Orthros at 8:15 am & Divine Liturgy at 9:30am
Weekday Orthros and Liturgies begin at 8am
Sunday 8/11
7th Sunday of Matthew +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
Monday & Tuesday 8/12 & 8/13
Parklesis Service @6pm
Wednesday 8/14
Great Vespers will not be held at Saint Andrew, please attend one of our local churches for Great Vespers Servce
Thursday 8/15
The Dormition of the Theotokos +Orthros & Divine Liturgy @8am
Wedding:
On Saturday August 17, 2024 at 2pm Kevin Little and Barbara Simonis will be joined in Holy Matrimony according to the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Sponsor will be Anna Simonis-Grubelic.
Sunday 8/18
8th Sunday of Matthew +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
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
Philoptochos 2024 RUMMAGE SALE scheduled for September 6th – 8th has been CANCELLED.
Coffee Hour Hosts August Summer Schedule:
Summer Coffee Hour: 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 coffee hour in Memory of or in Honor of by contacting the churchoffice. Thanking-you in advance for your participation this summer.
COFFEE HOUR HOSTS Summer Schedule
8/11 Open 8/15 Celebration, 8/18 Kelly, 8/25 Open,
Bagels are donated by Jimmy Psaras of ALFA BAGELS on Route 10 in Randolph, NJ
Coffee is donated by Aristotle Leontopoulos of Coffee Associates in Edgewater, NJ
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.
We need your help to make this year’s raffle a success! Sign up for JUST 2 HOURS and sell raffle tickets! Sit and read or even bring your laptop (Wi-Fi available).
To schedule times email [email protected] or call 973-584-0388. It is an easy way to help our church meet our annual budget and unforeseen expenses. We have made over $1,000 in just one day by manning the curbside raffle ticket sales. Please consider helping out in this easy way. Your church needs your support.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
Hellenic Afternoon School
Thursday September 12, 2024
at 4:30pm Agiasmo in Church followed by open house and then
first day of Class for all HAS grades
GREEK DANCE
1st day Thursday September 19
1st Session: Group 1 @ 6:30pm | Group 2 @7:15 pm | GOYA @8:00pm
Religious Education
Classes will begin on Sunday September 8 after Holy Communion
Registration Forms
contact the Church office [email protected]
HOPE & JOY is a Youth Group
for children in K-6th grades. We offer one activity per month after church and one “fun day” activity, sometimes at church and sometimes out at a location. We look forward to your participation! See our website for event info https://sites.google.com/view/hopejoystandrew/home Any questions contact: Jenny Manis 732-547-4790 [email protected]
Stewardship 2024
As we move toward becoming a percentage giving community, we are adopting a rounding up approach to giving.
We ask you to join the Parish Council and Stewardship Ministry who have pledged to give a percentage of their income.
Please join us in this commitment to achieve our parish vision.
To learn more about what this means, click on - 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 2024 Stewardship Pledge. please send to the church office
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!
THE LORD'S VOICE
THE LOVE OF GOD
Today is the seventh Sunday, in the series of passages of the holy Gospel of the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. His divinely inspired pen floods us today with the love of God; it tells us very succinctly, and at the same time very comprehensively, that God is present in people's lives, as it informs us about a triple miraculous intervention of Jesus, with the restoration of vision in two blind men, and of the restoration of the mental, physical and spiritual health of a deaf and possessed man. It is worth stopping for a moment, and benefiting a lot from the answer that the teacher Christ gave to the touching pleas of the first two, to turn His gaze at them, and to have mercy on them. An answer that is simultaneously, a harbinger of the abundance of love, expressed with their healing. "According to your faith, let it be done to you"; according to your faith, let what you are asking of me, be done to you. Divine, simple, words, full of love and philanthropy, which, combined with the gaze of Jesus, are already beginning the recovery process. Faith, the dialect, we would say, of the communication with the true God, the bridge that unites heaven with the earth, the Maker with his creature, the father with his child, is undoubtedly the possibility for man to speak the language of God, and to freely live the life that He grants.
