July; 2009/Monthly Bulletin of the Orthodox V Charitable Association

EditorÛAlona Sergeeva

THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE FORERUNNER AND BAPTIZER OF THE LORD

Six months before his appearance in Nazareth to the All-holy Virgin

Mary, the great archangel of God, Gabriel appeared to Zacharias
the high priest in the Temple at Jerusalem. Before he announced the
miraculous conception to the unwed virgin Mary, the archangel an-
nounced the miraculous conception to the childless old woman Eliza-
beth. Zacharias did not immediately believe the words of the herald
of God and this is why his tongue was tied with dumbness and re-
mained as such until eight days after the birth of John. On that day,
the relatives of Zacharias and Elizabeth gathered for the young
child's circumcision and for the sake of giving him a name. When
they asked the father what name he wishes to give to his son and
being dumb, he wrote on a tablet: "John." At that moment his tongue
became loosed and he began to speak. The home of Zacharias was
on the heights between Bethlehem and Hebron. The news of the ap-
pearance of the angel of God to Zacharias was spread throughout
all of Israel, as well as of his dumbness and the loosening of his
tongue at the moment when he wrote the name "John." The news
concerning this even reached Herod. Therefore, when Herod sent sol-
diers to slay the children throughout Bethlehem, he directed men to the hilly dwelling place of the
family of Zacharias to kill John also. However, Elizabeth promptly hid the child. Enraged, at this
King Herod sent his executioners to Zacharias in the Temple to slay him (for it happened that it
was Zacharias' turn again to serve in the Temple of Jerusalem). Zacharias was slain between the
court and the temple and his blood coagulated and petrified on the stone pavers and remained a
perpetual witness against Herod. Elizabeth hid with the child in a cave where she died soon after.
The young child John remained in the wilderness alone under the care of God and God's angels.
BY  SAINT  NIKOLAI  OF  ZICA  

The Eastern Orthodox believe that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets,
thus serving as a bridge between that period of revelation and the New Covenant.
They also teach that, following his death, John descended into Hades and there once
more preached that Jesus the Messiah was coming, so he was the Forerunner of Christ
in death as he had been in life. According to Sacred Tradition, John the Baptist ap-
pears at the time of death to those who have not heard the Gospel of Christ, and
preaches the Good News to them, that all may have the opportunity to be saved. Or-
thodox churches will often have an icon of St. John the Baptist in a place of honor on the ico-
nostasis, and he is frequently mentioned during the Divine Services. The Orthodox Church remem-
bers Saint John the Forerunner on six separate feast days in a year and dedicated to his memory
every Tuesday.

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   Russian tennis-player will donate
to church major part of her prize
won in French Open.
After seventy years, a church bell Russian winner of the French Open tennis
removed from the river in the tournament Svetlana Kuznetsova is going to
donate the major part of her monetary prize
Lipetsk region.
(over a million euro) to the Orthodox Church.
 
In the town of Dobroye
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of the Lipetsk region,
Sergiyev Posad.(Zagorsk). The rector of this church is my
(Russia). a 12 kg church
URKTKVWCNHCVJGTưVJGVGPPKU-player said in her interview to the
bell was removed from the river where it
Sovetsky Sport paper.
lay for about 70 years, told the district
administration.
She confessed she tries to visit the church as often as possible
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A local informed the authorities that in
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1930s several church bells had been
thrown into the river during the cam-
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paign for closing local churches. Experi-
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enced divers were invited from St. Peters-
burg to search for the bells. They found
She visits the Church even when she is abroad.
one of them at a depth of eight meters
opposite the town's embankment.
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Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. I worshipped the relics
The bell was handed to director of the
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district museum where the finding will be
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stored for some time. Interfax
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TtOo LlOoNnDdOoNn CcAaTtHhEeDdRrAaLl

The  UK  High  Court  has  confirmed  the  belonging  of  the  London  Cathedral  to  the    
Sourozh  Diocese  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church.  
 
The  "judgment  confirms  that  the  Church  should  continue  to  have  the  benefit  and  
use  of  such  assets,  including  the  London  Cathedral,"  said  the  Moscow  Patriarchate  
 website    .  
 
"The  judgment  also  recognizes  that  the  Church  is  a  thriving  community,  that  it  has  in  recent  years  en-­
joyed  a  substantial  increase  in  membership,"  the  website  said.  "The  cathedral  will  hold  its  usual  daily  
services  at  which  all  the  faithful  are  v ery  welcome  to  attend."  
   
