September 27, 2026
Saturday, September 26 EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
4:00 PM God’s Blessings & Good Health for All Parishioners
Sunday, September 27 EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
8:30 AM Olga Morgenfruh- St. Vladimir’s Parishioners
Saturday, October 3 NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
4:00 PM Olympia Pasicznyk- Ss. Peter & Paul Women’s Society
Sunday, October 4 NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
8:30 AM God’s Blessings & Good Health for All Parishioners
The Miracle of the Virgin Mary at the Church of Blachernae
POKROV-celebrated Thursday, October 1, 2026
Constantinople in the Year 911 AD
A Brief History of the Miraculous Apparition (1)
In the year 911 AD, Constantinople was under military threat and the people were praying for God’s help in the Blachernae Church in the suburb of the city. It was in this church that the omophor or veil of the Virgin Mary was reserved as a most precious relic. The church was crowded for an all-night vigil. Andrew, the future Saint known as a fool-for-Christ, was there, along with his disciple Epiphanius. At about four in the morning, Andrew and Epiphanius had a vision of the Virgin Mary: She entered through the church doors, escorted by St. John the Forerunner and St. John the Theologian and preceded by a host of angels. She stopped at the ambo (the great stair-cased pulpit in the center of the church) and knelt there, praying fervently and with tears. She then entered the altar and prayed again and finally removed Her veil and held it out over the faithful as She ascended from them. They concluded from Her presence that Her intercession would be the protection to the faithful in this hour of trial. And so it happened that the feared military menace was averted. This Miraculous Manifestation and happy consequences are celebrated by the Eastern Catholic Church on Thursday, October 1st.
The word Pokrov (Покровъ) comes from Church Slavonic and means literally veil, cloak or covering. In Slavic languages, the word carries both the meaning of “covering” and “protecting” — a semantic doubleness that reveals the theological heart of the feast already in its name. In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the word seter (veil) also means, in its figurative sense, protection and shelter. The veil of the Mother of God is therefore not merely a piece of cloth spread over an assembly — it is the visible sign of an invisible reality: the maternal protection of the Theotokos over the faithful who seek her intercession.
PRAYER FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCH
O glorious St. Michael, guardian and defender of the Church of Jesus Christ, come to the assistance of the Church, against which the powers of hell are unchained, guard with especial care her august Head, and obtain that for Him and for us the hour of triumph may speedily arrive. O glorious Archangel St. Michael, watch over us during life, defend us against the assaults of the devil, assist us especially at the hour of death; obtain for us a favorable judgement, and the happiness of beholding God face to face for endless ages. Amen
Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows
O Most Holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and the death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that, being disengaged from all undue affections for the passing joys of this earth, I may long for the eternal Jerusalem, and that henceforth all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed toward this one most desirable object. Honor, glory, and love to our Divine Lord Jesus, and to the Holy and Immaculate Mother of God. Amen.
Prayer to Our Lady in Time of Trouble
Holy Virgin Mary, you are reigning in glory, with Jesus, your Son. Remember us in our sadness. Look kindly on all who are suffering or fighting against any difficulty. Have pity on those who are separated from someone they love. Have pity on the loneliness of our hearts. Have pity on the weakness of our faith and love. Have pity on those who are weeping, on those who are praying, on those who are fearful. Holy Mother, please obtain for all of us hope and peace with justice.
Amen.
SAINT ANDREW FOOL FOR CHRIST
Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ is one of the best-known saints of the East — and, at the same time, one of the least understood. His feast is known to most Ukrainian Catholics chiefly through its link to the vision at Blachernae, the foundation of the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God. Beyond that central liturgical moment, however, his Life is seldom read in full, and his place within the Tradition of folly for Christ — the place, that is, in which one comes to understand what a salos is — remains unclear to most readers.
The scriptural ground: the folly of the Cross
Folly for Christ is not an invention of later monasticism; it grows from a deep scriptural root: the word of the holy Apostle Paul concerning the folly of the Cross. The whole paradox of the salos phenomenon is already contained, in seed, in the opening chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Paul sets down from the very beginning a reversal that will stand at the foundation of the entire ascetic struggle: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). What the world reckons folly — a crucified God, victory through defeat, glory through dishonor — is, for the faithful, the very saving power. And Paul carries the reversal to its limit: “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1:20), only to conclude: “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1:25). Here lies the key. There are two wisdoms and two follies, set crosswise: the wisdom of the world, which before God is folly, and the “folly” of God, which is the true wisdom. The salos takes upon himself precisely this position: putting on visible folly before the world, he confesses that he has chosen the other wisdom. His folly played out in the marketplace is a living icon of the folly of the Cross — a scandal to them that perish, salvation to those who understand it. And the verse from which we set out carries this reversal into the very flesh: “We are fools for Christ’s sake… we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace… Being reviled, we bless… we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13). Paul here describes the apostolic life itself, but in terms that will become, letter for letter, the programme of the salos. He does nothing other than carry to an extreme, literal expression what the Apostle called the very condition of a servant of Christ. For this reason the salos phenomenon, however unusual, is no exotic appendix to the Catholic tradition, but a living-out to the very end of a central apostolic word. The fools for Christ took with full seriousness, down to the last consequence, what many Christians read without flinching. The first to embody this apostolic word in a complete Life, preserved whole, was Saint Simeon of Emesa, in the sixth century; Saint Andrew, across the centuries, treads the same path.
