ST. NICHOLAS ORTHODOX CHURCH

Transcription

1 ST. NICHOLAS ORTHODOX CHURCH Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of our souls and to guard the purity of our bodies with all fervor -St. Nicholas of Myra American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese Ecumenical Patriarchate Fr. Nicholas Mihaly, Pastor 1123 East Avenue Erie, PA H: (814) C: (203) More Information Parish Website: Diocesan Website: StNicholasErie/ Welcome! If you are new to our parish, welcome! St. Nicholas is a welcoming Orthodox Christian parish. As a reminder, only those Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves are invited to receive Communion. For all of our visitors, Orthodox or non-orthodox, please join us for coffee downstairs; meet Fr. Nick & the parishioners! Weekly Schedule Monday, January 7 9:30 AM; Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ Tuesday, January 8 9:30 AM; Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Virgin Mary Wednesday, January 9 9:30 AM; Divine Liturgy for St. Stephen Friday, January 11 6:30 PM; Akathist for the Nativity Saturday, January 12 2:00 PM; Orthodoxy on Tap Sunday, January 13 9:30 AM; Divine Liturgy Confessions are available thirty minutes prior to Divine Liturgy on the first Sunday of every month; thirty minutes before vespers on Saturday evenings; or by appointment. 1

2 Youth Event; Re-Scheduled for January 26 Our parish children and teens will meet on Saturday, January 26 at 2:00 PM. We will be working on a stewardship project for the parish and enjoying each other s company. Orthodoxy on Tap Thank You! Thank you to everyone who helped make this year s Christmas so blessed! Thank you to everyone who helped clean, decorate and set-up the Church and the hall. Thank you to everyone who helps sing and serve behind the altar. Thank you to everyone who attended the Advent services and made them so prayerful. But most of all, thank you to every single one of you for supporting your parish and for making Church attendance a priority. It is each of you who make St. Nicholas the beautiful parish family it is! Upcoming Events January 7-Christmas Day January 12-Orthodoxy on Tap January 13-Parish Christmas Party January 19-Blessing of Presque Isle Bay January 26-Youth Event March 11-Great Lent Begins April 28-Great & Holy PASCHA Our next gathering of Orthodoxy on Tap will be on Saturday, January 12 at 2:00 PM at the Voodoo Brewery on State Street. Fr. Stephen Loposky will be our guest speaker. House Blessings 2019 The house blessing season is almost upon us! Following the feast of Theophany and the Great Blessing of Water on January 19, Fr. Nick will be available for house blessings. Please see Fr. Nick to schedule a time to have your house blessed between January 20 & March 1. More information regarding house blessings will be in future bulletins. Blessing of Presque Isle Bay On Saturday, January 19, we will meet at Dobbins Landing for the Second Annual Pan-Orthodox Blessing of the waters of Presque Isle Bay. The service will begin at 1:00 followed by a fellowship gathering at Voodoo Brewery on State Street. Parish Christmas Party On Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 PM, we will have a parish Christmas party at the Irwin s house. All parishioners are invited to attend and celebrate the Nativity Feast as a parish family! Please see Alan Irwin if you have any questions. Jan 8 Irene Schwab Birthdays & Anniversaries 12 Richard Koerner 16 Jenny Beskid 16 Michael & Maria (Rallis) Latzer-31 Anniversary 17 Mark DeHaven 18 Debra Tarasovich If you would like Many Years to be sung for you or a loved one, please let Fr. Nick know prior to the beginning of Divine Liturgy 2

