St. Spyridon Parish News, Events, Activities and Announcements

This Sunday's Memorials

Irene Katakalides - 1year

Gregory Katakalides - 5 years

Theodoros Georgaris - 5 years

Nikitoula Moises - 9 years

Dorothea Georgaris - 12 years

GOYA Palm Sunday Luncheon

Join us on Sunday, April 21st (Palm Sunday) in the Church Hall following the Divine Liturgy. Tickets are $25 for Adults and $10 for children under 12. Tickets will NOT be sold at the door - so purchase your ticket today. Payments received by April 16th will be entered in an opportunity drawing. Please see any GOYA member in the Church hall to purchase tickets on Sunday. For more information please contact Bill Navrides at 619-992-6775 or bill.navrides@sharp.com. Thank you for always supporting the GOYA ministry at St. Spyridon GOC!

Missing Icons

Please check to see if you inadvertently took an icon home form the church during the Sunday School procession for the Sunday of Orthodoxy. The church (Temple) is mssing two icons that were not returned. Thank you.

Month of April Lenten Service Schedule

The PreSanctified Gifts - Wednesday morning, April 3rd - 10:00am

The Fourth Salutations to the holy Theotokos - Friday evening, April 5th - 7:00pm

The PreSanctified Gifts - Wednesday evening, April 10th - 6:00pm

The Hymn Without Sitting/Akathistos Hymnos - Friday evening, April 12th - 6:30pm

This Sunday's Altar Servers

St. John: Captain: Michael Angeles, Luke Billings, Luke Georggin, Theo Huntalas, Konstantino Mellos, Alexios Savvides, John Savvides, Nektarios Sissons

Greek Festival 2019 Cooking & Baking Schedule

This Sunday, April 7th - Prep for Galaktoboureko; Monday, April 8th at 9 am - Assemble Galaktoboureko; Monday, May 13th at 9 am - Koulourakia & Paximadia; Monday, May 20th at 9 am - Kourambiethes & Melomakarona; Tuesday, May 28th at 9 am - Baklava; Wednesday, June 5th at 9 am - Melomata (syrup); Wednesday, June 5th at 9am - Packaging.

Come join in the fun as we prepare the delicious food and pastries that our church festival is famous for. Lunch will be provided, along with opportunity to participate in drawings for prizes! Questions? Contact Gina Balourdas 858-204-1016 or Christine Tradas 619-253-4153.

Festival Volunteer Sign-ups

Sign-up to work your favorite booth: sdgreekfestival.com/volunteer. Questions? Contact Greg Balourdas at greg@thehanddoctor.com.

Festival Meeting

The next Festival meeting will be Tuesday, April 16th at 7:00 pm. The Steering Committee will meet a half hour before at 6:30 pm.

Help Celebrate 50 Years of Greek Festival Tradition!!!

We are looking for photos, articles, from ANY of our past Festivals, so please look through your boxes and family albums and share them with the community! Contact Stella Weil at (858) 694-0570 or 4weils@sbcglobal.net for more info. (All photos will be scanned and returned ASAP). Thanks for your help.

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. If a ministry from the church offers fellowship then they can keep the donations for their group. Lastly, the donations collected from the coffee hour support our many ministries so please consider this when offering your donation.

To see which dates are available and sign up online visit our SignUp Genius page. To sign up over the phone, by email, or in person, contact Christina Vassos at cmvassos@gmail.com or 619-818-6882. Available dates can also be viewed using the fellowship calendar on the Philoptochos table in the hall. Thank you!

Philoptochos

Your continued support of our Chapter has kept the mission of Philoptochos alive in San Diego for over 80 years. We invite you to become a new or renewed member for 2019. Anything over $30 is kept in our chapter to help us continue to do good work with our parish.

Bookstore

Pascha gifts: Looking for a wonderful children’s book or small items to add to your child’s Pascha basket? Please see our display table inside the bookstore.

