newsletter of all holy spirit greek orthodox church...the pascha passport is intended to be used as...
TRANSCRIPT
Change with a Smile?
What is Evdokia (March 1) bringing to us? I am sure it will be a
blessed gift. Maybe warmer weather? She is accompanying us to the
season of Lent, the Lenten Spring, the time of repentance, so a gift?
Yes, The Great Fast is here, Hoorah! Yeeaahh! Was this your reac-
tion? This season usually conjures up images of doom and gloom,
sadness and dormancy, but the Church says “Rejoice!” We should be
happy to repent. It is with joy that Christians can turn their attention
to the Lord (Pardon the pun!) We turn our attention to Him who is
our Life.
Our attention is our energies, our time and our hearts. Repent-
ance is not a one-time –thing, but a way of life. It is constant calibrat-
ing, re-focusing, when our attention is usurped by worldly desires.
The world is like a lion waiting in ambush, to pounce on your every
waking hour. Be careful! Where does God fit in your life? Yes, you
have work, and a family, and schools, and friends, but how come there’s no place for Him? The One who loves you
unconditionally? You may say, but I do love God, He knows it. However, I do not go to worship Him, and have no
time for prayer, and with so many thoughts in my mind, He is often forgotten. Yet, love is real when being together,
communicating, and sharing. It is spoken, acted upon, and felt.
An example from the domestic scene might be similar to a dad who loves his daughter, but is always working at
the restaurant. Yes, he loves her, and she may know it, but where is it? He is never home, absent when the problems
arise, missing those “moments.” He may say I love my daughter, but I just can’t express it. Or, I have a hard time
showing it. Or I show it by going to work. However, she may have some real problems with that kind of love. He
may say “I’m busy working,” but she may simply want time with her father. She does love him unconditionally, but
where is the relationship? Repentance in this scenario, for this family, might entail a good conversation to heal the
relationship (Confession), time together (Prayer), and some fun activities (Fellowship), and the fruits of this kind of
love will benefit all around them (Philanthropy).
What kind of repentance do you need: confession, worship, Christian friendship, or charity? Be happy to make
changes. Sadness is a sin in the spiritual life, except when you grieve over your broken love, which is a blessed mourn-
ing for you will be “comforted” (Mat. 5.4) by the Spirit Himself. Therefore, put aside the pleasures that make you
happy, and find true joy in the presence of the Almighty. “Let us fast from passions as we fast from foods, taking pleasure
in the good works of the Spirit, and accomplishing them in love, and rejoicing in spiritual joy.” (from the Forgiveness Ves-
pers Service). Kali Sorokastai! May you have a wonderful journey!
Fr. Alexander
March 2014
THE MESSENGER
Newsletter of All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
December 2013 2
PARISH INFORMATION Address:
9012 “Q” Street ,
Omaha, NE 68127
Office Hours:
Monday—Friday:
10am—5pm
Phone:
402-934-3688
Fax:
402-934-3689
Website:
www.allholyspirit.com
Email:
Church:
Fr. Alexander Lukashonok:
Services:
Fall/Winter/Spring hours
Each Sunday
Matins 8:30 am
Divine Liturgy 9:30 am
2 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
Looking for ways to enrich your spiritual journey this Lent? We have some exciting Lenten materials for
you and your family to use as tools along the way to Pascha.
The Pascha Passport is intended to be used as a means of enrichment and education on your journey through Lent to Pascha. It is a small booklet, about the size of an actual US passport (with a much prettier
cover). Much like a real passport, it has many different spaces for stamps; however, the stamps that go in this passport are of beautiful icons that correspond to each destination in the Pascha Passport. These pass-port stamps are received at the church at each of the various services of the Triodion, Lent, Holy Week, and
Special Destinations (such as Confession, the Jesus Prayer, Lenten Retreat, and extra-Lenten services like Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday). The beginning of the passport has a place for the pilgrim to write their
personal information and to sign a declaration of their intent as they embark on their journey through Lent to the final destination of Great and Holy Pascha. There is also space for the church to stamp a seal of au-
thenticity. Included in the Pascha Passport is something that does not exist in a US passport, and that is a place to mark one’s personal journey. Here, pilgrims keep track of the “Personal Day Trips” of prayer, Bible reading, fasting, and almsgiving. The Pascha Passport includes succinct explana-
tions of each destination intended to help pilgrims of all ages, traditions, and Continued on P. 11
THANK YOU It’s a great honor to offer the bread that
will become the body and blood of Christ
during Divine Liturgy and we thank the following people who provided Prosphora
for February: Mary Moustakes, Joanne Sgourakis, Helen Lazanas, and Despina
Foster. February Coffee Hour sponsors: Spiro &
Mary Moustakes, Steve & Heidi Thom-
son, Ted & Helen Lazanas & Jeff Johan-nesmeyer.
