St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2024-12-08
Bulletin Contents
Parish News
Saints and Feasts
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Hymns of the Day
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 December 8, 2024

Sunday,    12/08   8:30 a.m.  Orthros / Divine Liturgy - 10th Sunday of Luke
Sunday,    12/08   6:00 p.m.  Hierarchical Great Vespers for St. Anna's Conception of the Virgin Mary
Monday,    12/09   9:00 a.m.  Orthros and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy for St. Anna's Conception of the Virgin Mary
Thursday,  12/12   9:00 a.m.  Orthros / Divine Liturgy - St. Spyridon the Wonderworker of Trymithous
Friday,      12/13   9:00 a.m.  Orthros / Divine Liturgy - St. Lucia the Virgin-martyr

A memorial service is offered for departed servants of God Ally (Eleftherios) (30yrs) and Jessie (7yrs) Kiozpeoplou, loving parents of parishioners Diana Grina & Maria Koppus. We will also remember their Grandparents Vasilios & Kalliope, and their Aunt Katherine. Fellowship hour is offered by the family in their memory. May their memory be eternal.

Today/tomorrow:  His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey will be visiting our parish to celebrate the Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos with Hierarchical Great Vespers this evening, Sunday, December 8, 2024 and Orthros and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy tomorrow, Monday, December 9, 2024. A flyer is attached to this bulletin.

Parish Council Updates:

This year’s election for Parish Council will take place TODAY, Sunday, December 8, 2024, immediately following the Divine Liturgy. Voting will take place until 12:30pm. Please review the attached letter from our Board of Elections.

LADIES PHILOPTOCHOS CORNER: 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Community Christmas Card - Thank you to all who signed up for the Philoptochos Community Christmas Card! Kai tou Xronou! Till next year!

St. Anna Philoptochos and the St. Anna Parish are grateful that His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey, will be visiting us on the evening of December the 8th and the morning of December the 9th, to celebrate our Feast Day!
Visit our Sign-Up Genius website to help us show our heartfelt hospitality to all who attend our beautiful St. Anna Church's Feast Day, by bringing a "Fasting/Vegan" dish to share, and/or by helping to decorate our church and fellowship hall!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D4BAAA629A1F49-53555864-stanna

Christmas Bake Sale! Order your Christmas treats from Philoptochos NOW through December 15. Pick up your orders on Sunday, December 22, 2024 after the Christmas Pageant.

Philoptochos VASILOPITA Sale:  Philoptochos NOW taking orders for Holiday Vasilopitas through TODAY, Sunday, December 8th during Fellowship hour.  Questions can be directed to Arge Mardakis at [email protected] or Aimee Douvris at [email protected].

"Let your light so shine among man, that they will see your good works and Glorify your Father in Heaven!"
Glorify Him by joining St. Anna Philoptochos Today!!!

Our first senior Parea Christmas party was a huge success.  Thank you to all our volunteers and guests. SAVE THE DATE, January 7, 2025, for our next event.

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): Nikol Toulatos [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. Our next meeting is January 5th.  

GOYA: GOYA is having a virtual giving tree to support United Way of Hunterdon County. If you are interested, gifts are due by TODAY, Sunday December 8th. Use the signup genius link to donate. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EABAE23A7F85-53510286-holiday

Sunday School: The Christmas Pageant will be on December 22, 2024! Signup to bring something to share during coffee hour.  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EABAE23A7F85-53402493-saint. There will be no Sunday school on 12/29/24.
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.

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: Adult Greek School for Beginners started Monday, December 2nd. Classes will be in person on Mondays from 7:15pm-8:15pm in the St. Anna Conference Room. There are a few spots still available if you are interested. Please contact Maria Sfondouris at  [email protected].

ST. ANNA BOOKSTORE - Christmas is around the corner!! Come see our extensive collection of books and other gift items. If there is something in particular you are looking for, email [email protected]. Here are some recommendations:

FOR CHILDREN: Nativity sets; Theotokos doll; Saints matching game and puzzles; Christmas coloring books; Our Church (book).

FOR ADULTS: Prayer ropes; Christmas cards; ceramic incense burners; Wounded by Love (book); A Faith Encouraged Devotional (book).

Procedure for Holy Communion:

Enter into the center aisle. Please wait 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: Please sponsor a fellowship hour to support the Saint Anna parish. The requested fellowship hour sponsorship donation is $50.

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 166 Pledges totaling $214,734 and $204,445 as of 5 December 2024. We also have 4 families who have contributed $540 to date but have not submitted a stewardship card. The current Stewardship List and other stewardship information is posted on the bulletin board by water cooler.  Please verify that you are current with your stewardship prior to the Fall General Assembly.

KIDNEY DONOR NEEDED:  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. The following website  tells Joanne’s story: http://www.helpingjoannefindakidney.com/.

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

December 08

Patapius the Righteous of Thebes

This Saint was from the Thebaid of Egypt and struggled many years in the wilderness. He departed for Constantinople, and having performed many miracles and healings, he reposed in peace in a mountain cave on the Gulf of Corinth, where his holy relics are found incorrupt to the present day.

December 08

Forefeast of the Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

December 09

The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord (see also Sept. 8).

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Grave Tone. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 2:14-22.

Brethren, Christ is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Gospel Reading

10th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 13:10-17

At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Grave Tone

Thou didst abolish death by Thy Cross; Thou didst open Paradise to the thief; Thou didst transform the myrrh-bearers' lamentation, and didst bid Thine Apostles to preach that Thou art risen, O Christ God, granting great mercy to the world.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 3rd Tone

On this day the Virgin cometh to the cave to give birth to * God the Word ineffably, * Who was before all the ages. * Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing * the gladsome tidings; * with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him * Who is willing to be gazed on * as a young Child Who * before the ages is God.
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Bulletin Inserts:

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