The Feast Day of the Exhaltation Of The Holy Cross
Chronia Polla (Many Good Years) for today's Feast Day
Please Note: The Procession of the Cross and the tray of basil will be offered on Sunday, September 16th so that all of our Sunday School children, teachers and all those present can observe and experience the procession.
This Sunday's Memorial
Litsa Panos - 1 year
Altar Server Team for Sunday, September 16, 2018
St. Basil: Captain: Dimitri Gilpin, Manolis Andronikos, John Burrell, Christos (Eric) Dahl, George Dougenis, Jack Dougenis, Andrew Kaitson
Dance & Choral News
Practice continues! We realize with church, Sunday School, Youth Choir and Dance that it is a very long day so we will be providing lunch to the children.
Please note the CHANGES to the practice schedule: Youth Choir (3rd-12th grades) - 12:20-1:10 pm; Lunch: 1:20-1:30 p.m. in the Church Hall, Limani (3rd-5th grades) - 1:30-2:45 p.m. in the Goya Room; Ionians (6th-8th grades) - 2:45-4 p.m. in the Goya Room; Aegeans (9th-12th grades) - 1:30 p.m.-3 p.m. in the Church Hall; Pelagos (adult group): 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the GOYA Room.
Also, we are looking for a director(s) for the Ta Pediakia group, which is for grades K-2nd. We have material and music we can share with anyone interested in taking on this position. This age group participates in the Showcase at FDF, which is non-competitive. Please reach out to Maria Terris at mdterris@gmail.com if you are interested in directing this group. We hope to see everyone there!
Dance & Choral Board
Call In Bible Study
Presvytera Jeannie Constantinou is starting an all new, Call In Bible Study on Ancient Faith Radio starting next week. It will be called Search The Scriptures LIVE! It will air every Monday night at 5:00 pm Pacific/8:00 pm Eastern time. We will begin with a study of the Gospel of John.
If someone cannot listen live, the program will be available almost immediately (about an hour later) in recorded format and can be accessed at any point in the future at one's convenience. As you all know, this content is free and available on demand, just like any other program on AFR.
The link for this podcast is http://www.ancientfaith.com/radio/live. The previous podcast, Search the Scriptures, will continue and will be available as well. But this live version will air every week.
Philoptochos
Sunday, September 23rd following the Divine Liturgy please join us at the Philoptochos "Munchies, Mimosas and More" gathering. We are excited to share with you our Chapter calendar and important information so please plan on staying for this fun-filled afternoon. This will also be a good opportunity to renew your membership for 2018 or become a new member.
On this day we will be collecting gently used Women's work attire for disadvantaged Women trying to get back into the workforce. Thank you.
COLLEGE CONNECTION
Attending college or university is something a lot of young adults look forward to. Here at St. Spyridon Philoptochos we want to make sure that our college students, whether staying here in San Diego or going away, don’t loose their connection to St. Spyridon. With that in mind, we have created “College Connection”.
College Connection will reach out to our college students a couple of times per year with inspiring notes, care packages, etc. to let those students know that we are cheering them on from home.
If your son or daughter will be attending college in the fall (including community college, undergraduate or graduate school), we would like to reach out to them with some love from their St. Spyridon Philoptochos family. Please send their postal mailing address and email address while they are in college, as well as the name of the school they are attending to Michelle Defelippi at mdefelippi@san.rr.com.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact Michelle at the above email or (858) 695-9772.
Philoptochos and Fellowship
We hope you continue to enjoy the long standing tradition of fellowship throughout the year. Philoptochos is thankful for the continued support from all the families and organizations that offer every week. We kindly ask that you consider offering at least once per year, so think of name days, celebrations, memorials, fundraisers, etc. Offering fellowship should be kept simple (bagels, cream cheese, fruit and cookies) as it is a light snack to enjoy with family and friends following the Divine Liturgy. Therefore, the cost of fellowship should be approximately $100-$150 . You are also more than welcome to share your fellowship hour with another family or friend. Lastly, the donations collected from the coffee hour support our many ministries so please consider this when offering your donation.
Please contact Christina Vassos at 619-818-6882 or cmvassos@gmail.com to see which dates are available. There is also a calendar in the hall. Thank you!
GOYA - Save the Date
GOYANS join us this Saturday, September 15th at La Jolla Shores Beach at 4:00 pm for a Beach party as we kick off the New Ecclesiastical year. GOYA will provide the pizzas for everyone. We are asking families to bring something (please see Sign Up-Genius) OR make a donation to Project Mexico (all donations will be collected that night). Your whole family is invited so please tell your parents and siblings. RSVP to Dimitri Gilpin at Dimitri.igilpin@gmail.com questions please call William Gilpin at 858-525-5649.
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco Gala
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco Gala Saturday, October 13, 2018.
WHEN
Saturday, October 13, 2018
6:00 p.m. to Midnight
WHERE
Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa
21500 Pacific Coast Highway
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Buy Tickets Online Now at - https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eflyd6ile11e5512&oseq=&c=e81c3b90-08c6-11e6-8c94-d4ae528ed502&ch=ea056df0-08c6-11e6-8ca2-d4ae528ed502.
