In this Issue:

•Message from the Rector • Wisdom From Optina •What Should I Read? •A Sermon of Reading Spiritual Works •Excerpts from the Arena •An Excerpt from Spiritual Awaken-ing •Русский уголок •May / June Calendar

This newsletter is published by the

Holy Theotokos of Iveron

Russian Orthodox Church

A Parish of the Western American Diocese

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

ROCOR Official Website: http://www.synod.com

Parish Website: http://www. orthodoxhawaii.org

All services are held at 845 Queen Street,

Honolulu, Hawaii

���� Our Church

Our church is located at 845 Queen Street just a block and a half Ewa of Ward Avenue.

The Sunday services are as follows: Hours at 9 a.m. followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. All Saturday evening services begin at 6:15 p.m. unless otherwise specified in the calendar.

Confessions are heard after the Saturday evening Vespers services or by special prior arrangement during the Hours on Sunday.

Parking is a problem at the church during the week. There are only three reserved parking places for us there. On Saturday evenings and on Sundays, however, only a few neighboring businesses are operating.

Note also that most of our evening services begin

after 6:15 p.m., and that metered stalls on Ward

Avenue and on Coral Street are free after 6 p.m.

Parish Dues:

$25/month for families; $15/month for single members; $10/month for students. In addition, members are encour-aged to pledge monthly contributions towards paying the church’s expenses. All donations are tax deductible.

Dues and pledges may be mailed to our treasurer: Dr Natalia Zagorski, 329 Ilimalia Loop, Kailua HI 96734.

Checks should be made out to: The Russian Orthodox

Community of Hawaii.

May / June 2017

Holy Theotokos of Iveron

Russian Orthodox Church

845 Queen Street #101

Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Priest Athanasius Kone, Rector

(808) 256-9482

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Dear Parish Ohana, Building the Church “Never less of God in man than today, never less of God on earth than today.” St. Justin Popovic

These words were spoken about 100 years ago by St. Justin. Imagine what he would say in view today’s world. The captivity of the flesh and the spiritual struggles of those living in his time would seem idealistic compared to our current struggles. However, every genera-tion must fight its own battles with the dominant thought and mind of the world. We all must live in this world but not be of this world. Most of the time the struggle against the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is a deeply personal struggle. Indeed, we are instructed in the Gospel’s to not love this world. However, this struggle for us is not only a personal struggle, as for us as Orthodox Christians, we understand our salvation is found in the Church. As St. Cyprian of Carthage wrote 1700 years ago, “A man cannot have God has his Father if he does not have the Church as his Mother.” This is realized for us in another way, outside the Church there is no salvation, because salvation is in the Church. It is in the Holy Universal and Orthodox Church where, we receive Christ, we receive the holy sacraments, we receive holy communion (the medicine of immortality), and we encounter the saving power of God to humanity through the body of Christ, which is the Church. It is the Church where we experience communion with Christ and receive the medicines which cure our souls. It is in the Church where we discover the truth about reality, not in our own individual isolated ways, but together as a community. The Orthodox Church is God’s great gift to us. Sobernost What is sobernost? It is the idea that here, together that we discover the truth about reality, as we undertake our task in building a permanent Church home. By God’s help we will be able to do this as a Church and as a community, where we all find salvation.

However, in receiving such a precious gift, we also have a responsibility to ensure our Church has a place to assemble. A permanent home to meet. A permanent home for our holy Icons. After existing for over 30 years, it is time for our parish to find a place to call home. In engaging in this project to find a permanent home and build a permanent Church for the Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Parish, we will experience both the grace of God and the provision of God. This will be a great blessing. However, we must also be aware that in undertaking this task, we will encounter opposition and temptations. When you build a holy Orthodox Church you do a great thing and it will mean a battle for us all, not just the Priest, or the parish council, but all of us Orthodox Christians.

