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GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITY & PARISH

OF PROPHET ELIAS NORWOOD & EASTERN

SUBURBS INC.

87 BEULAH RD. NORWOO

NORWOOD SA 5067 P.O. BOX 277, KENT TOWN SA 5071
71
ALL CORRESPONDENCE T
TO THE HON. SECRETARY

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: 8362
62 4139 . 8431 7789 . 0412 710 037

22-05-16
32 . 1609

WEEKLY MAGAZINE

THE WORD OF GOD

PHONES: 8362 4139 H
H. 8431 7789 M. 0412 710 037

DATE 22-05-16
YEAR 32ND NUMBER 1609

WEB PAGE: WWW.PROPHETELIAS.ORG.AU

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EMAIL: PROPHETELIAS@ESC.NET.AU

(.9, 32-42) 22 2016

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SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC (Acts.9, 32-42) 22nd May 2016

If we take a glance at the things that are reported daily through the various media, we are
bombarded with pain, injustice, wickedness, tension, violence, insecurity, fear, war, misery
and every kind of sin.

And so we ask ourselves:

Why?

Why is it in this age of

technology, education, and knowledge that we allow these unacceptable conditions and
behaviours to proliferate?

And furthermore we wonder: how is it possible that these

coexist with natural beauty that surrounds us, and the unparalleled kindness and human
compassion that is within us. How is it that man, in this otherwise knowledge rich era,
cannot distinguish between that which is good and healthy and that which is evil and
destructive? Why is evil interchanged for good? Why is misery being interwoven with
happiness? And finally, why is it that civilised, modern man cannot see the blessed world
of God, even though he can see that life without God is unbearable? Just the thought of
the absence of God from mans life brings anguish. Whereas the presence of God brings
us hope, light, direction and purpose.

Through the Holy Scripture we see the living

presence of God acting and intervening in human history. It is true that when we read this
we feel, intensely an inner light and a sense of consolation and safety. This history begins
with the creation of the angelic orders and ends with the final paragraphs of the book of
Revelation, revealing the glorious second coming of the All-powerful Triune God. The
miracles, the resurrections of the dead, and all kinds of events that transcend the
limitations of the human mind all show us the ubiquitousness and actions of God.
Everything is unfolded before us with tangible evidence, verifying the authenticity of the
events. When we read Holy Scripture we cannot restrain our wonderment and admiration
exclaiming: God is with us! Know all you nations that God is with us. This faith is the
well of our strength. This is why we open the Holy Gospel and read and study it carefully,
to illuminate ourselves and to rid ourselves of worldly scepticism and perceptions.
However sometimes the Gospel reading seems strange and unbelievable. It reveals to
you truths that when you hear them move you to admiration, but also leave you with
doubts about whether or not God is truly everywhere. Let us take a look at the healing of
the paralytic man of Bethesda in todays Gospel reading. And certainly we are impressed

by the fact that with just His word our Lord healed this man who had been suffering for 38
whole years. This is a reality that occurred in front of all of the people who were present
at the time around the pool of Bethesda.

Beyond the immediate impression and

wonderment of the miracle a quite legitimate question arises.

Why was it that God

allowed this man to suffer for so long? Why was it only that the first person to enter the
pool, when the Angel had disturbed the waters, that was healed, and why was it that
nobody could tell when the Angel would do this? Unquestionably this uncertainty about
when the Angel would come, would have kept all of those already suffering people on
edge. These people would truly have been suffering- especially without the painkillers
that we have today- and as was the case of the paralytic of todays Gospel, without any
hope of human compassion and consolation. And again the humanly justifiable questions
arise: Why is it that God allows man to suffer so terribly? And Why did our Lord even
after 38 years, heal only one of the multitude of people who were there suffering? In
todays Epistle reading we see two more miracles, which in this case, the Lord performed
through the Apostle Peter, and again we make similar human, worldly observations. At
the time Peter was in Lydda preaching the Gospel where he came across Aeneas who
had been bedridden for eight years. Peter told him to get out of his bed in the name of
Jesus Christ, and so through Christ this man was completely healed and arose from his
bed. All the people of that area knew Aeneas and now saw him well, so they turned to
Christ and believed Peters preaching. The apostolic reading goes on to say that while
Peter was still in Lydda he heard that Tabitha a disciple of the Lord had fallen ill and had
eventually died in nearby Joppa. Tabitha was full of good works and charitable deeds so
the inhabitants of Joppa implored Peter to go there without delay to bring her back to life.
Tabitha was dead and all of those who she had helped had prepared her body and now
stood surrounding it in the upper room of her house weeping inconsolably since their
benefactor was so suddenly and unjustly- for them- been taken from them. Peter went up
to the room, and took everybody out, then he knelt down in prayer and beseeched the
Lord to perform this miracle, and indeed when Peter got up from his prayer he told Tabitha
to get up and immediately she sat up and opened her eyes, and Peter lifted her from her

