2015.07 8 boxandspoon

Monthly Newsletter for Stewards of

Holy Anargyroi Sts. Kosmas & Damianos Greek Orthodox Church Box & SpoonBox & Spoon

2015 Standing Committees PARISH COUNCIL Aaron Biedermann-President Halina Woroncow-Vice Pres. Tim Kelly Angie Rustad Don Jenkins Erline Holman Robert Lytle Jacob Petersen Treasurer Ben Johnson STEWARDSHIP /OUTREACH John Maragos Chair Halina Woroncow Ari Kolas Andy Franquiera ICONOGRAPHY Fr. Mark Muoz BUILDING Tim Kelly- Chair Ari Kolas BUDGET Jacob Petersen Fr. Mark Muoz AUDIT Jacob Peterson Amy Franquiera John Maragos PHILOXENIA HOUSE Brad Holman Chair ST, PHILOTHEI Trevor Hamlen Chair GREEK FESTIVAL Erline Holman Johnny Mangouras Denise Mangouras

I S SUE

JULY /AUG 20 15

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A Violent, Bloody Scene in the Icon of the Dormition In many icons of the Dormition of the Theotokos, one can see a strange scene near the bottom: an angel invisibly cuts off the two hands of a certain man. What is the story behind this scene? Bewailing their separation from the Mother of God, the Apostles prepared to bury Her all-pure body. A solemn procession went from Zion through Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane. Unbelieving inhabitants of Jerusalem, taken aback by the extraordinarily grand funeral procession and vexed at the honor accorded the Mother of Jesus, complained of this to the High Priest and scribes.

The Jewish priest Jephonias (or Athonios), out of spite and hatred for the Mother of Jesus of Nazareth, wanted to topple the funeral bier on which lay the body of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, but an angel of God, some say the Archangel Michael, invisibly cut off his hands, which had touched the bier. Seeing such a wonder, Jephonias repented and with faith confessed the majesty of the Mother of God. He received healing and joined the crowd accompanying the body of the Mother of God, and he became a zealous follower of Christ. According to Elisheva Revel-Neher, in her study of "The Image of the Jew in Byzantine Art", the earliest known artistic depictions of the scene are from Cappadocia around the ninth and tenth centuries, with subsequent examples from much later periods.

The Theotokos is all-pure and ever-virgin, and her conception of the Son of God was foreshadowed in the Old Testament by the Ark of the Covenant. The procession of the body of the Theotokos by the Apostles is thus also seen as a foreshadow of a particular event in the Old Testament, when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, and eventually brought to Jerusalem.

In 1 Samuel 5:1-5, we read: After the Philistines had

captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagons

temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagons temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

Here the pagan god Dagon is depicted as not being able to stand in the presence of the Ark, to the point that it fell and its head and hands broke off. Numerous other disasters were said to have befallen the Philistines for stealing the Ark, until they finally gave it back to the Jews out of fear. Years later King David desired to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, and a great procession followed the Ark. In 2 Samuel 6:3, 4, 6 and 7 we read:

They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it... When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lords anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

This incident is said to have struck fear in the heart of King David, and it made him realize how great and significant the Ark of the Covenant truly was.

This iconographic scene in the icon of the Dormition, therefore, is an illustration to serve as a warning to believers and unbelievers who question and despise the mysteries of God, and do not hold the proper reverence for these sacred mysteries. - by John Sanidopoulos

Christ our God, upon fulfilling Your dispensation for us, You ascended in Glory uniting the earthly with the heavenly Holy Ascension, May 21st In birth, you preserved your virginity; in death, you did not abandon the world. Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos Aug 15th

Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos During the Dormition Fast the Orthodox Church gathers throughout the first two weeks of August to chant the beautiful and poetic Supplicatory Canon to the Mother of God. Petitions are made on behalf of the living for both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Please submit your names to Fr. Mark for commemoration for the following Service times: August 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th all beginning at 6pm.

