This Sunday's Memorial
Dimitrios (Jimmy) Vlachopoulos - 2 years
Sofia Doupsas - 40 days
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon - This Sunday, July 17th
The Festival Steering Committee would like to thank all of you who supported our annual festival. It was a wonderful weekend of hard work, cooperation, and fellowship.
We would also like to invite you to our Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon, which will be held this Sunday, July 17th after Divine Liturgy. We hope you will join us in a delicious meal meant to thank the entire community for their efforts and generosity. If you are interested in volunteering to support this luncheon, please reach out to Ben De La Riva at ben.delariva@cox.net. Spread the word and we will see you there!
Kid’s Corner is OPEN Again!
Located in the Education Building downstairs. Every Sunday after receiving holy Communion, kids (age 4 and under) and parents can come and play, meet new friends and hang out with old friends! Toys for kids and coffee for parents provided!
Philoptochos Beautifully Decorated Icons for Veneration Inside the Church
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. A suggested donation of $75 payable to St. Spyridon Philoptochos is much appreciated. Thank you!
To reserve your date, please contact Soula at the church office:
(619) 297-4165 or office@stspyridon.org.
Icons Currently Available for the Month of August:
The Beheading of John the Baptist - August 29th
Sofia Samouris
Please join the Dance and Choral School for their annual Greek Night with the Padres on Sunday, August 21st at 1:10 pm at Petco Park. Order your tickets online at https://fevo.me/greek22
For more information, contact Kathy Meck, 760-390-0101 or sprnodiva@aol.com
Once again the Stewardship Committee would like to say “thank you” for your generous support.
As we enter the summer season the Stewardship Committee would like to remind you that the doors to the Church are always open, even in your absence, as the Church continues its loving mission of supporting the ministries of the Parish and all its members – that is, you and your family!
Please take a moment to make sure that you have sent in your 2022 pledge card and are in the process of fulfilling that pledge, especially throughout the summer months so we can continue our work to “build up the body of Christ” here on Park Blvd. That is our mission, and we intend to fulfill it through the many and varied ministries of the Church.
On behalf of the Parish Council, the Stewardship Committee once again says “thank you” and God bless you. If you are one of the many families that have sent in your pledge card for 2022, thank you. And we remind and respectfully ask those who have not to do so at their earliest convenience - thank you.
Sincerely and respectfully,
John T. Kalas, Stewardship Committee Chair
Save the Date for GOYA Kick Off Event!
All Goyans and their families are welcome to the Kick Off Event on Sepetember 24th! If you have a youth in 7th-12th grade, we hope that they will join GOYA! For more information, call GOYA President, Luka Maude at 858-335-3879.
We need your help in providing the refreshments that we share during this time of fellowship. Please consider sponsoring with your friends and family. Let's keep it simple by providing cookies or donuts, fruit, and juice. To sign up contact Anne Zouvas at (619) 248-6644. Thank you for your support!
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.
Register by Sunday, July 31st
Sunday, August 21st @ Petco
2022 Stewardship Card
Online Stewardship 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. Plagal Second Mode. Psalm 31.11,1.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous.
Verse: Blessed are they whose transgressions have been forgiven.
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.
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council
The Reading is from Matthew 5:14-19
The Lord said to his disciples, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
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.
This Martyr was from Dorostolum in Thrace, the servant of a certain pagan in the days of Julian the Apostate (361-363). As a fervent Christian, Emilian abominated the error of the pagans, and one day entered the temple and broke all the idols with a hammer. Seeing that others were arrested and beaten for this, he gave himself up of his own accord. He was mercilessly whipped, then cast into a fire, in which he gave up his soul without his body suffering harm.
Saint Macrina, the elder sister of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, was sought after by many as a bride because of her beauty, wisdom, and illustrious birth, and in tender youth was espoused by her parents to a bridegroom of fitting nobility. When her betrothed died, Macrina refused any other suitors, and devoted herself to a life of virginity, asceticism, and prayer. When her brother Basil returned from a brilliant career in the best schools of Constantinople and Athens, puffed up with not a little youthful pride-for knowledge puffeth up-it was the ardent admonitions and holy example of his blessed sister that persuaded him to turn from seeking worldly glory to the service of God. Saint Macrina founded a convent, where she ended her earthly life in the year 379, and was buried by her brother Gregory, who wrote a moving account of her last days and his grief at seeing such a light pass out of the world.
