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APOLYTIKION OF SAINT NECTARIOS
The offspring of Silyvria*
and the guardian of Aegina* the true friend of virtue who appeared in the
last years. O Nectarios* we faithful honor you* as a godly servant of
Christ, * for you pour forth healing* of every kind for those who piously
cry out. * Glory to Christ who has glorified you; * Glory to Him who has
shown wonders in you; * Glory to Him who works healing through you for
all.
ΑΠΟΛΥΤΙΚΙΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΙΟΥ
Σηλυβρίας
τὸν γόνον
καὶ Αἰγίνης
τὸν ἔφορον,
τὸν ἐσχάτοις
χρόνοις
φανέντα ἀρετῆς φίλον γνήσιον,
Νεκτάριον
τιμήσωμεν
πιστοί, ὡς ἔνθεον
θεράποντα
Χριστοῦ. Ἀναβλύζει
γὰρ ἰάσεις
παντοδαπὰς
τοῖς εὐλαβῶς
κραυγάζουσι :
Δόξα τῷ
σὲ δοξάσαντι
Χριστῷ, δόξα τῷ
σὲ θαυμαστώσαντι,
δόξα τῷ
ἐνεργούντι
διὰ σοῦ
πᾶσιν ἰάματα.
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Below are the winning
ticket number from
the Raffle Ticket drawn on August 25, 2019.
Winning prize will be sent through the mail.
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Ticket #
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Category
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Prize
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28934
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First Prize
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$1,000.00
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35927
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Second Prize
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$500.00
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07349
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Third Prize
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$500.00
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OUR TOKEN OF APPRECIATION
The whole
body of the Parish Council would like to thank all volunteers who worked
hard on food preparation, cooking, extending help in festival booth,
distributing flyers, soliciting advertisers, selling raffle tickets, and
helping festival setup.
We would
like to thank, also, all donors who generously donated items, sponsors
of Festival Booth, vendors who rented booth to sell their goods during
festivals.
We can’t
mention all the many names but rather issued a blanketed expression of
our appreciation and heartfelt gratitude to all volunteers and donors.
To
everybody that made our festival successful, thank you and may the
Almighty God Bless you and be with you always and through the Wonderful
Intercession of Our Patron Saint Nectarios be with you all.
PARISH COUNCIL
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Euphemia the Great Martyr
Life
Saint Euphemia
lived in the 3rd century AD. She was the daughter of pious parents. Her
father was a senator named Philophronos and her
mother was Theodosia. She was born in Chalcedon,
located across the Bosporus from the city of Byzantium (modern-day
Istanbul). From her youth she dedicated her life to Christ and practiced
the virtues of prayer, fasting and chastity.
The
governor of Chalcedon, Priscus,
had made a decree that all of the inhabitants of the city take part in
sacrifices to the pagan god Ares. Euphemia was discovered with other
Christians who were hiding in a house and worshiping the Christian God,
in defiance of the governor's orders. Because of their refusal to
sacrifice, they were tortured for a number of days, and then handed over
to the Emperor for further torture. Euphemia, the youngest among them,
was separated from her companions in the hope that she betrays Christ if
she was on her own. She was promised worldy
riches but refused to deny Christ. She was subjected to particularly
harsh torments, including the wheel, in hopes of breaking her spirit but
the wheel miraculously stopped and an Angel of the Lord ministered to her
wounds.
The
governor then ordered that the saint be cast into a fiery furnace. Two
soldiers, Victor and Sosthenes, led her to the furnace, but seeing to
fearsome angels in the flames, refused to
carry out the order of the governor and became believers in the God Whom
Euphemia worshipped. Boldly confessing that they too were Christians,
Victor and Sosthenes bravely went to suffering. They were cast into the
arena to be eaten by wild beasts. During their martyrdom, they cried out
for mercy to God, asking Him to receive them into the Heavenly Kingdom. A
heavenly Voice answered their cries, and they entered into eternal life.
The beasts, however, did not even touch their bodies.
Saint Euphemia, cast
into the fire by other soldiers, remained unharmed. Ascribing this to
sorcery, the governor gave orders
to dig out a new pit, and filling it with knives, he had it covered over
with earth and grass, so that the martyr would not notice the preparation
for her execution but here too she remained unhurt.
