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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2016-10-16
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Allsaint
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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (978) 458-4321
  • Fax:
  • (978) 458-8726
  • Street Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854
  • Mailing Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Sunday Schedule:

Orthros: 8:30 a.m.
Divine Liturgy: 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study:

Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.


Past Bulletins


Announcements

LUNCHEON HONORING FR. GREGORY AND FAMILY

The Parish Council welcomes you to a luncheon this afternoon following services to celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of Fr. Gregory Floor and to honor him and his family. Please join us in the Fellowship Hall. Enjoy a cup of coffee and fellowship with family and friends. Watch a video in the lobby or stop by the bulletin board in the hall to see photographs of Fr. Gregory as you wait for the luncheon to begin.

PARISH COUNCIL NOMINATIONS

Nominations for the 2017-2018 term of the Parish Council are welcome. Any parishioner in good standing interested in being nominated must contact the Parish office to request and official nomination form and return the completed form to the office by 1:00pm, November 4, 2016. Elections will be held on December 11, 2016.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Interested in helping serve dinner at the Lowell Transitional Living Center (LTLC)? To volunteer, please speak with Christian Zouzas or Fr. Tom.  Upcoming Saturday dates are: November 12 and December 10. 

COMMUNITY OUTREACH DONATIONS NEEDED

Although we are still asking for Market Basket gift cards, we will also be giving food items to those in need. We are collecting the following to be given to families in the community that go without. Your help is appreciated. Suggested items include canned tuna, canned chicken, canned beans, peanut butter, crackers, pasta, pasta sauce, cookies, cereal, granola bars, juice boxes, and other non-perishable items.

Non-perishable food items for the LTLC can be placed in the large green bin.

PHILOPTOCHOS LITERACY PROGRAM 

Please remember to keep the books coming for the 2016-2017 school year!  

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 63rd ANNUAL BENEFIT CHRISTMAS TEA

The Philoptochos 63rd annual Benefit Christmas Tea will be held on Sunday, December 4 at 2pm at Indian Ridge Country Club. Reservations will be taken beginning October 16. 

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Weekly Calendar

Sunday, October 16  SUNDAY OF THE 7th ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

†Orthros, 8:30am

†Divine Liturgy, 9:30am

Ordination of Gregory Floor

Luncheon honoring Fr. Gregory following Liturgy                                       

Tuesday, October 18             

Feast of St. Luke Liturgy, 9:30am 

Tuesday Morning Ladies Meeting, 9:30am

Sunday School Staff Meeting, 7:00pm

Wednesday, October 19        

Bible Study, 10:00am

Kafeneion @ TOC, 10:00am

Friday, October 21                

Family Night, 6:30 pm

Sunday, October 23  6th SUNDAY OF LUKE

†Orthros, 8:30am

†Divine Liturgy, 9:30am

Memorial for James Wilson

TODAY’S PARISH COUNCIL: Nick Kouloungis, Kon Kalabokis, and Melanie Pappas

TODAY’S GREETER: Dina Eliopoulos

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday, October 26         
St. Demetrios liturgy, 9:30am
Kafeneion @ TOC, 10:00am

Thursday, October 27             
House of Hope

Saturday, October 29              
Philoptochos Craft Fair, 9:00am

Tuesday, November 1            
Tuesday Morning Ladies Meeting, 9:30am

Wednesday, November 2       
Bible Study, 10:00am
Kafeneion @ TOC, 10:00am

Saturday, November 12
Philoptochos Meeting, 10:00am
LTLC Dinner

Sunday, November 13
Parish Council Meeting, 12:00pm
Stewards Luncheon

Tuesday, November 15          
Tuesday Morning Ladies. 9:30am

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

You descended from on high, O merciful Lord, and accepted the three-day burial in order to free us from our passions. Glory to you, O Lord, our life and our resurrection.

Apolytikion for Sun. of the 7th Ecumenical Council in the Plagal Fourth Mode

You are greatly glorified, O Christ our God, who established our Fathers as luminaries upon the earth, and through them led us all to the true Faith. O Most compassionate, glory to You.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

A protection of Christians unshamable, intercessor to our Holy Maker, unwavering, please reject not the prayerful cries of those who are in sin. Instead, come to us, for you are good; your loving help bring unto us, who are crying in faith to you: hasten to intercede and speed now to supplicate, as a protection for all time, Theotokos, for those who honor you.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15.

TITUS, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.

All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council
The Reading is from Luke 8:5-15

The Lord said this parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." As he said these things, he cried out "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."


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Wisdom of the Fathers

For by seed here He means His doctrine, and by land, the souls of men, and by the sower, Himself .... For as the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly; but He discourses unto all, fulfilling His part, although foreknowing the results.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 44 on Matthew 12, 4th Century

When you see life's pleasures, beware that they might not distract you, for they conceal death's snares. Likewise a fisherman casts not his hook to no purpose. As bait for his hook, the enemy uses the delusion of sensuality to arouse desire, that he might thereby catch men's souls and subject them to himself. A soul which has been caught to serve the enemy's will then serves as a snare for other souls, for it conceals the grief of sin with its apparent delight.
St. Ephraim the Syrian
A Spiritual Psalter no 43, pg. 74, 4th century

Since there are certain people who find great fault with us for adoring and honoring both the image of the Savior and that of our Lady, as well as those of the rest of the saints and servants of Christ, let them hear how from the beginning God made man to His own image. For what reason, then, do we adore one another, except because we have been made to the image of God? As the inspired Basil, who is deeply learned in theology, says: "the honor paid to the image conveys to the original.," and the original is the thing imaged from which the copy is made.
St. John of Damascus
The Orthodox Faith, 4.16. Catholic University of America Press in Washington D.C. Translated by Frederic H. Chase, Jr. volume 37, page 370., 8th Century

His is truly the Sower of all that is good, and we are His farm. The whole harvest of spiritual fruits is by Him and from Him. He taught us this when He said, 'Without me you can do nothing.'
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Commentary on Luke, Homily 41. Taken from: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Vol: Luke. Downer's Grove: Intervarsity Press, 132.