3 Parish Prayer List Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. James 5:16 For the Health of Fr. John Baranik, Fr. Lawrence Barriger, Fr. James Gleason, Fr. John Gido, Fr. Tony Joseph, Fr. Robert Lucas Fr. Nicholas Palun, Fr. Michael Polanichka, Fr. Michael Rustick, Fr. Jonathan Tobias, Fr. John Zboyovski, Fr. David Smoley, Pani Donna Smoley, Pani Connie Miloro, Pani Eleanor Pribish, George Arghyrou, Douglas Borkowski, Stephen Brancho, Emma Burkell, John Candia, Sandy Carlisle, Gail Collister, Robert Collister, James DeHaven, Mark DeHaven, Mary DeHaven, Peter Dimitriadis, Helen Douglas, Irene Fendya, Miko Jovanovich, John Kloss, Richard Koerner, Jean Kramer, Don Kuzmin, Olivia Kuzmin, Evelyn McCambridge, Mike McCambridge, Guy McIntyre, Orestes Mihaly, Serge Mihaly, Mark Mizak, Robert Perevuznik, Sr., Barbara Scheibeck, Richard Schrader, Irene Schwab, Elizabeth Skalko, Isabella Smith, Ignatius Thompson, Vicktor Volpe, Cheryl Walker, David Walker, Jake & Lauren, Steven, Katlyn Wyant, George Yurcan through the prayers of St. Nectarios the Wonderworker & St. Panteleimon the Great-Martyr and Healer For Expectant Mothers Pani Eleni Stagon, Sarah Fucsko, Brenna Mihaly through the prayers of St. Anna, the Mother of the Virgin Mary For the Repose of Bishop Athanasius Akunda, Pani Magdaline Blaschak, Pani Mary Kundla, Lawrence Beck, Helen Bires, Ann Burdick, Lousie Butts, Thomas Candia, Ann DiMarco, Anna Evanisko, Vera Fetchina, Alvin Irwin, John E. Kelley, Dennis Kormos, Kyle Lomme, Shane Murdock, Mildred Paproski, Rade Uzunovski May their memories be eternal! If you have someone you would like to be added to the prayer list, please see Fr. Nick 3

4 A Note from Fr. Nick Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Christos Rajdajetsja! Slavite Jeho! I welcome you all to the Cave! Forty days ago we began our journey to the cave in Bethlehem to see this newborn child. We spent forty days fasting, praying and doing good works so that we could be present at the birth of this baby. We increased our church attendance and participated in the sacraments of confession and communion so that we would be able to gaze upon the face of the Son of God in His crib. Now, we are here, we are at the cave. But this is no ordinary cave! It is not dark and gloomy, it is not hiding anything to be feared. Rather, it is filled with light! It is filled with the Light of the Godhead taken on human flesh! It is filled with the Light of the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! This is what we spent forty days to witness the birth of our salvation, God Himself taking on our human flesh so that we would be able to be united to God Himself. This is the magic' of the Christmas Season! Pani Stacey, Cyril, Nectarios and I wish each and every one of you, our beloved St. Nicholas Parish Family, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ, the coming in the flesh of God Himself and our salvation, be with you throughout the year! With all of my Love and Prayers, Fr. Nick Mihaly With the God-man Christ, all that is God s has become man s, human, ours, so that each of us individually and all of us assembled together in the Divine-human body of Christ, the Church, might become god-men, having attained to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:12-13). Therefore Christmas, the day of the birth of the Godman, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest and most important day in the history of all the worlds in which man moves and lives. St. Nikolai Velimirovich 4

