November-December, 2017 Volume 7, Issue 10

HOLY TRINITY GREEK O RTHODOX CHURCH 330 LAKESIDE DR. NE GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49503

OFFICE: 616 -454 -6563; PRIEST: (616) 454 -2749 WWW.HOLYTRINITYGOC.O RG

E-MAIL: INFO@HOLYTRINITYGOC.ORG

HIS EMINENCE NICHOLAS, HOLY METROPOLIS OF DETROIT

REV. FR. JAMES BERENDS, PARISH PRIEST REV. DEACON GEORGE C ASSIS

REV. PROTOPREZBYTER JAMES BOGDAN, EMERIT US

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Advent message…….1

Agiasmos……………..2

Ministries…………….3

Stewardship………….4

Orthodox Readers…4

Our parishioners…..5

Pan-Orthodox

Concert………………..9

Philoptochos……….10

Tuesday Group……10

Holy Trinity

Fundraiser…………..11

St. Nicholas…………12

St. Spyridon………..13

PC President….……14

Religious Ed………..15

GOYA………………...15

PanHellenic

Scholarships……….16

CrossRoad..…………17

Calendars……………18

ADVENT NEWSLETTER

At the risk of offending my Protestant friends (probably too late for that any way), I thought it a healthy exercise to put in writing the reasons that I am no longer an adherent. The 500th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther nailing 95 grievances to the door of the Wittenberg Church this past week gave me pause to consider.

Simply put, in the Orthodox Church, I found a fuller expression of the Ancient/Historic Christian faith. One is hard pressed to find any Protestant denomination (and there are many – last count 43,000 and growing at a rate of another every ten and a half hours) that considers more than two Sacraments: Baptism and Communion. The latter in most cases is celebrated either monthly or quarterly, and then is considered a memorial (though in fairness, this is not the case with all). In the case of Baptism, there is a degree of hedging. Those that practice “infant baptism” deprive their newest members of communion until they have been properly catechized, sounding more like a dedication than related to salvation. The reason for doing so is the division of sanctification and justification from salvation. This is why Orthodox say, “Saved, Being Saved and hope to be Saved.” The forgotten Mystery of Confession comes to mind. If it was a matter of confessing once, at the moment of intellectual assent, in essence would be the implication of the sin nature; one and done. Yet we are constantly fending off the effects of the fall and therefore confession is constantly required for if we think we no longer sin, we are only fooling ourselves.

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MESSAGE FROM FR. JAMES BERENDS

MESSAGE FROM FR. JAMES BERENDS

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Because many of the early leaders of the Protestant Reformation were learned, but not ordained men, quoting scripture in the language of the people, they were easily able to convince the hoi polloi of the “priesthood of all believers.” We Orthodox also believe in the priesthood of all believers, without discounting the Mystery of Ordination. I haven’t asked them all, but I have never heard of any clergy describing their reasons for becoming a clergy without relating a “call”. Inevitably, the call cannot be easily intellectually explained without a certain degree of mystery or the unexplainable. The Priesthood of all Believers certainly appealed to the egalitarian winds at the time in Europe. Time and space do not permit me to explain Marriage, how two people from diverse backgrounds become one or how anointing with oil can heal. Simple it underscores how the fullness of the faith is not being utilized. Most likely the preponderance of readers of this article will be Orthodox. The purpose is not to puff up, or some form of triumphalism, but rather for the Orthodox reader to evaluate their understanding of our rich Orthodox Faith.

AGIASMOS - BLESSING OF THE WATERS

Again this year, the parish priest will be blessing all the homes of the

parish with the Blessed Holy Water of Epiphany during the month of

January. Watch for the schedule in the weekly bulletin and in the

following newsletter and plan to have your home blessed to begin the new

year.

The parish priest should also be invited any time during the year to bless

your new home or your new business.

