St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2024-10-20
Bulletin Contents
Parish News
Saints and Feasts
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Hymns of the Day
Wisdom of the Fathers
Bulletin Inserts:

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St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (908) 968-4004
  • Fax:
  • (908) 968-4002
  • Street Address:

  • 85 Voorhees Corner Road,

  • Flemington, NJ 08822

Contact Information

St. Anna Office
staff

[email protected] | (908) 968-4004

Clergy
Father Jimmy Pavlow

[email protected] | (609) 498-4672

Corresponding Secretary
Paul J. Costalas

[email protected]

Services Schedule

Sunday Services:  Orthros 8:30 am; Divine Liturgy 9:30  am.  

Weekday Services:  See parish website calendar link for updates.

 

Past Bulletins


Parish News

Schedule of Services for Week of October 20, 2024

Sunday,    10/20   8:30 a.m.  Orthros / Liturgy - 6th Sunday of Luke
                                                                         St. Gerasimus of Cephalonia
Saturday,  10/26   9:00 a.m.  Orthros / Liturgy - The Holy Great Martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-streamer

Announcing St. Anna's Annual Parish Ministries Fair: Today, Sunday, October 20! in conjunction with Stewardship Sunday, St. Anna is hosting its annual Parish Ministries Fair. We hope that our parishioners were able to reach out to former and prospective stewards, family, and friends and invited them to attend this special event to learn more about our dynamic community! There are so many new and exciting things happening at St. Anna! The fair is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the vibrant array of ministries we offer for faithful of all ages -- and generate awareness, enthusiasm, and involvement. Immediately following church services, each ministry, committee, and organization will have a table/booth at the fair to share information about their activities and ways to get involved. Everyone-- current, past, and prospective stewards-- can gather information, ask questions, and learn more about the range of spiritual, social, educational, leadership, and cultural opportunities at St. Anna. The festivities will also include a delicious buffet luncheon, special door prizes, and awards for the most creative table displays. Join us to celebrate our community and its ministries!

LADIES PHILOPTOCHOS CORNER:    

Come see us at our Ministry Fair Philoptochos table and learn all about what we do and who we are and how YOU can help! Ask questions, have a snack and some fellowship, while asking how you can help us meet our philanthropic goals for the St. Anna Philoptochos.  A "thank you" icon of Ayia Magdalene will be given out to every woman who signs up to be a member of our thriving Philoptochos Society!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

The 2nd Annual Paint & Sip is in just 2 WEEKS!! Don't let yourself miss the fun at this year's event! Join us on Saturday, November 2, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:30 to paint your masterpiece, have some wine, and join in the fellowship with family and friends! Our own Lisa Soteropoulos will entertain us with her magical voice!! Bid on some awesome Auction Items including an Electric Guitar valued at $375, Original Box "Cabbage Patch Dolls" each valued at $200, an amazing "Date Night" package with 2 great local restaurants and 2 bottles of wine, valued at $250, and much more!  Cost is $35/person which includes all supplies and a glass of wine, appetizers and dessert. Cash, Credit Card, and Zelle (to St. Anna Philoptochos) accepted! Bring your talent and enthusiasm and take home a beautiful painting made by YOU! Be sure to sign up at the Philoptochos Table during Fellowship or contact Fay Vespa at: [email protected] or Katina Foglia at: [email protected] to sign up or for more information! **Paint & Sip Flyer is attached at the bottom of the bulletin.

 "The quieter you become, the more you can hear."
Come "hear" our Mission and make a Difference with us!!!
St. Anna Philoptochos

Our new senior Parea ministry will host its first luncheon on November 5th from 12-2:30ish. We will meet the first Tuesday of the month in the middle classroom/fellowship hall.  Please RSVP to Olympia Tzovolos (908) 285-3983 OR Aimee Douvris (908) 339-2511, [email protected].  We look forward to hosting our Senior parishioners,

Veterans Day Program: On Sunday, November 10, 2024, Saint Anna will be honoring our Veterans who served their country with courage and strength. Please join us for this special program for our Veterans and thank them for their service. The Saint Anna Philoptochos will sponsor coffee hour.
ATTENTION ALL VETERANS: If you are new to Saint Anna and are a Veteran, please notify Denise Coutsouridis as soon as possible regarding your branch of the military, years served, and era of service so that you can be acknowledged during the program. Please email to Denise at [email protected].

