Thursday, September 29, 2016

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOLY CROSS PARISH

Some of our readers have never visited Holy Cross parish while others haven’t worshipped with us for some time, so I would like to tell you a little about us. 

Holy Cross is a Western Rite parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). What does that mean? It means that we are a fully canonical parish of the Moscow Patriarchate, in full sacramental communion and visible unity with the 300 million member Orthodox Church, while preserving our English and Celtic cultural, liturgical and spiritual heritage and patrimony.

The Gospel was brought to the British Isles in AD 37, by St. Joseph of Arimathea, the man who buried Christ in his own tomb after the crucifixion. At the time of the Great Schism in 1054, the Church in the British Isles remained Orthodox, leading to the Norman Invasion and Conquest in 1066. 

The Norman Invasion was promoted as a crusade to bring an "erring" (i.e. Orthodox) English Church under the authority of Rome. The Normans conquered England, killed the English King in battle, and imprisoned and replaced all but one of the English bishops with Normans. Members of the English Royal Family fled to Russia where they married into the Russian Royal Family.

The English Reformation which began in 1534, was very different from the Protestant Reformation on the Continent that began in 1517. The English Reformation was conducted by the English bishops themselves. No new Church was created, but the old one was reformed with the goal of restoring the Faith of what is commonly called the undivided Church. That goal was advanced by the Caroline Divines of the 17th century, the Oxford Movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the great St. Louis Church Congress and the Continuing Anglican Movement of the latter 20th and early 21st centuries, bringing many Anglicans to the very door of the Orthodox Church where they have received a warm welcome. Today Anglicans make up the largest single group of converts to the Orthodox Church, and hundreds of former Anglicans are now serving as Orthodox priests in America alone.

OUR WORSHIP

In the Orthodox Church the Roman Rite, commonly called the Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great has been restored; as has the English Usage of the Roman Rite, commonly called the Liturgy of St. Tikhon, named in honour of the Russian bishop who made its restoration possible. At Holy Cross parish we use the English Use, or Liturgy of St. Tikhon, which has long been described by English and Celtic Christians as “our incomparable liturgy.”

On Sunday morning we have sung Matins (Morning Prayer) at 9:15 AM, with the Psalms and Canticles sung according to the ancient Gregorian and Sarum chant tones, along with the ancient Office Hymn. The Divine Office is sung by the congregation, led by our Cantor and Schola Cantorum (Vested Choir), and it is a very beautiful and prayerful Service.

The Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist, also known as Holy Mass or the Divine Liturgy follows at 10:00 AM. At the Eucharistic Liturgy the great hymns of the Church are sung, the Propers (Introit, Gradual and Alleluia, Offertory Verse and Communion Verse) are chanted according to the ancient Gregorian chant tones, with Merbecke used for the Ordinary (Kyries, Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus and Benedictus, etc.). Real sermons are preached, exegeting the Holy Scriptures and applying them to everyday life. The Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist is celebrated ad orientem (with the priest facing the altar) and wearing the ancient Western vestments. It is a very beautiful and uplifting Liturgy that carries us to the very Throne of Grace.

PARISH LIFE

Fellowship and refreshments in our parish hall follows the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist, with a potluck luncheon on the last Sunday of the month. Community life is very important at Holy Cross parish and parishioners love being together. Holy Cross is a faithful and friendly parish and everyone is wanted and welcomed. Like the old hit television series Cheers, it is a place where everyone knows your name and everyone is glad that you came. After a few weeks new people feel like they have known everyone for years.

At Holy Cross we are a parish of converts and we are committed to reaching out to everyone with the treasures that we have found in the ancient Orthodox Church. Our Mission is  to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him, and the fullness of the Apostolic Faith to those who do. 

We want everyone to come to Christ, embrace the fullness of the Apostolic Faith, be united in the One Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself, and to have life now and that more abundantly, with eternal life with our Lord in his Kingdom. In 2015, we received four new communicant members into our parish: three from Anglicanism and one from Lutheranism. So far in 2016, we have received six new communicant members into our parish: one from Anglicanism, one from Evangelicalism, and four from Traditional Roman Catholicism. In addition, we currently have seven Catechumens who are preparing to be received as communicants: three adults who had been unchurched and are preparing for baptism, and four former Traditional Roman Catholics. We also have a steady stream of visitors and inquirers.

