S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 G R E E K F E S T I V A L E D I T I O N

TTT H EH EH E DDD I A L O G I S TI A L O G I S TI A L O G I S T A QA QA Q U A R T E R L YU A R T E R L YU A R T E R L Y RRR E V I E WE V I E WE V I E W

We have received many

wonderful comments from all

over the country about our ver-

sion of the Beatles Abbey Road

album cover including, believe

it or not, from Fr. John Chrys-

savgis the Archdeacon of the

Ecumenical Throne to His All-

Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch

Bartholomew!

It’s hard to believe that

we have been blessed with Fr.

Polycarp for an entire year.

How fast that year has gone by

and now alas, Father will be

moving on to his next call-

ing. Last April 15, (Holy Satur-

day), Fr. Polycarp was sworn in

by our friend Dean Delis to the

United States Army Reserve as

a Chaplain retaining the rank of

1st Lieutenant. Fr. Polycarp

will be heading to Fort Jackson,

SC on September 13th and will

be sworn into Active Duty to

complete formal training for the

U.S. Army Chaplain Corp. It is

a four month course and after

graduation he will be assigned

to Fort Campbell, KY for three

years as his first duty station.

He has accepted an indefinite

enlistment as an Officer in the

U.S. Army.

I just to let everyone

know what a gift this gentle

Priest-Monk has been to me

personally. The Greek word for

gift is δορος, the Greek word

for God is Θεος. The name

Theodore (Θεοδορος) literally

means, “Gift from God.” Hon-

estly my friends that is how I

see Fr. Polycarp in my life and

my priesthood. So I’ve decided

to surname him Fr. Teddy! Oh

how our community will miss

our “Teddy Bear!”

P A G E 2 T H E D I A L O G I S T : A Q U A R T E R L Y R E V I E W

ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS

B Y F R . P A U L C H R I S T Y

“ W A I T F R . P O L Y C A R P ! D O N ’ T L E A V E ! ”

A L E T T E R F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T

In the nearly 80 years

that Holy Trinity has existed, our

parishioners have always turned

challenges into opportunities to

shine. The first ever assembly of

the Metropolis of Atlanta Clergy-

Laity, Philoptochos, and South-

eastern Federation of Greek Or-

thodox Choirs and Musicians,

which we hosted in June, was yet

another example of our commu-

nity rising to the occasion and

exceeding expectations. The as-

sembly was a tremendous under-

taking and it took the whole vil-

lage to host a successful event. So

many faithful stewards sacrificed

their time and contributed their

talents to make this conference --

a dream of Metropolitan Alexios

-- a reality. Naming every con-

tributor would be impossible,

but please know that if you

worked on the conference in any

way, the Parish Council appreci-

ates your service.

Several of our deserving

parishioners were honored at the

conference. Metropolitan Alex-

ios presented Presbytera Mary

Christy and assembly co-chairs,

Mark and Sydney Langford, with

the Medal of St. Paul which is the

highest honor the Greek Ortho-

dox Archdiocese of America be-

stows. These three individuals

worked countless hours to ensure

that every detail of the confer-

ence was covered. They are truly

examples of servant leadership

and we owe them a debt of grati-

tude.

Metropolitan Alexios

also recognized Rose Marie Con-

nell, President of our Philopto-

chos Chapter, for her service on

the Metropolis Philoptochos

Board and Mary Wehbie for her

leadership in planning an out-

standing Philoptochos confer-

ence.

Our own Maria Nicholas

and Sue Teleoglou received the

Athenagoras Medal for their

years of exemplary service to our

choir, the Federation, and our

community.

Of course, all of the

planning and organization was

accomplished under the spiritual

guidance of Father Paul for which

we are most grateful.