Message from the Rector

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For the Salvation of the World However, our task to find a permanent home, also means that we must move from our cur-rent location. This means change for all of us. Change is always difficult and moving a Church is no exception. In doing this it is very likely everyone will have to make accommodations to difficulties ahead and the difficulties of change. It is very likely that we all will face a longer drive to go to Church and the that the Church is not as close to your homes as it once was. I find this reality weighs very heavy on my heart. I hate to think of those people who will struggle even more just to get to Church, then they used to. Faithful attendance to Church is already difficult for many, so I am hopeful that God will direct our steps and give us wisdom in finding a good location for a new church. Unfortunately, we also must be realistic about our budget make this all occur, as well. As you all must be aware of, the prices for land in Honolulu are astronomical. This makes finding land in the city center very unlikely, so there is no easy solution for us, other than to look at areas where land can be purchased that we can afford and that can be reached by the members of our parish. A sustainable future In looking at the future, we also are addressing what it would take to ensure a priest is able to serve in the parish long term. To, ensure the parish is sustainable, it would be wise when we are looking at a piece of property to address housing for a priest as well. Housing cost for a priest in Honolulu are very high and this means that any priest serving here needs to have another source of income outside of the Church. While this is not an impossibility for any priest and is common in many areas, it does not ensure stability for the parish long term. Having the ability to build a rectory or purchase a piece of land with a house will help ensure that this ongoing need is met as well. While it is not a priority in our purchasing of a site, it is being looked at as being a real need in looked at for property. It would be ideal to be able to build a rectory for a priest as housing cost are very high. If a suitable piece of land can be found for both a church and rectory. This will help ensure that the parish is sustainable in the future. What resources we have: We have over $400,000 in the bank and can borrow about $550,000 from the bank that will keep our payment essentially even with what we currently pay in rent. Thus we are looking at properties available for around one million dollars. So far there has not been much on the market that would be suitable for all our needs within our price range. All of this doesn’t even begin to touch that we then will need to build a Church and raise the money to do so. All of this, is a tall order. May God give us all wisdom.

With love in Christ, Father Athanasius

Friday, May 5, 2017 Feast of the Greatmartyr George

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Wisdom from Optina

St. Nikon of Optina

Self-sufficiency closes ones spiritual eyes, and a

person then sees something other than reality.

You should think humbly about yourself and

begin every action of yours with humility: but

you must drive far away false humility, dis-

played in excusing your unwillingness and lazi-

ness to struggle: "How can we sinners do that?

Those people were saints…" That is what you

hear from those people who do not want to la-

bor for their salvation. You can answer them: "Yes, that is true, but very often the

saints were previously great sinners, and by struggling they became saints.

Therefore, consider your self a sinner, but force yourself to do good. There will be

benefit from it. "Self-justification is the root of evil"

St. Barsanuphius of Optina

Let your first act, as soon as you wake up, be the sign of the Cross, and let your first

words be the words of the Jesus prayer.

St. Ambrose of Optina

If you do good, you must do it only for God. For this reason you must pay no

attention to the ingratitude of people. Expect a reward not here, but from the Lord in

heaven. If you expect it here — it will be in vain and you will endure deprivation.

St. Macarius of Optina

“Do not allow the spark of discord and enmity to smolder. The longer you wait, the

more the enemy tries to cause confusion among you. Be watchful, so that he does not

mock you. Humility destroys all of his schemes.”

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What Should I Read?What Should I Read?What Should I Read?What Should I Read?

“Reading assists the soul when she stands in prayer” “From reading the soul is enlight-ened in prayer”

A Sermon on Reading Spiritual Works by Archbishop Platon of Kostroma: “This is the commandment given by the holy Apostle Paul to his beloved disciple Timothy. The reading of holy writings is one of the main means of succeeding in the spiritual life. Following the Apostle, the Holy Fathers also command us to read con-tinually the holy writings, since this is an important means to spiritual perfection. Such reading is absolutely necessary, especially in the present age, when worldly education and worldly habits threaten to stifle a taste for everything spiritual, and false teachings and ideas are spreading rapidly.

“If we read the Sacred Scripture with faith,” says St. Basil the Great, ‘we will feel that we see and hear Christ Himself. What is it we need, an actual voice or the One Who speaks to us through the Scriptures? It is all the same. In Sacred Scripture, God speaks with us just as truly as when we speak with Him through prayer.’ For this reason, prayer and the reading of sacred books must be our continuous occupation. Pray or read continually if you want to be with God at all times.

“The Saints talk with us when we read their writings. Through their writings, they guide us and speak to us and we, so to speak, resurrect through them after their death in order to talk with them. Thus, we have no reason to envy the contemporar-ies of Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius the Great, Ambrose and others. From the holy ranks of the Fathers we may choose with whom

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it is best for us to converse. There is no better, more joyous, and more beneficial way to spend the time we have than in reading the writings of the Holy Fathers.

