Publish-header
St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Christian Church
Publish Date: 2021-05-09
Bulletin Contents
Thomsund
Organization Icon
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

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen!

I am so grateful to have celebrated such a meaningful Great and Holy Lent AND a wonderful Great and Holy Week with so many of you this year 2021.  What a difference from last year's Great and Holy Week.  Yes, there were some limitations but much better than staring at empty pews (from afar) as we did during Great and Holy Week 2020.  

As we move toward some greater sense of normalcy in the coming weeks and month(s) ahead, and for the time being, we are still asking you to RSVP signup so that we can place you and/or your family in an assigned seat in our continued effort to keep everyone safe while we are seated inside the Sanctuary and/or our Church Fellowship Hall.  

Thus, we have created a familiar RSVP signup link below for the divine services of the Church.  This will allow us to exercise the six feet of physical distance required by San Diego county while inside our Sanctuary.  We are hopeful that change is in the not-so-distant future but, for now, this is the best system that has worked very well for our parish as we continue to move in a very positive direction - 

RSVP Signup Link -   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4EA8A92BA7FF2-stspyridon

As a reminder, you can also RSVP signup from the front page of our website - www.stspyridon.org 

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as you well know, we are currently, as a county, a parish, and a state in a much better position and in much better condition than we once were but we have just a little ways to go.  Thus, let's continue to pray that our current condition continues to increase and flourish as we ALL look toward greater normalcy in our communal lives and in our personal lives as well.  

Until then, your patience and understanding, your encouragement and support, and your love and concern have been, and continue to be much needed and much appreciated - Truly He has Risen, +A. 

Stewardship Corner 

As we enter a new Paschal season and greet you with the customary “Christ is Risen,” I am reminded that this is a season of renewal for all of us – and all our neighbors – and thus this is a season of “hope.” My own faith and hope have been buoyed by how well we, the faithful of Saint
Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, have done over the last 13 months: we have mitigated the pandemic through good health and safety practices; we have continued to have weekly Divine Services and Liturgies, and we have been good and faithful stewards of the parish and of the Church.

And for that, we are blessed, and we are deeply appreciative as the Stewardship Committee. We as a community have much to be thankful for this Paschal season. So, again, we say “THANK YOU.”

We ask you once again to take a moment to reflect on what our beloved church means to you as a sojourner seeking illumination and nurturance from our faith community and the effort it takes to provide a “safe harbor” for each of you - and your family and friends – and to be as “lights” in the larger community. 

So, take this opportunity to repledge yourself to the tangible wok of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and refresh your pledge to stewardship so we, the Stewardship Committee and the Parish Council, can continue to support the many and varied ministries of the Church. You may go online at www.stspyridon.org to make or fulfill your pledge online or call the church office at 619.297.4165 for their assistance.

With God’s Blessing - The Stewardship Committee thanks you in advance:

John Kalas, Chairperson                                      Fr. Andrew Scordalakis

Upcoming Memorials for May

Sunday, May 16th - Afendra Topoliati - 40 days

Sunday, May 16th - Stamo Constantine - 3 years 

Sunday School Updates

In-person Sunday School is available for families attending Divine Services in-person! Please follow the direction of the church volunteers for in-person Sunday School. Online Sunday School will continue for the rest of the Sunday School Year. If you would like to lend a hand once or twice per month to help Sunday School, please contact sundayschool.stspyridon@gmail.com.

We are still in need of two teachers.  Please email Julie Dennis directly if you are interested at sundayschool.stspyridon@gmail.com.  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!   

Our last day of Sunday School will be SundayMay 30, 2021. We will have fun class activities planned! Parents of graduating seniors, please email Julie Dennis at sundayschool.stspyridon@gmail.com so that we can properly honor their accomplishments!

Save the Date for Philoptochos Elections

Philoptochos elections will be held on Sunday, May 23rd. If you are interested in running for a Board position, please reach out to Marian Dougenis, 619-520-3660. More information to follow. 

Director of Greek School - Position Available

  • Paid position
  • Established school and curriculum
  • Accredited with the San Diego Unified School District
  • Ages 4 - High School and Adults
  • 9 active teachers
  • Support staff 

To apply or for more information, please email greekschoolaboard@gmail.com

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. 

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. 

BACK TO TOP

Inserts and Fliers

BACK TO TOP

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News

Historic Solution to the Pension Plan of Clergy and Lay Employees Reached

04/15/2021

Today, in a historic vote, the Archdiocese Benefits Committee voted to secure the future of the “Pension Plan for Clergymen and Lay Employees of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.” After many months of diligent work, and with the loving support and leadership of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, the Committee voted to accept the amendments to the Pension Plan document that will improve the funding of the Plan and the protection of the vested benefits that are due to the members of the Plan.

Ionian Village Announces Application Date for Tentative IV Next Summer Program

04/15/2021

NEW YORK- With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, Rev. Fr. Gary Kyriacou, Director of Ionian Village, will travel to Greece April 12-24, 2021. The purpose of this trip is to examine the possibilities of providing a modified summer program in late July. All possibilities being contemplated, first and foremost, Ionian Village will take into consideration the spiritual and physical health and well-being of all participants.