~Mary Helen Winstead

Parish Council President

P a g e 3 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

The 36th Annual Ra-

leigh Greek Festival is Septem-

ber 8-10 at the Jim Graham

Building at the NC State Fair-

grounds. Over the last 36

years, our festival has grown

and become a treasured Raleigh

tradition. With 20,000 guests

attending our festival each year,

this is our opportunity to show-

case our hospitality to the Ra-

leigh community and have a

great time doing it!

What’s New This Year?

+ Advertising efforts have been

expanded to include four bill-

boards across the Raleigh area.

Check them out on HWY 64E

@ New Bern Ave, Atlantic Ave

@ Creative Acoustics, New

Bern Ave @ I440 and Glen-

wood Ave @ Fred Anderson

Toyota

+ Our Festival Program/Ad

Book will feature over 60 spon-

sors of our Greek Festival

+ A refreshed Greek Festival

website featuring our sponsors,

menus, free admission ticket,

schedules and much more.

Check it out at

www.raleighgreekfestival.com

+We are proud to expand our

philanthropic giving to Homes

For Our Troops and Team

Rubicon in addition to

Habitat for Humanity:

Habitat for Humanity partners

with people in your community,

and all over the world, to help

them build or improve a place

they can call home. Habitat

homeowners help build their

own homes alongside volunteers

and pay an affordable mortgage.

Habitat homeowners achieve

the strength, stability and inde-

pendence they need to build a

better life for themselves and

for their families. This is the

22nd year that Habitat Wake

has received the proceeds from

the Greek Festival totaling

$218,851 to date.

Homes For Our Troops

(HTOF) is a nonprofit organiza-

tion that builds and donates spe-

cially adapted custom homes

nationwide for severely injured

post – 9/11 Veterans, to enable

them to rebuild their lives. Most

of these Veterans have sustained

injuries including multiple limb

amputations, partial or full pa-

ralysis, and/or severe traumatic

brain injury (TBI). These homes

restore some of the freedom

and independence our Veterans

sacrificed while defending our

country, and enable them to

focus on their family, recovery,

and rebuilding their lives. Since

its inception in 2004, nearly 90

cents of every dollar has gone

directly to program services for

Veterans and 236 specially

adapted homes have been built

nationwide. HFOT builds

homes where the Veteran

chooses to live, and continues

its relationship with the Veter-

ans after home delivery to assist

them with rebuilding their lives.

P a g e 4 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

P A G E 6 T H E D I A L O G I S T : A Q U A R T E R L Y R E V I E W

2 0 1 7 C L E R G Y – L A I T Y

C O N F E R E N C E

It took two years to plan

and was over in four days . . .

yes, I’m talking about the 2017

Clergy-Laity Assembly hosted by

our church this past June. Our

committee delivered a remark-

able event for the Metropolis and

has received much praise from

His Eminence and attendees.

The Night of Greek Art at the

North Carolina Museum of Art

was a stunning beginning.

Frosene and Steve Zeis, for

whom the gallery is named, at-

tended the event and were our

unofficial hosts. Attendees lined

up for docent tours of the Greek

art exhibits and after the tours

everyone enjoyed bountiful fare.

Here is part of the menu: Anson

Mills shrimp and grits cakes,

seared scallops with forbidden

black rice and red curry lemon-

grass coconut milk broth, crab/

corn/tomato salad in wonton

cups, potato skins with Cuban

black beans and sweet potatoes,

guacamole and grilled pineapple

salsa with tortilla chips, chocolate

hazelnut brownies and strawberry

clementine soup shots. Most fas-

cinating of all, it was Lenten.

The Andy Hawks Band featuring

Penny Gallins son, Martin

Noffsinger on drums, performed.

A huge thanks to Helen Perros

and Penny Gallins for planning

and execution of this event.

The opening ceremony was ac-

companied by the Choir Federa-

tion singing the doxology, Risa

Poniros singing the Greek Na-

tional Anthem and Jason Kekas

singing The Star Spangled Ban-

ner. Delegates were welcomed

by Mayor Pro Tem Kay Crowder

and Metropolitan Alexios.

