Summer 2013 - St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church

Community Newsletter
Summer 2013
Volume 1, Issue 2
St. Sophia/Ss. Faith, Hope & Agape
GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF VALLEY FORGE
Special points of interest:
 Volunteer at our
Fall Festival.
 “Hold the Date” for our
Dinner Dance.
Inside this issue:
President’s Message
2
Church Award
2
Bible Study
2
Philoptochos
3
Senior Parea
3
Youth Ministries
4, 5
Stewardship Update
6
Icon Screen
7
Holy Week/Pascha 2013
8
Spring Festival 2013
10,
11
Greek Dance Groups
12
Community Registry
13
Falling Asleep of the Theotokos
On August 15, the Orthodox
Church celebrates the falling
asleep of the Theotokos, the
Virgin Mary. In the Orthodox
Christian Tradition, we say
that when somebody dies that
they fall asleep in the Lord to
be awakened again at the final
judgment. The Virgin Mary,
being human, reached an old
age under the care of the
Apostle and Evangelist John.
We recall that on the cross
Christ entrusted the care of
his mother to St. John. She
was buried in Gethsemane by
the apostles and leaders of the
Church. In the Icon of her
Dormition, we see Christ, her
son, receiving her soul into his
loving care. Tradition also
tells us that her body was also
taken up in to heaven, giving
us the example of what Christ
has in mind for all of us.
On August 1st we begin a twoweek fast period in preparation for the celebration of this
feast. During this time we
celebrate the Paraklesis Service in which we ask the Theotokos for her help in our dai-
ly lives and we remember
those who are living who are
in need of the saving grace of
Christ.
During the Great Vespers of
the Feast, we decorate the
Kouvouklion with flowers and
we place the icon of the Dormition in it, just as we do for
the Epitaphios of Christ on
Good Friday. Also during this
service, those who celebrate
their Feast Day offer the
Artoclasia for the health and
well being of all those who
celebrate and their family
members.
This feast is often referred to
as the “Pascha of Summer” in
that it foretells what is in store
for all faithful believers, as
well as it reflects the level of
celebrations that accompany
this feast.
We wish many years to all
Panagiotis, Panagiotas, Marias, Marios, and Despinas.
Xronia Polla!
Father Peter
Page 2
St. Sophia’s
President’s Message
Our dance, bible study
and senior groups are
meeting on a regular
basis. All are welcome
to participate.
We hope that everyone is enjoying their summer so far
and taking that all important
break from the usual routine
to relax with family and
friends.
ing tirelessly to complete our
icon screen, pulpit, altar,
Bishop's Throne and chanter
stand in time for a September
delivery and installation. (See
Page 7.)
In the meantime, we continue
to make progress. The township has conducted its final
inspection of our site; no particular issues were noted so
we should be receiving our
permanent certificate of occupancy very soon.
Our dance, bible study and
senior groups are meeting on
a regular basis. All are welcome to participate.
Steve Kavroulakis and his
group of craftsmen are work-
Although we just finished a
successful Spring festival,
many thanks to John Papadimitriou and all the volunteers,
the Fall festival is just around
the corner and preparations
are already underway.
Our iconographer, Dr. George
Kordis will be returning later
this Fall to paint the icons for
our icon screen among other
items.
Of course, none of this would
be possible without the generous financial support and effort offered by all of our stewards and friends and for that
we thank all of you.
Sincerely,
Dean W. Laskaris
Award for Construction of Our Church
For leading the building of our
beautiful church, Horst Construction – the general contractor – received an Excellence in Construction Award.
The award was presented during the “24th Annual Excellence in Construction Awards
Gala” on Tuesday, July 16th
2013. The event was put on by
the Keystone Chapter of the
Associated Builders and Con-
tractors Inc. and held at the
Radisson Hotel in Camp Hill,
PA. More than 300 people
were in attendance with St.
Sophia’s represented by John
Papadimitriou and Peter Patukas.
for Metal Work & Interior
Finishes.