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church & National Shrine April 2021 Update

04/20/2021

My brothers and sisters: as you prepare to enter this Holy Week and encounter the Lord Risen from the dead, I ask you to pray with me for the completion of the Saint Nicholas National Shrine, and for the mission that this extraordinary Church will engage. When we behold Saint Nicholas risen form the ashes of 9/11, we will all rejoice in that day which the Lord has made!

Live with the Louhs: Ask the Louhs

04/26/2021

On this week's episode of "Live with the Louhs," a radio ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, hosts Fr. Nicholas and his wife, Dr. Roxanne, a Clinical Psychologist, discuss your questions on a special show called, "Ask The Louhs."

Faith in Freedom - Episode 2: Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, Sikh Council for Interfaith Relations

04/26/2021

In honor of the 200th year anniversary of Greek independence, the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, will release a video the 25th of each month as part of the “Faith in Freedom” series. This series features the voices of various religious leaders speaking about the meaning of freedom in their faith tradition.

Archbishop Elpidophoros Forms Advisory Committee on the Charter

04/23/2021

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America has formed the Advisory Committee on the Charter whose purpose is to solicit feedback and ideas from across the Archdiocese as to the future of the Archdiocese as a whole body of our Church in America.

The Pension Solution Explained

04/23/2021

Last week, the Archdiocese Benefits Committee and the Archdiocese announced a historic solution to the Pension Plan issue. Today, Father Andreas Vithoulkas, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and Elaine Allen, Treasurer of the Archdiocese, sit down with the Orthodox Observer to explain the details of this agreement, and exactly how it will work.
BACK TO TOP

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 146.5;134.3.
Great is our Lord, and great is his power.
Verse: Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 5:12-20.

In those days, many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high honor. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life."


Gospel Reading

Thomas Sunday
The Reading is from John 20:19-31

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."

Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said: "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.


BACK TO TOP

Wisdom of the Fathers

The Lord stoops to the level even of our feeble understanding. He works a miracle of His invisible power in order to satisfy the doubts of unbelieving minds.
St. Hilary of Poitiers
On the Trinity, 1.20. Taken from: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Vol: John. Intervarsity Press, 2007, p. 369.

For great is the dignity of the priests. ... And hold them very exceedingly in honor; for you indeed care about your own affairs, and if you order them well, you give no account for others; ...
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 86, 4th Century

... but the priest even if he rightly order his own life, if he have not an anxious care for yours and that of all those around him, will depart with the wicked into hell; and often when not betrayed by his own conduct, he perishes by yours, if he have not rightly performed all his part.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 86, 4th Century

BACK TO TOP

Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the Plagal First Mode

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and bestowing life on those in the graves.

Apolytikion for Thomas Sun. in the Grave Mode

Christ our God, You are the Life that dawned from the grave, though the tomb was sealed. Through closed doors You came to the Apostles. You are the Resurrection of all. And, You renewed us through them with an upright spirit, according to Your great mercy.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Though You went down into the tomb, You destroyed Hades' power, and You rose the victor, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, "Hail!" and granting peace to Your disciples, You who raise up the fallen.
BACK TO TOP

Saints and Feasts

Thomsund
May 09

Thomas Sunday

Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, "Peace be unto you." Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ's Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, "Peace be unto you"; then He said to Thomas, "Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing."

And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, "My Lord and my God." Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures - human and divine - of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning "in the stead of Pascha," not "in opposition to Pascha") because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.


Christopher2
May 09

Christopher the Martyr of Lycea

Saint Christopher was at first named Reprobus. Seeing the Christians persecuted, he rebuked the tyrants for their cruelty. Soldiers were sent to bring him to appear before the ruler; but he converted them to Christ, and with them was baptized, receiving the name Christopher. After he appeared before the ruler, he was imprisoned and two harlots were sent to seduce him, but he converted them also, and encouraged them in their martyrdom. He was subjected to torments and finally beheaded in the days of Decius. Many marvellous and mythical things are said about him out of ignorance and superstition, one of which is that it is impossible for one to die suddenly from some unexpected cause on the day on which one looks at the Saint's icon. This is the origin of that proverb that is quoted in various quarters: "If on Christopher thou shouldst gaze, thou shalt safely wend life's ways." The etymology of his name, which means "Christ-bearer," has undoubtedly moved iconographers to depict him carrying the infant Jesus on his shoulders; it is completely erro-neous, however, to depict him, as some uninformed iconographers do, having the head of a dog, because of a statement in his life that he was dog-faced, by which is meant only that his countenance was exceedingly frightful to look upon.