Faith, the language of the Saints
Discipleship in the sacred tradition of the people of God, teaches us that faith is the answer to how the faithful person can defeat his passions and weaknesses, overcome the machinations of the devil, gaze at God himself in his image in the world, which is fellow man. Above all, the faithful person, with the strength of his faith, knows when he falls, not to be disappointed, to not lose his hope, even if he is hurting and bleeding, but to take courage, confident in the grace of the Holy Mighty One, to get up and continue.
Faith makes man excel, not by being exalted, but by being humbled, escaping from the prison in which the so-called freedom is imprisoning him. The worldly criterion, when the devil rules him, has always wanted and still wants, under various pretexts, to suppress the hope that faith gives birth to. But faith resembles the leaven, which is small, is minimal, but when it is skillfully kneaded with flour and water, it greatly increases and gives many loaves, enough to feed and support the person. This is exactly how believers seem, small and cast aside, many times, to the world's shallow judgement. Faith, however, is the gift of the immortal God that immortalizes, eternalizes the person who believes, and grants him to overcome the present things unharmed, but also to participate in the joy of God's children. It is the road that fills a person with the experience of all those who chose the same path. The logic of those who do not participate in this joy, considers this choice absurd, depreciating, mocking and dynamiting it, many times.
A heavenly compainionship
Encouragers of the struggler, on the path of God, are the choirs of Ascetics, Fathers, Martyrs and Neomartyrs and all of the Saints and righteous ones of the Old and New Testament. We can all be travelers on this path, despite our sinfulness, blessed by our holy baptism and our participation in the body of Christ. We are accompanied by the mediating presence and power of so many holy people who stand prayerfully at the throne of the Master Christ.
Our holy Church is the treasury of this gift. Let us run there, to the benefit of the mysteries of God, even if we think that we have completely lost our priceless treasure. Our Christ is waiting for us, to enrich us again. May it be!
Archim. A. A.
Monday -Tuesday 8/12-8/13
@6pm PARAKLESIS SERVICE
Wednesday 8/14
Great Vespers will not be held at St. Andrew
Thursday 8/15
The Dormition of the Theotokos +Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy @9am
Friday 8/16
@4pm Wedding Rehearsal
Saturday 8/17
@2pm WeddingSimonis_Little
Sunday 8/18
8th Sunday of Matthew +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
Memorial Service: +Maria, +Ioannis, +Panagiota Mpakarakes; +John, Claire Kelly
+Eftychia Zaros; Trisagion Service: +Pantelis Karaconstantis
Saturday 8/24
FAITH KITCHEN - Parish Council Hosting
@5pm Wedding Rehearsal
Sunday 8/25
9th Sunday of Matthew +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
Memorial Service: +Vagias (Van) Paftinos
Monday 8/26
@4pm Wedding Hollar_Savva
Thursday 8/29
Beheading of St John the Baptist +Orthros & Divine Liturgy @8am
Sunday 9/1
Ecclesiastical New Year +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
Friday - Saturday - Sunday 9/6-9/8
Annual Rummage Sale CANCELLED
Sunday 9/8
Nativity of the Theotokos +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy @9:30am
Religious Education 1st day of Sunday school classes
As we move toward becoming a percentage giving community, we are adopting a rounding up approach to giving... To learn more about what this means, click on https://standrewgonj.org/stewardship/#round-up
2024 MERCEDES-BENZ GLC 300 W4 - MSRP $54,220 |TICKETS $25 EACH | DRAWING SEPTEMBER 29, 2024, 12:30PM
ALL FAMILIES that are registering for: Sunday School, Greek School, Greek Dance, GOYA Dance, please complete FORM and submit PTA Family Membership ($30) in addition to Tuition Fees for above
HELLENIC AFTERNOON SCHOOL THURSDAY September 12, 2024 at 4:30pm AGIASMO in Church followed by OPEN HOUSE and then first day of Class for all HAS grades | must complete Family & Student Form as well
2024-2025 GREEK DANCE GROUP starts on Thursday September 19: Group 1 (ages K thru age 7) 6:30-7:15pm | Group 2 (ages 8-11) 7:15-8:00pm | GOYA (ages 12-18) 8:00pm
DOP Pampered Chef Fundraiser - August 1st - August 31
CIGAR NIGHT Sept 12 @6:30pm at The Meadow Wood
Trivia Night 11-15-2024
2024 Philoptochos Rummage Sale Cancelled
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
Maria, Mary, Demetrios, Stanley, Gianna, Konstantinos, Fr George, Eftihia, Meropi, Thomas, Alexandros, George, Johnathan, Christopher, Irene, Ioannis, Maria, Samuel, Peter, Vasilios, Demetrios, Despina, Natalia, Eleni, Demetrios, Roye, Elias, Eleana, Ellen, Andrew, Eleni, Denise, Eleni, Robert, Maria, Michael, Pamela, Angeliki, Theodoros, Constantinos, Andrew, Chari, Penelope, ..
