MESSENGER THE. Newsletter of All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church. America: The Great Spiritual Test

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1 THE MESSENGER Newsletter of All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church America: The Great Spiritual Test July 2014 Most would agree that it is a great blessing to live in America, but could it be a spiritual test as well? Are the Christians who have moved here being tested by God to see if they really love Him? In the US, we can possess many things, but will we lose our souls? Our families have come here by and large for freedom and economic prosperity, and prosper we have, from poverty and hardship to become the wealthiest in the world! And, the new freedom that we experience, is it used for Godly purposes or selfish ones? St. Paul warns us do not use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. (Gal. 5.13, 15) It seems that the gift of freedom, demands great self-discipline, and was meant only for one reason: to love. If we deserve everything, and all is at our fingertips, who will say, NO! to themselves. Who will curb their own desires and lusts especially if our country says that they are OK? Living in the Superpower may be a dangerous place for a spiritually minded follower of Jesus Christ. Yes, the rags-to-riches story does challenge Christian faith, as do the new freedoms and beliefs challenge our moral decisions. The American Test is not new, however, it is the same that Jesus Christ was tempted with by the devil in the desert. The devil offered him everything, power, wealth, all the glory of this world but the Lord refused the opportunity to glorify Himself. The Lord freely chose to obey God, saying, Away, with you, Satan! For it is written, You will worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. (Mat. 4.10) If He had only thought of Himself, we would have been doomed! We should ask ourselves, what are our true desires in life? Can we fight the pursuit of pleasures, and nurture our love for God? We are in the land of self-glorification, a fountain of temptations, so it is difficult to live spiritually. The easy life of luxury here is intoxicating, and so the desire for it is great, and the commandments of God do not fit in. The Gospel, Those who are Christ s [Christians] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, (Gal. 5.25) is contrary to the American life-style of it s my life and I can do whatever I want, or I can live how I want, as longs as I don t hurt any one. We are becoming gluttonous for success and wealth, and luxury? It occupies all of our time, talent, and treasure. We are eating this up with our whole heart? The Bible warns, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. (Mat. 6.21) Yet, we will be always hungry and always empty, just living in the Devil s Lie. In the end, we will be left used up, then we will hunger and thirst for something real. When the pleasures of life end, which will be more important, the Kingdom of God, or the pursuit of happiness? The Bible warns, Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. James 4.4 Continued on P. 2

2 HUSKER PREVIEW 2014 IS HERE! RESERVE YOUR TABLE TODAY! Continued from P. 1 America: The Great Spiritual Test America is the proud Superpower, the exceptional Leader of the world, every country does as we say, we are at the top [of the Temple] looking down on all and saying, we are the Power, we do as we like, Christians ought to examine their aspirations and look closely at their life-style, for we, more easily than the rest, can gain the whole world, but as the bible says, we will lose our souls. (Matthew 16.26) Fr Alexander PARISH INFORMATION Address: 9012 Q Street, Omaha, NE Office Hours: Monday Friday: 10am 5pm Phone: Fax: Website: Church: AHSoffice@allholyspirit.com Fr. Alexander Lukashonok: FrAlexander@allholyspirit.com Services: Each Sunday Morning Prayers 8:30 am Divine Liturgy 9:30 am 2 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church December

