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SAINT NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL 1607 West Union Boulevard Bethlehem, PA 18018 ORTHODOX Witness VOLUME 28 ISSUE 311 DECEMBER 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS Church Informatio 2 Father Nick’s Notes 3 The Birth of the Lord, an Uninterpretable Event 4 GREEK SCHOOL NEWS 6 Bishop Longinus, a father of 400 children 8 APOLOGIES 13 Distillation of wisdom In the footsteps of the magi 15 PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 16 GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF PIETY GOD APPEARED IN THE FLESH 18 calendar 20

A ST. NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL PUBLICATION 1607 WEST UNION BOULEVARD – BETHLEHEM, PA 18018 PHONE: 610-867-1327, FAX: 610-867-9487, KITCHEN: 610-867-5459

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Under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, His Eminence Demetrios Archbishop of the Greek

Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and His Eminence Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh. The mission of St. Nicholas

Greek Orthodox Church is to keep and proclaim, pure and undefiled, the Orthodox Christian Faith and traditions in

conformity with the doctrine, canons, worship, discipline, and customs of the Church.

Fr. Nicholas Palis, Protopresbyter (Proistamenos ) Dean 610-440-0995

Fr. Nicholas Kossis Protopresbyter 610-694-0948 Fr. Alexander Petrides, Presbyter 610-867-1327 Mrs. Despina Kotsatos, Secretary 610-867-1327

OFFICE HOURS: Monday-Friday 9:00 πμ – 12:00 μμ

1:00 μμ -5:00 μμ SUNDAY SERVICES Orthros 7:15 AM

Divine Liturgy 1 Greek 8:30 AM

Divine Liturgy 2 English 10:15 AM

WEEKDAY SERVICES Orthros 8:00 AM

Divine Liturgy 9:00 am

THURSDAY Paraclesis 6:00 PM

SATURDAY Great Vespers 7:00 PM Please see the calendar in the web page for weekday services

CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS BUILDING ENDOWMENT TRUST George Vasiliadis

John Diakogiannis

George Glaros

Cosmos Valavanis

Nikolaos Varvarelis

ACADEMY ST. NICHOLAS Debbie Hrousis

CHOIR

Director Dr. James Chiadis

Organist Nicos Elias :

GREEK SCHOOL : Theodore Evangelou

MOMS & TOTS: Presvytera Stephanie Petrides

GOYA/YAL Fr. Alexandros Petrides

MISSIONS

Coordinator : Nitsa Vasiliadis

Secretary: Eleni Pippis

PHILOPTOCHOS : Debbie Mouhlas

SENIOR CITIZENS: Mary Moukoulis

SUNDAY SCHOOL Thalia Schmidt, Stratoniki Hahalis

WEBSITE: www.stnicholas.org

EMAIL: secretary@stnicholas.org

Name of Publication: Orthodox Witness

PARISH COUNCIL 2016 Argeros William

Dectis Peter

Economedes Emmanuel,

Economou Dimitri

Fliakos Valante, Vice President

Garcia Joel,

Gentis Athanasios, Secretary

Hristofas Kostas, Treasurer

Kapsalis Nick

Lioudis George

Mouhlas George, President

Tatalias Helen

Tatalias V. Emmanuel

Vasiliadis Stylianos

Zannakis John

DEADLINE FOR PUBLICATIONS

WEEKLY BULLETIN – PLEASE SUBMIT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

to church office by Thursday.

MONTHLY BOOKLET–

Please submit announcements to church

office by the 15th of the prior month.

Please Note – All articles are subjected to

approval and editing.

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Fr. Nick’s Notes

Bethlehem opened Paradise, come let us see. We found the hidden delight, come let us

receive the gifts of paradise in the Cave. There a Supernatural tree was made manifest, which offers remission,

In there a well not made by hands was found, from where David of old desired to drink. In there is found a

Virgin who gave birth to an Infant and the thirst of Adam and David immediately stopped.

So for this reason let’s run, there where a New Child, the Timeless God was born.

(Oikos of St. Romanos the Melodist)

December 2016

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Greetings in Christ

December is very special for our parish since we celebrate the feastday of our Church, St. Nicholas on

Monday December 5th with Great Vespers at 7 PM. Our guest homilist will be Mr. Dino Koutroubas, who

is a graduate of our Holy Cross Seminary, and the Lay Assistant at Sts. Constantine & Helen’s Church in

Reading. Great Vespers will be followed by a reception hosted by our Philoptochos and on Monday December

6th we will celebrate our feastday Liturgy.

As we prepare for the feast of the Nativity of our Lord we are urged to fast, pray, give charity, go to

confession, and attend as many of the daily Divine Liturgies as we can. Let us avail ourselves of the many

opportunities given us for spiritual growth. Our weekly Bible Studies, Moms & Tots, JOY, GOYA, YAL, and

Youth Groups, our daily Liturgies, our Wednesday night Supplication Services, and the Saturday night Vespers.

This year because Christmas falls on a Sunday, the rubrics are different than normal. On Friday December

23rd we will be celebrating Orthros at 8 AM, Great Hours at 9 AM, and the Divine Liturgy at 10 AM and

then on Saturday the 24th we will be having Orthros and Liturgy of St. Eugenia with Orthros at 8 AM and

Liturgy at 9 AM and then at 7 PM Christmas Vespers and on Sunday December 25th. Christmas Orthros

and Liturgy of St. Basil the Great with our normal Sunday schedule with two Liturgies with Orthros at 7:15

AM and the first Liturgy at 8:30 AM and then the second Liturgy at 10:15 AM. Parishioners are asked to

receive the sacrament of Holy Confession so as to prepare the manger of their souls for Christ.

The articles in this bulletin are translated from the “Aghia Lydia Magazine” with the following titles: “The

Birth of the Lord, An Uninterpretable Event” by the late Fr. Theophilos Zisopoulos , “Great is the

Mystery of Piety, God Appeared in the Flesh” by Mr. Nick Nikolaides and “In the Footsteps of the Magi”

by St. John Chrysostom.

I pray that we will all receive the Newborn Christ in our souls and that will have a blessed, joyous, and peaceful

Nativity and New Year.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Nicholas Palis

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The Birth of the Lord, an Uninterpretable Event

May the all holy name of the Lord be glorified, that He is granting us today also to celebrate and

panegyrize this brilliant feast, the feast of feasts, the metropolis of feasts, the Incarnation of the Lord.

This refers to a stunning and wondrous event inconceivable and incomprehensible to the logic

of man. How is it possible for a God to take on the form of a servant to be born of a pure virgin? How is

it possible for a God to touch the earth and for the earth to not be set on fire, to not be burned up, to not

be aflame? How is it possible for us to interpret this kenosis, this deep and utter humility of our Lord,

who is taking on the form of a servant is being born in a stable, in the cave of Bethlehem?

If we wish to grasp the event, to interpret it and to understand it with our logic, it is completely

unexplainable and uninterpretable. It is explained, however, and interpreted and understood only by

whichever people dispose faith. They are able to understand the ununderstandable, to interpret the

uninterpretable and to experience and live that which those living far from God are not able to

understand.

How do we celebrate Christmas It is Christmas again, my brethren. And again people are wishing many years. And again people

are preparing for Christmas. And again in movement a whole week, or even more. Preparations for us

to receive this great and joyous event, for us to also celebrate and panegyrize together with the swarms

of angels and all the saints and martyrs of our Church.

However, our own Christmas, my brethren, resemble more with a business Christmas, because

all the preparation refer to how we can buy gifts, to how we can enrich the Christmas table, in how we

can amuse ourselves these days, others on the one hand in excursions, others in festive parties, others

in Lukoulian meals. These are certainly also preparations.

The gifts which the Birth of the Lord brought us Beyond all these things we must all understand the deeper meaning of the feast of Christmas.

Because Christ came to deliver the human race. Because Christ came to deliver the human race.

Because Christ came and He brought us gifts.

He restored the enmitous relationships we had with the heavenly Father. He reconciled us

because we were revolutionaries. With sin, we revolted against the heavenly Father. And Christ came

and restored and reconciled man with God.

He came and tore up the manuscript of sin.

Christ came and opened the completely closed gates of Paradise.

Christ came and brought the light to this very dark world.

Christ came and broke the bonds of sin of man.

Christ came and brought us the truth, because we lived in falsehood and deception.

Christ came and brought righteousness. The Sun of righteousness, is He. Because we lived in injustice.

Christ came and He brought us joy, because we were living in grief, in pain, in sighing, in hardships

and in distresses.

So He brings joy in a grieving world and in a tortured society, to a people and to man that had lost his

orientation, he had lost his God and he was mourning in the ruins of his fall and he sought his

deliverance and his salvation.

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The antidoron to the gifts of Christ: Our heart

These gifts that God brought for us are delivering gifts and we owe Him the antidoron of all that

we received.

What will we offer Him? The heavens offer the star, the angels the hymn, the shepherds the

miracle, the earth the cave, the wilderness the cave, the magi the gifts and we people offer the Virgin

mother.

What will our own gifts be? What will we offer to Christ? Today what gift will we give to the

newly born King of the world?

We owe Him our love, we owe Him our dedication, we owe Him the peace of our heart, we owe

Him the confession of our faith, we owe Him our sins, for Him to cleanse them and to sanctify our

heart.

This is the best gift that we have to offer now at Christmas to Christ. That we open our heart to

Him to make it a palace, a palace of the King, an eternal palace of the king of all Christ!

Our heart that is beating for our mother, for our father, for our brother, for our friend, must first

be beating strongly, very strongly for the name of Christ. Jesus Christ made our heart and bathed it in

the blood of His crucifictory sacrifice. This heart Christ wants, that we filled with faults, with passions,

weaknesses and sins. He wants our heart to cleanse it and to sanctify it.

The best Christmas will be this year’s if we make the decision to open the gates of our heart and

for Christ to pass inside, to be enthroned if in our heart, in our thought, in our life. Because we may be

holding Christmas with our relatives, with our children, with our parents, with our brothers, and

Christ to be missing. We may be having the Turkey and the Lukoulian meals and not be sending an

invitation for Christ to also come to our table. We may be celebrating also with the familiar way the

many people celebrate Christmas, but Christ might be absent from this feast and celebration, Christ, if

who is the great invited one, who is the great Visitor to our earth.

My brethren, our gifts to Christ! Our love to Christ, above all and more than everyone to Christ.

Our faith in Christ. Our living faith, the shaking faith, the seismic faith, the fervent faith, the faith

which melts metals, the faith which melts icebergs! Let us have a fervent heart, the living heart, a

sensitive heart, a pure heart, a divine heart, a true palace of Christ!

One body and one blood with Christ Let this, my brethren, be the message of today’s feast. Christmas with Christ in our heart, with

Christ in our home, with Christ in our life. A blessed Christmas! A delivering Christmas! A saving

Christmas! And then, my brethren, we will also partake in the great mystery of the divine Incarnation

of the Lord. And then we also will become one body and one blood with Christ. Because we are

members of the mystical body of Christ.

And whoever is granted to commune of the Immaculate Mysteries and to take in their blood the

blood of Christ, to reach to this theosis, for this which Christ came here down on the earth, in order to

elevate man to heaven and to set us up a god by grace. And then, my brethren, we will be holding the

delivering, saving and blessed Christmas.

Many years with the intense presence of Christ in our heart, in our life and in our home and

then we will have all the blessings from the Cave of Bethlehem! Amen.

A sermon of the blessed Father Theophilos Zissopoulos at the Sacred Church of Saint Lydia, at

the Center of Internal and External Mission Work of the Sisterhood Lydia in Asprovalta.

Translated from the magazine Saint Lydia December 2014 pages 358-360.

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Distillation of wisdom

In the footsteps of the magi The magi are models of life. Models that it is worth us imitating. So for this reason the sacred

Chrysostom presents to us indicating simultaneously our small debt for the encounter with the Newly

born Christ.

“So let’s also follow the magi and let’s walk the far distance to see Christ. Because they also, if

they didn’t travel far from their country, would not have seen Him. So long as they were in Persia they

were seeing the star, when however they abandoned Persia, they saw the Sun of righteousness.

So let us also get up. And let us run. And if they prevent us on our path, either Kings or

multitudes or tyrants, let us not allow our longing to be quenched. And for the magi, before seeing the

divine child, from everywhere fears, dangers and disturbances were presaged. After the worshipping

the calmness and the safety. Not a star henceforth but an angel takes them up.

So you also leave the Jewish people, the city which is disturbed, the bloodthirsty tyrant, the

deception of life and hasten to Bethlehem, to find the spiritual star. Be careful only that you do not

resemble Herod and say: I want to worship Him. And when you come, you want to murder Him.

With Herod resemble whoever partakes unworthily in the mysteries. So let us fear that we not take the

form of worshipers, in action however we show the opposite behavior.

Those barbarians made such a long trip in order to see the Newborn. You, what defense will

you give, who did not even pass one little street in order to visit the sick and imprisoned person? They

offer gold. You with difficulty offer a little bread. They saw the star and rejoiced. You, even though

you are seeing Christ himself being a foreigner and naked, are not bending over Him. Who of you,

who received infinite benefactions, attempted for the sake of Christ such a long trip, as those

barbarians or rather those who are more philosophical than the philosophers?

Saint John Chrysostom

Commentary on Saint Matthew the Evangelist, Homily Seven

EPE Volume Nine

December 2014 Aghia Lydia p. 357.

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Continuation from the November Issue

I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I COULD HAVE SO MANY CHILDREN?

-Do you remember when you took the first child and went to the monastery?

-I took the first children to the monastery in 1991-92. Then I took two brothers that I also

adopted.

I was eager to return home, to give them their baths, I liked to give the children their baths and

to put them to bed. Whatever my mother did, I also wanted to do too: to kiss and hug them.

I would ask at night my mother:

- "Mom, with whom will you sleep? We were four children. Because I was the youngest, and my

mother would tell me: 'with you.” So too, when they would ask: "Father, with who will you sleep?" I

would tell them: "With you" This was our happiness, because I was able to caress them and soften their

pain.

- -And you continued in the monastery. From there you took them to the monastery. Then you constantly

got and got ...

-I would take them all home. Certainly I never thought that I would one day have so many

children.

-Four hundred!

-Yes. And again they are few. I would like even more, we have the capability. You must not

only take them, but also show them parental affection. With us it is not like in the state run ones, where

they keep them up to 18 years of age. The children are our own throughout their lives. They got

married, we made homes for them.

-Do you have children so old that they already got married?!

Yes, many children got married, we now we have from them grandchildren as well. They are

multiplying more and more and every year we make 10 to 20 houses. We continue. They donated land

to us, we will build houses there for the children ... Should you raise them and throw them afterwards

on the street? It’s not proper. If you give them a little house, a little job, then they in turn will continue

to do good, thus as we have taught them.

-Your Eminence Father Longinus. You didn’t avoid taking near you, children with disabilities and those

with AIDS. Why did you do this? Wouldn’t it have been easier to get kids healthy-abandoned, but healthy-and to

raise them?

-I thought of it and many people scared me by telling me that it will be very difficult. Then

truly it was difficult for me. But now it is not at all difficult for me, because we are many monks in the

monastery.

-How many are you?

-We are 83. And they will subsequently bear the cross that I also lifted. They are next to me,

helping me a lot, like the nuns from the convent that I made, there where my parish was. There is a

miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary (Boyian), before which many children were healed. I was not

scared and I am not afraid even now, because when I took the children, they chose me and not me the

children.

-How?

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-When I entered there, they would all stretch out their hands and would tell me 'Mom!' '. They

didn’t call me father, they would call me mom. There were sick children, who no one would take. They

would constantly take the healthy ones. A battle would occur. I'd take all those children who no one

would take. I was getting 10-15 at a time. But I am very happy! I cannot express the joy I have in my

soul that God gave me mercy and compassion.

When did you decide to get children with AIDS? How did you decide it?

-The first case was a little girl. I went to the orphanage-I was bringing milk every morning. The

doctor there told me:

- "Do you want to see a child with AIDS?"

I said: "I want to see. I had never seen any. And I entered. I passed through four doors to get to

this child, and she was alone. She was two or three months old. She was red from crying. She cried, she

would stop crying and again would cry, but no one listened to her. Once in a while the nurse entered,

she fed her, she changed her and thus everything ended. There was no one to stay close to her, to care

for her.

Then I put my hands behind my back, watching how the doctors guarded themselves. I did it so

that I not touch her and infect the other children.

- -You thought of the children, not yourself.

- I thought of the children, that I not infect them with anything. I left and was driving the car

myself away. Going on the road, while I had arrived near the monastery-and do not let someone think

that I don’t know what happened to me- that child appeared to me in front of the car ...

As if that little girl was in the air and was smiling at me from her little bed. My soul hurt

when I saw her and it seemed as if she were telling me "Do you also fear me? Won’t you take me?"

I reduced speed and my head began to hurt. As soon as I arrived at the monastery, I left the car

and went to the forest to walk, I felt a burden .. Suddenly, I see before my eyes that little girl. "I’m not

scared. I will take you" I tell her. Everything then disappeared, even the headache.

I went to the monastery and begged the monks “Prepare a beautiful room, with water, I will go

tomorrow to bring her."

That night I brought the most beautiful furniture. I asked some of my friends to bring me the

most beautiful bed for the most unhappy creature. You should see the girl, however. She is an angel..!

The first miracle. "If you do not listen, tomorrow she will die ..."

How many years old is she now?

-She is 12 years old, but she sits only on my lap. When she sees me she calls: ''Father'', and she

sidesteps everyone to reach me first.

So I took her very young. In a miraculous way from 2 to 4 in the morning, when in the

monastery we do the Divine Liturgy she never sleeps. She would wake up, I saw her once in church -

although it is not allowed. When she would see the other children, she trembled. she wanted to play

with them so much, but we would not let her come into contact with the other children.

-Did you fear that she would infect the other children?

No, the doctors had forbidden it. They told us she should sleep separately, eat alone.

-Isolated?

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-Yes, Completely isolated. But in church she circulated freely. We adults would take her in our

embrace and kiss her since there was nothing for us to fear, but to avoid a problem with the others.

And in the evening she wandered around in the church, she would go close to each monk and

pull the prayer rope and smile at each one. For two hours, for as long as the Divine Liturgy would last.

Once I shouted a little more sternly: "The children at such a time ought to be sleeping. Why is

she in church? "She never wanted to sleep at that time

and the mercy of God healed her!

A hieromonk who really loved her, Father

Silouanos told me:

"Can’t you do something so she doesn’t die?"

We were expecting her to die, day by day. If not

today, tomorrow. That’s what the doctors were telling

us. This is because she had a heavy form of AIDS,

grade 4, I do not know how they call it here in

Romania.

I said that I cannot do anything and I pointed to

heaven.

The miraculous icon of Our Lady of Boyian

Fr. Silouanos then started crying and I was also crying with him and ... the merciful God healed

her. When they did analyses on the child, they saw that she no longer had anything wrong.

-Is she the only child of the 400, on whom a miracle happened?

-We Have 82 children with AIDS and seven were healed.

Was it a miracle of God? Are you convinced?

-Yes, I am convinced that it was a miracle of God. No one could do something else. We do not

exclude medicine, we are not against it. Besides, I take the medicines the doctors gave me for the heart.

Indeed, the children with AIDS know that I am sick like them and that we take the same medicines. I

want to give them courage.

-Did you tell them that you have AIDS?

No, I told them I'm sick like them. I cannot lie, but I told them: 'Look at my medicines. I have red

and white and colored ones, "because someone grabbed one of the older children with 'AIDS, an 11-

year-old and told him:

- "Do you know what illness you have? This and that. "

He then began crying loudly and shouting:

- "Why did my mom bring me in this world? I do not want to live anymore."

Then the sisters told me, "Come because he is very upset, he is not eating and is constantly

crying."

I went there and told him: "Sergey, I'm sick like you, look, I take pills and medicines. But we

must believe, for everything to go well. What brothers are we if you get angry like that? I was

expecting you to be strong so you can help me too, and now ... "

Then he began to laugh and he said:

- "Father, I love you! I will never cry again! "

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And from then the child is cheerful. With time however, we must tell them the truth, so that no

stranger does it and causes them pain.

I do not know ... They are so beautiful and so good-souled ... If you visit them sometime you

will see that it’s as if these children descended from heaven. The pain however, shows in their hearts. It

shows!

Let him die quietly,

we do not have what to do with him!

We had another child with two cancers. In the evening, when that child was taking his last

breath, all the doctors came, they looked and said:

"Let him die quietly, we do not have what to do with him."

He was two years old and weighed six kilos, he was exuding a strong odor, he was in a bad

condition.

I took him in my arms and started crying loudly. I pitied him so much that I said: "If his mom

were here ..!". In great pain only a mother can ease the pain. Everyone had or has a mother and knows

that when we are hurting, if she sticks her lips on our forehead or embraces us we forget everything.

In this pain, I was crying with the child in my embrace and I thought, if his mom were here to

embrace him, it would have been easier even for him to die.

But God did His miracle.

I took him in front of the icon of Our Lady of Boyian and as I was holding him in my lap I put

him in front of the icon. There was no one there and I began to pray:

- "My Lady, he doesn’t have anyone in this world. He is an orphan. If you are able help him! "

The child began to breathe again, since up till then, he was breathing with difficulty. He began

moving his arms, his little head, his legs ...in the morning furthermore, he started eating. Now he is a

novice in our monastery, They call him John.

-How ''do you distribute yourselves'' among the children?

-With a kiss. I hug them. But more so I cry when I do not see them. With the sick children when

I go and see the pain when I see the ones who do not have feet, hands, sitting alone in bed- there are

enough children in this situation – I want to cry, but I cannot because I have to strengthen them, I

always smile at them. If I see someone who wants to cry, I forbid it. For the children, because they need

to see that all of us are happy and we are carrying our cross.

Surely God is working in their hearts. God is sending something special to these children. I'm

not saying there are no problems, but to us all, I do not know why, they are covered by a divine love,

something heavenly, which gives us this strength. I do not know how I find so much strength-

certainly from God- for me to give to everyone the same love.

I never desired to become a Bishop

-Does time remain for you to do your [prayer] rule? You are now an assistant bishop. You manage things.

I believe that now you are fighting more with time.

-Certainly it is much more difficult. I never desired to become a bishop, first because I am

unworthy and secondly must dedicate much time to the children. Many times I do not sleep at night.

We must have food and clothes in time. Also to have heat, medicines, hospitals. Many children we took

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for surgery abroad, to Germany and to other countries, it is very difficult. Now I am even busier.

God in His mercy helps me to not leave anything aside.

-Do you manage to see everyone daily?

-If I am here, I try to see them all. Lately however I see them less often and this makes me suffer.

This makes me not sleep at night, be anxious, and even cry. For what reason? Because I cannot see my

children, since they are sending me to other areas. Now I was away for one week in the Synod. I go for

Divine Liturgies to other archdioceses and so I'm gone again two or three days and my soul hurts.

-Do you think that it is good for them now, knowing that they now have a father-Hierarch? It is not a

small thing.

-I cannot answer because I do not feel I am a bishop yet. And I do not know if I'll ever feel it. But

let me not sin, the Divine Grace remains Divine Grace ...I asked the Synod to not make me a Bishop but

they decided in my absentia, and now when I went they told me: "What, are you going against the

Synod and the Church?" and I was forced to go.

I do not but feel it however, because it is something is very high for me, I cannot even

comprehend it yet.

But I remained a father however, I stayed close to my Christians, as I was I am, even if I'm a

bishop or priest, I have responsibility before God and we are all the same. When we will end up before

God we will give account for what we did in this life. I believe that for us Hierarchs it will be more

difficult to answer before the Lord.

-You are almost 50 years old. Did you repent for something?

-I am repenting that I could have done more and I did not. I could not become a partaker of

many people's pain.

For many years I was involved in the building of churches in several villages, with the help of

people. I was busy and did not have time to listen to the people's pain. I ought to have done better for

God because this life passes quickly, we will soon leave from here. I thank God for every day that I’m

alive, since I feel quite sick. I had suffered three heart attacks and I get tired more easily now. When we

can do something, then let us do it. Everything in its time so that it does not pass in vain. God will not

judge us for our sins, but for the good we could have done and we did not do…

- From the magazine ''Lumea monahilor'' issue 83/2014

Editing/Translation [from the Greek], Fr. George Konispoliatis

Translated from the Greek by Fr. Nicholas Palis

Source: Pilgrim

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Dear Georgia and Valante Fliakos - Please accept our apologies for not

getting your sponsorship in the Centennial Commemorative Album. It was

an oversight by the committee in that Georgia did send an email per our

instructions by the deadline of September 20th. Again we are extremely

sorry about his oversight.

Sincerely,

Manuel J. Economedes

Chairman

The Centennial Committee

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PARISH COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016 MEETING MINUTES

1-OPENING PRAYER & SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

Father Alexandros Petrides opened the meeting with a prayer and spoke about the life of Saint

Theofanis and how the monastic life came to be finding the monetary of St. Savas in Palestine. 2-REPORT OF PRIESTS

Father Alexandros Petrides and Father Nicholas Palis are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the

Archbishop and Metropolitan for the Centennial.

There will be 4 Chrismation services that will take place in the month of November.

Father Alexandros presents the following youth report:

i.TOTS

Sunday October 16: Koliva making event and Harvest

ii.HOPE & JOY

Saturday October 15: Camp Nazareth Event with Ted Cherpas

Sunday November 6: JOY Bible Study and Synaxis

iii.GOYA (Grades 7-12)

Friday October 14: GOYA Basketball at Hanover Township Center

Friday November 6: GOYA Dinner discussion at a GOYAns home.

iv.YAL

Sunday November 13:Souvlaki Sale to benefit a charity fundraiser.

v.Other News

Men’s Basketball: The men are now playing at Freedom High School every other Friday from 8-10 pm.

3-ROLL CALL & ACTIONS ON EXCUSES FOR ABSENCE

Absent: Father Nicholas Palis, William Argeros, Peter Dectis Ellen Tatalias and John Zannakis.

Present: Father Alexandros Petrides, George Mouhlas, Valante Fliakos, Athanasios Gentis, Kosta

Hristofas, Dimitri Economou, Manny Tatalias, Joel Garcia, Nicholas Kapsalis, Stanley M Vasiliadis,

Manny Economedes and George Lioudis.

4-RECEPTION OF PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

There was a communication received from UGI that will be discussed in further detail in the New

Business section.

5-MEETING MINUTES

The meeting minutes for the September council meeting was distributed by Athanasios Gentis. Manny

Economedes makes a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion is seconded by Stanley

M Vasiliadis and passes unanimously.

6-STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

Kosta Hristofas reports that almost 67% of budgeted stewardship contributions have been satisfied for

2016.

7-TREASURER’S REPORT

Kostas Hristofas reports that the total income for the time period between September 1, 2016 and

September 30, 2016 totaled: $ 183,664.71. Additionally, Kosta reported that the expenses for the same

time period totaled: $ 85,427.43. Net Income totaled: $ 98,237.28.Manny Economedes made a motion

to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented. The motion was seconded by Joel Garcia. The motion

passed unanimously.

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8-SPECIAL REPORTS / STANDING COMMITTEES / OLD BUSINESS

Special Projects

Walk Through History: Manny Economedes spoke with Dan’s Camera city and an electrician and has laid out a

preliminary plan for the layout of the hall. Photos will be picked with the committee sometime in the near

future.

Photo Directory: Manny Economedes reports that there is no new updates regarding the Directory.

Centennial Celebration: Manny Economedes provided an update on all the events:

The taverna night still has a few seats available for purchase. Council decided to continue to advertise the event

as no tickets sold at the door but if a few parishoners did show up the night of the event that tickets would be

sold to them.

The Grand Banquet is completely sold out and a few parishoners are on a waiting list in the event that a seat

becomes available.The centennial brunch will be catered by Chef Patreice Rames. Only 250 seats will be

available for the event and the seats will be filled on a first come first serve basis.

Building & Grounds:

Dome Update: A pre bid meeting was held with a number of contractors and the project management firm Alvin

H. Butz. Work on the dome should begin in the near future with a net being installed below the Pantocrator.

Water Fountain has been replaced.

Painting of Hallways: The hallways leading from the church to the hall will be painted soon.

2017 Fall Festival Dates will be tabled until the next council meeting.

Madagascar Container has arrived and is in place.

9-NEW BUSINESS Greek School Risers

Greek School has reached out to council for assistance in purchasing risers for the students to stand on

during presentations. They presented the most cost effective option to council ($2,138.56) and are

contributing $1,000 towards the cost. The Academy has also agreed to contribute up to $700. Two

anonymous donors from the council have agreed to pay the difference of the risers for the youth.

UGI High to Low Pressure Station

A communication was received from UGI requesting that our parish allows UGI to use a 20’ x 20’ area of

our property to install a High to Low Pressure Station. The Station will be fenced off and landscaped to

conceal it from view. This station is intended to be used on a temporary basis until such a time when UGI

will be able to replace all the gas lines in the area. UGI has agreed to compensate the parish a one-time

payment of $12,000 for use of this land. A suggestion is made to not accept the offer being that the station

will be an eyesore, the compensation is not adequate enough, and that there are no real terms of an

agreement. Council agrees to revisit this proposal should UGI return with a more lucrative offer for the

church.

New Year’s Eve Dance: The church council will host the New Year’s Eve Dance for 2017 and Athanasios

Gentis and Valante Fliakos have agreed to co-chair the event and form a committee.

Budget Meeting; Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 6:30 pm.

November General Assembly: Sunday, November 20, 2016 @ 11:00 am

Meeting at Holy Protection Monastery – Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 6:30 pm.

Next Parish Council Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 7:00 pm. Motion to Adjourn by Kosta Hristofas. Seconded by Joel Garcia. Motion passed unanimously. Father Alexandros Petrides

gave the closing prayer.

Respectfully Submitted: Rev. Nicholas Palis Athanasios Gentis George Mouhlas

Dean Secretary President

Rev. Nicholas Palis Athanasios Gentis George Mouhlas

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GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF PIETY GOD APPEARED IN THE FLESH

(1 Tim. 3:16)

Nick Nikolaide

Professor of the Theological School of the University of Athens

There is in patristic theology an inclusive and dynamic formulation, which we will see further

down, as regards the mystery of the salvation of the world. And obviously, the holy Fathers of our

Church are based in this topic in the related, divinely inspired and moving reference of the Apostle

Paul, who, wanting to interpret the visible and true presence of Christ in the world, says: the Son and

Word of God, moving out of excessive love for man, came near him “in the likeness of a man having

become and being found in form as a human” (Phil. 2:7 – 8). And in another turn of his divine word,

this same Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews (2:17) presents: “therefore he ought in everything to be

likened to the brothers”. Something that means, that God the Word voluntarily “is obligated”, because

only thus would the salvation of man become achievable, for him to become man!

From the above biblical texts, the Fathers taking cause, constructed a foundational dogmatic

verse, which summarizes and reveals the mystery of anthropology in Christ. And what is this full

Christological formulation? It is the “like through the like”. Precisely, the same thing we sing and

announce in the Akathist Hymn: “Wanting to save the world, the maker of all, to him came of his own

volition. And being a shepherd as God, for us he appeared like us a man. Having called the like by the

like…”.

What do all these above things mean? Why did God “owe” to become in everything and

through everything like us humans? What event “forces” God to become “by nature” human, to take,

in other words, the form of our own humility?

Yes, Christ was full and perfect, natural man with us, except for sin, because Adam, after his

transgression “fell from the natural state and was in the unnatural one” says saint Dorotheos.

Consequently, the Word of God, having become man, took on “the natural man”, as initially God made

him. So why does Christ become man, like unto us? In order to save humans, his “brethren”, the

Apostle Paul stresses (Heb. 2:17). In other words:

And it is precisely here, that the expression of God’s love for man is focused. And in this

chapter is summarized the magnitude of the struggle of the Church through her Fathers and the Local

and Ecumenical Synods, to defend and to define the dogma “concerning the perfect human nature of

Christ”. The heretical Docetists from the very beginning of the composition of the Church fought this

faith, who deny the true and real humanity of Christ, so that about them the Evangelist John writes:

“whoever does not confess Jesus Christ having come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is of the

antichrist…” (1 John 4:3). The Church subsequently stood against the heresiarch Arius, who dwarfed,

together with the other things, also the human nature of Christ, its teaching, that the human Christ did

not have a soul and that the Word of God occupied the place of the soul. The Church rejected,

subsequently, the heretical teaching of Apollinarius, who was saying that the human Christ was

deprived of the nous, of logic and God the Word took its place. For Apollinarius and Arius then to

reap the answer from the Theologian Gregory: “what is not adopted is also uncured”, which means

that, whatever God the Word did not adopt from the human nature, this he also did not heal.

But the peak of the struggles of the Church “concerning the humanity” of Christ, the

monophysite Eutyches and his likes caused, who were teaching the “absorption” or the annihilation of

“the human nature” of Christ, during its union with the divine nature. “we do not accept two natures

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in Christ”, the Monophysites were saying, because the divine nature, as infinite, resembles a vast

ocean, which wipes out one drop of water, which falls in it, and this drop, in the aforesaid case, is the

human nature of Christ! For the Church to answer with the mouth of the Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical

Synod, but Christ is perfect, full and true God, while, simultaneously, he also is perfect, full and true

man. And none of his two natures was “abolished”, absorbed, wiped out, during their union, in the

person of Christ.

The question still remains however: Why such sensitivity of the Church, not only to the

perfection of the godhead, but also in the chapter “concerning the human nature” of Christ? And

additionally, how does the dogmatic truth function in a saving way for man: “the like through the

like?”

The answer is stunning. The Apostle Paul formulates it: “let God be true” (Rom. 3:4). So that it

is proven that God is trustworthy and consistent in his promises and in his words! O, how fearful is

this saying of the Apostle!

Because, if Christ, in whatsoever manner is not also perfect man, then man’s salvation also from

the viewpoint of Christ and from the part of man is unachievable and impossible. Because in no case is

the one magnitude, the Godman Christ able to approach and to adopt man. Just as the other

magnitude also, man, in no way is he able to to commune with the one not like him. So we see, how

absolutely necessary is the “like”, in other words, the humanity of Christ to be in everything “like” the

nature of man? Thus, Christ being like us, without the “unnatural” sin, and Christ adopting, during

his incarnation, “all of Adam, the one before the transgression, the one without sin” (John Damascene)

we are also able to approach near him, to commune and to unite with his human nature, deified by

grace. In which case, approaching through divine communion the human nature of Christ, we are

united with this and become one body and one blood of Christ and through this we are led up to God

and we’re granted to be “partakers of divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) (partakers of the divine energies and

by hypostasis communicants of the Godman Christ), according to the Apostle Peter.

So finally, the magnitude of the love of the economy of God, to become a man, we celebrate on

Christmas and this mystery, the Apostle Paul living, cries out: “and admittedly great is the mystery of

piety. God appeared in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).

(Aghia Lydia December 2014 pp. 355-356)

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