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St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Christian Church
Publish Date: 2021-02-14
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St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Christian Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (619) 297-4165
  • Fax:
  • (619) 297-4181
  • Street Address:

  • 3655 Park Boulevard

  • San Diego, CA 92103


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Sunday Services

Orthros/Matins: 8:30am

Divine Liturgy: 10:00am


Past Bulletins


St. Spyridon Parish News, Events, Activities and Announcements

This Sunday's Memorial

Spyros Vartelas - 3 years

Outside for Sunday's Divine Services

As a reminder - we have erected a large covering/tent to cover the seating capacity in our parking lot for our outdoor services.  
 
You can RSVP to this Sunday's outside divine services using the link below - 
 
Also - the Orthros/Preparatory service begins at 9:00 am with the Divine Liturgy to follow.    
 
You can use the church parking lot on Sunday mornings - please enter from the closest entry off Park Blvd. (near the backside of our parking lot).  
 
Or, You Can Join in and Pray the Divine Services of the Church via Our Parish LiveStream

Sunday morning Orthros - 9:00 am    

Divine Liturgy - 10:00 am

Light a Candle “From Afar”

Lighting a candle as we enter the narthex of the church is one real way we express our presence within the Body of Christ as we offer a prayer.  If you would like to light a candle to express your presence “from afar” click on the following link below and follow the directions -

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=J55MJ576K785E&source=url

Then, Fr. Andrew will receive your message, light your candle and offer a prayer. 

Stewardship Corner 

We, the Stewardship Committee, first and foremost, would once again like to say “thank you” for your continuing support of our stewardship ministry. We ended 2020 on a strong financial footing because of your generosity.

So, again, THANK YOU!

And further, as we enter this new year 2021, we all face the same political, economic, and health issues which roil us emotionally and physically: but, in this moment, our beloved church, St. Spyridon, continues to be a beacon of hope and an ark which shepherds us to calmer seas every day. Thus, we are blessed to have one another communally and spiritually. This is precious and irreplaceable to each of us. You know this intuitively when you attend an outdoor service and see one another and receive communion.

The Stewardship Committee respectfully reminds you once again to please take a moment to fill out a pledge card for 2021 and send it to the office and/or sign up online through “We Share” at stspyridon.org (click the Stewardship Giving button) to make a monthly payment toward your pledged amount for the year 2021.

On behalf of the Parish Council, the Stewardship Committee once again says “thank you” and God bless you during this extraordinary time.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

The Stewardship Committee: John Kalas – Chairperson

Philoptochos Zoom Membership Meeting

Philoptochos invites you to attend our Membership Event on Saturday, February 27th at 11:00 am via Zoom. Please register early by clicking on this link HTTPS://TINYURL.COM/DOUGENIS or by typing it into your browser. If you need help registering, call Marian Dougenis at 619-520-3660. Thank you!

Please see the attached Philoptochos Membership Flyer in the "Inserts and Fliers" section for details.

Attention Seniors!

Covid-19 vaccines are now available for individuals over the age of 65. Seniors are encouraged to contact their doctor or healthcare provider first to request the vaccine, but if none are available you can make an appointment at a county site.

Appointments can be made at vaccinationsuperstationsd.com and are free of charge. If you need any help to make an appointment please call Sophia Mellos at (619)855-2991.

February 2021 Shepherd Newsletter

To view the digital version of this month's Newsletter click: http://theshepherdnews.com/issues/0221/index.html

The St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church / George & Rose Papanicolaou Scholarship Fund, a 501(c)3 Not‐For‐Profit Organization

Attention: 2021 High School graduating Seniors

The scholarship application and all pertinent information is now available on the church’s website located at: http://stspyridon.org/ministries/scholarship. 

The deadline for submittal of all applications is: March 31, 2021 (NO EXCEPTIONS).

Any questions please contact: Mrs. Helen Mellos at (619) 298-2070, HMM@mellos.org  or

Mrs. Christine Cremidan at (619) 588-7844, cremidanac@cox.net

Zathas Foundation Scholarships

Attention: Graduating High School Seniors and College/University Students! 

