January, February, and March 2024

ANNUNCIATION-ST. PARASKEVI

GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

www.aapgoc.mi.goarch.org/

18000 Behner Road

New Buffalo, MI 49117

Mailing address: P.O. Box 93, New Buffalo, MI 49117

Church Phone: (219) 462-6244

 

Rev. Fr. R. Paul Martin

Presiding Priest

fatherpaulmartin@gmail.com

Cell: (708) 717-1841

 

Andrew Pavlopoulos

Council President

Andyp11668@yahoo.com

Cell: (219) 688-0589

 

January, February, March 2024

 

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Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m.

Confessions are heard on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. or preferably by appointment on Saturdays.

 

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Services in January

 

Saturday, January 6, Holy Theophany with the Great Blessing of the Waters. Please bring jars or decanters if you wish to bring holy water home.

 

Sunday, January 7, Synaxis of St. John the Baptist.

 

Sunday, January 14, Leave-taking of Theophany

 

Sunday, January 21, 12th Sunday of Luke

 

Sunday, January 28, 15th Sunday of Luke

 

Services in February

 

Sunday, February 4, 15th Sunday of Matthew  

 

Sunday, February 11, 16th Sunday of Matthew

 

Sunday, February 18, Sunday of the Canaanite

 

Sunday, February 25, Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee  Triodion begins 

 

Services in March

 

Sunday, March 3, Sunday of the Prodigal Son

 

Sunday, March 10, Judgement (Meatfare) Sunday. Please bring your list of departed to Fr. Paul, as next Saturday is Souls Saturday.

 

Saturday, March 16, Saturday of Souls, Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. 

Memorial Service Following.  Please bring your lists to Fr. Paul BEFORE the service or preferably on the Sunday preceding.

 

Sunday, March 17, Forgiveness (Cheesefare) Sunday.  Rite of Forgiveness follows Divine Liturgy. Great Lent begins this evening.

 

Friday, March 22, Presanctified Liturgy at 6:30 p.m. (Those intending to receive Holy Communion should fast from 12 noon.)

 

Sunday, March 24, Sunday of Orthodoxy, with procession of icons

 

Monday, March 25, Feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m.

 

Friday, March 29, Presanctified Liturgy at 6:30 p.m. (Those intending to receive Holy Communion should fast from 12 noon.)

 

Sunday, March 31, Sunday of St. Gregory of Palamas

 

November Year to Date Financial Results 

by Dean Sarantos, Treasurer

 

Our parish’s financial results are improved for 2023 vs. 2022, as we are almost operating on a breakeven basis. As of November 30, our year-to-date loss is $3,505.29, in comparison to a loss of $16,269.65 through November of last year. The primary drivers of our smaller loss for this year are a 9.1% increase in donations this year and fewer building repairs than last year.

 

As of November 30th, we have $37,017.73 in cash. We look forward to hopefully soon receiving the Metropolis of Detroit’s

approval to sell the hall and the proceeds from such a sale.  Our savings could be reduced to zero with one or two large, unexpected building repairs on either of our current facilities, not to mention the unused building's sale would greatly increase our ability to fund expanded parish ministries and outreach.

 

For further details on our financial results, please see the two files attached. If you have questions, you can call me 269-231-9052 (the church’s phone number).

 

Thank you to all members and supporters of our church for your generosity! We are close to breaking even for the year, and with some generous Christmastime donations we may achieve a break even result or perhaps even have a small gain. January is also a good time to make a donation to the church as part of your new year activities. Please send your donations to:

 

Annunciation & St Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church

Attn: Dean Sarantos, Treasurer

PO Box 93

New Buffalo, MI 49085

Parish Bookstore Update 

by Dean Sarantos

 

This quarter’s spotlight is on one of the highly regarded books in the parish bookstore, Thinking Orthodox, by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, an examination of the intellectual process and patterns of the Orthodox mind.

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What does it mean to "think Orthodox"? What are the unspoken and unexplored premises and presumptions underlying what Christians believe? Orthodox Christianity is based on preserving the mind of the early Church, its phronema. Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years' experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology - as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.

Praise for Thinking Orthodox

"Dr. Constantinou has written a marvellously timely book that is an education in itself as well as being a delight to read… [She presents] a patient and thorough account of what it is to inhabit the spiritual, theological, and sacramental world of Eastern Orthodoxy." -excerpted from the Foreword by Archpriest John A. McGuckin, PhD. D.D. DLitt., Professor of Early Christian Thought, Theology Faculty, Oxford University

"This clear, convincing, practical, well-crafted, and highly recommended book argues that the heritage of the Orthodox Faith includes, not only a distinct theology, but also a distinctive pattern of thinking theologically. It is not the task of theology to refine, clarify, and apply an ever-greater precision to the content of the Faith. As a component of the life in Christ, rather, Orthodox thinking strives to acquire and maintain a disciplined, humble, and devout mind. Parish priests, when they instruct newcomers to the faith, will want to have this book within reach." -Patrick Henry Reardon, Senior Editor, Touchstone: a Journal of Mere Christianity

"With brilliant historical insight, the author successfully navigates very difficult and complex issues surrounding the meaning and mindset (phronema) of holy Tradition. She reveals a theological method that is largely foreign to the intellectual heritage of the Christian West, without minimizing the role of reason. This is the book I have long wanted to write, but one that is far better than I could have ever done!" -Bradley Nassif, co-editor of The Philokalia: A Classic Text in Orthodox Spirituality, and Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, North Park University

Thinking Orthodox is available for purchase in the parish bookstore along with a number of other items you may enjoy yourself or as a gift for your friends and family.

