05.12 V O L U M E 1 8, I S S U E 5 M A Y

Transcription

1 05.12 St. V O L U M E 1 8, I S S U E 5 M A Y George Greek Orthodox Church St. Paul, Minnesota How to Read the Bible By Bishop Kallistos Ware We believe that the Scriptures ence, of receptivity, and listen- His all-embracing compassion constitute a coherent whole. ing. As we read, we wait on that extends equally to Jew They are at once divinely in- the Spirit. and to Gentile. In John there is spired and humanly ex- But, while divinely inspired, a more inward and more mys- pressed. They bear authorita- the Bible is also humanly ex- tical approach to Christ, with tive witness to God's revela- pressed. It is a whole library an emphasis on divine light tion of Himself - in creation, of different books written at and divine indwelling. We are in the Incarnation of the varying times by distinct per- to enjoy and explore to the This is the first of a two-part article from Bishop Kallistos Ware. Look for part two in the June/July issue of Glad Tidings. Word, and the whole history of salvation. And as such they express the word of God in human language. We know, receive, and interpret Scrip- sons. Each book of the Bible reflects the outlook of the age in which it was written and the particular viewpoint of the author. For God does full this life-giving variety within the Bible. Because Scripture is in this way the word of God expressed in human language, Bishop Ware was born in England in After joining the Orthodox Church in 1958, he traveled widely in Greece. In 1966 he was ordained priest and became a monk, receiving the new name Kallistos. In 1982 he was consecrated titular Bishop of Diokleia and appointed assistant bishop in the Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Retiring in 2001, he continued to publish and lecture on Orthodox Christianity. In 2007, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the Diocese of Diokleia to Metropolis and Bishop Kallistos to Titular Metropolitan of Diokleia. ture through the Church and in the Church. Our approach to the Bible is one of obedience. We may distinguish four key qualities that mark an Orthodox reading of Scripture, namely: obedience, ecclesial, Christ-centered and personal. Reading the Bible with Obedience First of all, when reading Scripture, we are to listen in a spirit of obedience. The Orthodox Church believes in nothing in isolation, divine grace cooperates with human freedom. God does not abolish our individuality but enhances it. And so it is in the writing of inspired Scripture. The authors were not just a passive instrument, a dictation machine recording a message. Each writer of Scripture contributes his particular personal gifts. Alongside the divine aspect, there is also a human element in Scripture. We are to value both. Each of the four Gospels, for there is room for honest and exacting inquiry when studying the Bible. Exploring the human aspect of the Bible, we are to use to the full our Godgiven human reason. The Orthodox Church does not exclude scholarly research into the origin, dates, and authorship of books of the Bible. Alongside this human element, however, we see always in this issue R egi st ry P. 3 P ari sh N ew s P. 4-5 divine inspiration of the Bible. Scripture is a "letter" from God, where Christ Himself is speaking. The Scriptures are God's authoritative witness of example, has its own particular approach. Matthew presents more particularly a Jewish understanding of Christ, with an emphasis on the king- H oly Week P hotos P. 5 G reek I ndependence D ay P hotos P. 5 Y out h N ew s P. 7 Himself. They express the Word of God in our human language. Since God Himself is speaking to us in the Bible, our response is rightly one of obedi- dom of heaven. Mark contains specific, picturesque details of Christ's ministry not given elsewhere. Luke expresses the universality of Christ's love, Bishop Ware (Continued on page 2)

