May 2018 Newsletter
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Proistamenos: Fr. Douglas Papulis ST. NICHOLAS (636) 527-7843 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER (314) 974-4613cell Parish Priest: Fr. Michael Arbanas ST. NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH (314) 425-9641 4967 FOREST PARK AVENUE Office (314)361-6924 ST. LOUIS, MO 63108-1495 Fax (314)361-3539 Office Administrator: Gracie Johnson ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH FAMILY LIFE CENTER Bookkeeper: Diane Winkler 12550 S FORTY DRIVE Email: [email protected] ST. LOUIS, MO 63141 Website: www.sngoc.org May 2018 Volume 22- Number 5 Pentecost May 27, 2018 FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? The filling of the Holy Spirit is the chassis - the drive train - of our Christian experience. Let’s pray: “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who art everywhere present and fillest all things. Treasury of blessings and giver of life, come and abide in us; and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.” This prayer is one of our daily prayers and one which we sing at the beginning of classes, meet- ings, and other endeavors. It was one of Father Basil’s favorite prayers and he talked for hours on the meaning of each phrase. He found it comforting in his last days. What should we know about this prayer? It was composed by the Fathers of the Church during the first centuries of the Church — as early as the third or fourth century. The Holy Spirit who descended upon the apostles is truly the fulfill- ment, the very crowning of the life of Jesus upon the earth. Now God dwells within the entire uni- verse, for “the spirit of truth is everywhere present and fills all things.” Jesus promised us this when He spoke to the apostles in the upper room as related in John 16:7-17: “It is better for you that I depart; for if I do not leave you the Comforter will not come unto you (and it is he who) will lead you into all truth.” The life of the Church surged forth from the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pente- cost. The Holy Spirit is the life of the Church, in Him the presence of God continues upon earth un- til the second and final coming of our Lord. Our life within the Church is a continual outreach to- wards the Kingdom which is to come. We can only draw near to the mystery of God in Trinity through the action of the Holy Spirit within us. No prayer can have life or meaning within us without the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why we ceaselessly invoke Him to “come and abide in us.” Then we can answer: “I am filled with the Holy Spirit,” when asked. -Orthodox Herald 1 . St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Monthly Bulletin May 2018 St. Nicholas Servants 2018 PARISH BOARD Announcements Teddy Hart, President 314-914-7711 Carol Kamburis, Vice-President Jonathan Hartley, Secretary Helen Carey, Treasurer George Ellis, DDS Asst. Treasurer Christina Anastas St. Nicholas Book John Davis Yemane Habtu Group Marilynn Jemas Tinna King,MD Calendar of events Bill Mastorakos, DDS, MS May 6 Sunday School Teacher apprecia- The St. Nicholas Book Joseph Palazzola tion day Chris Sarantakis Group will meet Monday, Stephanie Tyler May 7 Book group May 7th to discuss Major Kon Vellios May 11 Philoptochos “Kendra gives Back” AUDIT COMMITTEE May 12 Parish Council Retreat Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Mark Vleisides, Chairperson 314-576-2898 Adonis Chakides May 13 Mother’s Day Helen Simonson. The novel Roxana Couternais May 17 Ascension traces the unlikely friendship Peter Lemakis Philoptochos General meeting Janet Papageorge between a retired British CEMETERY COMMITTEE May 20 Sunday School picnic at FLC William Karides, Chairperson 636-281-0727 Great Vespers at St. Constantine & Helen officer and a widowed, Janet Hunnius in Swansea, IL Pakistani shopkeeper in his Irene Schildroth May 25-28 Junior Olympics CHURCH SCHOOL Co-Directors quiet English village. We Bess Fitzmaurice 636-343-3849 Despina Hartley 618-447-6548 Save the Date will meet at 7:00pm at the DANCE TROUPE Jun 29—St. Nicholas Golf Tournament Family Life Center. Georgia Johnson 314-832-0061 ELECTION COMMITTEE Jul 28-29—Taste of the Greek Festival Tina Paradowski , Chairperson 314-781-0781 at Family Life Center Kathy Forsting PLEASE JOIN US!!! Paul Leara Becky Liringis Mark Vleisides EVERYONE is GREETERS COMMITTEE Roxana Couteranis, Director 314-752-0252 Welcome INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) Demetrios Tsikalas (Co-chair) 314-323-2838 Jonathan Hartley (Co-chair) 618-520-9569 LIBRARY COMMITTEE Elaine Coulson, Chairperson 314-991-5033 Michael Doran Brandon Redmann “NEXT 100” Dan Tarlas , Chairperson 314-713-5500 PHILOPTOCHOS Carol Kamburis, President 314-803-2451 PHYSICAL FACILITIES -CHURCH Dino Pappas, Chairperson 314-701-8118 Bill Coulson Pat Johnson PHYSICAL FACILITIES –FAMILY LIFE Nick Tharenos, Chairperson 314-576-7011 Demo Argyros Nick Koskolos PLANNED GIVING John Koch, Chairperson 636-922-7732 Gracie Johnson—New