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Holy Trinity Church
Publish Date: 2018-10-14
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Cosmashymnographer
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Holy Trinity Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (724) 266-5336
  • Fax:
  • (724) 266-0703
  • Street Address:

  • 2930 Beaver Road

  • Ambridge, PA 15003
  • Mailing Address:

  • 2930 Beaver Road

  • Ambridge, PA 15003


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Sunday Summer Hours - from first Sunday after Memorial Day

Orthros 8:30 am

Divine L:iturgy 9:30 am

Sunday Winter Hours - from first Sunday after Labor Day

Orthros 9:00 am

Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Saturday Vespers 6:00 pm

Week Day Divine Liturgy 9:00 am


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Tone

Let all things above in heav'n rejoice, and let all things below on earth be glad. With all the might and strength of His arm an eternal deed the Lord did perform. Beneath His feet He has trampled down death by death, and first born of the dead has He become. From the womb of Hades has He delivered us, and to all the world has granted His great redeeming mercy.

Apolytikion for Sun. of the 7th Ecumenical Council in the Plagal Fourth Tone

Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our Fathers as luminous stars upon the earth, and through them didst guide us all to the true Faith. O Most Merciful One, glory be to Thee.

Apolytikion for the Church in the Plagal Fourth Tone

Blessed are You, O Christ our God; Who has shone forth the fishermen to be all wise, by sending upon them the Holy Spirit and through them, You gathered the whole world in Your net, O lover of Mankind, glory to You.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Tone

O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Tone. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15.

Titus, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.

All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council
The Reading is from Luke 8:5-15

The Lord said this parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." As he said these things, he cried out "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."


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Worship Services this Week

WORSHIP SERVICES THIS WEEK

Saturday, October 20 - Vespers at 6pm 

 

 


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Parish News and Events

WELCOME, FATHER YANNI!

Today we welcome Fr. Yanni Verginis back to Holy Trinity while Father Emmanuel continues his recovery. Back to business as usual this week. Thank you Fr. Yanni!

 


PASSING A TRAY FOR OCF SUNDAY

Today we will pass a special tray to support the Orthodox Christian Fellowship mission. Learn more at www.ocf.net.


PHILOPTOCHOS MEETS TODAY

The Ladies Philoptochos will have a meeting during Coffee Hour today.

 


JOY TOY DRIVE BEGINS TODAY!

The JOY and HOPE children begin their annual JOY Toy Drive for Christmas presents for the children at the Beaver County Women's Shelter. Please bring NEW unwrapped toys for all ages and deposit them in the big Toy Box by the coat rack. Gift cards are great for teenagers. For monetary donations or gift cards, please talk to Nicoletta Elolo and Sara Portoulas. Thank you!!


MISSIONS MINISTRY INFORMATIONAL MEETING

The New Missions Ministry will have its first meeting today following Divine Liturgy in the Church Office. We are exploring possibilities for a Mission Trip! Anyone interested in this new adventure is invited to come to this informational meeting!


FALL GENERAL ASSEMBLY NEXT SUNDAY

Next Sunday, October 21, is the date of our Fall General Assembly. If you wish to be eligible to vote, you must have a 2018 Stewardship Pledge Card on file. Check with the office if you are not sure. Thank you.


CHURCH MUSICIANS TO BE RECOGNIZED NEXT SUNDAY

Next Sunday we will recognize our Chanters, Choir Directors, Choir Members, Organists, the Weekday Choir and others who enhance the worship of the Church through hymns and prayers


PARISH COUNCIL MEETING THIS WEEK

The Parish Council will hold its meeting this Wednesday, October 17, at 7pm.


3RD ANNUAL FOCUS FUNDRAISER

The Third Annual Fundraiser for FOCUS West Central PA is scheduled for this Thursday, October 18. We welcome you to join us for a fun evening of food and fellowship in our own HTGOC Church Hall!  The doors will open at  6PM, with a complementary dinner and program 6:30PM-8:30PM. Our keynote speaker this year is Stephanie Schindel , a faculty member at Geneva College. She teaches students in the areas of Human Services, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. She is also involved in many Human Service organizations in Beaver and Lawrence Counties.  Registration was due October 5, but if you would like to make a donation please talk to Joanne Jamis Cain or Marion Vasilakis.