At Holy Cross parish we have a family that makes a six hour round trip to church twice a month. We also have one that makes nearly a four our round trip to church every week. We have two families who make a three hour round trip, and two who drive a ninety minute round trip to church. Why do they drive so far? Because they have found a church worth the drive! We also have members who live close enough to walk or who are only minutes from church by car. We have members in both Nebraska and Iowa, and who live in Omaha, the surrounding communities, and in rural areas. Our oldest member is in his 70s and our youngest is four months old. We are white and black, blue collar, white collar, elementary, high school and college students, self employed and retired. On Sunday you will find the congregation about half male and half female.

We actively support four area homeless shelters in Omaha, and have done so for years. Every year we provide large amounts of food to the Open Door Mission and Lydia House Shelters, with every ounce donated from within our parish. In addition, we make deliveries of donated gourmet bread to the Francis and Sina House Shelters every Friday and one Saturday of the month. In the last year alone we have delivered more than 15,000 packages of donated gourmet bread. We have also raised money to dig clean water wells in Africa and to support the work of Voice of the Martyrs. 

At Holy Cross parish we also enjoy special activities together. Every year we have a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, occasional Dinner and a Movie Nights in our parish hall, an annual outing to Werner Park on Faith and Family Night to see our local Triple A baseball club the Omaha, Storm Chasers play, an annual Summer Church Picnic and a Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck at Santa’s Woods. 

Our annual Summer Church Picnic was held at the Pavilion at Halleck Park in Papillion last Sunday after the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, which everyone enjoyed, along with other main dishes and a wide variety of delicious side dishes and deserts. Everyone had a wonderful time. 

This year our annual Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck at Santa’s Woods will be held on Saturday evening, October 29th. The Hayrack Ride begins promptly at 6:00 PM, so please arrive early.

Santa’s Woods is located between Omaha and Blair on Blair High Road. There is a large sign that you cannot miss. Santa’s Woods is a working farm and a popular place to buy a Christmas trees. The hayrack ride will take us through newly harvested fields and then take us to a private setting where we will be welcomed by a roaring bonfire. There will be picnic tables with electrical outlets for coffee and crock pots; and hotdogs, marshmallows, and smores can be roasted in the fire.

This is not a parish fundraiser and the church will only be charging what Santa’s Woods charges the church. Ages thirteen and up are $9.00, five through twelve are $6.00, with children under five free. Our annual Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck is always a highlight of our parish life and everyone always has a wonderful time, so mark your calendar and begin telling your family and friends about it. Everyone is invited!

AN INVITATION

The Orthodox Church is not a denomination. The Orthodox Church has an unbroken history dating back to Jesus Christ Himself. The Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity and it is still the heartland of Orthodox Christianity. The Church in Jerusalem where it all began has always been and remains an Orthodox Church, as is the Church of Antioch, Syria where the disciples were first called Christians. The Orthodox Church is also known as the Eastern Orthodox Church because Christianity originated in the East, not in Rome, Augsburg, Geneva or Canterbury, much less in America; but the Orthodox Church is both Eastern and Western in culture and worship, and is made up of people from every race, ethnicity, nation and language on earth. The Orthodox Church is Catholic, Universal, and everyone is always welcome. We have never had a Reformation or a Counter Reformation, but have preserved in its fullness "the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The Orthodox Church does not change in Faith and Morals. She is an unchanging Church with an unchanging Message to an ever changing world. 

Now that I have told you a little about Holy Cross parish I hope that you will “Come and See.” Everyone is always welcome at Holy Cross parish. Sunday Matins is at 9:15 AM, followed by the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist at 10:00 AM, with fellowship and refreshments after the Liturgy. For more information you can call the church office at (402) 573-6558 or email me at venovak@hughes.net. We are a faithful, friendly and vibrant parish, and we have a place for you. I hope to see you on Sunday!

Friday, September 23, 2016

HOLY CROSS UPDATE

Dear friends in Christ,

This Update is going out to the members and friends of Holy Cross parish. Please pass it on to anyone who may be interested in it. It is a bit of a long one, but it is filled with important in formation so please read it carefully.

SUMMER CHURCH PICNIC - Sunday, September 25

This coming Sunday is our annual Summer Church Picnic which will immediately follow the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. Once again we have reserved a covered pavilion at Halleck Park, 816 E. Halleck Street in Papillion. Halleck Park is a beautiful setting for our Summer Church Picnic and is only minutes from the church.

