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V0063

GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY & PARISH

OF PROPHET ELIAS NORWOOD & EASTERN

SUBURBS INC.

87 BEULAH RD. NORWOOD SA 5067 P.O. BOX 277, KENT TOWN SA 5071
ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE HON. SECRETARY

O
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: 8362 4139 . 8431 7789 . 0412 710 037

24-07-11
27 . 1357

WEEKLY MAGAZINE

THE WORD OF GOD

PHONES: 8362 4139 H. 8431 7789 M. 0412 710 037

DATE 24-07-11
YEAR 27 TH NUMBER 1376
WEB PAGE: WWW.PROPHETELIAS.ORG.AU
ONLINE MAGAZINE & RADIO PROGRAM: WWW.PROPHETELIAS.BLOGSPOT.COM
EMAIL: PROPHETELIAS@ESC.NET.AU

( 9: 1-8) 24 2011
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6th SUNDAY OF MATTHEW (9: 1-8) July 24th 2011

The healing of the paralytic man is a well known event, the man was
brought before the Lord by four people who believed the Lords
omnipotence. We say that, they believed, because if they lacked faith and
didnt believe that the Lord had the power to heal the paralytic, then they
would not have gone to so much effort. And certainly at first sight, it
would seem that the main factor in the heeling of the paralytic was the
faith of those four men that brought the man to Christ. Was it only these
four people who believed in Christ? From the first verse of todays gospel

reading we heard that the whole of Capernaum w at Christs house:

crossed over, and came to His own city the people of Capernaum were
especially benefited by the Lord; they benefited from the many miracles
that He performed in their town, this had given them the assurance that
Christ will always be able to help them. The factor that separated these
four men from everyone else in the town was not only their faith, but
their genuine love.
Commonly the love that we see in the world that we live in is egocentric.
There exists a dangerous introversion that isolates a person from their
neighbour. He has himself as the centre and has a very limited circle
made up of his family, within these narrow margins he lives, works, tires,
and rests. When it comes to these four people today, we see a love that
goes beyond themselves and their circle of family. The Evangelist
Matthew does not say that theses four youths had even the slightest
relationship with the paralytic. Therefore we are witnessing a genuine
and pure love, which was not incited by some family obligation, a clean
and unpolluted love. This is Christian love, the love of sacrifice.
Everyone rushed to listen to Christ. The desire and holy action of the
inhabitants of Capernaum was indeed blessed. When the paralytic man
saw the people run past him to go to Christ, he very much wished to join
them and be near the teacher but he could not. At the same time we come
across the wonderful human love, infront of him were passing four
youths. The anonymous heroes of love; the people of sacrifice who lifted
with their own hands and the bed that the paralytic man lay on and took
him to the Redeemer; the people who took the sick man to the Doctor; the
sinful to the Sinless.
The Evangelist Matthew provides a simple account of the initiative of the
four youths that brought the paralytic to Christ. The other Evangelists
give more details about how much these four youths suffered in their
endeavour. The house in which Christ was preaching was completely full,
and therefore getting close to him was very difficult. Clearly this situation
had arisen because everybody wanted to hear, see, or even touch the
garments of the Lord. There was no room in such a jam. Nobody gave up
their position and moved over to let the four youth and their stretcher,
the embodiment of pain, through. Everyone outside would have to wait
as there was no hope of entering the house, they would have to take the

paralytic man back home. That is the logic that anyone in that situation
could use. However these youth burned with love for the suffering man,
and so did not give up so easily; our heroes were not embarrassed or
overpowered. Their love was accompanied by strong faith and certainty
that would not allow them to abandon the battle. They lifted their gaze
higher than their compatriots: from the roof! they said- and without
further consideration they tied strong ropes to the bed and climbed up.
They opened the roof and carefully lowered the bed with the paralytic
man down in front of Christ. The Evangelist Luke writes that: they
went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling
into the midst before Jesus (Luke 5:19)
No human reaction could stop their God-pleasing actions. No obstacle
that they encountered was large enough to curb their enthusiasm. And
the very idea that they had undertaken such an important endeavour, did
not allow them to have the slightest doubt. They were resolute and
would not stop until they saw their efforts bear fruit and their mission
completed successfully. The Lord saw their faith and granted the
paralytic man healing of not only his body but also his soul from suffering.
Beloved brethren, the emphatic love of these four people cannot leave us
indifferent and unmoved. This love causes revolution in the hearts of
people that have it. It awakens the emotions and overturns the habits of
self centeredness. Living in a world full of false emotions that do not
express love and compassion for others, it is difficult for us to
comprehend this type of love. You see love is not a barren emotion; it
does not just express sympathy toward the hurt person, who would
prefer to see actions. True love has great power, it becomes a great
bulldozer that flattens and uproots every obstacle that blocks our path.
Modern society has filled with sensitive people who cannot bear to see
children crying and have stopped disciplining them. They cannot bear to
see parents suffering bedridden with pain and remove them before their
time. They are compassionate to the thieves and remove items from their
yard that could harm them. Their sensitivity reaches a climax when
because someone has forgotten to feed their dog they have to pay a fine.
They have become insensitive to the salvation of the souls of their
neighbour, brother or even themselves. They become completely

insensitive to the needs of someone suffering in their souls and body, or

to guide someone to Christ with faith like the four youths in todays
gospel reading. It would be blessed if the courageous acts of the
benefactors of the paralytic, have a positive influence in our hearts today.

