Publish-header
Assumption Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2020-12-06
Bulletin Contents
Bowedwoman
Organization Icon
Assumption Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (773) 626-3114
  • Fax:
  • (773) 626-3141
  • Street Address:

  • 601 South Central Avenue

  • Chicago, IL 60644-5089


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Sunday Services
8:45 am - Orthros
10:00 am - Divine Liturgy

Sunday School after Communion

 

Weekday Services in Chapel of St. Catherine
9:00 am - Orthros
10:00 am - Divine Liturgy

 

The Mission of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church

Is to lead the faithful into the Kingdom of God by:

Proclaiming and teaching the Gospel in accordance with the Orthodox Faith;

Sanctifying the faithful through God’s grace in worship, the Divine Liturgy and the sacraments;

Enhancing the spiritual life of the faithful;

Adding to the numbers of the faithful by receiving persons into the church through instruction, baptism and/or chrismation.


Past Bulletins


Saints and Feasts

Bowedwoman
December 06

10th Sunday of Luke


Nicholas
December 06

Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra

This Saint lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, and reposed in 330, As a young man, he desired to espouse the solitary life. He made a pilgrimage to the holy city Jerusalem, where he found a place to withdraw to devote himself to prayer. It was made known to him, however, that this was not the will of God for him, but that he should return to his homeland to be a cause of salvation for many. He returned to Myra, and was ordained bishop. He became known for his abundant mercy, providing for the poor and needy, and delivering those who had been unjustly accused. No less was he known for his zeal for the truth. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of the 318 Fathers at Nicaea in 325; upon hearing the blasphemies that Arius brazenly uttered against the Son of God, Saint Nicholas struck him on the face. Since the canons of the Church forbid the clergy to strike any man at all, his fellow bishops were in perplexity what disciplinary action was to be taken against this hierarch whom all revered. In the night our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lady Theotokos appeared to certain of the bishops, informing them that no action was to be taken against him, since he had acted not out of passion, but extreme love and piety. The Dismissal Hymn for holy hierarchs, The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock ... was written originally for Saint Nicholas. He is the patron of all travellers, and of sea-farers in particular; he is one of the best known and best loved Saints of all time.


Anna2
December 08

Forefeast of the Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos


Ambrose
December 07

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

This Saint was born in Gaul in 340, and was a member of the Roman Senate. After the death of Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Milan, a violent dispute arose among the Orthodox and Arians about who would succeed him. Ambrose, desiring as Governor of the province to restore the peace, attempted to mediate between them. As he spoke to the people, eloquently persuading them to elect a new bishop without tumult and disorder, a young child, inspired from on high, suddenly cried out "Ambrose, bishop!" To his astonishment and dismay, the people immediately took up this cry themselves, and over his many protests, he was raised to the episcopal throne of Milan on December 7, 374. A great Father of the Church, he wrote many works in Latin, and was both an unwearying opponent of Arianism, and a fearless accuser of emperors when they transgressed the law of God. Having lived fifty-seven years, he reposed on April 4, on the eve of Pascha, in the year 397.


Anna
December 09

The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord (see also Sept. 8).


Allsaint
December 10

The Holy Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus

Saint Menas, according to the Synaxaristes, had Athens as his homeland. He was a military officer, an educated man and skilled in speech, wherefore he was surnamed Kallikelados ("most eloquent"); Eugraphus was his scribe. Both had Christian parents. The Emperor Maximinus (he was the successor of Alexander Severus, and reigned from 235 to 238) sent Saint Menas to Alexandria to employ his eloquence to end a certain strife among the citizens. Saint Menas, having accomplished this, also employed his eloquence to strengthen the Christians in their faith, which when Maximinus heard, he sent Hermogenes, who was an eparch born to unbelievers to turn Menas away from Christ. But Hermogenes rather came to the Faith of Christ because of the miracles wrought by Saint Menas. Saints Menas, Eugraphus, and Hermogenes received the crown of martyrdom in the year 235.