This Sunday only, Matins will be at 9:00 AM, followed by he Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist at 9:30 AM. These Services have been moved up to give us more time at Halleck Park as we could only reserve the pavilion until 2:00 PM. There will be no Christian Education this Sunday. Classes will resume next week.

The picnic is absolutely free, so be sure to invite family and friends. Our parish Women’s Group, the Sisters of Holy Cross, will be providing hamburgers and hotdogs that will be grilled at the picnic. 

Members of our church family are asked to bring a main dish, OR a side dish and a desert or drink. Visitors are our guests and do not have to bring a thing. 

FALL HAYRACK RIDE, BONFIRE AND POTLUCK - Saturday evening, October 29

Our annual Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck at Santa’s Woods will be held on Saturday evening, October 29th. The Hayrack Ride begins promptly at 6:00 PM, so please arrive early.

Santa’s Woods is located between Omaha and Blair on Blair High Road. There is a large sign that you cannot miss. Santa’s Woods is a working farm and a popular place to buy a Christmas trees. The hayrack ride will take us through newly harvested fields and then take us to a private setting where we will be welcomed by a roaring bonfire. There will be picnic tables with electrical outlets for coffee and crock pots; and hotdogs, marshmallows, and smores can be roasted in the fire.

This is not a parish fundraiser and the church will only be charging what Santa’s Woods charges the church. I will get the the cost (which is nominal) out to you as soon as I have it. Our annual Fall Hayrack Ride, Bonfire and Potluck is always a highlight of our parish life and everyone always has a wonderful time, so begin telling your family and friends about it. Everyone is invited!

A NEW SPRINGTIME

The 21st century is proving to be a New Springtime for the Orthodox Church, with rapid growth being experienced everywhere. The revival and resurgence in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is unprecedented in Church history, and growth around the world is nothing short of amazing. In America alone, 23% (nearly one in four) of Orthodox Christians are converts, as are 30% of clergy and 43% of seminarians. At Holy Cross Orthodox Church we are a parish of converts, and we received five more into the Orthodox Church and into our parish on the Feast of Dormition (Assumption), and five into the Catechumenate last Sunday.

Converts to Orthodox Christianity come from every Christian tradition and from none; and from Christian backgrounds as diverse as Evangelical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, with the largest single group of converts coming from Anglicanism. They come from everywhere and find their spiritual home in the Orthodox Church.

I am attaching for you a link to the testimony of Hal Freeman, another Southern Baptist who, with his family, has found his way home to the Orthodox Church. Hal and I are Facebook friends and I enjoy reading his blog. He is the son of a Southern Baptist minister who grew up in a devout Southern Baptist home, went to a Southern Baptist seminary and became a teacher in a Southern Baptist University. I think you will find his testimony a blessing. Here is the link:


PARISH FACEBOOK PAGE

Have you visited our parish Facebook page lately? This week I posted a video of Assyrian Orthodox Christians chanting the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Aramaic is the language that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Family, the twelve Apostles and the earliest Christians spoke. These Assyrian Orthodox Christians did not take a class to learn this ancient language. It is their native language, an ancient language still spoken by them!

The Orthodox Church is the oldest Church in the world. It is the original Church. Aramaic and Greek are still the living languages of Orthodox Christians. You can go to the Holy Land and experience the Eucharistic Liturgy in Hebrew. The Middle East is still the heartland of Orthodox Christianity. The Orthodox Church is Catholic, universal, for all peoples of all races and nations, for all time. It is Eastern and Western in rites, it is Aramaic, Greek, Arabic, African, Slavonic, Latin, Celtic, and English (and more) in traditions, and it speaks every language known to man. An ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse Church with Christ alone as head, and united in an unchangeable Deposit of Faith.

The Orthodox Church is for everyone. The door is open and everyone is welcome. Don’t settle for anything less. Insist on the original. I hope that you will visit our parish Facebook page and hear the Lord’s Prayer sung in our Lord’s own language. If you haven’t yet “Liked” our Facebook page, please do so today. It will help us to spread our message. Check back often as the Facebook page is regularly updated. Here is the link:


IMPORTANT REMINDER

Remember, this week only, Sunday Matins will be at 9:00 AM, followed by the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist at 9:30 AM, with our annual Summer Church Picnic at Halleck Park in Papillion immediately after the Liturgy. Next week we will return to our normal schedule.

