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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2019-11-24
Bulletin Contents
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News
Parish News & Events
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Wisdom of the Fathers
Saints and Feasts
CHRISTMAS EVENTS
Allsaint
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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (201) 652-4774 for emergencies: 201 870 2676
  • Fax:
  • (201) 652-0789
  • Street Address:

  • 467 Grandview Avenue

  • Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Contact Information

Reverend Basil C. Gikas
Pastor

frbill@stnicholasnj.org | 201 652 4774 ext. 12

Ms. Rula Thasites
Administrator

office@stnicholasnj.org | 201 652 4774 ext. 10

Services Schedule

 

Sundays in the fall, winter & spring:

Matins: 9 a.m. &  Divine Liturgy 10a.m. except during the summer

 

Summer hours for Sundays in July and August:

Matins: 8:30a.m.  & Divine Liturgy 9:30a.m.

Past Bulletins


Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News

Archiepiscopal Encyclical for Thanksgiving Day 2019

11/22/2019

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, As Orthodox Christians the act of thanksgiving is an expression of our faith that is deeply rooted in our communion with God. We come together in worship as His people to offer a public proclamation of thanksgiving to Him as our Creator and Savior. We celebrate the Holy Eucharist, the holy mystery of thanksgiving in which we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We give thanks in remembrance of what our Lord has done for our salvation, and we give thanks for the power of His grace through the sacrament.
https://www.goarch.org/-/archiepiscopal-encyclical-for-thanksgiving-day-2019

New Ionian Village Director Appointed

11/21/2019

NEW YORK – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America announces the appointment of Rev. Fr. Gary Kyriacou as Director of Ionian Village.
https://www.goarch.org/-/new-ionian-village-director-appointed

Archbishop Elpidophoros Designates National Philoptochos Society Sunday

11/18/2019

CHICAGO – During the Seventeenth National Philoptochos Children’s Medical Fund Luncheon held Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, designated the Sunday of the Good Samaritan each year (which is the 8th Sunday of Luke according to the Kanonion) as National Philoptochos Society Sunday.
https://www.goarch.org/-/archbishop-elpidophoros-designates-national-philoptochos-society-sunday
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Parish News & Events

WEEKLY BULLETIN

11/24/2019

 

November 24, 2019          13th Sunday of Luke       IOCC Sunday

 

Orthros: 9:00A.M.

Epistle: Ephesians: 2:4-10  (pg.1334)

Divine Liturgy: 10:00A.M.

Gospel: Luke 18:18-27 (pg.1226)

 

 

Acolytes: James Gougousis, Alexandros Christakos, Connor O’Neill,
Michael Maris, Damon Servidio, Jr.

 

Ushers: Steve Limperopulos,
George Diamantopoulos, Ted Vittas 

 

Narthex: Georgette Betts-Tsakalos,
Jon Zymaris, Manny Toskos

 

Epistle Reading: Christos Agrapidis


Greeters: No one yet


  Fellowship Hour

Greek School(Parents)

 

Prosforon

The Christopher Family
     

Apolytikion of Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos
Today is the prelude of God's pleasure and the proclamation of man's salvation. The Virgin is clearly made manifest in the temple of God and foretells Christ to all. Let us also cry out to her with mighty voice, "Hail, fulfillment of the Creator's dispensation”.

 

 

Memorial: A 40 day memorial forJohn George Christopher, beloved husband of Nicki, father of Diane and her husband Bob Rapport and Helene and her husband Rick Fink. Grandfather of Nicole, John, Elle, Rick and Elena. Great grandfather to Christopher. Beloved uncle and grand uncle to many dear family members.  May his memory be eternal. Fellowship hour is sponsored by the Christopher family.

 

Tray Collection:  International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATORS: teachers will all meet at 12:15pm today in the conference room

2020 Stewardship Campaign: As Orthodox Christians, we affirm that every aspect of our lives comes as a gift from God. Stewardship calls on us, the faithful, to cheerfully offer back to Him a portion of the gifts with which we have been blessed.  Our fulfilled annual pledge is the single largest source of funding for Saint Nicholas, enabling our church to carry out Her mission to bring Christ and Orthodoxy into the lives and hearts of all we serve.  Please consider the limitless generosity of our Lord as you make your 2020 pledge. Remember… God loves a cheerful giver (2nd letter to the Corinthians 9:7)!

                                                 Mark Your Calendar for These Important Dates
Tomorrow November 25th Saint Katherine the Great Martyr: Orthros 9:00am and Divine Liturgy at 10:00a

Thursday, November 28th   Thanksgiving Day: Orthros 9:00am and Divine Liturgy at 10:00am

Saturday, November 30th    Saint Andrew Orthros at 9:00am; Divine Liturgy 10:00am.
FEAST of SAINT ANDREW in Randolph, NJ: great vespers 7pm on Friday, Nov. 29 with artoclasia presided by Met. Evangelos; also on Saturday, November 30 orthros and Divine Liturgy presided by Met Evangelos.