Parish Council Updates:

Save the date for the Fall Parish Assembly - November 24th. During this Assembly, we will focus on the financial budget for 2025 and nominations for Parish Council. The full agenda will be provided in early November.

YOUTH MINISTRY CONTACTS:

Sunday School Director: Nikol Toulatos [email protected]
Greek School Director: Maria Sfondouris [email protected]
GOYA Head Advisor: Larisa Trumpy [email protected]
Hope & Joy Advisor: Kristen Diagelakis [email protected]
Little Blessings:  Lucy Pavlow [email protected]
Greek Dance Lead: Larisa Trumpy [email protected]
Young Adult League (YAL): Bill Johnson [email protected]
College Care Package Ministry: Maria Tattoli [email protected]
Parent Advisory Council (PAC): Lisa Soteropoulos [email protected]

First Sundays are Youth Sundays at St. Anna. GOYA, HOPE & JOY (grades K-6th), and our Little Blessings (Pre-K and under) ministries will meet on the First Sunday of the month. Register Now.
GOYA (Grades 7-12) https://forms.gle/JKECwBdrma3bUTu69 
HOPE & JOY (Grades K-6) https://forms.gle/CJWRD3rfdRxnfDbd6 
Little Blessings (Pre-K & Under) https://forms.gle/r1hZ7kDa6uDdj1Vr7

GOYA Fall Festival: All children in Grades K-6 are invited to a Fall Festival, hosted by St. Anna GOYA, next Sunday, October 27th from 12-2. Children in Sunday School and Greek School are invited. You may wear a church appropriate Halloween costume or festive attire!  Please RSVP by October 24th to Larisa Trumpy, advisor, at [email protected].

GOYA Service Project: In honor of our Veterans, the St. Anna GOYA will be collecting donations for the charity Operation Jersey Cares which sends care packages to our troops deployed overseas. They will be packing the care packages on November 10th. A donation box with the current needs list will be placed in the hall to collect items.

HOPE & JOY: Register children grades K-6th for the upcoming year https://forms.gle/CJWRD3rfdRxnfDbd6. Our next meeting is November 3rd. If you have any questions or you are interested in becoming a HOPE & JOY advisor please contact Kristen Diagelakis at [email protected].

Little Blessings:  Thank you for the families who came out and supported our first Little Blessings Meeting! It was a great success! We hope to see everyone at the next event!

Greek School: If you are interested in registering your child for Greek school or if you would like to find out more about our Greek school program please email Maria Sfondouris at [email protected].

Adult Greek School: Please email Maria Sfondouris if you are interested in weekly lessons via Zoom. [email protected].

Sunday School: Please email Nikol Toulatos to register your children for the 2024-25 school year. Parents interested in volunteering for Sunday School teaching / aiding please reach out to Nikol Toulatos.

Parent Advisory Council (PAC): This past Sunday Saint Anna Flemington PAC helped launch our brand new ministry 'Little Blessings' for children ages 1 to 4 years old. This ministry will be meeting the first Sunday of every month. Please contact Lucy Pavlow [email protected] to sign up and join the fellowship and fun!! We look forward to seeing you at our next session on November 3rd.

ST. ANNA BOOKSTORE.  FALL RECOMMENDATIONS:

FOR CHILDREN:
---- Variety of Saint books by Potamitis publishing.

FOR ADULTS:
---- "Gratitude in Life's Trenches: How to Experience the Good Life...Even When Everything Is Going Wrong".

If there is something in particular you are looking for, we can assist. Contact Angela Ferreira ([email protected]) or Aimee Douvris ([email protected]). 

Saint Anna will offer an iconography class November 18-22. The class will be held at the church for 3 hours each evening, from 6 to 9 p.m.  The instructor is Maria Athanasiou, author and illustrator of six published children's books. The icon subject will be an 8"x10" image of Christ Emmanuel (Christ as a child), focusing on His face, and the class will be suitable for students of all artistic skill levels... no previous art experience is needed to take it. We have designed it to use acrylic paints (easier for beginners than the traditional egg tempera medium), and all but the most commonly needed materials will be provided. The cost will be $300 per student. For more information, or to register, please call, text, or email Maria (631-235-6956, [email protected]) or Gerard A. Pelletier (609-917-0990, [email protected]).