EL GRECO We had a wonderful evening at the El Greco Celebration on February 22nd! Everyone had a great time and
enjoyed Flamenco dance, Spanish guitar, and AHS Greek dance performances. Food was fantastic. Thank
you to all who contributed to this big fundraiser and bought the tickets. BIG Thank you to Elias & Demetra
Eliopoulos for organizing the event.
USHER SCHEDULE
March & April 2014. If you are unable to usher on your assigned Sunday please find a
replacement within your group.
03/02 John Treantos
Steve Thomson
Bill & Cindy Lambert
03/09 David Rakes
Rena Thornton
Mike & Nikki Moravec
03/16 John Birge
Matt Boulos
Jim McDonnell & Paul Bitsos 03/23 Andy Karavas
Tammy Bitzes
John & Elaine Berger 03/30 Chris Hoegemeyer
Joe Carter
Brian & Sheila Zachariae
04/06 John Sgourakis
Karen Chader
Mike Bouzis & Josh Busch
04/13 Nick Petrow
John Detisch
Bill & Cindy Lambert
04/20 John Treantos
Nikki Diamantis
Mike & Nikki Moravec
04/27 David Rakes
Mary Dounias
Jim McDonnell & Paul Bitsos
3 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church March 2014 3
At the El Greco
December 2013 4
2014 Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival On Sunday February 23, 8 speakers competed in the 2014 Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival, deliv-ering amazing talks! Please congratulate all the participants in representing their faith and our parish in a spiritual pilgrimage to express their Orthodox Faith:
Sophia Bouzis, Sophia Lambert, Baily Moravec, Nicole Petrow, Danny Poulos, Asia Rakes, Seth Rakes,
Vasili Sgourakis
The talks were scored by a guest panel of
judges and the following scholarships were awarded:
Senior Division
First Place: Nicole Petrow ($500 scholar-
ship) Second Place: Baily Moravec ($400 scholar-
ship) Third Place: Asia Rakes ($300 scholarship)
Junior Division
First Place: Vasili Sgourakis ($300 scholar-ship)
Second Place: Danny Poulos ($200 scholar ship)
Third Place: Seth Rakes ($100 scholarship)
We were also blessed with the voices of our younger Sunday School classes who delivered short speeches about a wide variety of topics. Their lovely voices
truly graced all those in the audience!
Katrina Bakke, Sophia Detisch, Gabriella Laws,
Emma Petrides, Sylvia Poulos, Isabelle Sgourakis, Sophia Sgourakis, Lola Warren
Please congratulate all of our speakers! Good luck to the first place speakers who are eligible to compete
at the Denver Diocese Oratorical being held March 28-30 at St. Catherine in Greenwood Village Colora-
do.
4 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
Oratorical Festival 2014
Oratorical Festival 2014
March 2014 5
RUSSIAN GROUP We had two services in church Slavonic language in February. It was great to share some tea and sweets with parish-ioners after the services, and enjoy the fellowship. We are planning to have Great Vespers in Russian once a month, and invite everyone who is interested! We invite you to Great Vespers in Russian on Saturday,
March 29th, at 6:30pm, followed by a short film and discussion.
AHEPA NEWS During our February meeting we discussed the details to our upcoming Fish Fry. We will add 2 additional items
this year, Seafood Jumbo & Seafood Alfredo. We decided to raise our prices by $1. In addition, we will be selling
‘Pickles’ at this year’s Fish Fry.
The ALLPLAY Miracle Baseball League would like to thank the ALL Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
AHEPA Chapter #534 for the very generous donation of $1,000! This incredible donation will help over 280 children
with disabilities play baseball for FREE this summer and fall at ALLPLAY.
IN THE LOOP GROUP
6 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
PHILOPTOCHOS Our meeting this month will be a POT LUCK meeting on Tuesday evening, March 4th with the pot luck
starting at 6:30p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:15pm in the church hall. Time to show off your culinary
skills! Keep in mind lent will have started.
We will be making Easter preparations and discussing our upcoming bake sales at the Ahepa fish fries.
Thank you to everyone who attended our very first Philoptochos social outing in February at the
Aksarben Village movie theater! Thank you to Deb McDonnell for making all of the arrangements and al-
lowing us to enjoy fellowship with our Philoptochos members in a social setting.
Our next fun event will be held Sat., April 26th at 1:30p.m. at Canvas and Cabernet! To register, go to
www.canvasandcabernet.com/event-registration or call Deb McDonnell at 402-689-7938 (registration is $35
and includes instruction to paint your own masterpiece and a glass off wine.) No artistic abilities required
and other goodies will be provided :)
We will not have a meeting in April.
