INSIDE THIS ISSUE Fr. Nick s Net

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1 News & Events INSIDE THIS ISSUE Fr. Nick s Net Parish News & Events From the Inter-NET Around the World Pg. 2 Pg. 3 Pg. 5 Pg. 6 HOLY TRINITY GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH STEUBENVILLE, OHIO MAY 2015 VOLUME VII ISSUE 5 ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE: May Calendar Memorial Day and Saturday of Souls Namesheets THE MISSION OF THE HOLY TRINITY PARISH IS TO SEEK AND ACHIEVE ONENESS WITH GOD IN HIS REVEALED SON, JESUS CHRIST THROUGH DAILY SACRAMENTAL AND SACRIFICIAL LIVING. WE WILL STRIVE FOR THE PEACEFUL AND LOVING UNITY WITH OUR NEIGHBORS IN CHRIST WHICH MAKES US HIS DISCIPLES. / 1 The Net May 2015

2 Fr. Nick s Net The Net is the Monthly Newsletter of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church PARISH INFORMATION PARISH PRIEST: FR. NICHOLAS M. HALKIAS PHONE: (740) HOME: (724) FRNICK@HOLYTRINITYSTB.ORG ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: OFFICE@HOLYTRINITYSTB.ORG PARISH ADDRESS: 300 SOUTH FOURTH STREET P.O. BOX 788 STEUBENVILLE, OH PHONE: (740) FAX: (740) OFFICE@HOLYTRINITYSTB.ORG WEB: Holy Trinity Church is a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh (pittsburgh.goarch.org) and Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America ( under the Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( PARISH MINISTRIES John Scavdis Nick Riley Susan Vogagis Rikki Kamarados Don Kronstein Steve Pahides Marianne Balakos George Berris John Josai PARISH COUNCIL 2 The Net - May 2015 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Asst. Treasurer Asst. Treasurer Connie Shea John Synodinos Tina Van Dijk Philoptochos... Rikki Kamarados Religious Education... Stewardship... GOYA... Rikki Kamarados JOY... Maria Matzorkis HOPE... Maria Matzorkis Choir... Pete Caleodis Library / Bookstore... Mary Romios Senior Citizens... Barbara Lee Maragos Chian Society... John Synodinos Pan-Icarian Brotherhood... Stacey Kotsanis AHEPA... Tommy Kotsanis May 2015 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! Ἀληθὼς Ἀνέστη! During the joyous celebration of Pascha, we find ourselves curiously untouched by fear of death. Why? Because we are not going to someday draw our last breath? Because we Christ has figured out a way for us not to be buried? No, it is more than these things; Christ has reminded us of the limits (not of our own mortality, but of death itself). In the Bible passage from John 11, Martha, the sister of the dead Lazarus, says to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. After a bit of a correspondence, Jesus responds with these famous words, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Of all the puzzling things that Jesus has quoted in His life, this one threw me for a loop. What? All we have to do is believe in Jesus, and we will never die?!! Sign me up! That s what I want To never die. I can t even think of a better outcome of my life than to live forever. Then I started to look around me. My uncle died. My Yiayia died. My other relatives were dying, some at a very young age. They all believed in Jesus They were all baptized. Why didn t they bypass death the way Jesus said they would? Either Jesus is a liar, or else something is wrong. I began to become disillusioned. At this point, I was told about Hades. It was the place everyone went before Christ came down to the earth. When our souls and bodies separated after the fall of Adam and Eve, our bodies were buried and our souls were snatched into Hades. It was like an eternal dead end. One way in, and no way out. If I was going to describe the truest meaning of death, Hades would be it. It was like an endless black hole, with no escape. Because of the fall, no matter how good or bad your life was according to the law of Moses, almost all humans still ended up there. This is the reason that Jesus had to become human. In His immortality as God, Hades could not receive Him. He needed to taste death (in others words to descend onto Hades) as a human in order to descend into Hades. So when He finally did die, as a human, His human soul went down into Hades, like everyone else If nothing else had changed, His human soul would have remained there indefinitely. But, unlike any other human soul that entered Hades, He was also God. And Hades could not contain His human soul, but Hades had no power over Him. In this way, He shattered death s doors and allowed for all the souls in Hades to break free: Free from the dominion of eternal doom, free from becoming nonexistent, free from death itself. What God created, at the point of His death, was a façade of death. Death (as it existed before the Resurrection) truly no longer exists, if we are of Christ. It can t, because God allows for the joy of His life to create eternal life in Him. When we finally breathe our last breath, we don t truly die. We rest, until God in His power wakes us up again; not for a few years like the first part of our lives, but for eternity! Christ is Risen!!! Truly He is Risen!!!