The encounter with the tradition of the fools for Christ — saloi in Greek — produces in most readers a first reaction of bewilderment. How is it that these men and women, who hid their holiness beneath an appearance of madness, sleeping in refuse and at the edges of roads, letting themselves be beaten, spat upon, and dragged through the streets, come to be honored by the Church alongside the great teachers of the world, alongside martyrs and venerable ascetics? It seems a paradox. And yet, if we look closely at the teaching of the Fathers on humility, the paradox dissolves. Humility is, by consensual patristic witness, the foundation of all the virtues. Saint Anthony the Great, founder of Eastern monasticism, left the word that remains to this day the touchstone of the spiritual life: “I saw all the snares of the enemy spread out over the earth, and groaning I said: who then can pass through these? And I heard a voice saying to me: humility.”
The whole work of the enemy can be passed through by a single virtue, and that virtue is humility.
The Altar Candles are requested by David Youells IMO Mary Ann Youells for the month of September.
The is no request for the Sanctuary Light this week.
WOMEN’S SOCIETY RUMMAGE SALE: The Women’s Society will be hosting a Rummage Sale, Soup, Haluski and Bake Sale on October 2nd & 3rd in the church hall. Your help and support is greatly needed. A second sale will be held on October 16th, 17th and 18th.
Many have asked how they can assist.
Here are several ways you can help:
1. Pick up a flyer from the back of the church and ask a local business or establishment if they would be willing to display it.
2. Bake items to donate to the bake sale.
3. Donate gently used items for the rummage sale.
4. Volunteer your time-workers are needed throughout the sale.
5. Attend the sale and enjoy some delicious food while shopping for great items.
6. Donate a basket for the Basket raffle. All the proceeds will be donated to the Ukrainian Relief Fund.
Thank you very much for your generosity and support.
AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM REPAIR: A few weeks ago the air conditioning system in the hall broke. We had it repaired this week and the cost was $6,614. Donations to offset this unexpected bill would be greatly appreciated.
LONGBRANCH, NJ: Father will be on retreat from September 28- October 1.
MOVIE: WHY not have another movie afternoon at Transfiguration of Our Lord Church? The movie A SECRET. No flying monkeys though! Children are welcome. THE MOVIE DAY IS NEXT Sunday, October 11 after Divine Liturgy at Transfiguration of Our Lord Church about 11:45AM. If you would like to donate a potluck, please let Lisa know at 570-574-1016.
NOTABLE DATES: Daylight Savings Time Ends(Sunday, November 1); Thanksgiving(Thursday, November 26); Myasopusna(January 31);Lent Begins(February 14), Good Friday (March 26), Easter (March 28).
ALTAR CANDLES & SANCTUARY LIGHT: There are many weeks available for sanctuary lights and months for the altar candles. The lists are in the back of the church. They are a special way to remember our dearly departed loved ones or for special intentions.
Prayer to the All-Holy Theotokos
By One Who is in Trouble and Affliction
O mine all-good Queen, mine all-holy hope, receiver of orphans and assister of strangers, helper of the unfortunate and protection of the afflicted! Thou seest my peril, Thou seest my tribulation: I am beset by temptions on every side, but there is no one to help me. Wherefore, do Thou Thyself help me, for I am sick; feed me, for I am a stranger; guide me, for I am lost; heal and save me, for I am beyond hope. I have none other help, I have none other intercession or consolation, save Thee, O Mother of all who are troubled and heavily burdened. Wherefore, look upon me, a sinner in affliction, and cover me with Thine all-holy omophorion, that I may be delivered from the evils which compass me round about, and may continually praise Thine all-hymned name. Amen -From the Akathist to the Protection of the All-Holy Theotokos
ASK FATHER A QUESTION? Why are there bells on the incensor?
The bells represent the apostles calling the people to Jesus Christ. There should be 12 bells with the ringer removed from one, this one represents Judas who lost his voice when he betrayed Jesus and fell silent. We are supposed to be standing when the King, Jesus Christ enters and because the holy doors are supposed to be closed for much of the liturgy, the people would not necessarily be able to see what is happening at the altar, so when the people hear the bells they know it is time to stand. In addition, some people have commented, “Father, we have seen anyone swing the incenser like you do.” What the priest does before incensing the church is first stand in front of the altar and make a sign of the cross with the incenser. Some priests do it Roman Catholic style with their hand while holding the incenser, I swing the incenser so that the incenser boat, with the incense, makes the sign of the cross, first the vertical pole swinging up and then the cross beam and now it is time to incense the entire church.
OCTOBER BOOK: School of Darkness, Bella Dodd. Bella Dodd’s 1954 autobiography School of Darkness was written at the urging of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and it recounts her conversion to Catholicism after a lifetime in the Communist Party, culminating in her baptism by Archbishop Sheen in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.
