THE CANON

ST. NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH February 2016

Volume 44 Issue 2

MESSAGE FROM FATHER:

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

(Acts. 20: 35)

My Dear Spiritual Children,

This is the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, quoted by St. Paul. Since it was not recorded in the Gospels,

this saying of Christ proves the validity of the Sacred Tradition. By this word, the savior of the world

teaches us an essential aspect o the Christian life – the importance of Christian STEWARDSHIP. Since

February 7 is designated as Stewardship Sunday, I will try to point out the teaching of the Church on

Christian stewardship.

Permit me to point out that Stewardship is a spiritual principle based on the word of God. It recognizes

God as the Owner of all things, and man as responsible for his use of these things in keeping with God’s

divine purpose. In the New Testament the words “steward” and “stewardship” signify “house manage-

ment.” A steward was a trusted and responsible servant with great authority in handling the household

or business affair of another. St. Paul says: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards

of the mysteries of God.” (I Cor. 4:1) While St. Peter points out: “As each one has received a gift, minis-

ter it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (I Peter 4:10)

Stewardship is based on the fact that god created all things and retains control and power over all.

Our Orthodox Church teaches us that God’s creation is “good” as asserted by God in the creation ac-

count of Genesis. She affirms, also, that created things are good in themselves and in relation to the

purpose of God, and that their qualities of good or evil may be determined by their use. This is in strong

contrast to other concepts of the material world, as in the case of the Gnostics, for instance, who claim

that matter is evil in essence.

God’s revealed purpose – the redemption of mankind through the God-Man Jesus Christ – involves wit-

ness of redeemed persons and the use of created things in this witness. God has committed his created

things to man for use in keeping with this purpose, his own sustenance, his spiritual development, the

(Continued on page 3)

February 2016w Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

A.H.E.P.A.

6:30 PM

3 4

SENIORS

5:00 PM

5 6

7

Orthros 9:15

Divine Liturgy

10:00 am

STEWARDSHIP

SUNDAY

8 9

Philoptochos

7:00 pm

10 11

Parish Council

7:00 pm

12 13

14

Orthros 9:15

Divine Liturgy

10:00 am

w

15 16

A.H.E.P.A

6:30 PM

17

Night with

Father

7:00 pm

18 19 20

21

Orthros 9:15

Divine Liturgy

10:00 am

22 23 24 25 26 27

28

Orthros 9:15

Divine Liturgy

10:00 AM

29

11

Philopotchos Annual

GODPARENTS SUNDAY LUNCHEON

Sunday, March 6th Following the Divine Liturgy

GODPARENTS, GODCHILDREN & ALL ST. NICHOLAS PARISHIONERS

ARE INVITED TO CELEBRATE THIS SPECIAL DAY!

CHICKEN DINNER $10

(Includes, roast chicken, potatoes, green beans, salad, dessert & beverage)

CHICKEN FINGERS & FRIES $6

(chicken fingers, fries, dessert & beverage)

Tickets will be available February 14 thru March 1st

During Sunday coffee & by calling the church office.

Philoptochos News

Thank You - Philoptochos gratefully acknowledg-

es the following individuals for their gracious

Christmas offerings: Mr. and Mrs. Nick Barbaresso,

Mrs. Marie Carone and Mr. and Mrs. George Pou-

los.

Godparents Sunday – Mark your calendar for

Godparents Sunday, March 6, 2016. Philoptochos

will sponsor a luncheon following the Divine Litur-

gy. A Roast Chicken Dinner is on the menu for

Adults and Chicken Fingers and Fries for children.

Tickets will be available beginning February 14

thru March 1st. Call your Godchildren or Godpar-

ents and ask them to save the date and join you

on Godparent’s Sunday.

G.O.Y.A. News

Congratualtions — Congratulations to the newly

elected G.O.Y.A. officers:

Demetri Cullen President

Alison Christo Vice– President

Demetria Nicolaou Secretary

Peter Georgas Treasurer

Thank You — G.O.Y.A. would like to thank every-

one who donated to the food drive. We were able

to donate 104 pounds of needed food to Second

Harvest Food Bank.

Thanks to everyone for the generous donations to

GOYA’s annual Christmas caroling adventure!

SAVE THE DATE — Saturday, February 27th is

“Movie Night in Zahars Hall”. . . So wear your PJ’s

and fuzzy slippers! MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW!

(Continued from page 9)

3

welfare of humanity, bringing the message of salvation to every human being, for the glory of God. As

responsible steward, one will be judged and held accountable for his use of all. Here is Christ’s question

to all of us: “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his

household, to give them their portion of food in due season?” (Luke 12:42)

Someone may complain that Christianity is nothing but “give, give, give.” That is the finest explanation

of Christianity that I’ve ever heard…. God gave- He gave His Only Son. His Son gave – He gave His life on

the cross that we may have life. His disciples gave – they left their homes and businesses to devote

themselves full time to Christ as proclaimers of His Good News of Salvation. All but one apostles died a

martyrs’ death: they gave their lives for Christ. Through the ages the work of Christ has prospered to

the extent that Christians have been willing to give, give, give.

As a Eucharistic Community - a Community of worshipers, we are the mystical body of Christ. The

Church is not a business, must use good business procedures. A stewardship program of a church must

be stewardship by worshippers, laity and clergy together, for the glory of God.

Christian giving, therefore, is based on the idea that each person lives in Christ, and if that person has a

life in the Church, - in the fullness of her teachings, then stewardship is both material and spiritual.

That’s what makes a parish a true part of the Church of Christ, far more than a secular business. Unfor-

tunately, to some of us, stewardship boils down to nothing more than filling out a pledge card. We have

accustomed ourselves to the material, instead of the spiritual aspect of giving. Money is important and

we Christians use it. Most of the time, as stewards, we forget about the words of our Lord: “Where

your treasure is, there your heart will be, also.” (Matt. 6:21) If money is at the heart of stewardship,

without Christ – like attributes, then the heart is enslaved, instead of being free in Christ.

True stewardship is an active life in Christ! Let us follow the words of St. Paul who said, “Therefore…

prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you have previously promised, that it may be ready as a

matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation…. For he who sows sparingly will also reap spar-

ing, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (II Cor. 9:5-6)

I leave you with the words of St. John Chrysostom: “Let us consequently sow these good seeds gener-

ously so that, in due season, we may reap generously. Now, - after all, is the time for sowing, that I

beseech you not to ignore, so that on the day of harvesting we may gather the returns of what was

sown here and be regaled with loving kindness from the Lord.

In Christ’s Love,

+ Fr. Michael

(Continued from page 1)

STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

Sunday, February 7th is the Official Kick Off Day for the new Stewardship Program. Parishion-ers will receive their Stewardship envelope booklets and will be able to fill out their Steward-ship Offering Cards for the 2016 year. We will be offering light sandwiches along with our regular coffee hour. A short presentation with the specific guidelines of the program will be presented along with a question and answer period.

Q: Why do the Catholics and Orthodox make the

sign of the cross differently? Which way is the

older way? When and why did the change take

place?

A: The history of the sign of the cross reveals that

this practice arose popularly and has gone

through many states. Making the mark of the

cross on the forehead was a practice used private-

ly by individual Christians as early as the 2nd centu-

ry. By the 4th century, it was widely practiced in

the Divine Liturgy and other public worship ser-

vices. Toward the end of the 4th century, there

were instances of making the sign of the cross

over the breast as well. By the 5th century, there

is evidence that the form of the sign of the cross

has begun to change among the people into the

large sign which is made on the forehead, breast

and shoulders. A papal directive in the 13th centu-

ry directed it to be made in this way and by mov-

ing the hand from right to left (the Orthodox way)

but this was later reversed, creating the difference

(Continued on page 5)

ASK FATHER

9

[Community°É°NEWS] Parish Council - We would like to congratulate the new

Executive Board of the Parish Council:

Pamela Koutsaftis - President Gay

Adkins - Vice President Donna Miller

- Treasurer Sara Koutsaftis -

Secretary

+May God grant you strength and wisdom to guide His

Church for His Glory +

Vasilopita Luncheon:

We would like to congratulate the Ladies of the

Philoptochos for another beautiful Vasilopita Luncheon.

We would like to thank all those who cooked and made

the preparations and we would like to thank Maria

Epitropoulos for offering to make the delicious Vasilopi-

ta.

We would also like to thank all of you for supporting

the philanthropic works of our Philoptochos and your

donations to St. Basil’s Academy.

Seniors — Our next Senior meeting is scheduled for

Thursday February 4 at 5:00 p.m. Please bring a side

dish to share at our meal.

Night with Father— Come walk with us as we begin our

journey through Great Lent. We will be discussing the

many Services, Scriptural passages and beautiful hymns

and Traditions of our faith that will prepare us and lead

us into the glorious celebration of Easter. Our next

meeting will be on February 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Sympathies: — Our deepest sympathy to the family of

Athanasia Vardous who fell asleep in the Lord on Janu-

ary 9, 2016. A Forty Day Memorial Service will be held

on February 14, 2016.

Our deepest sympathy to the family of Demetria Chris-

to who fell asleep in the Lord on January 13, 2016. A

Forty Day Memorial Service will be held on January 21,

2016.

+May God rest their souls and grant peace and comfort

to their families +

Memorial Service — On February 14, 2016 a five year

Memorial Service will be given in loving memory of

Theodore Patouhas and Mary Markakis. +May

God rest their souls +

Thank You — The Plomaritis Family would like to thank

everyone who contributed in any way in making our

beloved Peter Plomaritis’s Memorial service so special.

A very special thank you to the wonderful Ladies of the

Philoptohos Society who made sure everything was per-

fect. Thank you all sincerely.

The Plomaritis Family.

Vasiliki Ioannidis and family and Fr. Michael and his fam-

ily would like to thank the Ladies of the Philoptohos and

all of you brought items and offered your prayers and

comfort at the Memorial Service for our beloved Alexan-

dros Ioannidis and Mary Gulgas.

+May God rest their souls and may their memories be

eternal +

Thank You — We would like to thank the Plomari-

tis Family for the beautiful covers for the Proskin-

itaria in the Narthex that were given in loving

memory of their son and brother Peter.

(Continued on page 10)

doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both

the Father and the Son, he demonstrated clearly

with his Mystagogy on the Holy Sprit how the fil-

ioque destroys the unity and equality of the Trini-

ty. he has left us many theological writings, pane-

gyric homilies, and epistles, including one to Boris,

the Sovereign of Bulgaria, in which he set forth for

him the history and teachings of the Seven Ecu-

menical Councils. Having tended the Church of

Christ in holiness and in an evangelical manner,

and with fervent zeal having rooted out all the

tares of every alien teaching, he departed to the

Lord in the Monastery of Armenians on February

6, 891.

Apolytikion:

As a teacher to the world, being one with the

Apostles, intercedes with the Lord of all, O Photi-

os, that He may grant the world peace, and to our

souls His great mercy.

Kontakion:

Far-reaching beacon of the Church and God, in-

spired Guide of the Orthodox, you are now

crowned with the flowers of son. You are the di-

vine words of the Spirit’s harp, the strong adver-

sary of heresy and to whom we cry, “Hail all-

honorable Photios.

(Continued from page 7)

Family Movie Night! Saturday, February 27th

Zahars Hall . . .

So wear your PJ’s & Fuzzy

slippers!

More details coming soon!

5

between the Eastern and Western practices. It is

also mentioned that in the 8th century some Chris-

tians were in the habit of making the cross over

their lips.

The original form seems to have been to sign

one’s self with one finger or thumb. In the East,

about the 6th century two fingers or three fingers

began to be used in order to oppose the views of

the Monophysites who taught that Jesus had only

one nature. The two fingers emphasized the two

natures of Christ (that He is truly Divine and truly

Human) and the three fingers emphasized the

Holy Trinity. (Three fingers put together as one –

One God in three Person – Father, Son and Holy

Spirit. – two finger emphasized His two natures-

Truly God and Truly man)

Since the 9th century, we have had a rule in the

West requiring the priest to bless the bread and

the wine

at the Eucharist with the thumb and two forefin-

gers joined together in the present Orthodox fash-

ion. Later it was directed that the whole hand be

use rather than just three or two fingers.

As can be seen, the history is quite mixed since

both the location (head; chest; and head, chest,

and shoulders), and the number of fingers (one

finger; thumb; two fingers; three fingers; whole

hand) as well as the direction of the horizontal

stroke have varied. The oldest form (one finger of

the forehead) is no longer practiced. It would

seem that current Orthodox practice goes back to

about the sixth century and is older than the cur-

rent Roman Catholic practice. Of course, these

are quite minor differences. The most important

aspect is to make the sign of the cross consciously

and reverently.

How to Make the Sign of the Cross

When we pray, we want to rededicate our-

selves to God. We do this by making the sign of

the Cross over ourselves. First we joint the first

three fingers of the right hand together (the

thumb, the index finger, and the middle finger),

and we bend the other two fingers down to the

palm. We then trace over ourselves the Cross by

touching the three joined fingers of the right hand

to the fore-head, the breast, the right shoulder

and the left shoulder. After forming the Cross

upon ourselves we slightly bow our heads to ex-

press to God our reverence and humility.

When joining the three fingers we confess that

we believe in ONE God in Three Persons: Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. (Three fingers joined together

to show Three Person: One God.) We bend the

other two fingers down to confess that we believe

that Christ has 2 natures: He is Truly God and Truly

Man. (They are bent down to show that He came

down from Heaven to Earth for our salvation.) We

touch our forehead to ask God to sanctify our

minds and thoughts, we touch our breast asking

Him to sanctify our hearts, then our shoulders to

bless the limbs of our body, the strengthen our

will to do His commandments. We go from right

to left to show that after His Ascension, He sat at

the right hand of the Father.