deathbed. In both of these cases we see the miraculous action of Gods grace and we are
amazed and praise Him. But again our logic kicks in and tells us: Well at the time of the
Apostles there must have been such a great number of people suffering from many
terrible, incurable diseases, why didnt Peter act for the wider good, rather than just in
these two specific cases? Here begins the drama of human thinking and logic. Great
pain and suffering, unanswered injustice, and Gods mercy at a minimum. This is the
terrible direction that such rationalisation leads us. If we open the book of Psalms we see
that often the Prophet David expresses complaint towards Gods absence when he was
suffering and in pain. And yet, dear brethren, God is present everywhere. God is not the
one who is absent and comes when we call Him, but rather He is the one who is always
present but we do not see Him. This is why the Evangelists use the term appear. This
tells us that our Lord is here, but that He intervenes and makes Himself known to man
only when He thinks that it is necessary. His presence has a specific aim, then He
appears in a way that man can see Him, Gods grace becomes visible only to a person
who has crossed a spiritual horizon. Both the Gospel and Apostolic readings that we
heard in our Church today speak of miracles. They both talk about Divine grace visiting
people who were able to cross the spiritual horizon of visibility, only God knows where this
horizon is for each of us. Dear brethren God is not finite, and is not at our beck and call to
manifest Himself at the will of man, but rather God waits in the humble corners and secret
places along the course of this life. There God is and awaits, hidden, until we display
some human patience and He knows the measure for each one of us. So we can attain
spiritual purity, like the paralytic man, and Aeneas and Tabitha. Yes we may struggle for
38 years, or it may take eight, or it may be shown in a single instant. Gods presence is
there to give each of us a feeling of salvation, the desire for eternity and the expectation of
immortality; to sweeten our pain, to heal our wounds, to warm our hearts and to take us
beyond our insecurities that lead us to despair.

I decided to write about this topic

because, especially today, we find ourselves in a state of spiritual blindness, and we are
looking for a god who we can summon and that will come down to us and do for each of

us that which we decide. Today, through the examples in both the Gospel and Apostolic
readings, our Church is attempting to correct this ideological disorientation and confusion.

14 2016, . .
Luise Chong Aguilar,
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News from our Community-Parish

Baptism

13

On Saturday 14th May 2016, the charming son of Mr. John Kapetas and Mrs
Maria Luise Chong Aguilar (Kapetas) was baptized in our Church. The
godfather Mr Evangelos Kellaris gave him the name Demitrios. May our Triune
God enlighten the parents and godparent so they can raise and guide the
newly-baptized according to Gods commandments.

Church Services
This Wednesday 25th May Mid-Pentecost and 3rd Finding of the Head of the Holy
Forerunner, Matins and Divine Liturgy, 8am 10am.
Friday 27th May Day of St. John the Russian, Matins and Divine Liturgy, 8am 9.45am.
Saturday evening, Vespers, 5.30pm 6pm approx..

Divine Liturgy in English

Next Saturday, 28th May, Divine Liturgy in the English Language, 6pm 7pm. We urge
everyone, especially the young and anyone who feels more comfortable using English, to
come and take part in this blessed opportunity.

Bible Study
Every Wednesday evening, from 7pm to 8pm, in the rooms of the Community Centre of
Prophet Elias, there are interesting discussions about Orthodoxy, which can enrich the
spiritual knowledge of every faithful Orthodox Christian. The topics are presented in
English and there is opportunity for everyone to listen, ask questions and participate.

Elias the Thesvite

The remembrance of the great and zealous Prophet Elias, Holy Man of our Church, is fast
approaching. This saint is distinguished amongst the others; although he is a man, he
seems supernatural and mysterious, coming again and again to the world. The Jews
expected him to come again, and thought St. John the Forerunner was Elias. When Christ
asked His disciples Whom do people say that I am?, they replied that some said Elias,
others said one of the other prophets. The Prophet Malachi, who lived much later than
Elias, said: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great

and terrible day of the Lord comes. Many explained this to mean that Elias will come

14

again before the Second Coming and will witness. In everything, the Forerunner
resembles him; therefore the apostles and other Hebrews wondered whether he was Elias
reborn. After the Metamorphosis, when the three disciples came down from the mountain,
they asked Him: The scribes say that Elias must come first. What do you say? Christ
replied: Elias does come first to restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already
come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son
of man will suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to
them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17,10-13). The disciples asked Christ about Elias,
because they had recently seen him appear with Moses at the time of Christs
Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, and talk with Him about everything He had done on this
world eight hundred years ago. During the Crucifixion also, when Christ called out Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani, some of the Hebrews standing near the Cross said that He was calling
Elias to help Him (Matthew 27,46). His shadow is everywhere. Prophet Elias was born
2767 years ago, in Thesvi, on the borders of Arabia. His father was Sovak of the tribe of
Aaron. On the night that he was born, his father said that some men in white robes went to
greet him, and they swaddled him with flames and gave him flames to eat. When he grew
up, he became a fearsome man who roamed everywhere and entreated the Hebrews to
turn to the true God whom they had turned away from to worship Baal. Restless and with
fiery speech, he always talked of the faith of the true God, and therefore he was called
zealous. As an infant, he ate fire and was wrapped in fire; fire came from his mouth, fire
fell on the altar at his prayer, fire burnt the drenched earth at his request of God, fire was
his carriage that took him to heaven. Until his feast-day on 20th July, there will be
opportunity to talk and write about the Prophet Elias. Today, we simply remember his
name and tell you about our festival. The Dinner-dance, with a good band and singer, will
be on Saturday 16th July, before his feast day. Please book your tickets as soon as
possible.

Some interesting information

People often ask how much a baptism or wedding costs. The Baptismal Certificate costs
$150 and the Wedding Certificate costs $300 in every Church of our Holy Archdiocese of

15

Australia. The Certificate of Celibacy costs $70. This is the case, in whichever Church the
ceremony takes place. In addition, every Community-Parish calculates how much is
needed to cover the cost of electricity, air-conditioning or heating, damage, assistant,
chanter, cleaner and secretary and Civil Certificate, and therein lies the confusion. Here at
Prophet Elias, apart from the Certificates which are received from the Holy Archdiocese of
Australia, for the baptism $200 is required, for the wedding $300. Suggestion of other fees
in our Parish-Community, is false.

Divine Liturgy in English

On Saturday 28th May, there will be Divine Liturgy in English at Prophet Elias,
from 6pm 7pm. We urge everyone, especially children and the youth, and
people who feel more comfortable with English, to come and participate in this
blessed service provided by our Holy Archdiocese.
Bible Study
Every Wednesday evening, from 7pm 8pm, in the rooms of the Community Centre
of Prophet Elias, there are interesting discussions about Orthodoxy, which can
enrich the spiritual knowledge of every faithful Orthodox Christian. The topics are
presented in English and there is opportunity for everyone to listen, ask questions
and participate. It is important to thoroughly read the Bible. But simply reading the
Bible is not the same as studying. The Divine Word of God deserves respect and
ought to be understood and practiced. The Bible is one of the most misinterpreted
books ever written, and most people can find it very hard to understand. The Bible
records a long time of history including many cultures and ages, as well as relating
and correlating to any modern era; it is translated from the original manuscripts in
Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic by reputable scholars. The goal in studying the Bible is
to understand the message in the correct context. If you struggle with where to start
with your Bible reading, how often to read your Bible, how much to read in one

16

sitting, or how to get things out of it (apply it to your life/practice it) etc. This is why it
is important to follow the subjects that appropriately we present here in Norwood
every week. If people were reading and studying the Bible instant of just reading it,
there would never been so many different Christian denominations.

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A FAMILY PRAYER
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the blessed offspring of your Most Holy Mother,
You who descended to become human, for our salvation, and You grew up in a blessed
and holy family. Come our Lord and dwell with us. We ask You to listen to our prayer and
bless our family. We desire and ask You to become our guardian, our companion, our
adviser and our teacher, the almighty protector, helper and healer of all our infirmities.
Grant, our Lord, so in our household to regain Your holy will: Grant to us harmony, peace,
love, patience and every other virtue. Grant to us Your good things, the spiritual and the
material, and enable us every day and night to praise, with grateful heart, Your holy name
and Your Father, who is without beginning, and of the Most Holy and good Spirit. Amen.