Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-05-18
Bulletin Contents
Parish News
Hymns of the Day
Saints and Feasts
Gospel and Epistle Readings

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Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (904)-829-0504
  • Fax:
  • (904)829-0504
  • Street Address:

  • 2940 CR-214

  • St. Augustine, FL 32084-2718

Contact Information

Thomas Lekas


[email protected] | 678-993-3629

Services Schedule

Sunday  Divine Liturgy 10:00am    V. Rev. Father Maximos Politis, Priest

Past Bulletins


Parish News

PRAYER REQUEST:

"I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people….  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

We pray for mercy, life, peace, and healing of all parishioners.

Prayers for the family and friends of: Ellen Sarris Allen, Maryann Bolt, Leonardos Daniels, Athena Duddy, Mikae Gaetanos, Susana G. Kugeares, Kostas Lantzounis, Chresanthe Lemieux, George Lemieux, Jr., James Mahourtis, Mary Mastoridis, Nicolaos Pramagioulis, Adeline Susan Rahaneotis, Tommy Stewart and Trey Wilkinson.

May their memory be eternal!

Prayers for Scott Wilkes, Taki Andriotis, Angelique Dalarides Kelley, Michael Colburn, Chris Bersu, Michael and Ingrid Fotianos, Ruza Basimamovic, Zoe Kauttu (daughter of Melissa Sarris Kauttu), James Day, James, Kyriake, Alex Aclim, Jane Anderson, Gwen H, Lewis Hayberg,Jayden Billeter, Vanessa Oliver and Chris.

A WORD FROM:

V. Rev Fr. Maximos Politis, HTGOC Parish Priest

(347) 500-8176 [email protected]

Κυριακὴ τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος

Θέλουμε να δούμε; 

Κατά τη διάρκεια της συνομιλίας του Ιησού με την Σαμαρείτιδα, βλέπουμε τον Κύριο να της δίνει κάποιες αφορμές να σκεφτεί. Να σκεφτεί τι; Η γυναίκα πρέπει να σκεφτεί ότι ο Διδάσκαλος που έχει μπροστά της δεν είναι ένας συνηθισμένος άνθρωπος. Όμως στην αρχή δεν μπορεί ή δεν θέλει να το καταλάβει στην πληρότητά του. Ο Χριστός δεν παραιτείται. Της αποκαλύπτει κρυφές, όπως αυτή νόμιζε, λεπτομέρειεςτης ζωής της. Της δίνει αφορμή να προβληματιστεί για την άλλη ζωή και προοδευτικά της αποκαλύπτει τη Θεϊκή του ιδιότητα. Η πρώην αμαρτωλή γυναίκα, γίνεται ο πρώτος άνθρωπος που ο Χριστός αποκαλύπτει έτσι με σαφήνεια ότι είναι ο αναμενόμενος Μεσσίας. Και από αμαρτωλή μεταβάλλεται σε ισαπόστολο και Μεγαλομάρτυρα. Είναι η Αγία Φωτεινή. 

Αυτό συμβαίνει συχνά και στον άνθρωπο. Ο Θεός πολλές φορές δείχνει κάποια σημάδια, στέλνει μηνύματα, μας καλεί σε αλλαγή και μετάνοια. Ο άνθρωπος όμως κάνει και αυτός ότι δεν καταλαβαίνει. Ο Θεός δεν παραιτείται αρκεί να δει ότι μέσα μας υπάρχει η διάθεση να Τον γνωρίσουμε. Υπάρχει η διάθεση όχι μόνο να Τον γνωρίσουμε αλλά και να αλλάξουμε. Ακόμη, ο Κύριος στο πηγάδι του Ιακώβ δείχνει την ανθρώπινη αδυναμία Του, διψάει και ζητάει από την Σαμαρείτιδα το γήινο νερό. Μέσα στην Εκκλησία ο Χριστός ζητάει τη βοήθειά μας. Ο Χριστός είναι Θεός και δεν έχει ανάγκη να τον στηρίξουμε. Δείχνει όμως την ανθρώπινη διάστασή Του και κτίζει γέφυρα επικοινωνίας με τον άνθρωπο. Ζητάει να προσφέρουμε ένα ποτήρι ψυχρού ύδατος στους ελαχίστους αδελφούς και όπου χρειάζεται. Έτοιμος είναι να μας δώσει αυτό που έδωσε στην Σαμαρείτιδα το ζωντανό νερό, τη Χάρη Του και τη σωτηρία. 

Sunday of Samaritan woman

Do we want to see?

During Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman, we see the Lord giving her some reason to think. To think what? The woman must think that the Master in front of her is not an ordinary man. But in the beginning, she cannot or does not want to understand it in its fullness. Christ does not give up. He reveals to her some hidden, as she thought, details of her life. He gives her reason to think about the other life and gradually reveals to her his Divine quality. The former sinful woman becomes the first person that Christ thus clearly reveals that He is the expected Messiah. And from a sinner she is transformed into an equal to the apostles and a Great Martyr. It is St. Fotini.

This often happens in all humans as well. God often shows some signs, sends messages, and calls us to change and repentance. But man, also pretends that he does not understand. God does not give up as long as He sees that within us there is the desire to meet Him. The desire should not only be to meet Him but also to change. Furthermore, the Lord in Jacob's well shows His human weakness, thirsts and asks the Samaritan woman for earthly water. In the Church Christ asks for our help. Christ is God and does not need to be supported. But He shows His human dimension and builds a bridge of communication with man. He asks us to offer a glass of cold water to the least of our brothers and where needed. He is ready to give us what He gave to the Samaritan woman, the living water, His Grace and salvation.

Notices:

Dance Team 

" Calling all Hghschool and Middle school age children to join the Dance team towards our festival in October!!

First practice was held on April 27th at 12pm in the church hall. Subsequent practices are once a month until September when they will be weekly. Dance  is a fun way to connect and preserve our culture.More details will be given in the first practice.Opa !"

Coffee Hour

Please sign up for Coffee Hour-We need your assistance, link below

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A45A8AD2FABFECE9-54297592-coffee#/ 

Greek Summer Night Needs Your Help

Greek Summer Night is Saturday, June 7, 2025. This event aims to raise funds to support our beloved church and its ministries.  There are numerous items needed – food, drinks, decorations.  We would be grateful for any monetary contributions. Your generosity will not only enhance our event but also help us serve our community more effectively.  Please see Andy Lekos to donate. Andrew J. Lekos, m 904.392.1084, e [email protected]

EVENTS:

  Upcoming Events:    

  • Greek Summer Night Reservations

    Reserve your tickets for Greek Summer Night, on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at the Parish Hall.  Space is limited!  Come enjoy Greek food, dance and music by Dj Taki.  Tickets $40; $20 for children (12 & under); reserved seating available.  Please call 773.517.6352 or email [email protected] for tickets or order online at

    https://holy-trinity-greek-orthodox-church-events-102143.square.site/

  • Return to the Ancient Christian Church . . . . . . Alive, and Still Calling!

Our “Welcome Home” event will be held under the blue dome of our beautiful church at 2940 CR 214, St Augustine, FL, Sunday, May 18. Worship with us (Liturgy, 10:00 a.m.) then join us for a Delightful Selection of Appetizers, Traditional Greek Pastries and Imported gifts and groceries available for Purchase, and a Silent Auction to Bid on Beautiful Items! We look forward to sharing faith, food and fellowship with all in our community! All the proceeds from the sale of Greek pastries and Silent Auction will go toward the operating expenses of our church, thanks to the generosity of the Mihalakos family and other donors. Please spread the news of this event to your acquaintances and local message boards and use FaceBook to share the church page. Thank you!

  • Carey Cramer on vacation 5/6-16/2025

   **If you have an article for the Bulletin or Newsletter please email by Wednesday each week to Carey at the Church office to [email protected].

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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the Plagal 1st Tone

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life.

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 4th Tone

When the women disciples of the Lord heard the Angel joyously proclaim the resurrection, they cast aside the ancestral verdict, and boasting in glory they said to the Apostles, “Death has been despoiled! Christ God has risen, granting the great mercy to the world!” Τὸ φαιδρὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως κήρυγμα, ἐκ τοῦ Ἀγγέλου μαθοῦσαι αἱ τοῦ Κυρίου Μαθήτριαι, καὶ τὴν προγονικὴν ἀπόφασιν ἀποῤῥίψασαι, τοῖς Ἀποστόλοις καυχώμεναι ἔλεγον· Ἐσκύλευται ὁ θάνατος, ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς ὁ Θεός, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὸ μέγα ἔλεος.

Apolytikion for Mid-Pentecost in the Plagal 4th Tone

OLord, midway through the feast, give drink to my thirsty soul from the living waters of right belief. You, O Savior, proclaimed to everyone, “Let whoever is thirsty come to Me and drink.” You are the fountain of life, O Christ our God. Glory to You! Μεσούσης τῆς ἑορτῆς, διψῶσάν μου τὴν ψυχήν, εὐσεβείας πότισον νάματα· ὅτι πᾶσι Σωτὴρ ἐβόησας· Ὁ διψῶν, ἐρχέσθω πρός με καὶ πινέτω. Ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, δόξα σοι.

Apolytikion for the Church in the 4th Tone

Blessed are You, O Christ our God; You made wise men of poor fishermen by sending down upon them Your Holy Spirit, and through them You caught the whole world, O Lover of mankind, glory to You.

