THE MONTHLY BULLETIN OF

PANAGIA PANTOVASILISSA HOLY MOTHER QUEEN OF ALL

GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH A COMMUNITY FOR ALL

3001 Tates Creek Road Lexington, KY, 40502; phone: 859-266-1921

Website: www.goclex.org Parish Priest: Fr. Cosmin Sicoe

Phone: 859-469-1596 Email: fr.cosminsicoe@yahoo.com

July 2016

We are making progress towards the completion of the church. Since the builders started working on May 10th, they insulated the roof of the church, they framed the dome, the area underneath the dome, the sidewalls of the church and they started working on the frames of the barrel ceilings. Please keep this project in your prayers!

The children of the three Orthodox Churches of the Lexington area got together to learn about God and to establish friendships during the Vacation Church School that took place from June 20th to the 24th at St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholasville. Many, many thanks to the organizers and the hosting parish!

 

As you could see in this edition of the

bulletin, our Church Family Life Committee (chaired by Joel Scott) is organizing a pilgrimage to the Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV. The pilgrimage is scheduled for Saturday, July 23rd.

But why a pilgrimage? Because of the same reason we are doing

everything we are doing in our relationship with God: we offer ourselves to Him in order to become one with Him and to find His peace and His joy.

Dealing with the daily brokenness of the world, being pressured by the different requirements of life, we lose our interior peace and unity. This is why we are called to stop from time to time, to retreat and to connect ourselves with the One who brought everything into the loving communion of God. After reconnecting ourselves, we will have again the energy needed for dealing with the realities of life.

The Lord Himself went “up the mountain” many times to pray and reconnect Himself so that He could come down the mountain and heal the brokenness of the world. St. Luke noted in His gospel that the Lord “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” (Luke 5:16)

The early monks and nuns also sought communion with God in the wilderness since the beginning of Christianity and this is how the first monastic communities occurred and developed. The married Christians, who could not completely retreat in the wilderness and dedicate themselves to prayer, would go from time to time to find the peace and the connection with God offered by the monasteries.

And this is what we will try to do on July 23rd. We will go to the Holy Cross Monastery in the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia where more than two dozen monks are offering themselves to God in order to become more and more like Him and we will offer ourselves to God in order to become one with Him and to reconnect ourselves.

If you want to be part of the pilgrimage, please contact Joel Scott at 859-229-6765 or joelscott81@gmail.com.

Fr. Cosmin Sicoe

Ken Kiriacopoulos – Parish Council Member No, I haven’t lived in Kentucky all my life. I’m the man on

the parish council who speaks Bostonese! May father was Jim Kiriacopoulos, born in Karitena, Greece and was a Greek immigrant to Boston, MA where he worked in his own business as a cobbler repairing and making new shoes. He married my mother Bessie Geanakakis (a first generation Greek-American) in Ipswich, MA. To this union were born three girls and two boys. Sadly, my father died when I was fifteen years old. My mother lived until she was ninety-eight years of age.

I attended Boston English High School, the oldest public high school in the United States. I studied in the technical college course consisting of math and science. I was selected captain of the football team, and was selected to all city, all conference, and all state. A member of the all decade, all century high school hall of fame teams. I received a scholastic football scholarship to Boston College where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in business. Upon graduation, I was invited for a tryout with the professional football team The Cleveland Browns. After graduation from Boston College in 1964, I joined the United States Marine Corps. After Officer Candidate School, I was commissioned a second lieutenant. I then attended basic school for six months. The following is a list of my duty stations and assignments:

-­‐ PLT CMDR of combat engineer platoon (Vietnam) 1966-67

-­‐ CAPT OIC Schools Detachment 29 Palms CA 1967

-­‐ Student advanced engineer school Fort Belvoir Army Base, VA 1968

-­‐ CO combat engineer company second tour, Vietnam 1968

-­‐ CO engineer support company, Camp Shaub, Okinowa

-­‐ Assistant inspector instructor fourth shore party battalion, Seattle, WA training reserves 1970

-­‐ Wing engineer marine corps base, Kaneohe, HA 1973

-­‐ OPS officer/XO 7th engineer support battalion, Camp Pendleton, CA 1974

-­‐ OPS officer/XO wing engineer squadron-17 Iwakuni, Japan 1976

-­‐ O head engineer section (LTCOL) headquarters, marine corps, Washington, DC 1979

-­‐ Second service support group, group engineer 1982 -­‐ Commanding officer, 8th engineer support battalion,

1983 -­‐ Head, facilities management department, Marine

Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, NC 1985 -­‐ Retired, August 30th, 1989. Moved to Lexington,

KY in July 1992 Kate and I married on June 20th, 1981 at St.

Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church, VA. Kate was a beautiful bride as she walked down the aisle in church. She is now a retired Navy nurse commander.

Military awards: Bronze Star Medal with Combat V, Purple Heart Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, Meritorious Unit Ribbon, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal with Silver Star, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry Medal with Palm, Personal Award and Vietnam Cross of Gallantry Ribbon and Vietnam Service Medal. In 1983 we adopted our only child, Katie, who was two days old when we brought her home. We now proudly have four grandchildren who live in Lexington. We have been happily married for 35 years and have lived in Lexington, KY for 23 years. Ken Kiriacopoulos

Elizabeth Smith – Parish Council Member

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ! For those who don't know me, my name is

Elizabeth Smith. Originally I am from Charleston, West Virginia, the granddaughter of Orthodox immigrants from Syria and Lebanon.

My husband, Tom, and I met while we were students at U.K. and we recently celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. God has blessed us with 3 wonderful daughters who are all out of college and live away from Lexington. I have been a retired pharmacist since 1999 and as a retiree I have hobbies that keep me busy. Cooking is a great passion as well as daily walking for exercise and therapy. I am both flattered and humbled that I was chosen to serve on the parish council as adult education chair. If you don't know me, stop me in church and introduce yourself-I'd love to get to know you. Elizabeth Smith

Worship and Church

Events Schedule Sunday, July 3rd 9:00 am – Matins 10:00 am – Holy Liturgy: Epistle: Romans 2:10-16; Gospel: Matthew 4:18-23 Agape

Sunday, July 3rd – Friday, July 8th – Archdiocese Clergy-Laity Conference in Nashville, TN

Sunday, July 10th 9:00 am – Matins 10:00 am – Holy Liturgy: Epistle: Romans 5:1-10; Gospel: Matthew 6:22-33 Memorial Service and Lunch – Eliopoulos Family Monday and Tuesday, July 11 & 12 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Children’s Day Out with Father Wednesday, July 13th 9:00 am – 12:00 pm – Office Hours 7:00 pm – Parish Council Meeting Thursday, July 14th 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Office Hours Saturday, July 16th – Church Family Life Event 6:00 pm - Baseball Game: Lexington Legends vs. Ashville Tourists at Whitaker Bank Ball Park

Sunday, July 17th 9:00 am – Matins 10:00 am – Holy Liturgy: Epistle: Titus 3:8-15; Gospel: Matthew 5:14-19 Agape – July Birthday Cake Saturday, July 23rd - Church Family Life Event Trip to Holy Cross Monastery, Wayne, WV Sunday, July 24th 9:00 am – Matins 10:00 am – Holy Liturgy: Epistle: Romans 10:1-10; Gospel: Matthew 8:28-34; 9:1 Agape Sunday, July 24th – Saturday, July 30th - St. Nicholas Summer Camp, TN Sunday, July 31st 9:00 am – Matins 10:00 am – Holy Liturgy: Epistle: Romans 12:6-14; Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8 Agape

Our church would like to hire a part time bookkeeper and office helper. If you know somebody who has these skills, is not a member of our church and would be interested in this position, please let Fr. Cosmin know. Thank you very much!

Please consider giving the food for one of our Sunday Agape. In order to keep this beautiful tradition going, all of us will have to support it. Please contact Rita Watts or Pam Cox for more details and for scheduling your family for providing one Sunday’s agape.

May January – May Income $ 16,678 $ 74,673 Expenses $ 14,988 $ 69,723

Overall Total $ 1,690 $ 4,950

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