St. Mary's Antiochian Orthodox Church
1317 Florida Mango Road, West Palm Beach Florida 33406
Welcome

Welcome, and thank you for visiting St. Mary Orthodox Church online. We hope that our website highlights the wide variety of worship, fellowship, ministery and education opportunities available. Please feel free to read more about our church on this site, or come join with us in prayer. We would love to greet you and share with you our love for Jesus Christ and for you, our neighbor.

Just a Few Reminders
  • Our Tuesday evening Bible Studies have concluded. Thank you to everyone who participated. In case you missed any of the classes, you may access the podcasts of all classes at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kings-patriot-podcast. Our next Bible Study Classes will be on the Book of Revelations. The dates and times for these classes will be announced at a later date.
  • There will be NO Vespers/Discussion this coming Wednesday, February 19th due to the interior of the church being painted. 
  • Saturday of Souls Divine Liturgy and Trisagion (Memorial) Prayers for the Departed will be prayed this coming Saturday, February 22nd, at 9:00 AM. If you have yet to submit names of your departed loved ones to be commemorated, please do so by Friday morning, February 21st.
  • Our Annual Hafli is this coming Saturday evening - February 22nd. Doors open at 7:30 PM. Tickets in advance are $100.00 per person; $110.00 at the door. If you have not reserved your seat, please speak with Nabil Aboukhaled 561.502-8588, or Jane Pasley 561.389-0346.

Have a blessed week,

Fr. Peter

Sunday, February 16, 2025

files/Bulletin-February-16-2025.pdf (2954kb)

files/The-Parable-of-the-Weeds-2-EN-2.pdf (143kb)

The Virtues - Honesty

Honesty means first of all, to speak the truth and never to “bear false witness” (Exod us 20.16). Honesty also means to act truly and openly, without pretense, or the presentation of a false image of oneself. It means, in a word, not to be a hypocrite.  Above all things, Christ the Lord hated and condemned hypocrisy, lying and deceit. He accused the devil himself, first and foremost, of being a deceiver and liar, pretending to be other than he is, presenting himself and his teaching as totally other than the falsehood and wickedness that they actually are (cf. Jn 8.44–47).

In His fierce condemnation of the evil of the Scribes, Pharisees and lawyers, Christ lashed out against their hypocrisy. Of all the evils of men, the most vile in the sight of the Lord is undoubtedly hypocrisy.  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside also may be clean." (Matthew 23)
The spiritual person is not a hypocrite. He shows himself honestly for what he is, and does not pretend to be what he is not. He reveals himself to all exactly as he actually is. He does not say or do anything that would lead people to have a false impression of him or of anyone or anything. He is utterly honest and pure in all that he thinks, says and does, knowing that God sees all and judges with righteousness all those who “walk in integrity.” (cf. Ps 26.1, 11)       - Fr. Thomas Hopko 'The Virtues'
 
NOTES:
  • Attached to this email is The Weekly Bulletin and Metropolitan Saba's Teaching. Please take a few minutes to read through both.
  • Time is running out to reserve your seat for our annual Saint Mary's Hafli on February 22nd. Please speak with Nabil Aboukhalid or Jane Pasley to secure your seat.
  • Following this Sunday's International Luncheon, our parents and children will be visiting the Palm Beach Zoo. Please speak with Pamela Weidmann so she may have a head count to purchase tickets.
  • Join us for our first 'International Luncheon' this coming Sunday, February 16th, during Coffee Hour. Bring a covered dish for 10 - 12 people representing the foods of your ethnic heritage. 
  • Our Ladies Society will meet this Sunday at 11;45 AM, in the Banquet Hall. All ladies are welcome to attend and participate.
  • Pray with us this coming week:
Saturday, February 15th: Great Vespers at 6:30 PM.
Sunday, February 16th (Sunday of the Prodigal Son): Matins at 8:50 AM; Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM. Sunday School Classes are held following Communion.
Wednesday, February 19th: Vespers Service at 6:30 PM, followed by our weekly Spiritual Discussion.
 
