You Belong Here! The MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE HOLY TAXIARHAI AND SAINT HARALAMBOS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 7373 CALDWELL AVENUE, NILES, ILLINOIS · 60714 PHONE (847) 647-8880 WWW.SAINTHARALAMBOSGOC.ORG “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) Great Lent 2016 FORGIVENESS AND HEALING To forgive does not mean to forget what has hap- one of the saints, in which a priest was praying to God pened, but to shoulder the weight of another person’s to punish those who betrayed Him by their lives if not frailty or even another person’s evil. St. Paul says, by their words. And Christ appeared to him and said, “Learn to carry one another’s burdens.” These burdens “Never pray for the punishment or the rejection of any are often the failure of each of us to be worthy of our one. If there was only one sinner in the world, I would calling—our incapacity to love one another, to accept choose to be incarnate again, and again to die upon the one another, to serve one another, to help one another cross for this only sinner.” on the way that leads to God. Let each of us pass a judg- Remember, if we do not forgive our brother, it is ment on our whole soul, on our whole life, judge our- not only he who goes away with pain and tears in his selves honestly and ask forgiveness not only from God heart, but we are wounded. If we do not forgive, we are but from our neighbor, which is sometimes much harder ourselves not healed. The evil that occurred to us at the than asking forgiveness from God. hands of another person remains with us, damaging our We are all frail. We are all in need of support. Do we soul, destroying us. give this support to one another? Or do we chose those Let us learn to forgive, so that others may be healed, whom we want to support because we like them, be- but also that we may be healed ourselves. Come and cause supporting them is a joy, because supporting bow before the icon of Christ and of the Mother of them means that they also respond to us by gratitude, by God, then turn to one another with the readiness to be friendship? Let us avoid seeking reasons not to forgive. forgiven and to forgive, whatever the cost to us. I remember a man who said to me, “I can forgive Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of Sourozh every person who has sinned against me, I can even from a Forgiveness Vespers sermon given in 1999 love them, but I must hate the enemies of God.” I (from “In Communion,” the journal of the thought of something which is told to us in the life of Orthodox Peace Fellowship, January 2010) WORSHIP SCHEDULE HOLY TAXIARHAI AND March 2016 SAINT HARALAMBOS Saturday, March 5—Saturday of the Souls GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH ΨΥΧΟΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ NILES, ILLINOIS 8:30 am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy Proistamenos……….………....….Fr. Constantine P. Botsis Sunday, March 6—Meat-Fare Sunday Synefimerios…………….…..….….....Fr. George Lamberis 8:15 am—Orthros Pastoral Assistant....……….…... Deacon John G. Suhayda 9:30 am—Sunday School Chanter…………..........….………...…..…..Nick Harisiadis 9:30 am—Divine Liturgy Parish Council Officers Wed, Mar 9—The Forty Martyrs of President………...…...……………… Perry Giannopoulos Sevasteia Vice President…...............………...……..… Nick Andrews Treasurer……….…...................................... David Loomos 8:30 am-Orthros and Liturgy Secretary……………….………..….......... Argy Koutsikos Saturday, Mar 12—Saturday of the Souls Phase III Chairman................................Perry Giannopoulos ΨΥΧΟΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ Stewardship………………….. 8:30 am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy Budget Committee Chairman ...............Perry Giannopoulos Sunday, March 13—Cheese-Fare Sunday Building & Grounds Chairman……. 8:15 am—Orthros ………. Michael Pontikes and Theodoros Karabatsos 9:30 am—Sunday School Decor Committee Chairman....................Stephan Aliferakis 9:30 am—Divine Liturgy Finance Committee Chairman………............. Tom Sikoral Outreach Committee……………..………...…..John Pierce 7:00 pm—Forgiveness Vespers School Board Chairman………...............Olympia Bournias GREAT LENT BEGINS Audit Committee Chairman…..………...…….Evan Houpis .. Monday, March 14 (Καθαρά Δευτέρα) Food Fest Chairman………………. 5:30 pm—Great Compline Philoptochos President..…………..............Maria Dimitriou Tuesday, March 15 PTA Co-Presidents (Afternoon School)…. 6:00 pm—Great Compline ….....Anna Sikoral and Kathy Ioannidis PTA President (Preschool)….…….…...Marianna Memmos Wednesday, March 16 PTA Co-Presidents (Saturday School)……. 6:00 pm—Liturgy of the Presanctified ........Angelo Mihalopoulos and Georgia Pipikios Thursday, March 17 Greek School Principal……............... Mrs. Anastasia Liapi 6:00 pm—Great Compline Saturday School Director….….Mrs. Andrianna Panayiotou Friday, March 18 Preschool Director…..……….…….........Mrs. Rita Petratos 7:00 pm—Salutations to the Theotokos Sunday School Director…….…..Presvytera Georgia Botsis Athletic Director…………….…..…....…… David Loomos Saturday, March 19—Saturday of the Scoutmaster..……..…………..