THE PROMISE. My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Transcription

1 January 2007 Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

2 Wait for the promise of the Father... January 2007 Volume 31, Issue 1 My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, As we enter into the New Year, it is my hope and prayer that the community of Holy Trinity continues to progress in the knowledge of our Lord. We are a faith-based community and members of the ancient Church founded by Christ. If we look at the historical development of the Orthodox Church, it becomes apparent from its theology, hymnology, biblical interpretations and liturgical celebrations that every action and purpose in the Church is centered on Christ. Being Christ-centered in our own personal pursuits, is the prayer of the Church for by having Christ as the object of our hope we are brought to a greater awareness and realization of own salvation. I ask you to look at the Old Testament story of Noah and the ark (Genesis Chapters 7-9) What you may not know is that this story is a paradigm for the Church. At the time of the great flood, the ark was the structure bearing salvation. Those who entered this wooden temple were saved. The Church is seen in similar fashion. We enter the protection of the Church, as did Noah's family, in order to be saved from the tempest of sin. It is interesting and noteworthy to mention that the Fathers of the Church point out that Christ promised salvation to those who entered the Church the ark of salvation through the doors of faith. The Fathers never mentioned the Reformer's view of an individual finding personal salvation independent of the Church. In other words, we are saved by entering the Church - the collective body of believers in Christ. Each ship has within it a captain, crew, passengers and helm by which it is directed and guided safely to its destination. So too in like manner the Church has her Captain, Who is Christ; a crew, which is the clergy; the passengers, who are the laity; and a device to maneuver it - the rudder - or the faith delivered to us. All are needed in order to make for a prosperous voyage. I would imagine that before any of you board a ship or plane or car or bus or train you take time to inform yourself where the vehicle is traveling. Entering any means of transportation without knowing its destination or who is at the helm is at best silly and at worst deadly. To borrow a modern expression we can say that "to be informed is empowerment." How do you prepare yourself to board the ark of salvation - the Church? Are you informed or do you merely take a seat to be lead to well, do you know? As a faith-based community, whom do we confess? Who or what is the basis of your belief? If we proclaim that Holy Trinity is a Christ-centered community, then does your desire for an increase in the knowledge of Christ truly surpass other pursuits or pleasures? These are no ordinary questions but ones that are rooted in religious consciousness and critical personal awareness. I believe that each of us genuinely attempt to implement Christ-like qualities in our life. I also believe, unfortunately, that a certain dichotomy exists between our conceived notions of Church and personal life. In other