3 News & Events WORSHIP SCHEDULE Sunday Worship... May Orthros is at 9:00 am and Divine Liturgy is at 10:00 am. Sunday School begins at 11:00 am. We will also be having Hymnology the first Sunday of the month starting at 11:00 am. MAY These are the services for the month of May please check your schedules and plan to attend. Sunday, May 3... Sunday of the Paralytic 10:00 am Liturgy 11:00 am Hymnology Tuesday, May 5... St. Irene the Great-Martyr 8:30 am Orthros 9:30 am Liturgy Wednesday, May 6... Mid-Pentecost 6:00 pm Paraklesis Friday, May 8... St. John the Divine & Liturgy in Wheeling, WV Sunday, May Samaritan Woman / Mothers Day 10:00 am Liturgy 11:00 am Sunday School Tuesday, May 12 4:00 pm Confession Wednesday, May 13 6:00 pm Paraklesis Thursday, May 14 11:00 am Confession Sunday, May Sunday of the Blind Man 10:00 am Liturgy 11:00 am Sunday School Wednesday, May Leave-taking of Pascha 5:30 pm 9th Hour 6:00 pm Vespers of Ascension Thursday, May Holy Ascension Sts. Constantine and Helen 8:30 am Orthros 9:30 am Liturgy Sunday, May Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council 10:00 am Liturgy 11:00 am Sunday School Monday, May 25...Memorial Day 9:00 am Fort Steuben 10:30 am Union Cemetery Wednesday, May 27 6:00 pm Paraklesis Saturday, May Saturday of the Souls 8:30 am Orthros 9:30 am Liturgy Sunday, May Holy Pentecost 10:00 am Liturgy w/ Kneeling Vespers 11:00 am Sunday School HAPPY BIRTHDAY The following people will be celebrating their birthday in the month of May: Lucianna Petrides May 01 Gage Strickler May 02 Richard Mahfood May 03 Stella Parikakis May 05 Alan Locascio May 05 Pete Atsalis May 10 Katelyn Rebon May 10 Nicholas Kirsch May 12 Luke Zorne May 12 Faye Christ May 14 Alexandria Caras May 14 Sophia Panagis May 21 Marie Economos May 22 James Rebon May 23 Charles Rebon May 23 John Tressler May 24 Mark Al Kaed May 24 Darryl Shekas May 26 Erik van Dijk May 26 Enza Tsouris May 26 If your name was not listed and you had a birthday during this month, please contact the office and we will be happy to place it on our roster for next year. FESTIVAL NEWS FESTIVAL TENTS WILL "BLOOM" IN JUNE! "Christos Anesti!" Well, it's spring; and we are all familiar with the oft-repeated phrase, "April showers bring May flowers." Soon the flowers and trees will be blooming all around us, and we will wonder when the process happened. In a similar manner, this time of year will soon lead to the "blooming" of tents in the street and adjoining property of Holy Trinity Church; and Grecian Festival Number 29 will be in full swing. Here, too, some will 3 The Net May 2015

4 News & Events wonder when all the preparations took place. Like the rains of April, the ovens of the kitchen have been working overtime for several months. Cookies, grape leaves, and food items are prepared and stored in waiting. This year some changes are in order. There will be vendors participating to sell their wares. There will not be a booth for the Taki Romios Library, but there will be T-shirts and souvenirs available. Plans include getting the youth more involved with a booth possibly selling hot dogs. The "apothiki" (children's candy and trinkets) will no longer be a booth. Also, expect changes in the "Taverna" area. So far everything has been moving along smoothly under the very capable leadership of John Scavdis, president of our community and chairman of the festival. He has already put in many hours in preparation for a successful and beautiful event again this year. Check THE NET in June for updates. Above all take note of upcoming dates when help is needed. We need everyone's help. Remember, also, that the deadline for the souvenir album and placemat ads in May 3; no ads will be accept after that date. Until June, watch for the "blooming" tents! Pete Thomas Caleodis Festival Co-treasurer FESTIVAL BAKING CALENDAR Please note: A tentative baking calendar is out for the Month of May. Please note that these dates are subject to change. You will be notified through the weekly bulletin if there is a change. May 01 9:00 am Pastitsio May pm Pastitsio May 12 9:00 am Souzoukakia May 19 9:00 am Galatobouriko RELIGIOUS EDUCATION BIBLE STUDY... May 13 & 27 The Bible Study group normally holds it meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 10:00 am. Due to Easter we are moving the dates for this month. FAMILY FUN NIGHT... TBA Each month Family Fun Night meets at a different location. OPA... May 21 OPA is our Women s Study Group. You don t need to be Orthodox to come. So come on in, invite your friends, and enjoy the fun! This month, we will be meeting at the brand new Orthodox Coffee