GOYA COSMIC BOWLATHON

This coming Saturday evening, the GOYA will have a Bowl-a-Thon under the Cosmic Lights at Fair Oaks Lanes in Leetsdale from 7 to 9pm. The Kitchen will be OPEN!! Come and HAVE FUN at this fundraiser.


THANKSGIVING BASKETS

We have begun taking monetary donations toward the 25+ Thanksgiving Food Baskets that will be distributed among the needy families in our area. Our Parish has always been so generous in sharing their blessings with the less fortunate during this holiday season. God bless you and thank you. You can give your donations to Coordinators Sophia Chickos or Harriet Sickles.


SENIOR PROJECT UPDATE

John Diamantis is a Senior at Ambridge Area High School and has chosen his Parish of Holy Trinity to be focus of his Senior Project. He wishes to purchase new altar boy robes in time for the holy season of Pascha. Please pick up John’s  latest letter in the Narthex to learn more. Donation checks must be made out to Holy Trinity Church with "Altar Boy robes" in the memo. Thank you!

 

John’s Mother, Rita, is selling Apple Dumplings for $5 each to raise funds for John’s Project. Order them from her now for Oct. 28 delivery: 724-266-1506. Thank you!

 


SURVEY FOR JOY AND HOPE PARENTS

Nicoletta Elolo and Sara Portoulas, JOY/HOPE Advisors, ask the JOY and HOPE parents to please take this survey concerning our JOY and HOPE Program! Thank you!!https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GBTQ6KR  


COFFEE HOUR CLEAN-UP

We ask that all organizations be diligent in their responsiblities in cleaning the Church Hall following their designated Coffee Hours. This includes proper disposal of leftover koliva with Memorials, cleaning off tables in the Fellowship Hall, kitchen clean-up. and disposal of all garbages into the outdoor dumpster. Thank you very much!


PRE-1951 CHURCH RECORDS

The Church Record Books of Baptisms, Weddings, and Deaths before 1951 have been missing since the move from the old church to our present location. In an effort to restore this valuable information, we ask if you have any certificates from this time period, that you bring them in to be copied, or mail in a copy. Thank you!!


SEAFOOD DINNER

Tickets are now on sale for our Annual Seafood Dinner. Zach Economos is the Chairman and the Parish Council is also selling tickets. The Dinner is scheduled a little earlier this year, Friday, November 9, at 7:00pm.


GOYA FALL RETREAT

The Metropolis Fall Retreat for GOYAns will be Friday through Sunday, November 16-18, at Camp Nazareth. Register at camp@pittsburgh.goarch.org.


DATES TO REMEMBER:

ONGOING: JOY Toy Drive

     Thanksgiving Baskets Collection

     Altar Boy Robe Senior Project

     Food Items for Center for Hope Pantry and FOCUS West Central

     Collecting Aluminum Cans for FOCUS West Central

Sunday, October 14 - Philoptochos Meeting

     Missions Meeting

     Start of JOY Toy Drive

Wednesday, October 17 - Parish Council Meeting at 7pm

Thursday, October 18 - FOCUS Fundraiser Dinner here 6:30-8:30pm

Saturday, October 20 - GOYA Cosmic Bowlathon at Fair Oaks 7-9pm

Sunday, October 21 - Fall General Assembly

Saturday, October 27 - GOYA BEE-TREAT at Annunciation Church in Akron 9:30-5 

     followed by Orthodoxy on Tap at 7pm

Friday, November 9 - Seafood Dinner

Friday-Sunday, November 16-18 - GOYA Fall Retreat at Camp Nazareth


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Wisdom of the Fathers

For by seed here He means His doctrine, and by land, the souls of men, and by the sower, Himself .... For as the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly; but He discourses unto all, fulfilling His part, although foreknowing the results.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 44 on Matthew 12, 4th Century