3 THANK YOU It s a great honor to offer the bread that will become the body and blood of Christ during Divine Liturgy and we thank the following people who provided Prosphora for June: Voula Kotrotsios, Debbie Birge, Joanne Sgourakis, Maria Laws, and Joan Rakes. June Coffee Hour sponsors: Brian & Sheila Zachariae, Robert & Maria Laws, and Gust & Joan Rakes The Parish Council for arranging the Metropolitan s visit for the celebration of our Name day. A special thank you to those who took care of the Metropolitan s lodging and chauffeuring him to all the events and services. To chanters, youth choir and director, those who donated flowers, sewed altar cloths and decorated our church so beautifully. To everyone responsible for setting up, cooking and serving the delicious meals for our Celebration Dinner and Monday Luncheon. To everyone who helped with all the clean-up. To an anonymous donor for our delicious Name Day celebration dinner. The Fellowship committee would like to thank AHEPA for their monetary donation toward glassware, dinnerware etc. for use at our functions. This is a great investment that we will be able to take with us to our future home. Thank you AHEPA for donating funds for the Royal Doors. MEMORIAL A memorial was offered on June 1st for Angela Sleder, mother of Cindy Lambert, Albert, Ted & Frank Sleder. May her memory be Eternal. USHER SCHEDULE July & August If you are unable to usher on your assigned Sunday please find a replacement within your group. 07/06 Chris Hoegemeyer Paul Kosel Bill & Cindy Lambert 07/13 John Sgourakis Sandi Kriha Mike & Nikki Moravec 07/20 Nick Petrow Voula Kotrotsios Jim McDonnell & Paul Bitsos 07/27 John Treantos Andrew LaCroix John & Elaine Berger 08/03 David Rakes Dee Lahs Brian & Sheila Zachariae 08/10 John Birge Robert Laws Mike Bouzis & Josh Busch 08/17 Andy Karavas Bill Lewis Bill & Cindy Lambert 08/24 Chris Hoegemeyer Cindy Miller Mike & Nikki Moravec 08/31 John Sgourakis James Panourakis Jim McDonnell & Paul Bitsos Summer Book Reading Challenge Children ages 5-13 are invited to take part in the Summer Book Reading Challenge Jun. 1st thru Aug. 8th! We will have 2 groups: ages 5-7 and Each child will be given a book to read this summer (parents can read to a younger group). The Church will gift the 1st book to each child. Upon completion, older group should write a short 200-word essay on their understanding of the book. Parents of the younger group should submit their confirmation of the finished book. Fr. Alexander will announce and award 2 winners (1 from each group) on Sunday, Aug. 10th, after the Liturgy. Contact Natasha if you have any questions at ahsoffice@allholyspirit.com or All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church July

4 Pentecost Celebrations... This year we were honored with the Pastoral visit of our father and archbishop, His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah. Metropolitan participated in Pentecost services and shared with us AHS Church name day celebration dinner. Continued from P.3 Community Activity A 5 year memorial was offered June 22 for John Argoudelis, father of Maria Laws. May his memory be eternal. Services to St. John of San Francisco, July 1-2 NEEDED: olive oil for the votive lamps. If you would like to donate oil please bring a bottle to the church office. CONGRATULATIONS We congratulate John & Laura Pavalis on the Churching of their grandson Cord Christopher Craig on June All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church December

5 Vacation Bible School Vacation bible School has been a great success! Your children have grown in their knowledge and faith, enjoying some fellowship in the process. Children and their teachers showed our Church family what they ve done and learned by singing some hymns at the liturgy. Habitat for Humanity We volunteered at one of the Habitat for Humanity construction sites on June 14th. Thank you to all those who committed their time to this important cause. We helped a family from Nepal to build their home in North Omaha. THANK YOU from GOYA GOYA would like to thank all of the parishioners for their generous support at the Father's Day Breakfast! We were able to raise $150 to help support events during the next school year! GOYA would especially like to thank Baylie Moravec for cooking and bringing a griddle, the Petrow family for donating bananas, the Laws family for donating the blueberries, Asia Rakes for helping prepare the food, and Gabriella Laws for serving and helping clean up. We thank Nick Hogan for taking out all the trash. Lastly, we are thankful for all of the amazing fathers, godfathers and uncles that we have in the AHS. ATTENTION Parents Of All Dancers Our dancers have been invited to participate in St. John s festival again this year. Practices will be at St John s every week after church. For information please contact: Irene Kuvetakis (ages 11-15): Ellana Haackenstad (ages 6-9): Sophia Pappas (ages 3-5): GREAT JOB VASILI! Vasili Sgourakis attended the National Oratorical Festival this past week and brought home Honorable Mention for his speech. July

