St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-03-30
Bulletin Contents
Parish News
Saints and Feasts
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Hymns of the Day
Bulletin Inserts:

Organization Icon
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 Vespa

[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 March 30, 2025

Sunday,        03/30    8:30 a.m.  Orthros / Divine Liturgy - Sunday of St. John Climacus
Monday,       03/31    6:00 p.m.  Compline service
Wednesday,  04/02   10:00 a.m.  Presanctified Liturgy
Friday,          04/04   7:00 p.m.   Akathist Hymn

Email Spoofing: We have learned of several people getting fake emails from someone posing as Fr. Jimmy. As a rule, please ignore any emails that do not come from <role>@stannagoc.org. 

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.
- 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.

Today Sunday, March 30. We are commemorating the five-year memorial for the servant of God Anthony Douvris, loving brother of Dr. John, who fell asleep in the Lord five years ago on March 25th.

Today's Coffee hour: Will be hosted by John and Aimee Douvris in memory of Anthony. May his memory be eternal.

Our 2025 Stewardship drive is in progress, please complete your 2025 stewardship pledge to allow the parish council to properly plan for the year.

2025 Stewardship Status: We have 69 Pledges totaling $128,856 and $77,608 received to date. We also have 6 families who have contributed $9,980 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.  

House Blessings: This is the time when we normally schedule House Blessings.  If you would like Father Jimmy to come and bless your home, please email/call Father and the office by emailing [email protected] and/or calling (908) 968-4004.

Parish Council Updates:

Καλή Σαρακοστή: The Parish Council would like to express our prayerful wishes for a Blessed Lent to our fellow parishioners. If you would like to make a special contribution to the additional beautification needs of the Church during this period, please use the attached 2025 Easter Appeal Form. We thank you in advance for your generosity.

The next Parish General Assembly will occur today March 30th. Please see attached invitation and agenda for further information

Greek Independence Day Parade in Philadelphia, PA - Next Sunday April 6, 2025. The annual Greek Independence Day Parade is happening on Sunday April 6, 2025. Last year we had over 40 parishioners marching down the Ben Franklin Parkway. Let's try and top that number this year! Please use this link: app.wooclap.com/2025parade to reserve your spot on the bus or see Bill Johnson at fellowship hour. Cost per seat is $15 for adults and Children under the age of 18 ride for free. Final Reservation/Payment is due Sunday March 30.

Palm Sunday Luncheon - Sunday April 13, 2025. We will be having our annual Palm Sunday Fish Luncheon following the Palm Sunday Liturgy. For details, please see attachment. If you plan to attend, please use this link to register: app.wooclap.com/25PALMSUNDAY

PHILOPTOCHOS CORNER:  .

Annual elections are coming up on May 18th! Please contact an "Election Committee Member" if you are interested in running for a position on the Board! Thank You!

Palm Crosses will be available on through Palm Sunday. The cost is $10.

We are continuing with our membership drive till the end of March, you can help us by joining the St. Anna Philoptochos and raising our numbers, by becoming a warrior for "Friends of the Poor"!

“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35

Save the Date: Our next senior Parea event is this Tuesday, April 1st at 12:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall. The dietician from Shoprite will be comming in to speak to the group. Please RSVP after church or contact Olympia Tzovolos, (908) 285-3983, or Aimee Douvris, (908) 339-2511, [email protected].

YOUTH MINISTRY:

Sunday School: Please have your children join the Sunday School teachers in the middle classroom for a Lenten Retreat guided walkthrough on Palm Sunday (April 13, 2025) to learn and discuss Holy Week material.

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.

Myrrh-bearers (Myrophores): Kristen Diagelakis will be coordinating the Myrrh-bearers (Myrophores) during Holy Friday evening service on April 18th. Girls between ages 5-12 are welcome. contact Kristen via email [email protected] if interested.

YAL: The Young Adult League will assist in PC duties on the second Sundays of the month (YAL Sundays). If you are of YAL age (18-35) and interested in participating or for more details about monthly meetings and get togethers, please reach out to Steven Tattoli at [email protected].

Forming new Women's Group Book Club. If interested, please send email (including day and time preferences) to [email protected].   Additional information will be coming soon.

