Publish-header
Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2024-04-07
Bulletin Contents
Announcements
Weekly Inserts
Weekly Calendar
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Hymns of the Day
Wisdom of the Fathers
Saints and Feasts
Allsaint
Organization Icon
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

Proistamenos Fr. Gregory Floor


FrGregory@transfigurationlowell.org | 978-458-4321

Fr. John Vaporis


DeaconJohn@transchurch.org | 978-204-7814

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

FELLOWSHIP

Today’s Fellowship is being sponsored by the Pappas Family in loving memory of Frances and Lenny Pappas. Everyone is welcome to join us for Fellowship following Liturgy.

100TH ANNIVERSARY – SAVE THE DATES

  • April 21st – Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Methodios

  • April 28th- Palm Sunday Service and Luncheon – Our first Liturgy as a parish was celebrated on Palm Sunday 1924.  This is a very special year for us and we hope you make every effort to join us!   Since we are expecting a large crowd, we must take reservations this year for planning purposes. Please use the following link to make your reservations by April April 19th. - Transfiguration Palm Sunday Luncheon 2024 (ticketspice.com)

Did you know that in 1951, newly installed Rev. Fr. John Papadopoulos, with his relentless energy and strong visionary purpose, spearheaded the building of our beloved Transfiguration Church on top of the original basement church? The contract was signed and executed on June 1, 1953 for $153,375.

LENTEN MEAL AND LECTURE SERIES

Our Lenten Meal and Lecture Series takes place every Wednesday of Lent immediately after PreSanctified Liturgy. This Wednesday’s Meal will be hosted by the Choir and the speaker will be Panayiota DiStefano.

FESTIVAL INFORMATION

  • FESTIVAL UNDERWRITERS NEEDED! - Festival time is quickly approaching.! Help make this year's festival a success by becoming an underwriter. Your underwriting donations, large or small, will help us toward our goal of covering all festival expenses with underwriter donations, leaving all festival income as profit. To date, we are only at 22% of our $35,000 goal.

  • FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! -  This year’s annual Greek Festival will take place on May 31 – June 2. We need your help to make it a success! If you would like to sign up to work a shift at one of the booths, the sign-up sheets will be posted at the church hall beginning April 21st. You may also contact Martha Coravos at (978) 697-9393 (phone/text) or via email at AttorneyMarthaC@yahoo.com to sign up for a shift.

FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS DURING GREAT LENT

Salutation services are offered during the five Fridays of Great Lent to honor the Theotokos. If you would like to make a donation for flowers to adorn the Icon of Theotokos for the last Friday, you can do so by contacting the office.  The cost is $100.

 PHILOPTOCHOS

Archbishop Athenagoras established the Holy Cross School of Theology in June 1937. The Archbishop addressed a special appeal to the Philoptochos to devote themselves to the School, “where your sons will be educated as priests and teachers.” Over eighty years later, Philoptochos continues its commitment to and financial support of Hellenic College/Holy Cross through Scholarships awarded to worthy and dedicated students, both men and women at Hellenic College and seminarians at Holy Cross to assist with tuition. Today Philoptochos will be holding baskets after church for HCHC donations. Your donation is greatly appreciated!

SCHOLARSHIP

Scholarship applications are available online (transfigurationlowell.org) for graduating high school seniors planning on attending college in the fall.  For further questions contact Pat Mahoney (pmahoney7@comcast.net) or 978-436-0998.  The deadline for applications is May 1st.

LEAVE A BRICK CAMPAIGN

You may have noticed the 4X8 and 8X8 bricks at the entrance. The bricks date back to when the building committee began the planning for the Family Life Center. Installing bricks beneath the front portico and in the rear of the center leading to the back door would be a wonderful way to allow our parishioners to participate in bricks inscribed with the names of family and friends.

The bricks can provide a family name or a special remembrance for memorials, christenings, birthdays or anniversaries. The bricks will last a lifetime and will always be a part of the entrance to our church.

If you are interested in having a brick inscribed, please contact the church office for an order form. The cost of the bricks is $125.00 for a 4X8 inscribed brick and $225 for an 8X8 inscribed brick.