"If you see a man who has sinned and you do not pity him, the grace of God will leave you. Whoever curses bad people, and does not pray for them, will never come to know the grace of God."                            +Saint Silouan the Athonite
 
With love in Christ,
Fr. Peter
Sunday, February 9, 2025

files/February-9-2025.pdf (1960kb)

files/The-Parable-of-the-Weeds-1-EN.pdf (147kb)

Wisdom

The Virtue of Wisdom differs from knowledge in that wisdom is normally understood as the immediate insight into things, the practical understanding and grasping of what is true and right in its living expression and form. In the holy Scriptures, the Spirit of the Lord is called “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah  11.2). It is this Spirit that the Lord gives to those who believe in Him. In the Church, as the Apostle Paul says, divine wisdom is given to the spiritual person. The wise man, who possesses the Spirit of God, can show forth the “knowledge of salvation to His people . . . to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1.77–79). The opposite of divine wisdom is sinful foolishness which brings man to calamity, sorrow, ruin and death (cf. Prov 10–14). In the spiritual life of the Church, it is the wise men, the spiritual masters and saintly teachers, who have gained divine wisdom and so are made competent to direct and guide the destiny of men’s immortal souls. It is for this reason that all men should submit themselves to their instruction and rule.                    - Fr. Thomas Hopko  'The Virtues'
 
NOTES:
  • Attached to this email is The Weekly Bulletin and Metropolitan Saba's Teaching. Please take a few minutes to read through both.
  • If you have not yet done so, please reserve your seats for our Annual Hafli on Saturday, February 22nd. Please speak to Nabil Aboukhaled or Jane Pasley.
  • This coming Tuesday, February 11th, is the last Bible Study Class in which the Gospel of Matthew is studied. Please join us as we will look at the themes of the Last Supper and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will begin at 6:30 PM.
  • Join us in prayer this coming week:
Saturday, February 8th: Great Vespers at 6:30 PM.
Sunday, February 9th (The Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee): Matins at 8:50 AM, Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM. A 40 Day Trisagion (Memorial) Service will be offered for the repose of Gloria Yedlinsky. Memory Eternal! The 2025 Parish Council will be installed and blessed with prayer at the end of the Divine Liturgy.
Wednesday, February 12th: Vespers at 6:30 PM.
 
 "A Christian receives divine wisdom in three ways: by the commandments, teachings, and faith. The commandments free the mind from passions. Teachings lead to true knowledge of nature. Faith leads to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.            (+Saint Maximus the Confessor)
 
With love in Christ,
Fr. Peter
Sunday, February 2, 2025

files/Bulletin-February-2-2025.pdf (1980kb)

files/Man-of-Resurrection-EN.pdf (142kb)

KNOWLEDGE

Continuing to look at Christian Virtues, this week's email focus is on the Virtue of Knowledge. Faith and hope (the first two virtues presented in the previous weekly emails) go together with knowledge. They are built on knowledge and lead to knowledge. Man was created to know God; not only to believe in Him and to hope in Him, but to know Him and so to love Him and to serve Him. Knowledge of God is the aim and goal of man’s life, the purpose of his creation by God ("And this is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." John 17.3). 
In the spiritual tradition of the Church, the knowledge of God and His truth is the main goal of life. “For what meaning would there be for creation,” asks Saint Athanasius the Great, “if man should not know God?” (On the Incarnation, Book 1). Saint Gregory of Nyssa has said, “The Lord does not say that it is blessed to know something about God, but rather to possess God in oneself.” (On the Beatitudes, Sermon 6) The possession of God within the mind and heart is the true knowledge of God. 
In all of his letters, the Apostle Paul prays that the faithful would “be filled with the knowledge of Christ’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” since “God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (Colossians 1.8–9, 1 Timothy 2.4).                                                      - Fr. Thomas Hopko 'The Orthodox Faith - The Virtues'
 