2 (Continued from page 1) the divine element. These are not simply books written by individual human writers. We hear in Scripture not just human words, marked by a greater or lesser skill and perceptiveness, but the eternal, uncreated Word of God Himself, the divine Word of salvation. When we come to the Bible, then, we come not simply out of curiosity, to gain information. We come to the Bible with a specific question, a personal question about ourselves: "How can I be saved?" As God's divine word of salvation in human language, Scripture should evoke in us a sense of wonder. Do you ever feel, as you read or listen, that it has all become too familiar? Has the Bible grown rather boring? Continually we need to cleanse the doors of our perception and to look in amazement with new eyes at what the Lord sets before us. We are to feel toward the Bible with a sense of wonder, and sense of expectation and surprise. There are so many rooms in Scripture that we have yet to enter. There is so much depth and majesty for us to discover. If obedience means wonder, it also means listening. We are better at talking than listening. We hear the sound of our own voice, but often we don't pause to hear the voice of the other person who is speaking to us. So the first requirement, as we read Scripture, is to stop talking and to listen - to listen with obedience. When we enter an Orthodox Church, decorated in the traditional manner, and look up toward the sanctuary at the east end, we see there, in the apse, an icon of the Virgin Mary with her hands raised to heaven - the ancient Scriptural manner of praying that many still use today. This icon symbolizes the attitude we are to assume as we read Scripture - an attitude of receptivity, of hands invisibly raised to heaven. Reading the Bible, we are to model ourselves on the Blessed Virgin Mary, for she is supremely the one who listens. At the Annunciation she listens with obedience and responds to the angel, "Be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38). She could not have borne the Word of God in her body if she had not first, listened to the Word of God in her heart. After the shepherds have adored the newborn Christ, it is said of her: "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Again, when Mary finds Jesus in the temple, we are told: "His mother kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:5l). The same need for listening is emphasized in the last words attributed to the Mother of God in Scripture, at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee: "Whatever He says to you, do it" (John 2:5), she says to the servants - and to all of us. In all this the Blessed Virgin Mary serves as a mirror, as a living icon of the Biblical Christian. We are to be like her as we hear the Word of God: pondering, keeping all these things in our hearts, doing whatever He tells us. We are to listen in obedience as God speaks. Understanding the Bible through the Church In the second place, we should receive and interpret Scripture through the Church and in the Church. Our approach to the Bible is not only obedient but ecclesial. It is the Church that tells us what is Scripture. A book is not part of Scripture because of any particular theory about its dating and authorship. Even if it could be proved, for example, that the Fourth Gospel was not actually written by John the beloved disciple of Christ, this would not alter the fact that we Orthodox accept the Fourth Gospel as Holy Scripture. Why? Because the Gospel of John is accepted by the Church and in the Church. It is the Church that tells us what is Scripture, and it is also the Church that tells us how Scripture is to be understood. Coming upon the Ethiopian as he read the Old Testament in his chariot, Philip the Apostle asked him, "Do you understand what you read?" And the Ethiopian answered, "How can I, unless some man should guide me?" (Acts 8:30-31). We are all in the position of the Ethiopian. The words of Scripture are not always self-explanatory. God speaks directly to the heart of each one of us as we read our Bible. Scripture reading is a personal dialogue between each one of us and Christ - but we also need guidance. And our guide is the Church. We make full use of our own personal understanding, assisted by the Spirit, we make full use of the findings of modern Biblical research, but always we submit private opinion - whether our own or that of the scholars - to the total experience of the Church throughout the ages. The Orthodox standpoint here is summed up in the question asked of a convert at the reception service used by the Russian Church: "Do you acknowledge that the Holy Scripture must be accepted and interpreted in accordance with the belief which has been handed down by the Holy Fathers, and which the Holy Orthodox Church, our Mother, has always held and still does hold?" We read the Bible personally, but not as (Continued on page 6) page 2

3 St. Paul. MN Registry 40-Day Churching March 14, 2012 Memorial March 18, 2012 Address Changes Festal Icons Needed Heather Hangistamoulos and baby Alexa. Niko Negron (40 days) Takis & Ashley Panagiotakis 113 Hidden Oaks Circle Mankato, MN Robert & Teri Solesky Highway 65 NE Bethel, MN Diane Anastos 916 Trenton Lane Plymouth, MN Nickolas Loudas th St SE Apt # 105 Minneapolis, MN Please donate a Festal Icon (11" x 14") in memory of a loved one. The cost is $75.00 per icon. The icons are displayed in the church nave and are put out for veneration on the Feast Day of the Saint or event they represent. To donate an icon, fill out a form (found on the bulletin board by the kitchen) and return it to the office. Church Staff and Office Hours Church Office Hours (Monday-Friday) 8:00 AM--2:15 PM Rev. Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews, Presbyter (651) FatherRick@usa.com Lori Kurtyka, Administrative Assistant (651) office@stgeorgegoc.org Tom Lampros, Parish Council President (651) tlampros@hotmail.com Reva Adkins, Philoptochos President (651) rradkins@comcast.net Andrea Faches, Sunday School Director (507) afaches@msn.com Stella Hofrenning, Greek School Director Cain Slays Abel Christ Feeds the 5000 Jennifer Argeros, Glad Tidings Editor Sue Gnetz & Sandra Thole, Loaves and Fishes Coordinators gnetzsue@gmail.com, quadmom196@yahoo.com Submissions for upcoming issues are due by the 11th of the preceding month. Forgiving the Sinful Woman Healing the Woman with an Issue of Blood page 3

4 Parish News Festival of Nations Please come and enjoy the dance performances of the St. George Greek School and the Greek Dancers of Minnesota. All performances will be held in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium at the River Center in St. Paul. Thursday, May 3 rd Children s dance group at 11:00 a.m. Children s dance group at 2:00 p.m. Friday, May 4 th Greek Dancers of Minnesota Greek performance at 7:00 p.m. Cypriot performance at 9:00 p.m. Saturday, May 5 th Teen dance group at 11:30 a.m. Children s dance group at 12:30 p.m. Come Receive The Light Radio Broadcast Ends After nine years of broadcasting in the Twin Cities on KKMS on Saturdays, Come Receive The Light program, regretfully, was terminated at the end of April. We did not have sufficient funds to sustain the program any longer. As you know, it has been with the blessing of MEOCCA, the generosity of many Orthodox Christians in the Twin Cities, many of our St. George parishioners and especially committee members, that the program has been broadcast weekly in the Twin Cities on KKMS 980 AM Christian radio station since It has been a gratifying experience and blessing having the opportunity of broadcasting a witness to our faith in the Twin Cities, and for that the committee is very thankful. Perhaps, in the future the opportunity may arise again. We would like to extend our appreciation and thank you for your help and support through the years. Come Receive the Light, internet radio, music, podcasts, video and other Orthodox programs may be enjoyed on the web at 24/7. We will continue to support this vital Orthodox Christian Ministry on an individual basis. Thank you, Dimitri Dokos on behalf of the Twin Cities Radio Ministry Committee Philoptochos Update There will be no May meeting for the Philoptochos. The June meeting will be a social event. We will meet at the Lexington on Grand for lunch at 1pm on June 5. Decades birthdays will be celebrated. Please let Mary Makredes know if you are celebrating a decades birthday. Daughters of Penelope News The Daughters of Penelope are on vacation from May through August. We will reconvene Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 pm. The Grainfield District Convention will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Bloomington, MN the weekend of June Dimitri Dokos and Kostas Tsantir are the convention co-chairs. To register, contact Marina Antoniou or Becka Dokos. Church Camp Counselors Needed Faithful, responsible, mature young adults and parents are encouraged to apply for positions as staff/counselors for the St. Mary Summer Church Camp program It is extremely rewarding to help kids grow in their Orthodox Faith. If interested contact Fr. Rick and apply online: Register Now for Summer Camp Summer Camp Registration is currently open. Dates for camp are June 30th to July 6th and the cost is $450. Scholarship assistance is available for those families demonstrating financial need. Please Fr. Rick for an application. More information is available online at Youth Minister Needed Want to Work with Youth? Our parish is seeking candidates for a paid part-time (10-15 hours per week) youth minister. Under the supervision of the priest, the youth minister primarily works with children (toddlers through high school ages) and their parents to plan, create and lead activities throughout the year, encouraging greater participation on all levels. This is challenging, yet rewarding position for a faithful, committed person with good people and organizational skills and who loves leading kids to Christ. Contact Fr. Rick for more info or to apply. Stewardship 2012 Update 91 pledge cards have been received for a total of $113,754. That is 51% of our stewardship budget and 37% of our total budget. Remember if every parishioner gives an average of 2% ($1.50/day) or more of gross income, we will be a selfsupporting parish. Please consider your commitment for year Pew Bibles New bibles were recently donated anonymously in memory of Fr. Parry Paraschou. May his memory be eternal. Thank you to the donor. Junior Olympics Anyone who is interested in participating in the Junior Olympics in Chicago over the weekend of May should Ann Drivas (anndrie@uwalumni.com) or Georgia Panopoulos (gpanopo1@fairview.org) as soon as possible. They will need to know the names page 4

5 St. Paul. MN and ages of childen who may want to participate in the various sports activities including: Track and Field Swimming Tennis Table Tennis Chess/Checkers/Backgammon/Tavli Softball Soccer Bowling Basketball Volleyball Wrestling With a small number of youth, we may have difficulty fielding for the Team Sports, but let's see who's interested before we proceed. Information regarding Junior Olympics can be found on line at Loaves & Fishes Thanks to all who volunteered cooking, serving and clean-up at Loaves & Fishes on Monday, April 9th. St. George served 130 adults and children who are always so grateful to receive a delicious meal. We will be serving again on June 11th and all volunteers are greatly appreciated. Thanks again, Sue Gnetz & Sandy Thole, co-chairs, Loaves & Fishes Please join us to celebrate the high school graduation and future plans of Mr. Teddy Andrews, Saturday, June 2nd 4:00-8:00 PM Open House at Highland Picnic Pavilion, 1200 Montreal Ave., Saint Paul, MN. Holy Week at St. George Greek Independence Day Celebration page 5

6 (Continued from page 2) isolated individuals. We read as the members of a family, the family of the Orthodox Catholic Church. When reading Scripture, we say not "I" but "We." We read in communion with all the other members of the Body of Christ, in all parts of the world and in all generations of time. The decisive test and criterion for our understanding of what the Scripture means is the mind of the Church. The Bible is the book of the Church. To discover this "mind of the Church," where do we begin? Our first step is to see how Scripture is used in worship. How, in particular, are Biblical lessons chosen for reading at the different feasts? We should also consult the writings of the Church Fathers, and consider how they interpret the Bible. Our Orthodox manner of reading Scripture is in this way both liturgical and patristic. And this, as we all realize, is far from easy to do in practice, because we have at our disposal so few Orthodox commentaries on Scripture available in English, and most of the Western commentaries do not employ this liturgical and Patristic approach. As an example of what it means to interpret Scripture in a liturgical way, guided by the use made of it at Church feasts, let us look at the Old Testament lessons appointed for Vespers on the Feast of the Annunciation. They are three in number: Genesis 28:10-17; Jacob's dream of a ladder set up from earth to heaven; Ezekiel 43:27-44:4; the prophet's vision of the Jerusalem sanctuary, with the closed gate through which none but the Prince may pass; Proverbs 9:1-11: one of the great Sophianic passages in the Old Testament, beginning "Wisdom has built her house." These texts in the Old Testament, then, as their selection for the feast of the Virgin Mary indicates, are all to be understood as prophecies concerning the Incarnation from the Virgin. Mary is Jacob's ladder, supplying the flesh that God incarnate takes upon entering our human world. Mary is the closed gate who alone among women bore a child while still remaining inviolate. Mary provides the house which Christ the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24) takes as his dwelling. Exploring in this manner the choice of lessons for the various feasts, we discover layers of Biblical interpretation that are by no means obvious on a first reading. Take as another example Vespers on Holy Saturday, the first part of the ancient Paschal Vigil. Here we have no less than fifteen Old Testament lessons. This sequence of lessons sets before us the whole scheme of sacred history, while at the same time underlining the deeper meaning of Christ's Resurrection. First among the lessons is Genesis 1:1-13, the account of Creation: Christ's Resurrection is a new Creation. The fourth lesson is the book of Jonah in its entirety, with the prophet's three days in the belly of the whale foreshadowing Christ's Resurrection after three days in the tomb (cf. Matthew 12:40). The sixth lesson recounts the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites (Exodus 13:20-15:19), which anticipates the new Passover of Pascha whereby Christ passes over from death to life (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7; 10:1-4). The final lesson is the story of the three Holy Children in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3), once more a "type" or prophecy of Christ's rising from the tomb. Such is the effect of reading Scripture ecclesially, in the Church and with the Church. Studying the Old Testament in this liturgical way and using the Fathers to help us, everywhere we uncover signposts pointing forward to the mystery of Christ and of His Mother. Reading the Old Testament in the light of the New, and the New in the light of the, Old - as the Church's calendar encourages us to do - we discover the unity of Holy Scripture. One of the best ways of identifying correspondences between the Old and New Testaments is to use a good Biblical concordance. This can often tell us more about the meaning of Scripture than any commentary. In Bible study groups within our parishes, it is helpful to give one person the special task of noting whenever a particular passage in the Old or New Testament is used for a festival or a saint's day. We can then discuss together the reasons why each specific passage has been so chosen. Others in the group can be assigned to do homework among the Fathers, using for example the Biblical homilies of Saint John Chrysostom (which have been translated into English). Christians need to acquire a patristic mind. Source: phronema/ware_howto.aspx Christos Anesti page 6

7 St. Paul. MN JR/GOYA Service Project Our GOYA and Jr. GOYA visited Penelope Senior Housing on Saturday, March 24th. We met at McDonald s for a fish sandwich lunch and then headed over to the senior housing for an afternoon of Bingo with the residents. Our kids called out numbers and played with the folks for an afternoon of fun, laughter, games and prizes. It s not clear who had more fun the residents or the kids! St. George Youth Grand Old Day Parking & Grilling Jr/GOYA Don t forget! Sunday, June 3rd following liturgy we ll be parking cars at St. George to raise money for Trinity Missions. Please let Jean Pliakas know you are going to be there. Source: Little Orthodox Christian Workbook on scribd.com page 7

8 Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Twin Cities, MN Permit No. 177 ST. GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED 1111 Summit Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota Phone Fax SAVE THE DATE Greek Festival 2012 August 18 th and 19 th Glad Tidings May 2012 WEEKDAY WORSHIP SCHEDULE REGULAR WEEKLY SERVICES Sts. Constantine and Helen Orthros 8:00am Divine Liturgy 9:00am Monday, May 21 Apodosis of Pascha Divine Liturgy 8:00am Vespers 6:00pm Wednesday, May 23 Ascension Orthros 8:00am Divine Liturgy 9:00am Thursday, May 24 Holy Confession: By Appointment Vespers: (Sept. - May) Saturday 5:00 pm Orthros: Sunday 9:00 am Sunday School: (Sept. - May) following Communion Divine Liturgy: Sunday 9:30 am