The  Crown  Prosecution  Service  issued  a  similar  judgment  in  February.  
 
The  dispute  began  with  the  switch  of  acting  head  of  the  Sourozh  diocese  Bishop  Vasily  (Osborne)  from  
the  Moscow  to  Constantinople  Patriarchate.  The  Holy  Synod  of  the  Constantinople  Church  accepted  
Bishop  Vasily  and  appointed  him  a  vicar.  
 
In  2007  some  members  of  the  London  Cathedral  decided  to  leave  the  Sourozh  diocese  together  with  
Bishop  Vasily  and  then  they  said  that  the  Cathedral  in  the  center  of  London  belonged  to  them.  The  court  
dispute  lasted  for  almost  two  years.    
 
The  parish  of    this  Cathedral  of  the  Dormition  and  All  Saints  in  London  was  organized  in  1716  year,  as  
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and  then  in  1956  to  this  church.  Today  the  parish  community  is  made  up  of  people  of  diverse  national  
origins,  principally  Russians  and  British,  united  by  a  common  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.    

2
            TtHhEe    FfAaMmOoUuSs  CcHhUuRrCcHh  OoFf  TtHhEe  BbIiRrTtHh  OoFf  SsTt.  JjOoHhNn  TtHhEe  BbAaPpTtIiSsTt  (CcHhEeSsMmEe  CcHhUuRrCcHh)  
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This fairytale gothic church is one of St. Petersburg's most
unusual and most delightful, although it is a little off the
beaten track for most tourists. Located in the far south of the
city, it was built under empress Catherine the Great as the
house church for the Chesme Palace, a resting post between
St. Petersburg and the Summer Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. It
has since been subsumed in a mostly Stalinist residential re-
gion, and is now well within the city limits.

One of two fascinating gothic churches designed by the Ger-

man-Russian court architect Yury Felton, the Chesme Church
was consecrated in 1780, on the tenth anniversary of Rus-
sia's naval victory over the Turkish fleet at Chesme Bay,
which occurred on the birthday of John the Baptist, hence the
church's name. A wedding-cake structure with striped crenel-
lated walls and five gothic turrets in place of traditional on-
ion domes, this truly unique church has survived almost fully intact to this day, despite the
fact that it was turned, along with the Chesme Palace, into part of a forced labor camp by
the Soviet government - the cross on the central turret was replaced with a hammer, tongs
and anvil to symbolize the toil of the proletariat. Just before the Second World War, the
complex was given over to the Institute of Aviation Technology, which still occupies the pal-
ace to this day.

Used as a burial site for war heroes almost since its consecration, the area around the
church became a graveyard for soldiers who died during the Siege of Leningrad. In the
1970s, the church became a Museum of the Battle of Chesme, and was eventually returned
to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990. It is now an extremely popular church, with regu-
lar services and numerous visitors who come to pay their respects to the war dead.

One-dollar bill has met a 20-dollar banknote.

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- "Oh, first I was spinning around the casino, and then started on a voyage. Afterwards I got back
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A collector of old books asks his friend whether he has any books of such kind.
-"I have it no more, his friend says. I threw away a very old Bible a week ago. I think it was pub-
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priceless! One book costs four million dollars!"
-"No one would give a penny for mine. A queer fellow covered all margins with his notes. I believe his
name was Martin Luther."

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3
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On June 5, Friday, half a year has passed since Patriarch Alexy II of
Moscow and All Russia has passed away. Patriarch Kirill, His Holiness
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tomb at the Epiphany Cathedral.

"No matter that each day takes us to a bigger time distance from the
day when His Holiness the Patriarch deceased, we should keep eternal,
constant, prayerful memory of him," the Patriarch Kirill said after conduct-
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He urged to pray heartily for Alexy II "in gratitude for everything the
late Primate did for the Church."

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need anything from us, any signs of human attention," the only thing wanted "is sincere, informal,
heartfelt prayer."

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia died on December 5 at the age of 80 in his Peredel-
kino residence, the Moscow region. About 100,000 people day and night came to kneel down be-
fore his coffin set at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior during first days after his death.

In compliance with his will, the Primate was buried at the Annunciation Chapel of the Epiphany Ca-
thedral in Moscow near the shrine with relics of his heavenly protector St. Alexy, Metropolitan of
Moscow. Patriarch Sergy (Stragorodsky), who head the Russian Church under Stalin, was also buried
in this cathedral.

Before building and consecrating Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in 1996, the Yelokhovo Ca-
thedral was the main cathedral of Moscow and of the whole country. Patriarch Alexy II was en-
throned here in June 1990.