6 Alexandra Bakke Chris & Carole Bakke Nicholas Bakke Willima Bakke John & Elaine Berger John & Debbie Birge Justin & Nicole Birge Effie Bitsos Paul & Dora Bitsos Nick Bitzes Phil & Tammy Bitzes Matt & Alexis Boulos Julie Bouzis Michael Bouzis Angie Brown Josh & Leah Busch Joe & Litsa Carter Karen Chader Tom & Brenda Denich John & Hillary Detisch Steve & Nikki Diamantis Mary Dounias David & Hellen Elfering Katie Elfering Sarah Elfering Elias & Demetra Eliopoulos Despina Foster Jordan Fox Jason & Tammy Gill Chirs & Vike Hoegemeyer Trey & Tammy Honke Steve & Mariana Hurst Jeff Johannesmeyer Knox & Anastasia Jones Adam & Sandy karavas Andy & Debbie Karavas Tesfaye Kinde & Yordanos Gebrehiwet Christina Knowles Bob & Maria Knowles Elaina Knowles Paul & Annie Kosel Alexander Kotrotsios Voula Kotrotsios Mike & Sandi Kriha Harry & Dee Lahs Bill & Cindy Lambert Robert & Maria Laws Ted & Helen Lazanas Bill Lewis Natalia Li Irene Maragos Jim & Deb McDonnell Michael McDonnell Jon & Liz Mehuron Cindy Miller John & Kathleen Mitchell II Mary Mitchell Mike & Nikki Moravec Spiro & Mary Moustakes Linda Olson James Panourakis Joe & Kikki Papke John & Laura Pavalis 6 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church

7 Frederick Petrides Bill & Eva Petrides Nick & Aphrodite Petrihos Helen Petrow Nick & Shelly Petrow Nicole Petrow Sophia Petrow Teddy Petrow George & Jody Poullos George Poulos George Pserros David & Lisa Rakes George & Angie Rakes Gust & Joan Rakes Mike Rakes Shelly Reiling Chris & Nadine Saklar Bill & Joanne Sgourakis John & Michelle Sgourakis Aaron & Litsa Shoemaker Anna Smith Steve & Heidi Thomson Scott & Rene Thornton John & Kathy Treantos Sam & Betty Tsichlis Evan Vasiliades John Vasiliades Andy & Jackie Vassios Alyssa Wilger Andrea Wilger Pete & Stephanie Wilger Maria Yanda-Carter Brian & Sheila Zachariae THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMITMENT TO CHRIST S WORK! AHEPA News We are on track to have another Great Papuchis Cornhusker Event scheduled for July 11 th. We are asking for volunteers from our Ladies to help with serving. We are doing things differently this year by selling Tables of 8 and inviting those individuals upstairs in our Fellowship Hall for a private party with the coaches. As some of you may already know, AHEPA District 15 was disbanded and we are now part of District 14. We participated in our 1 st District 14 Convention, which was held in Sioux City, IA on June There was a Golf Outing on Friday, 6/13 with 12 golfers participating. They held a very nice dinner/dance on Friday evening with Music by Deno. He was from the Twin Cities and was very good. Saturday was a complete day of meetings and again a dinner/dance that evening with Deno being the entertainment. Our Fish Fry for 2014 was a record-breaking year. Our profits increased by over 50%. We averaged just fewer than 700 meals per Friday and we about $13/individual for revenue. We are on a roll! July

8 FELLOWSHIP July 1st - St. John of San Francisco. Please join us after the Healing Service for fellowship. We will have sweets, fruit, wine and coffee. Please join us in fellowship on July 12th for the annual POCCO BBQ immediately following 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy at All Holy Spirit. Please bring a side dish if your last name starts with A-M or a dessert if your last name starts with N-Z. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, condiments and drinks will be provided. The grill will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 8 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church May