House in downtown Steubenville: The Agia Sophia Coffeehouse on Market Street, across from Huntington Bank on May 21st at 6:30 pm. We hope everyone will come and joint us at this new location. THEOLOGY ON TAP... May 14 Each month Theology on Tap meets at a different location. This month Theology on Tap will meet on 14th at 6:00 pm at the home of Don and Louise Kronstein. PARISH GROUPS AHEPA... TBA The AHEPA Society will now have their meetings scheduled through our Notify-Now system. CHOIR... TBA Rehearsals are held weekly when possible and the times vary. Anyone who would be interested in joining the Choir is welcome to do so. Please contact Pete Caleodis if you are interested in joining. PHILOPTOCHOS... May 7 The next scheduled meeting of the Philoptochos is scheduled for the first Thursday in May. This meeting will be held at Janoski s at 1:00 pm. PARISH COUNCIL... May 12 Parish Council meetings are held the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm at the church unless otherwise stated. FOURTH STREET HEALTH CLINIC For the month of May we are asking for: Alcohol prep pads, antibiotic ointment/cream, band-aids, bottled water, copy paper, cough drops and tissues. Please be generous with your supplies as these go to a very worthy cause. MARCH MONTHLY FINANCIALS March weekly income $5, March weekly expense $4, YOUTH RETREAT FEEDS THE POOR On our Annual Great and Holy Friday Youth Retreat, for the 2nd Year in a row, our children made 200 bagged lunches to help feed those around town who are hungry. They were assisted by many parents, and the bagged lunches were donated to the Friendship Warming Center. Thank you to those children and adults for adding to the holiness of Holy Week through your generosity! 4 The Net - May

5 Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of Saint Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY, and noted Orthodox Christian priest, theologian, preacher, and speaker, fell asleep in the Lord on the afternoon of March 18, Father Thomas was the beloved husband of Matushka Anne [Schmemann] Hopko. They were married on June 9, Together, Father Thomas and Anne are the parents of five children, sixteen grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren. Thomas John Hopko was born in Endicott, NY, on March 28, 1939, the third child and only son of John J. Hopko and Anna [Zapotocky] Hopko. He was baptized and raised in Saint Mary s Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church and educated in Endicott public schools, graduating from Union-Endicott High School in Father Thomas graduated from Fordham University in 1960 with a bachelor s degree in Russian studies. He graduated with a theological degree from Saint Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1963, from Duquesne University with a master s degree in philosophy in 1969, and earned his doctorate degree in theology from Fordham University in Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in August 1963, Father Thomas served the following parishes as pastor: Saint John the Baptist Church, Warren, OH ( ); Saint Gregory the Theologian Church, Wappingers Falls, NY ( ); and Saint Nicholas Church, Jamaica Estates, NY ( ). Father Thomas was honored with the clerical rank of Archpriest in 1970 and the rank of Protopresbyter in Beginning in 1968, Father Thomas began his long service to Saint Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Over the years, Father Thomas held the following positions: Lecturer in Doctrine and Pastoral Theology, ; Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology, ; Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology, ; Professor of Dogmatic Theology, ; Dean, Rector of Three PROTOPRESBYTER THOMAS HOPKO March 18, 2015 From the Inter-NET Hierarchs Chapel, and Professor of Dogmatic Theology, During his years of priestly ministry, Father Thomas authored numerous books and articles. Most well known of these publications is The Orthodox Faith: An Elementary Handbook on the Orthodox Church. A prolific speaker and preacher, he spoke at conferences, retreats, public lectures, and Church gatherings of all kinds, many of which were recorded. Father Thomas performed countless duties on behalf of the Orthodox Church in America, including representing the Church at intra-orthodox gatherings and ecumenical meetings. Upon retirement, Father Thomas and Anne moved to Ellwood City, PA, where they lived near the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, and Father Thomas began a new ministry: internet-based Orthodox Christian radio talks. Since 2008, Father Thomas had produced well over 400 podcasts