Mary Wehbie did an incredible

job of organizing the Philopto-

chos Luncheon and Conference.

The centerpieces at the luncheon

were duffle bags which were

given to homeless female veter-

ans. They were filled with much

needed toiletries and hygiene

items. The guest speaker, Dr.

Ted Pappas, a physician serving at

the Veterans Hospital and Duke

University Hospital outlined the

plight of homeless veterans and

addressed how we can help solve

the problems they face. The

choir sang a rousing rendition of

the United States Armed Forces

songs and those who had served

stood as their particular service

was recognized.

That afternoon, we had presenta-

tions from the Family Life Minis-

try, Economic Challenges Pas-

toral Leaders Face and Financial

Literacy/Management Skills for

Pastoral Leaders.

A reception held later in

the afternoon just before the

Grand Banquet allowed everyone

to gather to meet and greet old

and new friends. It was a special

opportunity to re-connect with

Father Paul Kaplanis and Father

Robert Stevens. Harry Perros

entertained beautifully by playing

several Greek folks songs on his

bouzouki.

At the Grand Banquet

that evening, General Nick Jus-

tice spoke from the heart about

faith and the importance of each

of us being Christian role models

especially in today’s world. As a

special gift to his Eminence, Gene

Brown presented his magnificent

pen and ink drawing of the new

chapel at the Diakonia Retreat

Center. His Eminence was ex-

tremely pleased at the beautiful

artwork and said this was the first

to be completed. The choir en-

tertained us with our own bar-

bershop quartet and Sue

Teleoglou and Maria Nicholas

were presented with the Patriarch

Athenagoras Award, for distin-

guished metropolis support by his

Eminence Metropolitan Alexios

and Maria Keritsis, Chairman of

the National Forum of Greek Or-

thodox Church Musicians.

Friday began with a continental

breakfast for Clergy Laity and

Philoptochos delegates at the Mar-

riott. The morning session fea-

tured an update on the Diakonia

Center by Mary Rickman. Metro-

politan Alexios shared his vision for

our Metropolis and Orthodoxy.

Next, we hosted ten faith forums

which were the first fruits of the

Strategic Plan announced two years

ago at the last Clergy Laity held in

Columbia, S.C. Workshops fea-

tured: 1) Seniors Program , 2)

Council of Ministries, 3) Early Par-

enting, 4) Newly Married Couple

Mentoring, 5) Orthodox Leader-

ship Training, 6) Risk Manage-

ment, 7) Spiritual Growth Re-

sources, 8) Comprehensive Stew-

ardship, 9) Parish Strategic Plan-

ning and 10) Best Educational Ma-

terials. Multiple

sessions were held

to allow delegates

to attend as many

as time allowed.

Our parish was

honored to have

three of our pa-

rishioners (Lekita

Essa, Mitch Owen

and Heather Ford)

lead three of the

sessions.

Friday afternoon ended with a ple-

nary session where the new Me-

tropolis Council and new Philopto-

chos Metropolis Council members

were named.

We are forever indebted

to Mary Winstead, Penny Gallins,

Frances Mathes, Maria Hicks and

all their committee members for

running the show at the Marriott.

A special thanks to Anita Lyford for

making copious trays of cookies!

No one could believe that our own

parishioner Elham Flaherty created

the many beautiful arrangements –

especially the gorgeous cross at the

registration desk.

The choir moved to Holy

Trinity for breakfast and final re-

hearsals. The breakfast was pre-

pared by Jennifer Sullivan assisted

by Sophia Pappas and was enjoyed

by all. Lunch was provided by sev-

eral parishioners who supplied a

variety of Lenten salads. After re-

hearsals, everyone gathered at Holy

Trinity for an evening of fellow-

ship, food and fun at the Choir So-

cial featuring Basile the Comedian.

Friday evening also al-

lowed all the Clergy and their fami-

lies to gather with His Eminence

for an intimate dinner. Vidrio was

the location and it proved to be a

perfect venue for everyone to relax

and enjoy an evening with their

fellow clergy and presvyteras.

