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Holy Cross Church
Publish Date: 2021-02-28
Bulletin Contents
Prodson
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Holy Cross Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (248) 477-1677
  • Fax:
  • (248) 477-0231
  • Street Address:

  • 25225 Middlebelt Rd.

  • Farmington Hills, MI 48336


Contact Information






Services Schedule

facebook: HolyCrossGreekOrthodoxChurch

DIVINE LITURGY SUNDAYS 10 A.M.

OFFICE HOURS 10 A.M.- 3 P.M.  MONDAY-TUESDAY & THURSDAY - FRIDAY  (CLOSED WEDNESDAY)

BONNIE SITARAS: OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

 


Past Bulletins


Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35

At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Plagal First Mode. Psalm 11.7,1.
You, O Lord, shall keep us and preserve us.
Verse: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 6:12-20.

Brethren, "all things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" -- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh." But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
The Reading is from Luke 15:11-32

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"


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Wisdom of the Fathers

But if he had despaired of his life, and, ... had remained in the foreign land, he would not have obtained what he did obtain, but would have been consumed with hunger, and so have undergone the most pitiable death: ...
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

... but since he repented, and did not despair, he was restored, even after such great corruption, to the same splendour as before, and was arrayed in the most beautiful robe, and enjoyed greater honours than his brother who had not fallen.
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal First Mode

Let us worship the Word, O ye faithful, praising Him that with the Father and the Spirit is co-beginningless God, Who was born of a pure Virgin that we all be saved; for He was pleased to mount the Cross in the flesh that He assumed, accepting thus to endure death. And by His glorious rising, He also willed to resurrect the dead.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Mode

O Father, foolishly I ran away from Your glory, and in sin, squandered the riches You gave me. Wherefore, I cry out to You with the voice of the Prodigal, "I have sinned before You Compassionate Father. Receive me in repentance and take me as one of Your hired servants."
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Saints and Feasts

Prodson
February 28

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Through the parable of today's Gospel, our Saviour has set forth three things for us: the condition of the sinner, the rule of repentance, and the greatness of God's compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the parable of the Publican and Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition -- inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries -- we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.

Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts of such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the forecourts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God's compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin -- no matter how great it may be -- that can overcome at any time His love for man.


Evdokia
March 01

The Holy Righteous Martyr Eudocia the Samaritan

This Saint, who was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia (Baalbek in present-day Lebanon), was an idolater and led a licentious life. Being beautiful beyond telling, she had many lovers, and had acquired great riches. Yet brought to repentance by a monk named Germanus, and baptized by Bishop Theodotus, she distributed to the poor all her ill-gotten gains, and entered a convent, giving herself up completely to the life of asceticism. Her former lovers, enraged at her conversion, her refusal to return to her old ways, and the withering away of her beauty through the severe mortifications she practiced, betrayed her as a Christian to Vincent the Governor, and she was beheaded, according to some, under Trajan, who reigned from 98 to 117, according to others, under Hadrian, who reigned from 117 to 138.


Gerasimosjordan
March 04

Gerasimus the Righteous of Jordan

This Saint, who was from Lycia in Asia Minor, lived there for many years as a hermit, and then went to Palestine. There he built the great Lavra by the Jordan River, where a lion served him with great obedience and devotion. One day the lion came looking for Gerasimus that he might feed him, but his disciples took the lion to the place where they had buried the Saint shortly before. The lion fell at the Saint's grave and, after roaring with grief, died at that very place. Saint Gerasimus reposed in 475.


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Announcements

GREAT LENT AND HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE 2021

Please use this link.

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HOLY WEEK READERS  

Please contact the Church Office or use this link to submit your name by March 6.

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HOUSE BLESSINGS

Please contact the Church Office to schedule your annual house blessing with Fr. Alex. 

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PROSPHORA

Interested in sponsoring prosphora? Please contact Maria Heller. 

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TODAY

  Sunday, February 28

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UPCOMING

• Saturday, March 6 - Divine Liturgy Saturday of Souls @ 10:00 am followed by Memorials

• Sunday, March 7 - Macaronatha (see flyer attached)

• Tuesday, March 9 - Young Adult Zoom Chat @ 7:00 pm (link will be emailed)

• Wednesday, March 10 - Parish Council Meeting @ 7:30 pm

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WORSHIP

THE CHURCH IS OPEN. Please join us in prayer. Check our COVID-19 safety measures and policy.

LITURGY BOOKS have been removed from the pews. Please use this link to view the Divine Liturgy book.

Please download the Daily Readings App Lite (free download) for the daily Gospel & Epistle readings.

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LIVESTREAM SERVICES

www.holycrossgo.org/webcam

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STEWARDSHIP PLEDGE

Please continue to support our Chuch during this difficult time via your Stewardship pledge and donations. Please mail your checks directly to the church or donate online by clicking on the "GIVE" button on our website. Visit the Stewardship webpage to fill out your annual pledge card and/or to pay your stewardship.