Procedure for Holy Communion:
Our new procedure for receiving Holy Communion from the center aisle minimizes waiting on line and congestion. Please wait in your pew until a member of the Parish Council calls your pew. The order is as follows:
-Any Newly illumined (newly Baptized, Chrismated)
- Choir
-Sunday School students and Teachers
-Pew by pew per PC direction. Please wait until your pew is called. 
-Those remaining in the narthex. 

Sunday Fellowship Hour Sponsors: The Parish Council would like to make an appeal for sponsors of our Sunday Fellowship Hour for the Ecclesiastical year.  Please consider sponsoring a fellowship hour to honor a friend or family member (perhaps a birthday or graduation), for the memory of a deceased loved one, or as a donation to support the Saint Anna parish.  The requested fellowship hour sponsorship donations is $50 which covers the cost of bagels, all the spreads, coffee and condiments.

STEWARDSHIP: Stewardship is a practice that can help shape our world and lives so that we can more fully and gratefully experience God's grace, love, and communion. Inspired by our love of God, stewardship is expressed through the many ways we support and engage in the life of our beloved Parish. Parish engagement in the form of time, talent and treasure supports the mission and programs of our Church. As we embark on our Church’s future and continued progress, we recognize the incredible efforts of so many individuals over the past 20+ years that have led to remarkable accomplishments for our humble Community. To continue to build and maintain our momentum, and achieve our vision for Saint Anna, we depend heavily on parish engagement and stewardship. With your heartfelt pledges, we can maintain our church facilities, do God's work, and grow in Christ together. If you haven’t submitted your annual stewardship pledge card for 2024, we ask that you take the time to download and complete the card attached to this message. Kindly hand in your card when you come to Church or send it via email or the postal service by September 30. Thank you again for your support and may God bless you!

2024 Stewardship Status:  Growth in the number of stewards is annually assessed by the Archdiocese and the New Jersey Metropolis and is a key indicator of stability and progress. All families and individuals must complete a stewardship card to be considered a steward. We have 163 Pledges totaling $213,936 for an average of $1,312 and $185,248 received to date.  We also have 5 families who have contributed $590 to date but have not submitted a stewardship card.  It is important that all families complete a stewardship card to be considered a steward.  Current Stewardship List and other stewardship information is posted in bulletin board by water cooler.  Please verify that you are current with your stewardship prior to the Fall General Assembly.

KIDNEY DONOR NEEDED:  National Philoptochos Board Member Joanne Kakoyiannis, a long-standing National Philoptochos Board member is currently facing stage 5 chronic kidney disease and urgently requires a kidney transplant, preferably from a suitable living donor. It should be noted that Joanne’s blood type is O-positive. Joanne is working with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Kidney Transplant Program. They are available at (215) 662-6200 for confidential discussions to provide information about the living donation process and address your concerns. There is no financial burden on the donor. If you know someone who may be open to donating a kidney, please let them know about Joanne’s situation. The following website  tells Joanne’s story: http://www.helpingjoannefindakidney.com/.  If you need more information, please feel free to reach out to Penn (tel 215-662-6200), Peter Kakoyiannis (tel 215-715-5378; email  [email protected]) and/or Jason Kakoyiannis (213-590-9125; [email protected]). Thank you!

PARISH LINKS: 

St Anna Website: https://www.stannagoc.org/

St Anna Greek Orthodox Church Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/[email protected]&ctz=America/New_York 

For questions to the parish council: [email protected]

To be added to the weekly bulletin email or for general questions:  [email protected]

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Saints and Feasts

October 20

Gerasimos of Cephalonia

Saint Gerasimus was from the Peloponnesus, the son of Demetrius and Kale, of the family of Notaras. He was reared in piety by them and studied the Sacred writings. He left his country and went throughout various lands, and finally came to Cephalonia, where he restored a certain old church and built a convent around it, where it stands to this day at the place called Omala. He finished the course of his life there in asceticism in the year 1570. His sacred relics, which remain incorrupt, are kept there for the sanctification of the faithful.

October 20

Artemius the Great Martyr of Antioch

Saint Artemius lived during the years of Saint Constantine the Great, and was appointed by him to be Governor of Alexandria; later, he was honoured with the rank of patrician. During the reign of Julian the Apostate, in the year 361, Artemius appeared before the Emperor and censured him for his apostasy. For this, he endured many torments and was finally beheaded.

