asked the monk to guide him to the facts of the Christian faith. The monk brought him to the bishop who taught him the law of the Christian faith and baptized him.
Epiphanius desired to become a monk, and the bishop sent him to the monastery of St. Lucianus. He became a disciple to St. Hilarion, and the grace of God was with him. He excelled in the church subjects, monastic virtues, and its cannons.
St. Hilarion prophesied that he would become a bishop and commanded him to go to Cyprus, and not to refuse the office of bishop if it was offered to him. When the bishop of Cyprus departed, it happened that Epiphanius entered the city to buy certain necessities, and he had two monks with him. A saintly bishop was inspired to go to the market place to choose the monk that had two clusters of grapes, whose name was Epiphanius, to ordain him a bishop for Cyprus. When the bishop went to the market, he found him with the other two monks, with two clusters of grapes in his hand. He asked him about his name and he knew that he was the chosen one by God. He took him to the church and ordained him deacon, priest, then bishop. He revealed to the people his vision about him and the prophecy of St. Helarion was fulfilled.
St. Epiphanius followed a right course of conduct in his diocese, which was well pleasing to God. He wrote many books and discourses and he always preached about mercy. It happened that John, bishop of Jerusalem, was not merciful, so St. Epiphanius borrowed from him some of his gold and silver
table vessels, and sold them and gave its price to the poor and the needy. When Abba John asked him to return them, he struck him in his eyes and he became blind. John asked the Saint to pray to heal him, and he prayed, and God opened one of John’s eyes.
In the year 42 A.D., Empress Eudoxia called Epiphanius to help her to drive out St. John Chrysostom (Of the Golden Mouth) from Constantinople. However, he tried to reconcile them together, but he failed. She threatened him that she would open the temples of idols and close the churches if he did not work on his removal. But since he could not reconcile the differences between her and St. John, he returned to Cyprus and departed in the same year. (His body was relocated on the 28th. of Bashans).
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
The Departure Of St. Ammonius The Hermit. 28th May - 20th Bashans
On this day, of the year 73 A.M. (357 A.D.), the holy father Abba Ammonius departed. He was born in 294 A.D., in a village near Mariot. He was, as St. Antony was, born to a righteous and rich Christian family. He lost his parents while he was young and became under the guardianship of his uncle. He longed for the life of purity, chastity, and holiness. Nevertheless, his uncle forced him to be engaged to a rich girl against his will. Since he could not disobey his uncle, he talked to his bride to be, with a spiritual dialogue and through his holy life, he was able to have a good influence on her. He made her long to the life of purity and planted in her heart the desire to consecrate her self a bride for the True Bridegroom Jesus Christ. Thus they decided to accept the marriage but decided to live as a brother and sister.
They remained like this for seventeen years, keeping themselves pure and chaste, after which his wife departed to the eternal bliss. The Saint saw in a vision St. Antonios calling him to put on the monastic garb. When he woke from his sleep, he rose up and went to St. Isidore, who put on him the holy Eskeem. He dwelt with him for some time, after which he went to mount Tounah, where was St. Antonios. St. Ammonius remained with St. Antonios for a while and became his disciple, and studied on his hands the cannons of the holy monasticism. He built for himself a cell in mount Tounah. He fervently worshipped God there, and the devil envied him. He came to him in the form of a nun and knocked his door. When he opened and asked the devil to pray with him, the devil became like a flame of fire. Then the devil went and dwelt in a woman and moved her to entice the Saint to fall in sin with her. She wore the best of her clothing and came to him at dusk, and knocked the door of his cell, saying: “I am a traveling woman, and I had lost my way, and it is dark now. Please do not let me stay outside lest the wild beasts kill me, and you become responsible for my blood.” When he opened the door and knew the snare of the devil who sent her, he started to preach her and put the fear in her heart of the tortures of hell which is awaiting the sinners, and indicated to her the delight and the bliss which is awaiting the righteous. God opened her heart, and she understood what he said to her. She knelt to his feet
weeping and asked him to accept her and assist her in saving her soul. She took off her apparel and he put on her a sackcloth of hair. He cut off her hair and called her “The simple minded or the naive”. He taught her the way to righteousness and she excelled through many prayers and fasting, and surpassed many saints by her fasting and perpetual prayers. The devil tried to snare him again. This time in the form of a monk who went around in the monasteries weeping and saying: “Abba Ammonius the hermit had married and he kept the woman with him in his cell. He had put the monks to shame and disgraced the monastic garb.” When Abba Apollo (Ebelo), who was like the angels, heard of that, he took with him Abba Yousab and Abba Nohi (Bohi), and came to mount Tounah to the cell of Abba Ammonius. They knocked on the door of the cell, and when she opened to them they realized the matter. They entered and prayed together as the custom and sat to talk about the greatness of God. At the end of the day, Abba Ammonius told them, let us go to see the “Naive” for she was baking some bread. When they went out to where she was, they saw her standing in the midst of a great fire, and her hands were stretched out towards heaven praying. They marvelled exceedingly and glorified God. After they had eaten the bread, everyone went separately to sleep and the angel of the Lord revealed the story of the “Naive” with St. Ammonius to Abba Apollo, and that God brought them there to be present at the time of her departure.