Also among the 28 companies
receiving awards was Paramount Contracting who
walked away with two awards
for their work at St. Sophia’s –
Adult Bible Study
Our August 13th, Bible
Study will be Stump
the Priest Night!
Our Bible Study ministry continues to flourish over the
summer months. In late June
and early July we focused on
St. Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians and how his writings impact our lives as Orthodox Christians.
Our August 13th, Bible Study
will be Stump the Priest
Night! Our discussions will
focus on current world events
and what The Bible tells us
about them. Bring your questions or send them beforehand to Fr. Peter.
Future Bible Study discussions will include a study of
the book of Psalms (and how
it is used during Orthros, in
iconography, etc.), what the
Bible tells us about fasting,
confession and Holy Communion and more.
As always, our Bible Study is
open to everyone and takes
place every other Tuesday
evening at 6:30 p.m. in the
Cultural Center. Join our
Facebook group for more details or look for the next readings in the Sunday Bulletin.
https://www.facebook.com/
groups/stsophiavalleyforge/
Summer 2013
Page 3
St. Sophia Ladies Philoptochos Society
“Pistis, Elpis & Agape”
JOIN IN THE SPIRIT OF THE LADIES PHILOPTOCHOS SOCIETY!
This summer is in full speed
now. I pray that everyone is
keeping cool during these hot
months. Our first festival of
the year is behind us and the
next one is on the horizon.
The new ecclesiastical year
begins with the following September events:
Fall Festival
The 7th Annual Fall Grecian
Festival is just around the
corner running from Thursday, September 5th - Sunday
September 8th. Keep a lookout for the pastry and food
preparation schedules in August. Please allot some time
out of your busy schedules to
volunteer before, during and
after the festival.
Yiayia’s Attic Treasures
If you are preparing to do
some household clean up,
keep St. Sophia Church in
mind. The Ladies Philoptochos will be selling donated
“treasures” in the balcony
during the Fall Festival. We
are in search of items to sell.
The list of items that you can
donate is limited only to your
imagination. Unfortunately,
we cannot accept donations of
clothing, mattresses, bed pillows, any type of quilted
items, stuffed animals and
food products. Please place
your items in the balcony.
Any items unsold will be donated to a local thrift store.
Volunteers are needed during
the festival hours to sell these
treasures. Please call Flora
Poloway (610.792.0588 or [email protected]) to sign
up or if you have any questions.
St. Sophia’s Feastday
Vespers and Artoklasia will
begin at 7:00 pm on Monday,
September 16th with a reception to follow. We welcome
your bite size sweets for the
reception. Please drop off your
sweets in the kitchen before
entering church Monday evening.
On Tuesday, September 17th
our Feastday will be celebrated.
Orthros will begin at 8:45 am
with Divine Liturgy and
Artoklasia to follow.
members who have volunteered
in the past and continue to serve
so willingly and tirelessly. We
look forward to our new members joining us in our labors of
love. Philoptochos needs your
time and talents. With the
blessing of St. Sophia and her
three martyred daughters, I am
sure we will have a wonderful
year!
Respectfully yours,
Kathy Tsipras
Philoptochos President
We thank all the Philoptochos
Senior Citizen Ministry
Our senior citizen ministry –
St. Sophia’s “Senior Parea”
continues to meet during the
summer. This group welcomes all senior citizens of the
community. The group has
been meeting once a month
during the summer. Our August meeting will be held on
Thursday, 8/22.
Following the Fall Festival
(Sept. 5th—8th), the Senior
Parea will meet weekly on
Thursdays in the church hall
from 10am-12 noon for fellowship. On the third Thursday
of every month we have a formal meeting beginning at
10am. For more information
please contact the Parish Office.
Fall “Senior Parea” Meeting Dates
September
October
November
December
12, 19, 26
3, 10, 17, 24, 31
14*, 21*
5, 12*, 19*
*Will start following Divine Liturgy
Page 4
St. Sophia’s
Youth Ministries
Camp Good Shepherd
Once again Fr. Peter and several Children from our parish
attended the Camp Good
Shepherd summer camping
ministry of the Metropolis of
New Jersey. The camp was
held in the lush green region
of north western New Jersey.