When you see life's pleasures, beware that they might not distract you, for they conceal death's snares. Likewise a fisherman casts not his hook to no purpose. As bait for his hook, the enemy uses the delusion of sensuality to arouse desire, that he might thereby catch men's souls and subject them to himself. A soul which has been caught to serve the enemy's will then serves as a snare for other souls, for it conceals the grief of sin with its apparent delight.
St. Ephraim the Syrian
A Spiritual Psalter no 43, pg. 74, 4th century

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Saints and Feasts

Cosmashymnographer
October 14

Cosmas the Hagiopolite

Saint Cosmas was from the Holy City, Jerusalem, and was a contemporary and peer of Saint John of Damascus (Dec. 4), with whom also he was reared when, because of his orphanhood he was adopted by Sergius, Saint John's father, and with whom he had the same instructor. About the year 743, he was elected Bishop of Maiuma, a coastal city of Palestine, aforetime under the jurisdiction of Gaza, with the name Port Gaza. During the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, it became a separate township and at that time was renamed Constantia, after Constantine, the son of the Emperor (see Sozomen, Eccl. Hist., V:3). Cosmas became an excellent hymnographer, from whence he is called "the Composer and Melodist," Among his many compositions are the Canon of the Cross (Sept. 14) and the Canon for the Nativity of Christ, "Christ is born, give ye glory."


Allsaint
October 14

Righteous Paraskeve of Serbia

Saint Paraskeve was born in Thrace in the eleventh century. In her youth she went to Constaninople, and thence journeyed to the Holy Land in pursuit of the ascetical life. After struggling for many years in the wilderness of the Jordan, she was moved by God to return to her homeland. She continued her monastic labours there for a few more years, and then reposed in peace.


Allsaint
October 14

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and Theophilus.


Allsaint
October 14

Nazarius, Gervasius, Protasius, & Celsus of Milan

The holy Martyrs all contested for piety's sake in Milan; after the passage of much time their holy relics were discovered and given honourable burial by Saint Ambrose.


Allsaint
October 15

Lucian the Martyr of Antioch

This Saint was from Samosata, the son of pious parents. He established a catechetical school in Antioch, and taught the correct doctrines of the Faith and made clear the parts of the divine Scriptures that were difficult to understand. He edited the Old Testament translation from the Hebrew tongue, and published it in an excellent edition, free from every heretical corruption and interpolation. He travelled to Nicomedia to strengthen the faithful there in their contests for Christ, and was accused before Maximinus, with whom he conversed openly. When he had made a defence of the Christian Faith, he was condemned to imprisonment where, in 311, he died of hunger and thirst.


04_crucifixion
October 16

Longinus the Centurion

This Martyr was in the service of Pontius Pilate at the time of Christ our Saviour's Passion. While standing guard at the Cross and beholding the earthquake and all that came to pass, he cried out with fear, "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54). After the Resurrection, he forsook the military and departed for Cappadocia, his homeland, where he preached Christ. By the agency of Pontius Pilate, Tiberius Caesar had him arrested and beheaded.


Allsaint
October 17

Hosea the Prophet

According to some, Hosea, whose name means "God is help," was from the tribe of Issachar, or more likely, from that of Reuben; he was the son of Beeri. He is the first in order of the twelve minor Prophets and the most ancient of all. He prophesied in the days of the divided Kingdom; the Lord told him to take a harlot to wife (Hosea 1:2), and then an adulteress (ibid., 3:1). The harlot, a known sinner, was a figure of the Kingdom of Israel in Samaria, which openly worshipped idols; the adulteress, lawfully married yet sinning secretly with her lovers, was a figure of the Kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem, which, while having the Temple, and the priesthood, and the divine worship according to the Law, stealthily served the idols also. The Prophet Hosea prophesied for sixty years, and lived for some ninety years, from 810 to 720 B.C. His book is divided into fourteen chapters.