Sunday, December 8th      Parish General Elections

 

Preparing For Christmas?   Fasting is an essential part of our spiritual preparation and edification. Yet, there are many different (and sometimes conflicting messages) regarding fasting. Please bear this in mind: From November 15th through December 24th Orthodox Christians observe a 40 day period of abstinence from animal & dairy products and olive oil. The ascetic discipline prepares us for a major feast- the Lord’s birth-Christmas. By controlling ourselves in what we eat, what we say, what we give to others (charity, stewardship, etc.) we prepare ourselves to receive the Incarnate Lord. Without the discipline of the fast, the joyful experience of the feast is minimized. Fasting is not a punishment. Note that fish is permitted except for Wednesdays and Fridays, through December 11th. From December 12th through Christmas Eve the fast is stricter every day- fruits, nuts, vegetables, shell fish are allowed but no animal or dairy products of course, until Christmas Day. Do the best you can and remember that fasting/abstaining from sin is the greatest fast!

 

 

our Shut Ins Need Christ Too!  If you are aware of people who cannot come to church for worship or to receive the sacraments and/or they just need a visit from Fr. Bill or our Ladies Philoptochos (or both), please do not wait; contact Fr. Bill ASAP or any Ladies Philoptochos member.

 

Philoptochos News:  Philoptochos Annual Church Christmas Card: The holiday season will soon be upon us and the time has come for our annual Saint Nicholas Christmas card. All participating families will receive a beautiful Christmas card.  A donation of $25 is requested.  Deadline to reply is Sunday, November 24th. Any questions, please contact Aggie Tsadilas at 201.995.9158 or by email at Aggietsad@gmail.com.
Baked Goods Sale: A limited numberof freshly baked Koulourakia will be on sale TODAY in the Fellowship Hall.

 

 

Saint Nicholas is on Social Media! Like us on Facebook @stnicholasnj and follow us on Instagram @stnicholasgoc. To share your ministry’s events and activities email.

 

 

DOP: The Daughters of Penelope are again selling Kontos brand Baklava, Moussaka, Tyropitakia and Spanakopitakia as well as Famiglia brand Spiral Shaped “Kihi” with Spinach or Cheese and Bougatsa for your Christmas and New Year Holiday Celebrations. Your pre-paid orders will be accepted until December 8th. Purchases will be ready for pick-up on Dec. 14th and Dec. 15th. Thank you for supporting this fund-raiser!

 

Giving Tree/Mortgage Burning Campaign: byGod’s Graceour parish plans to be mortgage free by 2020- you can help to make it happen! Various giving levels are available: you can leaf your donation, or show your love - donate a dove… be the first on your block to donate a rock…be a hunk and give a tree trunk!   You can memorialize your loved one by donating to the Giving Tree and including a scriptural message. Contact Fr. Bill at 201 652 4774 ext. 12 or frbill@stnicholasnj.org

 

Are you A Candidate for our Parish Council? A mandatory information & orientation session will take place TOMORROW night, November 25th in the conference room at 7:30pm. If you plan to run for parish council you must attend, participate and understand the scope of responsibilities of this lay leadership position. What is the parish council’s mission? What are the responsibilities & expectations of a PC member? Contact Fr. Bill at frbill@stnicholasnj.org or 201 652 4774. Christ centeredness and a willingness to minister are required to serve on the parish council. Candidates must also be currently in good canonical, stewardship and parishioner standing as per Archdiocesan, Metropolis, and local parish by laws and regulations.  Candidates must also be active in the sacramental life of the church, baptized and/or chrismated in the Orthodox Christian faith.

 

 


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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal Second Mode

Angelic powers were above Thy tomb, and they that guarded Thee became as dead. And Mary stood by the grave seeking Thine immaculate Body. Thou hast despoiled Hades and wast not tried thereby. Thou didst meet the Virgin and didst grant us life. O Thou Who didst arise from the dead, Lord, glory be to Thee.

Apolytikion for Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos in the Fourth Mode

Today is the prelude of God's good will and the heralding of the salvation of mankind. In the temple of God, the Virgin is presented openly, and she proclaimeth Christ unto all. To her, then, with a great voice let us cry aloud: Rejoice, O thou fulfilment of the Creator's dispensation.

SAINT NICHOLAS ARCHBISHOP OF MYRA IN LYCIA in the First Mode

 

The truth of things has revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, you have achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty.  O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ our God that our souls be saved.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Mode

Today, the most pure temple of the Savior, the precious bridal chamber and Virgin, the sacred treasure of God, enters the house of the Lord, bringing the grace of the Divine Spirit. The Angels of God praise her. She is the heavenly tabernacle.