…....….. George Alpogianis Souls— ΨΥΧΟΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ Asst Scoutmaster…….…….……..……... Vasili Zimbrakos 8:30 am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy Asst Cubmaster…...………..……...………....... John Frake Sunday, March 20—Sunday of Orthodoxy Little Angels……………………...Mrs. Christine Blackaby 8:15 am—Orthros YAL President……........................….....Christina Pappadis 9:30 am—Sunday School GOYA President…................................ ……... Alex Anton 9:30 am—Divine Liturgy Jr. Goya Advisor…………….….…..…… Jolynn Ruggerio Wednesday, March 23 Bookstore Manager…...............…......……Jolynn Ruggerio 6:00 pm--Presanctified Liturgy Web Master.….....…..………..…....…..…. George Houpis Friday, March 25—The ANNUNCIATION STEWARDSHIP 2016! 8:30 am—Orthros and Liturgy What does your church mean to you? What does it offer to you? Sun, March 27—St Gregory Palamas What keeps the doors open to serve your needs? 8:15 am—Orthros How important is Baptism, Holy Communion, forgiveness and the 9:30 am—Sunday School many other blessings you derive from your church? 9:30 am—Divine Liturgy What gives the church the “fuel” to power its activities and programs? Monday, March 28 6:00 pm—Great Compline ANSWER: STEWARDSHIP! And these are the questions we should ask when we determine our level of stewardship every year! Everyone Wednesday, March 30 should have a different stewardship level from everyone else, and every 6:00 pm--Presanctified Liturgy year it should change according to our means and our love! Our stew- OUR SISTER COMMUNITY of the Annunciation Cathe- ardship level should be an amount that reflects our love for God and our dral in Chicago invites you to Great Vespers on Thursday appreciation for the blessings and benefits we derive from our Church. evening, March 24, in honor of the feast of the Annunciation, If you have not yet made your 2016 commitments, please do so. and to Liturgy on Friday morning, March 25. (Of course, There is no minimum, but true stewardship means giving in proportion Liturgy WILL be celebrated at St Haralambos on March 25.) to our resources and income. HOLY TAXIARHAI AND SAINT HARALAMBOS Καθαρά Δευτέρα -- First Day of Great Lent GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH LENTEN DINNER From Father Dean 7:00 pm on Monday, March 14, 2016 March 2016 Dear Stewards and Friends, Sunday, March 20, 2016 is What a wonderful Dinner Dance! Our “Be the Future” event SUNDAY of ORTHODOXY took place on February 14 at Empress Banquets in Addison, and it was delightful evening with excellent food and excellent music! Our Plan to come to our annual Master of Ceremonies was Taso Tzotzolis, and Mr. Tom Tsaganos Pan-Orthodox Vespers gave a moving narrative of the early days of our community, along at St. Demetrios Church in Elmhurst with hope and vision for the future. We were also gratefully surprised by a generous contribution from Jim and Eleni Bousis to underwrite the cost of the banquet! We thank them and the chairpersons for the evening, Richard and Eleni Kozlowski, Eleni Lanzourakis and Argy PAN-ORTHODOX Koutsikos for their marvelous and detailed planning! AKATHIST HYMN We are also excited as our March 31st deadline comes up for donations and pledges to benefit our Community Center Expansion 7:30 IN THE EVENING, Project! If our members have been supportive, that will be the day TUESDAY, APril 19, 2016 we learn that we can begin construction this summer! We have not taken on a major project like this for many years. As Holy Mother of God everyone knows, these projects do not happen often (our church was Serbian Orthodox Monastery constructed way back in 1988), and when a community decides to Rt. 45, 1 mile south of Rt 132 build, it requires extraordinary support from all the members. That’s (Grand Av.) why we have asked you for a 3-year pledge. Third Lake (Grayslake), IL There have been several generous gifts and we are thankful for them! There have been too many other gifts, however, which make RESPONSES WILL BE SUNG BY THE PAN-ORTHODOX CHOIR me think that many people do not understand, because the level of giving over 3 years is very low to reach a level of $3.6 million (which is only 60% of our goal). St. Haralambos Philoptochos presents its Of course we are grateful for every donation! If you have not yet made your pledge, please know that we are depending on you. Please Annual Spring send in your pledge by March 31st! With everyone’s love and contri- bution, construction can begin this summer! Please be generous. Bake Sale Great Lent begins on March 14, and all the special, beautiful Home-made Pastries for Easter! services of Lent will begin. On the first day of Lent, “Pure Monday,” we will have our annual Lenten Dinner following the Compline Ser- Wednes-Thurs April 20-21, 2016 vice. Plan to join us as we begin our Lenten Journey together. St. Haralambos Community Center Besides our parish services, the Solemn Vespers (Κατνυκτικός Εσπερινός) will take place in various churches every Sunday evening of Lent, and during the Third Week of Lent, we are invited to the an- 2016 STEWARDSHIP nual Celebration of Orthodox Books at Holy Apostles Church in Westchester.