3 Community Corner DATES IN THE LIFE OF OUR CHURCH THE PROMISE Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church A parish of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Metropolis of New Jersey 250 Gallows Hill Road, Westfield, NJ Tel (908) Fax (908) Visit our Website at: holytrinitywestfield.org Fr. Peter s htgoc@westfieldnj.com Rev. Fr. Peter Delvizis, Presiding Priest Rev. Fr. Chris Dalamangas, Priest OFFICE STAFF Irene Panagakos, Parish Administrator Jean O Dowd, Accounting Manager Ocione Nunes, Caretaker WORSHIP Pascalis Kuvalakis, Psaltis Kathryn Athanasoulas, Adult/Angel Choir, Dir. Phyllis Verenes, Organist Michael Wolff, Head Acolyte MINISTRIES Parish Council Kassandra Romas Philoptochos Mary Demiris Religious Education Louis Martin, Eleftheria Wolff Greek School Rita Fitanidis Trinity Circle Helen Hiotis TAG Vicki Karolis Trinity Fellowship Fay Sideris Youth (GOYA) Jennifer Conti JOY HOPE TOTS Joanne Paras Bookstore Sandy Mouratoglou COMMITTEES Cultural Barbara Manos Greek School PTO Nina Anastasiou Outreach Robert LoAlbo FALL, WINTER AND SPRING SCHEDULE Sundays: Orthros, 8:45am Divine Liturgy, 10:00am Weekdays: Orthros, 8:30am Divine Liturgy, 9:30am Volume 31 Issue 1 10 issues published annually No Subscription Fee (article deadlines - 10th of the preceding month) Monday, January 1, Feast Day of St. Basil the Great; Divine Liturgy, 9:30AM Friday, January 5, Royal Hours with Vesperal Liturgy and Lesser Blessing of Waters, 9:00AM Saturday, January 6, Holy Theophany; Orthros, 8:30AM; Divine Liturgy and Great Blessing of Waters, 9:30AM Sunday, January 7, Feast Day of St. John the Baptist, Orthros, 8:45AM; Divine Liturgy, 10:00AM Monday, January 8, Jr. basketball practice, 7-8:00PM; Sr. basketball practice, 8:9:00PM Tuesday, January 9, Afternoon Greek School, 4-6:00PM; Intermediate Adult Greek 6-7:30PM; Beginners, 7:30-9PM; Philoptochos Board meeting, 7:30PM Friday, January 12, Greek dancing for HOPE, 7-7:30PM; JOY, 7:30-8:15PM Sunday, Jan. 14, Orthros, 8:45AM; Divine Liturgy, 10AM; Icon preparation for the 3rd grade Religious Ed students Monday, January 15, Jr. basketball practice, 7-8:00PM; Sr. basketball practice, 8:9:00PM; NNJYC meeting; District 2, 7:00PM; Districts 1 and 2, 8:00PM Tuesday, January 16, Afternoon Greek School, 4-6:00PM; Intermediate Adult Greek 6-7:30PM; Beginners, 7:30-9PM Wednesday, January 17, Feast Day of St. Anthony the Great; Orthros, 8:30AM; Divine Liturgy, 9:30AM Saturday, January 20, Cutting fabric for the Quilt-a-thon, 10AM Sunday, January 21, Orthros, 8:45AM; Divine Liturgy, 10:00AM; Vasilopitta Luncheon in the Bouras Center after Church Service Monday, January 22, Jr. basketball practice, 7-8:00PM; Sr. basketball practice, 8:9:00PM Tuesday, January 23, Afternoon Greek School, 4-6:00PM; Intermediate Adult Greek 6-7:30PM; Beginners, 7:30-9PM Thursday, January 25, Feast Day of St. Gregory the Theologian; Divine Liturgy, 9:30AM Friday, January 26, Greek dancing for HOPE, 7-7:30PM; JOY, 7:30-8:15PM Saturday, January 27, Family Greek Night dinner/dance hosted by the Greek School PTO at Snuffy's Pantagis Restaurant, Scotch Plains, 6-11PM Sunday, January 28, Triodion begins; Baptism, 1:00PM Tuesday, January 30, Feast Day of The Three Hierarchs; Orthros, 8:30AM; Divine Liturgy, 10AM; Greek Letters Day Page 2

4 words, we compartmentalize these two areas. Sometimes they seem to co-exist with complete harmony generating a sense of graciousness, love and honor but at other times they seem to be as polarizing forces within us struggling between self - aggrandizement and modesty. This, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, is our ongoing battle between holiness and sin. St. Paul reminds us that we are to take no part or pleasure in sin, for this leads to death. St. Maximos the Confessor in his book On Love says, "Do not corrupt your flesh with shameful deeds; do not pollute your soul with evil thoughts and the peace of God will descend on you, bringing with it love." It is Christ Who gives love, life and salvation to the world. THE PROMISE Community Corner At this time, I ask you to board the ark of salvation - the Church - in order to take you on a very special journey this New Year. I would like to show you the wonderful things that our faith can offer. Guided by Christ I challenge each of you to engage this faith so that it may grow within you and become a means of greater spiritual renewal. I extend an invitation from the Church Fathers to receive Christ through the Eucharist each Sunday. I encourage you to activate fervor for prayer by worshipping with your fellow parishioner at the Divine Liturgy asking the Lord to show His power and strength in this world. I plan for this coming year sermons that will convey deeper theological meaning; as well as a series of instructional Divine Liturgies that will help explain the intent and purpose of our Eucharistic gatherings. All in all, I hope that this New Year will bring to our parish a renewed aspect of understanding our faith and also an applied expression within our being. May God bless you with much joy, happiness, prosperity and spiritual renewal this New Year. Fr. Peter. PHILOPTOCHOS Mary Demiris, President We hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and we look forward to a great On Saturday, December 2, 2006 we held our annual Three generations of models Avi Kiriakatis along with her daughter, Yiana and granddaughter, Ava, looked so beautiful in their outfits Bloomingdale's Fashion Show fund raiser. It was an extremely well-attended event and we raised a significant amount for the various Philoptochos charities. I would like to thank our Chairpeople - Marianne Savorgiannakis, Nina Anastasiou, Ellen Manos Athenson and Christine Colonias for their wonderful work in making this event a success. I would also like to thank Avi Kiriakatis, Yianna Leichtling, Ava Leichtling, Demetra Petris, Maria Kanaras, Niko Sakellis and Jennifer Conti who did a fabulous job modeling the clothes. Thank you, too, to everyone who made a donation for the gift items which were raffled off at the breakfast. Page 3

