St. John Chrysostom Russian Orthodox Church - House Springs (St. Louis Area), Missouri

He who seeks to put God to shame in fact puts himself to shame, and gives God the greater glory. He who works to humiliate the righteous in the end humiliates himself, and further exalts the righteous. He who places a rock on the righteous man’s path himself stumbles over it, and constrains the righteous man to climb to the heights, whence he can see much further. He who blows on the righteous man’s fire to extinguish it will cause it to burn the more fiercely, and will put his own out…

God has, as though deliberately, left the righteous unarmed and unprotected in this world, in order to reveal His strength and to place a stumbling block before tyrants. A thread of righteousness is therefore stronger than a chain of unrighteousness. The tyrant attempts to to break the thread of righteousness, but will become entangled in it and will perish.

Satan sought to destroy righteous Job, but he raised him to the skies. It was when Job seemed weak that he was the victor. Satan sought to destroy King Herod, and Herod, in his wickedness, gave him no opposition. It was when Herod seemed all-powerful that he perished. All that is from God in this life seems to be weak, but is stronger than the stars and the sounding ocean…

Whenever the enemies of good, the enemies of God, made nets to entrap Christ, they themselves fell into them; whenever they prepared humiliation for Him, they were themselves humiliated, and whenever they attempted to shut His mouth, they were themselves constrained to be silent. In fact, all that they did to bring Him to shame turned to His glory and their shame. Thus it was then, and thus it is today. Whoever stands in opposition to Christ today will fall and come to ruin, and Christ’s might and glory will, though this, shine forth the more strongly. Thus it is today, and thus it will be tomorrow—right to the end of time. 

O Theotokos, Mother of Life, the apostles, who were scattered throughout the world, were caught up in the air by clouds and carried to thy dormition; and in a single choir they stood before thine all-holy body; and, burying it with honor, they sang, chanting to thee the cry of Gabriel: Rejoice, thou who art full of grace, Virgin Mother unwedded, the Lord is with thee! With them entreat thy son and our God, that our souls be saved.

(From Glory, Both now, of the Praises at Matins)

It was right, therefore, that the body which brought forth the Son should be glorified with Him in divine glory, and that the ark of Christ's holiness should arise with Him who rose on the third day, as the prophet sang (cf. Ps. 132:8 Lxx). The linen cloths and winding-sheets left behind in the tomb, which were all that those who came to look for her  found there, proved to the disciples that she too had risen from the dead, just as was earlier the case with her Son and Lord (cf. Lk. 24:12,  John 20:5-7). It was not, however, necessary for her, as it was for her Son and God, to stay for a while longer on earth, so she was taken up directly from the grave to the heavenly realm, whence she sends bright shafts of holy light and grace down to earth, illuminating all the space around the world; and she is venerated, admired, and hymned by all the faithful.

(Paragraph 9 of Homily 37—On the Dormition of the Mother of God, by St. Gregory Palamas, The Homilies, Mount Tabor Publishing

On Sunday, May 16, 2010, at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Des Plaines, Illinois, His Grace, Bishop Peter, ordained Reader Basil Vogt to the deaconate—"filling the vacancy" that occurred when Fr. Matthew Williams was ordained to the priesthood on Feb. 20, 2010 (see article below). He also tonsured Isaac Crabtree as a Reader.

Newly-ordained Deacon Basil has served the parish conscientiously for the past 10 years as senior reader and altar server, and as a choir singer. Monday through Friday, he is a dedicated and successful high school teacher at Parkway North High School. He also teaches the oldest group of children in our Sunday School program.

(A comment reported in the "Daily Devotion" on Channel 6 of the Portland, Maine, TV station, May 3, 2010)

Newly ordained Priest Matthew Williams (until very recently, Deacon of our parish) flew from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. this past weekend to attend fund-raising activities at both St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral and St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Fr. Gregoire Legoute and his wife Rose gave eyewitness accounts of the hardships Orthodox Christians in Haiti are facing as a result of the violent earthquake that devastated their poor Caribbean nation.

Again and again we encourage our parishioners and other visitors to our website to give generously to the ROCOR Fund for Assistance, which is striving to assist not only our mission In Haiti, but our parishes in Chile that just been struck by another major earthquake.

Fr. Dc. Matthew Williams was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Hilarion on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Synodal Cathedral of the Mother of the Sign in Manhattan, NY. The Metropolitan desires that Fr. Matthew serve as one of the chief coordinators of assistance to our suffering members of our ROCOR missions in Haiti. He will also be assigned to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Endicott, New York,  in the United States.
We, the priest and parishioners of St. John Chrysostom, are deeply saddened at the prospect that Fr. Matthew and his beloved family will be moving away from our parish permanently (although not immediately). However, we rejoice that he is moving closer to accomplishing his heartfelt desire—to serve the Church at a deeper level, and to put into action his love for the people of Haiti, with God as his Helper.

Fr. Christopher Stade and Rdr. Constantine Stade served at this Liturgy, representing our parish—the only parish in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia whose patron saint is St. John Chrysostom.

During the Liturgy Fr. Christopher was elevated to the rank of Archpriest.

THE ROCOR MISSION IN HAITI HAS SURVIVED THE EARTHQUAKE,
ALTHOUGH MANY BUILDINGS ARE DESTROYED.

 Donate generously to The Fund for Assistance, of our Russian Church Outside Russia.

On Oct 13 and 14, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God, Des Plaines, Illinois, a myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God, brought from Russia, was present at the Vigil service and Liturgy.  The name of this icon is  The Softener of Evil Hearts. Those who pray with faith and humility before this Icon find that their own hearts are softened from anger and bitterness, as well as the hearts of others for whom they pray. Read the following prayer and troparion before a copy of the Icon, if you have one, or pray directly to the Mother of God, and you will receive heavenly consolation:

O much-suffering Mother of God, who art higher than all the daughters of the earth in thy purity, and in the multitude of suffering which thou didst bear on earth: accept our sighs of suffering, and keep us under the protection of thy mercy, for we know no other refuge and fervent protection than thee. But as one having boldness before Him Who was born of thee, help and save us by thy prayers, that we may without hindrance attain the Kingdom of Heaven, where with the saints we may sing praises to the One God in Trinity, always, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Troparion, Tone 5

Soften our evil hearts, O Theotokos, and quench the attacks of those who hate us and loose all the rigidity of our soul. For looking on thy holy image we are filled with compunction by thy suffering and loving-kindness for us, and we kiss thy wounds; we are filled with horror for the darts with which we wound thee. Let us not, O Mother of Compassion, because of the cruelty of our hearts, perish from the cruelty of heart of those near us, for thou art in truth the Softener of Evil Hearts.

Fr John Behr:  The Pastoral Power of Theology

"O Taste and See How Good is the Lord"
(short audio clip)

An impromptu quartet of American singers sang at the matins and and presanctified liturgy which concluded the 2009 Lenten Diocesan Assembly. Among them were two young men of our parish: Rdr Nathaniel Brown and Rdr Constantine Stade. Also participating were Rdr Dimitry Kulp and Serge Kaminski.