Allsaint
December 11

Daniel the Stylite of Constantinople

This Saint was from the village of Marutha in the region of Samosata in Mesopotamia. He became a monk at the age of twelve. After visiting Saint Symeon the Stylite (see Sept. 1) and receiving his blessing, he was moved with zeal to follow his marvellous way of life. At the age of forty-two, guided by providence, he came to Anaplus in the environs of Constantinople, in the days of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (see July 3), who was also healed by Saint Daniel of very grave malady and sought to have him live near him. Upon coming to Anaplus, Saint Daniel first lived in the church of the Archangel Michael, but after some nine years, Saint Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision, commanding him to imitate his own ascetical struggle upon a pillar. The remaining thirty-three years of his life he stood for varying periods on three pillars, one after another. He stood immovable in all weather, and once his disciples found him covered with ice after a winter storm. He was a counsellor of emperors; the pious emperor Leo the Great fervently loved him and brought his royal guests to meet him. It was at Saint Daniel's word that the holy relics of Saint Symeon the Stylite were brought to Constantinople from Antioch, and it was in his days that the Emperor Leo had the relics of the Three Holy Children brought from Babylon. Saint Daniel also defended the Church against the error of the Eutychians. Having lived through the reigns of the Emperors Leo, Zeno, and Basiliscus, he reposed in 490, at the age of eighty-four.


Spyridon
December 12

Spyridon the Wonderworker of Trymithous

Spyridon, the God-bearing Father of the Church, the great defender of Corfu and the boast of all the Orthodox, had Cyprus as his homeland. He was simple in manner and humble of heart, and was a shepherd of sheep. When he was joined to a wife, he begat of her a daughter whom they named Irene. After his wife's departure from this life, he was appointed Bishop of Trimythus, and thus he became also a shepherd of rational sheep. When the First Ecumenical Council was assembled in Nicaea, he also was present, and by means of his most simple words stopped the mouths of the Arians who were wise in their own conceit. By the divine grace which dwelt in him, he wrought such great wonders that he received the surname 'Wonderworker." So it is that, having tended his flock piously and in a manner pleasing to God, he reposed in the Lord about the year 350, leaving to his country his sacred relics as a consolation and source of healing for the faithful.

About the middle of the seventh century, because of the incursions made by the barbarians at that time, his sacred relics were taken to Constantinople, where they remained, being honoured by the emperors themselves. But before the fall of Constantinople, which took place on May 29, 1453, a certain priest named George Kalokhairetes, the parish priest of the church where the Saint's sacred relics, as well as those of Saint Theodora the Empress, were kept, took them away on account of the impending peril. Travelling by way of Serbia, he came as far as Arta in Epirus, a region in Western Greece opposite to the isle of Corfu. From there, while the misfortunes of the Christian people were increasing with every day, he passed over to Corfu about the year 1460. The relics of Saint Theodora were given to the people of Corfu; but those of Saint Spyridon remain to this day, according to the rights of inheritance, the most precious treasure of the priest's own descendants, and they continue to be a staff for the faithful in Orthodoxy, and a supernatural wonder for those that behold him; for even after the passage of 1,500 years, they have remained incorrupt, and even the flexibility of his flesh has been preserved. Truly wondrous is God in His Saints! (Ps. 67:3 5)


BACK TO TOP

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra
The Reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 13:17-21

Brethren, obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


Gospel Reading

10th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 13:10-17

At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.


BACK TO TOP

Wisdom of the Fathers

So great an evil is envy. For not against strangers only, but even against our own, is it ever warring.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 40 on Matthew 12, 4th Century

And yet here He speaks only; whereas elsewhere in many cases He heals by laying on of hands also. But nevertheless none of these things made them meek; rather, while the man was healed, they by his health became worse. For His desire indeed was to cure them before him, and He tried innumerable ways of healing, both by what He did in their presence, and by what He said: but since their malady after all was incurable, He proceeded to the work.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 40 on Matthew 12, 4th Century

When you seek healing, take heed to your conscience. Do what it says, and you will find profit.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
Discourses: XXII sect. 2; Paulist Press pg. 244, 11th century

BACK TO TOP

Parish News and Events

Sunday - December 6, 2020  

 8:30 a.m. Orthros  followed by Divine Liturgy

 

* * * * * GIFT OF LIGHT * * * * *

This Week's Gift of Light (December 6, 2020)  

is given 

In Memory of Christina Laggas & Vasilios Laggas

 

 

uuUuu

~+~   MEMORIALS   ~+~

26-Year -  George Limperis

~ + ~

6-Year  - Helen (Eleni) Georgopoulos 

~ + ~

6-Year – Mary Limperis

~ + ~

4-Year - John Limperis

~ + ~

40-Day – Sotiria Apostolas

~+~

40-Day - Despina Kosta Elia

~+~

~May Their Memory Be Eternal~

 

  uuUuu

 

  

 ===   ARTOKLASIA    ====

For the Health & Well-Being of

Nicholas Georgiafentis 

=====

 

 From  Father Apostolos ....