Philoptochos Tsoureki Fundraiser

It’s time to order your paschal bread (Tsoureki)! Made by the loving hands of the Ladies of Philoptochos, these delicious breads will be available for pickup on Palm Sunday. Please see Irene Veca and Sofia Samouris following this Sunday's Divine Liturgy to place your Pre-Paid orders (breads are $15 each). All proceeds to benefit our Philoptochos Chapter and the Kids ’n’ Cancer ministry. Thank you for your support!

Please see the "Inserts & Fliers" section below for more information

Agape Meals

Philoptochos has started a new outreach program and is looking for parishioners who are able to either cook or deliver (or both) a meal to fellow parishioners who are facing a difficult or stressful time in their life (illness, new baby, etc). If you would like more information on how you can participate, please contact Stella Weil at (858)694-0570 or 4weils@sbcglobal.net. Please join us as we come together as a community to help one another. Thank you.

Ancient Wisdom & Modern Coffee

Sunday School class for adults (taught by Dn. Michael Kallas, MA, MDiv). Please join us as we follow the bible readings from Pascha to Pentecost to study the gospel according to St. John this Sunday, April 7th & 14th, and May 19th. We meet in the lounge following the Divine Liturgy. Please bring your bible.

Attention Military Veterans!

One of our parishioners will be hand-stitching a new military service banner for Post-WWII veterans. If you, or a loved one, would like to be included, please submit your full name, branch of service, and phone number or email address to Soula De La Riva at (760) 521-0471 or soula.delariva@cox.net - The deadline to be included is March 31, 2019.

Please see "inserts & fliers" for more information

Dance & Choral

Please support Dance & Choral’s Spring Fundraiser. Get your See’s Candies for Pascha! We will be pre-selling assorted candies and chocolates after church March 11 - April 5. For more information, please contact Kathy Meck via email at sprnodiva@aol.com.

Please see "inserts & fliers" for more information

Seniors Gathering

Seniors please join us for a Lenten potluck on Tuesday, April 9 at 11:00 am in the church hall. Since it is a Lenten potluck, you don’t need to call.

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 is a perfect way to honor both your family member(s) as well as an important day in the life of the Church. 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.

The following Saints and Feast Days will be celebrated during April, and May and have icons that can be displayed:

4/7 SUNDAY OF ST. JOHN CLIMACUS

4/10 ST. MILTIADIES

4/14 ST. MARY OF EGYPT

4/20 SATURDAY OF LAZARUS

4/21 PALM SUNDAY

4/21-4/23 ICON OF THE BRIDEGROOM

4/24 MYSTICAL SUPPER

4/25 THE CRUCIFIXION

4/26 DESCENT FROM THE CROSS

4/27-4/28 GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA/RESURRECTION

BRIGHT WEEK ST. GEORGE AND/OR THEOTOKOS OF THE LIFE-GIVING SPRING

4/30 ST. MARK THE APOSTLE

5/5 SUNDAY OF THOMAS

5/5 ST. IRENE OF THESE

5/9 THE HOLY MARTYR CHRISTOPHOROS

5/12 SUNDAY OF THE MYRRH-BEARING WOMEN

5/21 STS. CONSTANTINE AND HELEN

ATTENTION PARENTS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS!

We are happy to report that Philoptochos’ College Connection ministry is in full swing, make sure your children don’t miss out!! Philoptochos will reach out to our college students a couple of times per year to let our students know that we are cheering them on from home. If your son or daughter is attending college, either in San Diego or away, including community college, undergraduate or graduate school, we want to reach out to them with some love from their St. Spyridon Philoptochos family. Please send your students 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, please contact Michelle at the above email or (858) 695-9772.

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.

Receive Back 0.5% From “Amazon Smile” Foundation

We are pleased to announce that St. Spyridon GOCnow participates in AmazonSmile. 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).

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.

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.

