Epistle Reading

St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 4:9-16

Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Gospel Reading

Matthew 17:14-23

At that time, a man came up to Jesus and kneeling before him said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

Weekly Calendar

Sun. Aug. 17: 10^th Sunday of Matthew (Fast Free)

9:00am Orthros 10:00am Divine Liturgy

Mon. Aug. 18: Ss. Floros & Laurus the Martyrs (Fast Free)

Tues. Aug. 19: St. Andrew the General (Fast Free)

12:00pm Seniors Club (Chicago Grill)

6:00pm Scripture Talk (via Zoom)

8:00pm Orthodox Catechism (via Zoom)

Wed. Aug. 20: St. Samuel the Prophet (Strict Fast)

Thurs. Aug. 21: St. Thaddeus the Apostle of the 70 (Fast Free)

Fri. Aug. 22: St. Agathonikos the Martyr (Strict Fast)

9:00am Orthros 10:00am Divine Liturgy

Sat. Aug. 23: St. Irenaues of Lyons (Fast Free)

Sun. Aug. 24: 11^th Sunday of Matthew (Fast Free)

9:00am Orthros 10:00am Divine Liturgy

Monthly Calendar

Parish Announcements

Scripture Talk – Tuesdays @ 6pm (via Zoom)

Scripture Talk is a virtual Bible study ministry offered by the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) that meets every Tuesday, 6pm to 7pm CST.

Each week, a different Orthodox priest from around the country is invited to help guide the discussion. The Zoom link can be found on the parish calendar.

Orthodox Catechism – Tuesdays @ 8pm (via Zoom)

Orthodox Catechism is a class for those seeking to enter the Orthodox Church and for those who are Orthodox looking to learn more about their Faith. Our class meets weekly on Tuesdays at 8pm. The Zoom link is on the parish calendar, or contact Fr. Theofanis to learn more.

Seniors Club – Tues. Aug. 19^th @ Noon (Chicago Grill)

Our Seniors Clube will be meeting for lunch this Tuesday, August 19^th at Chicago Grill at noon. If you will be joining us please RSVP to Nikki (309-363-3141).

Sunday School – Classes Begin Sun. Aug. 24^th

Sunday School classes for the 2025 – 2026 year will begin on Sunday, August 24^th. This year, we will have three classes which will welcome students from Preschool through Highschool. Please register your children for Sunday School at the link below.

Back to School Blessing - Sun. Aug. 24th

Before our students go to their first day of Sunday School, there will be a blessing for all of the students as they start a new school year. They will come up to the solea and be blessed with Holy Water and a prayer.

Sacred Pilgrimage to St. John Chrysostom Monastery – Sat. Sept. 6^th (Save the Date)

Our parish will be taking a pilgrimage to visit St. John Chrysostom Greek Orthodox Monastery in Kenosha, WI on Saturday, September 6^th. The visit will be the same time as last year’s, 10am – 1pm. This will be a chance to see the monastery property, speak with some of the nuns, venerate the relics of different Saints, and visit the bookstore. Please RSVP at the link below by Sun. Aug. 31st, and contact Jordan Cruse (309-712-7955) with any questions.

Sunday School Registration

Monastery RSVP

2025 Stewardship Form

Wisdom of the Fathers

The disciples seem to me to be in anxiety and fear that they had lost the grace with which they had been entrusted. For they had received power over unclean demons. So they approached him in private and asked him the question, not out of shame (for if the matter had got out and they were criticized, it would have been superfluous for the future to have been ashamed of admitting it in their words) but because what they were going to ask him was secret and of great moment. What, then, does Christ say? “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” But if you say “Where did they move a mountain?” I will say that they did things much greater than that in raising up innumerable dead. For moving a mountain and moving death from a body are not at all comparable. After them other saints, far inferior to the disciples, are said to have moved mountains when necessity demanded.

St. John Chrysostom

For fasting endues with great wisdom, makes a man as an Angel from heaven, and beats down the unseen powers of evil. But there is need of prayer as even still more important. And who prays as he ought, and fasts, had need of little more, and so is not covetous, but ready to almsgiving. For he who fasts, is light and active, and prays wakefully, and quenches his evil lusts, makes God propitious, and humbles his proud stomach. And he who prays with his fasting, has two wings, lighter than the winds themselves. For he is not heavy and wandering in his prayers, (as is the case with many,) but his zeal is as the warmth of fire, and his constancy as the firmness of the earth. Such an one is most able to contend with daemons, for there is nothing more powerful than a man who prays properly. But if your health be too weak for strict fast, yet is it not for prayer, and if you cannot fast, you can abstain from indulgences. And this is not a little, and not very different from fast.

St. John Chrysostom

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