for Ancient Faith Radio. Father Thomas exercised untiring and loving pastoral care on behalf many who sought him out for spiritual guidance. His greatest desire was that every person would respond to these words of Jesus Christ: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Father Thomas is survived by his wife, Matushka Anne, and their five children: Archpriest John Hopko and his wife Macrina, of Terryville, CT; Juliana and husband Gregory Thetford, of Ellwood City, PA; Catherine and husband Raymond Mandell, of Clearfield, PA; Mary and husband Archpriest Nicholas Solak, of East Stroudsburg, PA; and Alexandra and husband Joseph Sedor, of Ellicott City, MD. He is also survived by two sisters, Mary Ann Macko of Endwell, NY, and Barbara McPherson of Sayre, PA and Frostproof, FL. Additionally, Father Thomas is survived by 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, as well as many, many other dear relatives, colleagues, and friends. May Father Thomas memory be eternal! -Taken from: The Net - May 2015

6 Around the World SEX AND THE MORAL IMAGINATION Fr. Stephen Freeman As the day draws near for the US Supreme Court to insist on nationwide approval for gay marriage, a watershed in modern thought has been reached. For although the Supreme Court is not the arbiter of morality, its decisions generally signal a deep level of cultural acceptance. Of course, in American practice, the court represents the apex of legal/forensic imagination. Its decision will signal the bankruptcy of the forensic model for continuing Christian thought. When questions of sexual behavior are placed before the legal model, Christians are simply unable to make a persuasive case for much of anything. It is at least true, that the culture has become completely deaf to the sounds of Christian thought spoken in legal grammar. For the Church, the most immediate question is not how to regain a culture that it has now lost, but how to speak to the Church whose members have been nurtured in a failed legal/forensic imagination. For what seems obvious to the Supreme Court will likely seem obvious to teenage Christians as well (and many others). Christians are hardly counter-cultural revolutionaries (despite all of our protests to the contrary). The culture in which we live is, whether we want to admit it or not, of our own making. Sexual morality and other related social issues have been addressed in a moral framework that is essentially forensic, grounded either within a legal reading of Scripture or in natural law. Scripture no longer holds a place of central authority within Western culture and natural law arguments have been lost in a constant battle of science and counter-science. Everything seems to have been swallowed by a popular acceptance of radical Nominalism: anything can be whatever we want it to be. The wanting is the thing. But sexual relationships (and all relationships) lose the possibility of well-being in a world where whatever we want is, in fact, the case. For relationship is inherently about the Other, and if the Other is simply what I want, then the Other serves only as an extension of the ego. When Christ speaks about marriage, He pointedly moves past the arrangements of the Mosaic Law and reverts to Genesis: From the beginning it was not so (Matt. 19:8). He elevates the creation story to the controlling position. It is there that we most clearly see the role of the Other. They are male and female, specifically like and unlike one another. And the man without the woman is not good. Rather, he is alone. But this also becomes the ground of union, that state of being that best describes salvation. She is bone of my bone and flesh 6 The Net May 2015 of my flesh. The complementarity is not simply opposition, ego on ego, but a unique ontological relationship admitting of union without the loss of otherness. It is, in its complete expression, the model of personhood. And this is the union that the Church blesses in the sacrament of marriage. It is not simply two people, but male and female, in a union that is possible on every level. Biology is not made inferior to psychology. The modern project has reduced sexual existence to mere identity, a vehicle for the ego. Ovum and sperm have been objectified, becoming simple biological materials to be manipulated in a lab. Classical Christianity understands that the Cross is the way of life and that its paradox turns the tragic inside-out. For the Cross is not an unfortunate requirement, something God is forced to do in order to rescue sinful man. The tragedy of the Cross is also the pattern of healing, wholeness, well-being and