News

Happy Palm Sunday everyone.

There was a lot of excitement today as Holy Week began and even a Baptism.  Welcome and congratulations, Jason.  

 Palm Sunday is feastday celebrating Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalm when people layed down palm branches before him on the way.  

We celebrated by decorating the sactuary and giving out palm branches and pussy willows.  Pussy willows are traditional in may places where palm branches don't grow.    

Here a happy family smiles as we begin Holy Week. 

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday!

 Tomorrow is Palm Sunday! Join us for Liturgy at 9:30. After the service, Tara Concelman will give another talk on the power of positive speaking bringing some teachings from the church fathers on this important subject. Jason Streit will be baptized before the Liturgy at 8:30. Here's the schedule for the rest of the week:

 Cheesefair week is here.   There are some changes to the normal schedule, on Tuesday the Theology Discussion group that normally meets in Oviedo will be meeting at Fr. Daniel's house in Longwood.  Also, the Wednesday night vespers and adult education class will also be canceled and instead Fr. Daniel will be attending an OCF meeting at 7:30pm at UCF.  For details and directions to either event please contact Fr. Daniel. 

 

 Tomorrow, our Theology discussion group will meet at Barnies in Oviedo at 6:30. If you enjoy reading theology, you should join us. Last week I gave an introduction to a new field field of Biblical scholarship called "Temple Theology." This week Mark will lead a discussion on arguments for the existence of God. Mark and I plan to offer a Sunday School class on apologetics in the near future. Let me know if there are any burning questions you would like to discuss in the class.


This Wednesday we will continue our study of Fr. Alexander Schmemann's essay "The Spiritual Problem." This is all about the problems of being an Orthodox christian and parish in the modern world. 

Ladies, This Sunday plan to stay after Liturgy for Mat. Marcy's baby shower.

March 9 we will host Fr. John Behr for a pre-Lenten retreat. He will speak on "Becoming Human." This is a great opportunity to hear from one of our best Orthodox theologians. Do not miss it. Our meatfare picnic will follow the retreat

 
Becoming Human
March 9th at 10am- 1pm
The Speech is Free
and will be followed by a Luncheon 

We are excited to host Very Rev. Dr. Behr a distinguished theologian who will be speeking about Becoming Human in the Christian experience.  

 St. Stephen's Orthodox Church will be represented at the Tables Extraordinaire Event which will be held at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. It is a beautiful table with a St. Basil's Cathedral Theme. 

Tables Extraordinaire will be open on Today Feb, 8 and tomorrow Saturday Feb. 9 from 10am to 3pm. There is a $10 entry fee and a portion of the proceeds supports the Ronald McDonald House charity.

Last Sunday, January 20th, we had the joy of welcoming Tom into the church of by Christmation on what was his birthday and his wife Jennifer's family Slava. 

 The feast of Theophany also known as Epiphany is almost here and we will be celebrating at the Orthodox Church of St. Stephen the Protomartyr for three days.  


Friday December 4th: Royal Hours 9am
Saturday, December 5th: Great Vespers and Great Blessing of the Water 5pm
Sunday, December 6th: Hours 9:10 am,  Divine Liturgy 9:30 am, followed by a picnic and the Blessing of the waters at beautiful Wakiva Springs. 

It is customary to dive for the cross in a body local body of water and if weather permits maybe we will see some people dive in after the cross.

The feast of Theophany celebrates Christ's Baptism in the Jordan River. Where Christ was baptised not because He needed to be cleaned but to cleanse us.   

As well know Orthodox theologian Thomas Hopko said in his book Winter Pascha...

"Since the Son of God has taken human flesh and has appeared in the world, manifesting Himself in His baptism in the Jordan, all flesh and all matter is sanctified. Everything is made pure and holy in Him. Everything which is corrupted and polluted by the sinful works of men is cleansed and purified by the gracious works of God. All death-dealing powers of the devil which poison the good world of God's creation are destroyed. All things are again made new. Through the "prime element" of water on the feast of the Epiphany the entire creation is shown to be sanctified by God's Word through the same Spirit of God who "in the beginning... was moving over the face of the waters." (Gen 1:2)

"Come, O ye faithful, Let us praise the greatness of God's dispensation toward us, For He who became Man because of our transgressions And who alone is clean and undefiled, Was for our cleasing Himself cleansed in the Jordan That He might sanctify both me and the waters... Let us then draw water in gladness, O brothers, For upon those that draw in faith The grace of the Spirit is invisibly bestowed by Christ The God and Savior of our souls. "--Concluding Hymn from the rite of the Great Blessing of Water.

 Dear Friends,

This week we will celebrate the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a time for us to contemplate the great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God. God became man for us so that we might become like God. Jesus of Nazareth is the bridge connecting god and man. In Jesus, God becomes man in order to reveal truth to the world. From Jesus, we learn how to love and have true joy in our lives. His death and resurrection changed the very nature of the world, and as we open ourselves to receive Him our hearts are changed as well. Because of the incarnation, salvation is here. God is with us. Divine life is at our finger tips. We open our eyes and see it. We open our mouths and taste it. We know that our true purpose is to know and love God. This is the miracle we celebrate on the Feast of Nativity.