It was a tremendous experience where the children were
able to grow in their faith
through many different ways.
Each day began with Orthros
in our Camp Chapel. The Chil-
“They learned
dren ate their meals together
with their cabin mates. They
attended lively Orthodox Life
Sessions where they learned
about the importance of building bridges of faith between
themselves and God, as well
as between each other. This
was done through talks by the
priests, singing songs and
hymns of the Church, studying the Bible, and Devotionals
at night. We also had fun with
campfires and smores, climb-
ing wall, the low ROPES
course, canoeing and
kayaking, camp olympics and
of course the Thursday night
family barbeque.
school starts in September.
Classes meet once a week, and
there are classes for all ages
and skill levels.
guage ability, rather than age
or grade in school. If you are
new to the program, please
contact Erietta Fotiadis
([email protected]
or 484-716-6059) who will
determine the appropriate
level for you or your child. If
you have any questions regarding the program, please
contact Erietta Fotiadis. If
you have any other questions
(regarding registration/
payment), please contact
Camp Good Shepherd is truly
a spiritually uplifting experience that creates bonds between the children and Christ.
We are looking forward to the
2014 camp season.
about the
importance of
building bridges
of faith between
themselves and
God, as well as
between each
other.”
Greek School
Have you always wished you
could join in the conversation
with your Greek speaking
family and friends? Have you
ever wanted your children to
be able to speak Greek with
Papou and Yiayia? How
would you like to be able to
read the menu and order
 on your trip to
Greece? Would you or your
child like to learn or improve
your Greek? Now is the time
to start! Our Greek language
The 2013/14 Greek Language
School year will begin the
week of September 9th and
runs through
May. Registration deadline is
September 1st. Classes are
available for adults and children, and for all skill levels. Class levels are based
upon a student's Greek lan-
GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL SCHEDULE 2013-2014
LEVEL
DAY
PreK
Monday
K/Introduction to Greek
Wednesday
1
(to be scheduled if students at this level are registered)
2
Tuesday
3
Monday
4
Tuesday
5
(to be scheduled if students at this level are registered)
6
Wednesday
TIME
4:00-5:00pm*
4:30-6:00pm
Adult I
Adult II
5:00 - 6:30pm
7:30 - 9:00pm
Monday
Wednesday
*To be held pending registration of students (4-5 year old children)
5:00-6:30pm
6:30-8:00pm
6:30-8:00pm
6:00-7:30pm
Christine Bailey
([email protected] or
610-256-1087). If you have not
received the registration form by
email, please contact Christine
Bailey or the church office to
obtain a registration form.
Sunday School/PTO
The first day of Sunday School is
scheduled for September 15th.
Following liturgy, the PTO will
sponsor a "Welcome Back" Ice
Cream Social for the children of
the parish.
Sunday School registration
forms will be available later in
August in the church office and
Pangari. For more information,
please email Sofia Sprayberry at:
[email protected]. Also,
check the church website later in
August for more information
regarding events for the PTO,
the Sunday School calendar, and
parent volunteer opportunities.
Summer 2013
Page 5
Saint Sophia’s GOYA
All of our GOYA activities are
driven by three specific guiding themes – faith, fellowship
and service. Each GOYA
meeting includes a discussion
of our faith, a service project
and a fun fellowship activity.
Most recently, our GOYA enjoyed the summer weather
with a Splash Party on July
6th. Thanks to the Dowzicky
family for opening their home
to us. Everyone had a great
time. Good times and fellowship are what keep our kids
coming back year after year.
Whether it is snow tubing,
going on haunted hay rides or
camping – our kids enjoy a
strong bond with each other
that goes way beyond GOYA.
But we are not just a fun social organization. We have a
strong commitment to serving
our parish and our community. On Saturday, June 22nd,
we had the great honor of
serving 50 dinners at Manna
on Main Street in Lansdale.