eternal life. It is the revelation of true personhood. All of the arguments regarding new definitions of marriage, aggressive reproductive technologies, gender re-definitions, etc., are made within a model that views any and all suffering as both tragic, needless and unacceptable if at all possible of alleviation. Such a line of reasoning was inevitably on a collision course with an ethic originally rooted in the Cross. The Christian view of personhood is an invitation to voluntary suffering and selfsacrifice. Nothing could be less modern. The Church s sacramental life exists solely for the purpose of salvation. It does not exist to bless or facilitate the interests of the State (or of the ego). The sexual models that are finding approval within the culture (and by the State) are not in accordance with the path of personhood revealed in the Christian Tradition. There are and will be many varying models of Christianity that will agree to serve the self-defined interests of the State. But these represent another gospel, a radical rejection and re-imagining of the Christian Tradition. In public conversations, the traditional account of Christianity is going to come up short: the Modern promise of no suffering will always get more votes than the tragedy of the Cross. But the Cross must first be re-preached to the Christian people they have listened long and well to Modern promises and have, to a large extent, modified their own understanding of the gospel in its light. The irony, of course, is that the Modern drive in the name of compassion and the alleviation of suffering, is something that was first taught by the Church. And now the Church will seem to be arguing against it. Of course, the supreme irony is the Cross itself, which has always seemed like foolishness and weakness, and will continue to be despised by the builders of our Brave New World. -Exceprted from: /02/12/sex-moral-imagination/

7 The NET-Minders The Parish of Holy Trinity would like to thank the following benefactors for making this Monthly Newsletter possible: Place your ADVERTISMENT HERE Place your ADVERTISMENT HERE In Loving Memory Of Nicholas Mougianis 7 The Net May 2015

8 Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church P.O. Box South Fourth Street Steubenville, OH NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE P A I D STEUBENVILLE, OH PERMIT NO. 83 Submissions for THE NET are to be submitted by the 20 th of each month About the Icon on the Cover FATHERS OF THE 1ST ECUMENICAL COUNCIL The heresiarch Arius was a Libyan by race and a protopresbyter of the Church of Alexandria. In 315, he began to blaspheme against the Son and Word of God, saying that He is not true God, consubstantial with the Father, but is rather a work and creation, alien to the essence and glory of the Father, and that there was a time when He was not. This frightful blasphemy shook the faithful of Alexandria. Alexander, his Archbishop, after trying in vain to correct him through admonitions, cut him off from communion and finally in a local council deposed him in the year 321. Yet neither did the blasphemer wish to be corrected, nor did he cease sowing the deadly tares of his heretical teachings; but writing to the bishops of other cities, Arius and his followers requested that his doctrine be examined, and if it were unsound, that the correct teaching be declared to him. By this means, his heresy became universally known and won many supporters, so that the whole Church was soon in an uproar. Therefore, moved by divine zeal, the first Christian Sovereign, Saint Constantine the Great, the equal to the Apostles, summoned the renowned First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, a city of Bithynia. It was there that the shepherds and teachers of the Church of Christ gathered from all regions in the year 325. All of them, with one mouth and one voice, declared that the Son and Word of God is one in essence with the Father, true God of true God, and they composed the holy Symbol of Faith up to the seventh article (since the remainder, beginning with "And in the Holy Spirit," was completed by the Second Ecumenical Council). Thus they anathematized the impious Arius of evil belief and those of like mind with him, and cut them off as rotten members from the whole body of the faithful. Therefore, recognizing the divine Fathers as heralds of the Faith after the divine Apostles, the Church of Christ has appointed this present Sunday for their annual commemoration, in thanksgiving and unto the glory of God, unto their praise and honour, and unto the strengthening of the true Faith. -Taken from: