August 15th, 2021

Dormition of the
Virgin Mary

Saint Concerning the Dormition of
the Theotokos, this is what the
Sophia Church has received from an-
cient times from the tradition of
Cathedal the Fathers. When the time
drew nigh that our Savior was
Miami, well-pleased to take His
Florida Mother to Himself, He de-
clared unto her through an An-
August 15th, gel that three days hence, He
2021 would translate her from this
temporal life to eternity and
Telephone bliss. On hearing this, she went
up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuous-
305- 854-2922 ly. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared
whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking
* Fax: place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth,
where each one happened to be preaching, and brought them at
305-858-1854 once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the
cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in
Website: their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and
prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and,
stsophiamiami.org reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into
the hands of her Son and God. With reverence and many lights,
2401 S.W. and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving
3rd Avenue body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven

Mailing :
244

SW 24th
Road

Miami, Fl.
33129,

Liturgical Guide

Resurrectional Apolytikion - Tone Pl 2

Κατέλυσας τῷ Σταυρῷ σου τὸν θάνατον,

By means of Your Cross, O Lord, You abolished death. * To the robber You opened
Paradise. * The lamentation of the myrrhbearing women You transformed, * and You gave
Your Apostles the order to proclaim to all * that You had risen, O Christ our God, * and

granted the world Your great mercy.

Apolytikion for Dormition of the Theotokos in the First Mode

Εν τή Γεννήσει τήν παρθενίαν εφύλαξας,
In giving birth you retained your virginity, and in dormition you did not forsake the world,
O Theotokos. You were translated unto life, being the Mother of Life. And thus by vir-

tue of your intercessions you deliver our souls from death.

Apolytikion for St. Sophia Tone 3

Χαίρει ἔχουσα ἡ Ἐκκλησία,
σὲ καὶ τέκνα σου καύχημα θεῖον, καὶ γηθοσύνως εὐφημεῖ σε κραυγάζουσα. Σύ μου ὑπάρχεις τὸ
καύχημα, καὶ τῶν σῶν τέκνων τὰ πάντιμα λείψανα, μάρτυρες ἔνδοξοι, Σοφία, Πίστις, Ἐλπὶς καὶ

Ἀγάπη, Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ πρεσβεύσατε σωθῆναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν

.

Having you and your three daughters, as a sacred boast the Church rejoices, and with
gladness she praises you, You are to me my pride and joy, as are the most precious relics

of your children; Oh Glorious Martyrs: Sophia, Faith, Hope and Love, intercede to
Christ our God to save our souls.

Seasonal Kontakion Tone 2

Τήν εν πρεσβείαις ακοίμητον Θεοτόκον,

Neither the grave nor death could contain the Theotokos, the unshakable hope, ever vigilant in
intercession and protection. As Mother of life, He who dwelt in the ever-virginal womb trans-

posed her to life. .

Scripture Readings

Epistle Reading:
St. Paul's Letter to Letter to the Philippians 2:5-11.

Brethren, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though
he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And be-
ing found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel Reading:

The Reading is from Luke 10:38-42, 11:27-28

At that time, Jesus entered a village; and a woman called Martha received him into her
house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his
teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve you alone? Tell her then to
help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled
about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall
not be taken away from her." As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and
said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!" But
he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

Wisdom of the Fathers.

What Mary might well have said to Martha, the Lord, anticipating her, replied that she had left everything
to sit at the Lord's feet, and bless God all day long. You see, her sitting was for love's sake.

chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one
Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and imme-
diately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands
were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his
hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they
buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the
source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together,
and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos
appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the
bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens.

4 Reasons to Bring your Student to Liturgy and Sunday School

They are needed

Every member of the church is equally important. Children are as important as adults; lay people are
as important as priests. We all have different roles to fill and different jobs to do, but every member
of the Church is very important, and is called to join together in this work of liturgy.

Their prayers are effective and important

When the deacon says, “for peace on earth let us pray to the Lord”, he is not actually praying for
peace on earth. He is leading the people, calling them to pray for peace on earth. If you don’t show
up and actually pray for peace (saying, “Lord, have mercy”), then the prayer isn’t offered. The peo-
ple have to be there to offer the prayers — and it’s important that as many people as possible join
together in offering up prayers, because prayer is effective and important.

They join the angels

When the people gather and sing the hymns and responses of the Church, we join the angels who
worship God in song. The angels are performing the liturgy too (we call it the angelic liturgy), and
we join them in it. If we are not there, we cannot join the angels in liturgy. Prayer at home is differ-
ent — it is not always accompanied by an invitation to sing with the choir of angels, but every Di-
vine liturgy is always an opportunity to enter into this remarkable communion.

They are changed

We are gathering together to witness a miracle — a miracle that is promised to us whenever we
gather in this way. In the Eucharist, Christ comes literally into the chalice; Christ comes to us, and
we are invited to take Him into ourselves, the we may live in Him and He may live in us. Christ only
comes to the chalice if someone joins Father at church; there must be a second person there. And
Christ can only come into us through Holy Communion if we are there too — if we stay home, we
are not offering ourselves up for transformation and we are not receiving the Body and Blood of
Christ. Receiving Holy Communion changes us.

Excerpt from “When Kids Don’t Like Church” by Elissa Bjeletich, Raising Saints blog October
8,2017 (blogs.ancientfaith.com)



Praxis in the Orthodox Church

I believe that Learning our Faith is a very important aspect of our lives, for young and old
alike. But it is not only important to teach the Faith in our classrooms we need to prac-
tice and have the understanding that the early catechumens had of living in the Sacra-
ments of the Church. Our ultimate goal is to be in Union with God, this requires not on-
ly knowledge, but a correct practice of the faith. In Orthodoxy we use the word Praxis to
express our Faith. In the context of Orthodoxy, praxis is mentioned opposite theology,
and is a word that means all that Orthodox do. Praxis is living Orthodoxy.

It is not enough to learn about the faith, we need to live it. It is important to bring our-
selves and our children to church on time, to hear the petitions, to truly hear the Gospel,
to partake of confession, to fast and to prepare and receive communion. By allowing our-
selves to participate in the Liturgies and exposing ourselves to the different services we
can approach the church in a new manner allowing the Faith to be a way of life not just a
subject that we are knowledgeable about.

With the beginning of this New Year I invite you take this opportunity to commit your-
selves to Christ and allow yourselves and your children to not only learn about God but
to live with Him.

UPCOMING EVENTS

August 15th Sunday, Dormition of the Theotokos Matins 9:00 AM
Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM
August 18th
August 22st Wednesday, Bible Study 7:00 PM

Sunday, 9th Sunday of Matthew 9:00 AM
Matins 10:00 AM

Divine Liturgy

Welcome to the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

We pray that your time with us will be peaceful and
spiritually uplifting .

Due to the recent increase in Covid cases and in an
abundance of caution we ask that you kindly
wear your mask.