OUR MISSION is to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, sanctify the faithful through the liturgy and the Holy Sacraments, grow the church by receiving new members, live the Orthodox Christian Faith, and serve humanity through Christ-centered ministries.

OUR VISION is to be a loving, caring, and welcoming Christian community where all belong and grow in the Orthodox Christian Faith through worship, witness, fellowship, and service to others.

HOLY COMMUNION is offered to those baptized and confirmed in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Faith who have prepared according to the Orthodox Tradition. Guests and visitors are welcome to worship with us and receive the antidoron (“instead of the gifts”) blessed bread at the dismissal.
Please allow Catechism School children to receive Holy Communion first, followed by the newly baptized infants. When you approach the chalice, please give your baptismal name to the priest.

GUESTS AND VISITORS: Enter your contact information in the Guest Book at the narthex if you want us to contact you and join us for fellowship hour in our church hall following the liturgy.

Fifth Sunday of Lent: St. Mary of Egypt, April 21, 2024
Κυριακὴ Εʹ τῶν Νηστειῶν: τῆς Ὁσίας Μαρίας τῆς Αἰγυπτίας, 21 Απριλίου, 2024. Το κήρυγμα εδώ

• 8:30 am - Matins, 9:30 Divine Liturgy
• Catechism classes following Holy Communion.
• 40-day mother and child blessing for Eleni, newborn daughter of Danielle & Thanos Mellisiotis. Congratulations!
• Our Greek School hosts the coffee fellowship hour.
• Parish Council Facility Improvements Presentation.

Friday, April 26, 2024

• 5 pm - Greek School classes.
• 6 pm - Help us prepare the church for Holy Week, assemble candles, fold palms, and make lazarakia! Our GOYAns will assemble Holy Friday luminaries. To offer help, contact our PTO at pto@anngoc.org.
• 6-7 pm - You can pick up your pre-ordered tsoureki from our PTO.

Saturday of Lazarus, April 27, 2024

• 8:30 am - Matins, 9:30 Divine Liturgy
• 11 am - 40-day mother and child blessing for Zoe, the newborn daughter of Ashley and Steve Kagiavas. Congratulations!
• 11 am - The Philoptochos Altar Guild will clean and decorate the church proper for Palm Sunday after the morning liturgy. Any help is appreciated!
• 11-12, You can pick up your pre-ordered tsoureki from our PTO.

Click Here for the 2024 Holy Week - Pasch Schedule
Το Πρόγραμμα της Μεγάλης Εβδομάδας - Πάσχα 2024 Εδώ

Holy Friday Myrrhbearers

• This Week's Children's Word from OCN
• We are seeking girls ages 8-12 to participate as Myrrhbearers in the Holy Friday, May 3, 3 pm and 7 pm services. Click here for more information and to sign up.
• Holy Friday, May 3: Holy Friday Youth Retreat (Grades K-6)

Del Val GOYA Sights and Sounds Arts Festival

1. Click here for our parish's participation
2. Click here for the memorybook

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• Good Friday Luminaries. Please submit by April 21
• June 23-29: Camp Good Shepherd
• Summer 2024: Crossroads Institute

• IONIAN VILLAGE 2024. The Office of Ionian Village, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, is pleased to announce applications for need-based scholarships for those wishing to attend Ionian Village 2024. Ionian Village Scholarships Here

• Annual PTO Tsoureki Sale Deadline Extended! Don't forget to order your Paschal Tsoureki - quantities are limited and will sell out.
• Friday, April 26: PTO Palms & Pizza Youth Event
• Pascha Sunday, May 5: Easter Egg Hunt for Children

Hello, everyone,

As you know, our Church facilities are over 50 years old and require regular maintenance and repairs.   Therefore, we wanted to update you on 2 key repair projects and our facility expansion plans. 

Roof & Interior Dome Repairs

First, you may have noticed water damage to the icon of Mark the Evangelist on the arch under the Church dome.  There is also water damage to plaster in that area and other areas under the dome.  In March, we completed the necessary repairs to the roof flashing and exterior masonry around the dome, so water is no longer seeping into the walls under the dome.  The next steps are to schedule the repairs to the icon, repair the plaster, and then repaint as needed. We appreciate your patience as this work will occur over the next several months. 

Parking Lot Lighting

The second project is upgrading our parking lot lighting. We currently have temporary lighting in the main lot, and the lights in the back lot work intermittently. Over the next several weeks, all the lighting will be replaced with energy-efficient LED fixtures, which will address all the problems.

Expansion Plans

On Sundat April 21, you are invited to join us after Liturgy for a meeting to review facility improvement and expansion plans.  We presented these at the Spring General Assembly meeting and want to share them with more people than we were at that meeting.  We will review a phased approach to improving our facilities and beautifying our Church. 

Please join us in understanding and providing your comments and input on the plans.  A light lunch will be provided.

Thank you,

Dean Dalson, PC President

1. Our traditional fish luncheon on Palm Sunday, April 28, after the divine liturgy.
2. Our Pot-Luck Paschal Meal on Holy Saturday Night, May 4. Please bring your Paschal Basket with your favorite “breaking of the fast” food items to be blessed and shared after the midnight Anastasis /Resurrection Liturgy. Magheritsa soup will be provided.

