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

Our God is the Victor, and all good and lasting victories, from one end of time to the other, belong to Him. He is victorious over the disorder among men that is made by sinners, bringing order. When the worst among men rise up to the first place, and the best fall to the lowest, He reverses that disorder, and makes the first last and the last first. He is victorious over the malice and scheming of the evil spirits against the human race, and scatters them as a strong wind disperses a vile stench. He is victorious over all want: where there is little, He gives increase; where there is nothing, He gives in abundance. He is victorious over sickness and suffering; He only speaks the word, and sickness and suffering vanish away—the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the paralyzed get up and walk, the lepers are cleansed. He is victorious over death: at his command, death looses its victim from its jaws. He reigns over a kingdom of heavenly powers—angels and saints—that has no end; a heavenly kingdom in comparison with which the kingdoms of this world are as dark and confining as the womb. He commands the elements and creatures of this world, and nothing is able to withstand His commands without disintegrating in eternal ruin.

Day after day; victory after victory. The history of this world is a series of God's victories, the revealing of God's power and irrestistibility. He is meek as a lamb, but heaven and earth tremble before Him. When He allows Himself to be humiliated, His greatness is thereby most strikingly revealed. When He allows His face to be spat upon, He thereby reveals the foulness of all that is not He. When He gives Himself to be slaughtered, then His life shines forth.

God has revealed His light through the sun, like some pale shadow of Himself. He has shown His power through the innumerable fiery bodies in the universe, His wisdom in the order of creation and created beings from end to end of the universe, His beauty through the beauty of creation, His mercy through His careful nurturing of all He has created, His life through all that lives. But all this is only a pale and ephemeral image of Him; it is only letters of fire written in thick smoke. All these characteristics of the living God have been revealed—in the greatest radiance in which it was possible for them to be seen in this world—in man. Not in every man; not in ordinary, created men, but in the uncreated Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. All came together in Him; in Him shone forth in the flesh both light and power, wisdom and beauty, mercy and life.

What does light mean but victory over darkness? What does power mean but victory over weakness? What is wisdom but victory over madness and insanity? What is beauty but victory over ugliness and monstrosity? Is not mercy victory over evil, malice and envy? And life—is it not the divine victory over death?

What do you think, you who follow Christ and are baptized in His name? Did Christ not reveal all these victories as no other ever has from the foundation of the world? Do you not feel every day that you are following the greatest Victor since the beginning of the world and of time; that you are baptized in the name of Him Who knows and can do all things, Who adorns all creatures with His beauty, caresses them with His mercy and vivifies them with His life? If you do not feel this, it will be of little help to you to follow Him and call yourself by His name. Only through the Lord Jesus can you, without the least doubt or hesitation, believe in the utterly victorious power of the living God over every creature, every element and all the evil in the world. Only the Lord Jesus can give you the courage to live and courage to pass through death. Only He can justify hope in a better life than this transitory life that is subject to decay. And only He can arouse in you love for all that is good, for He is God's living and incarnate victory over the world. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33), said Christ to His disciples, and He says it through them to us all. Let us not be afraid: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has overcome the world. The Gospel is the book of His victories, the testimony to His almighty power. The history of the Church to this day—and to the end of the world—is an even more detailed book of His victories. Whoever doubts this will be denied their fruit. Let us therefore approach the interpreting of today's Gospel with no shadow of doubt, for it describes a tremendous victory of Christ over nature.

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.

Basil, his wife Kristen, and their eldest daughter, one-year-old Claire, moved to our parish in 1998, and all three were baptized in 1999. In 2000 the Vogt family rented the house located directly behind the church. Subsequently, two more children were born: Theodosius (Theo), now aged nine, and Amelie (Amy), aged five.

From December, 2004, until the present Kristen has been the parish secretary, ably performing many and varied tasks essential to the life of our parish. She also home-schools her children, as do several other families in the parish.

Isaac Crabtree and his wife Maria (Arlie) entered Orthodoxy in 2004 through St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Huntington, West Virginia. After reading the biography of Fr. Seraphim Rose, they decided to join ROCOR and began attending services at Christ the Savior Church in Wayne, West Virginia. In December, 2004, they moved to the St. Louis area and joined our parish. After leaving again for three years of law school in Akron, Ohio, they returned in 2009 with their newborn son, Charalambos (Robert), becoming active members of the parish. Isaac has been a dedicated choir singer.

May God grant Deacon Basil, Reader Isaac, and their respective families, many years, and strength and patience for the new spiritual labors that await them in Christ's vineyard.

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

Newly ordained Priest Matthew Williams (until very recently, Deacon of our parish) flew from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. this past weekend to attend fund-raising activities at both St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral and St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Fr. Gregoire Legoute and his wife Rose gave eyewitness accounts of the hardships Orthodox Christians in Haiti are facing as a result of the violent earthquake that devastated their poor Caribbean nation.

Again and again we encourage our parishioners and other visitors to our website to give generously to the ROCOR Fund for Assistance, which is striving to assist not only our mission In Haiti, but our parishes in Chile that just been struck by another major earthquake.

Fr. Dc. Matthew Williams was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Hilarion on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Synodal Cathedral of the Mother of the Sign in Manhattan, NY. The Metropolitan desires that Fr. Matthew serve as one of the chief coordinators of assistance to our suffering members of our ROCOR missions in Haiti. He will also be assigned to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Endicott, New York,  in the United States.
We, the priest and parishioners of St. John Chrysostom, are deeply saddened at the prospect that Fr. Matthew and his beloved family will be moving away from our parish permanently (although not immediately). However, we rejoice that he is moving closer to accomplishing his heartfelt desire—to serve the Church at a deeper level, and to put into action his love for the people of Haiti, with God as his Helper.

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.

THE ROCOR MISSION IN HAITI HAS SURVIVED THE EARTHQUAKE,
ALTHOUGH MANY BUILDINGS ARE DESTROYED.

 Donate generously to The Fund for Assistance, of our Russian Church Outside Russia.

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.