St. John Chrysostom Russian Orthodox Church - House Springs (St. Louis Area), Missouri

When the Lord appeared to Thomas, Thomas cried out with joy: My Lord and my God! With these words, Thomas acknowledged Christ as both Man and God, both in one, living Person. Only to touch the glorified Lord was enough to give Thomas that blessing by the Spirit, that renewal of life and that authority to forgive and retain sins that the Lord had, eight days earlier, given to the other disciples by word and in-breathing. For when the Lord, as yet unglorified, in a mortal body, was able to heal the woman with the issue of blood by letting her touch His garment, filling her with strength and health, so much the more could He, in His risen and glorified body, give to Thomas through touch all the power and authority that He had given the other apostles in another way. It is, of course, not impossible that the Lord gave power and authority to Thomas in just the same way as He had earlier given them to the other disciples, although this is not recorded in the Gospel, for by no means was all that the Lord said and did after His glorious Resurrection written down, as the Evangelist himself expressly confirms a little further on.

Restoring Thomas’s faith and confirming it, the Lord chided him gently: Jesus saith unto him: Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. You, Thomas, have believed Me more by your senses than by your spirit. You wanted to convince yourself through your senses, and so I have given you the chance to do this, and you have been convinced just by seeing and touching Me. But, Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed: those who have not seen with their eyes but have discerned in their spirits and believed with their hearts. Blessed are they who come to faith in Christ and His Gospel without seeing Him with their bodily sight or touching Him with their hands. The Lord has already said many times that He will rise again, and He must be believed. But, for the unbelieving to be convinced and the hesitant confirmed, the Lord did not leave it only to the foretelling of His rising from the dead, but appeared many times after His Resurrection. It was, for Him, most important of all that the apostles, and through them the faithful, should have firm faith in His rising from the dead. This is, for a Christian, the foundation of faith and the crown of joy.

 
(The Dismissal prayer by the Priest)

Instructing His friends in the Mysteries, the true Wisdom of God prepares a table that gives food to the soul, and He mingles for the faithful the cup of the wine of life eternal. Let us approach with reverence and cry aloud: Christ our God is greatly glorified.

(From the Canon at Matins)

Instructing Thy disciples in the Mystery, O Lord, Thou hast taught them, saying: "My friends, take care that fear does not separate you from Me. For though I suffer, yet it is for the sake of the world. Do not be scandalized because of Me; for I have come not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give My life as a ransom for the world. If then ye are My friends, ye will do as I do. He who will be first let him be last; let the master be as the servant. Abide in Me, that ye may bear fruit: for I am the vine of Life.

(From the Aposticha at Matins)

Passing from one divine Feast to another, from palms and branches let us now make haste, ye faithful, to the solemn and saving celebration of Christ's Passion. Let us behold Him undergo voluntary suffering for our sake, and let us sing to Him with thankfulness as fitting hymn: Fountain of tender mercy and haven of salvation, O Lord, glory to Thee!

(from the Aposticha, Vespers, of Great Monday)

Come forth, ye nations, and come forth, ye peoples: look today upon the King of heaven, who enters Jerusalem seated upon a humble colt as though upon a lofty throne. O unbelieving and adulterous generation of the Jews, draw near and look on Him whom once Isaiah saw: He is come for our sakes in the flesh. See how He weds the New Zion, for she is chaste, and rejects the synagogue that is condemned. As at a marriage pure and undefiled, the pure and innocent children gather and sing praises. Let us also sing with them the hymn of the angels: Hosanna in the highest to Him that has great mercy.

Before Thy voluntary Passion, Christ our God, Thou hast given to all men an assurance of the general resurrection; for at Bethany Thou hast raised by Thine almighty power Lazarus who was four days dead, and as Giver of Light, O Saviour, Thou hast made the blind to see. With Thy disciples Thou hast entered the Holy City, seated upon the foal of an ass as though upon the cherubim, and so Thou hast fulfilled the preaching of the prophets. The children of the Hebrews with palms and branches came to meet Thee. Therefore we also bearing palms and olive branches, cry aloud to Thee in thanksgiving: Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.