 

Winter Services

 

Given severe conditions, parishioners are cautioned to exercise good judgement when deciding whether to attend services.  Nevertheless, Fr. Paul and Presbytera Nikki will make every effort to open the church for the salvation of the world. 

 

If you have questions about this when the weather is severe, call our Council President Andy Pavlopoulos at 219-688-0589 for updates. He will keep you informed.

 

Prayers Requested

 

A good number of our parishioners are homebound or unwell. Others deal with sicknesses in their households. Here is a list of people to keep in our prayers and thoughts (I pray I haven’t left anyone out!): Nan Baker, Denise Spanopoulos, Margie Souliotis, Marie, Thanasi, and George Sinioris, Mike Kerhoulas, Louie Rizos, and George Georgakis.

 

And please remember that the parish needs your prayers and your monetary support during these difficult times. Please remember to send your weekly or monthly donations to the church address given above if you are not able to bring your offerings to church.

 

Orthodox Philanthropic Society News

by Lillian Casten

 

The OPS completed its work for 2023 with a successful bake sale held in mid-December. The 3-day event netted over $2500 through the planning and hard work of our members. Our small group of workers planned the event, disseminated the publicity, contacted bakers, received donations, set up the Social Hall and cleaned it up afterwards—and did so with cooperation, love ,and respect for one another and for our church.  Thank you.

 

Additionally, we helped our Harbor Country community with a monetary donation to the River Valley Senior Center and to River Valley Middle School.  Also, we collected donations for the women and children who have survived domestic abuse residing at the Cora Lamping Center in Benton Harbor. Further within our own community, we provided gifts of fruit to Mike Kerhoulas, Nan Baker, and Margie Souliotis who are physically unable to attend church.

 

Our members now look to the future for further planning of events and projects that will benefit our entire church community.  Our membership has grown (no dues to pay) but it is never too large.  Join us for our January 10, 2024, meeting at 10:30 EST.  And please check out our new website!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

The American Hellenic Center

 

As most of you know, the sale of the Center was approved at a Parish Assembly in 2023 by a unanimous vote. The necessary documentation was sent to the Metropolitan Nicholas for his approval and that of the Metropolis Council. We are waiting for word from the Metropolis before consulting a realtor to assist us in selling the Center.

On the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25

Fr. Paul Martin

 

For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in travail; for the children of the desolate one are many more than the children of her that is married’ (Galatians 4:22-27).

 

This prophecy of Isaiah 54:1, quoted above by St. Paul, reminds us of the barrenness of Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth.  Because of their childlike faith and openness to God, although barren, they are blessed in old age. Sarah gives birth to Isaac, Hannah to Samuel, and Elizabeth to John the Forerunner.  And then in the fullness of time, as the climax of this train of events, the Virgin Mary—in her childlike faith, vulnerability, and absolute dependence upon God—gives birth to God the Word without corruption, as we sing:

 

It is truly meet to bless thee, the Theotokos, ever-blessed and most blameless, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, thee who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the very Theotokos, we magnify thee (Eighth Tone, from The Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God).

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, and it has great relevance. For we are all called to be faithful and childlike, like the Theotokos. And we are all called to be fruitful like the Theotokos. And we are all called to be vulnerable, open to God—called to receive God, to magnify Him, and to bring Him into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit—in a way like the Theotokos who received and magnified the Lord (cf. Luke 1:46-55), she who birthed God into the world.  Mother Mary is indeed more honorable, more glorious than the Cherubim and the Seraphim, for she gave God the Word her flesh, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And although she alone bore God the Word in His human and divine fullness, we are to do so by receiving Him in the sacraments and magnifying Him in our lives. But this is possible only because Mary mothered God for the world to see and worship. 

 

There is much confusion these days about gender and sex. Some men want to be women, and so they declare themselves to be women. Some women want to be men, and so they declare themselves to be men. But whether we be male or female, the human vocation before God is to be, in a way, female—that is, we are all called to receive God, to magnify Him, and to give Him “birth”. We are all females before God, as C.S. Lewis once said. As far as God is concerned, the human vocation is female—we are to bring God to bear in the world. 

 

God the Word became flesh by the Holy Spirit and by the will of the Theotokos. God would not have become Man had the Theotokos said “No” to the Archangel Gabriel.  But she didn’t say “No.” She said, “Yes.” Now it is up to us to say “Yes” and to work with the Holy Spirit to become the Body of Christ—and not just on Sundays. This means that if we are to become fully human, as Christ alone is fully human, we must say “Yes” to God every day. This is why we are here today. This is why we come together to receive His Body and Blood, saying “Yes” to God and meaning it, as we participate with God in a process of change that continues throughout our lives, every day, every living moment of our every day—working to become more fully and more perfectly human, as only our God is fully and perfectly human.

 

But we must always remember that our becoming like our Incarnate God is only possible because she, the Mother of God, said, “Yes”: 

 

“Be it done to me according to Thy Word.”

 

So let us strive to be like the Holy Theotokos. Let us model ourselves on her. Let us aspire to her obedience, openness, and child-like faith. Let us no longer be barren.  Let us become dependent upon God—absolutely, always dependent— so that we too may bear fruit, “for the salvation of the world”, as we say in our Divine Liturgy. 

 

Let us say, “Yes” to God.  Let each of us say with the Theotokos, “Be it be done to me according to Thy Word”.

 

This is how we honor the Theotokos on this day, not just by paying lip service.  For she is our model for life.  She is the Mother of God, certainly, but she is also the Mother of all Orthodox Christians—and by God’s grace, she is the Mother of multitudes.

 

Please plan to worship with us on our parish feast day, Monday, March 25. Divine Liturgy begins at 10:30 a.m. 

 

 

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