We would like to thank Ahepa for their generous donation of $500 in December in order to buy much
needed winter coats for the homeless in Omaha. I would like to thank Helen Petrow, Sandi Kreha and
Tammy Gill VERY MUCH for their savvy shopping skills that enabled us to purchase 17 new winter
coats! I then took them to the Open Door Mission where they were especially appreciative.
To remind those of you who said you would take charge of the weekly Fish Fry bake sales, the schedule
is as follows: March 7th - Nikki Diamantis/Dora Bitsos, March 14th - Maria Laws/ ? , March 21st - Tam-
my Gill/ Nikki Moravec, March 28th - Joanne Sgourakis/ Aphrodite Petrihos, April 4th - Maria Laws/Deb
McDonnell, April 11th - Maria Knowles/ ? We still need someone to help on March 14th and April
11th. PLEASE make this job easier for the chairmen by calling them and letting them know what you can
bring. We need EVERYONE'S HELP with the bakesale to be successful!!
Also, Philoptochos has been asked to host a coffee/dessert reception after the Sunday of Orthodoxy
evening service on March 9th in our church hall. Anyone interested in organizing this please call Maria
Knowles at 402-493-0270 (I will be out of town this day). Lastly, we're now on Facebook!! Check us out at
www.facebook.com/allholyspiritphiloptochos.
Have a wonderful, prayerful, Lenten season.
YOUTH GROUP (GOYA) Parents of Will Thornton hosted our meeting at their house. Youth group went on the road. We had 14 stu-
dents go to our first on site meeting and visit Will who has been recuperating from a major surgery.
Father spoke about what it's like to be an Orthodox Christian in today's world and how we should represent
our faith. He also said that our Youth Group should be defined by compassion and service. We enjoyed get-
ting to learn more about our hosts, Will and Nikki Thornton as well as each other.
Sophia Bouzis is hard at work writing and compiling an Orthodox Teenager Survival Guide. Stay tuned.
By Andy Vassios
My foundation in Christ was laid by my mother. My father died when I was 11, so my upbringing fell to my mother. She was a devout Christian and loved the Lord. There wasn’t a Greek Orthodox Church in town in which I grew up. I was born on a farm in eastern Colorado and at age 5, moved to a nearby small town (Hugo – population 850). At age 11, due to my father’s health, we moved to Denver where he died later that year. The blessing was that Denver had a Greek Orthodox Church. My mother made sure that we attended every week and with no car, we used a street-car and a bus to get to church. I soon became an alter boy, and then in my teens moved up to the choir loft.
That became the foundation for my eventually becoming a choir director. It started when we lost our long-time director and had difficulty finding a replacement. After trying out a couple of poten-tial directors (they didn’t work out), I brashly, at 16 years of age, said, “let me try it”. After all, I had a little back-ground in basic music since as a high-school freshman; I’d
play the bassoon (and not very well at that). None-theless, that’s how my music ministry began.
I remained as Denver’s director over several years until I graduated from Denver Uni-versity in 1954. I then married my wonderful wife, Jackie (baptized Maria). We met while both working at United Air-lines. We soon moved to Georgia where I began flight train-
ing in the Air Force. After 3 years on active duty, we returned to Denver and I resumed working for United – eventually spending 42 years with them. Between our time in the Air Force and with United Airlines, we moved all over the country. In fact, in our first 18 years of marriage, we lived at 16 different addresses. During that time, I worked long hours and Jackie raised our 3 chil-dren. There were Orthodox Churches in some of the cities in which we lived. We lived in Moultrie, GA; Enid, OK; Sacramento, CA; Denver; Hartford, CT; Bethesda, MD; Los Angeles; Chicago; back to Denver and finally – and thankfully – we ended up in Omaha. We have lived here for just over 40 years. Those moves and participation, in various choirs, sometimes as a singer and sometimes as a director, kept me close to Christ and The Church. In my twilight years, I still cherish the moments when I can learn more about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I miss the fact that Bible studies virtually did not
exist at the adult level at most, if not all, of the various Orthodox Churches I attended. In my case - thank the Lord for the choirs. I love the Lord and talk to Him throughout the day and night. I’m so grateful for all the blessings He’s bestowed on me. At the top of these blessings is the wonderful love and dedication of my wife and our 3 children, their families, and their devotion to Christ. Finally, we’re so blessed that Fr. Alexander has taken such an aggressive approach in his efforts to enlighten not only those of us who are Orthodox, but to do so for potential converts as well. I’m especially pleased that those efforts include Bible studies for adults (as well as for the youth), since I missed that opportunity for most of my life. Glory be to God the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and the all-Holy Spirit, Sustainer, Comforter and Giver of Life!