(from the Praises, at Matins)

Once thou wast defiled with every impurity, but today through repentance thou hast become the Bride of Christ. Desiring the life of the angels, thou hast cast down the demons with the weapon of the Cross: therefore, O glorious Mary, thou wast made a bride of God.

In our hymns we praise thee now, all-venerated Mary, as the lamb and daughter of Christ. Sprung from the stock of the Egyptians, thou hast fled from all their errors and offered as a precious flower to the Church. In abstinence and prayer thou hast struggled above the measure of man’s nature, and was exalted by Christ; by thy life and actions, O Mary highly exalted, thou hast become a bride of the heavenly kingdom.

We have thee as a pattern of repentance, all-holy Mary; pray to Christ that in the season of the Fast this gift may be be conferred upon us: to praise thee in our hymns with faith and love.

(The Kontakion, Ikos, and Exapostilarion, at Matins)

(from a sessional hymn at Matins)

(from Lord, I have cried, at Vespers, Sunday evening)

(for English, click near the Canadian flag)

On Sunday, May 16, 2010, at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Des Plaines, Illinois, His Grace, Bishop Peter, ordained Reader Basil Vogt to the deaconate—"filling the vacancy" that occurred when Fr. Matthew Williams was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 20, 2010 (see article below). He also tonsured Isaac Crabtree as a Reader.

Newly-ordained Deacon Basil has served the parish conscientiously for the past 10 years as senior reader and altar server, and as a choir singer. Monday through Friday, he is a dedicated and successful high school teacher at Parkway North High School. He also teaches the oldest group of children in our Sunday School program.

(A comment reported in the "Daily Devotion" on Channel 6 of the Portland, Maine, TV station, May 3, 2010)

Fr. Christopher Stade and Rdr. Constantine Stade served at this Liturgy, representing our parish—the only parish in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia whose patron saint is St. John Chrysostom.

During the Liturgy Fr. Christopher was elevated to the rank of Archpriest.

On Oct 13 and 14, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God, Des Plaines, Illinois, a myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God, brought from Russia, was present at the Vigil service and Liturgy.  The name of this icon is  The Softener of Evil Hearts. Those who pray with faith and humility before this Icon find that their own hearts are softened from anger and bitterness, as well as the hearts of others for whom they pray. Read the following prayer and troparion before a copy of the Icon, if you have one, or pray directly to the Mother of God, and you will receive heavenly consolation:

O much-suffering Mother of God, who art higher than all the daughters of the earth in thy purity, and in the multitude of suffering which thou didst bear on earth: accept our sighs of suffering, and keep us under the protection of thy mercy, for we know no other refuge and fervent protection than thee. But as one having boldness before Him Who was born of thee, help and save us by thy prayers, that we may without hindrance attain the Kingdom of Heaven, where with the saints we may sing praises to the One God in Trinity, always, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Troparion, Tone 5

Soften our evil hearts, O Theotokos, and quench the attacks of those who hate us and loose all the rigidity of our soul. For looking on thy holy image we are filled with compunction by thy suffering and loving-kindness for us, and we kiss thy wounds; we are filled with horror for the darts with which we wound thee. Let us not, O Mother of Compassion, because of the cruelty of our hearts, perish from the cruelty of heart of those near us, for thou art in truth the Softener of Evil Hearts.

Fr John Behr:  The Pastoral Power of Theology

"O Taste and See How Good is the Lord"
(short audio clip)

An impromptu quartet of American singers sang at the matins and and presanctified liturgy which concluded the 2009 Lenten Diocesan Assembly. Among them were two young men of our parish: Rdr Nathaniel Brown and Rdr Constantine Stade. Also participating were Rdr Dimitry Kulp and Serge Kaminski.