Check out this link for more information on this important liturgical service: http://www.goarch.org/chapel/liturgical_texts/paraklesis\

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H.A. partners w/ Thursdays on First to bring our famous Greek Fest Baklava to the hottest Rochester Summer Venue!

We will be operating our Heavenly Baklava booth on the following

Thursdays this summer:

July 23rd, 30th August 13th, 20th Volunteers are needed! Please contact Calli @ [email protected]

You were transfigured on the mount, Christ our God, and Your disciples, in so far as they could bear, beheld Your glory. Holy Transfiguration Aug 6th

Calendar for July-August 2015 Monday July 27th St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr 8:30am

Orthros/Divine Liturgy

Thursday July 30th Thursdays on First, volunteers needed 9am-8:30pm

Sat-Fri August 1st-14th DORMITION FAST

Consult Archdiocesan calendar for fasting guidelines

Monday August 3rd GOYA Outing: Canoeing on the Zumbro River

Monday August 3rd Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Tuesday August 4th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Wednesday August 5th Ordination to the Holy Deaconate of Herman Klarr in MSP

Thursday August 6th Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ 8:30am

Orthros/Divine Liturgy

Friday August 7th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Monday August 10th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Tuesday August 11th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Wednesday August 12th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Thursday August 13th Thursdays on First, volunteers needed 9am-8:30pm

Thursday August 13th Paraklesis to the Holy Theotokos 6pm

Friday August 14th Great Vespers: Feast of Dormition of Holy Theotokos 6pm

Saturday August 15th Feast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos 8:30am

Orthros/Divine Liturgy/Artoklasia

Sunday August 16th Church School Teachers meeting after Liturgy

Wednesday August 19th Parish Council Meeting 6:30pm

Thursday August 20th Thursdays on First, volunteers needed 9am-8:30pm

Fri-Sun August 28th-30th Rochester Greek Fest

New Rochester Greek Fest Website!

Our new Greek Fest website went live! Click on the link below and don't forget to share the new

website on your social media! Check back often for updates and specials.

http://www.greekfestrochester.com/

In birth, you preserved your virginity; in death, you did not abandon the world. Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos Aug 15th

Building Committee Andrew and Anna Chafoulias Memorial Fellowship Hall and Education Center

How exciting! We have started the building of our new fellowship hall. The new parking lot to the west of the existing church structure has the curbs poured and the first layer of asphalt laid. The demolition of the existing parking lot is complete and the base layer of gravel has been laid for the education wing. The demolition of the old church structure has taken place and the material has been hauled offsite. The cornerstone has been saved and the time capsule recovered. While it is sad to see the memories fade as the church many of us worshiped in for many years come down, it is exciting to see our future developing before us.

We have a few hurdles to overcome for our building permit, but no show stoppers so far. The process for building a structure of this magnitude can be overwhelming, so I ask you to keep the Building Committee, and the entire church community in your thoughts and prayers. The Good Lord and His many saints have been watching over us and we continue to pray for their intercessions for the successful completion of our project.

Mr. James Chafoulias has generously committed to funding the entire $2.6M construction costs in memory of his parents Andrew and Anna Chafoulias. He has expressed to Father his gratefulness for his parents legacy and efforts to build a future for their children and grandchildren and for their contributions to their church in our founding years. Thank God for their, and all founding members of the church, efforts to build a church for worship and fellowship. The 2015 Greek Festival is a reality, and will be set between the churchs construction and the Nicholas Apartments construction across from ours on West Center Street. We have been working diligently to ensure our biggest steward has a chance to contribute this year despite the formidable circumstances that limit the area.

Tim Kelly Building Committee Chair and humble Parish Council member


Building Committee - Continued


Youth Team The summer brings a welcome respite for our Church School teachers who dedicated themselves to the catechetical instruction of our youth throughout the year. Thank you, again, to our fellow teachers: Erline Holman, Kathy Lytle, Kris Brekke, Terri Mettler, Catherine Weiler, and our sub, Ray Ostfeld. Our children gathered to pray, sing hymns, read and apply the Bible, interpret icons, and consider and work toward expressing themselves in the image of God.