Εύλογητός εἶ Χριστὲ ὁ Θεος ἡμῶν ὁ πανσόφους τοὺς ἁλιεῖς ἁναδείξας καταπέμψας αὐτοῖς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν τῆν οἰκουμένην σαγηνεύσας φιλάνθρωπε δόξα Σοι

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal 4th Tone

Though You went down into the tomb, O Immortal One, yet You brought down the dominion of Hades; and You rose as the victor, O Christ our God; and You called out “Rejoice” to the Myrrh-bearing women, and gave peace to Your Apostles, O Lord who to the fallen grant resurrection. Εἰ καὶ ἐν τάφῳ κατῆλθες Ἀθάνατε, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ᾅδου καθεῖλες τὴν δύναμιν· καὶ ἀνέστης ὡς νικητής, Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, γυναιξὶ Μυροφόροις φθεγξάμενος, Χαίρετε, καὶ τοῖς σοῖς Ἀποστόλοις εἰρήνην δωρούμενος, ὁ τοῖς πεσοῦσι παρέχων ἀνάστασιν.
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Saints and Feasts

May 18

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

One of the most ancient cities of the Promised Land was Shechem, also called Sikima, located at the foot of Mount Gerazim. There the Israelites had heard the blessings in the days of Moses and Jesus of Navi. Near to this town, Jacob, who had come from Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century before Christ, bought a piece of land where there was a well. This well, preserved even until the time of Christ, was known as Jacob's Well. Later, before he died in Egypt, he left that piece of land as a special inheritance to his son Joseph (Gen. 49:22). This town, before it was taken into possession by Samaria, was also the leading city of the kingdom of the ten tribes. In the time of the Romans it was called Neapolis, and at present Nablus. It was the first city in Canaan visited by the Patriarch Abraham. Here also, Jesus of Navi (Joshua) addressed the tribes of Israel for the last time. Almost three hundred years later, all Israel assembled there to make Roboam (Rehoboam) king.

When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, came at midday to this city, which is also called Sychar (John 4:5), He was wearied from the journey and the heat, and He sat down at this well. After a little while the Samaritan woman mentioned in today's Gospel passage came to draw water. As she conversed at some length with the Lord and heard from Him secret things concerning herself, she believed in Him; through her many other Samaritans also believed.

Concerning the Samaritans we know the following: In the year 721 before Christ, Salmanasar (Shalmaneser), King of the Assyrians, took the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel into captivity, and relocated all these people to Babylon and the land of the Medes. From there he gathered various nations and sent them to Samaria. These nations had been idolaters from before. Although they were later instructed in the Jewish faith and believed in the one God, they worshipped the idols also. Furthermore, they accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses, and rejected the other books of Holy Scripture. Nonetheless, they thought themselves to be descendants of Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, the pious Jews named these Judaizing and idolatrous peoples Samaritans, since they lived in Samaria, the former leading city of the Israelites, as well as in the other towns thereabout. The Jews rejected them as heathen and foreigners, and had no communion with them at all, as the Samaritan woman observed, "the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). Therefore, the name Samaritan is used derisively many times in the Gospel narrations. After the Ascension of the Lord, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the woman of Samaria was baptized by the holy Apostles and became a great preacher and Martyr of Christ; she was called Photine, and her feast is kept on February 26.

May 18

Holy Martyrs: Peter, Dionysius, Andrew, Paul, Christina, Heraclius, Paulinus and Benedimus

These Saints all contested in martyrdom during the reign of Decius (249-251)- Peter was from Lampsacus in the Hellespont. For refusing to offer sacrifice to the idol of Aphrodite, his whole body was crushed and broken with chains and pieces of wood on a torture-wheel; having endured this torment courageously, he gave up his soul.

Paul and Andrew were soldiers from Mesopotamia brought to Athens with their governor, there they were put in charge of two captive Christians, Dionysios and Christina. The soldiers, seeing the beauty of the virgin Christina, attempted to move her to commit sin with them, but she refused and, by her admonitions, brought them to faith in Christ. They and Dionysios were stoned to death, and Christina was beheaded.

Heraclius, Paulinus, and Benedimus were Athenians, and preachers of the Gospel who turned many of the heathen from their error to the light of Christ. Brought before the governor, they confessed their Faith, and after many torments were beheaded.

May 18

Stephen I, Patriarch of Constantinople

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 4th Tone. Psalm 103.24,1.
O Lord, how manifold are your works. You have made all things in wisdom.
Verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 11:19-30.

In those days, those apostles who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabos stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius. And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
The Reading is from John 4:5-42

At that time, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the city and were coming to him.

Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony. "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we know that this is indeed Christ the Savior of the world."

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