12th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 3. The restoration of the church of the Theotokos at Neorion (Neorion). The Placing of the Cincture (Sash) of the Mother of God (395-408).
Tone 3 Troparion (Resurrection)
Let the heavens rejoice! Let the earth be glad! For the Lord has shown strength with His arm. He has trampled down death by death. He has become the first born of the dead. He has delivered us from the depths of hell, and has granted to the world// great mercy.
Tone 8 Troparion (Theotokos)
Ever Virgin Theotokos, protectress of mankind, you have given your people a powerful legacy: the robe and sash of your most honored body which remained incorrupt throughout your seedless childbearing; for through you time and nature are renewed.//Therefore we implore you: “Grant peace to your people and to our souls great mercy!”
Tone 4 Troparion (St. Nicholas)
The truth of your deeds has revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of meekness and a teacher of self-control; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you.// O Father Bishop Nicholas, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Tone 3 Kontakion (Resurrection)
On this day You rose from the tomb, O Merciful One, leading us from the gates of death. On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices; with the Prophets and Patriarchs// they unceasingly praise the divine majesty of Your power.
Tone 3 Kontakion (St. Nicholas)
You proved yourself to be a holy priest, O Nicholas. You served God in Myra and lived the gospel of Christ. You offered your life for your people, And rescued the innocent from death. Therefore God has glorified you as a trustworthy guide of things divine.
Tone 3 Kontakion (Theotokos)
Today your flock celebrates the enshrinement of your precious sash, and it earnestly cries out to you:// “Rejoice, O Virgin, boast of all Christians!”
Tone 6 Kontakion (Steadfast Protectress)
Steadfast Protectress of Christians, Constant Advocate before the Creator; despise not the cry of us sinners, but in your goodness come speedily to help us who call on you in faith. Hasten to hear our petition and to intercede for us, O Theotokos, for you always protect those who honor you!
Tone 3 Prokeimenon (Resurrection)
Sing praises to our God, sing praises! / Sing praises to our King, sing praises! (Ps. 46:6)
V. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! (Ps. 46:1)
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (Epistle)
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Tone 3
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. In You, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be put to shame! (Ps. 30:1a)
V. Be a God of protection for me, a house of refuge in order to save me! (Ps. 30:2b)
Matthew 19:16-26 (Gospel)
Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “’You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ’Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The Placing of the Cincture (Sash) of the Mother of God
The Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in a church of Constantinople’s Chalcoprateia district took place during the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Younger. Before this the holy relic, entrusted to the Apostle Thomas by the Mother of God Herself, was kept by pious Christians at Jerusalem after Her Dormition. During the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise (886-911), his wife Zoe was afllicted with an unclean spirit, and he prayed that God would heal her.
The empress had a vision that she would be healed of her infirmity if the Belt of the Mother of God were placed upon her. The emperor then asked the Patriarch to open the coffer. The Patriarch removed the seal and opened the coffer in which the relic was kept, and the Belt of the Mother of God appeared completely whole and undamaged by time. The Patriarch placed the Belt on the sick empress, and immediately she was freed from her infirmity. They sang hymns of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos, then they placed the venerable Belt back into the coffer and resealed it.
In commemoration of the miraculous occurrence and the twofold Placing of the venerable Belt, the Feast of the Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos was established. Parts of the holy Belt are in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos, in Trier monastery, and in Georgia.
What is the Holy Belt of the Virgin Mary?
The Holy Belt of the Virgin Mary is the only sacred relic in the world that has been preserved from the earthly life of the Virgin Mary. A large piece is preserved and kept in the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, on Mount Athos, and performs many miracles for many people, especially couples who have difficulty having children.
REFLECTION – St. Nikolai Velimirovic
Christians do not believe in kismet—fate or destiny.
Even if God determines the main outlines of our life, He can change them according to our prayers and merit. Thus, He prolonged King Hezekiah’s life for fifteen years (Isaiah 38:5), and He prolonged the Venerable Dius’s life (July 19) for fifteen years. St. Basil the Great prayed to God, and God granted that Basil’s life be extended for one day so that he could baptize his physician, Joseph the Jew. Yet, even as God can prolong life at the prayerful behest of the righteous, He can also shorten life because of sin. Emperor Anastasius adhered to the heresy of the Severians (also called the acephalites, or “headless ones”), who spread the foolishness that the Church does not need bishops and priests, and insisted that everyone is a bishop and a priest unto himself, and that everyone has the right to interpret Holy Scripture according to his own understanding, and teach others as he understands and believes!
