February 26, 2013
Up With Trees
This past Saturday we were blessed to receive over 50 trees from Up With Trees, a Tulsa based non-profit organization dedicated to re-foresting the greater Tulsa Area. We had a wonderful workday planting, staking, and mulching. May the Lord bless all who took part in beautifying His property!
January 18, 2013
4th Annual Tulsa March for Life
Tuesday, January 22nd at 7:00pm
Starting at 8th & Boulder, downtown Tulsa
We are approaching the 40th anniversary of the Roe V. Wade Supreme Court Decision. In the 40 years since, approximately 1 out of every 4 Children in America have been aborted. Just here in Tulsa, there are on average 8 children killed a day, 41 a week, 2,132 a year. On the 40th anniversary of so dreadful a decision, let us stand in solidarity, united in one voice, and pack the streets of Downtown Tulsa!
Please join us Tuesday, January 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. for the 4th annual Tulsa March for Life. The March begins at 8th and Boulder, and Dr. Alveda King will be speaking at the concluding rally. More information is available at www.tulsamarchforlife.org.
January 06, 2013
Holy Theophany
Click here for picture of the 2013 Holy Theophany celebration at Holy Apostles!
Theophany is the Feast which reveals the Most Holy Trinity to the world through the Baptism of the Lord (Mt.3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). God the Father spoke from Heaven about the Son, the Son was baptized by the St John the Forerunner, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Son in the form of a dove. From ancient times this Feast was called the Day of Illumination and the Feast of Lights, since God is Light and has appeared to illumine “those who sat in darkness,” and “in the region of the shadow of death” (Mt.4:16), and to save the fallen race of mankind by grace.
In the ancient Church it was the custom to baptize catechumens at the Vespers of Theophany, so that Baptism also is revealed as the spiritual illumination of mankind.
The origin of the Feast of Theophany goes back to Apostolic times, and it is mentioned in The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V:13). From the second century we have the testimony of St Clement of Alexandria concerning the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, and the night vigil before this Feast.
There is a third century dialogue about the services for Theophany between the holy martyr Hippolytus and St Gregory the Wonderworker. In the following centuries, from the fourth to ninth century, all the great Fathers of the Church: Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, John of Damascus, commented on the Feast of Theophany.
The monks Joseph the Studite, Theophanes and Byzantios composed much liturgical music for this Feast, which is sung at Orthodox services even today. St John of Damascus said that the Lord was baptized, not because He Himself had need for cleansing, but “to bury human sin by water,” to fulfill the Law, to reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and finally, to sanctify “the nature of water” and to offer us the form and example of Baptism.
On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Church proclaims our faith in the most sublime mystery, incomprehensible to human intellect, of one God in three Persons. It teaches us to confess and glorify the Holy Trinity, one in Essence and Indivisible. It exposes and overthrows the errors of ancient teachings which attempted to explain the Creator of the world by reason, and in human terms.
The Church shows the necessity of Baptism for believers in Christ, and it inspires us with a sense of deep gratitude for the illumination and purification of our sinful nature. The Church teaches that our salvation and cleansing from sin is possible only by the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, therefore it is necessary to preserve worthily these gifts of the grace of holy Baptism, keeping clean this priceless garb, for “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).
On the day of Theophany, all foods are permitted, even if the Feast falls on a Wednesday or Friday.
Text and Holy Theophany icon from OCA.org
Click here for picture of Holy Theophany at Holy Apostles 2013!
October 26, 2012
40 Days for Life Prayer Service
We will be celebrating a prayer service for the victims of abortion at the Garden of Hope as part of Tulsa’s 40 Days for Life. The service is at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, October 27th, at 6135 E. 32nd Place. More information is available at the 40 Days for Life website.
September 05, 2012
A Day of Worship - Saturday September 15th
Holy Apostles will participate once again in A Day of Worship, sponsored by several Bixby area churches. The event will be held on Saturday, September 15th, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The purpose of the event is to invite people out to learn more about area churches, and to invite them to attend. More can be learned from the Day of Worship website.
“If you find that you have no love but desire to have it, do the works of love and the Lord will see your desire and effort and put love in your heart.”
~ St. Ambrose of Optina