The assembly concluded

with the Hierarchical Liturgy cele-

brated at Holy Trinity on Saturday

morning. The choir performed, led

by Nick Kyrus (guest conductor)

and Irina Monzolevskaya (guest

organist). During the liturgy, you

truly felt like you were in heaven

with so many beautiful voices. Fol-

lowing the Hierarchical Liturgy we

entered the Fellowship Hall and

marveled over the epicurean

brunch provided by Zeina and

Fares Hanna.

Sydney and Mark Langford

(Event Co-chairs) would like espe-

cially to thank Father Paul Christy

and Presvytera Mary for their help

and guidance. They also want to

thank all the volunteers for their

hard work to make this truly a re-

markable event. Finally, they want

to thank the entire Raleigh commu-

nity for supporting the Assembly

by serving as sponsors, buying ads

in the Commemorative Album and

attending the Museum Reception,

Philoptochos Luncheon and Grand

Banquet. This wouldn’t have been

the huge success it was without

everyone’s support.

P A G E 7

P a g e 8 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

2 0 1 7 C L E R G Y – L A I T Y

C O N F E R E N C E

P a g e 9 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

n June our Agape Chap-

ter hosted the Philoptochos Con-

ference. In my opening greetings

I expressed my sentiments that

“Just as a cardiologist cures bro-

ken hearts with medicine, tech-

nology and science, our ladies fix

broken hearts with love, compas-

sion, and empathy.”

The delegates and Me-

tropolis Board shared their ex-

periences, explored ways to

share their love and engaged in

fellowship. Local speakers pre-

sented their programs and of-

fered opportunities for assis-

tance.

The highlight was the

Philoptochos Luncheon, dedi-

cated to homeless women veter-

ans. Table centerpieces were

beautifully prepared vinyl water-

proof bags filled with hygiene

products. The SE Choir Federa-

tion performed a medley of songs

from each military branch. It was

amazing and set a wonderful

tone. Triangle Youth Woodwind

Trio played a patriotic medley

with grace and beauty. Olympia

Papageorgiou sang Amazing

Grace as a memorial. Dr. Ted

Pappas addressed reasons veter-

ans become homeless and pro-

vided statistics on the prevalence.

Presentations afterwards

discussed homeless veterans and

the unique challenges they en-

counter on return to civilian life.

Patricia Alston, a veteran of the

Iraq and Afghanistan wars told

her compelling story, which re-

sulted in forming the Women’s

Veterans Support Services. Tif-

fany Chavis brought a graduate of

the VA Homefront Program who

spoke of her gratitude and appre-

ciation. Deacon Gavrillo pre-

sented the impressive work of

his ministry.

Metropolitan Alixios

thanked outgoing president Dee

Nicolau for her years of service

and appointed Irene Politis Me-

tropolis President. Syndey Lang-

ford was appointed to the board.

From my heart, thank

you to all of the ladies of Agape

Chapter who served in registra-

tion, credentialing, taste testing,

hygiene bag preparation, public-

ity, luncheon set up assistance

and general organization. It was

an honor to work with each of

you on this beautiful and mean-

ingful event.

2 0 1 7 P H I L O P T O C H O S C O N F E R E N C E

P a g e 1 0 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

The Ladies Philoptochos

Society of Raleigh has had a busy

summer! We hosted the 2017

Clergy-Laity & Philoptochos confer-

ences. We offered workshops and

breakout sessions for the attendees.

It was inspirational to hear of our

Sister’s chapters’ successes and to

gather new ideas to try in our com-

munity. We enjoyed good food,

fellowship, beautiful music, and

heard speakers that have worked

hard to improve the lives of others

in their communities.

We had our kick-off meeting on

August 20th. We have a strong

foundation to build on and a new

board that is ready to get to work!

We are planning on having guest

speakers, workshops, and more for

our upcoming meetings.

