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Let us know if you would like for us to light a votive candle for you HERE

7th Sunday of Matthew, July 26, 2020

Κυριακὴ Ζ’ Ματθαίου, 26 Ιουλίου, 2020

• 8:30 am MATINS, 9:30 am DIVINE LITURGY

Monday, July 27, 2020 Panteleimon the Great Martyr & Healer

• 8:30 am MATINS, 9:30 am DIVINE LITURGY

8^th Sunday of Matthew, August 2, 2020

• 8:30 am MATINS, 9:30 am DIVINE LITURGY
• 12 pm Baptism: Ricks family
• 2 pm Baptism: Papadeas family

Philoptochos is continuing our charitable work through these unprecedented and questionable times.  Philoptochos has prepared homemade meals, including chicken parmigiana, sautéed string beans, mashed potatoes, and a cookie for dessert.  We prepared 100 of these meals in June for the Caring for Friends organization.  This organization has served over 16 million meals to more than 14,000 homebound isolated seniors, kids, and families in the Greater Philadelphia area.  The next 100-meal donation will be prepared and delivered in July.

In March, we collected items for the Cradles to Crayons organization.  However, due to the pandemic, we were not able to deliver them.  This past month, we were fortunate enough to make this delivery.  A special thank you to everyone who donated, and to Maria McNally for organizing this outreach and delivering the items!

Keeping your health and well-being in mind, and following the state’s current restrictions, our largest fundraiser, “The Bid and Buy,” is canceled for this coming November.  Therefore, a revised donor letter has been mailed out, asking for everyone to please support our mission.  Without these funds, we will not be able to continue our philanthropic work.  Also, we will be selling “Philoptochos: Army of Women” t-shirts, aprons and tote bags.  An update on this sale will be sent out shortly.  These two fundraisers are replacing our Bid and Buy.  Please keep that in mind as you are making your generous donation, and we thank you in advance for all your prayers and support.

Your sister in Christ,

Stella Fisfis, President

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

How many times have we repeated these words? Each day we are given the opportunity to make these words come true. Thank you to all who have supported Matthew 25 in the past and have donated to us during this pandemic through the GIVE PLUS app. Your funding has helped feed the community through Philabundance, the Seeds of Hope Food Pantry, and the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard. Please take a look at how our donation to the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard has benefited our neighbors in need.

We continue to make independent deliveries to the food pantry during the summer months and we would like to continue to expand our reach to various communities with your help. Donating to Matthew 25 through the GIVE PLUS app is a great and easy way to contribute but now that the church has opened for limited in-person worship, you can also drop non-perishable foods into the bins at church that have been empty for so long. We will keep an eye on them and safely deliver all items to the pantry for you, along with our regular donation of eggs.

As a reminder, basic food items like pasta, pasta/tomato sauce, soups (especially low sodium), healthy cereals, peanut butter and jelly, flour, sugar, oil, canned tuna and chicken, and beans are always welcomed but if there are other food items that you enjoy or use frequently, chances are that others would appreciate them too! The greater the variety, the more likely various nutritional needs will be met and preferences satisfied.  Store your Bible in your heart, not on a shelf, and love your neighbor as yourself.

May God bless you all and continue to keep you safe during these warm summer months.

Matthew 25 Ministry

Pastoral care: If you or someone you know is sick, homebound elderly, or scheduled for surgery, please call the church office to let us know so Fr. John can make a pastoral visit, or to add someone to the prayer list.

Let us pray to the Lord for the health and salvation of: Suffering and persecuted Christians in the Middle East and the non-Christian world, Anthony, Janet, Dionysios, Elizabeth, Peter, Athanasia, Earnest, Virginia, Sandra, Tom, Stephen, Betty, Chryssie, Stacey, Athena, Konstantinos, Donna, Fr. George, Helen, Luke, Lia, Mary.

Names will be kept on this list for approximately 3 months. Please resubmit Names if needed. Fr. John will include the submitted names at the Psokomide “Offering of Gifts” during the first part of the liturgy when he prepares the mystical gifts of bread & wine. Please lift these names up to the Lord in your personal prayer life as well.