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2017-2018 Parish Council

Lynn Afendoulis '18 James Christopoulos '18

Ronald Crosser '17 – Treasurer James Dimitriou '18 - Vice President

Michael Keller '17 Milan Milivojevic '17 Stephen Missler '18

Sam Nicholas '17 Lili Petricevic '18 - Secretary

Paul Skentzos '18 - President Linda Triant '17

MINISTRIES

Adult Greek School - Terry Monoyios Altar Boys - Ted Liberski Bible Study/Orthodox Life - Fr. Jim Berends Building committee - Steve Missler Chanters - Protopsalti Terry Monoyios, Brian Phipps, Ted Liberski, Patrick Armano, Anna Kroondyk Choir - Cynthia Kay Afendoulis Facilities (Hall Rentals, Cleaning) - Ginger Lange General Endowment - George Orphan Gift Shop - Ron Crosser GOYA - Christy Buck, Esther Koukios, and Jim Koukios Greek Dancing - Katerina Bichay, Patrina Stark, and Vasiliki Christopoulos Greek School - Tasha Espinosa Greeters - Vicki Cassis

Home Bible Study groups - Marilyn VanKuiken HOPE & JOY - Shelly Sinas Housekeeping - Linda Triant, Terry Monoyios Hymnology - Elena Afendoulis, Dasha Everse and Georgia Everse Internet Ministry - Anamaria Fiorenzo and Paul Skentzos Maintenance Committee - Tom Turner Mommy and Me - Anastasia & Arianna Wiese Orthodox Readers - Connie Vander Schel Philoptochos - Becky Trierweiler REAL - Cassie Espinosa, Nicolas Bichay, Marina Monoyios Religious Education - Phyllis Afendoulis And Ann Lapham Stewardship - Sam Nicholas Tuesday Group - Jane Patsakos Youth Basketball - Jim Koukios, Connor Koukios, and Haben Fitwi Youth Endowment - Jim Gorant

Welcoming Ministry

If you are interested in being a Greeter, please notify Vicki Cassis; Vickicassis@sbcglobal.net

New Newsletter Format

In our desire to enhance the experience of

our newsletter readers, we were planning a

variety of changes. The most significant

alteration is the reduction in the number of

issues to seven. Each issue will be associated

with a Major Festal period of the Church.

Beginning with the new Ecclesiastical New

Year, we plan on publishing the following

issues with the dates in parenthesis and the

deadlines for article submissions:

Christmas/Theophany (December 25th)

deadline 12/11

Great Lent (February 19th)

deadline 2/6

Holy Week/Pascha (April 1st)

deadline 3/19

Pentecost (May 27th)

deadline 5/14

Dormition (August 1st)

deadline 7/21

We love to hear from you. Drop us a note with your ideas, thoughts, and suggestions.

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PARISH NEWS

Stewardship Summary – November 2017

2017 Annual Goal: $306,800

Through October we have received $222,271 from 135 of our members. This puts us

$19,629 below our goal this year and $2,725 below 2016 contributions. Last year we

had 170 contributing members. As the year is quickly coming to a close I encourage

those who have not contributed financially to Holy Trinity to do so in the coming

month so we can get back on track in meeting our goal to balance our budget in 2017.

Thank you for all your contributions to Holy Trinity.

Sam Nicholas

Stewardship Chair

616-340-6936

Mission: The mission of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is to be a spiritual home

to all who enter; to be a Christ-like community active in worship, fellowship, service,

and witness, and through participation in the sacraments to come into union with God.

Number of Contributing

Stewards

Goal Through October, 2017

Actual Contributions

Through October, 2017

Actual 2017 vs. Goal

Through October, 2017

Actual 2017 vs. Actual 2016

Through October

135 $241,900 $222,271 - $19,629 - $2,725

Orthodox Readers will not be meeting in December. We will resume our discussion of Wisdom of the Divine Philosophers when we meet again on January 21 after Liturgy. This will be the final time that we will address this book; we will begin a new book in February. However, if you would like to join us in January, this is a book that you could pick up at the end, the last 40 pages, and join easily into the dialogue, if you choose. Have a very blessed Nativity season!