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VIGIL CANDLES

If you would like us to light a vigil candle for you, please call the Church Office or email office@holycrossgo.org with your name(s) and Fr. Alex will light a vigil candle for you and say a prayer. Donations are optional.

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SHOP AT ACE HARDWARE? 5% minus tax = (!)

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church or #214538. 5% line discount off everyday pricing in the store Ace Rewards as well as 6% Tax Exempt will come off automatically. 2% Ace Rewards

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SHOP AT KROGER?

Register your card in a few steps. Each May the registration needs to be renewed,
so if you were part of the program last year and haven't renewed, please do so. Go to:
www.krogercommunityrewards.com
Holy Cross' ID # 83567

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Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for the health and healing of the following friends:

  • Lindy Anna Lenk
  • Marilyn Georgeson
  • George Benardos
  • Gina Weiler
  • Terrie Stefanakis
  • Norman Demetrios Fletcher
  • Evelyn Morris
  • Dr. Pan Pesaros
  • Faye Prekeges
  • Fr. George Livanos
  • Dr. Maureen Kelly
  • Dr. Rick Wilsom
  • Dina Rand

If you would like to add your name or a loved one's to the prayer list, please email the office. Thank you!

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Ladies Philoptochos News

Philoptochos_seal_new

NEXT PHILOPTOCHOS MEETING:
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 @ 5:30 pm

At Church.

 

 

 

FEBRUARY OUTREACH -Canned Food Drive. See flyer attached.

MARCH 7 - Macaronatha (see flyer attached).

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2021 STEWARDSHIP

New and returning members are encouraged to complete the stewardship form. New members and new ideas are always welcome, so please consider joining and attending a meeting. Please see flyer attached.

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FLOWERS

If you are interested in donating flowers to decorate an icon, please contact Debbie George or the Church Office.

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COFFEE HOUR

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the colder weather approaching, we are discontinuing coffee hour until the spring, or until such time that the State and/or Metropolis restrictions are loosened.

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Altar Boys

NOTICE FOR ALTAR BOYS & PARENTS

Being an Altar Server is a GREAT RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMITMENT to the Lord. Please BE ON TIME (arrive at least 15 minutes prior to any Church Service).

 

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LIST OF ALTAR BOYS

 TEAM A

 TEAM B

​ Ioannis Yannakis (Captain)

​​ Dimitri Sitaras (Captain)

 Stavros Fekaris

 Alex Matthews

 Mateo Pesaros

 Dino Thanos

 Panos Stilianos

 Niko Thanos

 Christos Stilianos

 Benjamin Barnaby

 

 Nicholas Barnaby

SCHEDULE 2020-2021

 TEAM A

 TEAM B

 2020

 2020

 OCT. 18

 OCT. 25

 NOV. 1, 15, 29

 NOV. 8, 22

 DEC. 13, 27

 DEC. 6, 20

 2021

 2021

 JAN. 10, 24

 JAN. 3, 17, 31

 FEB. 7, 21

 FEB. 14, 28

 MAR. 7, 21

 MAR. 14, 28

 APR. 4, 18

 APR. 11, 25

 MAY 2, 16, 30

 MAY 9, 23

 JUNE 13, 27

 JUNE 6, 20

 



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Memorial Donations to Holy Cross

OUR THANKS

To those who in lieu of flowers gave monetary

contributions to the Church in memory of :

BESS GROBER

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

Margarita Shukla

HELEN COSTA

Sophie Paron

M/M William S. Hiotaky

M/M Gust Bills

William Cheek

Lorna Danz

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

M/M Peter Zervos

THEODORE STRATIGOS

M/M Jim Heller

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

HARRY KAITAS

Denise Liberty

MYRA HERMIZ

M/M Jim Heller

M/M Evans Lucas

M/M George Fekaris

M/M Martin Gehan

M/M Albert Scaglione

M/M Dan Dallas

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

M/M Peter Zervos

HELEN WILLIAMS

M/M Bill Williams

M/M Evans Lucas

M/M Martin Gehan

M/M Tom Casoglos

M/M Jim Heller

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

M/M Peter Zervos

THEODORE J. KUKUNAS

M/M Steve Fekaris

M/M Peter Zervos

ANGERO SPETHOGIANIS

M/M Adam Angelas

MARY PONIROS

M/M George Liadis

CHRISTINA BURKE

M/M George Liadis

MAMOSH SANDIHA

M/M John Liadis

EUGENE PENCAK

M/M Limperis Zervos

BILL VASILIDES 

M/M Alex Kargilis

AGGELIKI ZAFIROPOULOS

M/M George Stefanakis

M/M Scott & Angel Linzell

NICK KARAMIHAS

M/M George Stefanakis

 

MAY THEIR MEMORY BE ETERNAL

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Events, Announcements and Flyers

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