The Messenger August 2020 _______________________________________________________________________
St. Thomas Orthodox Church 1100 Jones St. - PO Box 1042 – Sioux City, Iowa 51102 (712) 258-7166 – info@stthomassiouxcity.org www.stthomassiouxcity.org
The Messenger
August 2020
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Our Mission St. Thomas Orthodox Church is a community of Christians who proclaim the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as handed down by the Apostles. We are committed to bringing the Light of Christ to all of Siouxland in thought, word, and deed. At St. Thomas Orthodox Church, you will find Holy Orthodoxy—ancient and alive. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Weekly Schedule Orthros and Divine Liturgy Sundays at 9:00 a.m. Vespers Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. Great Vespers Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Birthdays 5 Cheynne Ameen 10 Jeannie Ellington 10 Savannah Ameen 13 George Jacobs 15 George Stickney, Jr.
August 18 James Muhe 22 Karen Yanney 24 Kayleigh Stickney 24 Brooklyn Schatz 26 Nick Corey
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26 Alexis Suhr 27 Ed Bottei 29 Barb Brienzo
The Messenger
August 2020
St. Thomas on the Internet Until now, the main presence of the parish on the Internet has been our Web site at https://stthomassiouxcity.org but, over the next few weeks, you’ll see some major changes happening there as we overhaul the site. While it’s being renovated, you can still stay updated by visiting our various social media pages: Facebook page: Siouxland Orthodox Group: Instagram: SoundCloud: Twitter: YouTube:
https://www.facebook.com/St.ThomasOrthodoxChurchSC/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/689850188457371/ https://www.instagram.com/sathorch/ https://soundcloud.com/sathorch https://twitter.com/sathorch https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIkvjWIH3zMELHkelZ36kRA
Your personalized parish Web site can be found at https://stthomassiouxcity.churchtrac.com/
Let Us Attend! The following are the current guidelines under which we have permission from Bp. BASIL to gather for in-person worship: •
No more than ⅓ capacity at any service: for us, this is 75 individuals.
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Social distancing (6 feet) must be maintained between family units (defined as anyone living in your household).
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Social distancing must be maintained when entering and exiting the building and when lining up to receive Communion.
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Please be sure to wear your mask when entering and leaving the church, entering and leaving your pew, and approaching and returning from receiving Communion. Hand sanitizer is available in the narthex.
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If you’re ill, do not attend. If you are in a high-risk group, please consider carefully whether you should attend.
We want everyone who can to attend services but we also do not want anyone to feel pressured to return before they’re comfortable doing so. Thank you for your cooperation!
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The Messenger
August 2020
Dormition or Assumption? The Very Rev. Fr. John Breck In our Orthodox tradition we are usually very careful to distinguish between the “Dormition” of the Mother of God and her “Assumption” into heaven. The former, we feel, is properly Orthodox, while the latter strikes us as a purely Western designation, derived from a Roman Catholic “misunderstanding” of the meaning of this feast, celebrated universally on August 15. It is true that some very genuine yet misguided interpretations of Mary's death and exaltation can be found both in Catholic spiritual writings and in contemporary Western icons: a tendency, for example, to exalt the Holy Virgin to a level of “divinity” that effectively erases the crucial and absolute distinction between human and divine life. Orthodox theologians will insist that the “deification” (theôsis) known by the Mother of God in no way involves an ontological transformation of her being from created humanity to divinity. She was and will always remain a human creature: the most exalted of all those who bear God's image, yet always a human being, whose glory appears in her humility, her simple desire to “let it be” according to the divine will. Traditional Orthodox icons of her “falling asleep,” therefore, focus especially on her death and entombment. The disciples, “gathered together from all the ends of the earth,” surround her in an attitude of grief and lament. Behind the bier on which she is laid there stands her glorified Son, holding in His arms a child clothed in radiant white garments, an image of His Mother's soul. This is a theme of reversal. On every Orthodox iconastasis there is found a sacred image of the Mother of God, holding in her arms her newborn child, the God-Man who “took flesh” in order to save and sanctify a fallen, sinful, broken world. Here, in the icon of the Dormition, the Son embraces and offers to that world His Holy Mother, as she did Him at the time of His birth. At her falling asleep He receives her soul, her life, in order to exalt it in Himself and with Himself, to the glory, beauty and joy of eternal life. In many Orthodox icons, however, this primary image is complemented by another: the depiction of the Mother of God ascending to heaven, accompanied by a host of angels. We find this double motif especially in post-byzantine icons such as the koimesis (Dormition) of the Koutloumousiou monastery of Mount Athos, dated from around 1657. (Vladimir Lossky notes other such representations in his commentary on the Dormition, The Meaning of Icons, Boston, 1969, p. 215.) Should we conclude that this dual theme, depicting both the Dormition and the Assumption of the Mother of God, is simply the result of Western influence? In fact, whether we label it the “Assumption” or the “Ascension” of the Theotokos, this image complements that of the koimesis in a way that is in perfect accord with Orthodox theology. Just as Christ died and lay in the tomb, to be resurrected and exalted into heaven, so His Holy Mother “falls asleep,” to be raised up by her Son and exalted with Him into heaven. By His Resurrection and Ascension, He pro4
The Messenger
August 2020
vides the means by which the “Mother of Life,” together with all those who dwell in Him, can be raised from death and exalted to transcendent Life. If we understand the “Assumption” of the Mother of God in the light of the Ascension of her divine Son, then we can appreciate the dual depiction of Dormition and Ascension found in many of our Orthodox icons. The Holy Mother of God, the Theotokos or “God-bearer,” is the first fruits of the eschatological fulfillment that will bring all of God's creative and redeeming work to a close. She is the vessel in which the Second Person of the Holy Trinity “took flesh” and became (a) man, in order to bestow salvation on the human race. Her womb, “more spacious than the heavens,” contained the uncontainable One. He drew his human existence from her, and she accompanied Him with love and prayer throughout the time of His earthly ministry, even to the foot of the Cross. She shared His suffering to the full, bearing His crucifixion and death in the depths of her soul. Accordingly, she is the perfect image of the Church, the eternal communion of all those who live and die in Christ. They, like her, will be raised in Him and exalted to the same glory to which He raised and transformed their fallen human nature. She is thus a forerunner of their salvation, a prophetic image of the glorified life that awaits all those who bear Christ in the inner depths of their being, as she bore Him within the depths of her womb. Yet she is more than this. She is not only a model of the common destiny of Christian people. She also accompanies them at every step of their journey, offering them—offering us—her incessant prayer and love. In her falling asleep and in her exaltation to heaven, she “did not forsake the world,” but remains, as the liturgical hymns of the feast proclaim, the Mother of Life, who is “constant in prayer” and “our firm hope,” who by her prayers “delivers our souls from death!”