ST. ANNA BOOKSTORE - Great Lent is here. Stop by the bookstore and see our new merchandise for Pascha. Questions? Send email to [email protected]. Here are some recommendations:

For Children: "Our Very First Easter"; "The Light"; " The Miracle of the Red Egg"; and "Pascha at the Duck Pond"

For Adults: "The Crucifixion of the King of Glory" and "Great Lent: Journey to Pascha"

The second in our series of iconography classes at St Anna will be held Monday, March 31, through Friday, April 4, from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. each evening. The icon subject will be a version of the famous Christ Pantocrator (Christ Ruler of All) icon from St. Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai in Egypt. Although many ancient icons from the period were destroyed due to the iconoclast heresy, this one survived due to St. Catherine's remote location. It is therefore historically significant, and one of the oldest icons in existence (see PDF file attached for the image). No previous art experience is needed, and all supplies will be provided. The class fee will be $350 ($20 per hour, as before). For more information, or to register, please contact Gerard A. Pelletier ([email protected], 609-917-0990). (As no class will be offered during the summer, this may be our last class until Fall 2025.)

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]

For general questions: [email protected]

To be added to the weekly bulletin email:  [email protected]

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Saints and Feasts

March 30

Sunday of St. John Climacus

The memory of this Saint is celebrated on March 30, where his biography may be found. He is celebrated today because his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, is a sure guide to the ascetic life, written by a great man of prayer experienced in all forms of the monastic polity; it teaches the seeker after salvation how to lay a sound foundation for his struggles, how to detect and war against each of the passions, how to avoid the snares laid by the demons, and how to rise from the rudimental virtues to the heights of Godlike love and humility. It is held in such high esteem that it is universally read in its entirety in monasteries during the Great Fast.

March 30

John Climacus the Righteous, author of The Divine Ladder of Ascent

This Saint gave himself over to the ascetical life from his early youth. Experienced both in the solitary life of the hermit and in the communal life of cenobitic monasticism, he was appointed Abbot of the Monastery at Mount Sinai and wrote a book containing thirty homilies on virtue. Each homily deals with one virtue, and progressing from those that deal with holy and righteous activity (praxis) unto those that deal with divine vision (theoria), they raise a man up as though by means of steps unto the height of Heaven. For this cause his work is called "The Ladder of Divine Ascent." The day he was made Abbot of Sinai, the Prophet Moses was seen giving commands to those who served at table. Saint John reposed in 603, at eighty years of age. See also the Fourth Sunday of the Fast.

April 01

Mary of Egypt

When Mary was only twelve years old, she left her parents and departed to Alexandria, where she lived a depraved life for seventeen years. Then, moved by curiosity, she went with many pilgrims to Jerusalem, that she might see the Exaltation of the venerable Cross. Even in the Holy City she gave herself over to every kind of licentiousness and drew many into the depth of perdition. Desiring to go into the church on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, time and again she perceived a certain invisible power preventing her entrance, whereas the multitude of people about her entered unhindered. Therefore, wounded in heart by this, she decided to change her way of life and reconcile herself to God by means of repentance. Invoking our Lady the Theotokos as her protectress, she asked her to open the way for her to worship the Cross, and vowed that she would renounce the world. And thus, returning once again to the church, she entered easily. When she had worshipped the precious Wood, she departed that same day from Jerusalem and passed over the Jordan. She went into the inner wilderness and for forty-seven years lived a most harsh manner of life, surpassing human strength; alone, she prayed to God alone. Toward the end of her life, she met a certain hermit named Zosimas, and she related to him her life from the beginning. She requested of him to bring her the immaculate Mysteries that she might partake of them. According to her request, he did this the following year on Holy and Great Thursday. One year after this, Zosimas again went thither and found her dead, laid upon the ground, and letters written in the sand near her which said: "Abba Zosimas, bury here the body of wretched Mary. I died on the very day I partook of the immaculate Mysteries. Pray for me." Her death is reckoned by some to have taken place in 378, by some, in 437, and by others, in 522. She is commemorated also on the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent. Her life was recorded by Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem.

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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 Hebrews 6:13-20.

BRETHREN, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of St. John Climacus
The Reading is from Mark 9:17-31

At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has he had this?" And he said, "From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us." And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again." And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting." They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise."

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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.

Apolytikion for Sun. of St. John Climacus in the Plagal 4th Tone

With the streams of thy tears, thou didst cultivate the barrenness of the desert; and by thy sighings from the depths,thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a luminary, shining with miracles upon the world, O John our righteous Father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal 4th Tone

To you, Theotokos, invincible Defender, having been delivered from peril, I, your city, dedicate the victory festival as a thank offering. In your irresistible might, keep me safe from all trials, that I may call out to you: "Hail, unwedded bride!"
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Bulletin Inserts:

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