The baking has begun for

the Greek festival. We had a late

start due to the Clergy-Laity confer-

ence, but we have already made

6,000 koulourakia and 60 pans of

the baklava for the baklava sundaes.

We will continue with baking

kourambiedes on August 29th.

We will have to say good-

bye to Father Polycarp. He has

been a wonderful addition to our

Church for quite some time and we

will be sorry to see him go. We

will host a special coffee hour on

August 27th in his honor. We will

also have Fanouropita that day that

several of our ladies have stepped up

to bake for us. (Please see the

recipe below!)

Our annual Bake Sale and

Holiday Café will be here soon!

Mary Wehbie is chairing this event

and we need everyone to help bake

and support us. We depend on the

money raised during this weekend

to support all of our efforts through-

out the coming year. Our mission is

to be “friends of the poor,” and we

need to be able to help as many or-

ganizations as we can when we are

asked.

P H I L O P T O C H O S

P a g e 1 1 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

P a g e 1 2 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

GOYA is going strong! Apart

from having three powerful sports

teams and four exuberant dance

troops, we have seen the GOYAns

step-up to form a Bible Study Group

that meets on Thursdays.

Already we went hiking to-

gether to the Eno River and Ca-

belands Rock Quarry to go swim-

ming. Some of the kids and coaches

event went cliff diving! During our

kickoff meeting we wrote letters of

love and support to our imprisoned

brother in Christ Andrew Ramseur

who is imprisoned on Death Row. In

just three weeks we plan on getting

the kids fired up with the Holy Spirit

through unity, service, and love!

This upcoming year we will

be going to SPARKcon (A local Arts/

Tech/Fashion Festival downtown), a

weekend Family Spiritual Retreat,

Basketball Tournaments in Norfolk

and Richmond VA, The Metropolis

Winter Youth Rally in Atlanta, GA,

The Hellenic Dance Festival in Or-

lando, FL, and even Universal Stu-

dios! We will have service projects at

Greek Festival, cooperating with Rise

Against Hunger, St. John The Merci-

ful Outreach, The South Wilmington

Street Men’s Shelter and MORE!

Our tradition of Excellence in

our Youth extends to the earliest days

of our community. We have been

blessed to have generations of families

in GOYA and this year is no excep-

tion!

This year we are engaging the

kids in a more tactile way through

meetings with Fr. Paul Christy, cross-

over events with other ministries in

our community, learning the tradi-

tions of the Church from easter eggs

to Koliva, and promoting the spiritual

priniciples that come from a life in

Christ!

Please register your kids up

for an experience they will absolutely

never forget!

Schedules and registration forms are

in the education wing!

htraleighoffice@gmail.com

G O Y A G O E S !

P a g e 1 3 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

G O Y A B O Y S ’ B A S K E T B A L L

The boys basketball

team has spent the summer

working on fundamentals,

team building, and fellow-

ship, with outstanding turn-

out. We are looking forward

to another season in the Ra-

leigh Baptist Association

league. We are also looking

forward to several travel

tournaments and Winter

Youth Rally in Atlanta. Our

boys would love to see you

at our games, which are

typically Friday nights or

Saturday mornings. As we

spend time increasing our

fundamentals on the court,

we continue to increase our

spiritual fundamentals, as

well. We would like to in-

vite everyone to get involved

in our ministry. Please send

your favorite verse of scrip-

ture

to brycelivermorejr@gmail.

com. We will be reading

these verses before each

game as part of our pregame

routine. The purpose is two

fold: to have the boys fo-

cused on the grace of God

going into each game, and to

have them all know that a

parishioner is thinking about

them as they go out on the

court.

P a g e 1 6 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

Welcome, students! We

are glad you are part of our Sun-

day School class. Our theme con-

tinues to be “Preparing your Faith

for a Lifetime.”