ORTHODOX READERS

AXIOS! HE IS WORTHY! What an Honor! Please CONGRATULATE Themis Fotieo, who, on October 23, was invested as Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and honored with order of St. Andrew the Apostle, bestowed upon him by His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Themis joined the other Archons of our church: Jim Nicholas Chris Panopoulos † Sam Afendoulis † Peter Hampers The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle is comprised of Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate who have been honored for their outstanding service to The Orthodox Church by having a Patriarchal title, or "offikion," bestowed upon them by His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Those upon whom this title of the Mother Church has been conferred are known as "Archons of the Great Church of Christ," and the titles are personally conferred by the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. The Order's fundamental goal and mission is to promote the religious freedom, wellbeing and advancement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. What is An Archon? An Archon is an honoree by His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch, for his outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known distinguished, and well-respected leader of the Greek Orthodox Community (at large). It is by the grace of God that the Archon has been able to offer his good works and deeds of faith. Further, it is the sworn oath of the Archon to defend and promote the Greek Orthodox faith and tradition. His special concern and interest is to serve as a bulwark to protect and promote the Holy Patriarchate and its mission. He is also concerned with the human race's inalienable rights wherever and whenever they are violated - and the well-being and general welfare of the Church. This honor extended by the Ecumenical Patriarchate carries with it grave responsibilities, deep commitments, and sincere dedication. Consequently, it is of utmost importance that this honor of obligation be bestowed upon individuals of proven Orthodox Christian character, who conform faithfully to the teachings of Christ and the doctrines, canons, worship, discipline, and encyclicals of the Church. Those selected to serve as Archons have demonstrated a commitment greater than average toward the stewardship of time, talent and treasure for the betterment of the Church, Parish, Diocese/Metropolis, Archdiocese and the community as a whole. An Archon must truly be deserving of the proclamation: AXIOS, AXIOS, AXIOS! He is Worthy!

Congratulations, Themis! Axios! Well deserved!

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OUR PARISHIONERS We are very proud of our people! We continue to feature our parishioners with exceptional

accomplishments. Hard work pays off. Please submit these kind of good news and have the

opportunity to observe them and congratulate them.

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Christy Buck Our very own Christy Tsilimigras Buck was one of the 2017 Athena Award Finalists. On day 14th of the National Suicide Prevention Month (September), which happen to be Elevation of the Holy Cross, Christy Buck was being honored as one of the five finalists for the ATHENA Grand Rapids. It was a great statement (please read below) to what The Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan - be nice. is doing in the community surrounding mental health awareness and suicide prevention! Christy said: “I am passionate and fierce about this but I have a great family, a team of coworkers, great Board of Directors and amazing supporters and volunteers working along beside me. Thank you Grand Rapids Area Chamber for this honor! Let's keep the conversa-tion going! “

With over 30 years of experience in mental health as a professional licensed social worker, Christy passionately leads the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan (MHF.) Her desire for transforming and saving lives though mental health education let her to develop two classrooms programs, “Live laugh Love” for middle and high schools students and “be nice”, a program developed for schools, business and communities teaching how you treat others has a direct effect on their mental health. Christy and her staff educate thousands of individuals each year through their education programs and various other speaking engage-ments and presentations throughout Michigan. Christy currently serves on the Grandville Public School Board of Education and the Kent County Foundation. Congratulations, Christy!

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OUR PARISHIONERS continues ...

Not long after getting 2017 Athena Award, Christy Buck was presented the Art Van

Award of Hope:

“Absolutely honored to receive an Art Van Award of Hope along with four other Midwest

organizations! The video created for me brought me to tears and left me speechless...that

is pretty amazing in itself.. “

I hope you recognized Cindy Crawford who joined to award the Art Van Award of Hope

to 5 amazing charity leaders as part of the Art Van Charity Challenge.

