Orthros at 8:15 am & Divine Liturgy at 9:30am
Weekday Orthros and Liturgies begin at 8am
Sunday 7/6
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy + 4th Sunday of Matthew
A Two-Year Memorial Service will be held for the repose of the soul of our beloved +Rev Fr Konstantine Tsigas. He was our Saint Andrew spiritual father of42 years, beloved husband of Spiridoula (Stavropoulos), father of: Vasiliki (Panagiotis Fotinis) and Katerina (George Papaioanou), father -in-law of Eleni (Zuras Tsigas), and grandfather to seven grandchildren.
Trisagion Service will be prayed for the repose of the souls of +John, +Helen, +Renae, beloved members of John and Eleni Paitakes family.
Friends and relatives are invited to join the families for refreshments in the social Hall in honor of their loved ones’ blessed memory.
Sunday 7/13
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy +Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council
Participation in services is also available via livestream - go to: Home | St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (orthodoxws.com) and choose LIVESTREAM on the Menu bar
Prayers/Liturgy can always be found at: https://www.agesinitiatives.com/dcs/public/dcs/dcs.html
Online Giving System: Website: https://www.standrewgonj.org/ and choose PayPal / online WeShare | Consider making your donations using our New Abundant App
Coffee Hour on Sunday is sponsored by The Fotinis Family in honor of +Fr Konstantine Tsigas’ blessed memory as well as by John and Eleni Paitakes in honor of their +Loved ones’ blessed memory
Bagels are donated by Jimmy Psaras | ALFA BAGELS Route 10 in Randolph, NJ
Coffee is donated by Aristotle Leontopoulos | Coffee Associates Edgewater NJ
Coffee Hour Hosts Summer Schedule
It is our summer tradition that all coffee hour trays will benefit our Ministries. We all share the responsibility of bringing food. Please bring a cake, cookies, fruit, etc. to church with you from time to time to add to our coffee hour table. Or arrange to host/sponsor a Sunday coffee hour in Memory of or in Honor of by contacting the church office. Thanking-you in advance for your participation this summer.
Sunday Coffee Hour sign up outside office for any of the following dates
August 3, 15, 17, 24, 31
Please patronize & support our local businesses: With the closures taking place on Route 80, many of our parishioners have been suffering with difficulties associated with the travel delays. Some of our parishioners have businesses that have been adversely affected as well. We ask that you keep these businesses and the families who own them in your prayers and also try to find ways to patronize them and give them your support.
Stewardship
We ask you to continue supporting our ministries with your financial pledge and prayfully consider rounding up your giving to tithing as we did last year. When we offer our treasure and ourselves sacrificially, as members of the Body of Christ, we will reach our full potential in Christ both personally and as a community. To learn more about what this means, please visit: https://standrewgonj.org/stewardship/#round-u p or speak to a member of the Parish Council or the Stewardship Ministry. If you are not already a member of Saint Andrew, please consider a pledge starting out at 1% of your income. In gratitude for God’s Blessings, please click on and fill in the 2025 Stewardship Pledge Please complete and send it to the church office in January 2025
“In an effort to really get to know and understand each other and to bring our community closer together, we invite you to listen to testimonials from parishioners and people touched by our Faith. Let us love one another, “Αγαπήσομεν Αλλήλους", also by reflecting on our journeys together. We hope these testimonials are meaningful and uplifting for you."
Click here to listen to testimonial of Ervin Mile
Click here to listen to testimonial of Nikolaos Karkanias.
If you would like to share your story with us, please contact our parish office.
Thank you and may God bless you.
HOPE & JOY is a Youth Group
for children in K-6th grades.
We have great news! Stala Jelis will be joining with Jenny Manis to organize this beautiful program. Stala will plan the HOPE events (grades k-2) and Jenny will plan the JOY events (grades 3-6), but we will have plenty of events together where it makes sense. We also look to the JOY children to help with some HOPE events as an opportunity to be of service to others. If your child is in 3rd grade, they can be in either group, but again, many events will be combined when appropriate. Questions? please email us. [email protected]
phishing / CON ARTISTS TEXTS/EMAILS : Someone is sending out texts and emails asking for assistance and signing Fr John’s name. This is not Fr John’s cell number or email address. His cell number is 973-219-2941, his email is [email protected] . Please report the text/email as junk and delete and block the sender. We contacted the FBI about this problem and was informed that they do not take a case like this. We hope no one is fooled by these criminals. Please tell your friends. Fr will never reach out to anyone asking for “assistance” in this way. Thank you for your patience and understanding. God Bless!