We want you to leave

our class prepared to nurture

your Orthodox Faith for your

whole lifetime. This is a chal-

lenge living in our global West-

ern world. For the 2017-18 Sun-

day School year, we will be dis-

cussing various topics and reading

materials. Be sure to share ideas

with your family at home as well,

so you have important conversa-

tions about our Orthodox faith,

both at church and in the home.

Topics for the year:

To learn about and discuss

the early history of our

church.

To learn and discuss other

important theological beliefs

of our Church, focusing on

the Creed and Holy Sacra-

ments, especially Holy

Eucharist.

To participate fully and faith-

fully in the St. John Chry-

sostom Oratorical Festival.

A Selection of Books and

Materials for the year:

The Orthodox Study Bible

Becoming Orthodox by Peter

Gillquist

The Joyful Feast: a Collection of

Sermonettes and Meditations on the

Divine Liturgy

Our Church’s website

will be a tool to keep up with

schedules and information about

Sunday School. It is located at

www.holytrinityraleigh.org. The

Archdiocese’s outstanding web-

site also is very useful and is

found at www.goarch.org. Please

also keep in mind how important

attend Liturgy and Sunday

School, and to arrive at Church

on time and leave on time. Sun-

day school will begin after com-

munion, around 11:15 am and

students will be dismissed from

Sunday School at approximately

noon, giving us under one hour

per week of instruction and dis-

cussion. We appreciate your co-

operation in observing these

times, and please let us know if

you have questions.

A New Requirement:

In order to participate in

the Winter Youth Rally and/or

other sports tournaments, stu-

dents will be required to attend

at least 75 percent of fall/winter

Sunday School classes (having a

maximum of five absences).

2018 St. John Chry-

sostom Oratorical Festival—The

Holy Trinity Oratorical Festival

will be held Sunday, March 4,

2018. We can expect the topics

for the Oratorical Festival to un-

veil the list of topics in Septem-

ber or October. Students are

asked to explore one of the topics

through a written and delivered

speech. We want to encourage

all of you to participate. The fes-

tival is a way to learn about our

church and your faith! We are

here to help you! You can email

or call us for help, guidance and

support. Important resources

will soon be available online at

the Archdiocese website:

http://goarch.org/archdiocese/

departments/religioused/sjcof

FOR PARENTS: We will need

your help and support in promot-

ing your student’s participation.

We look forward to

teaching again this year! Please

contact us with any questions and

concerns.

Best wishes,

Christine Kushner

(919) 786-7424,

ckushner@nc.rr.com

Anna Chaney

(919) 488-0005,

tchaney2@nc.rr.com

W E L C O M E T O S U N D A Y S C H O O L !

S O P H O M O R E S , J U N I O R S A N D S E N I O R S !

P a g e 1 9 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

P a g e 2 0 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

W I S D O M ! L E T U S A T T E N D !

Fr. Paul asked four of his lambs one day...

Clouds, Dogs,

David’s (Ford’s) Cat,

Mom, Dad

Jesus, Dad, Mom,

Nice Houses, and My

Sister

...What do you hope they have in Heaven?

God, Mary, Jesus, Angels,

Humans, Basketball

Toys, God, Dolly,

Pirate Ships, and

Fr. Paul!

P a g e 2 2 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

H o l y T r i n i t y P r e s c h o o l

The preschool has had a

great summer!!! We had nine

camps over the summerand we

got to meet a lot of new faces

and see some familiar ones.

We will start the school year

on August 28 and look forward

to a great

school year, with lots of new

faces. September and October

are fun times for

us. We will be studying how the

seasons change and watching how

it affects

our environment and surround-

ings. We will also go to the farm

and pick out

pumpkins. In

November and December, we

will be learning about sharing and

giving.

We will be registering 2-4 year

olds throughout the school year,

please contact Shae Noffsinger if

you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued

P a g e 2 3 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

Our AHEPA chap-

ter ended the year on a

high note. We awarded

scholarships to college stu-

dents Rachael Nicholos

and Matthew Pusic, for

their continuing education.

