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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2021-10-17
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Allsaint
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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (978) 458-4321
  • 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 COFFEE FELLOWSHIP

We welcome everyone for Coffee Fellowship today, and every Sunday, in the Fellowship Hall following services.  If you have children in the Sunday School, please wait for them in Coffee Fellowship.  They will be dismissed when their class is completed.

PARISH COUNCIL NOMINATIONS WELCOME

Nominations for the 2022-2023 term of the Parish Council are welcome.  Any parishioner in good standing interested in being nominated must contact the Parish office to request an official nomination form and return the completed form to the office by 1:00pm on Friday, October 29, 2021.  Elections will be held on December 12, 2021.

MEMORIAL CONFERENCE ON LIFE OF BISHOP GERASIMOS

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, October 19 and 20, a Conference on the life of Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos, Elder of America, will take place at Hellenic College and Holy Cross in Brookline, MA.  Bishop Gerasimos was well known in the Boston area and had a meaningful impact on the lives of the faithful, as well as the students of the College and Seminary while living on campus following his retirement.

You can watch the presentations and services online by going to www.bishopgerasimos.org and clicking on the live stream links.

DRIVE-THRU FESTIVAL SUCCESSFUL

Our thanks to all who helped with the Drive-Thru Festival, volunteers and donors (and purchasers as well).  Without the help of the steering committee under the direction of Costa Tsioulis and all the volunteers this event would not have taken place.  Kai eis anotera!

CHOIR NEEDS YOU

We have a wonderful group who are participating in the choir.  We have some who are brand new to choir and some who have sung for many years.  Please join us, no experience necessary. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our director, Stephanie Gulezian, at stephaniegulezian@gmail.com, our organist, Marc Gulezian, at mgulezian22@gmail.com or come up to the loft and follow along with us.

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR CHURCH CONTINUE

As we continue to gather for worship we ask that you follow the current CDC and state 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.  Children 2 years and older are strongly encouraged to wear masks.  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.

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.

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.

  

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

Vigil Light at the Side Altar (Icon of the Theotokos): Available

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: Dearest Brother John thank you for announcing the light that brings salvation to all those that believe – St. Irene and Demetrios

Vigil Light at the Foot of the Holy Cross: In Honor of Jimmy Manelas for his birthday from his family

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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, October 17  SUNDAY OF THE SEVENTH ECUMENICAL 
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
Coffee Fellowship following Liturgy

Sunday, October 24  SIXTH SUNDAY OF LUKE
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
1 Year Memorial for Valerie Finneral
Coffee Fellowship following Liturgy

Tuesday, October 26      
Saint Demetrios – Liturgy, 9:30 am

Wednesday, October 27
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

                                             

TODAY’S PARISH COUNCIL: Stephanie Dubay, Michael Fokas & Jimmy Demetri


UPCOMING EVENTS
         

October 31                       
Fifth Sunday of Luke

November 3
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

November 7
Seventh Sunday of Luke
Monthly Trisagion
3 Year Memorial for Thomas George Gianacakes
End of Daylight Savings Time

November 8
Archangels - Liturgy, 9:30 am

November 9
Saint Nektarios - Liturgy at St. George GOC

Nobember 10
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am
Parish Council Meeting, 6:30 pm

November 11
Veterans Day - Office Closed

November 14
Eighth Sunday of Luke

November 17
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

November 21
Entrance of the Theotokos

November 25
Thanksgiving

                                         

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. 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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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

From on high you descended, O merciful Lord. You accepted the cross and three days in the tomb to free us from the bondage of sin, O our life and resurrection. Glory to you, O Lord.

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

O Christ our God You are above all praise, * You established our Fathers as lights to all the earth. * You led us to the true faith through them. * O Most Bountiful Lord, glory to You.

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

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

Allsaint
October 17

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.


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

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.


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.


Allsaint
October 21

Hilarion the Great

This Saint was born at Tabatha, near Gaza in Palestine, of pagan parents. Sent as a young man to Alexandria to be educated, he learned the Christian Faith and was baptized. While in Egypt he heard the fame of Saint Anthony the Great, and upon meeting that truly great man, the Father of monks, Saint Hilarion determined to devote himself also to the ascetical life. He returned to Gaza, when, he gave himself over to extreme fasting and unceasing prayer. Because of the miracles which he soon began to work, he found himself compelled by his growing renown to leave Gaza, to escape from the throngs of people coming to ask his prayers. In his journeys he visited Egypt, and came again with longing to the place where Saint Anthony had lived; but he was not able to remain in any one place for long, since despite all his attempts to conceal himself, the light of the grace that was in him could not be hid. After passing through Egypt and Libya, and sailing to Sicily, he came at last to Cyprus, where he ended the course of his life at the age of eighty, in the year 372.


Averkygregoryclement
October 22

Abercius, Equal-to-the-Apostles and Wonderworker of Hierapolis

Saint Abercius, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia in the times of Marcus Aurelius, was adorned with the grace of wonderworking and with apostolic zeal. During a festival in honour of Apollo, the chief deity of Hierapolis, the holy bishop was instructed in a revelation to destroy the idols. He went to the temple by night and overturned the statues of Apollo and the others. When this was discovered, the Saint boldly cried out that the gods, becoming drunk from the wine of the libations offered them, had struck one against another in their confusion. A multitude of furious pagans came to avenge the insult to their gods, but when the Saint cast the demons out of three afflicted young men, fear fell upon the idolaters and they with the whole city became Christian. After many labours, and afflictions, Saint Abercius reposed in peace about the year 167 (or, according to some, 186).


Iakovbro
October 23

James (Iakovos) the Apostle, brother of Our Lord

According to some, this Saint was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, born of the wife that the latter had before he was betrothed to the Ever-virgin. Hence he was the brother of the Lord, Who was also thought to be the son of Joseph (Matt. 13: 55). But some say that he was a nephew of Joseph, and the son of his brother Cleopas, who was also called Alphaeus and Mary his wife, who was the first cousin of the Theotokos. But even according to this genealogy, he was still called, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, the Lord's brother because of their kinship.

This Iakovos is called the Less (Mark 15:40) by the Evangelists to distinguish him from Iakovos, the son of Zebedee, who was called the Great. He became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, elevated to this episcopal rank by the Apostles, according to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist., Book II: 23), and was called Obliah, that is, the Just, because of his great holiness and righteousness. Having ascended the crest of the Temple on the day of the Passover at the prompting of all, he bore testimony from there concerning his belief in Jesus, and he proclaimed with a great voice that Jesus sits at the right hand of the great power of God and shall come again upon the clouds of heaven. On hearing this testimony, many of those present cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David." But the Scribes and Pharisees cried, "So, even the just one hath been led astray," and at the command of Ananias the high priest, the Apostle was cast down headlong from thence, then was stoned, and while he prayed for his slayers, his head was crushed by the wooden club wielded by a certain scribe. The first of the Catholic (General) Epistles written to the Jews in the Diaspora who believed in Christ was written by this Iakovos.


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