“Many hands make light work”

It’s been a busy Lent, but with the hands-on help of the 3rd grade through high school classes this past Sunday, we were able to pack over 50 more AGAPE bags! Our baskets are filled again and ready for you to help us! Please feel free to take as many bags as you can distribute to those you see in need.

Thank you to all of our students and their teachers – Ms. Angela, Ms. Debbie, and Mr. Mitch and to our Catechism School Director, Ms. Jacinda, for sharing their time and talent! Please remember to pray for those who don’t have a home and food!

Prayers for a Blessed Holy Week and a Joyous Resurrection!

The Homeless Ministry

Help Needed

Our Annunciation Homeless Ministry serves at Aviator Park on the 5th Thursday of every month (for those months with 5 Thursdays).

Other local Orthodox churches are responsible for the four other Thursday nights each month.
One of the other churches occasionally asks for help. HELP is needed next Thursday night, 4/25/24.

All food donations have been made, but we still need volunteers to help serve.
If you're available, please contact Angela Godshall to coordinate. godshalla@aol.com.

Thank you!

• Philoptochos 2024 Epitaphios Flowers Donations 
• Philoptochos 2024 Membership Letter
• Philoptochos 2024 Membership Brochure

Lent provides us with the opportunity to find our way again. In our daily lives, we use pathways, driveways, highways, and precise navigation to go from one place to another…and somehow, we still manage to get lost. When we live a Christ-centered life, we enable ourselves to go on a lifelong journey with Christ as our guide.

As group leaders, we sometimes experience moments of feeling a little lost. Matthew 25 is always on a journey. We strive to live with Christ as our leader and at our side. He tells us what we need to do, and we follow him with love and humility. It’s a great feeling to be so close to Him. This Lenten period is a great way for our ministry to personally show God we are listening and ever aware of his well-crafted directions. We went from our usual delivery of eggs, butter, and cheese to buying  meats through May with money that came in. We invite you to help us stay on  course this season with your donations. For those of you who have already donated, picture this…a small mountain made up of hams on the bottom, pork loins, ground beef, eggs, and topped with hundreds of whole chickens. It’s a mountain you may not want to hike…but one that God guided us to. Thank you always for all that you do! 

Enjoy the remainder of your Lenten Journey! Our church and faith allow us to be right alongside our Lord and his passion. What hope we will soon have upon his resurrection!

We’ll consider donating snacks to the Mattie Dixon After School Club in May and finishing up meat deliveries after Easter. 

Food for thought:  “Wherever you walk, drive, run, cycle today, proclaim that you are a follower of Christ, as your chosen captain…he will grace you with his love, protection, and gift of eternal life.”

Below is a partial list of the many items needed weekly, especially during Holy Week, for our liturgical services. We purchase most of these items, so please donate through VANCO or cash/check as a Great Lent Offering.

• Prosforo (offertory laves of bread)
• Sacramental wine
• Distilled water
• Charcoal briquettes & incense
• Candles and olive oil & wicks for the lamps
• Flowers and wreaths for the icons
• Palms for Palm Sunday
• Floral arrangement for Holy Wednesday
• Potted red geraniums for Holy Thursday
• Crown of thorns for Holy Thursday
• Bay leaves for Holy Saturday
• Rose water for Holy Friday
• Potted easter lilies for Anastasi
• Paschal candle

Thank you!

1. Download the AGES Initiatives app on your smartphone.
2. Click on the Service Calendar. The app defaults to the current date.
3. Choose the bilingual service (Compline, Akathist, Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgy, etc.).

EvangelismosWifi
Password: aoc12345

We are pleased to offer you the 2023 Annual Report to our Community!

We publish the Annual Report to accomplish two things: to provide a concise and transparent report of the state of our Parish and to celebrate our church community's many good works.

You may view the 2023 Annual Report as a flipbook HERE or as a continuous PDF HERE.

Our reports from previous years can be viewed HERE.

March 2024 Stewardship Communication

Vanco Mobile App 

We have updated some features, so please refresh it.  If you haven't downloaded it yet, please do so now! You can make all your church offerings and donations in one convenient and safe location:

1. Download the free Vanco Mobile App here:  iPhone or Android
2. Make one-time or recurring donations using your debit/credit card or checking/savings account.
3. Login to your Vanco account or donate as a guest.
4. You can also check out this Vanco Mobile How-To Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Vanco Online

We have also updated the Vanco Faith Page on our website. Please login with your existing Vanco account and check out the new easy-to-use giving features.

You can now edit your recurring transactions from within your Vanco profile. To make edits to your recurring transactions,  log into your profile, navigate to scheduled transactions, and click the edit button on the recurring transaction you wish to update. Once you have selected the edit option, you can make changes to your gifts:  

• Frequency 
• (Next) start date 
• End date 
• Transaction amount 
• Payment method 
• Tile/Fund choice 

This feature is currently available on the online version, and it will also be available in the mobile app soon.  

Please stop by the church office or call us if you have questions or need assistance.