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St. George Church
Publish Date: 2023-08-27
Bulletin Contents
Phanourios
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St. George Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (734) 283-8820
  • Fax:
  • (734) 283-8866
  • Street Address:

  • 16300 Dix Toledo Highway

  • Southgate, MI 48195
  • Mailing Address:

  • 16300 Dix Toledo Highway

  • Southgate, MI 48195


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Sundays:

9 am - Orthros

10:15 am - Divine Liturgy

 

Weekday Services:

Please check the Services schedule in the bulletin or call the Church office.


Past Bulletins


Church Calendar

  • Church Calendar

    August 27 to September 3, 2023

    Sunday, August 27

    8:50AM Orthros

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

    12:00PM Philoptochos meeting

    12:15PM Senior Greek Dance Group Practice

    12:15PM Jrs. Greek Dance

    1:15PM YAL Greek Dance Groups

    Tuesday, August 29

    9:00AM Orthros

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy - Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

    Wednesday, August 30

    5:00PM Grecian Center Meeting

    6:00PM Senior and YAL Greek Dance Practice

    Thursday, August 31

    7:00PM Choir Practice

    Sunday, September 3

    8:50AM Orthros

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

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Church Announcements

Phanouropita in honor of Saint Phanourios

In honor of Saint Phanourio who celebrates this Sunday, the Makarounas Family has offered  Phanouropitas for the entire parish. Happy name day to all you celebrate!


Upcoming Weekday Services

  • Orthros and Divine Liturgy for the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist:  This Tuesday, August 29  @ 9 AM / 10 AM 
  • Great Vespers for the Nativity of the Theotokos at Nativity in Plymouth: Thursday, September 7 @ 7 PM
  • Divine Liturgy for the Nativity of the Theotokos: Friday, September 8 @  9 AM Orthros / 10 AM Divine Liturgy
  • Great Vespers for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Holy Cross in Farmington Hills:  Wednesday, September 13 @ 7 PM
  • Orthros and Divine Liturgy for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Thursday, September  14 @  9 AM Orthros / 10 AM Divine Liturgy

Please note that all Great Vespers will take place at the celebrating parish with a reception to follow. If you would like to attend a Great Vespers but need a ride, please contact  Fr. John for arrangements. All Orthros and Divine Liturgies will take place in our home parish.


Office Closed

This Thursday, Agusut 31, the office will be closed, but Fr. John can be reached via his cell at 716.730.1982.


Greek Fest Update

Our Greek Fest will be held on Sunday, September 17, and we NEED your help to make it a success!  We are in need of volunteers to help out in various areas on the day of the festival. 

If you are interested in volunteering, please see Nick Minton, Sam Kiousis, or Fr. John.

Volunteer Dates:

  • Festival setup in the park on Saturday, September 16 @ 7 PM

Lamb Donations for Greek Fest

We need individuals or families to donate $100 toward the purchase of a lamb for our Greek Fest on Sept. 17. If you would like to donate, please mail or drop off your donation to the church office between 9-4 pm, M-F (due to summer vacations, please call first before stopping in) or online here. Thank you!


Help Us Advertise!

Yard signs for the upcoming Greek Fest are now available for pickup in the church hallway. In addition, please like and share our Facebook advertisement. 


Philoptochos Baking Request

If anyone from the parish would like to help bake treats for the Greek Fest Philoptochos Market Place boxes, we would be most appreciative. The desserts can be dropped off to the church library on Wednesday, the 13th or Friday, the 15th, 9-3 pm. Please sign-up if you are able to help using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B48AAAE2AA2F58-2023 or let any Philoptochos member know. Thank you!


Sunday School

Sunday school classes will begin on September 24. Please register your children online on our website under Ministries/Sunday School or by clicking here.


Choir Updates

We are pleased to announce that the Choir's first Sunday back will be September 10. If you are interested in joining the Choir, please don't hesitate to reach out to Barbara Minton. Our Choir Spaghetti luncheon will take place on Sunday, October 1.

Choir rehearsal dates:

  • Thursday, August 31 rehearsal at 7 PM
  • Thursday, September 7 rehearsal at 7 PM
  • Beginning September 24 rehearsals will be after church on Sundays

Youth Music Program

We are considering beginning a Youth Music Program here at St. George. If you think your child(ren), may be interested in being a part of it, please fill out the attached form.