Parish Council We want to thank everyone for the financial support of St. Thomas during a difficult time. Following are a couple of items pertinent to the Church’s finances. 1. Average monthly Tithes and Offerings Jan.-June - $8,147.49. 2. Tithes and Offerings for July - $4,526.15. 3. Expenses for Jan.-June were 20% under budget. Pete Steggerda, Treasurer 5
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August 2020
In Memoriam Remembering those who reposed during the month of August Anna Skaff, George E. Haddad, Mary Yanney, Andrew Abnor, Assaff N. Gosen, John E. Hanna, Sr., John R. Hamel, Samuel Ellis, Natalade Powell, Darlene C. Williams, James T. Corey, George K. Ellis, Sr., Jillian Sue Corey, Sadie Headid, Mary Bashara, Marie Ann Yanney, Toy J. David, Delia B. Skaff, Edward G. Ness, Lester Ellis, Thomas Stevens, Cleopatra M. Kazos Manolis, Roy E. Headid, Michelle M. Headid, Mae L. Hanna, Philip H. Hanna
Ladies Club We are holding back having Ladies Meetings. We have been blessed with De, Sadie, and Ed remodeling Nina’s Nursery. De kept everything pretty close to what she figured it would be. It looks very nice in there now. We will see if August will be welcoming to us. God gives time to slow down and realize what is important in our lives and how to adjust. Stay safe and God bless.—Judy Stevens
Sunday School At this time, Sunday School will not be starting in person. We will still have Sunday School; it’s just going to look a little different. Elementary students will be given a workbook to do at home, hopefully with the help of an adult. Middle and High School students will meet Wednesday evenings for a virtual lesson. More information will be forthcoming.—Erica Ameen
SOYO We have been meeting weekly via Zoom for a Bible Study. These will continue for the next few weeks. On August 1st we will have a SOYO swim party at the Stickney’s house!—Erica Ameen
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The Messenger
August 2020
Meditation Luke 8:1-3 They Provided for Them God will provide Is this a good and true saying? Perhaps, but there is also a danger when we forget that while God does provide, He does this through people. The Lord and His disciples were always focused on doing what they were called to do: bringing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. Surrounding them were their traveling companions, who believed in their mission so much that they provided for the disciples’ needs out of their means. We must remember, dear ones, that if we see a need and offer kind sentiments while withholding a remedy, we only practice half of our Christian Faith. It is so very good that we feel compassion, sympathy, and even empathy for those in need, but that is just the narthex of the faith. We mustn’t stop there. We must see ourselves as God’s hands and feet on the earth. St. Paul calls us the Body of Christ—we are His continued physical presence in the world, and He uses us to provide what people need. Each week, God feeds us with the precious Eucharist. He takes our work—our bread, which we have mixed, kneaded, shaped, sealed, and baked, and wine we have prepared—and fills it with Himself. This is what God does with all our offerings we bring to Him to provide for the work of the Faith. That’s why being stingy creates such a small soul in a man. Today: Do you believe in the continued ministry of Christ in His Church to provide for the disciples’ needs out of your means. Do you see yourself as an active member of the Body of Christ, or are you a spectator? The truth is we have all the resources we need to accomplish everything the Church is called to accomplish. We never have a money problem; our challenge has always been a faith and love problem. Perhaps today is the day to decide that I am part of His work to provide.
Fr. Barnabas Powell
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The Messenger
August 2020
The Hauran Connection A Sister Diocese Program Archdiocese of Bosra-Hauran and the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America The Orthodox who today live in much of the territory once known as Arabia Petræa—descendants of those converted to faith in Christ Jesus by St. Timon—comprise the faithful of the Archdiocese of Bosra, Hauran, Jabal al-Arab and the Golan. The present “angel of Bosra and successor to St. Timon” is Metropolitan SABA (Esper). One of the most venerable Archdioceses of our Patriarchate, the Archdiocese of Bosra now finds itself facing very difficult times. Due to the frequency of warfare in that area, the occupation of much of its territory by a neighboring unfriendly nation, and the resultant unemployment and poverty, most of its people are economic refugees, having relocated to Damascus or departed for the Americas, Australia, Europe or the Gulf States. In a gesture of Christian love and support for Metropolitan SABA and his flock, the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America has committed itself to a “Sister Diocese” relationship with the Archdiocese of Bosra-Hauran.
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