Andy with his mom
Andy at the Air Force
Andy and Jackie
March 2014 7
9 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church December 2013 8 8 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
Icon Corner
By Tom Denich
March always brings to mind spring and St. Patrick’s day. A feast of the church that America has given a new meaning to and
not altogether wholesome. While in Ireland it is a regular feast day of the church, Americans have made it a drunken brawl of a
day. I was asked to paint this icon of Patrick by one of my physi-cians for his son. I enjoyed the research but my advisor asked me
to make that St. Patrick’s left had was covered as he held the Word reminding us that no matter how great our deeds we are not worthy to touch Holy things. St. Patrick used the clover to
teach the concept of the Trinity. March is also a time of year that we celebrate the Synaxis of
Archangel Gabriel and The Annunciation of the Theotokos. I was fortunate to get a commission to paint The Annunciation for
one of our very special little ladies in the parish. It is such a joy to be able to see these children of the parish covet their saint’s icons and carry them in procession.
St Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland (~461)
"Saint Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, was seized from his native Britain by Irish marauders when he was sixteen years old. Though the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, it was not
until his captivity that he sought out the Lord with his whole heart. In his Confession, the testament he wrote towards the end of his life, he says, 'After I came to Ireland — eve-
ry day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed — the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was so moved that in a single day I would say as
many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many at night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain; and I would rise for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm."
After six years of slavery in Ireland, he was guided by God to make his escape, and afterwards struggled
in the monastic life in Aesir in Gaul [now France], under the guidance of the holy Bishop Germanus. Many
years later he was ordained bishop and sent to Ireland once again, about the year 432, to convert the Irish to Christ. His arduous labours bore so much fruit that within seven years, three bishops were sent from Gaul to
help him shepherd his flock, 'my brethren and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord -- so many thousands of people,' he says in his Confession. His apostolic work was not accomplished without much 'weariness and painfulness,' long journeys
through difficult country, and many perils; he says his very life was in danger twelve times. When he came to Ireland, as its enlightener, it was a pagan country; when he ended his earthly life some thirty years later,
about 461, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner." (Great Horologion)
9 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church March 2014 9
St. Patrick
December 2013 10 10 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church
The work of St Patrick and his brethren has been called the most successful single missionary venture in the history of the Church.
It is said of St Patrick that he chanted the entire Psalter every day.
The Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady,
the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
When Mary the Virgin was about fourteen years old, the Archangel Gabriel came to Joseph's dwelling, where
she was living, and said to her, 'Rejoice, thou Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among wom-en.' Receiving assurance that she had been chosen to be the
Mother of God Himself, she answered in humility, 'Behold
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word.' Immediately, the Holy Spirit came upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowed her, and the Incar-
nation, long awaited by the whole creation, took place: He who contains the whole universe consented to be con-tained in the womb of one woman, the most holy Theoto-
kos. The Church teaches us that it was within the holy Vir-
gin's power to refuse the divine conception: her knowing and willing acceptance, the consummation of the faith of
the whole righteous remnant of Israel, shows us that our very salvation is the fruit of the cooperation (synergia)of human faithfulness with God's saving grace.
Carrying in her womb the Savior of the Universe, the Virgin went to the hills of Judea to stay with her kinswoman
Elizabeth, who six months before had conceived in her old age (by Zacharias the priest) St John the Fore-runner. As the holy Virgin approached, the child Jophn leaped in his mother's womb for joy, prophesying
the coming of Emmanuel. Feeling the prophesy, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and blessed the holy Mary and the fruit of her womb. And Mary in turn glorified God, saying 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior' (Luke ch. 1).
Continued from P.9 Icon Corner
Annunciation of Ever-Virgin Mary
11 All Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church March 2014 11
backgrounds better understand and participate in the beautiful and humbling journey to Pascha; Good Strength to All!
The Raising Lazarus Project is a parish-wide program that is designed to raise awareness about the Sacra-
ment of Confession. It fits in easily as a companion tool to the Pascha Passport to teach parishioners about confession (why and how we confess), guide them towards setting up a confession with their priest, and give them tools to actually confess. The kit comes with a 12 x 16 foam core icon of the Raising of Lazarus, six
strips of fabric with velcro, an information document, and 50 Raising Lazarus Project Booklets, for ages 11 and up. Every Sunday of Lent leading up to Lazarus Saturday, the Priest or Deacon removes one of the vel-
cro strips that “binds” the icon, until at last the icon is revealed and Lazarus is raised! This gives ample op-portunity to discuss the program and invite parishioners to participate in the Holy Sacrament of Confession.
Source: www.stspyridons.org
Continued from P. 2 Guide through the Lent
All Holy Spirit Greek
Orthodox Church 9012 “Q” Street
Omaha, NE 68127-3549 (402) 934-3688 office (402) 934-3689 fax www.allholyspirit.com
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