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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2021-07-11
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11_ephemia
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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (978) 458-4321
  • Fax:
  • (978) 458-8726
  • Street Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854
  • Mailing Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Sunday Schedule:

Orthros: 8:30 a.m.
Divine Liturgy: 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study:

Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.


Past Bulletins


Announcements

JOIN US FOR FELLOWSHIP

Today’s Fellowship hour is offered in memory of Arthur Kostoulakos by his nieces and nephews. May his memory be eternal!  Everyone is welcome to join the Fellowship Hour following services for coffee and conversation!  We encourage social distancing during coffee fellowship and encourage everyone to continue to act in responsible a manner to ensure the health and safety of all.

OPENING PROTOCOLS FOR CHURCH CONTINUE

The opening of the church for services continues to expand.  We ask that you follow the CDC guidelines.  Those who are vaccinated, masks are optional.  Those who are not fully vaccinated are strongly encouraged to continue mask usage to help protect themselves and others, especially our children.  Through the summer we will continue with pew spacing.  You are welcome to seat yourself as you enter the church.  As you move around the facility, please keep social distancing in mind.

We are excited to welcome you back for worship as you feel comfortable.  We are also excited to begin reinstalling many of our ministries and events.  Please offer your assistance as we begin the process of ramping up our calendar.

METROPOLIS OF BOSTON CAMP ‘CAMPERSHIPS’ AVAILABLE

The Transfiguration parish is once again providing ‘camperships’ for our children to participate in MBC.  If you would like to register your children to participate this summer, there are still a few slots left.  If you have any questions, please speak with Fr. Tom.  If have already registered your child/children for this summer we are excited for them and can’t wait to see them there!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS!

Keep two dates in mind.  1) The annual Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, September 18.  More information will be mailed during the next couple of weeks about playing and underwriting the event.  2) After great success with our ‘Grecian Food Festival – Drive Thru’ event at the beginning of June, we are discussing holding another event in mid-October. 

CHECK OUT OUR INSERTS AND FLYERS

Weekly, in the section following the announcements you will find inserts and flyers about special events and ministries.  Please make sure to check out this section.

SUMMER OFFICE HOURS

The office will be changing the hours to summer hours – Mondays in July and August will be closed.  Tuesday through Friday the office will be opened 9:00am to 1:00pm.

WATCH SERVICES ONLINE

Worship services continue to be live streamed through YouTube at www.youtube.com/transgoc.  A weekly listing of services can be found on our website www.transchurch.org and listed on the calendar found in this bulletin.

HELP ONLINE

Some still do not feel comfortable physically attending services, but would still like to light a candle or support the parish. Your continued generosity is greatly appreciated. We encourage your continued use of our secure online giving platform for single or repeating donations, https://transchurch.churchgiving.com. Of course, you are still welcome to mail in a check to make your donation.

1) To light a vigil candle, please contact Pat Mahoney (pmahoney7@comcast.net or 978-436-0998) or the church office (info@transchurch.org or 978-458-4321). Pat will make sure that your vigil candle is lit for you. Donation: $10. As with all donations, you can mail in a check or you can make a donation online.

2) You are able to make your stewardship, weekly basket offering, candle, memorial, special event, or general donations by using our secure website. Your donations help support the ministries of the parish.

   

Trinity votive candles (To Sponsor a Candle please call the Church Office.) 

Vigil Light at the Side Altar (Icon of the Theotokos): In Memory of those who have died during the pandemic and for the health of those recovering.  - Chuck and Amelia Karayianis

Vigil Light at the Icon of Christ: In Loving Memory of Deborah Victoria Skrekas and George Skrekas

Vigil Light at the Theotokos: In Loving Memory of Ioannis "John" Zaralidis from his family

Vigil Light at the Icon of the Forerunner: Available

Vigil Light at the Foot of the Holy Cross: Available

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Weekly Inserts

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Weekly Calendar

We will be live streaming services through our YouTube channel whenever possible - www.youtube.com/TransGOC Please see the online calendar for the full schedule.             