LORD'S VOICE July 6, 2025
Pamphlet #27 (3762)
THE SUNDAY EPISTLE (Romans 6:18-23)
Sin and its healing
Addressing the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes to new Christians who, before coming to know the light of Christ, lived in the darkness of idolatry. Idolatry is the deification of human weakness, the idolization of sin, and its acceptance as a natural way of life. A little earlier, Paul notes that it is not possible for a person to unite with Christ and live in the Church while being reconciled with sin and surrendered to it, as was the case with the idolaters. For this reason, he teaches that through baptism, the Christian has been handed over to the righteousness of Christ, having been freed from the slavery of sin. He concludes by saying that the fate of the one who, although a Christian, chooses to surrender himself to sin, is the death of the soul.
Sin as an illness of the soul
Paul’s perspective can be more easily understood if we place it within the framework of biological life. In analogy to sin as an illness of soul, we can place bodily disease, which often leads to biological death. Every very serious bodily illness leads to biological death. Likewise, as an illness of soul, sin leads to the death of the soul and the deprivation of eternal life.
This understanding of our Orthodox Church stands in contrast to the Western perspective, which gives sin a moral form and legal dimension. According to a learned hierarch, “Among the Fathers of the Church, sin takes the form of an illness, and its eradication is presented in the form of healing. Thus, we have sickness and healing. Sin is the illness of the person and not simply a disorder of the person who does not obey God like an underling. For sin is not an act or a violation of state laws. There are laws; a lawbreaker violates the law and must be punished by the law. Augustine – the Western Church –understood sin in this way: that God gave commandments, man broke the commandments of God, and was punished accordingly. The diagnosis is that man suffers from this illness called sin, which is darkening. And how many times does one encounter this expression among the Fathers, “the darkening of the nous…”? The darkening of the nous is the diagnosis of sin. And what is the cure? The illumination of the nous. So, we have darkening and illumination. Darkness and light.
Repentance heals
It is important to keep these images within us: sin is the darkness, and the darkness is dispelled by the light. Sin is a disease that is healed with a specific medicine, in a specific healing center; otherwise, it leads to the death of the soul. The healing center is the Church. As an elder hierarch has stated, “The Church’s foremost work is to deliver man from the tyranny of sin, to awaken him spiritually, to chasten his heart, to guide him along the path of virtue and true humaneness. It is to
cultivate within him a luminous and refined conscience, to cultivate his inner spiritual world, to free his heart from the wild passions of egotism, wickedness, and avarice, and to enrich his
heart with the spirit of genuine love, with a spirit of sacrifice toward one’s fellow man – the humanization of the person and his transformation into a new creation.”
The medicine by which man is healed from the illness of sin is repentance. Let us hear how Saint John Chrysostom describes it: “Repentance is the clinic that heals sin. It is a heavenly gift, a wondrous power, a grace that conquers the consequences of the laws. That is why it does not reject the fornicator, does not hinder the adulterer, does not turn away from the drunkard, is not repulsed by the idolater, does not distance itself from the foul-mouthed, nor casts out the
blasphemer or the arrogant, but transforms them all… It opens heaven to us; it leads us into paradise.” Amen!
Archimandrite E. Oik.
Sunday 7/6 @8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy + 4th Sunday of Matthew
7/13-20 Camp Good Shepherd| Linwood Sandyston NJ
Sunday 7/13
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy +Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council
Sunday 7/20
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy +6th Sunday of Matthew Prophet Elias (Elijah)
Memorial Service commemorating the loss of +Cypriot Lives - 20 July 1974 of the Turkish invasion
Saturday 7/26
Faith Kitchen - Parish Council
Sunday 7/27
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy + 7th Sunday of Matthew
Memorial Service +Kyriaki, +Gabriel, +Ioannis Evangelis | Trisagion Service + Anastasios & + Panagiota Kali
Sunday 8/3
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy+ 8th Sunday of Matthew
Monday 8/4
@6:30PM Paraklisis Service
@7:30 pm Parish Council Meeting next on 9/8/25
Tuesday 8/5
@6:30pm Great Vespers
Wednesday 8/6
@8 am +Orthros @9am Divine Liturgy +Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Wednesday 8/6
@6:30PM Paraklisis Service
Thursday 8/7
@6:30PM Paraklisis Service
Sunday 8/10
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy +9th Sunday of Matthew
Mon - Tue -Wed 8/11-13
@6:30PM Paraklisis Service
Thursday 8/14
@6:30PM Great Vespsers
Friday 8/15
@8 am +Orthros @9am Divine Liturgy +The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos
Sunday 8/17
@8:15 am +Orthros @9:30am Divine Liturgy +10th Sunday of Matthew
In gratitude for God’s Blessings, please make your commitment to Christ and His Church by submitting your 2025 Stewardship Pledge.
