His Eminence Metropolitan SABA Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America His Grace Bishop Alexander
Pastor: Fr John Vazquez| fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com | stgeorgealbany.org | 1 St George's Pl Albany
Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10am-5pm/Confessions: After weekly services or by appointment
Parish Council Leadership: Chair—Michella Rizk, Treasurer—Ranya Palmer, Secretary—Daniel Palmer, Vice Chair—Linda Grady
Beloved,
Do you ever feel like Church is the same old thing over and over? This thought can be a temptation at times for all of us but the reality is that if or when we think this thought we are missing the depth of God's love and pursuit of us.
On Monday we celebrate the Nativity of our Lady the Mother of God. She has 4 major feasts throughout the Church year which are: her nativity (Sept 8), her entrance in the temple (Nov 21), the annunciation (March 25) and her falling asleep or dormition (August 15). There is a way in which her feasts through the year image our life in the Church—first we are born, then we enter into the temple, next we hear and accept the good news that our Lord desires to dwell in us and then we fall asleep and are welcomed into the bosom of the Lord.
This cycle of feasts is participated in over and over again by us in the Church, not as a monotonous repetition but as a way to enter further and further into a life in Christ. Since God is infinite there is a way in which each of us are always at the beginning of our life in Christ and so are called deeper and deeper into union and communion with our sweetest Lord Jesus.
It is not only these feasts of our Lady but the entire cycle of the Church year that helps to foster and deepen our relationship with Christ. This cycle of the Church year, which begins with the Nativity of our Lady, has several aspects that are simultaneously happening.There is the yearly cycle, the seasonal cycle, weekly cycle and daily cycle. These simultaneous cycles work together to offer an infinite number of combinations that help us see our relationship with Christ from an infinite number of perspectives and angles.
Our Lord is constantly trying to figure out how he can speak to us in new and fresh ways as He constantly pursues a relationship with us. Repentance is our turning around to face Him who pursues us and part of our repentance is participation is these many cycles of the Church year. Truly our God is amazing in the many ways He tries to speak to us and pursue us.
With Love in Christ,
Fr John
Services and Events
Friday, September 5th–Sunday September 7th—St George Schenectady Festival (107 Clinton St. Schenectady)
Saturday, September 6th—5pm—Great Vespers followed by Bible Study (join us as we work through The Psalms)
Sunday, September 7th—9am—Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy Memorial for Wahib Barbera to follow Liturgy
Sunday, September 7th—5pm—Great Vespers for THE NATIVITY OF THE THEOTOKOS
Monday, September 8th—8am—Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy for THE NATIVITY OF THE THEOTOKOS
Wednesday, September 10th—8am—Divine Liturgy
Wednesday, September 10th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, September 12th—7:30pm—Bible Study @ Amal and Ronda Tlaige's (Exodus)
Saturday, September 13th—9am—Teaching DivineLiturgy followed by ask "Ask Abouna" for Youth Day
Sunday, September 14th—9am—Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy THE ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
Click to view our Upcoming Schedule
Eduction at St George
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 2 Pet 3.1
Read Metropolitan SABA's weekly teaching—Questions and Thoughts
Get some caffeine for the soul with Coffee with the Fathers. Join us at ALIAS COFFEE on N. Pearl St in Albany as we study Hymns on Paradise by St Ephraim the Syrian.
Study the Scriptures with us—Bible Study Saturday evenings at 6pm after vespers. We also are doing localized bible studies in peoples homes on Wednesday evenings and Friday afternoons and evenings—in an attempt to provide an opportunity for as many people as possible to attend. Check the calendar for locations.
Click HERE for a great YouTube channel with Orthodox kids songs.
Did You Know...that Christ is Risen!...and...
*Metropolitan SABA has an Instagram account to connect with youth and young adults—@AskSayidna.
*We plan to have a "Youth Day" at the Church once a month which will include kids of all ages. The purpose of these days is to offer education, fellowship, wholesome fun and a chance for the kids to "ask Abouna." For the next one—September 13th—we will be doing a "teaching Liturgy" where I will stop and explain to the kids what is happening at the different parts of the Divine Liturgy—mark your calendars.
*You can view the WORD magazine online. Click HERE.
Parish Prayer List
"Remember Me O Lord When You Come Into Your Kingdom." Lk 23.42
Please include in your daily prayers the following. Contact me to have someone added to the list. These are the names that will be remembered during the Divine Liturgy.