5 In Defense of the Christmas Tree By Very Rev. Daniel Daly Several years ago during the Christmas season, a religious program on television caught my attention. The program featured a discussion on the dangers of cults, especially to young people. I found myself agreeing with the panelists as they warned young people about the hazards of dabbling in the demonic. Given the many New Age movements, the warning seemed timely. During the interview, however, one participant made a statement that shocked me. and the Christmas tree is pagan too, he asserted. The Christmas Tree? Pagan? Could it be that something most of us enjoy so much might be actually pagan in origin? Despite its growing commercialization, the Christmas tree is still associated with the fondest memories of our early childhood. Who does not remember approaching the tree on Christmas morning? Today people are so captivated by it that some even put it up in November! It finds a place in the home of believers and unbelievers alike. Most people are aware that the Christmas tree came to America with the immigrants from Germany, but just where did the Christmas tree originate? Are its origins to be found in paganism, as the speaker suggested? The Christmas tree does not date from early Germanic times. Its origins are to be found in a tradition that has virtually disappeared from Christianity, the Liturgical Drama. In the Middle Ages liturgical plays or dramas were presented during or sometimes immediately after the service in the churches of Western Europe. The earliest of these plays were associated with the Mysteries of Holy Week and Easter. Initially they were dramatizations of the liturgical texts. The earliest recorded is the Quem quaeritis ( Whom do you seek? ) play of the Easter season. T h e s e p l a y s l a t e r developed into the Miracle and Morality plays. Some were associated with events in the lives of wellknown saints. The plays were presented on the porches of large churches. Although these liturgical dramas have now virtually disappeared, the P a s s i o n P l a y o f Oberamergau, Germany is a recent revival of this dramatic form. One special mystery play was presented on C h r i s t m a s E v e, t h e d a y w h i c h a l s o commemorated the feast of Adam and Eve in the Western Church. The Paradise Play told the well-known story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise. The central prop in the play was the Paradise Tree, or Tree of Knowledge. During the play this tree was brought in laden with apples. The Paradise Tree became very popular with the German people. They soon began the practice of setting up a fir tree in their homes. Originally it was decorated with bread wafers commemorating the Eucharist. Later these 5

6 were replaced with various kinds of sweets. Our Christmas tree is derived, not from the pagan Yule tree, but from the paradise tree adorned with apples on December 24 in honor of Adam and Eve. The Christmas tree is completely biblical in origin. The first Christmas tree dates from 1605 in Strasbourg. By the 1700s the custom of the Christmas tree was widespread among the German people. It w a s b r o u g h t t o A m e r i c a b y e a r l y German immigrants, and it became popular in England through the influence of Prince Albert, the German husband of Queen Victoria. The use of evergreens at Christmas may date from St. Boniface of the eighth century, who dedicated the fir tree to the Holy Child in order to replace the sacred tree of Odin; but the Christmas tree as we know it today does not appear to be so ancient a custom. It appears first in the Christian Mystery play commemorating the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Christmas celebrates the great mystery of the Incarnation. In that mystery God the Word became man. In order to redeem us, God became one of us. He became part of His own creation. The Incarnation affirms the importance of both man and the whole of creation. For God so loved the world A faith which would seek to divorce itself from all the elements of the material world in s e a r c h f o r a n absolutely spiritual religion overlooks this most central mystery of Christmas, the m y s t e r y o f G o d becoming man, the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Enjoy your Christmas tree. Very Rev. Daniel Daly is pastor of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, Grand Rapids, MI. The Word Magazine- December How legitimate is it to use a fir tree in the celebration of Christmas? From the very earliest days of the Church, Christians brought many things of God s material creation into their life of faith and worship, e.g., water, bread, wine, oil, candles, and incense. All these things are part of God s creation. They are part of the world that Christ came to save. Man cannot reject the material creation without rejecting his own humanity. In Genesis man was given dominion over the material world. 6