Holy Cross is a faithful, friendly and vibrant parish, and we have a place for you. Do be sure to invite your family and friends to church and to the Summer Church Picnic this Sunday. I hope to see you Sunday morning at 9:00 AM.

Wishing you every grace and blessing,

Father+

Fr. Victor Novak
Rector
HOLY CROSS ORTHODOX CHURCH
7545 Main Street
Ralston, Nebraska 68127
(402) 573-6558

Thursday, September 8, 2016

HOLY CROSS UPDATE


Dear friends in Christ,

I am attaching for you a link to an article that I encourage you to read. It is titled, New Converts Flocking to Ancient Christian Church. It is about Fr. Richard Petranek who came to the Orthodox Church after 30 years as an Episcopal priest and his growing parish in west Houston, filled almost entirely with converts to the ancient faith. It is a wonderful story, very much like ours at Holy Cross parish, and is being repeated all across the country and around the world as Christians from traditions as different as the Amish to traditional Roman Catholicism, and everything in between, find their way home to the ancient and original Christian Church.

Today, 23% of all Orthodox Christians in America are converts, as are about a third of the clergy and 43% of the seminarians. They come from every Christian tradition, and from none. In our own Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) we have three bishops who are converts: one from Roman Catholicism and two from Anglicanism. Anglicans make up the single largest group of converts to the Orthodox Church, and there are hundreds of Orthodox priests are who are former Anglicans. This tremendous growth is being seen all around the world. 

In the Western Rite we have the fullness of the Apostolic Faith, while preserving our English and Celtic cultural, liturgical and spiritual patrimony in full sacramental communion and visible unity with the 300 million-member Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church is Catholic, meaning that she is both Eastern and Western, and is the Church for all peoples of all races, nations and ethnic groups on earth. If you want to be where the Holy Spirit is at work and the Church is on the move, you need to be a part of the 2,000 year-old Orthodox Catholic Church. Everyone is always welcome, and we have a place for you. Come and see! 

Here is a link to the article:


SUMMER CHURCH PICNIC

Please mark your calendar for Sunday, September 25th, for our annual Summer Church Picnic at Halleck Park in Papillion. As in previous years we have reserved a covered pavilion and the picnic will begin immediately after the Sunday Liturgy. This is a free event so invite your family and friends. Everyone always has a wonderful time and there is always plenty of good food.  

CHRISTIAN ED RESUMES THIS SUNDAY

Christian Education classes for all ages will resume this coming Sunday morning at 8:45 AM. The adult class will be taught by Michael D. Michael is an excellent and very popular teacher at Holy Cross. He will be  teaching from the book, Welcome to the Orthodox Church - An Introduction to Eastern Christianity, by Frederica Mathewes-Green.

Welcome to the Orthodox Church - An Introduction to Eastern Christianity contains 24 chapters. Michael’s class will last for 24 weeks and he will be covering a chapter per week. No one is required to purchase the book, but I recommend that you do so if you can. If you own the book and read each chapter in the week leading up to the class you will get even more from the class, but whether or not you obtain a copy of the text book, please come to the class. You will learn a lot from it.

This is the class to bring your inquiring or questioning family members and friends to. I am really looking forward to it. I have read the book, so I know that you will enjoy reading it and will learn a lot from it, and Michael is an excellent teacher who always comes to class well prepared.

Philip Jenkins of Baylor University writes, “Plenty of books deal with Christian theology in weighty and abstruse ways, but few apply the theology so wholly to the everyday lived realities of life, and in such easily accessible prose, as does Welcome to the Orthodox Church. Take warning, though: if you do read this thoughtful, passionate book, you run the risk of having to take the claims of Orthodox Christianity very seriously indeed."

Patty Joanna Rebne writes, “In the beginning of the book, Frederica tells us what her husband, an Orthodox priest, writes on the whiteboard when he starts a catechism class:

‘What you will not learn in this class: Orthodoxy.
What you will learn in this class: About Orthodoxy.’
Frederica holds to this truth in her book. You will learn a lot about Orthodoxy in this book. But becoming Orthodox is experiential. Knowing Christ is experiential, relational. It’s not a head-game; it’s not about what you know. Without denigrating dogma, Frederica does the most important thing: she uses the words of Christ to call us to Christ – ‘Come and See.’
Come and read…you will be glad you did. But don’t stop there. Come and see.”