“By reading books, which are profitable for the soul, we enter into communion with all the dwellers of Paradise. ‘When I read books about God,’ says the hieromartyr Timothy, ‘then the angels of God surround me.’ What can give us more honor than conversing, through reading of spiritual books, with the holy Angels, with the souls of the blessed, and with God Himself.

“’When I read holy books,’ says St. Gregory the Theologian about the books of St. Basil the Great, ‘then the spirit and body are illumined and I become the temple of God and the harp of the Holy Spirit, played by divine powers. Through them I am corrected and through them I receive a kind of divine change and I am made into a different person.’

“Cleave to reading spiritual writings. It will lead you to that wonderful change which took place in so many saints. Through these works we receive great and holy enlightenment. Through them we learn of the path to salvation, we learn what kind of temptations await us on this path, and about the means by which we may be de-livered from them.”

Excerpts from The Arena on Reading Spiritual Books by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) Chapter 10: On Discretion in reading the Patristic books on the Monastic Life

“The books of the holy Fathers on the monastic life must be read with great caution. It has been noticed that novices can never adapt books to their condition, but are invariably drawn by the tendency of the book.

For example, “If a book gives counsels on silence and shows the abundance of spiritual fruits that are gathered in profound silence, the be-ginner invariably has the strongest desire to go off into solitude, to an uninhabited

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desert. Or, if a book speaks of unconditional obedience under the direction of a spirit-bearing father, the beginner will inevitably develop a desire for the strictest life in complete submission to an elder.

“God has not given to our time either of these two ways of life. But the books of the holy Fathers describing these states can influence a beginner so strongly that out of inexperience and ignorance he can easily decide to leave the place where he is living and where he has every convenience to work out his salvation and make spiritual progress by putting into practice the evangelical commandments, for an impossible dream of a perfect life pictured vividly and alluringly in his imagination.”

On Spiritual Study

An Excerpt from Spiritual Awakening

by Elder Paisios the Athonite (+1994)

“Geronda, which spiritual books are the most helpful?

“The various patristic texts, which thank God are available by the thousands today, are very helpful. One can find whatever one needs and desires in these books. They are authentic spiri-tual nourishment and a sure guide on the spiri-tual path. However, in order to be of benefit to us, they have to be read with humility and prayer.

“We do not need great knowledge to be devout. If we concentrate and ponder on the

few things we know, our heart will be spiritually embroidered. One may be pro-

foundly affected by a single hymn, while another may feel nothing, even though he

may know all the hymns by heart, as he has not entered into the spiritual reality. So,

read the Fathers, even one or two lines a day. They are very strengthening vitamins

for the soul.”

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В ДЕНЬ СВЯТОЙ ТРОИЦЫ ПАТРИАРХ СОВЕРШИЛ ЛИТУРГИЮ В Т РОИЦЕ -СЕРГИЕВОЙ ЛАВРЕ

31 мая 2015 года, в праздник Святой Троицы (Пятидесятницы), Святейший Патриарх Московский и всея Руси Кирилл посетил Свято-Троицкую Сергиеву лавру, сообщает Пресс-служба Патриарха Московского и всея Руси.

У Святых врат обители Предстоятеля Русской Православной Церкви встречали наместник Лавры архиепископ Сергиево-Посадский Феогност и братия обители. По прибытии в Лавру Святейший Владыка проследовал в Троицкий собор, где

поклонился честным мощам преподобного Сергия Радонежского, а также святыням, находящимся в Серапионовой палате.

Затем Святейший Патриарх Кирилл направился в Успенский собор, где возглавил служение Божественной литургии.