Sunday, July 11  THIRD SUNDAY OF MATTHEW                
†Orthros, 8:30 am                                       
†Liturgy, 9:30 am 
40 Day Memorial for Arthur Kostoulakos
Coffee Fellowship following Liturgy      

Wednesday, July 14
Parish Council Meeting, 6:30 pm

Sunday, July 18   SUNDAY OF THE HOLY FATHERS
†Orthros, 8:30 am                                       
†Liturgy, 9:30 am  
Coffee Fellowship following Liturgy              

 

TODAY’S PARISH COUNCIL: Christian Zouzas, Chuck Nestor & Costas Tsioulis

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 25                             
Fifth Sunday of Matthew

August 1                           
Sixth Sunday of Matthew
Monthly Trisagion

August 2                           
Paraklesis, 6:30 pm

August 4                           
Paraklesis, 6:30 pm

August 5                           
Forefeast of the Transfiguration - Vespers, 7:00 pm

August 6                           
Holy Transfiguration – Services starting at 8:30 am

August 8                           
Seventh Sunday of Matthew

August 9                           
Paraklesis, 6:30 pm

August 11                         
Paraklesis, 6:30 pm

August 13                         
Paraklesis, 6:30 pm

August 14                         
Forefeast of the Dormition – Vespers at Dracut, 7:00 pm

August 15                         
Fest of Dormition

August 18                        
Parish Council Meeting, 6:30 pm

August 22                         
Ninth Sunday of Matthew

August 29                         
Beheading of John the Baptist

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Psalm 67.35,26.
God is wonderful among his saints.
Verse: Bless God in the congregations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:1-10.

Brethren, working together with him, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.


Gospel Reading

3rd Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 6:22-33

The Lord said, "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well."


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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Second Mode

When you descended into death, Life immortal, you vanquished the pow'r of hell by your resplendent divinity and when you raised the dead from the depths of darkness, all the heavenly powers cried out triumphantly: O giver of life, Christ our God, glory to you.

Apolytikion for Great Martyr Euphemia in the Third Mode

O Euphemia, Christ's comely virgin, thou didst fill the Orthodox with gladness and didst cover with shame all the heretics; for at the holy Fourth Council in Chalcedon, thou didst confirm what the Fathers decreed aright. O all-glorious Great Martyr, do thou entreat Christ God that His great mercy may be granted unto us.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

O unfailing protection of Christians, and our faithful advocate before the Creator: though we are sinners, do not ignore our entreaty; but in your goodness, grant your timely help to us who appeal to you in faith. Quickly make intercession; on our behalf make speedy supplication, O Theotokos, for you always protect those who honor you.
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Wisdom of the Fathers

There is an old saying: 'Excesses meet.' Too much fasting and too much eating come to the same end. Keeping too long a vigil brings the same disastrous cost as ... sluggishness... Too much self-denial brings weakness and induces the same condition as carelessness. Often I have seen men who would not be snared by gluttony fall, nevertheless, through immoderate fasting and tumble in weakness into the very urge which they had overcome. Unmeasured vigils and foolish denial of rest overcame those whom sleep could not overcome. Therefore, 'fortified to right and to left in the armor of justice,' as the apostle says (2 Cor. 6:7), life must be lived with due measure and, with discernment for a guide, the road must be traveled between the two kinds of excess so that in the end we may not allow ourselves to be diverted from the pathway of restraint which has been laid down for us nor fall through dangerous carelessness into the urgings of gluttony and self-indulgence.
St. John Cassian
Conferences, Conference Two: On Discernment no. 16; Paulist Press pg. 76, 5th century

For God, He said, gave us understanding, that we might chase away all ignorance, and have the right judgment of things, and that using this as a kind of weapon and light against all that is grievous or hurtful, we might remain in safety. But we betray the gift for the sake of things superfluous and useless.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 20 and 21 on Matthew 6, 4th Century

