A Word from Fr. John:

I was first introduced to the life and writings of St. Paisios in 2012, before he was officially declared a saint. He had (has) a truly remarkable way of expressing himself. A genuine bearer of Tradition, he communicated in a way that is at once contemporary and timeless.

Here are a few extracts wherein he speaks about sacred tradition (from With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man):

"Today, even someone who tries, just a bit, to remain faithful to Tradition, to maintain the fasts, abstain from work on feast days, and is devout, is subject to ridicule: 'Where does he think he is? Those things are no more, they're for the past!'... Slowly, they are taking Tradition, fasting, and reverence, and making them into fairy tales! But do you remember what the Gospel says? "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Heb. 13:8) If you cannot observe our Tradition, at least say, 'My God, I have sinned!' Then God will be merciful. But that's not what happens nowadays. These people, although they are spiritually weak, try to impose their views on others because their conscience bothers them...."

"In Russia, in a church, an old lady was praying on her knees, next to a pillar. A young woman, a great scientist, goes up to her and says, 'This is old-fashioned!' And the old woman answered her, 'Right here, by this very pillar where you see me weeping, you too will weep one day. Your ways will come and go; they will become outdated, but Christianity will never become outdated.'"

"Many holy martyrs who did not know how to explain the doctrines of the Church used to say, 'What I believe is what the holy Fathers have taught.' That was enough to lead them to martyrdom. You see, they could not defend their faith with arguments and persuade those that persecuted them, but they trusted the holy Fathers.... Let's have faith in Holy Tradition."

Special Prayer Requests: 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  (Phil. 4:6-7)

We pray for mercy, life, peace, and healing of all parishioners, especially: Margo and Niko Kelley, Vasso Poulos, Uncle Pike, Chresanthe Lemieux, Zoe Kauttu, Maryann Bolt, James Day, His Grace Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos, Margaret, James, Kyriake, Mike and Ingrid (Evangelia) Fotianos, Irene Hastalis, Jane Anderson. Memory eternal for Maria (grandmother of Kristina Wilkes) and Steve Poulos. Remember also our missionary families: Fr. Stephanos, Pr. Alexandria, Moses & Athan Ritsi serving in Albania; and Michael, Lisa & Liam Colburn.

Memory Eternal for Augustina

Liturgical Issues:

We are continuing to “re-open” the parish for a fuller, more normal parish worship practice. We continue to follow the guidelines established by His Eminence and communicated via the bulletin and email. Here again are some of the key points:

• One important part of this process involves you letting us know if you plan to attend the Divine Liturgy, so that we can keep things running smoothly at the church while signing folks in and taking temperatures. This will help us keep the focus on worshipping God as much as possible.  Therefore, please contact the church office via email - holy3goc@gmail.com - preferably with the subject line "I want to attend" - or by phone, and let Nelda know your name, the names of those you plan to attend with, and your phone number. Please let her know by Friday before noon. Office hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Again, this will help us prepare well and know what to expect, as well as avoid bottlenecks and other kinds of confusion.

2020 Stewardship – “Partner and Grow in Faith with Us”

Your Orthodox Christian Stewardship commitment in support of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is a vital part of advancing the work of Christ and our Orthodox Faith in our Parish and our Church at large.  We thank you for your continued support.

On-Line Giving:

• The Parish Council has added a link “Make a Donation” on our Church’s web page www.HolyTrinityGOC.com for on-line giving.

This is a secure way to give to your Church.  Giving categories have been set up to allow giving to specific funds within the Church – for instance, Stewardship, Easter, Memorials, etc.  You can give via credit card, Paypal and you also have the ability to set up recurrent giving.  Of course, you can also set up recurrent giving through your bank if you wish.  Please be sure that a specific notation (ex: stewardship) is included for each transaction.

• We have also added a link for our new “Light a Candle & Say a Prayer” ministry.

This new service allows us to light a candle during our divine services on-line. 

Your request will be forwarded to the Parish Council in the narthex during the service and they will pray for you and light your candle.  Also, if you wish to provide names of loved ones to be prayed for, those will be provided to Fr. John as well.

Giving by Check:

Each time you contribute funds to the parish by check, the notation on the memo line of your check allows us to identify your intentions:  Stewardship, Candles, Trays, Memorials, etc. 

Weekly Offering: 

Sacrificial Offerings

July 5th - Candles $75; Tray $50; Memorial $200; Stewardship $2945

On-Line Paypal Offerings

June 2020 – Memorial $50; Stewardship $700

On-Line Offerings

June 2020 – Candle $90; Tray $100

Philoptochos July Food Drive:

During the month of July, Philoptochos is conducting a non-perishable food drive to benefit local food banks.  St. Johns Food Bank is specifically asking for boxed macaroni and cheese, canned fruits and vegetables, and pasta and pasta sauces.  We are also asking for donations of gas cards to benefit the Assist program of St. Johns County.  Donations can be delivered to the church during hours Nelda is there, brought to the St. Photios Shrine, brought to the church on Sundays during church hours or picked up from your front door.  For home pick up please contact Polly Hillier, Susan Stone or Lisa Colburn (World Golf Village area).  As you know, many people are without jobs because of Covid 19 and our food banks are desperate for donations.  If you are in a position to help, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study:

The adult Bible Study of the Gospel of John occurs each Wednesday from 8 to 9 PM online through Zoom.  The meeting can be accessed by going to https://theColburns.us and clicking on the menu item that says “Online”.  You can also see what verses will be studied each Sunday so you can read them ahead of time.

December 6^th, 2020 (tentatively) 4-7 p.m., Christmas Open House at St. Photios National Shrine:

Last year over 500 people passed through the gate of St. Photios Shrine to share in holiday cheer as we ushered in the Christmas holidays with the St. Photios Shrine Inaugural Christmas Open House.  This year, God willing, we will be able to safely do so again. 

On behalf of Shrine Hierarchal Proistamenos, Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, you are invited to be part of the Christmas Open House Committee and to add this Shrine event to your calendar.  And to consider ways in which you and organizations from your communities can assist in bringing our religious (St. Nicholas Day!) and cultural (Christmas customs!) to witness in 2020.

Praying you all remain safe and that you will pray for me as well,  Polly Hillier, St Photios

Contact Information:

The parish council has been making phone calls to every parishioner for which we have such contact information. If you have not received a phone call, please call (904 829-0504) or email (holy3goc@gmail.com) the office and give Nelda your phone number – we will happily check in on you.  Also, if you know of anyone who doesn’t receive our emails but would like to, please encourage them to let Nelda at holy3goc@gmail.com  know their contact information so we can update our records and keep them informed.

Reminder:  Deadline for Church bulletin e-mail articles is by Wednesday weekly. Thank you.

HOLY TRINITY GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

PLEASE JOIN US!

WE HAVE RE- OPENED

Orthros 9 a.m.   -    Divine Liturgy 10 a.m.

Thanks be to God!