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Michael Atkinson, Hon, Isobel
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News from our Community-Parish

Our Festival
The festival in honour of our Protector and Patron Saint the Holy and
Glorious Prophet Elias the Thesvite was spread over two weeks. Our
festival is not only the Dance, Great Celebratory Vespers and the actual
Day in his memory, but also includes the days of preparation. The hearts of
the members of the Philoptohos, the Executive Committee and every
parishioner celebrate while they work in the memory of our Patron Saint.
They stay up all night joyfully preparing, cleaning, cooking and decorating.
Simply the thought that they are serving the only Church in the whole of
Australia dedicated to Prophet Elias is sufficient to cause this exceptional
happiness. They also remember Gods words from the Old Testament that
Elias would cause parents and children to be reunited so in His Second
Coming would avoid destruction by the Lord. Our devout parishioners feel
that since they serve in the Church of Prophet Elias, they have some share

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in Gods exceptional concession and honour towards the Prophet. They

successfully staged the entertaining dance: everyone enjoyed the food,
sweets, music, dancing by our Dance group and the family atmosphere.
The enthusiasm of all the volunteers in the roles they undertook was
especially moving. What was also a cause of particular rejoicing this year
was the participation in the festival of His Grace Bishop Iakovos of
Melitoupolis. His Grace is the first Australian-born Bishop and a graduate of
the Archdiocesan Theological College of the Apostle Andrew. Just his
presence among us gave courage and hope to our Australianborn children
and made us proud about the progress and positive future of the Orthodox
Church in the Antipodes. The Great Celebratory Vespers with its rich
spiritual program and the Episcopal Liturgy on the Day with another rich
spiritual and social program helped us to feel intensely the living presence
of God. The ordination of Fr Panagiotis Fotakis as confessor by His Grace
Bishop Iakovos of Melitoupolis gave us great joy during the Vespers. It was
very moving to see two fellow-students of the Theological College, one in
the position of Bishop ordaining the other as spiritual confessor. Our Priest
Fr Stavros Psaromatis, moved by the abundant blessings, gave on behalf of
our Community-Parish a beautiful Shepherds Ravdos (Shepherds walking
stick) to His Grace, deservingly blessed as he shepherds the flock
entrusted him by God. Honouring our celebrations by their presence were
the Hon. Michael Atkinson representative of the Premier of South Australia
Mr Mike Rann, the Leader of the Opposition the Hon. Isobel Redmond, the
Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia Mr Heiu Van Le, the Ekdikos
Archon to the Ecumenical Throne Mr John Kiosglou, Mr Isaac Pasalidis the
representative of the Mayor Mr Robert Bria, the President of the InterCommunity Committee Mr Constantine Dallas and other state and Greek

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guests. May the Most Gracious God, through the intercessions of the
second Forerunner Prophet Elias the Thesvite make us worthy to see these
spiritual moments again next year.

Church Services
Tomorrow Monday Day of Joachim and Anna and Tuesday 26th July day of
Great Martyr St Paraskevi, Matins and Divine Liturgy with artoklasia, 8 am
10 am.
Wednesday 27th July day of Great Martyr St Panteleimonos and Thursday
28th July day of Mother Nun Irene Chrysovalantou, Matins and Divine
Liturgy, 8 am 10 am.

Divine Liturgy in the English language, Saturday evening, 6 pm 7 pm.

This service is held at the request of Australian-born parents and children
who have some difficulty in understanding the Greek service. In reality, it is
not the language that is the problem, but rather the indifference of our youth
to spiritual and ecclesiastical matters. This Saturday evening is the
opportunity to show otherwise.

Dekapentavgoustos
No sooner have we enjoyed the spiritual food of the celebrations in honour
of the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elias the Thesvite, than our Church brings
us

the

spiritual

period

of

the

Fifteen

Days

of

August.

The

Dekapentavgoustos is another blessed time of spiritual elevation for

Orthodox Christians. The important and wonderful events which mark the
life of the Panagia are expressed poetically by our Church during this time.
The various supplicatory canons to the All-Holy Theotokos strengthen faith,
firm hope and give comfort balsam for everyone who feels sinful and
humble of heart. The program is as follows:

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From Monday 1st August, there will be daily Matins and Divine Liturgy,
8 am 9.30 am, apart from the Day of the Transfiguration and
Sundays when the service finishes later.
Every evening, there will be alternating Supplicatory Canons of the
Panagia, 6 pm 7 pm, apart from Eve of the Transfiguration and
Saturday evenings, when there will be Vespers, 5.30 pm 6.15 pm.
On the Eve of the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, Great Celebratory
Vespers with anoixantaria and artoklasia, followed by the contritional
service of Lamentations around the decorated Epitafios of the Panagia,
Holy Unction and all-night Vigil with homilies about the venerable
Panagia.
Monday, Day of the Falling Asleep of the Panagia, Matins and Divine
Liturgy with artoklasia and Procession of the Epitafios around the
Church grounds. The Holy Icon of the Panagia of Kikkos will also be
carried as we usually do to celebrate the miracle that took place in our
Church seven years ago. Afterwards, there will be a luncheon prepared
by the Executive Committee and the Philoptohos.

Please take a program so you dont miss these spiritual times which
our Church lovingly offers us.
Donations
Warm thanks to everyone who has donated spontaneously to the
Church and may the Lord protect and bless them always.