Looking Ahead. Tuesday, January 6th Epiphany - Tarpon Springs

Transcription

1 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2017 Pg. 2 From Father Soteri Pg. 3 From our President Pg. 4 House Blessings Looking into January Sunday, January 1st - 8:45am Circumcision of our Lord and St. Basil Thursday, January 5th - 8:30am Vesperal Divine Liturgy Agiasmo - Blessing of the Water Tuesday, January 6th Epiphany - Tarpon Springs Sunday, January 8th - 8:45am Vasilopita Sunday Cutting of the Vasilopita Sunday, January 15th - 8:45am Stewardship Sunday PC Oath and Usher Meeting Tuesday, January 17th - 5:00pm St. Anthony/Ss. Athanasios & Cyril Sunday, January 22nd - 8:45am Orthros and Hierarchial Liturgy Visit of H.E. Metropolitan Alexios Sunday, January 29th - 8:45am Three Hierarchs Luncheon Monday, January 30th - 8:30am The Three Hierarchs Pg. 5 GOYA and AGAPE Pg. 6 Philoptochos and AHEPA/DOP Pg. 7 Calendar Looking Ahead February 10th-12th Greek Festival Saturday, February 18th 3rd Annual Tampa Bay Youth Talent Show Tickets Available in Office Saturday, February 25th AHEPA Fun Night Saturday, February 25th 2nd Saturday of Souls Sunday, February 26th Godparent Sunday Parish Oratorical Festival Monday, February 27th Great Lent Begins Compline 6pm Saturday, March 11th Annual Lenten Retreat Hosted by the Philoptochos Speaker to be Announced Reverend Father Soterios Rousakis, Protopresbyter Reverend Deacon John Pantelis th Street North St. Petersburg, FL fax: office@ststefanos.org

2 FROM THE DESK OF FATHER SOTERI Behold, I make all things new. On New Year s day, and indeed on every other day, the Lord says this to all of us, and from the standpoint of our Orthodox Christian faith this means something more than simply substituting one calendar for another, trying to remember that we should date our checks and letters with the numerals of the new year 2017 rather than the old. This year is a year of grace, marked by the power and influence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the hearts and minds of those who take Him seriously. This is what makes the new year not simply the passage of time, something which happens automatically, but the transforming spirit of God working in us and through us as we continue to journey towards salvation. This new year begins as a year of grace, even though every year is potentially a year of grace, a year when we can make contact with God s love in line with God s purpose, right where we are, just as we get concerned about paying bills and picking our work up again where we left off when the holidays caught up with us. This is a year of grace for us, when we can find the old made new just as we find normality pressing in upon us. Merely replacing one calendar with another will not bring about a confident relationship with God. Merely changing the digit in the date on our checks and letters will not by itself give us time with meaning. The mere passage of time does not bring about automatic results, but the opportunity is with us always, especially in worship. We come to church the same person that we were last year, and we come into the presence of God, Who makes all things new. God, Who has already read our inner most thoughts and who knows our records, accepts us as we are, because we are His children. He makes it possible for the New Year to be new in the sense that we know ourselves to be forgiven, we have a new appreciation of what Sonship to the Father may mean, and we feel a new reality in our membership in the family of God. To begin the New Year in the presence of God as members of a worshipping congregation means that we can rise at the end of the Divine Liturgy with an assurance that something new has been added to our lives. Consequently, we can take the peace and purpose and power of Christ with us wherever we go in the days ahead. My prayer for the New Year is that this be a year of grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in our individual lives. May this grace make us new, as God uses our lives in His purpose by accepting us as we are, by forgiving our sins, by recreating our ways of seeing things to His good, by reconstituting our relationship with Him and with each other, and then by sending us our blessings to live this glorious newness in our daily lives. Happy New Year to All!