Congratulations, Chr isty, and to the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan for

the great work you do in bringing mental illness awareness and suicide prevention

education to our state and beyond!

Thank you to all who donated to the IOCC for the hurricane victims this past

Summer. Holy Trinity Grand Rapids sent over $15,000 to the IOCC. May God bless you and

your families, and may God bless all those who were affected by these storms.

Below please find a Thank You note from Nick Kasemeotis, Gift Officer at International

Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).

Hurricane Relief - Update

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OUR PARISHIONERS continues ...

Below please find a letter from Ele’s Place thanking us for the generous gift

of $3,000 to help support grieving children throughout West Michigan.

This gift is from Yassou 2017 proceeds. Thank you Yassou Committee and

entire community who volunteered and helped in various ways.

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PHILOPTOCHOS

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With Christmas coming in December, many of us will be busy shopping for gifts. But there are intangible gifts that we receive throughout the year. Such a gift has been the opportunity given me to chair our Tuesday Group. It is a lovely, fine group of parishioners who care for one another, year after year. On behalf of our group, I want to mention that our volunteer cooks are a precious gift and so is the continuing support of Philoptochos. These sort of gifts remind us that service is a joy and appreciated just as much as tangible gifts. Merry Christmas!

TUESDAY GROUP

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Holy Trinity Holiday

Fundraiser

Don’t feel like baking? Need a present for your friend, a shut-in, neighbor,

teacher, mailman, hair stylist, etc.?

Sunday, December 17, 2017, at the Church Hall

See Akrivi Monoyios

Desserts:

Pastries

Cookies

Koulourakia - $5/dozen

Melomakarona- $8/dozen

Karithopita- $8 (also, gluten free)

Ouzo cake- $10 (also, gluten free)

If you would like a big order, please contact Akrivi (616) 975-0434 by De-

cember 10th.

All proceeds made from the sale will be donated to

Holy Trinity Church.

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Message from Parish Council President During the past few months, quietly and with determination, our building maintenance

committee has been making improvements to the structure and appearance of our

Holy Trinity building. We’ve spent over $53,000 between the last Parish Assembly up

until now on building repairs and improvements.

In the sanctuary, we’ve repaired our ceiling and patched existing leaks. We have

repainted the hallways, the classrooms, and the AHEPA room. Lastly, throughout the

building, we have replaced the old spotty carpet with new carpet.

But, we haven’t finished yet. Like all old treasures, our building needs extra care and

attention. Our bathrooms badly need to be updated. Yes, ladies, we hear you! We have

found a new leak here and there. We want to replace more light fixtures with LED

fixtures. This will save us hundreds of dollars a year in electrical costs. We also want

to spend some money to improve the security of our building. I think we probably

have as many codes out in the wild for back door access as there are parishioners on a

Sunday. While this is perhaps only a slight exaggeration, it seems time for us to update

our technology for safety and security.

We also want to be able to start our planned maintenance program so that we can

address maintenance issues on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis preventing many of

the unexpected, high cost failures in equipment and structure we have seen in the past.

We have depleted the building maintenance fund in order to make the many updates

and repairs that have been completed to date. To complete the improvements talked

about above and the replenish our “rainy day” fund, we need your help and ideas on

how to make all this happen. At the December Parish Assembly, we will present some

numbers for us to discuss.

We will talk about this with you during our next Parish Assembly meeting,

December 3, 2017. The agenda and other details will be mailed out in the coming

days. Please take a moment to review these documents when you receive them and

ask us any questions ahead of time. This parish council (PC) is very transparent and

optimistic about our future. If you have an issue, question, or comment please talk

with me or any of our other PC members. We are passionate about doing the right

things for our place of worship, our community, and each and every one of you.