9 May 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday PROPHET +ST. IRENE JEREMIAH +9:00am LITURGY *1:30pm Philoptochos Mtg. FESTIVAL OF NATIONS +5:00pm VESPERS TH SUN. PASCHA ST. AMALIA & +APOSTLE SIMON - PARALYTIC ST. JOHN THE ZEALOT MN Bible Lecture +PROPHET JOB THEOLOGIAN +PROPHET Series on Gospel +8:15am ORTHROS ISAIAH of Mark by Fr. +9:30am LITURGY Aaron St. Elizabeth OCA *5:30pm HOPE *7:00pm Fr. Alexis Youth Toth Lecture by Fr. John Jillions at St. *7:00pm Parish Mary OCA Council +5:00pm VESPERS FESTIVAL OF NATIONS METROPOLIS CLERGY RETREAT Mother's Day +5TH SUN. PASCHA - SAMARITAN WOMAN +8:15am ORTHROS +9:30am LITURGY *12:00pm Youth- Cake Auction *7:00pm Bible *12:00pm MEOCCA Study at Fr. Rick's Mtg. Home *4:00pm Feed Hungry at FOCUS, MN +5:00pm VESPERS *6:00pm JOY Youth TH SUN. PASCHA +STS. - BLINDMAN CONSTANTINE & HELEN +8:15am ORTHROS +9:30am LITURGY +8:00am ORTHROS +9:00am LITURGY *11:00am Graduation Sunday *11:30am Prison Ministry Sunday +APODOSIS OF PASCHA +8:00am LITURGY +ASCENSION +8:00am ORTHROS +9:00am LITURGY *4:00pm Feed Hungry at FOCUS, MN +6:00pm VESPERS JUNIOR OLYMPICS TH SUN. PASCHA MEMORIAL DAY - FATHERS OF 1ST - Office Closed ECUM. COUNCIL +8:15am ORTHROS +9:30am LITURGY +12:30pm Memorial Prayer Service at Roselawn Cemetary *4:00pm Feed Hungry at FOCUS, MN Coming in June... 2 Liturgy in Eau Claire 3 +Pentecost Grand Old Day Parking 10 +All Saints Apostles Fast 11 Patriarch's Nameday Loaves & Fishes 17 Fathers' Day Ahepa Convention 24 +Nativity of Forerunner 29 +Sts. Peter & Paul St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 1111 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN Rev. Father Richard Demetrius Andrews -- Phone: (651)

10 80 th AHEPA FAMILY GRAINFIELD DISTRICT #14 CONVENTION JUNE 22-24, 2012 The Ahepa & Daughters of Penelope of St. Paul are planning an exciting, enjoyable and productive convention. We are looking forward to your participation in a full entertainment program for all ages. Greek Night Friday June 22 Social Hour 6:00 PM 7:00 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM Come and enjoy an exciting Greek Night featuring: Rena Sarigianopoulos Anchor & Reporter for KARE-11 TV Station Minneapolis/St. Paul. The Greek Dancers of Minnesota, traditional Greek dancing under the direction of Angela Mortari. Enjoy the latest songs and dance to the melodies of Dino s Band. Embassy Suites Hotel, th Avenue South, Bloomington, , located across from the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Shuttle buses will be available between the hotels. See back page for more details Saturday June 23 Luncheon 12:00 PM Banquet-Social Hour 6:00 PM 7:00 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM Crowne Plaza Hotel & Suites The St. Paul Ahepa Chapter is Honoring the Late State Senator and Past Ahepa District Governor Sam Solon. Come and join the Honorable Lieutenant Governor of the State of Minnesota, Yvonne Prettner Solon who will receive a plaque in memory of her late husband Sam Solon. Sunday June 24 St. George Greek Orthodox Church 9:30 AM Divine Liturgy Farewell Lunch 12:00 PM

11 80 th AHEPA FAMILY GRAINFIELD DISTRICT #14 CONVENTION JUNE 22-24, 2012 Headquarters & Reservations at the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Suites Three Appletree Square, Bloomington, MN By the Airport & Mall of America AHEPA rate $95/night until June or Registration: Friday, June 22, 3:00-6:00 PM Crowne Plaza Hotel 5:30-7:00 PM Embassy Suites Hotel (Across from the Crowne Plaza Hotel) Saturday, June 23, 8:30-12:00 Noon Crowne Plaza Hotel Attention: The Friday Greek Night Event will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, th Avenue South, Bloomington, , located across from the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Shuttle buses will be available between the hotels. Event Pricing After June 12 Children** Friday Night Greek Night $40* $50 $20 Saturday Luncheon $20 $20 $15 Saturday Banquet $40* $50 $20 Sunday Farewell Lunch $15 $15 $10 Package Price (Includes all the above) $99* $120 Children 12 & under - special menu** $65 $65 *Purchased in advance by June 12, 2012 =========================================================== qty Name of Attendees/address/phone Registration Type Cost Total Cost Please fill in this page with your check payable to AHEPA and mail it to: Marina Antoniou Phone: Brimhall Street South St. Paul, MN See back page for more details

12 St. George Greek Orthodox Church Parish Council Meeting Minutes March 8 th, 2012 Attendees: Fr. Rick Andrews, President Tom Lampros, Vice President Joe Weiser, Secretary Sophronis Mantoles, Treasurer George Kanavati, Asst. Treasurer, Diane Anastos, Alexis Bighley, Dan Simon, Frank Nemeth, Nanette Gomez. Absent: Steve Zeece. I. Call to Order: 7:10pm II. Opening Prayers: 7:12pm III. Submission of minutes: The February minutes were approved pending minor changes. IV. Discussion on January minutes: A correction on the Roselawn Cemetery Monument update is needed. The final cost will not exceed the approved amount. The project is on budget and on schedule. Previous month s minutes on the subject were misunderstood and led to an inaccurate report that the budget had gone beyond the agreed limit. V. Financial Reports a. Treasurer s report: Mr. Kanavati presented the financial report for January and February. George discussed the January financial report in more detail. Discussion about the report format also took place. February incoming funds lower than anticipated. The statement from Morgan Stanley investments was also presented during George s report. b. Audit committee report: Mr. Steve Arsenault reported on the audit committee report. Overall no major problems were found in the accounting or representation of the financial reports. Recommendations were made reflected on the committee report. Need a succession plan for treasurer in the future VI. Master planning committee report: Mr. Steve Arsenault discussed the first major initiative which is addition of icons in the worship area. Committee to invite a consultant to come to St. Paul to give us recommendations. VII. Stewardship committee: Mrs. Bighley reported that Stewardship collections are up $ for the same period of last year. She also presented the stewardship committee's report. VIII. Building and grounds report: Mr. Dan Simon reported on the progress for the water heater, track lighting, and some additional lights and outlet covers. Dan also reported on a furnace repair. Dan recommended switching garbage disposal services. He will research and organize a future proposal. IX. Father s Report: Father Rick reported on the following: a. Bibles were donated in memory of Fr. Parry Paraschou. Labels are being designed and printed to place in each one. b. Our annual Lenten retreat will be March 9-10 with Fr. Alexander Goussetis on World Religions: An Orthodox Christian Perspective. c. Wednesday and Friday Lenten lectures are organized. Wed. theme is Great Lent: Journey to Pascha and Fri. theme is Gifts of the Spirit. d. The Biennial Archdiocese Clergy Laity Congress will be July 1-5 in Phoenix Arizona. 1

13 e. Please mark calendars for Holy week and Pascha and plan ahead to attend the worship services. X. Unfinished Business a. BBall Tournament: Tom Lampros presented the near final report. b. Roselawn Cemetery Monument report: Frank Nemeth reported on progress. The monument is being fabricated. Good progress was made. c. Judgment was not appealed: We paid the judgment ($5,075.00). d. Art Auction - Commitment: Can each of the parish council members commits to bring 3-5 new people to the auction? The parish council response was negative. e. Parish Assembly: Scheduled for March 18th, agenda reviewed. Council approved financials report. The final presentation will be reviewed ahead of time. XI. XII. New Business a. Social Hall Rental: A request to rent the social for a large wedding was denied due to lack of resources. Mrs. Bighley volunteered to do research on options for social hall rental and report in April s meeting. b. Carastathis / Balkanics concert donation request: No action recommended. c. Sunday Lenten vespers & meal: For about 100 people. Nanette volunteered to plan the meal. d. Investment committee: Kostas Tsantir resigned from the investment committee. Jim Theros to be appointed to lead the committee. e. Research Parish Council Activities: Alexis Bighley to do research on activities for the council to do as a group. Adjournment and Closing Prayer: 9:55pm. Motion to adjourn made by Diane seconded by Mr. Joe Weiser. All documents and reports submitted at the meeting are on file with the original copy of the minutes at the church., 2012 Tom Lampros, President, 2012 Sophronis Mantoles, Secretary, 2012 Rev. Fr. Demetrius Andrews, Presbyter Last Saved Date: Wednesday, April 05,