7 Silent Night Celebrates 200 Years! On a cold Christmas Eve in 1818 pastor Joseph Franz Mohr ( ) walked the three kilometers from his home in the Austrian village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg to visit his friend Franz Xaver Gruber ( ) in the neighboring town of Arnsdorf bei Laufen. Mohr brought with him a poem he had written some two years earlier. He desperately needed a carol for the Christmas Eve midnight mass that was only hours away. He hoped his friend, a school teacher who also served as the church s choir master and organist, could set his poem to music. And one of the many amazing things about this carol is that Franz Gruber composed the Stille Nacht melody for Mohr in just a few hours on that December 24, Recent flooding of the nearby Salzach river had put the church organ out of commission, so Gruber composed the music for guitar accompaniment. A few hours after Gruber finished his composition, he and Mohr stood before the altar of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf to perform their own work. A local choir group backed them up as the sounds of the brand new carol broke the silence of that Stille Nacht. Because flooding had damaged its foundation, the St. Nicholas Church was demolished in the early 1900s. The Salzach river (which also flows through nearby Salzburg), has a tendency to flood. For this reason, the entire town of Oberndorf was relocated to a less flood-prone location some 800 meters upstream in the 1920s. Around the same time, a new parish church was constructed, and a small memorial chapel, the Stille-Nacht-Gedächtniskapelle, replaced the original Nicola-Kirche. For many years in the latter half of the 19th century, when the carol was beginning to become more popular, people who knew anything about Stille Nacht assumed the melody must have been composed by a more famous composer, possibly Beethoven, Haydn, or even Mozart. Although Gruber had made a written claim as the composer prior to his death in 1863, doubts lingered on into the 20th century. The question was officially settled only several years ago when an arrangement of Stille Nacht in Joseph Mohr s hand was authenticated. In the upper right-hand corner of the arrangement Mohr had written the words, Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber. Around 1832, when Gruber s melody was performed by folk singers from Austria s Ziller Valley (Zillertal), several musical notes were altered, and the Silent Night melody became what we know today. But Austria s Stille Nacht Gesellschaft (Silent Night Society) not only works to protect the Mohr-Gruber legacy it encourages the use of the original notes that Gruber composed. In Austria Stille Nacht is considered a national treasure. Traditionally the song may not be played publicly before Christmas Eve, and any commercial use of the 180-year-old carol is verboten. Contrast that with the situation in most other countries, where you are likely to hear Silent Night playing in the local shopping mall or even as part of a radio or TV commercial. Nevertheless, Silent Night enjoys a revered Interior of the Silent Night Chapel (Stille-Nacht- Kapelle) in Oberndorf, Austria. The stained-glass window depicts Josef Mohr, the author of the lyrics for Silent Night, with a brief history of the chapel and the church PHOTO Hyde Flippo 7

8 position among Christmas carols all over the world, no matter what it may be called or in which language it may be performed. Franz Gruber was born on 25 Nov in the Austrian town of Hochburg. He became a teacher and later moved to Arnsdorf. The rooms where he lived and worked can still be seen on the second floor of Franz Gruber the Arnsdorf schoolhouse. But Gruber obviously did not spend all his time composing music. He fathered a dozen children by three different wives! In 1839 the Gruber family left Arnsdorf for Hallein, just south of Salzburg. His grave now lies next to the family s former home there and is adorned with a Christmas tree each December. Joseph Franz Mohr was born an illegitimate child on 11 Dec in Salzburg. He became a Catholic priest in August 1815 (only after receiving the special papal dispensation then required for illegitimate persons entering the priesthood). Mohr s final resting place is in the tiny Alpine ski resort of Wagrain where he died Joseph Franz Mohr penniless in He donated his modest earthly fortune for the education of the children in the community. Today the Joseph Mohr School stands as a fitting memorial only yards away from the grave of the man who wrote the words heard round the world. The first known performance of Stille Nacht in the United States took place near New York City s Trinity Church. In 1839 the Rainer family singers of Austria included the German version of Stille Nacht in their repertoire during an appearance at the Alexander Hamilton Monument near the church, some 24 years before an English version of the carol would be published. The Silent Night translation that we sing today in English first appeared in 1863 the year of Franz Gruber s death, and some 45 years after the song s initial performance in Austria. The Englishlanguage The Silent Night Chapel author was unknown until 1959, when it was determined to have been the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, assigned at the time of his work to the same Trinity Church associated with the 1839 performance of Stille Nacht. Reverend Young apparently enjoyed translating European hymns and carols into English, and it is his 135-year-old Silent Night text that is found today in most hymnals and Christmas carol collections published in the English-speaking world. Below are the original literally translated lyrics of Silent Night from the original German: Silent night! Holy night! All are sleeping, alone and awake Only the intimate holy pair, Lovely boy with curly hair, Sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in heavenly peace! Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, O how he laughs Love from your divine mouth, Then it hits the hour of salvation. Jesus at your birth! Jesus at your birth! Silent night! Holy night! Which brought salvation to the world, From Heaven s golden heights, Mercy s abundance was made visible to us; Jesus in human form, Jesus in human form. 8