NOTES
  • Attached to this email is The Weekly Bulletin and Metropolitan Saba's teaching. Please take a few minutes to read both.
  • If you have not done so already, please contact Nabil Aboukhaled or Jane Pasley to reserve your tickets for our annual Hafli on Saturday, February 22nd. More information may be found in the bulletin.
  • Memory Eternal - Zakia Salloum. Visitation, Funeral and Burial arrangements for Zakia Salloum are as follows: Monday, February 3rd: Visitation 9:30 AM, followed by Funeral at 10:00 AM, at Saint Mary's. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Park (Parker Avenue). A 40 Day Memorial Service for her repose will be on Sunday, March 2nd. Memory Eternal!
  • Pray with us this coming week.
Saturday, February 1st - Great Vespers at 6:30 PM.
Sunday, February 2nd: The Feast the Presentation of Christ into the Temple - Matins at 8:50 AM, the Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM. Fr. Peter will offer his monthly Children's Sermon prior to Communion.
Wednesday, February 5th - Vespers Service at 6:30 PM, followed by our weekly Spiritual Discussion.
 
"If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option. In the same way a person can get an impression of God: He must either trust those who have stood and stand in immediate proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself."     +Saint Nicholas of Serbia
 
With love in Christ,
Fr. Peter
Sunday, January 26, 2025

files/Bulletin-January-26-2025.pdf (2452kb)

files/On-Salvation---My-Salvation-and-the-Salvation-of-Others-EN.pdf (144kb)

Hope

This week's email continues with the teaching on the 'Christian Virtues' (also known as the 'Fruits of the Spirit'), as we look at the virtue of 'Hope.' 
Hope is the assurance of the good outcome of our lives lived by faith in God. Hope is the power of certain conviction that the life built on faith will produce its fruits. Hope is the confidence that, despite all darkness and sin, the light of the loving forgiveness of God is upon us to do with us and for us what we ourselves cannot do. The opposite of hope is despondency and despair. According to the spiritual tradition of the Church, the state of despondency and despair is the most grievous and horrible condition that a person can be in. It is the worst and most harmful of the sinful states possible for the soul. The loss of hope is the worst possible state because without hope, nothing else is possible; certainly not faith. If a person is faithless, he can be chastised and convinced. If a person is proud, he can be humbled; impure, he can be cleansed; weak, he can be strengthened; wicked, he can be made righteous. But if a person is despondent and despairing, the very condition of his sickness is such that his heart and soul are dead and unresponsive to the grace of God and the support of his brothers.
The only remedy for despair is humility and patience, the steadfast holding to the life of faith, even without conviction or feeling. It is the simplification of life by going through each day, one day at a time, with the continual observances, however external, of scriptural reading, liturgical worship, fasting, prayer, and work. In the advice of +Saint Benedict, it is to "remain stable in one’s place, and to “do what you are doing” as well as you can, with all possible attention."  +Saint Seraphim of Sarov teaches that it is to "visit with spiritual friends, with those who are hopeful, merciful, joyful and strong. It is to stand fast to the end until the light of blessed hope and comfort are found."
"For in hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8.24–25)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     - 'The Virtues' by Fr. Thomas Hopko
NOTES:
  • Attached to this week's email is The Weekly Bulletin and Metropolitan Saba's Teaching. Please take a few minutes to read through both.
  • The Annual General Meeting of Saint Mary's will be this coming Sunday, January 26th, at 11:45 PM, in the Banquet Hall. Lunch will be provided by the Parish Council. Please plan to attend and participate in the work and ministry of your church.
  • Reservations and tickets for our annual Hafli on Saturday, February 22nd, are now available. Please speak to Nabil Aboukhaled or Jane Pasley to reserve your seat.
  • There will be no Vesper Services this coming Saturday, January 25th, and Wednesday, January 29th.
  • Join us in prayer this coming Sunday, January 26th. Matins begin at 8:50 AM, followed by the Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM. As a reminder, Sunday School Classes are held each Sunday morning following Communion. 
“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honour your patience.” +Saint John Climacus
 
With love in Christ,
Fr. Peter
Sunday, January 19, 2025

files/Bulletin-January-19-2025-29th-Sunday-after-Pentecost.pub (465kb)

files/Baptizing-the-World-2-EN.pdf (120kb)

Faith

Over the next several weeks our weekly email will focus on the virtues of the Orthodox Faith. These virtues are often referred to as the "fruits of the Spirit" of which we all should have in truly being in the image and likeness of God. This week the spotlight is on 'Faith.' 