Simonzealot
May 10

Simon the Zealot & Apostle

This Apostle was one of the Twelve, and was called Simon the Cananite by Matthew, but Simon the Zealot by Luke (Matt. 10:4; Luke 6:15). The word "Cananite" used by Matthew is believed to be derived from kana, which in the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic means "zealot" or 'zealous"; Luke therefore translates the meaning of "Cananite." Later accounts say that he was the bridegroom at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, where the Lord Jesus changed the water into wine, making this the first of His miracles (John 2:1-11); according to some, he is called Cananite because he was from Cana (according to others, from the Land of Canaan). Simon means "one who hears."


Allsaint
May 11

Hieromartyr Mocius

The holy Hieromartyr Mocius, who was of Roman parents, lived during the reign of Diocletian, and was a priest in Amphipolis of Thrace. One day as the idolaters were assembled, and the Proconsul Laodicius was offering sacrifice to Dionysus, Mocius entered the temple and overturned the altar. After many torments, through which he was preserved whole by grace divine, he was sent to Byzantium, where he was beheaded about the year 288. Saint Constantine the Great built a magnificent church in honour of Saint Mocius in Constantinople, where his holy relics were enshrined. He is one of the Holy Unmercenaries.


Glykeria
May 13

The Holy Martyr Glyceria

This Martyr contested in 141 in Trajanopolis of Thrace, during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. At a heathen festival, when Sabine the Governor of Trajanopolis was offering sacrifice, Saint Glyceria entered the temple and declared herself to be a handmaid of Christ. Sabine commanded her to sacrifice. She went to the statue of Zeus and overturned it, dashing it to pieces. She was subjected to many horrible tortures, and finally was cast to wild beasts; bitten once by one of them, she gave up her soul into the hands of God.


Epiphanius
May 12

Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus

Saint Epiphanius was born about 310 in Besanduc, a village of Palestine, of Jewish parents who were poor and tillers of the soil. In his youth he came to faith in Christ and was baptized with his sister, after which he distributed all he had to the poor and became a monk, being a younger contemporary of Saint Hilarion the Great (see Oct. 21), whom he knew. He also visited the renowned monks of Egypt to learn their ways. Because the fame of his virtue had spread, many in Egypt desired to make him a bishop; when he learned of this, he fled, returning to Palestine. But after a time he learned that the bishops there also intended to consecrate him to a widowed bishopric, and he fled to Cyprus. In Paphos he met Saint Hilarion, who told him to go to Constantia, a city of Cyprus also called Salamis. Epiphanius answered that he preferred to take ship for Gaza, which, despite Saint Hilarion's admonitions, he did. But a contrary wind brought the ship to Constantia where, by the providence of God, Epiphanius fell into the hands of bishops who had come together to elect a successor to the newly-departed Bishop of Constantia, and the venerable Epiphanius was at last constrained to be consecrated, about the year 367. He was fluent in Hebrew, Egyptian, Syriac, Greek, and Latin, and because of this he was called "Five-tongued." He had the gift of working miracles, and was held in such reverence by all, that although he was a known enemy of heresy, he was well nigh the only eminent bishop that the Arians did not dare to drive into exile when the Emperor Valens persecuted the Orthodox about the year 371. Having tended his flock in a manner pleasing to God, and guarded it undefiled from every heresy, he reposed about the year 403, having lived for ninety-three years. Among his sacred writings, the one that is held in special esteem is the Panarion (from the Latin Panarium, that is, "Bread-box,") containing the proofs of the truth of the Faith, and an examination of eighty heresies.


Allsaint
May 14

Isidore the Martyr of Chios

This Saint was a soldier from Alexandria. He came with the Roman fleet to Chios, where he was betrayed as a Christian to Numerian, Commander of the Fleet. Because he boldly pro-fessed himself to worship Christ as God and refused to worship any other, he was tormented and beheaded in 251, during the reign of Decius.


Pachomiusdavidthess
May 15

Pachomius the Great

Saint Pachomius was born of pagan parents in the Upper Thebaid of Egypt. He was conscripted into the Roman army at an early age. While quartered with the other soldiers in the prison in Thebes, Pachomius was astonished at the kindness shown them by the local Christians, who relieved their distress by bringing them food and drink. Upon inquiring who they were, he believed in Christ and vowed that once delivered from the army, he would serve Him all the days of his life. Released from military service, about the year 313, he was baptized, and became a disciple of the hermit Palamon, under whose exacting guidance he increased in virtue and grace, and reached such a height of holiness that "because of the purity of his heart," says his biographer, "he was, as it were, seeing the invisible God as in a mirror." His renown spread far, and so many came to him to be his disciples that he founded nine monasteries in all, filled with many thousands of monks, to whom he gave a rule of life, which became the pattern for all communal monasticism after him. While Saint Anthony the Great is the father of hermits, Saint Pachomius is the founder of the cenobitic life in Egypt; because Pachomius had founded a way of monasticism accessible to so many, Anthony said that he "walks the way of the Apostles." Saint Pachomius fell asleep in the Lord before his contemporaries Anthony and Athanasius the Great, in the year 346. His name in Coptic, Pachom, means "eagle."


BACK TO TOP