The Trophy-Bearer a Monthly Publication of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church New Castle, Pennsylvania October 2020 Volume IV, Issue 10
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The Trophy-Bearer A monthly publication of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church New Castle, Pennsylvania October 2020 Volume IV, Issue 10 Saints Zenaida & Philonella October 11th SAINT GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH ΙΕΡΟΣ ΝΑΟΣ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ 315 W. Englewood Avenue - New Castle, PA 16105 Church: (724) 654–8521 - www.stgeorgenewcastle.org Fr. Michael A. Gavrilos - Parish Priest [email protected] Parish Council Members President—Helen Ritchie Vice-President—Artie Christou Treasurer—Nicholas Ligerakis Secretary—Eric Karmecy Josh Ballew Nik Foukas Spero Kardambikis Sotirios Kolovos Beth Tsiris Service Times Please Check the Monthly Calendar for Services Services Times—Unless Otherwise Noted Sunday Orthros 8:15 a.m. Sunday Divine Liturgy 9:30 a.m. Mon-Sat Orthros & Divine Liturgy 8:30 a.m. Evening Services 6:00 p.m. Confession: By Appointment The Trophy-Bearer If you would like an article, or photos in The Trophy-Bearer, submit them electronically to Fr. Michael ([email protected]) no later than the 15th of the month. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” -James 5:14 If you or your loved one is sick, in the hospital, or need a priest, please contact Fr. Michael so that he will be able to visit them. Fr. Michael’s Message Christ is in our Midst! There are so many thoughts and concerns that we all have had over roughly the past seven months, and most of these have had to deal with the global pandemic that impacts our daily lives, the coronavirus. We all have been struggling, we all have questions that we want immediate answers for that we never seem to get answered, we just want to know when things will get back to some semblance of our pre- coronavirus lives. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to know all the answers to the questions that have been in our minds over the past seven months. However, something that we do know for sure is that the work of the Church must go on! As Orthodox Christians we are called to live our lives a certain way, and some of the aspects (not all) include praying daily, participating in the sacramental life of the Church, putting others needs before our own which include feeding the hungry, giving drink to those who are thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, and visiting those imprisoned.(Matthew 25:35-45) These examples are something that our Church of St. George can do on a daily basis. We have an active life in terms of Church Services, and I encourage everyone to not only go to weekday services during Great and Holy Lent, but also during the rest of the year. Our firm foundation in our faith uses the Liturgical life of the Church as a great first step to the rest of our Church life. Our Liturgical Services that we have incorporate worshiping together, hearing holy scripture, and receiving the sacraments of the Church. Outside of the Liturgical Services that each Orthodox Church does throughout the world, it really is up to each individual parish to decide how they would like to handle the different ministries in that parish. That is one of the main reasons I recently sent out a survey to everyone in the parish, I wanted to have a better idea of what WE all wanted to do as a parish. In the little over four years that I have been at St. George, there have been many great and inspiring ideas of what we can do as a Church, but unfortunately most of these were just that, only ideas. I wanted to get in writing from all of us what we would like to see done at St. George. We have 76 households on our Stewardship list at St. George, and I would like to thank the 24 households that responded to the survey. One of the questions on the survey asked: what you would like to see done over the next year in terms of revamping an old ministry, or starting a new ministry at the Church. The top three answers were (1) some form of community outreach, (2) adult education, (3) youth events. I want to focus on these top three answers, and God willing in the future, we can incorporate other new ministries as well. Being a small Church does not mean we cannot do anything, we just start small with the resources we have. Community outreach is an important part of the Church life. We should not be satisfied as a Church that the greater New Castle area knows us because we have the “Greek Fest” every year. Rather, it should be known that we work with those around us by feeding the hungry, giving drink to those who are thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, and visiting those imprisoned. How we do these things is up to us, and that is why I am inviting all of you to a meeting on Wednesday, October 14th at our Church where we can discuss how we would like to handle the Outreach that we do at St. George. Being an Orthodox Christian does not mean we can read a book or two and fully grasp every single aspect of the Church, so our spiritual formation is important throughout our entire lives, even as adults. In terms of adult education, we have already had classes with the book “Introducing the Orthodox Church” by Fr. Anthony Coniaris, and we went through the “Journey to Fulness Class” by Fr. Barnabas Powell, and the next set of classes is going to be for those interested in adult education at the Church. Ideas have ranged from having a Book Study, reading a book about the life of a Saint, Bibles Study, etc. To help us decide what we would like study next for adult education, please join us on Tuesday, October 20th at Church to decide. We may have all heard some form of the phrase “the youth of the Church is the future of the Church.” I would like to take it one step further and say that the youth of the church ARE the church. As I write this, if we counted everyone under the age of 18 who are stewards at the Church, we would have 43 children. This is wonderful! I know as a child, I enjoyed so many things that the Church offered the youth, including JOY and GOYA events (basketball, summer camp, volleyball, fall/spring retreats), Folk Dance Festivals, Sunday School, (continued on page 7) October 2020 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2nd Sunday of Luke Orthros & Divine Liturgy 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Sunday of the Outreach 7th Ecumenical Ministry Council Meeting Orthros & 6:00 p.m. Divine Liturgy 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Luke the St. Artemios St. George Gyro Evangelist 8:30 a.m. Fest Orthros & Orthros & 11:00 a.m.- Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy 7:00 p.m. Adult Education Parish Council Meeting Meeting 6:00 p.m. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 6th Sunday of St. Demetrios Luke 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Orthros & Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy Youth Ministry Meeting following Sunday School November 2020 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5th Sunday of Vigil Translation of Luke 6:00 p.m. the Relics of St. Orthros & Vespers, George Divine Liturgy Paraklesis, Orthros, Divine Liturgy 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 7th Sunday of St. Nektarios St. John Luke 8:30 a.m. Chrysostom Holy Archangels Orthros & 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Divine Liturgy Orthros & Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 8th Sunday of Entrance of the Luke Theotokos in the Orthros & Temple Divine Liturgy 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Parish Council Divine Liturgy Meeting Holy Unction 4:00 p.m. ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 9th Sunday of St. Katherine Thanksgiving Luke 8:30 a.m. Day Orthros & Orthros & Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy Fall General Assembly ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ 29 30 13th Sunday of St. Andrew Luke 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Orthros & Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ~~~ Nativity Fast ~~~ COVER ICON—Saints Zenaidi and Philonella October 11th The holy sisters Zenaida (or Zenais) and Philonella were born in the district of Tarsus early in the first century. They were cousins of the Apostle Paul and were born into a highly educated Jewish family. Both sisters had a natural intelligence and a love for learning. When they entered the famous school at Tarsus to study philosophy, the sisters were instantly attracted to the lectures of the medical theorists. Their cousin Jason, Bishop of Tarsus, was an early convert to Christianity and a follower of their kinsman, the Apostle Paul. The two sisters learned the Christian faith from Jason and were attracted by the love and compassion of Christ. After their baptism, the two gave themselves over more fully to the study of medicine and began to apply Christian principles and ideas to medical philosophy. They understood that salvation is a healing process and they were deeply impressed with the realization that Christ healed the whole person, spiritual and physical, with the presence of the Holy Spirit. When Saints Zenaida and Philonalla completed their studies, they moved to Thessaly, where there were many medicinal mineral springs flowing in the numerous caverns of the Felion Mountains.