• 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.
• Saturday, April 2: Regional level St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival.
• Saturday, April 9: Regional GOYA Sights & Sounds Arts Festival.
• Sunday, April 24: Great and Holy Pascha.
• May 19-22:  Spring OPA Greek Festival.

The church teaches us that those who have fallen asleep are not dead but still alive in Christ Jesus! In its very essence, prayer for the dead is a proclamation of the Resurrection of Christ. This is a central reoccurring theme for the Saturday of the Souls. Therefore, it is imperative for us, the living, to remember our loved ones who have passed on and pray that the Lord accepts them into His heavenly kingdom.

Please submit here by 3 pm Friday the names of your loved departed ones to be commemorated.

If you submit your names electronically, you don't have to re-submit them in writing when you attend liturgy in person. Fr. John will commemorate them on all three Saturdays.

Matins begin at 8:30 am, and we kindly ask you to bring your  koliva (memorial wheat) and printed names to church no later than 9 am on Saturday. Ushers on duty will be here to assist you. We will share a coffee fellowship hour after the liturgy.

Fr. John will also offer graveside trisagion prayers after the divine liturgy on Saturday, February 26. He will be at Lawnview Cemetery at approximately 12 pm, and Whitemarsh Cemetery at approximately 1:30 pm.

Thank you to our church family for their heartfelt support in donating casserole meals for college students experiencing homelessness. The casseroles have been delivered and are being enjoyed by the students at St. Joseph House located just a couple of miles from the church in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia. Please take a couple of minutes to read the attached thank you from the student residents and their director: thankyouletter.docx

May God bless our continuing efforts to serve others in need!

 The Spiritual Life Ministry invites you to join us as we pray the Psalter Together this Lent! 

         Bind yourselves to your brethren. Those bound together in love bear everything with ease…. If now you want to make the bond double, your brother must also be bound together with you. He wants us to be bound together with one another, not only to be at peace, not only to be friends, but to be all one, a single soul. Beautiful is this bond. With this bond we bind ourselves together both to one another and to God. This is not a chain that bruises. It does not cramp the hands. It leaves them free, gives them ample room and greater courage. 

(From St. John Chrysostom’s Homily on Ephesians 9.4.1-3)

Please join us as we pray the Psalter throughout Lent. The Psalter is the Book of Psalms, divided into 20 Kathismata. "Kathismata" is plural for "kathisma" which means "sitting". With these divisions, you can read through the Book of Psalms in twenty sittings. We'll be praying the Psalms daily, from March 7th (Clean Monday) to April 15th.

Beginning on March 7th, the first day of the fast, each member of the group will start by praying one kathisma (please refer to the sign-up genius for your assigned starting Kathisma).  

Learn How It Works Here 

Sign-up for Annunciation Psalter Group

With twenty people each reading one Kathisma per day, together the Psalter is being read in its entirety every day of Lent. On the twenty-first day, we each begin again where we started, individually reading the entire Psalter a total of twice during the forty days.

Each Kathisma takes approximately twenty minutes to a half hour to read. Each of us will pray our Kathisma individually anytime during the day or night and anywhere we are able.  

Although a Psalter is a volume that contains the book of Psalms, you do not need to purchase a Psalter in order to participate - simply use your Bible. If you would like to purchase a Psalter book or Bible, these are available through the Resource Center:

The Psalter According to the Seventy (Greek-English). This beautiful hardcover edition contains the translation of the Psalms used in our liturgical services.

The Psalter (“pocket” size). Just the right size to take with you wherever you go.

Christ in the Psalms. In two-page meditations on each of the psalms, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon takes readers on an enlightening pilgrimage through the prayerbook of the Church.

Songs of Praise: A Psalter Devotional for Orthodox Women. Along with the Psalter, this book offers reflections on the Psalms and pages for journaling.

Orthodox Study Bible. The complete Bible with commentary.

Please join us in praying the Psalms.  

May God bless our efforts!

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.).

Church Wi-Fi:  COA-Guest
Password: coa12345

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!

The prophet Elijah encounters a widow during a terrible famine. She is preparing to make one last meal for herself and her son before their food supply runs out. Elijah, acting as God’s messenger, tells her not to be afraid and asks her to give him something to eat before preparing a meal for herself and her son. In an extraordinary act of trust — and heroic hospitality — she agrees to Elijah’s request! Again speaking as God’s own messenger, Elijah assures her of God’s special provision for her, telling her that her “jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” Sure enough, the widow and her son were able to eat for a year, just as God promised.

In the Gospel, Jesus observes the crowd as they make their offerings to the synagogue treasury. He sees the wealthy people putting in large sums, while a poor widow contributes only two small coins. Seizing on this teachable moment, Jesus calls His disciples to Himself and tells them that according to His calculations, it is the widow who has made the most pleasing offering. Unlike the rich, who gave a portion of their surplus, the widow gave all she had “her whole livelihood.”

In the eyes of the world, particularly in Biblical times where there was no life insurance or Social Security, these widows were weak and dependent on others to take care of them. They each found themselves in desperate situations — one amid famine with a child to care for, and the other impoverished. Yet each demonstrated strength and generosity that distinguished them from those around them. From where did this strength come?

It came from knowing who they are and Whose they are. These women must have known that their security would not come from a good life insurance policy or connections to someone with a hidden storehouse of flour.

No, their security came from knowing they were daughters of the Most High God and from putting their faith in Him. They did not need to panic amid natural disasters or cling desperately to their menial resources. Their faith in God set them free to trust Him when all seemed hopeless. Their faith kept them detached from material possessions. Their faith allowed them to be brave and generous, to think of others despite their own trials.

These women saw themselves as stewards, not owners, of the resources God gave them, regardless of how much or how little they had—and acting as stewards made them gracious, generous, and mighty indeed.

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.