Editor Sam Mezines PRISON MINISTRY Clark Porter, Director 314-518-6747 SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE Let’s welcome the new editor of the monthly newsleer!!! Denise Karras, Chairperson 314-368-4205 Barbara Corrigan Gracie Johnson, St. Nicholas Office Administrator Yemane Habtu Peter Takes St. Irenaeus Orthodox Theological Institute Gracie will be the new editor starng with the June issue. Michael G. Tsichlis, PhD 314-361-6924 x330 STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE Please submit all arcles to her at: [email protected] by Fr. Doug Papulis Fr. Michael Arbanas the 10th of every month. Mary Ann Mastorakos WEBSITE Rosie Hartley, Webpage Administrator 618-239-9359 2 . St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Monthly Bulletin May 2018 PRESIDENT’S NOTES Teddy Hart PHONE: 314-914-7711 If you are like me, you were most likely asking yourself through- Philoptochos team who prepared and served a deli- out the entire months of March and April whether it would EVER cious Palm Sunday Brunch. The flowers, desserts, EVER stop raining! Palm Sunday and even Easter brought organization, cooks and omelet chefs – so many peo- snow flurries, of all things! But we survived and celebrated a ple were involved in ensuring that this event went off wonderful, wondrous Pascha. smoothly and beautifully. St. Nicholas church and the Family Life Center are very similar = Jeanne Tompras, Kathy Ginos, and their team for to your home – they require electricity, water, trash removal, etc. their incredible artistic talents in decorating our church And also like your home, they operate on a budget. To operate so beautifully for our Holy Week and Paschal season. on a budget, you must understand your expenses and your in- = Chrysoula Tomaras and her team for the delicious come. We have a pretty clear understanding of our operating and much-anticipated Anastasi Meal. Everyone soooo expenses. What we need is a clearer understanding of our in- looks forward to the feast-breaking reception following come. Operating Income comes from Stewardship. If you have the Resurrection Services of our Lord. not yet made your 2018 Stewardship pledge, please do so! = Joe Palazzola, Ben Murphy, Mary Argyros, and Lau- We held our Parish Council Meeting on March 20. Here are ren Rowe for the EASTER LAMB ROAST! This won- some highlights: derful event brings our church family together to break bread (with some over-eating involved) and to cele- In case you haven’t noticed, check out our new banners on brate the culmination of Holy Week and the Resurrec- the front of St. Nicholas and on the Family Life Center lawn. tion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us not forget that this year, 2018, is the first year of our beloved Parish’s Next 100 years – a momentous time to be The Next 100 Campaign is well over half way to its goal, celebrated by our yet-to-be-born children’s children and reaching $900K of the $1.5M goal. These funds will be allo- grandchildren long after we have passed out of this life. cated toward expanding church ministries, increasing the Thank you to Carol Kamburis and Jonathon Hartley! use of the Church and Family Life Center, making capital improvements, and establishing an Endowment. If you have We began the process of replacing some of our most in- not yet made or considered making a pledge, please con- need-of-replacing roofs. We now have a new roof over the sider it now. kitchen/restrooms area! And the small roof near the east stairway is on the contractor’s books and waiting for clear We thank the Family Life Center Facilities Team: Nick Tha- weather. We thank Dino Pappas for his efforts in working renos, Nick Koskolos, Demos Argyros, and Ray Hill for ded- with our contractors on our roof replacements and tuck icating hours of their handiwork replacing stained ceiling pointing (see below). tiles, repairing locks and soap dispensers, plumbing, and replacing light bulbs with energy-efficient money saving The exterior upper wall around the altar facing the alley is bulbs. We appreciate these little-recognized, but impactful contracted and scheduled for tuck pointing as soon as the efforts on behalf of our beloved FLC. weather is dry enough to begin. There is plaster damage on the interior walls behind the altar near Father Doug’s office SAVE THIS DATE: The St. Nicholas Golf Tournament is due to the deterioration of the mortar on this wall. This work scheduled for Friday, June 29. To all you golfers out there – should prohibit further damage in the altar area. mark your calendars! To all you non-golfers, but golf watch- ers/dinner eaters – mark your calendars! We want to thank the following individuals for chairing these If YOU would like to participate in the planning or execution of events over the past month: = any of the above listed activities in the future or on an on- Chris Sarantakis, John Davis, and Stephanie Benos going basis, please contact me! Tyler for chairing the Greek Independence Day Cele- We are here to serve through the Grace of God and for the bration.