September-October 2019 Trumpet
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TrumpetThe Archangel Michael INSIDE THIS ISSUE Sep-Oct 2019 • Issue 47 • Archangel Michael Church • Port Washington, NY 2 Mission & Vision Statement 3 Fr. John’s Message 4 Fr. Joshua’s Message 5 Worship Services & Sacraments 6 Archbishop Elpidophoros 7 St. Elpidophoros 7 Philoptochos 9 National Oratorical Festival 10 Sunday School 11 Greek School 12 Byzantine Youth Choir 12 GOYA 13 Greek Dance Troupe 13 Athletics 17 Eagle Scout Project 17 AMC LION Events 18 Congratulations Graduates 19 Health & Wellness 19 Annual 5K Walk/Run 20 Watsonian Golf Outing 20 Proper Church Etiquette 21 Golf Outing Sponsors 22 AMC Little Angels 22 Community Photos 24 Calendars QUICK NEWS & EVENTS Friday, September 6th: GOYA Ice Cream Social Sun., September 8th: Welcome Back Fellowship Sunday School Begins Monday, September 9th: Philoptochos Meeting Tues., September 17th: Greek School Begins/Agiasmo Wednesday, September 18th: Byzantine Youth Choir Welcome Party Fri-Sun., September 27th-29th: Festival on the Harbor Sun., October 20th: General Assembly Sat.,October 26th: Annual 5K Run/Walk Sun., October 27th: GOYA Pancake Breakfast The Icon of Jesus Resurrecting Lazarus Sunday Themes of Great Lent Donated by Louis Lazarus and Marina Vlahos The Archangel Michael The Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church is dedicated to the continuation of Trumpet our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s ministry of salvation About the Parish through the proclamation Mission Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church and teaching of the Gospel. 100 Fairway Drive Statement Port Washington, New York 11050 We are a community of Phone: 516-944-3180 individuals and families who Fax: 516-944-3185 share the traditions and Website: ArchangelMichaelChurch.org Email: [email protected] ageless beliefs of our Holy Archangel Michael Church is a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District and Orthodox Christian Faith. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (www.goarch.org, 212-570-3500) under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Our vision is to provide Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. a loving, caring and welcoming environment Vision where all belong and Statement grow in the faith through worship, service, witness and fellowship. Archbishop Elpidophoros Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Clergy Fr. John K. Lardas, Protopresbyter Fr. Joshua Pappas, Presbyter Fr. Dennis Strouzas, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Chanter: Petros Malliaris Office Staff: Dora Gouramanis, Christine Zeiner Accounting Services Contractor: Catherine Papagianakis Parish Council Members Executive Board President: Michael Bapis 1st Vice President: John Halkias 2nd Vice President: Harry Lascarides Treasurer: Michael Cavounis 1st Assistant Treasurer: Chris Neocleous 2nd Assistant Treasurer: Andreas Tsalikis Secretary: Nick Kokinakis Stelios Diakoumakis, Fiffy Eliades, Eleni Germanakos, Adam Karras, John Koumpourlis, Spiro Maliagros, Helen Maropakis, Barbara Mavro, Oscar Michelen, Mark Pappas, Gus Rogdakis, Peter Stavrinos, Nicholas Tzoumas, Demetrios Ziozis About the Trumpet The Trumpet is the newsletter of The Trumpet welcomes news and events from our Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church. community and organizations. Production Please submit information as follows: 2019 Parish Council President: Michael Bapis Articles: [email protected] Editors: Barbara Mavro, Eleni Sfiroudis Advertising information and sales: [email protected] Copy Editor: Steve Diakoumakis Calendar events: [email protected] Direct inquiries to: [email protected] Calendar Editor: Christine Zeiner Sep/Oct Worship Schedule Sunday Services: 8:15am Orthros, 9:30am Liturgy 2 | Archangel Michael | Sep/Oct 2019 www.archangelmichaelchurch.org Pastoral Message from Father John Lardas The Garden of Our Soul a payment. The yield of a hundredfold is one who has progressed by love to a relationship of a son or a daughter “And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a to the master. hundredfold.” LK8:8 Working the Soil of Our Soul Many, growing up in a Greek family, have fond memories of The one major variable in the Parable of the Sower is the their parents’ or grandparents’ garden, otherwise known condition of the soil. Even if a person’s heart and soul as the “κήπο”. Having grown up in such a tradition, there is hard or choked by weeds it may be worked through does not a summer go by without planting a garden in repentance. The preliminary work on a person’s soul must the backyard! Throughout the summer, in order for the be done by the person. John the Baptist began his ministry Garden to produce good vegetables, one has to spend preaching, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at much time weeding, and then weeding and then weeding hand! Prepare ye the way of the again. Along with this the garden Lord, make his paths straight!” The has to be watered and the plants preparation of a person’s heart and need to receive plenty of nutrition, soul, to have the living Word of God “κοπρία”. cultivated within