(Continued from page 4)

Jesus Christ shared the parable of the Publican

and the Pharisee with us to warn us of the great

spiritual danger of arrogant self-confidence in our

own righteousness, coupled with contempt for

those whom we consider to be beneath us. In this

way Jesus sought to protect us from the terrible

spiritual sickness of Pharisee-ism.

This disease of the soul first manifests itself as

absolute confidence and trust the rightness of our

own point of view and judgment; it presupposes

our personal superiority over others. And this

twisted expression of self confidence quickly de-

generates into uncritical self-satisfaction and self

righteousness, into a kind of mindless self-

admiration. It takes endless pleasure in the self,

and in all that it does.

Let us look at the Pharisee in today’s parable.

He goes into the Temple of god to offer incense to

his own self-idol. He proclaims his saintliness and

enumerates his good works. He admires and

praises himself. He after all is not like other peo-

ple who are up to their necks in immorality and

evil. In the midst of his supposed prayer he does

not hesitate to spill the poisonous bile of his ha-

tred for the Publican whom he sees praying off in

a distant corner. With exaggerated self-

satisfaction he refers to his careful fasting and his

generous support of the temple. He is indeed, a

fastidious observer of the law of the covenant.

And even though we feel repulsed by the atti-

tude and behavior of the Pharisee, we need to be

honest enough to admit to ourselves that there

are more than a few times when we astonishingly

resemble him. After all, who among us does not

want others to think that we are better people

than we actually are? Which one of us does not

suffer from some lack of respect toward others?

Is there even one of us who is very lenient in his

judgment of others, and sterner in his own self-

criticism? I sincerely doubt it. Every one of us,

more or less, has something of that Pharisee in-

side of us; something of that self-adulation and

righteousness. As so to protect ourselves from

infection by this disease requires nothing less than

constant struggle and vigilant effort on our part.

A truly Christian heart seeks to do what is just

and right as a simple and natural expression of our

responsibility as persons. But even then we un-

derstand that our good deeds do not reflect per-

fection and so should not be the cause of weaning

pride on our part. That is why St. Basil, who de-

voted his entire life to the loving service of others

wrote, “even if we were somehow able to do ab-

solutely everything that is required of us, we

would still have to conclude that we are unworthy

servants of the Lord. And this is because after

having done all this, we will only have fulfilled our

basic duty ad obligation and nothing more.”

This condemnation of the smug self-satisfaction

of the Pharisee, leads us to the justification of the

Publican, who keenly feels and readily acknowl-

edges his personal inadequacies. The Publican is

admittedly burdened by a host of sins. But he is

(Continued on page 7)

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

READ: Luke 18: 10-14

7

acutely aware of his sinfulness and spiritual pov-

erty. As so he stands back, in the farthest corner

of the temple. He does not dare to even lift his

eyes towards heaven. With heavy signs, he whis-

pers his short prayer, “God be merciful to me, the

sinner.”

His is a request, a plea actually, that is filled

with contrition. And this contrition, this acknowl-

edgement and confession of personal imperfec-

tion is nothing less than the very cornerstone of

the entire spiritual life. And this is because it is

inseparably bound with humility of the soul; and it

s humility that allows divine grace to transfigure

and sanctify our lives.

Perhaps the attitude that we need to acquire if

we wish to offer prayer that is acceptable before

God, is summed up in the words of Jesus himself

who said, to us, “Come to Me, all you that are

weary and are carrying heaven burdens and I will

give your rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn

from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and

in Me you will find rest for your souls. For my

yoke is easy, and my burned is light.” (Matt.

11:28) May we too approach the altar of God

with the same gentleness of spirit, and that same

humility of heart and soul.

(Continued from page 6)

As for the thrice-blessed Photius, the great and

most resplendent Father and teacher of the

Church, the Confessor of the Faith and Equal to

the Apostles, he lived during the years of the em-

perors Michael (the son of Theophilos) Basil the

Macedonia, and Leo his son. He was the son of

pious parents, Sergius and Irene, who suffered for

the Faith under the iconoclast Emperor Theophi-

lus; he was also a nephew of Saint Tarasius, patri-

arch of Constantinople. He was born in Constan-

tinople, where he excelled in the foremost imperi-

al ministries, while ever practicing a virtuous and

Godly life. An upright and honorable man of sin-

gular learning and erudition, he was raised to the

apostolic, ecumenical, and patriarchal throne of

Constantinople in the year 857.

The many struggles that this thrice-blessed one

undertook for the Orthodox Faith against the

Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other heretics,

and the attacks and assaults that he endured from

Nicholas I, the haughty and ambitious Pope of

Rome, and the great persecutions and distresses

he suffered, are beyond number. Contending

against the Latin error of the filioque, that is, the

(Continued on page 8)

Saint Photius the Great - Patriarch of Constantinople

Feb. 6