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logical academies and to name the Moscow Patriarchate Synodal Library after him. It is planned to
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Christ the Savior Cathedral in fall 2009 and then to publish it. Interfax.

The publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate has published a new pocket book of
prayer for the military of the Russian armed forces taking into account wishes of the mili-
tary. The book of prayer includes in particular, morning and evening prayers, prayers to the
Saints, glorified by heroic deeds, special prayers before battles, in memory of perished sol-
diers and others. Besides there are short lines of Saint Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Nevski,
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Faith, parts devoted to the sacrament of baptism and Holy Communion, short glossary of difficult
words and pashalion up to 2015. According to the Lyudmila Medvedeva, the head of the Department
of Liturgical books of Moscow Patriarchate publishing house, the book for prayer for the military is
in great demand and Russian soldiers has been already using it for more than ten years.

                     4
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public in Hong Kong.

Its builders - Chinese evangelical billionaires - say they hope the

ark will promote positive values.

Speaking at the opening of the Ark to the public at Ma Wan

Park in Hong Kong, Chan Kai-ming, Executive Director of Sun
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standing commitment to building homes with heart and contribut-
ing to the community.

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They have built the 450-foot-long ark and luxury hotel complex complete with 67 pairs of fiberglass animals to
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Thomas Kwok, an evangelical Christian, is the main champion of the project that has been in discussion for 17
years. The ark is inspired by his Christian faith, but will not be promoted in an overtly religious manner.

Instead, the message being promoted is that the financial storm will soon be over and new life, represented by
the animals emerging from the ark, will soon be opened up.

But despite avoiding an obvious religious message, the ark - the foundation of which was laid in 2004 - was
developed in partnership with five Christian organizations.

The Ark is on a 270,000-square-foot site on Ma Wan Island overlooking the Rambler Channel and Tsing Ma
Bridge. There are five levels with different themes. The lower ground floor has a sea-front restaurant and the
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hills, a traditional village and Ma Wan heritage will make the area a new tourist attraction.

The agreement with the government calls for the park to be operated on a commercial basis without government
funding. Ma Wan Park will create a fund to hold any surplus from operations for the repair, maintenance and
promotion of the Park. Neither the Ma Wan Park Company nor SHKP will profit from developing or operating
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Previously built arks include one in the Netherlands that could float on water and contained real animals. But the
Netherlands ark was about one-fifth the size of the biblical ark. Another ark was built by Greenpeace in 2007
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Thomas Kwok had previously mixed his business and Christian faith when he set up a church on the 75th floor
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According to the Wall Street Journal, Frances Leung, a 57-year-old social worker who has seen a big chunk of
her savings evaporate in the markets, was invited to visit the ark before its official opening. She says she drew
great inspiration from seeing the animals, and new hope.

"When you go to Disneyland, there's really no message there," says Ms Leung. "But at Noah's Ark, there is
such a strong message that life goes on."
Christian today

5
 Schedule of Services
For July 2009
05 Saturday n Tone 3 - Skaro 10:AM

07 Tuesday - Saint John the Baptistofeast Day - Chipman 10:AM

12 Sunday - Tone 4 - ST. Peter and Paul - Chahor 10:AM

18 Saturday - ST. Peter and Paul - North Star 10:AM

19 Sunday - Tone 5 - Redwater 10:AM

Moleben at Historical Site

26 Sunday - Tone 6 - Serediak 10:AM

+ Congratulations to Candace and Justin Wedding Day in July.
 

Orthodox feasts (prazdniki)

in June
6 July - The Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

7 July - Nativity of St. John the Baptist

11 July - Saints Sergei and Herman, abbots of Valaam

12 July - The Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul.

15 July - The Placing of the Honorable Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos at Blachernae

17 July - St. Andrew Rublev, iconographer.

24 July nHoly Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, princess of Russia, in holy baptism called Helen.

28 July - Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir (in holy baptism Basil), Enlightener
of the Russian Land

If  you  have  any  questions  or  proposals,  please,    Contact  us:  

 
Priest    Father  George  Sergeev    780-895-21-49
Email: [email protected]. / PO Box 483 Lamont Alberta TOB 2R0
 
 President  Yakim  Lopushinsky  (780-895-26-67
 Vice  -ăPresident  Jim  Nemirsky 780-896-23-47    
   Secretary  John  Tkachuk    780-576-30-73
 Treasurer  Fred  Pewarchuk    780-895-21-59

Or  visit  our  website²www.orthodoxfive.org  

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