October 20

Matrona the Righteous of Chios

October 23

James the Apostle, brother of Our Lord

According to some, this Saint was a son of Joseph the Betrothed, born of the wife that the latter had before he was betrothed to the Ever-virgin. Hence he was the brother of the Lord, Who was also thought to be the son of Joseph (Matt. 13: 55). But some say that he was a nephew of Joseph, and the son of his brother Cleopas, who was also called Alphaeus and Mary his wife, who was the first cousin of the Theotokos. But even according to this genealogy, he was still called, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, the Lord's brother because of their kinship.

This Iakovos is called the Less (Mark 15:40) by the Evangelists to distinguish him from Iakovos, the son of Zebedee, who was called the Great. He became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, elevated to this episcopal rank by the Apostles, according to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist., Book II: 23), and was called Obliah, that is, the Just, because of his great holiness and righteousness. Having ascended the crest of the Temple on the day of the Passover at the prompting of all, he bore testimony from there concerning his belief in Jesus, and he proclaimed with a great voice that Jesus sits at the right hand of the great power of God and shall come again upon the clouds of heaven. On hearing this testimony, many of those present cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David." But the Scribes and Pharisees cried, "So, even the just one hath been led astray," and at the command of Ananias the high priest, the Apostle was cast down headlong from thence, then was stoned, and while he prayed for his slayers, his head was crushed by the wooden club wielded by a certain scribe. The first of the Catholic (General) Epistles written to the Jews in the Diaspora who believed in Christ was written by this Iakovos.

October 26

Demetrios the Myrrh-streamer & Great Martyr of Thessaloniki

Saint Demetrius was a Thessalonian, a most pious son of pious and noble parents, and a teacher of the Faith of Christ. When Maximian first came to Thessalonica in 290, he raised the Saint to the rank of Duke of Thessaly. But when it was discovered that the Saint was a Christian, he was arrested and kept bound in a bath-house. While the games were under way in the city, Maximian was a spectator there. A certain friend of his, a barbarian who was a notable wrestler, Lyaeus by name, waxing haughty because of the height and strength of his body, boasted in the stadium and challenged the citizens to a contest with him. All that fought with him were defeated. Seeing this, a certain youth named Nestor, aquaintance of Demetrius', came to the Saint in the bath-house and asked his blessing to fight Lyaeus single-handed. Receiving this blessing and sealing himself with the sign of the precious Cross, he presented himself in the stadium, and said, "O God of Demetrius, help me!" and straightway he engaged Lyaeus in combat and smote him with a mortal blow to the heart, leaving the former boaster lifeless upon the earth. Maximian was sorely grieved over this, and when he learned who was the cause of this defeat, he commanded straightway and Demetrius was pierced with lances while he was yet in the bath-house, As for Nestor, Maximian commanded that he be slain with his own sword.

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Plagal 4th Tone. Psalm 75.11,1.
Make your vows to the Lord our God and perform them.
Verse: God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel.

The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:16-18; 7:1.

Brethren, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.

Gospel Reading

6th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 8:26-39

At that time, as Jesus arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me." For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal 4th Tone

From on high didst Thou descend, O Compassionate One; to burial of three days hast Thou submitted that Thou mightest free us from our passions. O our Life and Resurrection, Lord, glory be to Thee.

Apolytikion for Great Martyr Artemius in the 4th Tone

Thy Martyr, O Lord, in his courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since he possessed Thy strength, he cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by his prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 2nd Tone

O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
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Wisdom of the Fathers

For if we, going about on the earth which is familiar and well known to us, being encompassed with a body, when we are journeying in a strange road, know not which way to go unless we have some one to lead us; how should the soul, being rent away from the body, and having gone out from all her accustomed region, know where to walk without one to show her the way?
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 28 on Matthew 8, 4th Century

Some say, 'Why do they [demons] possess people?' I answer those who wish to have this explained that the reason of these things is very deep. Somewhere one of His saints addressed God by saying, 'Your judgments are a vast abyss.' As long as we bear this in mind, we will perhaps not miss the mark.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Commentary on Luke, Homily 44. (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture; vol 3: Luke, Intervarsity Press)

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Bulletin Inserts:

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