The Trophy-Bearer A monthly publication of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church New Castle, Pennsylvania January 2019 Volume III, Issue 1

Transcription

1 The Trophy-Bearer A monthly publication of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church New Castle, Pennsylvania January 2019 Volume III, Issue 1 Saint Theodosios the Cenobiarch January 11th

2 ΙΕΡΟΣ ΝΑΟΣ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ SAINT GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 315 W. Englewood Avenue - New Castle, PA Church: (724) Fr. Michael A. Gavrilos - Parish Priest FrMichael@stgeorgenewcastle.org Parish Council Members Artie Christou Nick Foukas Eric Karmecy Nicholas Ligerakis Dino Neofotistos Helen Ritchie Melissa Ritchie Service Times Please Check the Monthly Calendar for Services Services Times Unless Otherwise Noted Sunday Orthros Sunday Mon-Sat Evening Services Confession: By Appointment 8:15 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 8:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m. The Trophy-Bearer If you would like an article, or photos in The Trophy-Bearer, submit them electronically to Fr. Michael (FrMichael@stgeorgenewcastle.org) 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.

3 Fr. Michael s Message Christ is in our Midst! Every year when January roles around, many people take a look at their lives and tell themselves, This is the year that things are going to be different! If you are like me, you can agree that we have told ourselves this before. Maybe this is the year that we really budget our finances so that we are able to pay off a little more of our debt; perhaps this is the year that we ditch our old way of eating, and we get healthier; maybe we spend more time focused on the Church, i.e. praying more, reading scripture more, donating more time, talent, and treasurer to the Church. In previous years we had a stewardship program, and this year for 2019, we are bringing this program back. When most people first hear the word Stewardship, they immediately think of money. We need to transform our thinking when we hear Stewardship, from money, to Time, Talent, AND Treasure. If you are blessed to have time on your hands to help out at Church, baking for the festival, volunteering on different committees, being a member of the Parish Council, may it be blessed. If you have been blessed to have a special talent that could help benefit the Church, you are welcomed to help out for the improvement and betterment of the physical structure of the Church when various projects are ready to begin. Perhaps you have been blessed by much treasure in your life, then I pray that you are able to help out our Church of St. George financially. These are just a few ways we can be stewards. Our community of St. George is celebrating a giant milestone this year, we are celebrating our 100th year of existence! We should feel blessed that our community predates our own Greek Orthodox Archdiocese by three years! All of those people who moved from Greece to New Castle saw what an important part the Church played in their lives, and because of that, they knew that they needed to have a place to worship in their community, just like they had previously done back home in Greece. Our original founders of the parish were pious people, and they loved the Church and what it stood for. After being incorporated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it was finally time to change the name from Greek Community of New Castle to a proper Church name. There was a meeting that was set to pick the name of the Church, and they decided that whatever the most popular name at the meeting was, then the Church would be named after that Saint. The name George was the most popular name, and so the Church came to officially be known as St. George Greek Orthodox Church of New Castle, Pennsylvania. In the early days of the community, before we had a permanent location, the dedicated members of the community would rent different locations, wake up very early in the morning, set up a portable Icon Screen, chairs, bring all the different Liturgical items, the service would be conducted, and afterwards they entire location would get taken apart, and next Sunday this would happen all over again. The history is not 100% clear of exact locations of the earliest worship locations, however some locations include restaurants, town hall, and other Christian places of worship (early morning before other services). The first permanent location that the community purchased was in 1928, and it was located at 215 East Reynolds Street, in downtown New Castle. Less than 30 years later, the community was beginning to outgrow the Church so a committee was put together to start looking for a new location, and eventually in 1978 after looking, praying, researching, and fundraising, we had the groundbreaking ceremony for the current location of our Church. Throughout the 100 year history of St. George, there have been seventeen full time priests that have officially been assigned to the parish, with numerous amounts of other clergy that have celebrated the sacraments. If you talk to lifelong members of the Parish, they will be able to tell you many stories of the hard working, God loving people of the Parish that have been part of the community over the past 100 years. I feel that all of us have an obligation to help continue the legacy of our community, and to all those who have helped shaped St. George to what it is today.

4 The culture of the world today is very different then it was 100 years ago, however we still need to have the same goal in mind, to live a life in Christ! As we enter into our 100 th year at St. George, let us help set the foundation for the future members of the Church. God willing in 2119 when the 200 th anniversary is being celebrated, do we want to leave a legacy of having the best Gyros, Baklava, & Lamb, or do we want the future members of our Church looking back at all of us as examples of what it means to live a Christ centered life? We need to be willing to try different things that we might not have done before. A few examples that people have brought up to me include, hosting a community meal once every one to three months where we invite everyone in the New Castle area to enjoy a free meal, blood drives, coat drives, visiting shut-ins more often, helping those in need in our area, etc. Some of these examples listed, and some that were not listed might be easier then others, and some of these examples might seem impossible to do, but for those seemingly impossible tasks, let us look back to the founders of St. George that built the Church from the ground up, and how they would wake up early, stay late, put up some of their own properties as collateral to help pay for the Church. One of the biggest mistakes that we can make moving into the next century is being afraid to think outside the box in order to show the light of Christ to someone. For St. George to succeed in the future, for the next 100 years, all of us are called to use our time, talent, and treasure to help glorify God, and to spread His Love to all around us. I want to leave you all with one last thought, and I would like to paraphrase part of it from the name of the museum of the Pittsburgh International Airport. Whenever we are struggling asking ourselves if we are able to continue to grow as a community, let us look back at our rich history of St. George, think about the future of the community, and let us gain the strength of those before us, and think about yesterday s Saint George of tomorrow! In Christ, Fr. Michael A. Gavrilos A Message from the Philoptochos President The Ladies of St. George Philoptochos are getting ready for another busy year. On Sunday, January 13th we will be hosting our annual Vasilopita Lunch following the. Philoptochos donates and supports many charities locally and nation wide. We would like to encourage all the ladies of St. George to become members and support our charitable efforts. The first meeting of the New Year will be held on January 20th, Dues for the year are $ Have a blessed New Year! Barbara Mesol Philoptochos President