In vain, St. John the Patriarch counseled the emperor to return to the truth of Orthodoxy. The emperor did not simply reject the patriarch’s counsel, but ill-treated the patriarch in various ways and considered having him banished. One night, the emperor had a dream of an awesome man on an exalted throne, who held a book in his hand. This man opened the book, found the emperor’s name in it, and said: “I had wanted to let you live for a while longer, but—because of your heresy—behold, I am erasing fourteen years from your life.” And the awesome figure erased something from the book. Terrified, the emperor leaped out of bed and related his dream to his followers. A few days later, lightning struck the imperial court and killed Emperor Anastasius.
— Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid
From The Orthodox Way
We are not to restrict God’s presence in the world to a limited range of “pious” objects and situations, while labelling everything else as “secular”; but we are to see all things as essentially sacred, as a gift from God and a means of communion with him. It does not, however, follow that we are to accept the fallen world on its own terms. This is the unhappy mistake of much “secular Christianity” in the contemporary west. All things are indeed sacred in their true being, according to their innermost essence; but our relationship to God’s creation has been distorted by sin, original and personal, and we shall not rediscover this intrinsic sacredness unless our heart is purified. Without self-denial, without ascetic discipline, we cannot affirm the true beauty of the world. That is why there can be no genuine contemplation without repentance. Natural contemplation signifies finding God not only in all things but equally in all persons. When reverencing the holy ikons in church or at home, we are to reflect that each man and woman is a living ikon of God. “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40). In order to find God, we do not have to leave the world, to isolate ourselves from our fellow humans, and to plunge into some kind of mystical void. On the contrary, Christ is looking at us through the eyes of all those whom we meet. Once we recognize his universal presence, all our acts of practical service to others become acts of prayer.
It is common to regard contemplation as a rare and exalted gift, and so no doubt it is in its plenitude. Yet the seeds of a contemplative attitude exist in all of us. From this hour and moment I can start to walk through the world, conscious that it is God’s world, that he is near me in everything that I see and touch, in everyone whom I encounter. However spasmodically and incompletely I do this I have already set foot upon the contemplative path. Many people who find the imageless prayer of silence altogether beyond their present capacity, and for whom the familiar phrases written in Scripture or in the books of prayer have grown dull and dry, can renew their inward life through the practice of natural contemplation. Learning to read God’s word in the book of creation, discovering his signature in all things, I then find—when I return to read his word in Scripture and the books of prayer—that the well-known phrases have a fresh depth of meaning. So nature and Scripture complement each other. In the words of St Ephrem the Syrian:
Wherever you turn your eyes, there is God’s symbol;
Whatever you read, you will find there his types…
Look and see how Nature and Scripture are linked together…
Praise for the Lord of Nature.
Glory for the Lord of Scripture.
— Kallistos, Bishop of Diokleia. The Orthodox Way
Forgiveness
The evil that someone has done to us, whether it be our neighbor, our brother, our colleague, or our relative is not as significant as it seems. It is transient. Even if it lasts a lifetime, one day it will come to pass. It does not have eternal validity, power, and existence. However, the harm we inflict upon ourselves when we do not forgive is endless. It has an eternal dimension—we will be punished endlessly!
Hence, we have to choose one of two evils: either the temporary evil that others bring upon us, or the eternal evil that we bring upon ourselves when we do not forgive.
Where are all the previous generations of people who left from this life once and for all without having forgiven others? What did these people gain by not forgiving? Are they not filled with bitter, unproductive regret now when there is no longer any possibility of correction?
— Ephraim, Elder. The Art of Salvation
Church New Year
Commemorated on September 1
The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor Constantine (May 21) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the New Year on September 1.
According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1 to announce His mission to mankind (Luke 4:16-22). Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, the Savior proclaimed, “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…” This scene is depicted in a Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Cod. Gr. 1613, p.1).
Tradition says that the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September.
The Beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year 2025
To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America,
My Beloved Children in the Lord,
Joyous feast and happy New Year!
As we mark the beginning of a new Church year, it is fitting to reflect on the Church’s sojourn in time, in the realm of temporality, change, becoming. In the Scriptures, the holy king Solomon seems to take a dim view of this existence, with its cycles, its comings and goings, its beginnings and ends:
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever. The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. (Eccles. 1:2–7)
In the New Testament, the holy apostle Paul sounds perhaps even more pessimistic: “The days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). But this grave statement is couched in hope. “Walk as wise, redeem the time,” the apostle commands us (Eph. 5:15–16). Indeed, temporal existence, with its fleeting joys, many sorrows, and termination in death, is but vanity apart from the hope that we have in Christ. But in Christ, all of time is open to redemption, to sanctification.
