• This Week's Children's Word from OCN
• Sunday, March 6: Parish level St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival

• Greek School February Newsletter
• Metropolis of New Jersey Essay Contest to Honor the Feast of the Three Hierarchs

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” - Matthew 6:22. 

While Christ is the ultimate healer, Orthodox Christians often pray to Agia Paraskevi to cure them of blindness and other eye ailments. A martyr due to her devout profession of Christianity in pagan Rome, Agia Paraskevi saved herself from an earlier execution by curing the Emperor’s blindness. Multiple miracles related to vision and eyesight continue to be attributed to her in the present day.

Glasses are an accessible resource that easily improves the quality of sight; however, one billion people are unable to acquire or afford proper eyewear. Millions of children suffer without glasses to assist them in everyday activities. GOYA is collecting new or gently used eyewear for One Sight, an organization dedicated to making eyewear accessible.

Please donate to help others see a better quality of light. 

The collection box will be located across from the parish office until the end of March. 

The Triodion starts on Sunday february 13. Make the most of it with 10 weeks of free Bible Study resources from Orthodox Christian Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM). Access them here.

The Spring General Assembly of our Parishioners will take place Monday, February 28, 2022, at 7 PM.

• Click here for the official 2-28-22 Assembly Invitation and Agenda
• Click here for the minutes of the Fall 2021 General Assembly
• Click here for the 2021 Annual Report to the Community

• Monday, February 28: Spring General Assembly of our parishioners.
• Sunday, March 6: Parish level St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival.
• Monday, March 7: Start of Great Lent.
• Sunday, March 13: Greek Independence Day celebration by our Greek School.
• Sunday, March 20: Greek Independence Day Parade in Philadelphia.
• Friday, March 25:  Feast of Evangelismos & Greek Independence Day.
• Sunday, April 24: Great and Holy Pascha.
• May 19-22:  Spring OPA Greek Festival.

We will be processing the Spring General Assembly and  2021 Annual Report mailing this Monday, February 14, 10 AM till Noonish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Prosforo for the Eucharist. We use 2 –3 loaves on Sunday plus a few more for weekday liturgies.  There will never be too much prosforo in stock.  Please do not hesitate to bring any amount at any time!

If you haven't made it before and are interested in making it, please call the parish office for help with the seal, baking pans, and recipe.

Charcoal briquettes & incense. Donations are appreciated as we purchase specific kind of charcoal & incense.

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 (Hours, Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgy, etc.).

Church Wi-Fi:  COA-Guest
Password: coa12345

We should be reminded  of the great privilege we have in calling ourselves children and disciples of the Most High God. The book of Isaiah describes a vision of the prophet in which angels surround the Lord. They proclaim, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!" Our God invites us to such deep intimacy and friendship with Him that we sometimes forget just how majestic and unspeakably holy He truly is.

While we can approach Him with a child's confidence before his father, we must also remember the deep reverence and awe that we owe to Him.

This sense of awe and reverence should also motivate us to deepen our stewardship way of life. As we contemplate the holiness of God, we come to a heightened awareness of what a privilege it is that He has chosen to include us in His work of spreading the Gospel to others through the grateful sharing of the gifts He has given us. We can make the words of the prophet Isaiah our own: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send" Who will go for us? Here I am, I said, send me!"

This same theme continues in the Gospel passage from Luke, where we again see the juxtaposition of a God who is so near to us yet who is altogether holy and powerful. In this passage, we find Jesus preaching to a crowd pressing in on Him to listen. (What an inspiring image! Do we "press in" as we hear the readings proclaimed in the divine liturgy with this same sense of wonder and urgency?) In response, Jesus uses very ordinary means so that the crowd can hear Him. He gets into one of the nearby boats belonging to Simon so that His voice will better carry over the water. He finishes speaking and then tells Simon, the fisherman, to lower his nets for a catch. Simon is skeptical about this instruction but obeys, putting his fishing talents to use as Jesus asks.

The result is a catch of fish beyond Simon's wildest imaginings. Overwhelmed, he fell at Jesus' knees, "for astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him."

When we truly embrace a stewardship way of life, putting our talents, time, and treasure at the service of the Most High God, we, too, will be astonished at what God will do. Our lives may take a direction beyond our wildest imaginings.

But just as Jesus reassured Simon, "Be not afraid," He reassures us, too. We need not fear a stewardship way of life. Rather, we should embrace the adventure it presents us and prepare to be astonished by what our awesome God will do. "Here I am, Lord, send me!"

With our prayers and blessings,

The Stewardship Committee

You should have received your 2022 personalized Stewardship Pledge Card of Time, Talent, and Treasure in the mail, including our Sustaining Stewardship Initiative information.

If you are already a Sustaining Steward, that is, you have set up regular payments through Vanco or your bank bill payer service:

• You do not have to fill out a pledge card!
• Use the 2022 Pledge Card information as a guide to update your giving to reflect your current level of commitment and personal/family situation.
• Check with your Vanco account or bank bill payer service to ensure that your regular payments continue through 2022.

You can support your church from anywhere at any time, including Great Lent, even if you forget to bring cash or your checkbook. Simply use the Vanco Mobile Faith Engagement app to give with your smartphone.

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 or donate as a guest.
4. Securely and conveniently manage donations using Touch ID/Fingerprint, PIN, or password.