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6 6 January 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Holy Theophany St. John the Orthros, Baptist, & Great Agiasmos 3:00 p.m. Blessing of the Water Mill Creek Park 7:00 p.m. Great Vespers-St. John Boardman 13 Sunday after Epiphany Vasilopita Sunday :30 a.m. Orthros & Royal Hours of Theophany St. Anthony :30 a.m. Orthros,, & Great Agiasmos 6:00 p.m. Great Vespers 20 12th Sunday of Luke ~~~Fr. Michael Attending Youth & Camp Workers Conference at Antiochian Village~~~ ~~~In case of EMERGENCY You may contact Fr. Michael through phone/ ~~~ 27 15th Sunday of Luke Parish Council Meeting Philoptochos Meeting Three Hierarchs 31

7 February 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Blood Drive 1:30 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. 2 Presentation of Christ 3 16th Sunday of Luke St. Photios Sunday of the Canaanite Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee Parish Council Meeting Sunday of the Prodigal Son

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10 COVER ICON Saint Theodosios the Cenobiarch January 11th This Saint lived during the times of Emperor Leo the Great ( ), and reached the times of Emperor Anastasios Dikoros ( ). He was from a village in Cappadocia called Mogarissus, and was the son of pious and faithful parents, his father called Proairesios and his mother called Eulogia. Having become a monk, he went to Jerusalem, and from there to Antioch, and he met Saint Symeon the Stylite, from whom he learned about the increase he would receive in virtue, and that he would become a shepherd of many rational sheep. Then he went to live in quietude near a hesychast man, whose name was Longinus, and he occupied himself with self-control to such an extreme, that the renowned one would only eat once an entire week, and during a period of thirty entire years he did not eat a complete loaf of bread. He exercised therefore every form of virtue, and the thrice-blessed one attained such a height of ascent, that he was made worthy to perform extraordinary miracles. He was the only one, along with another brother, that could see his disciple Basil, who was the first to inaugurate a new cemetery (which the Saint had built for the remembrance of death) by his death and was buried there in a grave, standing after his death with the other brothers in the church and chanting with them, although to everyone else he was invisible. He had lit the unlit coals without fire at the place where he was to establish the foundation of the monastery. He delivered a woman from a flow of blood that approached him with faith. He from one grain of wheat, which he blessed, caused the storeroom of the wheat to overflow. He appeared invisibly, and removed the child from the depths of a well which he had fallen into. He also ceased the death of children of a woman, who before they were born into this life, would be taken by death. This mother had not become better after being totally barren, but the Saint caused her to be able to have many children by his prayer. The Saint also banished a cloud of locusts by a mere censure. He also kept the commander of the army of the East named Kerykos from being wounded at war, for he had garbed himself with the robe of the Saint made of hair and it was like protective armor. And the earth condemned unjustly to famine and unable to sprout, he liberated from its dryness, by bringing down rain by his prayers. The Saint also foretold the destruction that the city of Antioch would suffer by an earthquake. He also rescued many people from a storm at sea, by appearing to all those who were in danger. He was also a teacher of virtue to many disciples, and urged many to have the same zeal and imitate his own virtue through his words and deeds, and this followed with them entering into the household of the Lord. After conducting himself in this manner, and being glorified on the earth, he reposed in peace, and delivered his spirit into the hands of God. His Synaxis is celebrated in the apostolic Temple of the Chief Apostle Peter. Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O Theodosios, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls. Another Apolytikion in Plagal of the First Tone Thou didst shine forth in God-given virtues, O venerable Theodosios, and wast an illustrious model of the monastic life. Thou wast seen as a God-like light and leader, the emulator of Angels and servant of the Trinity. Pray to God unceasingly to have mercy on our souls. Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone As being planted in the courts of Christ thy Lord and God, with holy virtues thou delightfully didst blossom forth and didst multiply thy children amid the desert, who were watered with the showers of thy fervent tears, O chief shepherd of the godly sheepfold of our God. Hence we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father Theodosios. Source:

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12 Saint George Greek Orthodox Church 315 W. Englewood Avenue New Castle, PA Vasilopita Sunday Sunday, January 13th, 2019 Cutting of the Vasiloopita & Philoptochos Sponsored Luncheon after