  The foundation of all Christian virtue and life is faith.Faith in God is fundamental for spiritual life. And to believe in God is to believe in His Son Jesus Christ as well. Faith in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” is the center of the Christian life and the foundation of the Church (Matthew 16:16). It is the source of all wisdom, power and virtue. It is the means by which man can know and do all things, for “all things are possible to him who believes” (Matthew 17:20). Faith, first of all, is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith itself is a “gift of God” given to all and accepted by the poor in spirit and the pure in heart, who are open to the activity of God in their lives (Ephesians 2:8).

Man was made to have faith in God. Not to believe in God is a perversion of human nature and the cause of all evils. The weakness and absence of faith in God is rooted in sin, impurity and pride. It is never simply the result of an intellectual mistake or mental confusion. It is always the result of the suppression of the truth through wickedness, the exchange of God’s truth for a lie, the refusal, consciously or unconsciously, to acknowledge God with honor and thanksgiving. 

The spiritual person is the one who, by the grace of God’s Spirit, is faithful in all things. The spiritual person lives “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The spiritual person is the one who, by the grace of God’s Spirit, is faithful in all things.                              (Fr. Thomas Hopko 'The Orthodox Faith: The Virtues)

NOTES:

  • Attached to this week's email is The Weekly Bulletin and Metropolitan Saba's Teaching. Please take a few minutes to read both.
  • Our weekly Bible Study on the Gospel of Matthew continues this Tuesday, January 21st. Led by Jim Gavrilos, the classes are held in the Banquet Hall from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. All are welcome to attend. Please bring your bibles.
  • As a reminder, Spiritual Discussions are held each Wednesday following Vespers (at 6:30 PM). This week's topic" 'A Christian Ending to Our Life,'
  • Home Blessings continue until the beginning of Great Lent (Monday, March 3rd). Instructions on scheduling a Home Blessing may be found in The Weekly Bulletin.
  • Annual Hafli - Saturday, February 22nd. For reservations, please speak with Nabil Aboukhaled or Jane Pasley.
  • Join us in prayer this coming week:

Saturday, January 18th: Great Vespers at 6:30 PM.

Sunday, January 19th: Matins at 8:50 AM; Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM.

Wednesday, January 22nd: Vespers at 6:30 PM.

"Only one who guards himself from all sin can have sincere and fervent faith. Faith is only preserved in the presence of good morals."  +Saint Nikon of Optina

With love in Christ,

Fr. Peter

Organizations, Ministries and Education

Our parish organizations, which include Amen, the ladies Society, Teen SOYO, young Adult Ministry, Sunday School, and the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch, we welcome your participation

Additional Sites:
Our Mission
The mission of St. Mary Orthodox Church of West Palm Beach is to live out and proclaim the gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ through worship, witness, fellowship and service.

Father Peter Shportun, Priest/Pastor

 

Sunday Morning Services:

 

    Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM

    Matins at 8:45 AM

    Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM.


    Wednesday Service:

       Vespers at 6:30PM

 

Feast Day Services are as announced in the Sunday Bulletin and the Church Website.

 

Schedule of Services
Sunday
8:30am - Sunday Morning Service

Confessions 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM

Matins at 8:50 AM

Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM.<

  
Wednesday
6:30pm - Wednesday Vesper Service:
  
Feast
  - Feast Day Services

Feast Day Services are as announced in the Sunday Bulletin and the Church Website.