Elias of great fame was from Thisbe or Thesbe, a town of Galaad (Gilead), beyond the Jordan. He was of priestly lineage, a man of a solitary and ascetical character, clothed in a mantle of sheep skin, and girded about his loins with a leathern belt. His name is interpreted as "Yah is my God." His zeal for the glory of God was compared to fire, and his speech for teaching and rebuke was likened unto a burning lamp. From this too he received the name Zealot. Therefore, set aflame with such zeal, he sternly reproved the impiety and lawlessness of Ahab and his wife Jezebel. He shut up heaven by means of prayer, and it did not rain for three years and six months. Ravens brought him food for his need when, at God's command, he was hiding by the torrent of Horrath. He multiplied the little flour and oil of the poor widow of Sarephtha of Sidon, who had given him hospitality in her home, and when her son died, he raised him up. He brought down fire from Heaven upon Mount Carmel, and it burned up the sacrifice offered to God before all the people of Israel, that they might know the truth. At the torrent of Kisson, he slew 450 false prophets and priests who worshipped idols and led the people astray. He received food wondrously at the hand of an Angel, and being strengthened by this food he walked for forty days and forty nights. He beheld God on Mount Horeb, as far as this is possible for human nature. He foretold the destruction of the house of Ahab, and the death of his son Ohozias; and as for the two captains of fifty that were sent by the king, he burned them for their punishment, bringing fire down from Heaven. He divided the flow of the Jordan, and he and his disciple Elisseus passed through as it were on dry land; and finally, while speaking with him, Elias was suddenly snatched away by a fiery chariot in the year 895 B.C., and he ascended as though into heaven, whither God most certainly translated him alive, as He did Enoch (Gen. 5:24; IV Kings 2: 11). But from thence also, after seven years, by means of an epistle he reproached Joram, the son of Josaphat, as it is written: "And there came a message in writing to him from Elias the Prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the way," and so forth (II Chron. 21:12). According to the opinion of the majority of the interpreters, this came to pass either through his disciple Elisseus, or through another Prophet when Elias appeared to them, even as he appeared on Mount Tabor to the disciples of Christ (see Aug. 6).
These Saints were from the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia and flourished during the reign of Justin the Younger (565-578). After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem they were moved with a desire to forsake the world; they were tonsured monks by the Abbot Nicon, and soon after left the monastery to struggle together in the wilderness near the Dead Sea. When they had passed a little more than thirty years together in silence and prayer, Symeon, having reached the heights of dispassion, departed for Emesa in Syria, where he passed the rest of his life playing the fool, saving many souls from sin while hiding his sanctity with seemingly senseless behavior. He reposed in 570; by the providence of God, John, who had remained in the wilderness, departed soon after.
Saint Mary was from Magdala in Galilee on the Sea of Tiberias, and for this was named Magdalene. When the Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, from which she had been suffering, she became His faithful and inseparable disciple, following Him and ministering unto Him even to the time of His crucifixion and burial. Then, returning to Jerusalem together with the rest of the Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the fragrant spices for anointing the body of the Lord. And on the Lord's day they came very early to the tomb, even before the Angels appeared declaring the Resurrection of the Lord. When Mary Magdalene saw the stone taken away from the tomb, she ran and proclaimed it to Peter and John. And returning immediately to the tomb and weeping outside, she was deemed worthy to be the first of the Myrrh-bearers to behold the Lord arisen from the dead, and when she fell at His feet, she heard Him say, "Touch Me not." After the Lord's Ascension, nothing certain is known concerning her. Some accounts say that she went to Rome and later returned to Jerusalem, and from there proceeded to Ephesus, where she ended her life, preaching Christ. Although it is sometimes said that Saint Mary Magdalene was the "sinful woman" of the Gospel, this is nowhere stated in the tradition of the Church, in the sacred hymnology, or in the Holy Gospels themselves, which say only that our Lord cast seven demons out of her, not that she was a fallen woman. "Madeleine" is a form of Magdalene.
The Prophet Ezekiel ("God is strong") was the son of Buzi and a priest by rank. He was taken captive and brought to Babylon during the reign of Jechonias. In the fifth year of this captivity, about 594 or 593 B.C., he began to prophesy. Having prophesied for about twenty-eight years, he was murdered, it is said, by the tribe of Gad, because he reproached them for their idolatry. His book of prophecy, divided into forty-eight chapters, is ranked third among the greater Prophets. It is richly filled with mystical imagery and marvelous prophetic visions and allegories, of which the dread Chariot of Cherubim described in the first Chapter is the most famous; in the "gate that was shut," through which the Lord alone entered, he darkly foretold of the Word's Incarnation from the Virgin (44:1-3); through the "dry bones" that came to life again (37:1-14), he prophesied both of the restoration of captive Israel, and the general resurrection of our race.