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.
Seventh Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:1-10
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying and the napkin, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that He must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Seventh Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Ἰωάννην 20:1-10
Τῇ μιᾷ τῶν Σαββάτων Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ ἔρχεται πρωῒ σκοτίας ἔτι οὔσης, εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον· καὶ βλέπει τὸν λίθον ἠρμένον ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου. Τρέχει οὖν, καὶ ἔρχεται πρὸς Σίμωνα Πέτρον, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄλλον μαθητήν, ὃν ἐφίλει ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ᾞραν τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ ἔθηκαν αὐτόν. Ἐξῆλθεν οὖν ὁ Πέτρος καὶ ὁ ἄλλος μαθητής, καὶ ἤρχοντο εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον. Ἔτρεχον δὲ οἱ δύο ὁμοῦ· καὶ ὁ ἄλλος μαθητὴς προέδραμε τάχιον τοῦ Πέτρου, καὶ ἦλθε πρῶτος εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον, καὶ παρακύψας, βλέπει κείμενα τὰ ὀθόνια· οὐ μέντοι εἰσῆλθεν. Ἔρχεται οὖν Σίμων Πέτρος ἀκολουθῶν αὐτῷ, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον, καὶ θεωρεῖ τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα· καὶ τὸ σουδάριον, ὃ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐ μετὰ τῶν ὀθονίων κείμενον, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς ἐντετυλιγμένον εἰς ἕνα τόπον. Τότε οὖν εἰσῆλθε καὶ ὁ ἄλλος μαθητὴς ὁ ἐλθὼν πρῶτος εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον, καὶ εἶδε, καὶ ἐπίστευσεν. Οὐδέπω γὰρ ᾔδεισαν τὴν Γραφήν, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι. Ἀπῆλθον οὖν πάλιν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς οἱ μαθηταί.
Prokeimenon. Plagal Second Mode. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 15:1-7.
Brethren, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves; let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Προκείμενον. Plagal Second Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 27.9,1.
Σῶσον, Κύριε τὸν λαὸν σου καὶ εὐλόγησον τὴν κληρονομίαν σου.
Στίχ. Πρὸς σἐ, Κύριε, κεκράξομαι ὁ Θεός μου.
τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς ῾Ρωμαίους 15:1-7.
Ἀδελφοί, ὀφείλομεν δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ δυνατοὶ τὰ ἀσθενήματα τῶν ἀδυνάτων βαστάζειν, καὶ μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ἀρέσκειν. Ἕκαστος ἡμῶν τῷ πλησίον ἀρεσκέτω εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν πρὸς οἰκοδομήν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχ ἑαυτῷ ἤρεσεν, ἀλλά, καθὼς γέγραπται, Οἱ ὀνειδισμοὶ τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων σε ἐπέπεσον ἐπʼ ἐμέ. Ὅσα γὰρ προεγράφη, εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν διδασκαλίαν προεγράφη, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ διὰ τῆς παρακλήσεως τῶν γραφῶν τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχωμεν. Ὁ δὲ θεὸς τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως δῴη ὑμῖν τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν ἐν ἀλλήλοις κατὰ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν· ἵνα ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐν ἑνὶ στόματι δοξάζητε τὸν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Διὸ προσλαμβάνεσθε ἀλλήλους, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς προσελάβετο ὑμᾶς, εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ.