Coffee Hour Donations

All donations offered for this Sunday's coffee hour will go toward the purchase of Greek dance costumes. 


Prayer / Candle Requests

If you would like for us to light a candle in the Church in prayer for you and your family, please use the Prayer/Candle Request form found here or on the home page of the church website. You can pay by credit card or send a check in the mail to the Church.


Philoptochos August Commitments

Local Charity: St Jude Childrens Research Hospital-The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of their founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay.

Your continued support of our St George Ladies Philoptochos Society is very much appreciated. Dues are only $25. We meet once a month and meetings are usually less than 1 hour. Please join us.


Online Giving

We highly encourage you to use our online giving program which is safe and easy to use as the cost of offering boxes is becoming more expensive each year. Your donations online (as well as those given in envelopes), all go towards your yearly stewardship unless you say otherwise. You can make online donations to the church here or on the home page of the church's website. Visit the following link to setup online giving  https://giving.parishsoft.com/app/giving/st1630219


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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Mode

Let the heavens sing for joy, and let everything on earth be glad. * For with His Arm the Lord has worked power. * He trampled death under foot by means of death; * and He became the firstborn from the dead. * From the maw of Hades He delivered us; * and He granted the world His great mercy.

Apolytikion for Martyr Phanurius in the Fourth Mode

A heavenly song of praise is brightly sung on the earth; * the hosts of the Angels keep an earthly festival now in splendor and radiant joy; * from on high, they praise with hymns the suff'rings and struggles; * and below, the Church doth laud the heavenly glory * thou foundest by thy contests and pains, O glorious Phanurius.

Apolytikion for the Church in the Fourth Mode

Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick and champion of kings, O trophy-bearer Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Mode

In your holy birth, Immaculate One, Joachim and Anna were rid of the shame of childlessness; Adam and Eve of the corruption of death. And so your people, free of the guilt of their sins, celebrate crying: "The barren one gives birth to the Theotokos, who nourishes our life."
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Saints and Feasts

Phanourios
August 27

Phanourios the Great Martyr & Newly Appeared of Rhodes

Little is known of the holy Martyr Phanurius, except that which is depicted concerning his martyrdom on his holy icon, which was discovered in the year 1500 among the ruins of an ancient church on Rhodes, when the Moslems ruled there. Thus he is called "the Newly Revealed." The faithful pray to Saint Phanurius especially to help them recover things that have been lost, and because he has answered their prayers so often, the custom has arisen of baking a Phaneropita ("Phanurius-Cake") as a thanks-offering.


A-184-icon-st-moses-the-ethiopian
August 28

Moses the Black of Scete

Saint Moses, who is also called Moses the Black, was a slave, but because of his evil life, his master cast him out, and he became a ruthless thief, dissolute in all his ways. Later, however, coming to repentance, he converted, and took up the monastic life under Saint Isidore of Scete. He gave himself over to prayer and the mortification of the carnal mind with such diligence that he later became a priest of exemplary virtue. He was revered by all for his lofty ascetical life and for his great humility. Once the Fathers in Scete asked Moses to come to an assembly to judge the fault of a certain brother, but he refused. When they insisted, he took a basket which had a hole in it, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. When the Fathers saw him coming they asked him what the basket might mean. He answered, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and I am come this day to judge failings which are not mine." When a barbarian tribe was coming to Scete, Moses, conscious that he himself had slain other men when he was a thief, awaited them and was willingly slain by them with six other monks, at the end of the fourth century. He was a contemporary of Saint Arsenius the Great (see May 8).


Jbaptbhd
August 29

Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

The divine Baptist, the Prophet born of a Prophet, the seal of all the Prophets and beginning of the Apostles, the mediator between the Old and New Covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the God-sent Messenger of the incarnate Messiah, the forerunner of Christ's coming into the world (Esaias 40: 3; Mal. 3: 1); who by many miracles was both conceived and born; who was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb; who came forth like another Elias the Zealot, whose life in the wilderness and divine zeal for God's Law he imitated: this divine Prophet, after he had preached the baptism of repentance according to God's command; had taught men of low rank and high how they must order their lives; had admonished those whom he baptized and had filled them with the fear of God, teaching them that no one is able to escape the wrath to come if he do not works worthy of repentance; had, through such preaching, prepared their hearts to receive the evangelical teachings of the Savior; and finally, after he had pointed out to the people the very Savior, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world" (Luke 3:2-18; John 1: 29-36), after all this, John sealed with his own blood the truth of his words and was made a sacred victim for the divine Law at the hands of a transgressor.

