The Vine الكرمة

1. The Vine الكرمة WEEK OF THE REVELATION OF CHRIST’S MYSTERY TO JOHN THE BAPTIST OUR LADY OF PEACE - CALGARY OUR LADY OF GOOD HELP - EDMONTON THE EPIPHANY JANUARY 2009 Day 11: Saint Theodosius  Day 12: Saint Tasiana, a (female) martyr & Memorial of the Holy Ecumenical Council of Trent.  Day 13: Saint Jacob, bishop of Nisibin  Day 14: Saint Hilarious (Hilary), bishop of Poitier (France)  Day 15: Our Lady of plants  Day 16: Memorial of the chains of Saint Peter the Apostle.  Day 17:Saint Anthony the Great Rev. Fr. Esper Antoun – Pastor Deacon Michel Kassas – Assistant 504, 30th Ave. N.W 9809-76th Ave. N.W Calgary, AB T2M 2N6 Edmonton, AB T2E 1K6 Tel: (403) 289-8954 Tel: (780) 433-8571

2. WEEK OF THE REVELATION OF CHRIST’S MYSTERY TO JOHN THE BAPTIST A Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 10:1-11) Brothers and Sisters: I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ — I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away! — I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards. Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we. Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we will also do when present. Praise be to God always. A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to St. John (John 1:29-34) The Apostles said: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” This is the truth. Peace be with you.

3. WEEK OF THE REVELATION OF CHRIST’S MYSTERY TO JOHN THE BAPTIST INTERCESSIONS 1- We cry to You on behalf of the world. For those whose humanity is destroyed by hunger. For those whose humanity is destroyed by the abuse of power. For those whose humanity is destroyed by the sins of others .We pray to the Lord 2- Wethank God for everything that we have, our opportunities, our families and our friends. We Thank you for the many blessings we have already received. We pray to the Lord. 3- We thank our Lord, for every thing, & everyone in our life, for his love, & kindness, & merciful ways. He is the power, & might of all man kind, & the universe. All Praise, Honor & Glory Are His Alone, For Ever, & Ever, AMEN! We pray to the Lord. 4- Lord, we thank you for all the graces you continuously give to us, for all the protection, good health, and most especially the love and guidance you showered upon us. all these we gave to you, your son, and the Holy Spirit together with the blessed virgin, all the angels and saints, amen. We pray to the Lord. 5- Lord, Our world needs prayers for peace, justice, freedom, truth and honesty. We, as brothers and sisters in the world, need prayers for peace, forgiveness, healing, love and happiness.  With prayer all things are possible, wars can end, hunger can stop, disease can be eradicated, justice, truth and honesty can rule, and man's inhumanity to man can end. We pray to the Lord. EPIPHANY’S SEASON Our Lady of Good Help Parish Edmonton & Our Lady of Peace Parish Calgary would like to thank all the parishioners and the volunteers who work hard to make the Church’s parties successful. Thank you and may God bless you and bless your families and may this year be a blessed year full of Joy and prosperity. Fr. Esper Antoun & Deacon Michel Kassas.

4. WEEK OF THE REVELATION OF CHRIST’S MYSTERY TO JOHN THE BAPTIST Saint Anthony the Great (c 251–356), also known as Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius (Ἀβᾶς Ἀντώνιος), and Father of All Monks, was an Egyptian Christian saint and the prominent leader among the Desert Fathers. He is celebrated in many churches on his Feast Days: January 17 in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Western church, and the month of Tobi 22, (January 30) in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church, which are historically associated with Saint Anthony. Anthony lived in Alexandria for much of his life. The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism, particularly in Western Europe through Latin translations. Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. "Saint Anthony's fire" has described different afflictions including ergotism and erysipelas. Epiphany is celebrated by both the Eastern and Western Churches, but a major difference between them is over precisely which historical events the feast commemorates. For Western Christians the feast primarily commemorates the coming of the Magi, while in the East the feast celebrates the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. However, in both cases the essence of the feast is the same: the manifestation of Christ to the world (whether as an infant or in the Jordan), and the Mystery of the Incarnation. On the Great Feast of Theophany (Epiphany) (meaning "appearance/showing of God"), holy water is blessed twice: at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy on the eve of the feast, and on morning of the feast itself. After processing to the place where the vessel of water is prepared to the singing of appropriate troparia (hymns) of the Theophany there are a group of Scripture readings (Isaiah 35:1-10, Isaiah 55:1-13, Isaiah 13:3-6, and 1 Corinthians 10:1-4), Our Lady of Good Help – Edmonton Our Lady of Peace – Calgary www.mcparish.orgwww.mcparishcalgary.org