On this the last Sunday and day of the month of February 2021, we again hear the Gospel of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). This gospel lesson is about a son who runs away from his home and his father, squalors away his inheritance and eventually down and out from high living returns home to his welcoming father.
With this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, we Orthodox Christians begin the Lenten Triodion which is the ten-week period of Pre Lent and Great Lenten days ending on the Saturday of Holy Week. Thus, this book the Triodion prescribes the order for the four Pre-Lenten Sundays, the six weeks of Great Lent (40) and Holy Week.
Mitchell Orrin, 72, of Folsom, PA passed away on February 15, 2021. He was born September 19, 1948 in Philadelphia, PA to Leo and Jean Orrin. He graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1967 and attended Villanova University. Mitch married Diane Fisher at Our Lady of All Who Sorrow Russian Orthodox Church in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia on May 1, 1988. They have two sons, Christopher and Michael, a dog, Charlie, and a cat, Lacey.
This Sunday February 14, 2021 is called the Sunday of Zacchaeus from the Gospel of Luke chapter 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the hated Roman State which practiced oppressive taxation during the times of Jesus.
Today we read the Gospel from the 17th Sunday of Matthew Chapter 15: verses 21-28, concerning the woman of Canaan who approached Jesus as he came to the region of Tyre and Sidon. She had not been brought up by pious Jewish parents to practice the customs of the Jews and to believe in the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She was a Gentile of Canaanite stock, who were old enemies of the Jews.
© 2023 St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church. All Rights Reserved.