Save the Date! - Grecian Festival - May 31 – June 2

 

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

†Vigil Light at the Side Altar (Icon of the Theotokos: In Loving Memory of my family members Vasilios, Panagiotis & Ioannis – from Eleni Stavrou 
†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: In Loving Memory of John & Anna Tavoularis.  May their memory be eternal!
†Vigil Light at the Foot of the Holy Cross: In Loving Memory of George Tsoukalas - from his family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekly Inserts

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Weekly Calendar

Sunday, April 7  SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
Monthly Trisagion
40 Day Memorial for Christine Nicholaou
40 Day Memorial for Frances Pappas
31 Year Memorial for Leonidas Pappas
Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival

Monday, April 8
Compline, 6:00 pm
Philoptochos General Meeting following Liturgy

Tuesday, April 9
Parish Council Meeting, 6:30 pm

Wednesday, April 10                         
PreSanctified Liturgy – Meal to follow, 6:00 pm

Friday, April 12                         
Salutations, 6:00 pm

Sunday, April 14  SUNDAY OF ST. JOHN CLIMACUS
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
1 Year Memorial for George Tsoukalas
40 Year Memorial for Avram Vachev


TODAY’S PARISH COUNCIL: Costas Tsioulis, Derek Piper & Chuck Nestor

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 15
Compline, 6:00 pm

April 16
Community Kitchen, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

April 17                             
PreSanctified Liturgy – Meal to follow, 6:00 pm

April 19
Akathist Hymn, 6:00 pm

April 21
Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt
Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Methodios

April 22
Compline, 6:00 pm

April 24                             
PreSanctified Liturgy – Meal to follow, 6:00 pm

April 27
Saturday of Lazarus – Liturgy, 9:30 am
Palms & Pancakes following Liturgy

April 28
Palm Sunday
100th Anniversary Palm Sunday Luncheon following Liturgy
Bridegroom Service, 6:30 pm

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

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 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:1-6.

BRETHREN, since we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee"; as he says also in another place, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek."

Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Holy Cross
The Reading is from Mark 8:34-38; 9:1

The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Mode

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, for the Lord has shown the mighty power of his arm. He has trampled down death by death, becoming the first born of the dead. He has delivered us from the depths of hell and has granted to all the world his great mercy.

Apolytikion for Sun. of the Holy Cross in the First Mode

Save, O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance. Give vict'ry to those who battle evil and protect us all by your holy cross.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Victorious Lady, mighty champion, defending us, we, your servants, now inscribe to you this hymn of thanks, for you rescued us from suff'ring and tribulation. Theotokos, with your power that can never fail, keep us safe from ev'ry danger our whole life long, that we may cry to you: Rejoice, O Bride unwedded.
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Wisdom of the Fathers

The key to knowledge is the humility of Christ. The door of the Kingdom of Heaven is open, not to those who only know in their learned minds the mysteries of faith and the commandments of their Creator, but to those who have progressed far enough to live by them.
St. Bede the Venerable
Unknown, 8th century

To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts and desires; to suppress every evil thought; to avoid occasions of sin; not to desire or to do anything out of self-love, but to do everything out of love for God. To deny oneself, according to St. Paul means "to be dead to sin. . . but alive to God."
St. Innocent of Alaska
The Lenten Spring, SVS Press, p. 147, 19th Century

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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
April 07

Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and Enlightener of North America

Born in 1865 in the region of Pskov, our Father among the Saints Tikhon was tonsured a monk in 1891 and ordained to the priesthood in the same year. In 1897 he was consecrated Bishop of Lublin, and a year later appointed Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, with his see extending to all of North America from 1900 onwards. He did much to unite the Orthodox Christians of a great many ethnic backgrounds in North America, so that there was indeed one flock under one shepherd. In 1907 he was made Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov, and in 1913, Archbishop of Lithuania.