Inserts and Fliers

See's Candies Dance & Choral Spring Fundraiser

See's Candies Dance & Choral Spring Fundraiser March 11th - April 5th

Tsoureki For Pascha

Order delicious Paschal Tsoureki bread! Tsourekis Reservation Form

Parish Pay Is Now WeShare

WeShare Online Giving

Wisdom of the Fathers

... he that is not covetous, will be also more disposed for almsgiving. He that fasts is light, and winged, and prays with wakefulness, and quenches his wicked lusts, and propitiates God, and humbles his soul when lifted up. Therefore even the apostles were almost always fasting.

St. John Chrysostom

Homily 57 on Matthew 17,4,5. B#54, pp.355,356., 4th Century

He that prays with fasting hath his wings double, and lighter than the very winds. ... For nothing is mightier than a man who prays sincerely. ... But if thy body be too weak to fast continually, still it is not too weak for prayer, nor without vigor for contempt of the belly. For although thou canst not fast, yet canst thou avoid luxurious living.

St. John Chrysostom

Homily 57 on Matthew 17,4,5. B#54, pp.355,356., 4th Century

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Fourth Mode

When the women Disciples of the Lord had learned from the Angel the joyful message of the Resurrection and had rejected the ancestral decision, they cried aloud to the Apostles triumphantly: Death has been despoiled, Christ God has risen, granting His great mercy to the world.

Apolytikion of Sun. of St. John Climacus in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O John, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.

Apolytikion for the Church in the First Mode

The Hymn of Saint Spyridon

At the first of the Synods, you appeared as a champion, * and Wonderworker, our God-bearing Father Spyridon. * Wherefore, you addressed the dead one in the grave, * and a serpent you changed to gold. * And while chanting * in service your sacred prayers, * you joined the angels concelebrating, most holy one.* Glory to Christ who glorified you, * glory to Him who crowned you, * glory to the One who works through You, * healings for everyone.

Τής Συνόδου τής πρώτης ανεδείχθης υπέρμαχος, * καί Θαυματουργός Θεοφόρε Σπυρίδων πατήρ ημών. * διό νεκρά σύ έν τάφω προσφωνείς, * καί όφιν είς χρυσούν μετέβαλες. * καί έν τώ μέλπειν τάς αγίας σου ευχάς, * Αγγέλους έσχες συλλειτουργούντας σοι Ιερώτατε, * Δόξα τώ σέ δοξάσαντι Χριστώ * δόξα τώ σέ στεφανώσαντι. * δόξα τώ ενεργόυντι, διά σου πάσιν ιάματα.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

To you, Theotokos, invincible Defender, having been delivered from peril, I, your city, dedicate the victory festival as a thank offering. In your irresistible might, keep me safe from all trials, that I may call out to you: "Hail, unwedded bride!"

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

First Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Matthew 28:16-20

At that time, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Amen."

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Psalm 103.24,1.
O Lord, how manifold are your works. You have made all things in wisdom.
Verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 6:13-20.

BRETHREN, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of St. John Climacus
The Reading is from Mark 9:17-31

At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us." And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting." They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise."

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News

BeeTreat 2018-19 Season, Successfully Concludes

04/04/2019

NEW YORK – With a well-attended retreat at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, Maryland, Y2AM (Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry), has concluded another successful season of “Be the Bee” retreats.

https://www.goarch.org/-/beetreat-2018-19-season-successfully-concludes

Saints and Feasts

April 07

Sunday of St. John Climacus

The memory of this Saint is celebrated on March 30, where his biography may be found. He is celebrated today because his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, is a sure guide to the ascetic life, written by a great man of prayer experienced in all forms of the monastic polity; it teaches the seeker after salvation how to lay a sound foundation for his struggles, how to detect and war against each of the passions, how to avoid the snares laid by the demons, and how to rise from the rudimental virtues to the heights of Godlike love and humility. It is held in such high esteem that it is universally read in its entirety in monasteries during the Great Fast.

General Information

Contact Information

Services Schedule

Sunday Services

Orthros/Matins: 8:30am

Divine Liturgy: 10:00am

Past Bulletins