Living:
Bishop Alexander, Fr Gregory Potter, Fr Joseph, Fr Andrew, Fr Pat, Fr Meletios, Fr Terrance, Fr Michael, Dn Jorge, Dn Horia, Leila, Helen, Lew, Marsha, Mary, Anastasia, Hassib, Callie, Shannon, Jennifer, Samantha, Schuyler, Raphael and Kelly, Fayez, Kent, Rose, Justin, Anne, George, Nektaria, Matushka Margaret, William, Chris and our catechumens: Max, Ryan, Kathryn and Henry. All those traveling, those suffering from illness, violence and want in this country and throughout the world and especially those in Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and the middle east
Departed:
Fr Gregory DesMarais, Fr Alvian, Fr John, Fr Steven, Will, Camile, Raymond, Ruth, Dolores, Agnes, Ed, Bassir, The New Martyrs of Syria those who have lost their lives and who have no one to pray for them, those who have passed in the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
"Beauty Will Save the World"
My favorite author—Fyodor Dostoyevsky—has a quote, "Beauty will save the world!" What in the world could this mean?! Well, this could be quite a big discussion but I think part of the answer is that as human beings we delight in what is beautiful and not only take delight in but find healing when we encounter something beautiful. Beauty is such a big part of our worship as Orthodox Christians. Orthodox worship engages our senses with beautiful smells, sights and sounds and this matters because God's creation is good and beauty helps us to understand this reality.
Have you ever wondered what you could do to help beautify our church. Here are some ideas:
*15-20 Icons (16”x24” $400 per icon) Pick your Saint!—https://legacyicons.com/saint-paisios-of-athos-icon-s184/
*Curtain for Holy Doors ($850) https://www.churchembroidery.net/product-page/holy-door-curtains-katapetasma
*Curtains for Deacons Doors ($1500 each) churchembroidery.net (custom order)
*Epitaphios of Panaghia ($1800) https://www.churchembroidery.net/product-page/fully-embroidered-orthodox-epitaphios-shroud-of-the-most-holy-theotokos-3
*Two Mosaic’s for outside ($5000 each—is my best guess) (Theotokos and St George)
*Chandelier for above Altar ($500) https://nioras.com/product/church-chandelier-frames-with-orthodox-icons-13-electric-lights/
*Three Mount-Athos style Chandeliers for the nave (the space where the people stand during the service)
Sunday, September 7, 2025
THE SYNAXARION (Plain Reading)
On September 7 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we celebrate the Fore-feast of the Nativity of the Most-holy Theotokos, and we commemorate the holy Martyr Sozon of Cilicia (Lycaonia).
Verses
Sozon withstood torments of the body, looking unto the soul’s only Savior.
On the seventh, Sozon died, beaten a bright color.
Sozon endured a great persecution of Christians near the city of Pompeiopolis on the part of Maximian, the governor of Cilicia. There was a golden idol which the pagans worshipped. The shepherd Sozon left his sheep, went to the city, entered the pagan temple and knocked an arm off the golden idol, melting it down and giving the gold to the poor. The enraged pagans searched for him, but Sozon went to the governor and declared he was a Christian and the performer of that act. After many tortures, Sozon gave his soul to God in 304.
On this day, we also commemorate the Apostles Euodos and Onesiphoros of the Seventy. By the intercessions of Thy saints, O Christ God, have mercy upon us. Amen.
Parish Financial Summary—Fiscal Year 2024/25
Help us Reach our Goal of $132,000—Our estimated budget for the 2024-25 Fiscal Year
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF ST GEORGE!
Giving for Week of 8.31.25—$852
Online Donations for Week of 8.31.25—$88
Falafel Fundraiser 3.30.25—$1054
Parish Halfi 4.25.25—$9087.95
Broadview Bank Balance as of end of July: $50,064.57: $41,614.54 (Operating Fund); $7,160.17 (Memorial Fund); $1,136 (Charity Fund)
Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund as of end of August 4th, 2025: $402,551
Merrill Lynch Money Market Account as of end of August 4th, 2025: $31,213
Total Giving for fiscal year to date (October 24–September 25)—$82,059.29
Families who have contributed for fiscal year to date (October 24–September 25)—71
Families who have contributed over $5,000 for fiscal year to date (October 24–September 25)—3
Families who have contributed over $1,000 for fiscal year to date (October 24–September 25)—28
A Note to our Visitors
WELCOME!
We are blessed by your presence! Join us for fellowship after. Please note, in the Orthodox Church only baptized and chrismated Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared with confession, fasting (no food from the night before until communion), prayer and forgiveness can partake of the Holy Eucharist. All others may come forward for a blessing with the chalice held over their head and receive a piece of blessed bread from the altar servers.
A Word From the Fathers
St Maximus the Confessor
72nd saying of the 3rd Century (100 Sayings) on Love
God created both the invisible and the visible worlds, and so He obviously also made both the soul and the body. If the visible world is so beautiful, what must the invisible world be like? And if the invisible world is superior to the visible world, how much superior to both is God their Creator? If, then, the Creator of everything that is beautiful is superior to all His creation, on what grounds does the intellect abandon what is superior to all and engross itself in what is worst of all - I mean the passions of the flesh? Clearly this happens because the intellect has lived with these passions and grown accustomed to them since birth, whereas it has not yet had perfect experience of Him who is superior to all and beyond all things. Thus, if we gradually wean the intellect away from this relationship by long practice of controlling our indulgence in pleasure and by persistent meditation on divine realities, the intellect will gradually devote itself more and more to these realities, will recognize its own dignity, and finally transfer all its desire to the divine.