9 Silent night! Holy night! Where on this day all power of fatherly love poured forth And like a brother lovingly embraced Jesus the peoples of the world, Jesus the peoples of the world. Silent night! Holy night! Already long ago planned for us, When the Lord frees from wrath Since the beginning of ancient times A salvation promised for the whole world. A salvation promised for the whole world. Silent night! Holy night! To shepherds it was first made known By the angel, Alleluia; Sounding forth loudly far and near: Jesus the Savior is here! Jesus the Savior is here! Annual Pastor s Report for St. Nicholas Orthodox Church As Presented at the Annual Parish Meeting December 9, 2018 by Fr. Nicholas Mihaly Since the annual meeting in December 2017, we have had 2 baptisms, 2 chrismations, 1 wedding and 4 funerals. From a completely statistical, numerical standpoint, the parish broke even. We baptized or chrismated the same number of people that we buried. However, these numbers do not take into account the three families who joined our parish in the last year. Again, from a standpoint based solely on the numerical data of people, the parish has more people than it lost. This is good news! But, a church can not measure its health or its worth simply on how many parishioners it has. The health of a church has to be based on its spiritual life; is the Church serving and are people attending the Divine Liturgy and other services? Are people approaching the chalice often? Are people going to confession often? Are people deepening their relationship with Jesus Christ? Are people deepening their relationships with their fellow parishioners? I think the answer to most, if not all, of these questions is yes, but we can always do more. In short, St Nicholas is a spiritually healthy parish. The Divine services are being served and attended; there are faith enrichment classes for both youth and adults; and people are partaking of the sacraments of confession & communion on a relatively frequent basis. The other two questions are left for you to answer on your own. So, St Nicholas is doing well spiritually and we have a good number of active parishioners. Things could be worse! However, we just heard from Reader David, our assistant treasurer, that 9

10 we lost money for the eleventh straight year. This is something that should cause us some concern; we shouldn t lose sleep over it, but we, as a parish, should be concerned about the financial loss we are taking. I can assure you that the Parish Board and our Parish Stewardship Committee are well aware of the situation and are working hard to help. But, the work of supporting the parish can not be left to the parish board and the various parish committees that we have; the work of supporting the parish has to be everyone s concern yours AND mine. are feeling the same thing. But, knowing that, we have to take the step forward towards a bright future. The parish is not in dire straits; I am not here as a placeholder until someone else can come along; I am not here to make sure the church stays open just long enough to bury everyone; the church is not in any phaseout situation. I am here to grow the parish and help it thrive. But it s not just me we all have to work together to make the parish thrive; we all will have our parts to play. No matter how young or how old, we all have to work for our Church. We have to start to think of what St. Nicholas can provide to the Greater Erie community; we have to think about our role in the city, we have to bring Christ to Erie and the world at large. We can not just show up on Sunday morning and expect people to come; we have to get our name out there and make Christ present where we go. Money is important, sure, but it can not be our main focus. The Church is not a business, the Church is the body of Christ. Our Lord tells us, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33) Our focus has to be on Jesus Christ. It can not be on anything else! He is the reason our parish is here in the first place; to make Jesus Christ present to the world! And we can not fulfill this mission if He is not first and foremost in our lives. I have been here for just over a year now and it is clear to me that there is a general feeling of survival mode. If we want to succeed and grow as a parish community, we have to stop thinking about surviving from month to month and start thinking about how can St. Nicholas thrive? It s an issue that is not unique to our parish many parishes, in the Diocese and outside of it, Orthodox and non-orthodox alike, We have done a little of this over the past year we blessed the waters of Presque Isle (and will do so again!), we started Orthodoxy on Tap, we ve been in the newspaper a few times. And, 10