Prayer for healing: Heavenly Father, physician of our souls and bodies, who have sent our Lord to heal every sickness. Visit and heal us. Grant patience in this sickness, strength of body and spirit, and recovery of health. Lord, You have taught us to pray for each other that we may be healed. We pray that You heal, guide, and protect your servant (s) (pray by name for those who are sick) and grant them the gift of complete health. You are the source of healing and to You, we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy anniversary to those celebrating this coming week: Sophia & Frank Loiacono, Joanne Epitropou-Ufer & Kurt & Ufer.

Χρόνια πολλά & ευλογημένα!  God grant you many years!  To those who are celebrating birthdays this coming week: Olga Econome, Stephanie Malamas, Maria Oratis, Jenny Pappas, Christopher Pavlou, Brianna Twyman, Hariklia Mountis, Christos Sourovelis, Vasilios Tsikoudis, Kristin Arniotis, Jason Koutsouros, Zoe Redemann, Efianna Giannoumis, Jamie George, Demetra Kytzidis, Nicholas Z. Pappas, Paul Pasles, Michael Bavas, Olga McHugh, Warren Christman, Stephanie Falbo, Ioannis Kiziroglou, Simeon Lehmann, Michael Malamas, Kyriakos Rodgers, Konstantina Diamantas Angelina Pappas, Konstantinos Spiliotis.

Thank you to George Georgiou,  Peter Gouris, Susan Gouris, Vasilis Karras, Kristina Koutsouros, Mary Koutsouros, Stephen Oratis, and Gjergji Pulia for cleaning and weeding our courtyard on July 15.

Thank you to Christine Vlahos for the lovely flowers at the church portico in memory of her late husband George of blessed memory.

Our deepest sympathy o the Fisfis and Grigorakakis families for the passing of their beloved father and grandfather, Ioannis Fisfis, 89, on July 18, 2020, Greece. Please see his obituary HERE. May his memory be eternal.

Like all gifts that benefit Annunciation/ Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church, endowed gifts to the church contribute to its growth, to ministry creation, and its service to others fulfilling the Gospel of Christ. Endowments are particularly powerful because they deliver a dependable, perpetual source of funding to the ministries of Christ you care about most and that our Lord commands us, in the Holy Scriptures, to fulfill. Your gift to establish an endowment is an investment in the future – an eternal investment - one that affects the salvation of each spiritual life in our church family and of those our ministries serve.

Mission Statement

The Annunciation / Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church Endowment Fund aims to provide for the long-term financial support and stability of our church’s programs, ministries, and missions consistent with the Holy Scriptures and the Orthodox Christian Tradition, to witness to the Orthodox Faith, and to serve others.

What is an Endowment Fund?

An Endowment Fund is composed of restricted funds given as individual bequests and gifts through such giving vehicles as wills, trusts, retirements or estate plans, life insurance, charitable lead or remainder trusts, gift annuities, cash, or real estate. Endowed funds are unique in that the total amount of the gift is invested and remains intact. The investment income, then, becomes a financial resource for Annunciation / Evangelismos to use. Each year, a percentage of the endowment fund’s income is distributed to benefit the mission of the Fund.  In this respect, an endowment is intended to be a perpetual gift.

Why Should I Give to the Annunciation / Evangelismos Endowment Fund?

Giving through accumulated, inherited, and appreciated resources are considered “asset stewardship.” As Orthodox Christian faithful, we are encouraged to offer from our accumulated resources and wealth during our life and after death. The Endowment Fund is a way for stewards to make a perpetual gift to the church from their lifetime accumulated resources. Knowing that your gift will grow with sound investment and spending practices, endowed funds:

• Help create and grow the programs, ministries, and missions of the church
• Provide the assurance we need to recruit and maintain a staff that ministry and church growth necessitate
• Leave a perpetual and enduring Legacy of Faith to the church
• Honor and memorialize your faithful family or loved-one
• Protect your estate and legacy
• Reduce your income and/or estate taxes – ask your tax accountant or financial advisor how

The Different Ways of Planned Giving

• Wills and Bequests - Leave a lasting legacy by adding the Endowment Fund as a beneficiary to your will - most common method
• Life Insurance policy - You can gift an existing policy your family no longer needs or a new policy naming the Fund as a beneficiary
• Cash, Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate or other assets
• Charitable Remainder Trust

To Learn More about the Annunciation / Evangelismos Endowment Fund

Please call the church office, (215) 635-0316, and one of the Endowment Fund committee members will call you back. The directors are Jim Verros, Jim Trivelis, Demetrios Hatzopoulos, John Gilliland, Mitch Papakirk, Dean Dalson, and Father John Johns.