In July, our year-end party

at the Pusic home was

filled with great food and

even greater fellowship. In

September, we will sup-

port Holy Trinity at our

annual festival. On Satur-

day, October 7th, our chap-

ter will host its main fund-

raiser of the

year in the

church hall.

A delicious

spaghetti

meal will be

served. This

event will be

open to the

public so please help us to

spread the word—tell all

your friends! We look for-

ward to seeing everyone

there and thank you in ad-

vance for your support.

On Sunday, October 29th,

we will host the coffee

hour in honor of OXI Day.

We look forward to con-

tinuing our longstanding

service to the Wilmington

Street men’s shelter by

serving dinner there every

first Wednesday of the

month. We are also plan-

ning new service projects,

outings, and ways to con-

tinue our goal of promot-

ing our heritage and cul-

ture, doing good works

within the community and

fostering new friendships.

All men age 18 and older

are encouraged to join us;

applications are available

in the church office. Meet-

ings are held every first

Sunday at noon in the li-

brary. We look forward to

seeing you then!

A H E P A

S I R W A L T E R R A L E I G H

C H A P T E R # 1 0

P a g e 2 4 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

G R E E K S C H O O L

Holy Trinity’s Greek

School program will begin a new

year of classes on Sunday, Sep-

tember 17th. Registration is cur-

rently underway for all age lev-

els. Registration forms and the

schedule of classes can be found

on the church website, on the

candle stand or you can stop by

the registration table in the fel-

lowship hall every Sunday after

Liturgy through August. We are

looking forward to welcoming

back our eager students and wel-

coming our new families, as

well. Our students will be learn-

ing Greek, participating in the

upcoming OXI Day celebration

in late October and having lots of

fun together. If you are inter-

ested in being a teacher, please

contact Zoe Pusic, Greek School

Ministry Director, at holytrin-

ityraleighgreekschool@gmail.co

m. We hope to have a great start

to a rewarding year with contin-

ued learning of our beautiful lan-

guage, culture and heritage. Our

program grows and thrives each

year because of the wonderful

support we have been given and

we thank you, one and all.

July 21st 2017 brought

some folks out to the church for a

splendiferous pot-luck dinner,

complete with popcorn to ac-

company our featured film, The

Green Patriarch.

Rob Coffin gave an introduc-

tion to the film. The unanimous

response to the depth & breadth

of this beautiful & informative

documentary was articulated by

all present.

Some points covered through

narration, short interviews &

vivid images: Some of the Patri-

arch’s roots & background were

covered. He attended Halki

Seminary, closed for many years

now by the Turks.

Life at the Patriarchate,

operating in Turkey & all of the

challenges that come with this.

The Patriarch preceded

Pope John Paul ll in bringing

Creation Care to the forefront &

clarified that environmental

abuse is indeed a sin. Consulta-

tions & contributions from the

Phanar helped with portions of

Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato

si’”

The connective theme of

education, collaboration & re-

spect was beautifully laid out.

Indigenous faith leaders along

with scientists from around the

world specializing in various

fields, joined the Patriarch in

coming together & participating

in an earnest effort of under-

standing & forging a sustainable,

prayerful way forward.

We closed with a reminder that

more movies are coming & a set

will be made available in the

church library for loan.

Please watch your bulletin for

upcoming events. Let us join

together in prayer & in action to

care for our beautiful, life-

sustaining earth.

C H R I S T I A N S C A R I N G F O R C R E A T I O N

P a g e 2 5 G r e e k F e s t i v a l E d i t i o n

T h e O l i v e T r e e

Ever since Bechara "the

Evangelist" Haddad planted his

olive tree on the church grounds,

we all became curious about the

history of the tree and about Be-

chara himself. Born in Lebanon,

in a small town, Jib-Janine, in the

western Bekaa Valley, nestled at

the foot of the Anti-Lebanon

mountains, Bechara spent his

young years there. The Bekaa is

considered the bread basket of

the Middle East, the Romans

built their holiest temple, Baal-

bek and is a cross road of East

and West since the Omayyad

dynasty.