Hotel Reservations
Book Your Room Online Now at - https://book.passkey.com/gt/216369761?gtid=ec2afeb9ec8afe5f56a072fb1a005e3f.
A room block has been secured at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach for the Gala weekend. The hotel reservation deadline is September 12 - reserve your room today!
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco Gala -
Honoring Extraordinary Leadership and Celebrating our Ministries - will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, California.
At this Gala we will present the Theofanis Economidis Award to two distinguished stewards - Dr. James and Virginia Kallins - who have continually demonstrated their commitment to the church through their vision, generosity, and leadership.
Proceeds from the Gala will support the ongoing development and expansion of the Metropolis ministries which provide for the meaningful spiritual development of our clergy and faithful. This includes visionary programs in Family Wellness, Missions and Evangelism, Clergy Continuing Education, Church Music, and Youth Ministry among others.
For more information on the Gala or for assistance with purchasing tickets or making a donation, please call 415.753.3075 or email metropolis@sanfran.goarch.org.
Thank you for your support!
Please see the "Insert and Fliers" Section below for more information.
"OXI" Dinner/Dance - Save The Date
Saturday, October 27th “OXI” Dinner/Dance. AHEPA is sponsoring our Greek school and other church ministries with this event. Enjoy the appetizers, cash bar, full dinner and dessert with table wine, auction, raffle and LIVE GREEK MUSIC! Tickets are $40 per person. Children 12 years of age or older are welcomed to the event.
Hellenic Fairways Golf Tournament - Save The Date!
Friday, November 2nd Hellenic Fairways Golf Tournament. Willowbrook Golf Course in Lakeside. Contact Rhad Brown for details or if you would like to volunteer. hellenicfairways@gmail.com.
Decorated Feast Day Icons
Philoptochos invites you and your family to commemorate a special Feast Day by offering a donation towards the cost of a beautifully decorated icon which will be displayed in the church Narthex for all to venerate. This offering, a floral adornment around the blessed icon, is a perfect way to honor both your family member(s) as well as an important day in the life of the Church. Throughout the liturgical year there are many opportunities to select a decorated icon, so please reserve your dates now. A suggested donation of $75 is much appreciated. Please contact Stella Weil at 4weils@sbcglobal.net or (858)694-0570 to reserve your icon/date or if you have any questions. Thank you.
10/18 Luke the Evangelist
10/23 James the Apostle
10/26 St. Demetrios
11/1 Sts. Cosmas and Damianos
11/8 Synaxis of the Archangels
11/9 St. Nektarios
11/13 St. John Chrysostom
11/21 Entrance of the Theotokos
11/25 St. Katherine
11/30 Andrew the First Called Apostle
Body Basics Parking Spaces
Please be reminded that one of our tenants, Body Basics, has been given permission to use two parking spaces off the alley near Park Blvd. on Sunday mornings. Please be respectful of that agreement and do not park in these two marked spaces on Sunday mornings. Please know that we are working diligently and moving forward to provide more parking for our church members. In the meantime, please pay attention to the signs marking the two spaces for Body Basics and do not block their customers from using those two designated spaces. Thank you.
Your Legacy and Your Church
...to whom much is given; from them much more is required (Luke 12:48).
Please remember to include your Saint Spyridon parish in your estate plan and bequest.
Program Description: Connect with the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries through social media to stay current with all the most recent news & events. We are all living and working in the mobile age, and the Metropolis Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries is committed to building its presence on the internet. These sites serve as a unified place to connect our youth, young adults, clergy, youth workers, and parents throughout our very geographically diverse Metropolis. It will also be a place for everyone to share their ideas. Please be sure to check out these sites!
Receive Back 0.5% From “Amazon Smile” Foundation
We are pleased to announce, St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of San Diego now participates in AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets you enjoy the same wide selection of millions of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church. That’s right, every eligible purchase you or someone else makes at AmazonSmile 0.5% will be donated back to our parish!!!
Register by visiting AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com) and select “St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church” before you make your first purchase (be sure to select St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church - San Diego, California). Amazon will remember your selection and each time a purchase is made AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% back to our parish.
For more information about AmazonSmile, go to http://smile.amazon.com/about
We hope you’ll consider this easy way to support your beloved parish. Everyone is eligible to participate so tell your friends and relatives and spread the word about this wonderful program. It takes little effort and with our collective participation and God’s continued blessings, our parish can benefit from this program.
A short video will be available on the parish website demonstrating how to select St. Spyridon GOC as your charity in your Amazon user account.
Live Stream Broadcast
If you know someone who may be in the hospital or home bound or for whatever reason just cannot get to church, don’t forget about the Live Stream Broadcast of our Divine Services. You can watch our Live Broadcast by going to our parish website and clicking on the “Live Broadcast” tab on the top tool bar. Remember, our Live Stream Broadcast is for those who absolutely cannot physically make the divine services of the church and is not a substitute for being present. Also, please be aware that conversations, crying babies, etc. can be heard on the broadcast. We have a wonderful cry room facility, which is located off the Narthex behind the candle stand, and is comfortable and provided for your convenience.