5 Community Corner On Wednesday, December 6, we held our annual Christmas Dinner/General Meeting. I was pleased to see the wonderful turnout; it looked as if everyone had a good time visiting and enjoying the food, speaker and meeting. We were honored to have two women representing the YWCA Battered Women's Shelter in Elizabeth - Maria Tsitsiragos and Linda Chilotte, Interim Director. We collected gifts that evening which were donated to the Battered Women's Shelter and both women expressed their gratitude to our organization. Linda also gave us a brief overview of the shelter and provided some astonishing statistics relative to battered women in this area. Pictured are from left Marianne Savorgiannakis, Ellen Manos Athenson, Christina Colonias and Nina Anastasiou, the chairpersons of the Fashion Show. It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have a new board member - Helen Hadzitheodorou. We all look forward to working with Helen, and I know she will be an integral member of the board. At the same time, we still have two vacancies on our Board. If anyone is interested in becoming a Board member, please call me on or me at demiris@optonline.net. Christmas Pastries for Shut-Ins - On December 10 we packaged and distributed pastries to the shut-ins in our community. I would like to thank Avi Kiriakatis and all the women who baked and delivered packages to the shut-ins. This is a beautiful program started by Avi which demonstrates true Christian spirit especially during the holidays. UPCOMING EVENTS Vasilopita Luncheon - Sunday, January 21, 2007 we will hold our annual Vasilopita Luncheon in the Bouras Center. This year the luncheon will be catered by the Marco Polo Restaurant in Summit. The cost is $15 for adults and $5 for children up to the age of 16. Proceeds from the luncheon will go to the ongoing support of St. Basil's Academy. Please stop by the Philoptochos Table during Fellowship to make reservations. Mary Demiris models a beautiful outfit. General Meeting - Tuesday, February 6, 2007 in the Bouras Center. Our guest speaker will be Rosemarie Pratt, Director of Volunteers of America Northern NJ Division. Rosemarie will speak on the various programs VOA is involved in and where our donations go. Please plan on attending as I know this will be a very informative presentation from one of the recipients of our donations. Page 4

6 Youth Corner Annual 50/50 Raffle drawing will be help on Sunday, February 25, 2007 in the Bouras Center. Mailing of the raffles will be in January. Annual Fashion Show "Forever Beautiful" will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at the Chanticler, Short Hills, NJ. We will be sending out letters shortly regarding donations for the gift raffles; either monetary or gift items will be accepted. We will also be taking ads for our program book which will include Mother's Day Tributes. More detailed information will be sent our shortly. We would like to remind everyone that we are still collecting donations for the two families we adopted as part of the National Philoptochos Adopt - a Family program for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims. These people are still in need and continue to live in FEMA trailers trying to get their lives back on track. If anyone would like to make a donation, please call me at (908) TRINITY CIRCLE Helen Hiotis, President Our November meeting was very informal with our own Fr. Chris' comments and question and answer period. On Tuesday, December 5th, we went to the "Tides of North Haledon," where we had lunch and enjoyed the show, "Santa Goes Vegas." Lots of laughs! On Tuesday, December 12th, our Ladies Philoptochos sponsored a Christmas luncheon for Trinity Circle at B. G. Fields. We thank them for their generosity every year. For the new year we are planning to look into a trip to Sight & Sound in Lancaster, PA. More info. will be forthcoming. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 10th at 11:00AM. I hope to see you all there. On behalf of Trinity Circle I would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with health and happiness, and with God's blessings "peace in the world." TRINITY ADULT GROUP Vicki Karolis, Chairperson We hope that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. Cold weather is with us as well as the hustle and bustle of the spirit of Christmas. With all the activity around us, let us not forget those that are less fortunate. A perfect way to help celebrate the holidays is the trip planned to Easton, PA, to see the Moscow Ballet perform The Nutcracker Suite. Reservations have already been made. Please stop by the TAG table to pick up your tickets. The ballet is scheduled for the 17th of December, and the bus will leave directly after church services on that day. We are hopeful that the weather will cooperate for our trip to St. Vladimir's on the 17th of March. Final arrangements are being made; and, if the response is satisfactory, we will plan to have a bus available for the trip. A full day has been planned with a stop at "It's Greek to Me" for a bite to eat on the way home. Please make your reservations early for this perfect Lenten activity. We are still working on an activity for April. We welcome all suggestions. Plans are underway for a Family picnic to round out the TAG year. We are hopeful that we will be able to solidify arrangements for sometime towards the end of May. Details will follow within the near future. Anyone interested in serving on the TAG Board for the coming year ( ), please stop by the TAG table and let us know. Board members generally serve for two years. There will be some vacancies; it is not too time-consuming and is certainly a lot of fun. Page 5

