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Matushka Olga |
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An Icon Depicting Matushka Olga |
HOLY MATUSHKA* OLGA, AMONG THE SAINTS
The departed handmaiden of God, Matushka Olga Nicholai, a Yup'ik Eskimo from the village of Kwethluk on the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska, will be numbered among the Orthodox saints at a future Rite of Glorification at a yet to be determined date, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America announced November 9. Her humility, her generosity, her piety, her patience and her selfless love for God and neighbor were well-known in the Kuskokwim villages during her earthly life. Her care for comforting the suffering, the grieving as well as victims of sexual abuse has also been revealed after her life by grace-filled manifestations in which she has appeared to the faithful throughout not only Alaska, but all of North America. The first peoples of Alaska are convinced of her sainthood and the great efficacy of her prayers. The announcement from the Holy Synod of Bishops of The Orthodox Church in America went on to state that we "do hereby decide and decree that the ever-memorable Servant of God Matushka Olga be numbered among the saints. With one mind and one heart, we also resolve that her honorable remains be considered as holy relics; that a special service be composed in her honor; that her feast be celebrated on November 10 and the Feast of All Saints of North America, the Second Sunday after Pentecost; that holy icons be prepared to honor the newly-glorified saint; that her life be published for the edification of the Faithful; and that the date and location of the Rite of Glorification be communicated to the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of our Church in due time."
Glory to God, who is wondrous in His saints.
(Adapted from the Orthodox Church in America)
*Matushka is a title of honor accorded to the wife of a priest, and comes from Russian, literally meaning "mama." It is said that this term, Matushka, is used more often in the diaspora than in the homeland. The Orthodox Faith entered North America in Alaska through the work of dedicated Russian monks, and the Orthodox Church in America, to which Saint Brendan the Navigator Church pertains, is the direct descendant and beneficiary of those Russian missionary efforts. The corresponding title for Matushka in jurisdictions with a Greek origin is Presvitera, and in Arabic ones, such as the Antiochian Orthodox Church, it is Khouria. Despite the different cultural expressions, the Orthodox Church is the same in every country. It is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
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Icon of the Entrance into the Temple |
According to Holy Tradition, the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos* into the Temple took place in the following manner. The parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anna, praying for an end to their childlessness, vowed that if they were given a child, they would dedicate it to the service of God. When the Most Holy Virgin reached the age of three, the holy parents decided to fulfill their vow. They gathered together their relatives and acquaintances, and dressed the All-Pure Virgin in Her finest clothes. Singing sacred songs and with lighted candles in their hands, virgins escorted Her to the Temple (Ps. 44/45:14-15). There the High Priest and several priests met the handmaiden of God. In the Temple, fifteen high steps led to the sanctuary, which only the priests and High Priest could enter. (Because they recited a Psalm on each step, Psalms 120-134 are called “Psalms of Ascent.”) The child Mary, so it seemed, could not make it up this stairway. But just as they placed Her on the first step, strengthened by the power of God, She quickly went up the remaining steps and ascended to the highest one. Then the High Priest, through inspiration from above, led the Most Holy Virgin into the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest entered once a year to offer a purifying sacrifice of blood. Therefore, all those present were astonished at this most unusual occurrence.
After entrusting their child to the Heavenly Father, Joachim and Anna returned home. The All-Holy Virgin remained in the quarters for virgins near the Temple.
(Adapted from the Orthodox Church in America)
Hymns of the Feast
Troparion — Tone 4
Today is the prelude of the good will of God, / of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. / The Virgin appears in the temple of God, / in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. / Let us rejoice / and sing to her: / "Rejoice, O Fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation."
Kontakion — Tone 4
The most pure Temple of the Savior; / the precious Chamber and Virgin; / the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, / is presented today to the house of the Lord. / She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, / therefore, the angels of God praise her: / “Truly this woman is the abode of heaven.”
*Theotokos. Theotokos is a Greek word that means "Mother of God" and is used by all Orthodox jurisdictions, which slightly resemble denominations. It is the most commonly used term for the Holy Virgin Mary at St Brendan's. However, Theotokos is completely interchangeable with the terms Mother of God and with Holy Virgin Mary.