9 Memories from Church Life in June 98 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church December July

10 Icon Corner By Tom Denich Blessed Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, princess of Russia, in holy baptism called Helen (969). Commemorated on July 11th "Saint Olga, renowned for her wisdom and sobriety, in her youth became the wife of Igor, Great Prince of Kiev, who ruled during the tenth century. After her husband's death, she herself ruled capably, and was finally moved to accept the Faith of Christ. She travelled to Constantinople to receive Holy Baptism. The Emperor, seeing her outward beauty and inward greatness, asked her to marry him. She said she could not do this before she was baptized; she furthermore asked him to be her Godfather at the font, which he agreed to do. After she was baptized (receiving the name of Helen), the Emperor repeated his proposal of marriage. She answered that now he was her father, through Holy Baptism, and that not even among the heathen was it heard of a man marrying his daughter. Gracefully accepting to be outwitted by her, he sent her back to her land with priests and sacred texts and holy icons. Although her son Svyatoslav remained a pagan, she planted the seed of faith in her grandson Vladimir (see July 15). She reposed in peace in 969." (Great Horologion). A summer ago, I attended a class in Icon Painting with the Prosopon School taught by the old master himself, Vladislav Andrejev. It was a very cool class in that we painted at the Joslyn Art Museum and had access to the Museum after hours and times before visitors arrived. The class featured the icon of St. Olga done in the typical Prosopon technique. Many of us took the drawing home and made changes to it to accommodate our personal sense of design. I found the original drawing a bit awkward and changed some of the drapery. There were many talented students in the class and a few newbies, all of us excited to work with Vladislav as he is getting old and frail. Despite the language barrier, Vladislav speaks little English, we relished the time with him and his wife who acted as interpreter and is not a bad painter herself. We painted in classic egg tempera and labored for a full week to complete the icon working for up to 8 hours each day. It is surprising to see the differences in students and their daily progress. Some are very slow and some move swiftly but we all seem to get the icon finished. The results vary also as not everyone is an artist and the quality of the work sometimes showcases our inadequacies. I think the most difficult part of these classes is the differences in faith. Since being Orthodox is not a requirement to participate, you meet many people of different faiths who do not necessarily subscribe to the Orthodox theological view or embrace the true meaning of icons. As a matter of fact, I meet very few Orthodox in these classes as I believe our mindset as Orthodox people is that this is Holy work to be committed to and not taken lightly as a craft 10 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church

11 Continued from P.10 Blessed Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga... class. To be an Iconographer for the Orthodox Church means being sanctioned by the Bishop to paint. Most iconographers follow strict rules of fasting and prayer life and forgo all other forms of expression except Holy Icons. You can see how this might clash with the current Methodist or Lutheran practice of faith. There are many familiar Saints that celebrate their name day during July, among them Mary Magdalene, Archangel Gabriel, Paraskeve, John Maxomovich, Cosmos and Damian. Great Martyr and Healer St. Panteleimon July 27 Being proficient in the physician' s vocation, he practiced it in a philanthropic manner, healing every illness more by the grace of Christ than by medicines. Thus, although his parents had named him Pantoleon ("in all things a lion"), because of the compassion he showed for the souls and bodies of all, he was worthily renamed Panteleimon, meaning "all-merciful." On one occasion, when he restored the sight of a certain blind man by calling on the Divine Name, he enlightened also the eyes of this man' s soul to the knowledge of the truth. This also became the cause for the martyrdom of him who had been blind, since when he was asked by whom and in what manner his eyes had been opened, in imitation of that blind man of the Gospel he confessed with boldness both who the physician was and the manner of his healing. For this he was put to death immediately. Panteleimon was arrested also, and having endured many wounds, he was finally beheaded in the year 305, during the reign of Maximian. Hymns of the Feast Apolytikion (third Tone) Panteleimon, saintly champion and healer, intercede with our merciful God to grant our souls remission of sins. Kontakion (Plagal of the First Tone) O Champion and Martyr of God, imitating the Merciful and bearing from Him the grace of healing, cure our spiritual ills by your prayers, and set free from the temptation of the eternal enemy those who ceaselessly cry out, "Save us, O Lord." Source: July

12 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church 9012 Q Street Omaha, NE (402) office PRESORT STANDARD U.S. Postage PAID Permit No Omaha, NE Address Service Requested