The Church is not just passing the time in this world; the Church is tasked with redeeming the time by carrying forward Christ’s saving work in every place and every age. In particular, we, the members of the Orthodox Church in America, have the unique calling to preach the Gospel and proclaim the holy Orthodox Faith to all the people of North America, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, background, or any other consideration. We are not given this New Year for the sake of our selfish pleasure; we are given the time of each new year, the time of our whole life, so that we can grow in godliness and share the goodness of God with others.
This is not because the Lord frowns on earthly bounty and earthly pleasures; our faith teaches that God made everything that exists and that he made it very good. But our greatest happiness is found, not in self-indulgence, but in communion with God through the saving work of Jesus Christ: participating in the very life of the Trinity by grace, we encounter pleasures that are not temporal, but eternal; not merely human, but divine.
By means of earthly blessings, which are truly good, we can attain to some knowledge of God, some foretaste of the kingdom to come. But the bounty which crowns this new year is first and foremost the bountiful mercy poured out from the wounded side of the God-man when he hung upon the Cross: this is the river of God, filled with the waters of baptism (Ps. 64:9). By means of this spring of loving-kindness, flowing crimson and rose, he makes the pastures of the wilderness—the pastures where he causes his flocks to lie down—to drip with his life-giving Blood and to flourish with the nourishment of his own life-giving Body (Ps. 22:2; Ps. 64:10–12).
The Church sojourns in time so that, by being united to her, many refugees from this world’s vanity might be reconciled to God the Father through his Only-begotten Son. “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days,” says the wise Solomon (Eccles. 11:1). Our Lord fulfilled this call to generosity perfectly and ultimately when he gave his own Body as Bread at the time of his Passion. Now, that Bread, scattered upon the mountains, is consumed by many faithful, and it returns to him after many days—all the ages of this mortal world—as the Body of which he is the Head, his beloved Bride, the Church, in accordance with the word spoken to Adam of old: “they become one flesh” (Didache 9; Gen. 2:24).
Thus, as we celebrate this ecclesiastical New Year, I invite each and every member of the Orthodox Church in America to reflect with gratitude on the gracious gift that God has given us: his own divine and co-eternal Son. Reflecting on this gift, we are inspired to recommit ourselves to the mission of the Church in space and time, and specifically to the mission of the Orthodox Church in America in this place and at this time: to bring the unchanging Faith and the Good News hidden from all eternity to all the peoples of 21st century North America, and to do so in humility, with unity of mind and heart, sharing in the single purpose of doing God’s will for the salvation of many.
Wishing you all a blessed New Year and many blessed years to come,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+Tikhon
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada
Fort Ross Pilgrimage Centennial
Saturday, October 4, 2025
His Eminence Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America (ROCOR), and His Grace Vasily, Bishop of San Francisco and the West (OCA), invite Orthodox Christians, family, and friends to the Centennial Anniversary of Pilgrimage to Fort Ross on Saturday, October 4, 2025. Since 1925, Orthodox clergy and faithful have conducted services annually at the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Chapel, making this the longest continuous place of pilgrimage in the lower forty-eight! We will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and go in procession to the historic cemetery where the names of our ancestors in the faith buried there will be commemorated. The celebration will conclude with a festive luncheon on the ocean bluffs. Pilgrims are encouraged to sign up for the luncheon on this website. Please join us in this holy and festive day!
HISTORIC CONCELEBRATION
The highlight of our pilgrimage will be the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the very place where the first divine mysteries were served in the lower forty-eight and where the faithful have come in pilgrimage annually for 100 years. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America and His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia will lead hierarchs, clergy, and devoted faithful in prayer. This historic divine liturgy and pilgrimage is hosted by the Western American Diocese of ROCOR and the Diocese of the West of the OCA.
Participate in this beautiful, celebratory moment to thank God for the gift of Holy Orthodoxy in our land and to prayerfully invoke the Lord’s bounties on the next 100 years, if that is His will for us! The Divine Liturgy will begin at 10 am. For the most up-to-date information about this pilgrimage, the festive meal, or for the “Fort Ross- Then and Now” conference on October 3rd, 2024, please see the complete schedule.
Sunday Bulletin August 24, 2025