Sunday Summer Hours - from first Sunday after Memorial Day
Orthros 8:30 am
Divine L:iturgy 9:30 am
Sunday Winter Hours - from first Sunday after Labor Day
Orthros 9:00 am
Divine Liturgy 10:00 am
Saturday Vespers 6:00 pm
Week Day Divine Liturgy 9:00 am
Prokeimenon. Plagal Second Tone. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 6:11-18.
Brethren, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God. Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
Sunday before Holy Cross
The Reading is from John 3:13-17
The Lord said, "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
Thursday, September 14 - Exhaltation of the Holy Cross Divine Liturgy at 9:00am
Saturday, September 16 - Vespers at 6:00pm
Next Sunday, September 17, we will celebrate the 3-Year Memorial for Pandora Peronis Dinello.
Our new Proskinitaria have arrived!! They are so beautiful!! Many thanks go to Alena Aspiotis for her efforts with this project and to the many people who donated towards these beautiful additions to our home! We will set a date for their dedication and be sure to notify all donors of this special occasion! Glory to God!
Sunday Services switched to winter hours today with Orthros beginning at 9am and Divine Liturgy at 10am.
Sunday School started today, with classes beginning at 9:45am. Welcome back, children and teachers!!
Hopefully, all of our children have brought their School Backpacks for a special Blessing Service immediately following the Divine Liturgy! God bless us with a great school year!
This is also Yiayia and Papou Sunday! The best way to start any year is with the love of family... especially with Yiayia and Papou at our side receiving Holy Communion together!
We will be passing a tray today to benefit the Backpack Program for FOCUS of West Central. Please be generrous for the hungry children of Beaver County!
And breakfast is being served! AHEPA is raising funds for Youth Summer Camp Scholarships, so grab a table for the the whole family and make the day a real celebration!
The Alex Vasilakis Family offers their home for the first Youth Get-together ths year. All HOPE, JOY and GOYA kids and families are invited to come at 5pm this afternoon at 109 Woodlawn Drive in Beaver, 15009.
The Parish Council will meet on Tuesday, September 12, at 7:00pm.
Morning Bible Study and Orthodoxy 101 will resume on Wednesday, September 13: Bible Study at 10am and Orthodoxy 101 at 8pm.
This Thursday we celebrate the Exhaltation of the Holy Cross, the finding of the Holy Cross by St. Helen under a bed of sweet basil, with Divine Liturgy at 9am. Bring your vasiliko to decorate the icons and Holy Cross, either Wednesday day or the morning of the Divine Liturgy.
Have you caught yourself on numerous occasions thinking 'I should do that'... but don't? Well this time, YOU are needed and you can do THAT. Bruce Wilson needs 5 more people to help cook and serve breakfast for FOCUS West Central this Saturday, September 16, at 8:30 am!! This happens once a month at St. John the Theologian Orthodox Church in Beaver Falls, and this time, we need YOU! Commit yourself and tell Bruce or Prsbytera Anna during Coffee Hour today. Thank you!
Philoptochos starts the new Ecclesiastical Year with a Dinner/Meeting at Alexander's next week, Tuesday, September 19, at 6pm. Bring each other, bring your God-Daughter, bring your sister, bring your daughter, bring a friend... the more, the merrier!
The Archdiocesan Center for Family Care is hosting a Conference in Canonsburg titled "The Orthodox Family in a Changing World." It will be held September 20-23 and is open to Clergy, pastoral care workers, ministry leaders and laity. Visit www.goarch.org/family-ministry-conference for more information.
This annual Conference will be held at the Annunciation Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio, and runs Thursday through Saturday, September 28-30. All information is in your September VOICE or at pittsburgh.goarch.org/2017-assembly.
A new tradition has begun here in Ambridge... the Festival of Churches!! It began last year and was quite fun! We will join it again this September 30 at noon in the Gazebo Park in Ambridge. It starts at noon and we will offer a very limited choice of goodies, and definitely gyros!! We will bake on Tuesday and Thursday, September 26 and 28.