Его Святейшеству сослужили : архиепископ Верейский Евгений, ректор М о с к о в с к и х д у х о вн ы х ш к о л , председатель Учебного комитета Русской Православной Церкви; архиепископ

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РУССКИЙ УГОЛОК

Сергиево-Посадский Феогност, председатель Синодального отдела по монастырям и монашеству, наместник Лавры; епископ Ново-Грачаницкий и Среднезападноамериканский Л о н г и н ( С е р б с к и й Патриархат); архимандрит П а в е л ( К р и в о н о г о в ) , б л а г о ч и н н ы й Т р о и ц е -С е р г и е в о й л а в р ы ; архимандрит Савва (Фатеев), н а м е с т н и к С а в в и н о -

Сторожевского ставропигиального мужского монастыря; архимандрит Феоктист (Димитров), представитель Патриарха Болгарского при Патриархе Московском и всея Руси; игумен Петр (Еремеев), наместник Высоко-Петровского ставропигиального монастыря, ректор Российского православного университета; протоиерей Дарко Спасойевич, настоятель Воскресенского собора в Чикаго, США (Сербский Патриархат); иеромонах Мисаил (Сарафанов), помощник управляющего делами Московской Патриархии; насельники обители в священном сане.

На богослужении присутствовали помощник Президента РФ А.Р. Белоусов, помощник Президента РФ И.С . Левитин, полномочный представитель Президента РФ в Центральном федеральном округе А.Д. Беглов, председатель Комитета Государственной Думы ФС РФ по делам СНГ, Евразийской интеграции и связям с соотечественниками Л.Э. Слуцкий, заместитель председателя Московской областной Думы Н.Ю. Чаплин, глава Сергиево-Посадского района Московской области С.А. Пахомов, председатель Совета

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депутатов Сергиево-Посадского района В.Н. Коротков, глава города Сергиев Посад В.В. Букин.

Богослужебные песнопения исполнили хор Троице-Сергиевой лавры под управлением архимандрита Глеба (Кожевникова) и хор Московский духовной академии под управлением иеромонаха Нестора (Волкова).

После сугубой ектении Предстоятель Русской Церкви совершил молитву о мире на Украине.

За Литургией Святейший Патриарх Кирилл рукоположил в сан иеромонаха иеродиакона Афанасия (Иванова), насельника Саввино-Сторожевского ставропигиального монастыря.

Проповедь перед причастием произнес архимандрит Захария (Шкурихин), и.о. духовника Троице-Сергиевой лавры.

По окончании Литургии Святейший Владыка совершил великую вечерню праздника Пятидесятницы с чтением коленопреклонных молитв.

Праздничные богослужения совершались во всех храмах Свято-Троицкой Сергиевой лавры.

По завершении богослужений духовен ство , прихожане и многочисленные паломники собрались на соборной площади Лавры. С балкона Патриарших покоев Святейший Патриарх Московский и всея Руси Кирилл о б р а т и л с я к в е р у ю щ и м с Первосвятительским словом.

Затем Предстоятель Русской Церкви посетил здание бывшей

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городской типографии Сергиева Посада, переданное Троице-Сергиевой лавре. В новых помещениях планируется разместить современный полиграфический комплекс Лавры.

В ходе осмотра Святейший Патриарх отметил, что использование недавно переданного здания открывает новые возможности для развития монастырского издательского дела, и подчеркнул важность системного подхода в развитии полиграфического комплекса.

Пояснения о перспективном проекте устройства полиграфического комплекса давал директор типографии Лавры иеродиакон Никон (Котов).

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**ANNOUNCEMENTS**

•On Saturday, May 6th, 2017, we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy in honor of

the Feast of the Great-martyr and Trophy-bearer George, starting at 8:30AM. The evening preceding, we will serve the Great Vespers at 6:15PM.

•On Monday, May 15th, 2017, we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy in honor of the Feast day of St. Athanasius the Great, starting at 6:00AM. The evening preceding, we will serve the Vespers at 5:00PM.

•Classes on Orthodoxy will begin on May 23rd, 2017 at 6:30PM.

•On Thursday, May 25th, 2017, the Great Feast of the Ascension of the

Lord will be celebrated at 8:30AM. The evening preceding, we will serve the All-Night Vigil at 6:15PM.

•On Sunday, June 3rd, 2017, the Great Feast of Pentecost will be celebrated at 9:30AM. The evening preceding, we will serve the All-Night Vigil at 6:15PM.

•On Saturday, July 1st, 2017, the Feast day of St. John Maximovitch

will be celebrated at 8:30AM. The evening preceding, we will serve the All-Night Vigil at 6:15PM.

***Please see included calendar for additional service schedule***

Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Church

845 Queen Street #101

Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

http://www.orthodoxhawaii.org

email: contact@orthodoxhawaii.org

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