About the third hour of the night, she became sick with fever. She knelt down and delivered up her soul at the hand of the Lord. They swathed her, and after praying over her, they buried her. Then Abba Ammonius told them about her virtues, and that for the eighteen years that she stayed with him, she never raised her face to look at him, and that her food was bread and salt.
After this, St. Antonios sent him to El-Natroun valley to establish there new monasteries, and many believers followed him. He organized for them their livelihood and directed them with excellence. Soon after, this holy father departed in peace. May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
Departure of St.Marcian (Martinianus)
29th May - 21st Bashans
On this day also, St. Marcian departed. He was born in the city of Caesarea of Palestine. He became a monk since his young age at an elderly holy man living on a mountain near by his town called mount El-Safina (The ship). He fought a great and strenuous fight with many worships and he lived there for sixty six years, and his virtues became known. An evil woman heard of him, and she said to some of those who talked about his virtues: “For how long you will continue to praise him, while he is in a wilderness where he does not see the face of a women? If he saw me, I would stain his virginity and defile his holiness”. They rebuked her for what she said, because of what they knew of the purity and holiness of this Saint, but she made a wager with them that she would go to him and make him fall in sin. She straightway, rose up, took
her ornaments, her expensive apparels and her perfumes in a piece of cloth, and put on an ugly dress and covered her face. She went to a place close by where the Saint was and waited until the evening, then knocked on the door of his cell, weeping, pretending that she had lost her way, and asked him to let her stay with him until the morning. The Saint pondered about her, if he left her outside, the wild beasts might eat her, and if he brought her in, the warfare would increase against him because of her. Finally, he opened the door to her, and went to another place in the cell. She arrayed herself in her beautiful apparel, adorned and perfumed herself, then attacked him tempting him to commit sin with her. He knew that she was a snare of Satan plotted up for him. He told her: “Wait a little for me until I look at the road, for some people are used to come to me here every now and then.” He went out and lighted a great fire, and he started throwing himself in the fire time after time saying to himself: “If you can’t bear the pain of a little fire, how can you bear the torment of the fire of hell?” Then he fell on the ground weeping from the severity of the pain from the burns that he suffered on his feet and his fingers. As he tarried, she came out and saw him in that condition. She was terrified and she returned to her senses. She stripped off her expensive raiment, knelt at his feet, and begged him to help her to save her soul. He started to preach her telling her about the vanity of this world and its lusts, and she repented with all her heart. He took her to one of the convents, and asked the abbess to take charge of her and she lived there a life of purity and ascetism that was pleasing to God to the end of her life. She reached a high degree of holliness, received the gift of healing and she healed many from their infermities. But as for St. Martinianus, fearing lest the enemy might bring to him another woman, departed to an island in the middle of the sea. He made an agreement with a sailor to sell the works of his hand, and to bring him food. However, a ship was wrecked near by the island, and a woman managed to hang on to one of the planks, and the waves washed her to this island. When the Saint saw her, he was preplexed and wanted to leave the island. The woman asked him to make her a nun and he did as she wished then gave her all what he had of bread. He crossed himself with the sign of the cross, and threw himself in the sea, hanging on the plank that she hung on and he put himself in the hand of the Almighty. The waves threw him on the land, and he wandered about in the mountains and deserts for two years until he arrived to the city of Athens, where he became ill. He called the bishop, and told him all what had happened to him, and then he gave up his soul in the hand of the Lord, and they buried him with great honor. The woman that remained on the island, the sailor continued to bring her food until she departed, then he took her body to his country. May her prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
5th Sunday of Pentecost
Today, Sunday 25th May 2025 - 17th Bashans 1741, is the fifth Sunday of the Holy Pentecost. Pauline: Hebrews 10: 19-38 “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith”.
The Catholicon: 1 Peter 4: 6-14 “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers”. Acts: Acts 9: 1-20 “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
The Holy Gospel: John 14: 1--11 “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.
Today, the Gospel of the Liturgy, according to Saint John the Evangelist (John 14:1-11), in which the Lord Jesus tells us about His farewell speech to His disciples before the cross. + “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me”. The Lord reassures His disciples and gives them tranquillity. “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, then believe in Me”. He gave them confidence, peace and tranquillity. Human usually fears when he/she loves the world; .the love of the world generates anxiety in the human heart. The person who loves money is worried of losing his money or does not get what he wants from it. The pleasure-loving person is afraid that he will cut off his lust and his pleasures. The self-loving person is afraid that his dignity will be insulted or his position diminished. This is how fear becomes a state linked to the love of materialistic things. The person who puts his hope in God and his goal is God Himself; you find him reassuring and no fear in his life.