Special thanks to Lexie,
Stephanie, Vanessa, Xena,
George and the dads for helping out. While we were there,
we observed three very painful
things:
1)
The need for soup kitchens and food pantries is
at an all time high.
2)
The food pantry at Manna
was running very low
with some shelves completely empty.
3)
We should be doing
more. (That means that
more people should be
showing up, too!)
Of the 20+ GOYAns in our
parish who are blessed with
comfortable homes, full pantries and all of God's blessings, only a handful were able
to commit to helping. We all
have busy lives with sports,
activities, etc. But we also
need to remember what Christ
expects of us:
Acts 20:35 - In all things I
have shown you that by
working hard in this way we
must help the weak and remember the words of the
Lord Jesus, how he himself said,
‘It is more blessed to give than
to receive’.
It is our duty to give back. And
God willing, we will. Our next
volunteer event with Manna is
set for August 24th. Please contact John Pogas if you can help
or sign up for the event on our
Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/
groups/stsophiagoya/
Summer Food Drive
Our food drives during the holidays are certainly welcome, but
like blood supplies, food pantries have the greatest need during the summer months. Therefore, we have agreed to start our
first Summer Food Drive. All
non-perishable food items will
benefit Manna on Main Street in
Lansdale, PA. Ask your friends,
neighbors, relatives, etc. for
their help. Go to your local supermarket and ask if they can
donate non-perishables to this
very worthy cause.
Saint Sophia’s HOPE and JOY
The children of the HOPE and
JOY groups ended the year
with an afternoon of fun at
Jungle Wonder. They enjoyed
a round of miniature golf in a
cool glow in the dark miniature golf course, as well as
climbing and sliding on the
jungle gym, and some fun in
the balladium. And what better way to end the day then
with some yummy ice cream!
Information on the 2013/14
HOPE and JOY schedule will
be available in the fall. All
children between the ages of 5
and 11 are welcome to participate. If you have any questions please contact Christine
Bailey
([email protected]).
Our HOPE and
JOY children at
Jungle Wonder.
Our GOYA is also going to
help by taking some of the
money we raised from luncheons and our dance to purchase non-perishable food
items to help "seed" our food
drive. Please make a more
concerted effort to help us
with our food drive as well as
our other community outreach ministries.
Moving forward, our 2013 –
14 GOYA Calendar will be
available by the end of July.
Copies of the calendar will be
e-mailed to all GOYAns, posted on our Facebook page and
included in the Sunday bulletin.
Page 6
Stewardship Update
July 2013
We hope that everyone is having a fantastic summer! Despite many folks taking vacations or
time at the shore or mountains, attendance this summer continues to be very strong. We have
had a lot of visitors and new faces so far this summer, which is truly wonderful to see! And with
the Sunday Greek Dance classes, we are seeing lots of kids this summer as well.
When in town, please be sure to join us for Divine Liturgy on Sundays. With the new summer
hours (Liturgy at 9:00 am), you can worship with us and still have virtually the whole day left.
Nobody wants God to take a vacation from us over the summer. As stewards of the Faith, we
need to make sure we don’t take a vacation away from Him either!
Stewardship is our way of thanking God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us. To be
considered good stewards of our parish and the faith, we must give back in gratitude to Him by
giving of our time, talent and treasure.
Regarding our TIME commitment, please mark the dates of Sept. 5-8 for our Fall Festival. We
will need EVERYONE’s help to make this event successful!
As a reminder, please continue to make payments on your Financial Commitment—our bills do
not take a vacation during the summer! Also, if you have not yet submitted your 2013 Pledge
Card, please do so as soon as possible.
Thank you for your support of God’s work and our Ministries through your generous and sacrificial stewardship gift. God bless you and your family. We look forward to seeing you in church!
2012
2013
Pledge Unit Goal
(Year End)
220
(7/15/13)
230
Pledge $ Goal
$200,000
$200,000
Number of Pledges
211
185
Amount Pledged
$185,743.00
$189,750
Average Pledge
$880.30
$1,026
New Stewards
43
24
Did you know it costs us over $1,200 EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR
to run our parish? That is over $2,000 for every stewardship unit
(single or family). Please consider increasing your stewardship
level to the Pacesetter level ($2,080 / $40 per week).
Page 7
Icon Screen Progressing
Even as we enjoy our summer vacations, the craftsmen of the world-renowned Kavroulakis Ecclesiastical wood carving studios in Chania, Crete are busy completing the artifacts that will soon grace the front of our beloved St Sophia
Church. The pictures illustrate the work in progress on our icon screen, altar, pulpit, bishop’s throne, altar cross and
chanter’s stand as of mid-July. All items are carved from the finest White Oak available that will stand the test of
time for many generations to come. Everything will be completed by the end of July and the finished artifacts will be
shipped from the Greek port of Piraeus on August 6. It will take about a month between transportation and U.S.
customs, so we hope to have delivery sometime in early to mid-September. Initially we will use temporary icons for
the icon screen but we are looking forward to our iconographer, Dr. George Kordis’ arrival later this fall to paint the
permanent original works of art that will grace the icon screen, pulpit and bishop’s throne. Many of these artifacts
and icons are still awaiting sponsorship as a lasting way of honoring or commemorating a loved one. As always, we
are grateful to all who continue to make the progress at St Sophia possible.
Page 8
Photos of
Holy Week/Pascha 2013
Page 9
Schedule of Upcoming Services
Thurs. Aug. 1st
Dormition Fast Begins – Paraklesis to the Theotokos
7:00 pm
Mon. Aug. 5th
Great Vespers
7:00 pm
Tues. Aug. 6th
Holy Transfiguration – Divine Liturgy
10:00 am
Wed. Aug. 7th
Paraklesis to the Theotokos
7:00 pm
Fri. Aug. 9th
Paraklesis to the Theotokos
10:00 am
Mon. Aug. 12th
Paraklesis to the Theotokos
10:00 am
Wed. Aug. 14th
Great Vespers
7:00 pm
Thurs. Aug. 15th
Dormition of the Theotokos – Divine Liturgy
10:00 am
Thurs. Aug. 29th
Beheading of St. John the Baptist – Divine Liturgy
10:00 am
Hold the Date...
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Page 10
Spring 2013 Grecian Festival
From May 29th to June 2nd we welcomed our friends and neighbors to our 18th annual Spring Festival, featuring
our ethnic Cultural foods, music and dances. This event embarks on the true nature of our community, involving
the young and old, with all types of talents. Preparation starts as early as March and it involves our young at heart,
the ladies of the Philoptochos, and our general parish community. These individuals endure many hours in the
kitchen creating those decadent pastries – Koulourakia, Baklava, Galaktoboureko, and many more. All of these
items are made from scratch, with recipes handed down from years past.
Maria Hatzipavlides, heads this effort and she truly endures many pains, but finds comfort that we love her and
trust her abilities to manage this. This year was especially tough and grueling, by having less hands helping in the
kitchen with the prep work, we had to seek other means – our savior was our own Albert Garcia. He tirelessly provided help and was Maria’s second hand. Without this huge effort of both Time and Talent, our products, quality
and profit would we worth nothing. I hope everyone in our community realizes that baking our goods is a Herculean effort, placed on a small group of individuals. In the future I hope to see others with equal talent be able to help
further our culture and pride in making these wonderful pastries.
So as we can see, creating the pastries is just one area that comprises the Festival. Other time consuming efforts
include the Big Tent, Kitchen, Vendors, Mykonos, and the general logistics of the event. I am proud to say that we
are blessed to have so many people step up to help with these areas. I cannot thank everyone in this group because
there are many with various talents. Some of the people include:















Kathy and Maria Tsipras – logistics of sign development, paperwork and ad books
Elaine Piligian – paperwork and religious store
Tom Novitski and Frieda Bell — welcome booth
Tom Cox – ad book
John Pogas – tent, marketing
Alex Nikas – parking, monies, propane
Angelo Bellos – provisioning, tent, Mykonos, many more items
Dean Laskaris – MC, and any help that is needed
Nick Tsouros – everything that is requested
John Solomon – our resident MASH unit cook
Socratis Tsipras – cooking in kitchen, second hand of John
George Evangelopoulos – our newest PC member and huge help in the kitchen
Christine Bailey – logistics and coordination of personnel
Carnation Karros – dance coordinator (with short notice)
All of our kids – pitching in wherever needed
You can see that this list can go on for a while. I promise you I have missed people because I was late in creating
this article, so this is not a complete list, but I can tell you that we are a community that involves themselves. If anyone has any better ideas on how to conduct this event, please do not hesitate to participate in the Festival meetings
throughout the year.
The success of this event was because of us, not anyone else, but us. We have made over $90,000 dollars and
should be proud of what we have accomplished. All this hard work and effort provides the profits to allow us to ultimately pay the bills for the parish. This amount is ¼ of what is needed to support our budget for the parish, so your
support of stewardship is needed to fill this gap. We should not rely on our events to provide the stop gap for running our Parish.
Please involve yourself, with your time, treasure and talent throughout the year. Our next Festival is in the Fall Sept 5th to Sept 8th. Hope to see you there.
Thanks,
John Papadimitriou
Page 11
Please volunteer for our Fall Festival—September 5th - 8th
Page 12
St. Sophia’s Greek Dance Groups
St. Sophia’s new Greek Dance instructor, Carnation Karros, began teaching dance to the children of our parish this
past spring. There are about 30 participants in the junior and senior “Asteria” dance groups and they proudly represented the church during our Spring Festival. It was wonderful to watch the dance groups perform and also nice to
have so many people join in and dance the “Kalamatiano” with them. They did an amazing job and all their hard
work paid off.
Although learning the Greek dances requires a commitment to attend the practices regularly,
the children and teenagers also have fun learning and dancing together.
Throughout the summer, practices are held after liturgy each Sunday and last between 1 and 2
hours. Carnation has been teaching new dances to the groups to get them ready for our Fall
Festival. They are learning dances from the regions of Epirus, Macedonia, Pontos, and various Islands of Greece.
Communications have been sent through email to encourage others to join the groups and
learn the Greek Dances. All JOY and GOYA age children of the parish are welcome! Please
Contact Carnation at [email protected] or 215.917.5014.
Page 13
St. Sophia’s Community Registry
(January through July 2013)
Baptized into Christ
February 17
Kristina, daughter of Elias Proios and Megan Pavlanszky.
Godparent: Veronia Macricostas.
April 14
Aidan Henry, son of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.
Godparent: Sofia Sprayberry.
April 14
Daphne Elizabeth, daughter of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.
Godparent: Flora Poloway.
April 14
Chelsea Marie, daughter of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.
Godparent: Maria Tsipras.
April 21
Kristen Elaine Shuler, husband of James Shuler.
Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.
April 21
Rebecca Elaine, daughter of James and Kristen Shuler.
Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.
April 21
Kevin Zachary, son of James and Kristen Shuler.
Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.
Adult Chrismations
April 14
Scarlett Marie McDermott (Zoe).
Godparent: Elaine Piligian.
Marriages
June 15
Mark Toth and Aristea Evagelou.
Koumbaros: Spiridon Evagelou.
July 13
Ryan Nowlan and Lia Sandilos.
Koumbaros: Catherine Sandilos.
Coffee Hour Sponsors Needed!
We are in need of coffee hour sponsors for the upcoming weeks. If you are interested in hosting a coffee hour, please put your name on the list at the back of the hall or contact Elaine in
the Parish office.
Page 14
Orthodox Church Etiquette
Much of church etiquette is based on common sense, showing respect for God and others. Always remember that we are in church
to worship God, the Holy Trinity. The priest says, “With the fear of God and faith and love, draw near.” Let this be the way we
approach all of worship. If we do, we will probably be observing appropriate church etiquette.