In 1917, when he was Metropolitan of Moscow, he was elected to be the first Patriarch of Russia in over 200 years, in times that could not have been more difficult. After the Revolution of 1917, the persecution of the Russian Church by the atheist government grew more bold and more fierce with every year. By nature a meek and peace-loving man, Tikhon sought to determine, while giving only to God that which is God's, what could be given to Caesar to preserve peace and avoid the shedding of blood. At his departure on the feast of the Annunciation in 1925, Saint Tikhon made the sign of the Cross thrice, pronouncing the words, "Glory to Thee, O God!" Because of the many unspeakable sufferings he endures as Patriarch, he is honoured as a Confessor.

Note: St. Tikhon's repose was on the Feast of the Annunciation according to the Old Calendar (March 25), but on the New Calendar his repose falls on April 7.

03_calvary
April 07

Sunday of the Holy Cross

With the help of God, we have almost reached the middle of the course of the Fast, where our strength has been worn down through abstinence, and the full difficulty of the labour set before us becomes apparent. Therefore our holy Mother, the Church of Christ, now brings to our help the all-holy Cross, the joy of the world, the strength of the faithful, the staff of the just, and the hope of sinners, so that by venerating it reverently, we might receive strength and grace to complete the divine struggle of the Fast.

Allsaint
April 08

Agavos, Rouphos, Asynkritos, Phlegon, Herodion, and Hermes of the 70 Apostles

The Apostle Herodion, whom Saint Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Romans (16:11) and calls his "kinsman," was ordained presbyter and then Bishop of New Patras, where he was slain by Jews and pagans. Saint Agabus is mentioned in Acts 21:10-11, where he prophesied Saint Paul's arrest in Jerusalem at the hands of the Jewish leaders. In Acts 11:27-28 it is mentioned also that this Saint foretold the great famine that would come to pass in the time of Claudius Caesar. Having preached the Gospel throughout various regions, he departed to the Lord. The Apostle Rufus became Bishop of Thebes in Greece. The Apostles Asyncritus and Phlegon preached Christ in many places, suffered many afflictions at the hands of the pagans and Jews, and departed unto the Lord. The Apostle Hermes is mentioned with them in the Epistle to the Romans (16:13-14).

Raphnicholasirene
April 09

Rafael, Nicholas, Irene, & Olympias of Mytilene

For more on these saints, see Renewal (Bright) Tuesday.

Allsaint
April 10

Terence and his Companions beheaded at Carthage

These Saints were from Africa, and they all contested during the reign of Decius, in 251. After many torments, they were beheaded at the command of Fortunatus the Governor.

Antipas
April 11

Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum

Saint Antipas was a contemporary of the holy Apostles, by whom he was made Bishop of Pergamum. He contested during the reign of Domitian, when he was cast, as it is said, into a bronze bull that had been heated exceedingly. The Evangelist John writes of him in the Book of Revelation, and says (as it were from the mouth of Christ, Who says to the Angel [that is, the Bishop] of the Church of Pergamum): "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is; and thou holdest fast My Name, and hast not denied My Faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful Martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth" (Rev. 2:13). The faithful pray to this Saint for ailments of the teeth.

Allsaint
April 12

Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Parios

This Saint lived during the time of the Iconoclasts, and because of his exceptional and virtuous life became Bishop of Parium. He suffered many hardships, afflictions, and persecutions from the heretics his whole life long, and finally reposed in peace.

Allsaint
April 13

Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome

Saint Martin was born in Tuscany. He had been the papal delegate at Constantinople; upon the death of Pope Theodore, Saint Martin was elected his successor. At this time the Emperor Constans II, also known as Constantine Pogonatus (reigned 641-668), was seeking support of his confession of faith called the Typos, which espoused the Monothelite heresy, that is, that there is only one will and energy in the Incarnate Son of God. But the newly-consecrated Pope not only did not accept the Typos, but convened the Lateran Council of 649 (attended by 105 of his bishops, and Saint Maximus the Confessor, who was then in Rome), which anathematized the Typos and the Monothelite heresy. Because of this Saint Martin was seized by an imperial force in 653 and brought to Constantinople, where he was charged with sending money to the Saracens and conspiring with them, and blaspheming against the most holy Mother of God. Though innocent of these accusations, he was exiled to Cherson on the Black Sea, where, after many sufferings and privations, he received the crown of his courageous confession in the year 655.

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