Saint Andrew the First-Called Orthodox Church

5th Week after Pentecost (Venerable Athanasius of Mount Athos)
- Saturday 7/4, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 7/5, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)
- Saturday 7/11, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 7/5, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)

Altar Servers Needed!
We will have a brief meeting/q&a after liturgy this Sunday for those interested. Servers must be male, chrismated Orthodox Christians, age 8+, and meet the following additional requirements.

Boys:
- Can be at church and suited up by 9:40am on Sundays
- Can stand still & attentive throughout the liturgy
- Can follow along without excess spoken direction & be eager to learn

Men:
- Can be at church and ready to go by 9:20am on Sundays
- Can commit to an agreed-upon schedule

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By the torch of thy gifts of grace, O venerable Father Athanasius,
inspired by God, thou wast revealed as an ever-radiant dawn,
leading those who are blinded by the fog of the passions
towards the dawn that knows no evening;
Therefore, since thou art one who hast multiplied his talent,
Christ has declared that with the sword of thy words
thou art a healer of souls that are infected with incurable wounds,
granting saving strength to those who approach thee.

Vesperal Liturgy for the Ascension of Our Lord, Wednesday 5/20 at 6pm. Hope to see you there!

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It was Christ who first prepared the way for our ascent there. By offering himself to God the Father as the first fruits of all who are dead and buried [1 Cor 15:20], he gave us a way of entry into heaven and was himself the first human being the inhabitants of heaven ever saw. The angels in heaven, knowing nothing of the sacred and profound mystery of the incarnation, were astonished at his coming and almost thrown into confusion by an event so strange and unheard of. "Who is this coming from Edom?" [Isa 63:1] they asked; that is, from the earth. But the Spirit did not leave the heavenly throng ignorant of the wonderful wisdom of God the Father. Commanding them to open the gates of heaven in honor of the King and Master of the universe, he cried out: "Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up you everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in." [Ps 23:7 LXX]

And so our Lord Jesus Christ has opened up for us a new and living way [Heb 10:20], as Paul says, "not by entering a sanctuary made with hands, but by entering heaven itself to appear before God on our behalf." [Heb 9:24] For Christ has not ascended in order to make his own appearance before God the Father. He was, is, and ever will be in the Father and in the sight of him from whom he receives his being, for he is his Father’s unfailing joy. But now the Word, who had never before been clothed in human nature, has ascended as a man to show himself in a strange and unfamiliar fashion. And he has done this on our account and in our name, so that being like us, though with his power as the Son, and hearing the command, "Sit at my right hand," [Ps 109:1 LXX; cf. Heb 1:13] as a member of our race, he might transmit to all of us the glory of being children of God. For since he became man it is as one of us that he sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though he is above all creation and one in substance with his Father, having truly come forth from him as God from God and Light from Light."

+ St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 9, on John 14:2-3