The translations of hymns are under copyright and used by permission. All rights reserved. These works may not be further reproduced, in print or on other websites or in any other form, without the prior written authorization of the copyright holder:

  • Resurrectional Apolytikion in Plagal of the Second Tone © Holy Transfiguration Monastery
  • Apolytikion for Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos in the Fourth Tone © Holy Transfiguration Monastery
  • Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Tone © Narthex Press
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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 worshipped 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 of the Son and of 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. Plagal Second Mode. Psalm 27.9,1.
    O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
    Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.

    The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 2:4-10.

    Brethren, God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God: not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

    Gospel Reading

    13th Sunday of Luke
    The Reading is from Luke 18:18-27

    At that time, a ruler came to Jesus and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.' " And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth." And when Jesus heard it, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich. Jesus looking at him said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For 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." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

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    Wisdom of the Fathers

    Love of money is the worship of idols, a daughter of unbelief, an excuse for infirmities, a foreboder of old age, a harbinger of drought, a herald of hunger.
    St. John Climacus
    The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 16:2,7 and Step 17:1, 6th Century

    He who has conquered this passion has cut out care; but he who is bound by it never attains to pure prayer.
    St. John Climacus
    The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 16:2,7 and Step 17:1, 6th Century

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    Saints and Feasts

    Allsaint
    November 24

    Hermogenes, the Martyr

    18_lukewriting
    November 24

    13th Sunday of Luke

    Allsaint
    November 24

    Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria

    Saint Peter illustriously occupied the throne of Alexandria for twelve years, and, as Eusebius says, "was a divine example of a bishop on account of the excellence of his life and his study of the sacred Scriptures" (see Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., Book VII, 3 2; Book VIII 11, 13; and Book IX, 6). He excommunicated Arius for his sympathy with the Meletian schism. When Arius learned that Saint Peter had been imprisoned, he sent many priests and deacons to him, asking that he receive him back into the communion of the Church before his martyrdom. When the ambassadors of Arius, who had not, like Saint Peter, perceived the ruin he would engender, were astonished at the vehemence with which Saint Peter refused to receive Arius again, he revealed to them a dread vision he had seen, in which the Master Christ had appeared to him as a child wearing a garment torn from head to foot. When Saint Peter asked the Lord who rent His garment, the Lord answered that it was Arius, and that he must not be received back into communion. The holy hieromartyr Peter was beheaded during the reign of Maximinus in the year 312; he is called the "Seal of the Martyrs," because he was the last Bishop of Alexandria to suffer martyrdom under the pagan Emperors. His successors to the throne of Alexandria, Saints Alexander and Athanasius the Great, brought to final victory the battle against Arius' heresy which Saint Peter had begun.

    Presentation
    November 24

    Afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple

    Allsaint
    November 24

    Philoumenos and Christopher the Martyrs

    Allsaint
    November 24

    Our Holy Father Clement, Pope of Rome

    Saint Clement was instructed in the Faith of Christ by the Apostle Peter. He became Bishop of Rome in the year 91, the third after the death of the Apostles. He died as a martyr about the year 100 during the reign of Trajan.

    Katherin
    November 25

    Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria

    Saint Catherine, who was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas (or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste, and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine. According to the ancient usage, Saints Catherine and Mercurius were celebrated on the 24th of this month, whereas the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria were celebrated on the 25th. The dates of the feasts of these Saints were interchanged at the request of the Church and Monastery of Mount Sinai, so that the festival of Saint Catherine, their patron, might be celebrated more festively together with the Apodosis of the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos. The Slavic Churches, however, commemorate these Saints on their original dates.

    25_catherine4
    November 25

    Apodosis of the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple

    Mercurios
    November 25

    Mercurius the Great Martyr of Caesarea in Cappadocia

    Saint Mercurius came from Cappadocia, and was the son of Gordian, a Scythian. A young man, and a soldier of high rank, he refused to offer sacrifice to the idols, and after torments was beheaded during the reign of Valerian (253-260).

    Katherin
    November 25

    Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria

    Saint Catherine, who was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas (or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste, and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine. According to the ancient usage, Saints Catherine and Mercurius were celebrated on the 24th of this month, whereas the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria were celebrated on the 25th. The dates of the feasts of these Saints were interchanged at the request of the Church and Monastery of Mount Sinai, so that the festival of Saint Catherine, their patron, might be celebrated more festively together with the Apodosis of the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos. The Slavic Churches, however, commemorate these Saints on their original dates.

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    CHRISTMAS EVENTS

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