In a town of Christians and Mos-

lems, Bechara's grandfather was a

priest of very strong convictions.

He built the St. Nicholas church

during the Turkish occupation

with those words carved on its

stone walls, 'I want to be a bridge

for people to cross and not a

blockade that stops growth.' Be-

chara immigrated to the U S in

1957 where he resided and in

Whitesville, West Virginia.

Went to college and graduated

with a bachelor degree in psy-

chology and special education.

Went on to have a colorful ca-

reer that ended in heading the

department of nutrition in Ra-

leigh, North Carolina.

Many years later, Bechara was

gifted several olive trees from the

Mount of Olives in Israel. The

Trees are very hard to come by

since they need to pass certain

agricultural permits from both

Israeli and U S government. Our

parish then became the recipient

of the olive tree; In Greek it is

known as 'Elia"' in Hebrew it is

called" Etz Zeitini", and in Ara-

bic ,"Zeitounie."

Ever since then our olive

tree branches blessed us during

Epiphany, adorned our Kouvouk-

lion and Icons. An ancient tree

that bore the symbol of peace,

anointed prophets and kings, and

stood a witness to Christ's suffer-

ing. In the hymnology of the

Maronite Church at Easter, the

olive tree wept for the Man that

gifted the world prayer. With

sharing all this with us, Bechara

became the olive tree.

Submitted by Elham Flaherty

P a g e 2 6 T h e D i a l o g i s t : A Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w

T H E D I A L O G I S T : A Q U A R T E R L Y

R E V I E W S P O N S O R S

We would like to thank the people who sponsor The Dialogist: A Quarterly Review every issue. On behalf

of our writers, editors, and designers, we send a very deep and heart-felt thank you to the people who by

their charitable contributions in support of our thriving Holy Trinity community make our publication a re-

ality. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor yourself, please contact our Church office at

(919) 781-4548 or email us at htraleighoffice@gmail.com

Thank you from all of us at The Dialogist: A Quarterly Review

H O L Y T R I N I T Y

M U S I C M I N I S T R Y

The HTGOC Choir is kick-

ing off a new liturgical year a little

early this year! We will be back

singing in the loft starting August

6th!

We have had a restful sum-

mer and are looking forward to

jumping back into our active season

with a new sense of joyful purpose!

We will be continuing our tradition

of regular choir retreats, during

which we practice and rehearse old

and new music, include special time

for fellowship together, and of

course, share a small meal. Choir

members are always active partici-

pants in the upcoming Greek Festi-

val, the Glendi, the Christmas Pag-

eant, and many other yearly tradi-

tions. This year, the choir will be

taking an active part in the Lenten

Lecture series, continuing our

Christmas Caroling Ministry, and

creating a new Spring Service Pro-

ject.

Being a

part of the choir

presents a

unique opportu-

nity to partici-

pate in the lit-

urgy in a special

way. Church

musicians mys-

tically represent

the cherubim

every Sunday,

and it is a spe-

cial honor that many of us feel en-

gages us on a deeply personal level

in the celebration of the liturgy.

We take the first verses of Psalm

100 literally: “Make a joyful noise to

the Lord, all the earth! Serve

the Lord with gladness! Come into

his presence with singing!”

The choir is hoping to ex-

pand our circle to include new

members this year. We have mem-

bers from age 12 to 94, we have

professional musicians and folks

who are just learning to read music,

and we have members who come

when they can and members who

sing every Sunday. Even if you

can’t commit to every Sunday or if

you are nervous about singing, we

would love to have you join us!

Please contact Chelsea Waddelow

at chelseawaddelow@gmail.com

for more information.

Holy Trinity

Greek Orthodox Church

5000 Lead Mine Rd.

Raleigh, NC 27612

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