  • In the Church all work together, all con-celebrate...The Liturgy is not just a ser­mon. It is not something to be listened to or watched. We should not go to church in the same way we go to the theater, but we should go in order to pray with the whole body of the Church and to be transfigured.
  • When we hear the priest say “let us bow our heads unto the Lord,” we should bow reverently  thus giving more meaning to the words and getting into more active participation in the Liturgy.

 

  Reviewing the News....

AXIOS! AXIOS!! AXIOS!!! Our Church rejoices at the Hierarchal Ordination of our very own Chancellor of The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago and former Proistamenos of our Parish, Bishop Elect Timothy (Bakakos) of Hexamilion. His Grace Bishop  Timothy’s ordination to the Episcopacy is  Saturday, December 5, 2020 at Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Merrillville, Indiana. 

LET’S STAY CONNECTED - Help us to update our mailing lists. If you have moved, changed telephone numbers, or are not receiving our Church mailings, please call the Church Office. Also, our Church’s Listserv provides information and events related to the church, the weekly bulletins etc. Simply subscribe your email address through our Church’s website www.assumptionchicago.org under General Church Information link. Thank You!! 

HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION—Orthodox Christians in good standing are encouraged to receive Holy Communion frequently, provided they have prepared themselves spiritually, mentally and physically. They must be on time for the Divine Liturgy, and be in a Christ-like, calm state of mind. They should be in a confession relationship with their priest or spiritual father, and they should have self -examined their conscience. On the day of receiving Holy Communion, it is not proper to eat or drink anything before coming to church. When you approach to receive Holy Communion, state your Christian (baptismal) name clearly, remove your mask and open wide. Do not hold or touch the red communion cloth and do not blot your lips. Please wait about 10 – 15 seconds before placing your mask on your face as to allow your lips to dry. 

WORSHIPPING FROM HOME AT THIS TIME? Come to church when you feel comfortable doing so.  We will be here for you. Thank you for your prayers during this trial and trying time.  We will continue to pray for those suffering and those who help the suffering

 Weekday Services

  • Wednesday, December 9  9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. -- The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos - Orthros & Liturgy
  • Saturday, December 12    9 a.m.- 12 Noon  Our Holy Godbearing Father Spyridon the Wonderworker - Orthros & Liturgy 

 Upcoming Weekday Services for December

  •  Thursday, December 24    9 a.m.- 11 a.m.  Service of the Great Hours  
  •  Thursday, December 24    6:00 a.m. -  8:30 a.m.    Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
  •  Friday, December 25         8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.   The Nativity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ - Orthros-Liturgy

 Reservation spots are available.   Please go to https://tinyurl.com/sunday-assumption-services to register.                                                             

Church Order Please come into the church prior to the start of the sermon, but remain in the back if the sermon has started. Please follow the direction of our Parish Council for the new procedure for receiving Holy Communion.