Come Worship with Us*
Sun Dec 3, Prophet Zephaniah
- 8:30am Festal Matins
- 10:00am Divine Liturgy
Tue Dec 5
- 10:00am Men's Breakfast
Wed Dec 6, Feast of St Nicholas the Wonderworker
- 8:30am Festal Matins
- 7:00pm Catechism
Fri Dec 8
- 8:30am Daily Matins
Sat Dec 9
- 4:00pm Choir Rehearsal
- 5:00pm Great Vespers
Sun Dec 10, Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes and Eugraphus of Alexandria
- 8:30am Festal Matins
- 10:00am Divine Liturgy
Wed Dec 13, Repose of St Herman of Alaska
- 8:30am Festal Matins
- 7:00pm Catechism
Fri Dec 15
- 8:30am Daily Matins
- 10:30am Women's Gathering
Sat Dec 16
- 4:00pm Choir Rehearsal
- 5:00pm Great Vespers
Sun Dec 17, Sunday of the Forefathers
- 8:30am Festal Matins
- 10:00am Divine Liturgy
*All services in English.
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St Nicholas the Wonderworker, December 6 |
Festal Matins Sunday 8:30am—10am
Divine Liturgy Sunday 10am—11:30am
Men's Breakfast First Tuesday (monthly) 10am—11am
Daily Matins Wednesday & Friday 8:30am—10am
Catechism Wednesday 7pm—8pm
Women's Gathering First & Third Fridays (monthly) 10:30am—12pm
Parish Council First Saturday (monthly) 3pm—5pm
Choir Practice Saturday 4pm—5pm
Great Vespers Saturday 5pm—6pm
At 9:00am Friday November 24, Fr Kevin Lien will celebrate the much loved Akathist of Thanksgiving, Glory to God for All Things (download text)". The title is taken from the last words uttered by St John Chrysostom, "glory to God for all things," as his life ebbed away in the presence of the Lord at the end of his forced journey of cruel exile in 407 AD. The akathist was written in Russian by Metropolitan Tryphon (Prince Boris Petrovich Turkestanov) shortly before his death in 1934 at the height of the Soviet persecution. Its radiant spirit of transcendent gratefulness quietly sustained Orthodox Christians suffering under that violent persecution of the Church.
The manuscript of the akathist comes to us from Archpriest Grigoriy Petrov, imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp. It was found among his personal effects after his death in the gulag in 1940, or perhaps 1942, by which some assumed at first that he was the author. Nevertheless, even if he didn't compose it, Fr Grigoriy's transcendent joy in the midst of suffering is being transmitted to us through this akathist that he not only certainly covertly celebrated for the persecuted faithful, but also preserved for us who follow.
This hymn asserts again and again an Orthodox view of man and the world, an optimistic anthropology and cosmology that contrasts starkly with the pessimism of the West. This theme of thankful praise, born in the midst of terrible sufferings, fills the akathist with the beauty and the joy found in everyday blessings by hearts attuned to gratefulness in God.
The power of the akathist lies in ascribing gratefulness to Christ for every event in every facet of life, in joy, in pain, in family, in friends, in work, in livestock and pets, in sufferings, in death. The format of the akathist, beginning with Ode 1 and Ikos 1, and then reversing that to end with Ikos 1 and Ode 1, collects our tears of joy and sorrow, and presents them again to God, offering them as in an inclusio between the bookends, between the parentheses, between the arms of our Everlasting King.
—St Brendan the Navigator Orthodox Church, Astoria, Oregon
(Adapted from St Basil Greek Orthodox Church, San Jose; Akathist of Thanksgiving adapted from St John the Baptist Cathedral (ROCOR) in Washington DC)
*An akathist is an Orthodox hymn composed in a particular style of alternating parts that are sung and chanted. An akathist can be to God like this akathist, to a saint, to a holy event or to a Person of the Holy Trinity.
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A young buck peers into the fellowship hall in the basement of our historic church in the Alameda neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon. |
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