Daniel was very calm in the den of lions; the terrifying hungry lions did not frighten him or took away his inner peace at all. Even in lions’ den God did not forget Daniel’s food, so he sent to him Habakkuk the Prophet carrying bread and a stew that he had prepared for the shepherds.
Saint Susanna the chaste, her love for God was very strong, so she was not afraid of the threats of the wicked elders, and she preserved her chastity and purity in love for her Heavenly Groom. When the elders condemned her unjustly she did not lose her peace but went to the execution with all peace. And the Lord sent the youth, Daniel, to reveal her innocence and purity in front of everyone. How wonderful the calm and reassurance of the saints even in the most difficult
and tough situations! The person get frightened when his heart is attached to the world, he is afraid of the world and its fluctuations and changes. But when a person loves God and believes in Him, there is no fear or anxiety, but complete peace and complete comfort, because God’s love expels fear outside.
The disciples were afraid when the Lord Jesus was arrested; they all left him and fled. They closed the doors on themselves for fear of the Jews, but when the joy and strength of the resurrection entered their lives, they came forward to turn the whole world upside down. Peter, who was afraid, who denied His master, proceeded with boldness and rebuked the Jews who crucified the Lord Jesus and testified to the crowd that “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” We receive true consolation and joy when we raise our eyes high with the risen Lord from the dead and ascending to the heavens. + I am going to prepare a place for you. The Lord reassures us that he is going to prepare a place for us, and that there are many mansions in His Father’s Home. We have confidence that He will come and take us and be happy with Him forever. This feeling that you have a place reserved for you in the heavens is a very joyful feeling. When the saints are preoccupied with this thought they forgot everything and despised everything in the world, saying, “And with you, Lord, we do not want anything”. Saint Paul expressed this yearning, saying, “This is by far much better”. And when the fathers of the wilderness heard that Saint Arsanious had departed, one of them said, “Blessed are you, Arsanious, for this hour has never left your mind”. When you enter the church and find it decorated with icons of the saints, you remember the sky with all its joy. Here are the members of the Victorious Church; they preceded us there to their prepared places, encouraging us to continue our struggle, so that we too are happy to go to our places prepared for us. It does not harm the traveller at all to live in poverty on the way to his destination and to struggle and work and to deprive himself of the pleasures available on the way because he is certain that when he arrives at
his homeland there is a beautiful, comfortable and happy place awaiting him. Many travel to far countries living as sojourners; work and endure fatigue and sacrifice, bearing this with joy because they are confident that they will rest when they return to their homes. And we too, since we have this heavenly homeland specially prepared for us. How much will our comforts, steadfastness, and confidence be in God’s love for us. Just thinking about the heavenly things impresses your life and your thinking in a new way that makes you feel that you are a heavenly creature. This will make your relations with others completely different from the methods of the people of this world.
One of the kings tried to gain the heart of Saint Youstina the virgin so that she would give up her vow and marry him, but she refused to leave her Heavenly Bridegroom despising for His sake all the riches of the world and when all the temptations of the king failed, he commanded a magician at that time, which is Cyprian who sent his gang of demons, but the demons withdrawn before her prayers and strife. Cyprian was very angry and he threatened the ruler of demons that he would become a Christian if they did not bring Saint Youstina to him. However, as soon as her name was mentioned, Satan was frightened and ran away, and Cyprian marvelled at this miraculous power that is in the Christians who just saying their names terrifies Satan. And he went himself to see this saint and learn about the secret of this power. Indeed, Cyprian believed and was baptized and became a Christian, and later on he also became a bishop and was martyred with Youstina for their belief in the King Christ. We rejoice and we would like to arise with the risen Christ from the dead. He showed us His eternal self. We have seen Him and loved Him, and we have seen in Him the Father, The Pantocrator, Whom the mighty men and the forces of the earth trembled. But in the person of the Son who loved us to death, we became able to see Him, touch Him, taste Him, and abide in Him. And in the Person of His Holy Spirit, He became our Comforter who stays with us forever, guides us, strengthens us and confirms us that we are strong in Him .above the world and its love. In the heavens with His resurrection we are united in Him with His blood that shed for us.
The Glorious Feast of Ascension
Next Thursday 29th May 2025 is the Glorious Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Heaven after forty days of His Holy Resurrection. No human being could ascend to Heaven except the God of Heaven. Anyone who ascended before needed some kind of help. Enoch was not found for the Lord has taken him. Elijah needed the Chariot of fire to carry him. They only ascended up to disappear into the depths of the highest. But Christ ascended to the Highest Heaven and became Higher than Heaven (Heb 7:26). His Ascension has proved and witnessed for His Deity and Equality to the Father:
1) Angels submit to Him: Who has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
2) And He put all things under His Feet and gave Him to be head over all thing to the Church Eph 1:22
3) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth Phi 2:10 Of course worship is due to God alone.
4) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father Phi 2:11
5) And gave Him to be head over all things to the church Eph 1:22 The church is His Body ( Eph 1:23) and the Church is the Church of God then He is The Lord to Whom the Church belongs.
Holy Mass 8 – 10am at St Mary’s Church.