Finally, they
sentenced her to be devoured by wild beasts at the circus. Before her
martyrdom, Saint Euphemia implored God to deem her worthy to suffer
terribly for His Name but when she was cast into the arena, none of the
wild beasts attacked her. Finally, one of the she-bears gave her a small
wound on the leg, from which flowed the pure blood of the martyr, and
immediately the holy Great Martyr Euphemia gave her spirit to the Lord.
During this time there was an earthquake, and both the guards and the
spectators ran in terror, so that the parents of the saint were able to
take up her body and reverently bury it not far from Chalcedon.
A majestic church was afterwards built over the grave of
the Great Martyr Euphemia.
Miracle During the Council of
Chalcedon
The Fourth Ecumenical Council convened in the city of Chalcedon in the year 451. The 630
delegates gathered in the church of Saint Euphemia where her holy relics were housed. The council repudiated the Eutychian doctrine
of monophysitism, and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed, which describes the
"full humanity and full divinity" of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Both the Monophysite and Orthodox parties
were well-represented at the council, so the meetings were quite
contentious, and no decisive consensus could be reached. The holy Patriarch Anatolius of
Constantinople proposed that the Council submit
the decision of the Church dispute to the Holy Spirit, through His undoubted bearer St. Euphemia the All-Praised. The
Orthodox hierarchs and their opponents wrote down their confessions of
faith on separate scrolls and sealed them with their seals. They opened
the tomb of the saint and placed both scrolls upon her bosom. Then, in
the presence of the emperor Marcian (450-457),
the participants of the Council sealed the tomb, putting on it the
imperial seal and setting a guard to watch over it for three days. During
these days both sides imposed upon themselves strict fasting and prayer. After three days the
patriarch and the emperor, in the presence of the Council, opened the
tomb and found the scroll with the Orthodox confession was held by St
Euphemia in her right hand, while the scroll of the heretics lay at her feet. St. Euphemia, as though alive, raised her
hand and gave the scroll to the patriarch. As a result of this miracle, many of the heretics accepted the Orthodox confession, while
those remaining obstinant in their heresy were
consigned to the Council's condemnation and excommunication.
This miracle is attested by a letter sent by the council to
Pope Leo I:
"For it was God who worked, and the triumphant Euphemia who
crowned the meeting as for a bridal, and who, taking our definition of
the Faith as her own confession, presented it to her Bridegroom by our
most religious Emperor and Christ-loving Empress, appeasing all the
tumult of opponents and establishing our confession of the Truth as
acceptable to Him, and with hand and tongue setting her seal to the votes
of us all in proclamation thereof."
The feast
day of Saint Euphemia is September 16 in commemoration of
her martyrdom. Her miracle at the Council of Chalcedon is commemorated
on July 11.
Apolytikion
of Great Martyr Euphemia
Third Tone
O Euphemia,
Christ's comely virgin, thou didst fill the Orthodox with gladness and
didst cover with shame all the heretics; for at the holy Fourth Council
in Chalcedon, thou didst confirm what the Fathers decreed aright. O
all-glorious Great Martyr, do thou entreat Christ God that His great
mercy may be granted unto us.
Kontakion of Great Martyr Euphemia
Fourth Tone
Thou strovest valiantly in thy sacred contest; and even
after death, thou makest us holy with streams
of healings, O all-famed Euphemia. For this reason, we venerate thy most
holy dormition and with faith we stand before thine all-ven'rable relics, that we be freed from illness of
the soul and also draw forth the grace of thy miracles.
Special Announcement:
·
We are having Open Registration for Sunday
Religious School and Greek School. Classes start on September, 2019 until
May 2020. Please contact: Mrs. Rebecca Lawdis
at 909-367– 6651. The location is at the back of the property in the last
modular buildings.
·
We need volunteer teachers for our Sunday
School Program for September, 2019 up to May, 2020. If interested please
contact Peter Klentos at 714-466-0356 or send
him email at peter.klentos@sbcglobal.net.
·
If someone wants to sponsor the coffee hour,
there is a sign-up sheet in the Hall. Please write legibly your name next
to the date you want to sponsor
·
We need oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) for the
Church, please donate.
·
Please notify us if someone in the member of
the family or yourself is sick, so that we may offer healing prayer.
·
We would like to remind all members of the Saint Nectarios
Philoptochos Society that there will be no meeting for the rest of Summer
(from June, July, and August, 2019). As usual, we go dark this summer.
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