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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
October 16

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and Theophilus.


Allsaint
October 17

Andrew the Righteous Monk-martyr of Crete

Saint Andrew was from the island of Crete, where he lived the monastic life. During the reign of Constantine Copronymus, he came to Constantinople and suffered many things in defence of the veneration of the holy icons. Finally, he was dragged through the market, bound by the feet, one of which was severed by a fishmonger wielding a cleaver, and thus the Saint surrendered his spirit unto God in the year 761. His sacred relics were buried at a certain place called "The Judgment."


Lukeevng
October 18

Luke the Evangelist

This Apostle was an Antiochean, a physician by trade, and a disciple and companion of Paul. He wrote his Gospel in Greek after Matthew and Mark, after which he wrote the Acts of the Apostles, and dedicated both works to Theophilus, who, according to some, was Governor of Achaia. He lived some eighty-six years and died in Achaia, perhaps in Patras, the capital of this district. His emblem is the calf, the third symbolical beast mentioned by Ezekiel (1:10), which is a symbol of Christ's sacrificial and priestly office, as Saint Irenaeus says.


Allsaint
October 19

Joel the Prophet

The Prophet Joel, whose name means "Yah is God," was of the tribe of Reuben, the son of Bathuel, and lived from 810 to 750 B.C. (but some say in the 7th century B.C.). His book is divided into three chapters, and is the second in order of the minor Prophets. He foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Joel 2:28, and quoted by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:17), and the saving power of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Joel 2:32).


Artemios
October 20

Artemius the Great Martyr of Antioch

Saint Artemius lived during the years of Saint Constantine the Great, and was appointed by him to be Governor of Alexandria; later, he was honoured with the rank of patrician. During the reign of Julian the Apostate, in the year 361, Artemius appeared before the Emperor and censured him for his apostasy. For this, he endured many torments and was finally beheaded.


Allsaint
October 21

Hilarion the Great

This Saint was born at Tabatha, near Gaza in Palestine, of pagan parents. Sent as a young man to Alexandria to be educated, he learned the Christian Faith and was baptized. While in Egypt he heard the fame of Saint Anthony the Great, and upon meeting that truly great man, the Father of monks, Saint Hilarion determined to devote himself also to the ascetical life. He returned to Gaza, when, he gave himself over to extreme fasting and unceasing prayer. Because of the miracles which he soon began to work, he found himself compelled by his growing renown to leave Gaza, to escape from the throngs of people coming to ask his prayers. In his journeys he visited Egypt, and came again with longing to the place where Saint Anthony had lived; but he was not able to remain in any one place for long, since despite all his attempts to conceal himself, the light of the grace that was in him could not be hid. After passing through Egypt and Libya, and sailing to Sicily, he came at last to Cyprus, where he ended the course of his life at the age of eighty, in the year 372.


Averkygregoryclement
October 22

Abercius, Equal-to-the-Apostles and Wonderworker of Hierapolis

Saint Abercius, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia in the times of Marcus Aurelius, was adorned with the grace of wonderworking and with apostolic zeal. During a festival in honour of Apollo, the chief deity of Hierapolis, the holy bishop was instructed in a revelation to destroy the idols. He went to the temple by night and overturned the statues of Apollo and the others. When this was discovered, the Saint boldly cried out that the gods, becoming drunk from the wine of the libations offered them, had struck one against another in their confusion. A multitude of furious pagans came to avenge the insult to their gods, but when the Saint cast the demons out of three afflicted young men, fear fell upon the idolaters and they with the whole city became Christian. After many labours, and afflictions, Saint Abercius reposed in peace about the year 167 (or, according to some, 186).


Iakovbro
October 23

James (Iakovos) the Apostle, brother of Our Lord

According to some, this Saint was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, born of the wife that the latter had before he was betrothed to the Ever-virgin. Hence he was the brother of the Lord, Who was also thought to be the son of Joseph (Matt. 13: 55). But some say that he was a nephew of Joseph, and the son of his brother Cleopas, who was also called Alphaeus and Mary his wife, who was the first cousin of the Theotokos. But even according to this genealogy, he was still called, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, the Lord's brother because of their kinship.

This Iakovos is called the Less (Mark 15:4) by the Evangelists to distinguish him from Iakovos, the son of Zebedee, who was called the Great. He became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, elevated to this episcopal rank by the Apostles, according to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist., Book II: 23), and was called Obliah, that is, the Just, because of his great holiness and righteousness. Having ascended the crest of the Temple on the day of the Passover at the prompting of all, he bore testimony from there concerning his belief in Jesus, and he proclaimed with a great voice that Jesus sits at the right hand of the great power of God and shall come again upon the clouds of heaven. On hearing this testimony, many of those present cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David." But the Scribes and Pharisees cried, "So, even the just one hath been led astray," and at the command of Ananias the high priest, the Apostle was cast down headlong from thence, then was stoned, and while he prayed for his slayers, his head was crushed by the wooden club wielded by a certain scribe. The first of the Catholic (General) Epistles written to the Jews in the Diaspora who believed in Christ was written by this Iakovos.


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