The Live Stream divine services of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of San Diego, CA may not be recorded, retransmitted or reproduced without the express written consent of the Parish Council of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of San Diego, CA. Thank you for your consideration.
Donations toward the digital ministries of the parish are warmly welcomed. If you would like to help support the ministries of Saint Spyridon please contact the church office. Again, thank you.
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco Gala Saturday, October 13, 2018 Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa
WeShare Online Giving
Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35
At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Prokeimenon. Grave Mode. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 2:16-20.
Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Sunday after Holy Cross
The Reading is from Mark 8:34-38; 9:1
The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."
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.
These Saints were from Italy and contested for the Faith about the year 126, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Faith was twelve years old, Hope, ten, and Love, nine; each was tormented and then beheaded, from the eldest to the youngest. Their mother Sophia mourned at their grave for three days, where she also fell asleep in peace; because of her courageous endurance in the face of her daughters' sufferings, she is also counted a martyr. The name Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek; as for her daughters' names, Faith, Hope, and Love (Charity), they are Pistis, Elpis, and Agape in Greek, and Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov in Russian.
This Saint took up the monastic life from his youth, and later became Bishop of Gortynia in Crete. He travelled to Rome, and to Thebes in Upper Egypt, where through his prayers he ended a drought; there also, after working many miracles, he reposed in deep old age. His holy relics were returned to Gortynia and buried at the place called Raxos.
In 278, during the reign of Probus, Saints Trophimus and Sabbatius came to Antioch, and seeing the city celebrating the festival of Apollo at Daphne lamented the blindness of the people, and presented themselves as Christians to Atticus the Governor. Saint Trophimus was stripped of his clothing, and was stretched out and beaten until the earth was red with his blood. Then he was hung up, scraped on his sides, and imprisoned in torments. Saint Sabbatius was tortured so savagely that he gave up his spirit in his sufferings. Trophimus was sent to Synnada, wearing iron shoes fitted with sharp iron nails within; he was further tormented without mercy, then cast into prison. Dorymedon, a counsellor, and a pagan, came to the prison and cared for Trophimus. When a certain feast came, Dorymedon was asked why he did not sacrifice to the idols; he proclaimed himself a Christian, for which he was imprisoned, pierced with heated spits, frightfully punished, and finally beheaded with Saint Trophimus.
The holy Martyr Eustathius before his baptism was an illustrious Roman general named Placidas in the days of the Emperor Trajan. While hunting in the country one day, he was converted to the Faith of Christ through the apparition of an uncommonly majestic stag, between whose antlers he saw the Cross of Christ, and through which the Lord spoke to him with a human voice. Upon returning home, he learned that his wife Tatiana had also had a vision in which she was instructed to become a Christian. They sought out the Bishop of the Christians and were baptized, Placidas receiving the name Eustathius, and Tatiana the name Theopiste; their two sons were baptized Agapius and Theopistus. The family was then subjected to such trials as Job endured. Their servants died, all their goods were stolen, and on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem they were scattered abroad, each not even knowing if the others were still alive. By the providence of God, they were united again after many years, and returned to Rome in glory. Nevertheless, when they refused to sacrifice to the idols-a public sacrifice from which no Roman general could be absent-the Emperor Hadrian, who had succeeded Trajan, had them put into a large bronze device in the shape of a bull, which was heated with fire until they died. When their holy bodies were removed, they were found to be without harm. They suffered martyrdom about the year 126.
The Prophet Jonah, the son of Amathi, of the town of Geth-hopher (IV Kings 14:25), was of the tribe of Zabulon; he prophesied during the years 838-810 before Christ. God commanded him to go to Nineveh, the great city of the Assyrians, and to proclaim that its destruction was nigh at hand because of the sins of its people. But he, as a Prophet who knew the great compassion of God, feared that at his preaching the Ninevites would repent; that God, accepting their repentance in His love for man, would not fulfill Jonah' threats; and that he would be branded a false prophet. So he disobeyed the divine command, and boarded a ship and departed elsewhere. Yet, the sudden and fearful sea-storm and the revelation of Jonah' disbedience caused the sailors to cast him into the sea. A great sea-monster appeared straightway by divine providence, and swallowed him up. For three days and nights he was found in its belly and he prayed, saying the words, "I cried aloud in my affliction unto the Lord my God..." (Jonah 2:3, the Sixth ode of the Holy Psalter). The sea-monster then vomited him up on dry land and he again heard God's command. Wherefore, he went and preached, saying, "In three days, Nineveh shall be destroyed." The people became terrified and all repented. The great, the small, babes at the breast, and even the irrational beasts themselves fasted, and thus, having found mercy from God, they were spared His wrath. Jonah' book of prophecy is divided into four chapters, and is placed fifth in order among the twelve minor Prophets. His three-day sojourn in the sea-monster's belly is an image of our Saviour's three-day burial and His life-bringing Resurrection (Matt. 12:39-40). His name means "dove."
This saint was known for the many miracles he worked and for his apostolic zeal in shepherding the flock of Sinope. He contested for the Faith during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, in the year 102, when he was burned to death in a bath-house. A homily in his honour was composed by Saint John Chrysostom. The translation of his holy relics is celebrated on July 23.