Y * O * U * T * H YOUTH NEWS

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GOYA NEWS

The RE year is passing quickly! Our newly painted and carpeted classrooms are beautiful! Some upcoming events: Sunday, November 19, Pan Orthodox Children's Choir at St. Nicholas Sunday, November 26 No Classes Sunday, December 17, Christmas Pageant Love to All, Ann Phyllis

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

GOYAN's, Parents and HTGOC Members! Please mark your calendars for the following dates: November 19 - GOYA meeting following Religious Ed December 6 - NO BINGO - this is postponed until further notice. December 17 - GOYA Meeting following Religious Ed December 22 - Christmas Caroling January 21 - GOYA Meeting January 26 - 28th - GOYO IV (Greek Orthodox Youth Olympics #4) The next 6 weeks are super busy for GOYA - activities and annual fundraisers! Members of HTGOC can help in a couple of ways: Be part of the Community Christmas Card! A beautiful card will be sent to HTGOC Members. Include your name/family in the card for only a $20 donation! All proceeds will go towards youth activities. Please stop by the table in the Fellowship Hall to sign up. Or email Christy Buck at christybuck@benice.org Deadline for collecting money is December 13. Community Christmas Caroling event has been happening every year for over 60 years! When it was created ALL members of HTGOC were serenaded with Christmas Carols by GOYAN's! With such a large community, we now have a list of those who would like us to come by their homes. We will be taking names through Dec. 17th and we will definitely be stopping by retirement communities where are parishioners are residing to treat them to some good ole fashioned caroling! Make this part of your holiday tradition! GOYO is set for Jan. 26 - 28! All hands on deck as we send out the call for volunteers! This event has made its way to one of the top activities for our Diocese and is based on meeting the four pillars all in one day! More information to come! For now, mark your calendar!

YOUTH NEWS CONTINUES... Congratulations to our young ladies for being selected to play in Beauty

and the Best, at Forest Hills Fine Arts Center:

Elena Afendoulis - Belle

Sophia Afendoulis - Choir

Eva Fotieo - Crew

Melanie Berends - Hair and make-up

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2017-2018 PanHellenic Scholarship opportunities

You may find information about the criteria and application process on the website:

https://www.panhellenicsf.org/apply

The deadline for online applications is midnight on Wednesday, January 31, 2018.

Good luck to the talented young people who will apply!

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Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

330 Lakeside Dr. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Phone: (616) 454-6563 info@holytrinitygoc.org www.holytrinitygoc.org

HOLY TRINITY GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH GRAND RAPIDS, MI

Holy Trinity is home to a diverse community – descendants of our Greek founding families, but also parishioners from diverse cultural backgrounds: Eritrean, Ethiopian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Dutch. We are a unique church, a family, but first and foremost we are a worshiping community of Orthodox Christians. In every service celebrated as a community, we experience an encounter with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are a church with a long and full history – a history that stems back 2,000 years to the Apostle Andrew. It is a history of faithful, not just from bishop to bishop, but from community of faithful to community of faithful starting on the day of Pentecost (The Feast day of our Holy Trinity Church). We welcome you to worship with us. Whether you are an Orthodox Christian or this is your first visit to an Orthodox church, we are pleased to have you with us. "Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." - Romans 15:7 Mission: The mission of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is to be a spiritual home to all who enter; to be a Christ-like community active in worship, fellowship, service, and witness, and through participation in the sacraments to come into union with God.

Regular Weekly Services (Sundays):

Orthros: 9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy: approximately 10:00 a.m. *Depending on the Saint of the Day celebrated, Orthros/Matins don’t have the same length and since they flow into the Divine Liturgy, the starting time of the Divine Liturgy may vary. Sunday School: (September-May): following Communion Holy Confession: By Appointment Please see our online calendar and bulletin for the latest schedule update: www.holytrinitygoc.org Also, visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/holytrinitygreekorthodoxchurchgrandrapids/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel