Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2023-10-22
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Transfiguration of Our Saviour Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (978) 458-4321
  • Street Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854
  • Mailing Address:

  • 25 Fr. John Sarantos Way

  • Lowell, MA 01854


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Sunday Schedule:

Orthros: 8:30 a.m.
Divine Liturgy: 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study:

Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.


Past Bulletins


Announcements

FELLOWSHIP

We welcome everyone to Coffee Fellowship following services. Fellowship hour is being offered by the Stamas and Gulezian families in memory of Harry Stamas.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT

Join us for Fall Family Fun Night on October 27, 2023, from 6:30-8:00 pm for Pumpkin Decorating, Pizza, Face Painting and more! Bring your own Pumpkin!  Registration link is available in the email bulletin.

GOYA

*APPLE PIE ORDERS – Our Transfiguration GOYA will be baking and selling homemade Apple Pies for $15 each as their fall fundraiser! Place your order with a GOYAn during coffee hour on October 22nd, 29th, November 5th, or November 12th or by clicking the link or QR code. Pies will be prepared on November 18th and will be available for pick-up during coffee hour on November 19th. Thank you for your support!

*LOCK-IN - Attention GOYAns grades 7-12! Join us for our annual GOYA Lock-in on November 17th! Metropolis of Boston Camp staff members will lead us in a fun night which will include food, a session about our faith, and some fun games after dark! Parents, please fill out the QR consent form by November 15th to reserve a spot. Any questions, please reach out to GOYA advisors Presbytera Cassandra Floor (978) 761-8366 or Susan Mitchell (978) 835-8318.

LITTLE FREE LIBRARY

You may have noticed that a Little Free Library was installed last May just outside the church along the walkway of the North Common.  This was done to honor Harry Stamas who was an avid reader his whole life.  It was strategically placed close to the church because of the closeness he felt to the church.  The library offers books for adults and children.  Its use is intended for all to enjoy – those inside and outside our parish.  As with all Little Free Libraries - please feel free to take a book or leave a

PARISH COUNCIL NOMINATIONS WELCOME

Nominations for the 2024-2025 term of  Parish Council are welcome. Any parishioner in good standing interested in being nominated must contact the Parish office to request an official nomination form and return the completed form to the office by 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 9, 2023.  Elections will be held on December 10, 2023.

PARISH ASSEMBLY

Mark your calendars for Parish Assembly on November 12th following Divine Liturgy. More information to come.

PHILOPTOCHOS

Our next General Meeting takes place on Saturday morning November 11 at 9:30 am.  We will begin with a delicious Brunch social before the meeting. All members are encouraged to attend.  After our meeting, together with Holy Trinity members and guided by Nancy Lane, we will make a small Christmas craft for our home-bound and nursing home members. Plan to stay and make a craft for a dear friend you know. 

Mark your Calendar!  Reserve your seat to our fabulous 70th Anniversary Benefit Tea on Sunday, December 3 Indian Ridge Country Club. Invitations are in the mail.  Everyone is invited!

STEWARDSHIP 2024

The stewardship theme for 2024 will be “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant (Matthew 25:23)”.As faithful servants let us work to complete our 2023 stewardship pledge to the church.  If you have not pledged for 2023 it is never too late.  Thank you!

LOVE BAGS

Sunday School children in grades 3 and 4 decorated and filled Love Bags that were distributed to the needy. We will continue to collect items such as socks, travel-size toiletries, granola bars, snack bags, wipes, etc.  Please join in the mission of making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. 

PHILOPTOCHOS LITERACY PROJECT

We will continue to need books for grades 1 & 2, but a greater need of books for grades 3, 4 & 5. Please place new or gently used books in the bin in the upstairs lobby.  We so appreciate your commitment to literacy for our children.

 

 

 Trinity votive candles (To Sponsor a Candle please call the Church Office.)

Vigil Light at the Side Altar (Icon of the Theotokos): In Loving Memory of Charles Mullan 6 year anniversary
Vigil Light at the Icon of Christ: In Loving Memory of Deborah Victoria Skrekas and George Skrekas
†Vigil Light at the Theotokos: In Loving Memory of Ioannis "John" Zaralidis from his family
†Vigil Light at the Theotokos (2nd): In Loving Memory of Harry Stamas
†Vigil Light at the Icon of the Forerunner: In Loving Memory of John N. Tavoularis from his family
†Vigil Light at the Foot of the Holy Cross: In Loving Memory of George Tsoukalas from his family

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekly Inserts

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Weekly Calendar

Sunday, October 22 SIXTH SUNDAY OF LUKE 
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
2 Year Memorial for Harry Stamas

Monday, October 23                          
Golf Tournament

Tuesday, October 24                         
Bible Study (online), 7:00 pm

Wednesday, October 25                          
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

Thursday, October 26                         
St. Demetrius – Liturgy, 9:30 am

Friday, October 27                          
Family Fun Night, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Saturday, October 28
OXI Day                  

October 29 SEVENTH SUNDAY OF LUKE
†Orthros, 8:30 am
†Liturgy, 9:30 am
Sunday School Coffee Hour

  

TODAY’S PARISH COUNCIL: Ann Marie Stelman, Olivia Sintros & Philip Eliopoulos

 

UPCOMING EVENTS
 

 

November 5                        
Fifth Sunday of Luke
Monthly Trisagion

November 7                        
Bible Study (online), 7:00 pm

November 8                        
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

November 10                      
Office Closed – In Observance of Veterans Day

November 11                      
Veterans Day
Philoptochos General Meeting, 9:30 am

November 12                     
Eighth Sunday of Luke
Parish Assembly

November 14                       
Community Kitchen, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Parish Council Meeting, 6:30 pm

November 15                       
Bible Study (online), 10:00 am

November 19                       
Ninth Sunday of Luke

November 23                       
Thanksgiving (Office Closed)

 

 

 

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

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 Galatians 1:11-19.

Brethren, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.


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 Third Mode

Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad!* For the Lord has shown strength with His arm,* trampling down death by death, He has become the first-born of the dead.* He has delivered us from the depths of the realm of death,* and has given great mercy to our souls.

Apolytikion for Abercius of Hierapolis in the Fourth Mode

The truth of your manner of life manifested you to your flock as a rule of faith and an icon of gentleness and a teacher of self-control. By humility, therefore, you acquired the things on high, and riches through poverty. Father Holy Hierarch Abercius, intercede with Christ our God, entreating that our souls be saved.

Apolytikion for 7 Youths of Ephesus in the Fourth Mode

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

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

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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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Saints and Feasts

October 22

Seven Holy Martyred Youths of Ephesus

The Seven Youths hid themselves in a certain cave near Ephesus in the year 250, to escape the persecution of Decius. By divine grace, a sleep came upon them and they slept for 184 years, until the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger, when the doctrine of the resurrection was being assailed by heretics. They then awoke, that is, were resurrected, confirming in the sight of all the bodily resurrection; and again after a short time, by divine command, they reposed in the Lord in the year 434.


October 23

James (Iakovos) 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 24

Arethas the Great Martyr and His Fellow Martyrs

These Martyrs contested for piety's sake in the year 524 in Najran, a city of Arabia Felix (present-day Yemen). When Dhu Nuwas, ruler of the Himyarite tribe in south Arabia, and a Judaizer, took power, he sought to blot out Christianity, especially at Najran, a Christian city. Against the counsels of Arethas, chief man of Najran, the city surrendered to Dhu Nuwas, who immediately broke the word he had given and sought to compel the city to renounce Christ. Led by Saint Arethas, hundreds of martyrs, including women, children, and babes, valiantly withstood his threats, and were beheaded and burned. After the men had been slain, all the free-born Christian women of Najran were brought before the tyrant and commanded to abjure Christ or die; yet they rebuked the persecutor with such boldness that he said even the men had not insulted him so contemptuously. So great was their faith that not one woman was found to deny Christ in all Najran, although some of them suffered torments more bitter than most of the men. In alliance with Byzantium, the Ethiopian King Elesbaan liberated Najran from Dhu Nuwas soon after and raised up churches in honour of the Martyrs. Najran became a place of pilgrimage until the rise of Islam a century later. At the end of his life King Elesbaan, who was also called Caleb, retired into solitude as a hermit; he sent his crown to Jerusalem as an offering to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He also is commemorated on this day as a saint. Saint Arethas' name in Arabic, Harith, means "plowman, tiller," much the same as "George" does in Greek.


October 25

Marcianos and Martyrios the Notaries

These Martyrs were disciples of Saint Paul the Confessor (see Nov. 6). Martyrius was a subdeacon, Marcian a chanter and reader. They were beheaded by the Arians in the year 346. Miracles were wrought at their tomb, and demons were cast out; Saint John Chrysostom began the building of the church in their honour in Constantinople, and it was completed by patriarch Sisinius.


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.


October 27

Nestor the Martyr of Thessaloniki

As mentioned in the account concerning Saint Demetrius (October 26), this Saint contested during the reign of Maximian, in the year 290.


October 29

Anastasia the Martyr of Rome

Saint Anastasia, who was young in age and lived in a convent, was seized by the impious. Confessing Christ openly and with boldness and enduring manifold torments, she was beheaded in the year 256, during the reign of Valerian.


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