This was Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great. This man had a lawful wife, the daughter of Arethas (or Aretas), the King of Arabia (that is, Arabia Petraea, which had the famous Nabatean stone city of Petra as its capital. This is the Aretas mentioned by Saint Paul in II Cor. 11:32). Without any cause, and against every commandment of the Law, he put her away and took to himself Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, to whom Herodias had borne a daughter, Salome. He would not desist from this unlawful union even when John, the preacher of repentance, the bold and austere accuser of the lawless, censured him and told him, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife" (Mark 6: 18). Thus Herod, besides his other unholy acts, added yet this, that he apprehended John and shut him in prison; and perhaps he would have killed him straightway, had he not feared the people, who had extreme reverence for John. Certainly, in the beginning, he himself had great reverence for this just and holy man. But finally, being pierced with the sting of a mad lust for the woman Herodias, he laid his defiled hands on the teacher of purity on the very day he was celebrating his birthday. When Salome, Herodias' daughter, had danced in order to please him and those who were supping with him, he promised her -- with an oath more foolish than any foolishness -- that he would give her anything she asked, even unto the half of his kingdom. And she, consulting with her mother, straightway asked for the head of John the Baptist in a charger. Hence this transgressor of the Law, preferring his lawless oath above the precepts of the Law, fulfilled this godless promise and filled his loathsome banquet with the blood of the Prophet. So it was that that all-venerable head, revered by the Angels, was given as a prize for an abominable dance, and became the plaything of the dissolute daughter of a debauched mother. As for the body of the divine Baptist, it was taken up by his disciples and placed in a tomb (Mark 6: 21 - 29). Concerning the finding of his holy head, see February 24 and May 25.


Alexandr
August 30

Alexander, John, and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople

Saint Alexander was sent to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea as the delegate of Saint Metrophanes, Bishop of Constantinople (see June 4), to whose throne he succeeded in the year 325. When Arius had deceitfully professed allegiance to the Council of Nicaea, Saint Alexander, knowing his guile, refused to receive him into communion; Arius' powerful partisans threatened that they would use force to bring Arius into the communion of the Church the following day. Saint Alexander prayed fervently that God might spare the Church; and as Arius was in a privy place relieving nature, his bowels gushed forth with an effusion of blood, and the arch-heresiarch died the death of Judas. Saint Alexander was Bishop from 325 until 337, when he was succeeded by Saint Paul the Confessor, who died a martyr's death at the hands of the Arians (see Nov. 6). The Saint John commemorated here appears to be the one who was Patriarch during the years 562-577, surnamed Scholasticus, who is also commemorated on February 21. He was from Antioch, where he had been a lawyer (scholasticus); he was made presbyter, then was sent to Constantinople as representative (apocrisiarius) of the Patriarch of Antioch, and was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by the Emperor Justinian. Saint Paul was Bishop of Constantinople during the years 687 - 693, in the reign of Emperor Justinian II, and presided over the Quinisext Council in 692.


Cyprian_von_karthago2
August 31

Cyprian the Hieromartyr & Bishop of Carthage

Saint Cyprian was born of pagan parents in Carthage of Roman Africa about the year 190. An eloquent teacher of rhetoric, he was converted and baptized late in life, and his conversion from a proud man of learning to a humble servant of Christ was complete; he sold his great possessions and gave them to the poor, and because of his zeal and virtue, was ordained presbyter in 247, then Bishop of Carthage in 248. He was especially steadfast in defending the sanctity and uniqueness of the Baptism of the Church of Christ against the confusion of those who would allow some validity to the ministrations of heretics; his writings continue to guide the Church even in our own day. Having survived the persecution of Decius about the year 250, he was beheaded in confession of the Faith during the persecution of Valerian in 258, on September 14; that day being the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, his feast is kept today.