You can purchase Welcome to the Orthodox Church - An Introduction to Eastern Christianity, by Frederica Mathewes-Green, from Ancient Faith for $19.99. Here is the link:


Or you can purchase it from Amazon for $16.99. Here is the link:


Mark your calendar for Sunday, September 11th, and plan to attend. Believe me, you will be glad that you took this class!

REMEMBER THOSE MOST IN NEED

As always, please be sure to remember those most in need and bring a donation of food with you on Sunday for our parish food bins. The needs are great and the Open Door Mission and Lydia House need our help. Thank you!

SUNDAY SERVICES

Sunday Christian Education for all ages is at 8:45 AM, followed by Matins at 9:15 AM, with the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist at 10:00 AM. Fellowship and refreshments in our parish hall follow the Liturgy.

Holy Cross Orthodox Church is a faithful, friendly and vibrant parish and we have a place for you. Everyone is always welcome so invite your family and friends. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!

blessings,

Father+

Fr. Victor Novak
Rector
HOLY CROSS ORTHODOX CHURCH
7545 Main Street
Ralston, Nebraska 68127
(402) 573-6558

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

950th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS AND THE DEATH OF THE ROYAL PASSION-BEARER KING HAROLD GODWINESSON AND THOSE WITH HIM


In a time when most Western Christians, including Anglicans and Roman Catholics, have forgotten their heritage, the Orthodox Church still remembers and venerates its ancient Western patrimony. 

On October 27th, a Pilgrimage to the village of Whatlington, near the town of Battle in East Sussex, England, will be held by the Russian Orthodox Church in honor of the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, in which the English King and thousands of soldiers perished defending Orthodox England from the Norman invaders. The Pilgrimage will take place at 11:00 AM at the church of the St. Mary Magdalene, about three miles north of the battlefield. Whatlington was a royal manor in which King Harold stopped to pray on his way to the battle. The Pilgrimage includes a memorial prayer service, a luncheon, and a short talk on the battle and its aftermath, with a meeting of the Guild of St. Eadmund to follow.

Here is a link to an article about the Pilgrimage from the Russian Orthodox News Site Pravoslavie:


In 1054, when the Roman Patriarchate fell away from the Orthodox Church the English Church remained Orthodox. The Norman Invasion was proclaimed as a crusade to bring an erring English Church back under Rome. Thousands died in the conquest, including the Royal Passion-bearer King Harold Godwinesson. William, the Duke of Normandy, usurped the English throne, and all but one of the English bishops were imprisoned by the Normans and replaced with Norman usurpers. The Church was forced into submission to Rome. Members of the English royal family actually fled to Russia and married into the Russian royal family.

The goal of the English Reformation which began in 1534, was to restore the Faith and Order of the “undivided” Church. That goal was advanced by the Caroline Divines of the 17th century, the Oxford Movement of the 19th century, and the St. Louis Church Congress and the continuing Anglican Movement of the 20th century, and has taken traditional Anglicans to the very door of the Orthodox Church.

When traditional Anglicans and other Western Christians step through that door and become Orthodox Christians they are not “joining a new Church” but instead are returning home to the Church from which their forbearers were torn away by the Roman Schism of 1054, and the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Today, Anglicans make up the largest single group of converts to the Orthodox Church. In America alone there are hundreds of Orthodox priests who are former Anglicans. In our own Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia two of our bishops are former Anglicans. When I am asked, “Where have all of the traditional Anglicans gone?” My answer is always the same: To the Orthodox Church!

There are now Western Rite Orthodox congregations and monastic communities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and on the continent of Europe, and our numbers are growing. Our Dean, Fr. Mark Rowe, is a former Anglican priest and Archdeacon. 

As a Western Rite parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia we have preserved our English and Celtic cultural, liturgical and spiritual patrimony in full sacramental communion and visible unity with the 300 million-member Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church firmly holds to the Faith and Order of the “undivided” Church because the Orthodox Catholic Church is the undivided Church. We love being Orthodox. Everyone is welcome. We have a place for you. Come and join us!

SUNDAY SCHEDULE

Christian Education 8:45 AM
Matins 9:15 AM
Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist 10:00 AM
Fellowship and Refreshments after the Liturgy

HOLY CROSS ORTHODOX CHURCH
7545 Main Street
Ralston, Nebraska 68127
(402) 573-6558