 

 ~~~ ABOUT THE GIFT OF LIGHT ~~~

 Please give the “Gift of Light” to Assumption Panagia’s Church. We need a family or an individual, to sponsor, per week, the lighting of our vigil lamps and candles in both of our holy Altars of Panagia and Saint Catherine. This includes the daily lighting of both of our holy Altars throughout the week. Suggested donation for this ministry is $100.00. Reservations, with your donation to Assumption Church, can be made through the church office. Simply, ask for the week you desire and remember to offer the names of your loved ones, both the living and those who have fallen asleep, so that they may be commemorated at the Prothesis Table of Oblation) during the Sunday Orthros of that week.

An acknowledgement in the weekly bulletin will be printed. Please specify if you would like your donation posted either in memory of… or for the health and wellbeing of…. Our Church is blessed to have two consecrated Altars. During the Consecration service, and forever after, the Lord entrusts to the angelic powers to keep the holy Altar pure and holy. As Saint Symeon of Thessaloniki reminds us, the Holy Altar is the border between heaven and earth, it is the throne of glory and the dwelling place of God and the workshop of the gifts of the Holy SpiritWe all need prayers, and your “Gift of Light” will help.              -Father Apostolos

 

A Few More Announcements....

Keeping Posted    

  • This Sunday is Stewardship Sunday. Stewardship mailing is scheduled to be delivered to your home this week. Please consider pledging to your Church from the gifts that God has given you.
  • Our Parish thanks all its parishioners and friends for their response to the Saint Catherine’s appeal. Βοήθειά σας!
  • The 2021 Parish Calendars have been mailed to the homes of our Stewards. Please look for this mailing in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to the Linardos family for their donation.
  • The Christmas appeal is scheduled to be mailed to your home in mid-December.

Memorials

Please contact our church office in advance if you wish to have a memorial for a loved one. We will do our best to accommodate you, but please be aware that sometimes it is difficult to reserve for large groups due to space limitations. If desired, you may inquire with the office about the alternative option of Father offering the memorial at the gravesite.

 Weekly Offering

Please remember to make an offering this week to support the work of our parish in serving the needs of our many faithful! You may do this in person at the end of the Divine Liturgy (there will be an acrylic box on a stand in the narthex of the church), or if you are watching from home you may use the following link: www.assumptionchicago.org. Every little bit helps, and no gift is too small. We appreciate your support!

 Church Services

In order to give more people the chance to attend the Divine Liturgy, we ask that for the time being you sign up for a maximum of 2 Sundays per month. We will be sure to update you with any revisions to this guideline. We encourage you to also take advantage of our weekday services if your schedule permits. You may visit our website for information and for the link to reserve a spot for church. Schedule of upcoming services and sign up to attend a service can be made through our Church’s website: www.assumptionchicago.org. Please be aware that on-line signups will not be available on the day before the service; the list will be closed for administrative purposes.

 

Other Notes 

The Gift of Light - The oil lamps on both Altar Tables are lit daily through the weekly donations ($100) made by our Stewards and friends. This includes the oil lamps lit during church services and candles in the Altar. Sign up can be made through our Tithe.ly platform. Through our Church’s Website simply click on the big green GIVE button, request your week and make your donation. 

Donations and Stewardship may be sent via US mail or electronically through our Tithe.ly platform. Through our Church’s Website simply click on the big green GIVE button and scroll down to where you wish to give. You also have the option to set up recurring payments for your Stewardship through this page.

 

 

May God be with you and your families this week!

 

 Welcome to Assumption….Welcome Home!

 

 VERY LAST CALL to be part of our 2020 Assumption Parish Christmas Card!


The annual invitation to include your name and be part of our 2020 Assumption
Parish Christmas Card have been mailed out! 
If you would like to have your name added to the Parish Christmas Card, please complete the form at the bottom of the letter and return it to the church office, together with your check (suggested donation $25.00). 
Please make checks payable to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church
The deadline for inclusion in the 2020 Assumption Parish Christmas Card is 
Monday, December 7th. 
Please contact Eileen Szubert at 708-610-5682 or eileenszubert@gmail.com with any questions.

 

 

COMMUNITY PRAYER LIST (put this in your prayer corner at home)

O Lord our God, Who by word alone did heal all diseases, Who cured the mother in law of Peter, You Who chastise with pity and heal according to Your goodness; grant aid to these Your servants (Names) and heal them of every sickness of which they are grieved; lift them up from their pain, and send down upon them Your great mercy. For to you we send up Glory: to Father, and to Son, and to Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

PRAYERS FOR: Evangelos, Jenna, William, Momcilo, Jill, Panagiotis, Vasiliki, Elizabeth, Panagiota, Betty, Dimitri, Alexander, Vasiliki, Eleni, Panagiotis, George, Thomas, Nicholas, Sophia, Susan, Mary Lou, Mehmet.  (Contact Assumption Business Office to add names at   assumptionorthodoxchurch@gmail.com  or call office at 773.626.3114

BACK TO TOP

Announcements

BACK TO TOP