7th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 9:27-35
At that time, as Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, "Have mercy on us, Son of David." When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly charged them, "See that no one knows it." But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
As they were going away, behold, a dumb demoniac was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
7th Sunday of Matthew
Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 9:27-35
Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, παράγοντι ἐκεῖθεν τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ δύο τυφλοὶ κράζοντες καὶ λέγοντες· ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, υἱὲ Δαυΐδ. ἐλθόντι δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ τυφλοί, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· πιστεύετε ὅτι δύναμαι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· ναί, Κύριε. τότε ἥψατο τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν λέγων· κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν γενηθήτω ὑμῖν. καὶ ἀνεῴχθησαν αὐτῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί· καὶ ἐνεβριμήσατο αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγων· ὁρᾶτε μηδεὶς γινωσκέτω. οἱ δὲ ἐξελθόντες διεφήμισαν αὐτὸν ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ γῇ ἐκείνῃ.
Αὐτῶν δὲ ἐξερχομένων ἰδοὺ προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ ἄνθρωπον κωφὸν δαιμονιζόμενον· καὶ ἐκβληθέντος τοῦ δαιμονίου ἐλάλησεν ὁ κωφός, καὶ ἐθαύμασαν οἱ ὄχλοι λέγοντες ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἐφάνη οὕτως ἐν τῷ ᾿Ισραήλ. οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι ἔλεγον· ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίων ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια.
Καὶ περιῆγεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τὰς πόλεις πάσας καὶ τὰς κώμας διδάσκων ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν καὶ κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ θεραπεύων πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν ἐν τῷ λαῷ.
This Martyr was from Catania in Sicily and contested during the reign of Diocletian. He presented himself of his own accord to Calvisianus the Governor, who put him to exceedingly harsh torments. As Euplus was on the rack, Calvisianus commanded him to worship Mars, Apollo, and Aesculapius; he answered he worshipped the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was beheaded in the year 304.
Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching, and brought them at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.
With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens.
These things has the Church received from the traditions of the Fathers, who have composed many hymns out of reverence, to the glory of the Mother of our God (see Oct. 3 and 4).
These Martyrs were twin brothers, and stonemasons. After the martyrdom of their teachers Proclus and Maximus, they left Byzantium and came to the city of Ulpiana in Illyricum, where a certain Licinius hired them to build a temple for the idols. The wages he gave them, they distributed to the poor, and when the temple was built, Floros and Lauros gathered the paupers, and with their help put ropes about the necks of the idols, pulled them to the ground, and furnished the temple as a church. When Licinius learned of this, he had the paupers burned alive in a furnace. Floros and Lauros were tormented, then cast into a deep well, where they gave up their souls to the Lord. When their holy relics were recovered years later, they poured forth myrrh and worked many miracles; they were enshrined in Constantinople.
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
Hymn of the Apostle Saint Andrew: As first called of the Apostles and brother of Peter the Preeminent, O Andrew, intercede with the Master of all to grant peace to the whole world, and great mercy to our souls.
Απολυτίκιο του Αποστόλου Ανδρέου: Ως των Αποσόλων πρωτόκλητος, και του κορυφαίου αυτάδελφος, τον Δεσπότην των όλων Ανδρέα ικέτευε, ειρήνην τη οικουμένη δωρήσασθαι, και ταις ψυχαίς ημών το μέγα έλεος
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Narthex Press
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text