7 Youth Corner We wish you all a joyous Christmas with all of our Lord's blessings and a New Year filled with good health and happiness. YHT CORNER Eleni Sallas, Secretary OUTREACH The youth has been regularly volunteering at the Perth Amboy Soup Kitchen. FELLOWSHIP The annual Christmas party was held at the O'Sullivan's home on December 3rd. Twenty-five youth and 21 parents attended, and $125 was donated to Habitat for Humanity. ATHLETICS Congratulations to both the Jr. and Sr. basketball teams, as well as the volleyball team for their successes this season. Both boys' teams were undefeated and the girls lost only once to Holmdel. The girls have not ranked so highly in volleyball in over a decade. As a result of the skill of our athletes, all of our teams will play at the District 2 playoff games. Jr. Basketball Playoffs will be held at home on January 27th, while the volleyball team as well as Sr. Basketball will play at Holmdel. UPCOMING EVENTS Sights and Sounds is just around the corner. March 3rd is the competition date. The following are the group events Holy Trinity plans to participate in as well as the name of the director of each event. Choral Speaking: Janet O'Sullivan American Play: Stathi Afendoulis Greek Singing: Kokona Halkias Religious Singing: Ellen Conti American Singing: Ellen Conti and Kokona Halkias Greek Dancing: Despina Markos Please signup at the youth table for as many events as you can! *All forms and literature entries are due by Monday January 15th * There will be a post show for all members of the community on March 9th. Come and enjoy the sights and sounds of our talented youth and a light snack. The annual Quilt-a-thon for babies with AIDS is to be held on February 25. All hands are needed for this wonderful cause. THANK YOU The youth would like to thank the Galaxy Diner for donating the salad dressing and pasta for the YHT Luncheon. YHT OUTREACH Zachery Wacker "Let us not get tired of doing good. As often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith." Galatians 6:9-10 As we pass the half way mark for the year, I'm happy to report that we've had a tremendous first half. To summarize our YTD efforts: we have volunteered 127 hours, collected $400+ for Lanie's Angels and $200 for Habitat for Humanities. And with the help of the Holy Trinity family we collected two trunks full of non-perishable food, some of which was delivered before Thanksgiving and the rest on Dec 4th for distribution to needy families during the Holiday season. Church dance - Ten youth members volunteered to serve and sell raffles. The volunteers were Ted Bales, Panos and Vassili Chanstis, Jennifer Conti, Aleena Ferreira, Jill and Christopher O'Sullivan, Niko Sakellis, Eleni Sallas and Zackery Wacker. We had a great time and we hope to have more members helping next year. Food collection - Non-perishable food collected was for the Salvation Army food bank. We would like to thank our Holy Trinity family for the donations, and a special Page 6