CAR RAFFLE TICKETS Please help us with postage and pick up your raffle tickets. Please sell your raffle tickets, mail, or bring in your money with the stubs to the office, and consider selling more tickets in front of the church. sign up genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FADA829ABFBC07-56695719-roadside/19642185#/roadside/19642185#/
7/13-20 CAMP GOOD SHEPHERD| LINWOOD SANDYSTON NJ
Help Us Connect Orthodox College Students to Their Faith
Friday at 11am June & July
September 11 is the 1st day of Hellenic Afternoon School | please click on QR CODES FOR: Letter to parents - fill in and return Family & Youth Info & HAS Registration Forms
Modern Greek Language: Beginners & Intermediate Level will start on October 2nd and run through December 11th, 2025 on Thursday nights 7:00-9:00pm
FONI KYRIOU in Greek
Prayer for a Sick Person:
Heavenly Father, physician of our souls and bodies, who have sent Your only-begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ to heal every sickness and infirmity, visit and heal (me) Your servant from all physical and spiritual ailments through the grace of Your Christ. Grant (me) patience in this sickness, strength of body and spirit, and recovery of health. Lord, You have taught us through Your word to pray for each other that we may be healed. I pray that You heal (me) as Your servant and grant (me) the gift of complete health. For You are the source of healing and to You I give glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Please keep these names in your prayers
Andreas, Thiano, Paraskevi, Sofia, Joseph, Maria, Constantinos, Kenneth, Vasilis, Judith, Catrina, Patricia, Eleni, Erica, Maria, Angeliki, Maria, Dimitrios, Irene, Retta, Eleni, Ioannis, Craig, Nicole, Maria, George, Nadia, George, Frosso, Kyriaki, Maria, Beatrice, Angeliki, Monica, Stephanie, Demetrios, Eleni, Alexandros, Alexandra, Juliana, Demetrios, Kathy, Christos, Michael, Maroulia, Areti, Niko, Dennis, Sophia, Romeo, Zoe, Jean, Anna, Demetrios, Cynthia, Irene, Jackellyn, Joan, Maria, Panagoula, Sophia, Michael, Barbara, Andrew, Effie, Hariklia, Alexandra,...
If you would like us to remember you or your loved one in our prayers, please contact the office. 973-584-0388 or send us an email to [email protected]
Names will be kept on this list for approximately three months. Please resubmit Names if needed. Fr. John will pray for the Names above during the PROSKOMIDI “Offering of gifts” during the first part of the Divine Liturgy when our priest prepares the mystical gifts of bread and wine. Please keep these names in your prayers as well.
Fourth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking spices, which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered His words and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the Apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home wondering at what had happened.
Fourth Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Λουκᾶν 24:1-12
Τῇ μιᾷ τῶν Σαββάτων, ὄρθρου βαθέος ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα, φέρουσαι ἃ ἡτοίμασαν ἀρώματα, καί τινες σὺν αὐταῖς. Εὗρον δὲ τὸν λίθον ἀποκεκυλισμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι οὐχ εὗρον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ διαπορεῖσθαι αὐτὰς περὶ τούτου, καὶ Ἰδού, δύο ἄνδρες ἐπέστησαν αὐταῖς ἐν ἐσθήσεσιν ἀστραπτούσαις· ἐμφόβων δὲ γενομένων αὐτῶν καὶ κλινουσῶν τὰ πρόσωπον εἰς τὴν γῆν, εἶπον πρὸς αὐτάς· Τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν; οὐκ ἔστιν ᾧδε, ἀλλ' ἠγέρθη. Μνήσθητε ὡς ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν, ἔτι ὢν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, λέγων, ὅτι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδοθῆναι εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ σταυρωθῆναι, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστῆναι. Καὶ ἐμνήσθησαν τῶν ῥημάτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑποστρέψασαι ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, ἀπήγγειλαν ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς ἕνδεκα καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς λοιποῖς. Ἦσαν δὲ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ Μαρία καὶ Ἰωάννα καὶ Μαρία Ἰακώβου, καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ σὺν αὐταῖς, αἳ ἔλεγον πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ταῦτα. Καὶ ἐφάνησαν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ λῆρος τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἠπίστουν αὐταῖς, ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἀναστὰς ἔδραμεν ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον, καὶ παρακύψας βλέπει τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα μόνα, καὶ ἀπῆλθε, πρὸς ἑαυτόν θαυμάζων τὸ γεγονός.