The highlights of our year have to be the Aha moments, when our students grasp a new concept or develop a deeper understanding of something they have heard or seen before. Following closely is their learning to live our faith and show Gods love by reaching out to others and participating in clothing drives for the homeless, preparing and serving food to those in need, making blankets for critically ill children, building shelves for a young family eagerly awaiting their first home, and in demonstrating environmental stewardship by cleaning up the highway. We wish we could have taken the beautiful icon tree mural of our Church School Saints with us to the new hall thank you, Kathy, for creating this! An extra thank you, also, to Erline, for introducing hymnography into our curriculum, and for her continued artistry with the Christmas program each year. Finally, our Oratorical Festival welcomed a new coordinator Amy Franqueira. We enjoyed thoughtful essays and spirited involvement by every class.

Our next steps in Youth Ministry will be to creatively flex around the upcoming construction which will produce a new and exciting building dedicated to our childrens education. We await our new Educational Center with excitement. And we are deeply grateful to our generous donor for fulfilling this dream for our children. The teachers will be meeting in the coming weeks to brainstorm how to fill in the catechetical blanks as we wait to occupy our new classrooms. In the coming year, we expect the continued involvement of GOYA in the stewardship of our church and community, and, also, look to further bolster our programming for our younger families. In sharing fellowship, we build bonds that can provide supportive, lasting relationships for both our parish youth and our families.

Our curriculum as Orthodox Christians is all around us. It is boundless, and imbues our daily lives. May the Holy Spirit nurture in us a frame of mind which recognizes that: God.has placed us in this life as in a schoolroom to learn the gospel of his kingdom. (St. Theodore the Studite)

Thank you for the privilege of working with your children. We welcome your engagement in the coming school year!

In Christ, Your Youth Team Loredana Jerghiuta, Mike Brekke, Halina Woroncow

P.S. GOYA CANOEING AUGUST 3rd for past, present, and

brand new GOYAns!


Philoptochos Society

Dear Parish Family,

I would like to start with a heart filled thank you to Calli Kelly our Philoptochos President for the past four years.

Calli, together with our Society, has worked tirelessly to create new fundraising ideas, increasing our sales, and

making it possible to support established and new ministries. Calli has been an energetic and courageous leader doing

things that no other Philoptochos president has done before. She has gone to national conferences, met with our

Bishop and given beautiful speeches on her own life story of being a deaf women and overcoming the struggles that

comes with it. Nothing holds her back. She has put our small Parish on the map. Our society has grown in many ways

and I want to personally thank Calli Kelly for her service.

We recently held our elections for the Philoptochos Board and they have been ratified. The positions are as follows:

President Kris Brekke; Vice President: Anna Ryabova, Treasure: Loredana Jerghuita, Secretary: Effie Psimos, Board

members: Penny Kolas, Ann Kolas and Calli Kelly.

I look forward to serving as the President of the Philoptochos. We are blessed with an active and hard working Society

and I am excited to see what the next two years will bring. During this time I will keep in mind the advice of my

dearest friend, Calli Kelly This is what the Philoptochos is about, we work for the Lord. These are the words that I

will always try to remember when things are tough. Please pray for our continued work for the Lord!

Fundraising is the backbone of our Society and we need funds to make our efforts a reality. If you have any ideas

please feel free to contact a Philoptochos member. We have to be proactive and creative. We will need to think

outside the box this year due to construction of our new facility and limited access to a kitchen.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 8th at 6:00pm, in the Church library.

In Christ,

Kristine Brekke

My brother, dont ask for anything in prayer except for repentance.

Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring you the grace of God, and God will uphold you in His grace and will give you whatever you need for your own salvation as well as whatever is needed, should the case arise, for you to help another soul in need.

~St. Paisios


Greek Festival Volunteers Needed

August 28th-30th

Our Greek Festival is a wonderful opportunity for us to work together to benefit our church. It helps financially and it also allows us to show the Rochester community what Orthodoxy is all about.