11 most importantly, we are hosting the Kardiotissa next week. All of these things are opportunities for the community at large to see us, to see who we are, to get to know us. But there is always room for improvement and always room for growth. We can not be stagnant and expect healthy growth. Next week we will celebrate our 80th anniversary as a parish a long time, a time full of many memories. Our parish is at a crossroads right now; we are right on the cusp of something great, just like the founders of this parish were 80 years ago. They took the leap of faith forward, they decided to thrive! We have to be like our founders and take the brave leap forward to thriving, not simply surviving. Let us put our hope and faith in Jesus Christ and move this parish forward, not just into the next year, but into the whole future. With hard work, Jesus Christ, and each other, the parish can only succeed. 11

12 Protocol No. 21/2018 CHRISTMAS ARCHPASTORAL LETTER December 25, 2018 / January 7, 2019 CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM! Dear Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I greet you with joy and love in the Name of our Incarnate Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us give thanks to Almighty God, by whose grace we have been given the opportunity to celebrate the Birth of His Son. If we look around, we find hatred, mistrust, suffering, and the absence of peace and love in our homes, neighborhoods, cities, country, and in fact the whole world. This reality in life makes us cry out for God s help, assistance, and intervention. My beloved ones, despite all the suffering, sorrow and injustice in our world, today joy and hope comes to us once more. That s why at this blessed time of the year we look forward to the arrival of the new born King. Therefore let us celebrate the miracle of His Birth. Let kindness come with every gift. Let compassion, forgiveness and love come with every greeting. Let our hearts be filled with prayer, charity, and reconciliation for one another. May all of us, Priests, Panis, Deacons, Sub-Deacons, Readers, Archons, Parish Officers, Parishioners (young and old), Friends and Supporters of the God-protected American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese experience the joy and wonders of the Shepherds and the awe and respect of the Three Wise Men at the arrival of the Messiah, our new born King. Christ is Born! Greetings from Johnstown with much love, +Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa To be read as the sermon and distributed in all the churches of the Diocese at the Divine Liturgy on the Feast Day of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ. 12

13 WEEKLY OFFERINGS Sunday, December 30, 2018 DONOR $2.00 WEEKLY CANDLES FOR HEALTH GIVEN FOR Tamara Kloss Husband John Kloss Phyllis Tarasovich Herself and Family Phyllis Tarasovich Helen Douglas Birthday, December 31 Theodore & Patricia Molly Themselves and Family Theodore & Patricia Molly John & Donna Novak and Family Theodore & Patricia Molly Aunt Helen Douglas Birthday, December 31 James & Nancy DeHaven His Mother Mary DeHaven James & Nancy DeHaven All Members, including the Sick and Shut-ins, of St. Nicholas Church John Lipchik Jr. & Kathleen Boyce Uncle Peter & Aunt Marge Sima Kathleen Boyce Families of Brother John Lipchik Jr. and Husband Gary Boyce DONOR $2.00 WEEKLY CANDLES FOR THE DECEASED GIVEN FOR John & Tamara Kloss Her Parents Very Rev. Proto. Ronald & Pani Dolores Hazuda Douglas & Jean LaBoda and Family His Father Michael LaBoda Douglas & Jean LaBoda and Family His Mother Virginia LaBoda George Yurcan Parents Wasyl & Aniela Yurcan and Deceased in Family Richard & Susanne Demchak Beloved Parents Joseph & Susan Demchak Dr. George & Kitty Kuzmishin Beloved Family Members Janet Belliveau Parents Douglas & Anne Liebel John Lipchik Jr. & Kathleen Boyce Parents John Sr. & Helena Lipchik David Lipchik Parents Steve & Ann Lipchik John Katsikes Memory of Loved Ones Phyllis Tarasovich Deceased in the Tarasovich and Kelley Families Reader David & Debra Tarasovich Grandson Carter Robert Egloff James & Nancy DeHaven His Father George DeHaven James & Nancy DeHaven Her Mother Louise Butts James & Nancy DeHaven Cousin Dennis Kormos CATEGORY AMOUNT CATEGORY AMOUNT Candles Christmas Flowers Loose Change 3.00 Social Hour 4.00 Regular Envelopes Diocesan Assessment Pledges* Total Income *The pledge donation was from Pamela Vasil, which was the money collected from her nut roll sales. ATTENDANCE Divine Liturgy (Sun., Dec. 30): 34 13