Prokeimenon. Third Mode. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 6:18-23.
Brethren, having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Προκείμενον. Third Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 46.6,1.
Ψάλατε τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν, ψάλατε.
Στίχ. Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη κροτήσατε χεῖρας.
τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς ῾Ρωμαίους 6:18-23.
Ἀδελφοί, ἐλευθερωθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. Ἀνθρώπινον λέγω διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν· ὥσπερ γὰρ παρεστήσατε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν δοῦλα τῇ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀνομίᾳ εἰς τὴν ἀνομίαν, οὕτως νῦν παραστήσατε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν δοῦλα τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ εἰς ἁγιασμόν. Ὅτε γὰρ δοῦλοι ἦτε τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐλεύθεροι ἦτε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. Τίνα οὖν καρπὸν εἴχετε τότε ἐφʼ οἷς νῦν ἐπαισχύνεσθε; Τὸ γὰρ τέλος ἐκείνων θάνατος. Νυνὶ δὲ ἐλευθερωθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, δουλωθέντες δὲ τῷ θεῷ, ἔχετε τὸν καρπὸν ὑμῶν εἰς ἁγιασμόν, τὸ δὲ τέλος ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος, τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.
4th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 8:5-13
At that time, as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
4th Sunday of Matthew
Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 8:5-13
Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, εἰσελθόντι δὲ αὐτῷ εἰς Καπερναοὺμ προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἑκατόνταρχος παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων· Κύριε, ὁ παῖς μου βέβληται ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ παραλυτικός, δεινῶς βασανιζόμενος. καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν θεραπεύσω αὐτόν. καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ἑκατόνταρχος ἔφη· Κύριε, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς ἵνα μου ὑπὸ τὴν στέγην εἰσέλθῃς· ἀλλὰ μόνον εἰπὲ λόγῳ, καὶ ἰαθήσεται ὁ παῖς μου. καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπός εἰμι ὑπὸ ἐξουσίαν, ἔχων ὑπ᾿ ἐμαυτὸν στρατιώτας, καὶ λέγω τούτῳ, πορεύθητι, καὶ πορεύεται, καὶ ἄλλῳ, ἔρχου, καὶ ἔρχεται, καὶ τῷ δούλῳ μου, ποίησον τοῦτο, καὶ ποιεῖ. ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐθαύμασε καὶ εἶπε τοῖς ἀκολουθοῦσιν· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ ᾿Ισραὴλ τοσαύτην πίστιν εὗρον. λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι πολλοὶ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν ἥξουσι καὶ ἀνακλιθήσονται μετὰ ᾿Αβραὰμ καὶ ᾿Ισαὰκ καὶ ᾿Ιακὼβ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν, οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκβληθήσονται εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τῷ ἑκατοντάρχῳ· ὕπαγε, καὶ ὡς ἐπίστευσας γενηθήτω σοι. καὶ ἰάθη ὁ παῖς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐκείνῃ.
This Saint, great and renowned among the ascetics of Egypt, lived in the fourth century in Scete of Nitria. After the death of Saint Anthony the Great, he left Scete to live in Saint Anthony's cave; he said of this, "Thus in the cave of a lion, a fox makes his dwelling." When Sisoës was at the end of his long life of labours, as the Fathers were gathered about him, his face began to shine, and he said, "Behold, Abba Anthony is come"; then, "Behold, the choir of the Prophets is come"; his face shone yet more bright, and he said, "Behold, the choir of the Apostles is come." The light of his countenance increased, and he seemed to be talking with someone. The Fathers asked him of this; in his humility, he said he was asking the Angels for time to repent. Finally his face became as bright as the sun, so that the Fathers were filled with fear. He said, "Behold, the Lord is come, and He says, 'Bring Me the vessel of the desert,'" and as he gave up his soul into the hands of God, there was as it were a flash of lightning, and the whole dwelling was filled with a sweet fragrance.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text