Completed applications must be received before May 1, 2021. 

If you would like an application, please contact Spero Tzathas at spe1@cox.net.

Please see the attached Zathas Foundation Scholarship Information in the "Inserts and Fliers" section for details.

Sunday School is Seeking Teachers

As we start this semester, we are in need of 2 Sunday School teachers.  Please email Julie Dennis at sundayschool.stspyridon@gmail.com if you are interested.  It is a fun and fulfilling way to contribute to our church family!  We will provide training and the curriculum!  Join our Sunday School Team today!   

Weekly Pledge Offering Envelopes

If you are using weekly pledge offering envelopes, your designated box is available at the church office. Please call the office to make arrangements for pick-up. Thank you! 

Agape Meals Program 

Philoptochos has an outreach program where people can cook or deliver (or both) a meal to one of their fellow parishioners who may be facing a difficult or stressful time in their life (illness, new baby, etc.). If you would like more information on how you can participate, or know of someone in our community who could use a meal or two, 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!

Give Back 0.5% From “Amazon Smile” Foundation

We remind you to please participate in the AmazonSmile program.  When you shop on Amazon, the AmazonSmile Foundation will give back 0.5% of your purchase price to St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church.  That’s right, every eligible/registered purchase you or someone else makes at AmazonSmile 0.5% will be donated back to your parish!!!

It's quick and easy to 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 opportunity. 

St. Sophia Philoptochos Debutante Presentation Ball – 2021     
Plans are underway for the St. Sophia Philoptochos Debutante Presentation Ball to be held on Friday, September 3, 2021, at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel.  Interested young ladies who will be high school juniors (aged 16) and older should contact the Presentation Ball Chair, Trish Mentas (562) 472-7485 or email: saintsophiadebball@gmail.com The deadline to enter is March 31st. An orientation tea by reservation will be held at the St. Sophia Cathedral Huffington Center on Sunday, May 22, 2021. These dates are subject to change. 

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. 

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Inserts and Fliers

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Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News

Stewardship in the Pandemic: 2021

01/25/2021

When the reality of the pandemic became apparent last year, many parishes were thankful to have online giving and video streaming in place to keep people connected and to keep giving somewhat consistent. Many more parishes rushed to put systems in place, learning on the run, encouraging members to tune in and to keep their stewardship current through online giving. Many are still fine-tuning and evaluating systems hurriedly installed.

Statement Regarding Developments in Medicine: COVID-19 Vaccines & Immunizations

01/22/2021

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, we are ever grateful to the frontline workers – including medical professionals, emergency responders, and scientists – for their unwavering dedication to making the world a better place. In light of the same, given our clergy and lay faithful are seeking archpastoral guidance regarding developments in medicine, such as COVID-19 vaccines and immunizations, we offer the following guidance:

Communiqué of the Holy Eparchial Synod

02/04/2021

On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America convened the Holy Eparchial Synod via videoconference for a regularly scheduled meeting. The discussion focused on the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Third Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Mark 16:9-20

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Mode. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:16-18; 7:1.

Brethren, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Canaanite
The Reading is from Matthew 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.


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Wisdom of the Fathers

She had a great perfection of faith. She had no uncertainty about His divine majesty. She had no small measure of the virtue of patience. Yet the pitying Physician of the pitiful disdained her petitions. He kept her waiting for answer in order to demonstrate to us the perseverence of this woman that we can always imitate. She had the characteristics of constancy and humility. She willingly embraced the indignity she received, and even confirmed the Lord`s statement. This woman rightly signifies the faith and devotion of the Church gathered from the nations
Saint Bede
Hom. I. 22, In Lent, Homilies on the Gospels, Bk. One, 216, 217.