3 My Dear St. Stefanos, FROM OUR PRESIDENT Welcome to a New Year! It is my sincere hope that everyone had a safe and happy beginning to 2017! With this new year, we have a new opportunity to renew our love for our Saviour Jesus Christ and our beloved St. Stefanos. As our year begins with Jesus' baptism and the Theophany, I know that our whole community will be praying for our St. Stefanos boys who will be diving for the cross in Tarpon Springs. No matter the outcome, our boys will be blessed knowing that their community is so very proud of their accomplishments in representing us. Good luck to each and every one of you! We will have our annual Vasilopita Sunday on January 8th which will bring blessings to all our community, ministry leaders and one special person who finds the "coin" in the vasilopita. On the 15th, we will also recognize our St. Stefanos honorees for their commitment and dedication to St. Stefanos. Congratulations to those who received the honor including Nikitas Dritsos, Bill Pedroff and Litsa Stathacopoulos; all are deserving! Our community will further be blessed with the presence of His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios when he visits us on Sunday, January 22nd. I invite everyone to be present in church on January 22nd to worship the Divine Liturgy with his Eminence. I congratulate our new members of the Parish Council who were elected to serve for the next two years including Theodora Taktikos-Danzig, Jimmy Kalyvas, Orson Gregory, and Kathy Kokkinakos! I am confident that our Parish Council will continue to be a productive one for the benefit of St. Stefanos. I would like to once again thank our outgoing members of the Parish Council for their dedication to moving St. Stefanos in a positive direction including Jim Lenas, Visha Anevich, Bill Christopher, and Joanna Petsalis. I know that all of the prior members will continue to help and serve St. Stefanos with love. Our community is moving forward with many projects but we have more to accomplish and need everyone's help when it comes to making sure St. Stefanos is thriving. Please remember with each New Year, a new Stewardship card must be filled out for our parish according to the Archdiocese guidelines. With each Stewardship pledge, we must remember we are the caretakers of our community and it is our duty to commit our time, talents and treasurers to St. Stefanos and return to God what he has blessed us with. I ask that each and every person look deep into their hearts when making their contributions. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and it is filled with health, happiness and prosperity! Sincerely, Dora Komninos 1/01 Panagioti Apostolou David Danzig Perry Parapon Louisa-Denise Simos 1/03 Jonathan Geremia Marlene Karras 1/04 Mary Ann Bissias Christine Klimis 1/05 Eugene Papantoniou 1/06 Jim Davakis 1/07 Stavros Natsis 1/08 John Gonos Nicky Stamoulis Zoe Tischner 1/09 Jacob Stone Birthdays in January 1/11 Maria Diveris Christopher Diveris Michael Doig Artemis Makris 1/12 Golfo Alexopoulos Maria Henderson 1/15 Antoni Naco 1/16 Barbara Aiello Tasia Martin Edgar Olavarria 1/18 Michael Konstantakos Alexandra Olavarria 1/20 Monica Coundouriotis George Harris 1/21 James Kouvaras 1/23 Alex Doig Harry Hamilton Katerina Kolaxis 1/24 Lydia Riddle 1/25 Alexander Gregory Nicholas Panuthos Joe Spampinato 1/26 Christos Kyriazis 1/27 Calvin Samuel 1/29 Lynn Lotkowictz Alex Varidin 1/31 Maria Mullins

4 HOUSE BLESSINGS Saint Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL (727) FAX: (727) Reverend Father Soterios Rousakis, Protopresbyter The Blessing of Homes is an Orthodox Christian custom that is observed by many at Epiphany time, on or around January 6th. Through this custom, the parish priest is invited into one s home to bless it with the Holy Water (Agiasmos) and also to pray for family members, for their health, well-being, sanctification and protection of their homes. The Holy Water is water that is blessed at the Church on the Feast of Epiphany. Those who wish to observe this custom are encouraged to call the Church Office to schedule a visitation or you may fill out the bottom half of this form and mail it back to us. Fr. Soteri will be making visitations from January 11th through January 30th. You will be contacted by telephone to confirm your visitation at a time that is mutually convenient to both you and Father. People who have never had a House Blessing before often wonder what to do when the priest comes, and what happens while he is there. The procedure is a simple one: Welcome the Priest into your home. Turn off the TV and/or stereo and gather your family together in front of your Icons or in a specific room. Be attentive to the prayers being read for you, your family, and your home. When it comes time to bless the home, one member of the family (younger children should be included) should lead the Priest to all the rooms in the house. Other family members should remain in the prayer area until the Priest returns. The Priest will then offer up a concluding prayer. Family members then make the sign of the cross, kiss the blessing cross, and receive a blessing. Please note: a major benefit of the House Blessing is one which gives the Priest and the family an opportunity to get to know one another. Though it is not possible for the Priest to stay more than 10 or 15 minutes and this is because of the number of homes that he must bless on a given day, he will stay at least that long if invited. If you would like him to stay, invite him to sit after the House Blessing ceremony. You may offer him something to eat or drink. Alcohol and sweets are not recommended. If you have any questions about House Blessings please call Fr. Soteri at HOUSE BLESSING REQUEST NAME: PHONE: ADDRESS: CITY: ZIP CODE: PLEASE RETURN TO: ST. STEFANOS HOUSE BLESSING TH ST. N., ST. PETERSBURG, 33710