14 Faith & Fellowship for Young Adult Orthodox Christians WHEN: Saturday, January 12, 2019; 2:00 PM WHERE: VOODOO BREWERY ERIE; 101 Boston Store Place, Erie, PA WHAT: An evening of food, drinks & socializing with other Orthodox Young Adults with a presentation by Fr. Stephen Loposky, Administrator of Camp Nazareth 14

15 The Nativity of Jesus Christ January 7, 2019 The Second Annual Pan-Orthodox Blessing of the Water at Presque Isle Bay Saturday, January 19, 2018 Service to Begin at 1:00 PM at Dobbins Landing Food and Drink Available for Purchase Following the Blessing of the Water at Voodoo Brewery on State Street 15

16 CAMP NAZARETH SUMMER CAMP 2019 The time for Summer Camp is Rapidly Approaching!!! The clock is ticking!! REGISTER ONLINE STARTING MAR. 1, 2019!!! ========================================================= Dates for the Summer Camping Program Week 1: July 14-20, 2019 Pittsburgh, Mid-Atlantic, Tri-State and Washington D.C. Deaneries Week 2: July 21-27, 2019 New England, NY, NJ, Florida and Canada Deaneries Week 3: July 28-August 3, 2019 Johnstown, Pocono, Southern Tier, Youngstown and Chicago Deaneries ========================================================= Register Online Starting March 1, 2019 Register at campnazareth.org From the Home Page, From the 2019 Summer Camp Icon, or From the Diocesan Summer Camp Tab found under the Summer Camp Tab and look for Camper Registration. If you are Clergy or a Volunteer go to the 2019 Summer Camp Icon on the Home Page or the Diocesan Summer Camp Tab found under the Summer Camp Tab and look for the paper forms under Clergy/Volunteers. ========================================================== $20 Early Bird Discount Per Child!!!! (one-time only, not per week) Register & pay by May 15, 2019!!!! Online Registration MUST be complete AND payment must be submitted by May 15 in order to qualify for the Early Bird Discount. Registrations after June 15 will incur an additional $20 late fee. When you register online please note that you will still need to submit a paper copy of the Medical Examination Form (i.e. Camper Physical) which must be filled out and signed by a licensed medical professional (licensed physician or physician s assistant). This form will be ed to you after you complete the online registration process. Payment by check, money order, or credit card is accepted. Checks and Money Orders are to be made payable to Camp Nazareth and sent to Camp Nazareth at 339 Pew Road, Mercer, PA

17 January 2019 St. Nicholas Orthodox Church Tentative Calendar December 2018 S M T W T F S January 2019 S M T W T F S February 2019 S M T W T F S CHURCH Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 30 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy :30 PM Moleben for the Nativity Fast :00 PM Vespers 6 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy 8:00 PM Christmas Eve Vigil 7 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy-Christmas Day 8 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Virgin Mary 9 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy for St. Stephen :30 PM Akathist for the Nativity 2:00 PM Orthodoxy on Tap :30 AM Divine Liturgy 14 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy for the Circumcision of Christ 6:00 PM Adult Class :00 PM Holy Night Supper & Vigil Service for Theophany 19 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy for the Feast o Theophany 1:00 PM Blessing of Presque Isle Bay 20 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy :00 PM Adult Class :00 PM Youth Activity 27 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy :30 PM Emmaus Soup Kitchen 6:00 PM Adult Class Page 1/1 17

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