Allsaint
October 17

Andrew the Righteous Monk-martyr of Crete

Saint Andrew was from the island of Crete, where he lived the monastic life. During the reign of Constantine Copronymus, he came to Constantinople and suffered many things in defence of the veneration of the holy icons. Finally, he was dragged through the market, bound by the feet, one of which was severed by a fishmonger wielding a cleaver, and thus the Saint surrendered his spirit unto God in the year 761. His sacred relics were buried at a certain place called "The Judgment."


Lukeevng
October 18

Luke the Evangelist

This Apostle was an Antiochean, a physician by trade, and a disciple and companion of Paul. He wrote his Gospel in Greek after Matthew and Mark, after which he wrote the Acts of the Apostles, and dedicated both works to Theophilus, who, according to some, was Governor of Achaia. He lived some eighty-six years and died in Achaia, perhaps in Patras, the capital of this district. His emblem is the calf, the third symbolical beast mentioned by Ezekiel (1:10), which is a symbol of Christ's sacrificial and priestly office, as Saint Irenaeus says.


Allsaint
October 19

Joel the Prophet

The Prophet Joel, whose name means "Yah is God," was of the tribe of Reuben, the son of Bathuel, and lived from 810 to 750 B.C. (but some say in the 7th century B.C.). His book is divided into three chapters, and is the second in order of the minor Prophets. He foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Joel 2:28, and quoted by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2:17), and the saving power of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Joel 2:32).


Allsaint
October 19

Varys the Martyr

Saint Varys contested for the sake of Christ during the reign of Maximian, in the year 304. He was a soldier in the service of the Emperor Maximian, and held in honour for his courage. While in Egypt, he visited the Christians held in prison and comforted them. Among them, he visited seven monks imprisoned together; when one of them died from his torments, Saint Varys took his place. When this became known to the governor, Saint Varys was arrested and tortured to death.


Johnrila
October 19

John of Rilas

Saint John of Rilas founded the renowned monastery of that name in Bulgaria in the tenth century. Over the centuries, great and wondrous healings have flowed from his holy relics.


Allsaint
October 19

John the Wonderworker of Kronstadt

Saint John of Kronstadt was a married priest, who lived with his wife in virginity. Through his untiring labours in his priestly duties and love for the poor and sinners, he was granted by our Lord great gifts of clairvoyance and miracle-working, to such a degree that in the last years of his life miracles of healing--both of body and soul--were performed countless times each day through his prayers, often for people who had only written to him asking his help. During his lifetime he was known throughout Russia, as well as in the Western world. He has left us his diary My Life in Christ as a spiritual treasure for Christians of every age; simple in language, it expounds the deepest mysteries of our Faith with that wisdom which is given only to a heart purified by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Foreseeing as a true prophet the Revolution of 1917, he unsparingly rebuked the growing apostasy among the people; he foretold that the very name of Russia would be changed. As the darkness of unbelief grew thicker, he shone forth as a beacon of unquenchable piety, comforting the faithful through the many miracles that he worked and the fatherly love and simplicity with which he received all. Saint John reposed in peace in 1908.


Artemios
October 20

Artemius the Great Martyr of Antioch

Saint Artemius lived during the years of Saint Constantine the Great, and was appointed by him to be Governor of Alexandria; later, he was honoured with the rank of patrician. During the reign of Julian the Apostate, in the year 361, Artemius appeared before the Emperor and censured him for his apostasy. For this, he endured many torments and was finally beheaded.


Gerasimoskephalania
October 20

Gerasimus of Cephalonia

Saint Gerasimus was from the Peloponnesus, the son of Demetrius and Kale, of the family of Notaras. He was reared in piety by them and studied the Sacred writings. He left his country and went throughout various lands, and finally came to Cephalonia, where he restored a certain old church and built a convent around it, where it stands to this day at the place called Omala. He finished the course of his life there in asceticism in the year 1570. His sacred relics, which remain incorrupt, are kept there for the sanctification of the faithful.


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