He kept her waiting for an answer in order to declare that the minds of His disciples should also be merciful. As human beings they were ashamed of the clamor of the woman as she pursued them publicly, but He Himself knew the character of His mercy.
St. Bede
Hom. I. 22, In Lent, Homilies on the Gospels, Bk. One, 216

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Mode

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, for the Lord has shown the power of his reign. He has conquered death by death and become the first born of the dead. He has delivered us from the depths of Hades and has granted the world great mercy.

Apolytikion for Auxentios of the Mountain in the First Mode

Thou didst prove to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Auxentius, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst obtain heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to thee with faith. Glory to Him that hath given thee strength. Glory to Him that hath crowned thee. Glory to Him that worketh healings for all through thee.

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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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
February 14

Holy Father Auxentius of the Mountain

This Saint, who was from the East, lived during the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger. In 442 he enlisted in the Fourth Military Company of the Scholarii, that is, the Imperial Guard. Afterwards, he became a monk on a certain mountain in Bithynia (which later took his name), not far from Chalcedon. On becoming the archimandrite of the monastics gathered there, and proving himself to be most enduring in asceticism and most Orthodox in his faith, he reposed during the reign of the Emperor Leo the Great of Thrace, who reigned from 457 to 474.


Allsaint
February 15

Onesimus the Apostle of the 70

This Apostle, who was from Colossae, was a bond-servant of that Philemon to whom the Apostle Paul addressed his epistle. Onesimus escaped from Philemon and fled to Rome, where he became a disciple of Saint Paul. Saint Paul brought him to the Faith of Christ, and then sent him back to his master, who in turn gave him his freedom and sent him back to Rome again, where he ministered to Saint Paul. Later, he was seized because he was a Christian and was sent to Puteoli, where he was beaten to death with clubs. Saint Onesimus is also commemorated on November 22 with the holy Apostles Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus.


Allsaint
February 16

Pamphilus the Martyr & his Companions

This Martyr contested during the reign of Maximian, in the year 290, in Caesarea of Palestine, and was put to death by command of Firmilian, the Governor of Palestine. His fellow contestants' names are Valens, Paul, Seleucus, Porphyrius, Julian, Theodulus, and five others from Egypt: Elias, Jeremias, Esaias, Samuel, and Daniel. Their martyrdom is recorded in Book VIII, ch. 11 of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, called The Martyrs of Palestine.


Theotyrn
February 17

Theodore the Tyro, Great Martyr

Saint Theodore who was from Amasia of Pontus, contested during the reign of Maximian (286-305). He was called Tyro, from the Latin Tiro, because he was a newly enlisted recruit. When it was reported that he was a Christian, he boldly confessed Christ; the ruler, hoping that he would repent, gave him time to consider the matter more completely and then give answer. Theodore gave answer by setting fire to the temple of Cybele, the "mother of the gods," and for this he suffered a martyr's death by fire. See also the First Saturday of the Fast.


Allsaint
February 18

Leo the Great, Pope of Rome

According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when Saint Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople, summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to Saint Leo in Rome. After Saint Leo had carefully examined Eutyches's teachings, he wrote an epistle to Saint Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate person of our Lord; it is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461. See also Saint Anatolius, July 3.


Philothea
February 19

Philothei the Righteous Martyr of Athens

Saint Philothei was born in Athens in 1522 to an illustrious family. Against her will, she was married to a man who proved to be most cruel. When he died three years later, the Saint took up the monastic life and established a convent, in which she became a true mother to her disciples. Many women enslaved and abused by the Moslem Turks also ran to her for refuge. Because of this, the Turkish rulers became enraged and came to her convent, dragged her by force out of the church, and beat her cruelly. After a few days, she reposed, giving thanks to God for all things. This came to pass in the year 1589. She was renowned for her almsgiving, and with Saints Hierotheus and Dionysius the Areopagite is considered a patron of the city of Athens.


Allsaint
February 20

Leo, Bishop of Catania

This Saint, who was from Ravenna in Italy, lived during the reign of Leo the Wise and his son Constantine Porphyrogenitus (end of the ninth and beginning of the tenth centuries). He struggled especially against the paganism and sorcery still prevalent in those regions.


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