it, begins with blaming oneself, confession and The Sower abstention from evil. The great instructor, Christ Himself, uses with His divine wisdom, The Understanding of Jesus’ specific imageries that are basic to Parables life, in His parables to help build the Jesus ends the Parable of the Sower spiritual instruction in a person’s by crying out, “He that has ears heart and soul for their salvation. to hear, let him hear”. The focus One such parable is the Parable of of the Lord is not on the ears of a the Sower found in the Gospels of person but on the mind of a person. Luke 8:5-15 & Matthew 13:1-8. The The philosopher Pythagoras once Sower is Christ Himself, who by His said, “It is the mind which sees incarnation (when He became man and the mind which hears”. Psalm through the Holy Spirit and His Holy 110 by King David states, “a good Mother, Mary) scatters the seeds of understanding have all they that do the Gospel into people hearts. his commandments”. In spiritually understanding the Parables of Jesus, The Different Types of Soil in St. Gregory Palamas teaches the Poor Condition following, “the word is recognized The heart and soul of a person through deeds, it is not simply the is symbolized by the different listener who has ears to hear, but conditions of soil, on which the the obedient man who puts what he seeds fall. According to St. Greogory hears into practice.” Palamas, the hard soil, where the seed fell wayside, represents those whom the Lord casts As an Orthodox Christian works his or her garden, or if out and rejects because they pay no attention to the divine they admire the pretty gardens of a friend’s home or the Spirit’s teaching. Thus the devil easily ensnares them. The more elaborate gardens found at places like the Botanical seed that fell amongst the thorns and the stones are those Gardens, may these earthly gardens motivate the spiritual who retain knowledge of the Gospel but are corrupted by work needed to cultivate the garden of one’s soul to wealth, glory and self-indulgence of this life. prepare it for the best garden found in heaven or on earth, that of Paradise. The Yield of the Good Soil The good soil, upon receiving the Word of God brought By Fr. John K. Lardas forth some thirty, some sixty and some a hundredfold(as Protopresbyteros & Dean found in the Gospel of Matthew). Once again according to St. Gregory Palamas, the different yields are symbolic of the different aspects of servitude. The yield that was thirty fold is compared to a slave who serves his master out of fear. The yield of sixty fold is like a servant who expects www.archangelmichaelchurch.org Archangel Michael | Sep/Oct 2019 | 3 Pastoral Message from Father Joshua Instead of being thrown into the world to fend for The New Ecclesiastical Year ourselves, the Feast offers a sure-footed foundation on which to build a healthy spiritual rhythm: the Liturgical Happy New Year! On September 1st each year, Orthodox cycle. This ‘cycle’ has several layers: daily Scripture Christians worldwide begin a new Ecclesiastical Year, readings, major feasts (commemorating primary events marking the beginning of the Liturgical cycle. of salvation history), fast / feast periods, and the commemoration of specific saints and holy events. In the In the agrarian culture from which Christianity initially Liturgical cycle, we contemplate Christ directly and also emerged, September 1st was a time of critical transition. through His glorified saints; either way, all roads lead to It marked the end of the harvest (i.e. gathering of Christ. crops) as well as the beginning of the new harvest (i.e. planting of seeds). In our modern world of convenience, We do not worship, read Scripture, honor saints, and with everything seemingly at our fingertips, we feel less follow fasting / feasting guidelines as a separate dependent on yearly agricultural production. For our component from the rest of our lives, as if they’re mere ancient Christian ancestors, however, it was very natural pieces of a puzzle. That is a decidedly religious approach, – even essential – to reach out to God with special a compartmentalized approach that Christ criticized intensity before the new harvest, praying that He bless sharply (e.g. see His interactions with the Pharisees, the coming year and giving thanks Sadducees, and scribes). Instead, the for all the blessings of the previous Liturgical cycle is meant to become who I year. am. How? More meaningful than New Year’s Christ is fully God and fully human, resolutions that enervate over time, two natures united in a single person the Feast of the new Ecclesiastical (ὑπόστασις, hypostasis). This isn’t Year encourages a re-centering of theological babble but rather a profound our lives on Christ. We’re weak; spiritual reality with incalculable we’re forgetful; we’re weighed implications; in the person of Christ, down in the same old patterns Immaterial and material are united, of thought and behavior, falling Heaven and earth come together, and short in our call to be continually there is no longer any distinction between “transformed into [God’s] image ‘sacred’ and ‘profane.’ God’s Kingdom from one degree of glory to is breaking into this world, a reality another” (1 Cor.