ONGOING: Food Items for Center for Hope Pantry and FOCUS West Central
Collecting Aluminum Cans for FOCUS West Central
Tuesday, September 12 - Parish Council Meeting at 7pm
Wednesday, September 13 - Bible Study at 10 am
Orthodoxy 101 at 8pm
Thursday, September 14 - Exhaltation of the Holy Cross Divine Liturgy at 9am with Basiliko
Saturday, September 16 - FOCUS Breakfast at 8:30am at St. John's in Beaver Falls
Sunday, September 17 - 3-Year Memorial for Pandora Peronis Dinello
Tuesday, September 19 - Philoptochos Dinner/Meeting at Alexanders at 6pm
Wednesday thru Saturday, September 20-23 - Archdiocesan Family Conference in Pittsburgh
Tuesday, September 26 - At 10:00am, baking spanakopita and baklava
Thursday, September 28 - Cup baklava and make Galatoboureko
Thursday thru Saturday, September 28-30 - Metropolis Clergy-Laity-Philoptochos Assembly
at Annunciation Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio
Saturday, September 30 - Festival of Churches in Ambridge at Noon
Please check this new bulletin addition regularly to see if you can offer your helping hands to various needs here at Holy Trinity. If you have any questions about any of them, call the Church Office at 724-266-5336.
Driving: Someone needs a ride to Church on Sunday from here in Ambridge.
Driving: There is a need for a weekly grocery run during the summer.
General Housekeeping: We currently have no cleaning person. An hour or two of your time while the Office is open (Tuesday through Friday 9am-2pm) doing various tasks.
Groundskeeping: The Festival is over, but there are weddings and baptisms on the calendar! We are family... let's spruce up the place! We need some immediate help with the weeds behind the church!
These Martyrs, sisters according to the flesh, were from Bithynia. They lived in virginity on a mountain near the Pythian hot springs of Bithynia, devoting themselves to asceticism and prayer. Betrayed to the local governor, Fronto, they were subjected to frightful tortures, and so gave up their holy souls into the hands of God. They contested for the Faith during the reign of Maximian, in the year 304.
This saint lived in the fifth century. Out of remorse for the adultery that she committed with another man, she fled from her husband's house, renamed herself Theodore, clothed herself as a man, and pretending to be a eunuch, entered a monastery of men. Her identity as a woman was discovered only after her death.
This saint was a bishop in Italy. Fleeing from the persecution of Diocletian in 298, he came to Bithynia, where he went from place to place converting many from the idols to the true God. Because of this, one day as he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Archangels, they who worshipped wood and stones fell upon him and beat him to death with staves and stones.
The church that is honoured far above all others is that of the Holy Resurrection, which Saint Constantine the Great constructed at the place of Golgotha, where our Saviour was crucified and buried. For a long time this place had been purposely buried beneath the earth by the Jews and heathen; furthermore, during the reign of Hadrian (117-138), a temple dedicated to Aphrodite was built over the site so that this sacred place might be even further desecrated and fall into utter oblivion. It was here that the Cross was hidden. However, at the command of the pious Emperor Constantine, excavations were made and the tokens of the saving Passion were found. It was here, then, that the very great and magnificent temple named in honour of Christ God's Resurrection-the Anastasis-was built under the supervision of the blessed Helen, while Dracilian was Eparch of Palestine and Macarius was Archbishop of Jerusalem. It was the latter, also, who exalted the venerable Cross and performed the consecration of this temple in the year 336.
Saint Cornelius was a Roman by race, a pagan by religion, a centurion in rank, an inhabitant of Caesarea of Palestine, a man pious and God-fearing who gave many alms to the people and prayed continually unto God. In accordance with an angelic vision granted to him, he sent to Joppa that they might bring the Apostle Peter. Saint Peter catechized him in the Faith of Christ and baptized all his household (Acts, ch.10). This became the beginning and the first fruits of the calling of the nations. It is said that, after this, he became a bishop, as some say, of Caesarea; but others say of Scepsis, which is not far from Troas; and that he died as a martyr.
Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the precious Cross was lifted on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, "Lord have mercy." It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the venerable Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country (see Jan. 22, Saint Anastasius the Persian). Late, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place.
Rest from labour. A Fast is observed today, whatever day of the week it may be.
This Saint was of high birth among the Goths beyond the Danube River. He was taken by Athanaric, pagan ruler of the Goths, and after being tortured, was burned to death for his confession of Christ. According to some, this took place during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great; according to others, under the Emperor Gratian.
Saint Euphemia was from Chalcedon and lived in virginity. According to some, she suffered martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian, in 303; according to others, in 307. Her sacred relics are preserved in the Patriarchate in Constantinople.