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Saints and Feasts

11_ephemia
July 11

Euphemia the Great Martyr

In 451, during the reign of the Sovereigns Marcian and Pulcheria, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convoked in Chalcedon against Eutyches and those of like mind with him. After much debate, the Fathers who were the defenders of Orthodoxy, being 630 in number, agreed among themselves and with those who were of contrary mind, to write their respective definitions of faith in separate books, and to ask God to confirm the truth in this matter. When they had prepared these texts, they placed the two tomes in the case that held Saint Euphemia's relics, sealed it, and departed. After three days of night-long supplications, they opened the reliquary in the presence of the Emperor, and found the tome of the heretics under the feet of the Martyr, and that of the Orthodox in her right hand. (For her life, see Sept. 16.)


Allsaint
July 12

Proclus & Hilary the Martyrs of Ancyra

These Martyrs contested in Ancyra in 106, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. Saint Proclus was seized as a Christian and, confessing his faith, was burned on his sides and belly, was hung upon a beam with heavy stones tied to his feet, and finally was taken away to be shot with arrows. As he was being led forth, his nephew Hilary encountered him and greeted him, and was himself seized. After his uncle had been slain with arrows, Hilary, because he would not deny Christ, was tormented, then beheaded.


Gabriel1
July 13

Synaxis of Archangel Gabriel

It is believed that the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel was transferred to this day from March 26 so that it could be celebrated more festively than in the period of the Great Fast; and, in fact, all the miracles of the Archangel are celebrated on this feast day, which has been listed here in the church books since the ninth century.


Allsaint
July 14

Aquila the Apostle among the 70

Saint Aquila, who was from Pontus of Asia Minor, was a Jew by race and a tent-maker by trade. In the year 52 he and his wife Priscilla were in Corinth when Saint Paul first came there. They gave him hospitality, and the Apostle remained with them for many days, himself working at the same trade as they (Acts 18:2-3). And having believed in Christ through Paul, they followed him from that time on, working together with him and suffering perils with him for the sake of the preaching of the Gospel, as he himself testifies concerning them in his Epistle to the Romans, saying: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the nations" (Rom. 16:3-4). When and where they reposed is unknown.


Allsaint
July 15

The Holy Martyrs Cyricus and His Mother Julitta

Saint Julitta was from the city of Iconium. Fearing the persecution of Diocletian, she took her son Cyricus, who was three years old, and departed for Seleucia; but finding the same evil there, she went over to Tarsus in Cilicia, where the ruler arrested her. He took her son from her and tried with flatteries to draw the youth to himself. But the little one, in his childish voice, called on the Name of Christ and kicked the ruler in the belly so hard, that the tyrant became enraged and cast him down the steps of the tribunal. In this manner, the child's head was crushed, and he gave up the spirit. As for his blessed mother, she first endured many torments, and finally was beheaded in the year 296.


Allsaint
July 16

Athenogenes the Holy Martyr of Heracleopolis

This Saint was from Sebastia of Cappadocia and , according to the Synaxaristes, became Bishop of Pidachthoa. He and ten of his disciples were tortured and beheaded by the Governor of Philomarchus in the times of Diocletian. There is a second Martyr Athenogenes commemorated today, mentioned by Saint Basil in Chapter 29 of his treatise "On the Holy Spirit"; it is said that as this Athenogenes approached the fire, wherein he was to die a martyric death, he chanted the hymn O Joyous Light in praise of the Holy Trinity (see also Mar. 11).


17_marina
July 17

The Holy Great Martyr Marina (Margaret)

This Martyr lived during the reign of Claudius II (268-270). She was from Pisidia of Cilicia and was the only daughter of a certain priest of the idols. On being orphaned by her mother, she was handed over to a certain woman who instructed her in the Faith of Christ. When she was fifteen years old, she was apprehended by the ruler of Olmbrius, and when asked her name, homeland, and faith, she answered: "My name is Marina; I am the offspring of the Pisidia; I call upon the Name of my Lord Jesus Christ." Because of this she endured bonds, imprisonment, and many whippings, and was finally beheaded in the year 270. Saint Marina is especially invoked for deliverance from demonic possession.

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