5 GOYA and AGAPE GOYA Newsletter January 2017 Hello to all our GOYA Families, On December 2-4th we traveled to Umatilla, Florida for the Holy Trinity Orlando Advent Retreat. We had a great weekend filled with faith, fellowship and fun. We were challenged by the ropes course, engaging sessions and enjoyed the bonfire with s mores and camp songs. We made new friends and created lasting memories. Save the date for upcoming events: January 22nd Immediately following Sunday School GOYA meeting & Winter Event Skit Prep January 27th 29th - Holy Trinity Clearwater Winter Event. Forms & payment due by January 2, 2017 February 10th-13th - St Stefanos Greek Festival -- Volunteers Needed February 25th Community Outreach, Feeding Pinellas Hope with the Philoptochos **We will not be hosting the Annual Rummage Sale on January 14, 2017** Wishing you good health, happiness, and success in the coming year and always. Happy New Year! Kathy Foltz Christine Klimis AGAPE HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! The January meeting will be held on Tuesday, at noon. The menu will be soup and sandwich with Birthdays celebration. We will have our first Vasilopita cutting. Dues are $6.00. Luncheon for paid members $6.00 and nonmembers $7.00

6 The Philoptochos Post PHILOPTOCHOS and AHEPA/DOP Happy New Year 2017! Our Ladies Philoptochos Society celebrated a lovely Christmas luncheon on Saturday, December 17, 2016, with a delicious meal at the Widow Brown's, hosted by Louie and Kathy Kokkinakos. We had a very successful bake sale for Christmas, and our NEW cookbooks have arrived! They are a excellent hard bound, 3 ring binder book which you will be happy to have in your home for only $20. Please see all of the delicious recipes given by our Philoptochos members and friends! (The winning cookie recipe from the Pageant cookie contest is in there--thelma Maragos' kourabiedes). Over the holidays, our Visiting Angels spent some time with St Stefanos shutins and brought gifts, donated baby supplies to CASA, and personal supplies to the female veterans living at C. W. Bill Young (Bay Pines) VA. In the new year, we will be feeding Pinellas Hope homeless shelter and Ronald McDonald house. Sunday, January 8 will be our Philoptochos Vasilopita cutting and luncheon. Any donation of homemade Vasilopita will be gratefully accepted. Please plan to stay after church to celebrate with us! Our next meeting will be Sunday, January 22, after church. Please join us for this meeting to discuss our Spring plans!!! May you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! AHEPA FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION FUNDRAISER SAVE THE DATE FUN NIGHT - FEBRUARY 25, 2017 Hawaiian Luau Fans Looking for a Great Night on the Town!! Delicious Hawaiian Buffett, Music, Casino Games, Best Costume Prize and more!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR, We hope to see you on February 25th! DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE: We thank you all who supported our poinsettia fundraiser. The beautiful flowers decorated our church for Christmas and profit will be donated to St. Stefanos.

7 January 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 10:00am Divine Liturgy 8 Vasilopita Sunday 10:00am Divine Liturgy Vasilopita Luncheon 15 Stewardship Sunday 10:00am Divine Liturgy PC Oath of Office Usher Meeting 22 10am Hierarchial Liturgy 12:00pm GOYA Meeting 12:00pm Philoptochos Mtg 29 10:00am Divine Liturgy 3 Hierarchs Luncheon Beacon House (Philoptochos) OFFICE CLOSED Three Hierarchs 8:30am Orthros 9:30am Divine Liturgy :00pm AGAPE 7:00pm Ministry Mtg 17 St. Anthony 5:00pm Orthros 6:00pm Divine Liturgy 24 6:30pm Parish Council :00am UAW 18 Ss. Athanasios & Cyril 6:00pm AHEPA/DOP :00pm Choir Practice 12 7:00pm Choir Practice 19 7:00pm Choir Practice 26 10:00am Office Angels 7:00pm Choir Practice 6 10:00am Prayer Group 13 10:00am Prayer Group 20 10:00am Prayer Group 27 10:00am Prayer Group

8 ST. STEFANOS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH th Street North St. Petersburg, Florida NON - PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #6203 ST. PETERSBURG, FL Return Address Requested 2017 Stewardship Cards If you have not done so already, please fill out a new Stewardship Card for Remember, even if you have been a Steward at St. Stefanos for years, each year requires a new card to be eligible to vote. Available in the Narthex, Bookstore and Office In the Gospel of Saint Matthew (6:19), Jesus instructs us, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Often in life, we pursue and collect those things that do not last. We must ask, One hundred years from now, where will our possessions be? Our greatest blessing is our family. As Orthodox Christians, we are called to be stewards of this great gift. If we are faithful to this calling, perhaps our Lord will say to us as he did to the faithful steward, Well done good and faithful servant (Mt 25:23).