Please go to this website to sign up to help: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0945A4AB29A6F49-holy2/14884977


DATE: Sunday, September 13th, 2015

Time: After Liturgy

Place: Slatterly Park

Directions: 10th Street & 11th Avenue SE. Park facilities in-clude full electric, restrooms, playgrounds, horseshoes, baseball diamonds and more!!!

Menu: Chicken, ribs, hot dogs, and hamburgers. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. Beverages will be provided!!!

Family and Friends are welcome to join!!!

SAVE DATE: PARISH BBQ PARTY!!!


Stewardship Reminder: Your Online Stewardship Accounts!

Thank you to the many people who are currently using our new online Church Management & Stewardship system!

Even if you choose not to give electronically, we still ask you to log-in and keep your profile up-to-date so that we have the latest information for our church and tax records.

In addition, you can view how much you've already given at any time regardless of how you donated it, so its the best place to check your Stewardship status, and its available to you 24/7.

If you havent already signed up, its very easy to get things going. Please follow the tutorial below, and if you have any further questions email: [email protected]

2015 STEWARDSHIP THEME: TO BECOME INDEPENDENT OF FESTIVAL INCOME

Thats About. $1.50/per day more from your 2014 daily giving amount. $45/mo. more from your 2014 monthly giving amount. $500/yr. more from your 2014 pledge. 40k/yr. more from our current 2014

Stewardship level.

Thats just $10 per week, or Bringing lunch to work once a week. Drinking a couple less lattes each week.


Stewardship: Online Sign-up Tutorial

Step 1: Navigate to our website: www.rochesterorthodoxchurch.org, then click GIVE ONLINE.

Step 2: click SIGN IN


Stewardship: Online Sign-up Tutorial Step 3: click CLICK HERE next to Need a Login?

Step 4: Below is the Account Sign-Up page. Please fill in your email address and name as we have it on file. Click FIND ME.

If there isnt a match in our database, please contact us at [email protected] with your preferred email address and name. Well email you back once our records are updated. After this, navigate back to the Account Sign-Up page below, and type in the email address and name you sent us, then click FIND ME.



Step 5: Once your record is found, a confirmation pop-up message will appear. click CLOSE.

Step 6: Check your email account for the verification email.


Stewardship: Online Sign-up Tutorial Step 7: Click the link in the verification email to verify your account.

Step 8: Once verified, navigate back to our website, to GIVE ONLINE, and click SIGN IN once again. This is the same thing we did in Steps 1 and 2 of this tutorial.



Step 9: Welcome to the main page of your new online account!

From here you can: Update your church profile (click MY COMPLETE PROFILE). Create a pledge for the year (click PLEDGE NOW). Give a one-time or recurring donation (click GIVE NOW). View your giving history (click MY GIVING HISTORY). Manage your scheduled giving (click MANAGE SCHEDULED

GIVING) Manage your pledge history (click MY PLEDGE HISTORY).

For the purposes of this tutorial, click GIVE NOW to setup a new giving donation!



Step 10: We encourage you to setup a recurring donation each year according to your pledge. On this page, you decide how much to give and whether its a one-time or recurring donation. You determine all the details for your giving plan! If youd like your recurring donations to continue beyond one year, just navigate to that future end date.

Once finished, click CONTINUE.



Step 11: Here you designate which funds your money will go to.

For example, if you decided to give $100 every month, you now designate how much of that $100 will go toward your Stewardship Pledge, or our Building & Iconography Funds, or our Philoxenia House ministry.

Once finished, click CONTINUE.



Step 12: This is where you designate the payment method youd like to use for your giving plan.

We incur a 3% transaction fee for credit cards; therefore, we prefer checking or debit account transfers. That being said, were thrilled to accept donations regardless of the payment method you choose!

Once finished filling in your details, click CONTINUE!

You may change your giving amount or frequency anytime by clicking on MANAGE MY SCHEDULED GIVING from the home page!

Stewardship of your time, talent, and treasure is a way of life. We THANK YOU for giving your financial treasure for the glory of God and for the building up of His church.

2015.07 8 boxandspoon

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