Church Attire
Women: Dresses should be modest. No tank tops or dresses with only straps at the shoulders, no short skirts (mini-skirts),
and no skin-tight dresses. Dresses should have backs and not be cut low in the front. If women wear pants to church, they
should be dress pants. Shorts of any type are not appropriate for church.
Men: Men should also dress modestly. While coat and tie are not mandatory, shirts should have collars and be buttoned —
two or three buttons undone is inappropriate. Slacks should be cleaned and pressed. Shorts are not appropriate church wear.
Entering the Church
The time to arrive at church is before the service starts. If you arrive after the Divine Liturgy begins, try to enter the church
quietly and observe what is happening. If the Epistle or Gospel is being read, then stop, stand still, and wait quietly until it is
finished. Then quickly find a seat. If the Small or Great Entrance is taking place, do the same. If the priest is giving the sermon, stay in the back until he has concluded. Try not to interrupt the Liturgy with your entrance.
Lighting Candles
Lighting candles is an important part of Orthodox worship. We light them as we pray, making an offering to accompany our
prayers. Orthodox Christians typically light candles when coming into the church.
Venerating Icons
When we enter the church, it is traditional to venerate (kiss) the icons at the Narthex and the Solea. When approaching an
icon to venerate it, make the sign of the cross.
Lipstick
If you choose to wear lipstick to church, please blot your lips well before venerating an icon, before taking Communion, and
before kissing the cross or the priest’s or bishop’s hand. Even better, wait until after church to apply lipstick.
When to Make the Sign of the Cross:
1)
Whenever one feel the need
2)
Before and after any prayers
3)
When one enters and leaves the Narthex and Nave
4)
Before one kisses an Icon, Cross, or the Gospel Book
5)
When one goes past the Altar
6)
When one hears any of the following phrases or words::




Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have Mercy on Us
The words Christ, Theotokos, Panayia or Virgin Mary
7)
The Name of the Saint of the church
After the reading of the Epistle or Gospel
8)
Near the end of the Creed at the phrase “In One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”
9)
Before and after the Consecration during the Divine Liturgy (when the Priest says “Your Own of Your Own we offer
You, In every way and for every Thing.” This is the point when the Priest prays with the people for God to make the
Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
10) At the end of the Lord’s Prayer while the Priest says “For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.”
11) Before and after receiving Holy Communion
12) Before receiving Antidoron (The blessed bread at the end of the service).
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Standing
When should we stand during the liturgy? Always stand during the Gospel reading, the Small and Great Entrances, the Anaphora
(prayer of the Eucharist), the distribution of Holy Communion, whenever the priest gives a blessing, and during the Dismissal. If,
for health reasons, you are unable to stand, then you may sit.
Crossing the Legs
In the Orthodox culture, crossing one’s legs is considered to be very disrespectful. Should we cross our legs in church? No.
When sitting in church, keep your feet on the floor.
Young Children
If a young child is disruptive, take him or her quickly and quietly out of church, just long enough to calm and sooth him/her.
Then return to Liturgy. Bring young children to church frequently!
Handling the Holy Bread (Antidoron)
After receiving Holy Communion and at the end of the Divine Liturgy, it is customary to receive a piece of holy bread or antidoron—the bread that was left over after Holy Communion was prepared. While antidoron is not Holy Communion, it is blessed
bread, and as such should be eaten carefully so that crumbs do not fall. Both adults and children should always remember to
treat and consume the antidoron with respect.
Leaving before Dismissal
Leaving church before dismissal deprives us of a blessing. Worship has a beginning “Blessed is the Kingdom…” and an end “Let
us depart in peace…” To leave before church is over is disrespectful.
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church
900 South Trooper Road
Jeffersonville, PA 19403
Phone: 610-650-8960
Fax: 610-650-8961
E-mail: [email protected]
REV. ECONOMOS PETER J. THORNBERG,
PROISTAMENOS
www.stsophiavf.org
www.facebook.com/groups/stsophiavalleyforge/
ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
Grecian
Festival
September 5-8, 2013