The fourth Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of the Steward, and the message of the day comes from the Parable of the Unjust Steward. This Parable is mentioned only in the Gospel of St. Luke (16:1-13). In this Parable, a wealthy man learns that the steward of his house (the supervisor of his holdings) is squandering his possessions. The rich man, then, calls forth the steward and asks for an accounting of his possessions, having already decided to release him from employment. 

Another Mijink custom involves a folk tradition in which the housewife of every household bakes an unleavened cake and puts a coin in it while baking. The rest of the year will be successful for the family member who finds this coin in his/her portion of the cake.

The Forty Holy Martyrs who perished in approximately 320 AD were Christians from various towns and cities of Lesser Armenia. They served as soldiers in the royal regiment of Sebastia. Upon the decree of the Roman Emperor Likianos, interrogations were organized by Lucias, Duke of Caesarea, to discover the Christian soldiers. Forty of the soldiers remained steadfast in their faith, defied the judges by their brave answers and were imprisoned. On a cold winter night, the soldiers were thrown into a lake near Sebastia to freeze them to death.

At dawn, halos are seen encircling the heads of the soldiers. One of the guards charged with the execution of the forty, upon witnessing the holy phenomenon, accepts Christ and throws himself into the lake to be martyred along with the others. In the morning, it becomes apparent that through a divine miracle, the forty soldiers have been saved from freezing. This infuriates their captors who execute them thus making them martyrs. (One of the forty soldiers, being unable to endure the torments, comes out of the water and finds refuge in a bathhouse built on the banks. The lone soldier dies and is deprived of both earthly and heavenly life.)

The martyrs' remains are buried in Sebastia, where subsequently a forty-domed Cathedral is built. The Cathedral of Sebastia stood for nearly one thousand years until the invasion of Tamerlane and the Mongols at the end of the 14th Century. The name Forty Martyrs Cathedral has survived to this day.

Coffee hour tables can be simple or complex.  Sometimes when people do a coffee hour table they put out coffee cakes and doughnuts; sometimes they put out some fruits. Others put out entire lunch. We encourage you to sign up for coffee hour a couple of times each year. It can be simple or an entire meal - either is fine. The sign-up sheet is in the church hall.