Creation_adam
September 01

Ecclesiastical New Year

For the maintenance of their armed forces, the Roman emperors decreed that their subjects in every district should be taxed every year. This same decree was reissued every fifteen years, since the Roman soldiers were obliged to serve for fifteen years. At the end of each fifteen-year period, an assessment was made of what economic changes had taken place, and a new tax was decreed, which was to be paid over the span of the fifteen years. This imperial decree, which was issued before the season of winter, was named Indictio, that is, Definiton, or Order. This name was adopted by the emperors in Constantinople also. At other times, the latter also used the term Epinemisis, that is, Distribution (Dianome). It is commonly held that Saint Constantine the Great introduced the Indiction decrees in A.D. 312, after he beheld the sign of the Cross in heaven and vanquished Maxentius and was proclaimed Emperor in the West. Some, however (and this seems more likely), ascribe the institution of the Indiction to Augustus Caesar, three years before the birth of Christ. Those who hold this view offer as proof the papal bull issued in A.D. 781 which is dated thus: Anno IV, Indictionis LIII -that is, the fourth year of the fifty-third Indiction. From this, we can deduce the aforementioned year (3 B.C.) by multiplying the fifty-two complete Indictions by the number of years in each (15), and adding the three years of the fifty-third Indiction. There are three types of Indictions: 1) That which was introduced in the West, and which is called Imperial, or Caesarean, or Constantinian, and which begins on the 24th of September; 2) The so-called Papal Indiction, which begins on the 1st of January; and 3) The Constantinopolitan, which was adopted by the Patriarchs of that city after the fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453. This Indiction is indicated in their own hand on the decrees they issue, without the numeration of the fifteen years. This Indiction begins on the 1st of September and is observed with special ceremony in the Church. Since the completion of each year takes place, as it were, with the harvest and gathering of the crops into storehouses, and we begin anew from henceforth the sowing of seed in the earth for the production of future crops, September is considered the beginning of the New Year. The Church also keeps festival this day, beseeching God for fair weather, seasonable rains, and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. The Holy Scriptures (Lev. 23:24-5 and Num. 29:1-2) also testify that the people of Israel celebrated the feast of the Blowing of the Trumpets on this day, offering hymns of thanksgiving. In addition to all the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemorate our Saviour's entry into the synagogue in Nazareth, where He was given the book of the Prophet Esaias to read, and He opened it and found the place where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for which cause He hath anointed Me..." (Luke 4:16-30).

It should be noted that to the present day, the Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1. This was the custom in Constantinople until its fall in 1453 and in Russia until the reign of Peter I. September 1 is still festively celebrated as the New Year at the Patriarchate of Constantinople; among the Jews also the New Year, although reckoned according to a moveable calendar, usually falls in September. The service of the Menaion for January 1 is for our Lord's Circumcision and for the memorial of Saint Basil the Great, without any mention of its being the beginning of a new year.


Patriarch_john_iv_of_constantinople_(menologion_of_basil_ii)
September 02

John the Abstainer, Patriarch of Constantinople

Saint John became Patriarch during the reign of Tiberius, in the year 582, governed the Church for thirteen years and five months, and reposed in peace in 595. It was during this Patriarch's reign, in the year 586, that the title "Ecumenical Patriarch," not used before this, came to be instituted.


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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

First Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Matthew 28:16-20

At that time, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Amen."


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Mode. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 15:1-11.

Brethren, I would remind you in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.


Gospel Reading

12th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 19:16-26

At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, "Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Rise from love of the world and love of pleasure. Put care aside, strip your mind, refuse your body. Prayer, after all, is a turning away from the world, visible and invisible. What have I in heaven? Nothing except simply to cling always to You in undistracted prayer. Wealth pleases some, glory others, possessions others, but what I want is to cling to God and to put the hopes of my dispassion in Him (cf. Ps. 72:25, 28).
St. John Climacus
Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 28: On Prayer; Paulist Press pg. 277, 6th century

Spiritual delight is not enjoyment found in things that exists outside the soul.
St. Isaac of Syria
Unknown, 7th century

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Prayer List

Please remember in your prayers the following:

Kathy (Danias) Ambler, Ruth Manolis, Sophia Kircos, Dawn Corrin, Konstantinos & family, Lucas & family, George & family, Daniel & family, Matthew, Pelagia, Madison, Evan & Emmanuel, Sophia, Anastasios, Angela Matt, Fotini Kollias, Gus & Maria Grias, Marianthi Pappas, Nick & Bobbie Tsahtsiris, Foula Kotsou

Please contact the Church office to add your names to the Prayer List. Thank you.

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Flyers of Interest

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