APRIL 2018 NEWSLETTER

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1 ΙΕΡΟΣ ΝΑΟΣ ΑΓΙΩΝ ΜΑΡΙΑΣ ΜΑΓΔΑΛΗΝΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΗΣ STS. MARY MAGDALENE & MARKELLA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH APRIL 2018 NEWSLETTER Dublin Road, Darlington, MD PRESIDING PRIEST THE REV. ELEFTERIOS PLEVRAKIS Office: Website: stsmm.org OFFICE HOURS TUESDAY FRIDAY 10:00 A.M. 4:00 P.M. QUESTIONS? CALL OR VISIT US (FOR OFFICE VISITS PLEASE CALL IN ADVANCE)

2 LETTER FROM THE PRIEST Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to take a moment to refer back to my homily which was given at the end of the Vesperal Divine Liturgy today, Thursday morning. From the moment God created man our purpose in life is to live freely in the splendor of the eternal love of God. Everything that has happened in history since the Fall of man has either pushed man further away from this reality or drawn him closer. The period of Great Lent and Holy Week is a period of time that we as children of God can work hard to regain what has been lost. By attending church services, we are able to live through and actively participate in the mysteries. By doing so, our broken selves become healed. Our lives are not controlled anymore by the evil passions of the world; instead, the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind our actions and identity. Thus Easter, is more than just Easter Bunnies, Easter eggs, and chocolates. We are called to live through the events that ultimately give us the remedy to our sickness as fallen man. I pray that God gives all of you great health and many years of spiritual enlightenment. May the Holy Resurrection be in all of your hearts as you continue to grow as Christians. Kali Anastasi, In Christ, Fr. Elefterios Presiding Priest LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Holy Week is already upon us. As your Parish President, I invite you and your family to come and experience the full program of services the Church offers us. You will be transformed and renewed by the experience of Holy Week and the great and holy day of Pascha with greater faith and understanding of God s will and purpose for you and your life. This Pascha, let us serve as witnesses for others of our Orthodox faith and enjoy the endless possibilities we have with God in our lives. Let us pray to put aside the sins of anger, false pride, self-pity so that we can seek a closer relationship with God. Let s walk with Him through his Crucifixion and Resurrection. Let s ask our Lord to bring peace and forgiveness to our souls, and let s celebrate the most holy day of Pascha with joy and thanksgiving. I look forward seeing you in church and praying alongside of you. On behalf of the Parish Council, I wish everyone KALI ANASTASI. With Love in Christ, Fotini Kaminaris, Parish Council President.

3 LATEST NEWS We hope everyone had a nice Lenten season and is excited about Holy Week and our Lord s sacred Resurrection! Our Philoptochos group has been busy getting things ready and fulfilling goals. We hosted Palm Sunday Luncheon and it was a big success. We all had a wonderful experience. Thank you all for attending. We are still collecting donations toward the cost of Epitaphios flowers and selling Tsourekia (Easter Bread) throughout Holy Week Remember, your continuing support to our group allows us to help others in need. Last month, along with our contributions to National Philoptochos Charities, we helped a needy local family as well. We will start decorating the Kouvouklion Holy Friday around 9am. We will be getting together on April 21 st to make Dolmades for our upcoming Festival. We invite everybody to come and join us. We will not meet for April so our next meeting is May 6th right after liturgy. We would like to remind everybody membership for the Philoptochos is always open to our parishioners. If you want to have fun, develop friendships while helping the needy in our community please join us. If you interested please see Maria Giannas for information. Have a blessed April! Silver Stars are meeting on April 30 th at 2:00 for lunch as 510 Johnny s in Bel Air, MD.

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5 APRIL 2018 SCHEDULE OF SERVICES April 1: Palm Sunday 9:00 a.m. - Orthros 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy 7:00 Bridegroom Service (Nymphios) April 2: Holy Monday 9:00 a.m. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts 7:00 p.m. Bridegroom Service (Nymphios) April 3: Holy Tuesday 9:00 a.m. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts 7:00 p.m. Bridegroom Service (Kassianis) April 4: Holy Wednesday 9:00 a.m. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts 2:00 p.m. The Mystery of Holy Unction 7:00 p.m. Orthros Service of Holy Thursday (Mystical Supper) Holy Unction will be distributed to the Orthodox Faithful January 5: Holy Thursday 9:00 a.m. Vespers and Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great 6:30 p.m. Service of the Holy Passion (The Twelve Gospel Readings & Crucifix Procession) April 7: Holy Saturday 9:00 a.m. Vespers of the Resurrection & Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great 10:45 p.m. Pre-Resurrection Service 12:00 a.m. Service of the Resurrection, Orthros and Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom April 8: Pascha (Easter) Sunday 10:30 a.m. Agape Vespers (The Reading of the Gospel in Various Languages) April 15: Thomas Sunday 9:00 a.m. - Orthros 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy April 22: Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women 9:00 a.m. - Orthros 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy April 23: Monday Great Martyr George 9:00 a.m. - Orthros 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy April 29: Sunday of the Paralytic 9:00 a.m. - Orthros 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy April 6: Holy Friday 12:00 a.m. Service of the Great and Royal Hours 3:00 p.m. The Lowering of the Body of the Lord from the Cross and Preparation of His Burial 6:30 p.m. The Burial of Christ Lamentations at the Tomb of the Lord w/ Procession of the Tomb of Christ (Epitaphios)

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14 RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL RADIO STATIONS ICONS ARE HYPERLINKED. CLICK ON PICTURE IMPORTANT CHURCH WEBSITES ICONS ARE HYPERLINKED. CLICK ON PICTURE HOMILIES FROM FATHERS OF THE CHURCH (GREEK) ICONS ARE HYPERLINKED. CLICK ON PICTURE GERONDA NIKON FATHER KONANOS FATHER ATHANASIOS

15 STS. MARY MAGDALENE & MARKELLA S ORTHOPRAXIA BOOK CLUB COME JOIN US!!! COME JOIN US!!! GREAT LENT IS STARTING MUCH EARLIER THIS YEAR. LET US GET A HEAD START IN PREPARING FOR THIS SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. COME JOIN US ON THURSDAY 19, 2018 AT 6:30 AT THE HALL OF THE CHURCH. WE WILL LOOK DEEPER INTO THE LITURGICAL THEOLOGICAL TOPICS REGARDING GREAT LENT. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE FATHER AT FRELEFTERIOS@GMAIL.COM. LET US BRING THE RICHNESS OF ORTHODOXY INTO OUR LIVES

16 ****COMPLETE AND FULLY TRANSLATED LITURGICAL TEXT**** EASY TO FOLLOW FORMAT IN BOTH LANGUAGES (GREEK & ENGLISH) CLICK ON THE HYPERLINKED ICONS BELOW TO BE REDIRECTED TO THE E-MATINS PAGE WHERE YOU CAN PRINT YOUR COPY OF THE SERVICES.

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