8 Youth Corner thank you to the Pre-K class who collected baby food and items for families with babies and toddlers. Feed the Homeless - On Dec 4th, Mrs. Ellen Conti, Mr. William Halkias, Irene and Maria Halkias, Peter Kitsos, Nicholas Thomas, Mr. & Mrs. Emil and Stella Wacker and I, went to the Salvation Army in Perth Amboy to feed the homeless. We served twenty-two dinners and have signed up to go back on Feb 7th. The Wireless Foundation Program "Call to Protect Campaign". During the months of December and January, we will be collecting old cell phones and accessories. Please put the phone and any accessories you wish to donate in a bag and drop it off at the Bouras Center. The cell phone collection is to benefit the survivors of domestic violence. Please remember to clear your phone numbers; instructions can be found on the web at UPCOMING EVENTS Super Bowl Sunday - On Feb 4th YHT will have a monetary collection for IOCC. Feed the homeless Salvation Army - We will be going back to the Salvation Army in Perth Amboy on Feb 7th. Quilt-a-thon - Feb 24th in the Bouras Center. GOYA state outreach humanitarian effort for Darfur - The first meeting representing Westfield was attended by Jennifer Conti, Irene and Maria Halkias. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11th in Wyckoff, at which time meeting committees will be formed. Please keep April 28th open for the fundraiser event, and we'll keep you informed of our progress. GREEK DANCE FOR HOPE AND JOY If you have children that are ages 5-7 (HOPE) or ages 8-11 (JOY), they are eligible for the HOPE/JOY Greek Dancing. Greek dancing meets every other Friday from 7:00-8:15 PM at the church. Children that are HOPE ages will rehearse dance from 7:00-7:30 PM and children that are JOY ages will rehearse form 7:30-8:00PM. HOPE and JOY Greek Dancers will learn dances from all areas of Greece. The Greek Dancing Department can provide Amalia Costumes for a variety of boy's and girl's children sizes OR you may provide your child's own costume. The rehearsal dates for the month of January will be the 12th and 26th The rehearsal dates for the month of February will be the 9th and the 23rd The rehearsal dates for the month of March will be the 9th and the 23rd If you are interested in participating in the Greek Dancing Season, please contact: Despina Markos 60 County Road 138 Cliffwood, NJ / JOY JUNIOR ORTHODOX YOUTH WHAT IS JOY? Jenny Logus, Coordinator The Junior Orthodox Youth (JOY) group of the Westfield Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church is open to children between the ages of eight (8) and eleven (11), third through sixth grade. Dues for JOY members is $15 per child per season. The events are geared to not only bring the youth of Holy Trinity together in a fun and educational way, but to start to plant the seeds of giving back to the community through charity projects. Page 7

9 Community Corner Currently JOY is in need of a director or co-directors. If you are interested in volunteering your talents to this worthwhile ministry, please contact the church office at 908/ IF ONE OF YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS IS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR FAITH, THE CHURCH BOOK STORE HAS 455 ANSWERS FOR YOU! Sandy Mouratoglou Oltmann, Dana Banu, and Andrea Blasi Stop by to browse our January feature: THE ORTHODOX CHURCH: 455 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS by Rev. Fr. Stanley S. Harakas. This book is a compilation of topics that orthodox readers posed to Fr. Harakas in his weekly Question/Answer column. Topics range from basic questions regarding our faith and scriptures to current biomedical and ethical concerns. SACRAMENTS AND RITES BAPTISMS Saturday, December 2, Alexis, the daughter of Anastasia [Gevas] and Matthew Gominiak CHURCHINGS Sunday, November 26, Christina Maria, the daughter of Maria and Nickolas Agathis Sunday November 26, Sofia Nicole, the daughter of Inga and Paul Donnelly Sunday, November 26, Theodore John, the son of Shana and John Skiadas FUNERALS Thursday, November 30, Mary Garofallou+ Monday, December 11, Helen Hantzios+ The alphabetically listed topics are followed by one or more numbers bold print indicates directly related questions and lighter print indicates additional information. Because this book gives such a wealth of information that is so well organized, it is impossible to do it justice with a few words of summary. Suffice it to say that this is one of our most popular books, and that many who have bought it come back to say they are well pleased. As you enter the Bouras Center for the Fellowship Hour most Sundays, look to the right for the Book Store's icons, bibles, children's books, and a variety of books on the Divine Liturgy, the Saints, fasting, spirituality, Church history, and Greek traditions. There are also CDs. If you don't see what you want, we can order it for you! Please support the Book Store: All profits are donated to the Church. Page 8