Sunday Bulletin

September 8, 2013

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church 13555 Hillcrest Road, Dallas, Texas 75240

Office 972-991-1166 Fax 972-661-1717 www.holytrinity.info

Rev. Fr. Christopher Constantinides Rev. Fr. Haralambos “Rob” Spaliatsos

Rev. Fr. John Essa Reverend Deacon Mark Pakes

Reverend Deacon Athanasios “Clint” Sharpley

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COMMUNION ETIQUETTE

If you are either baptized and or confirmed as an Orthodox Christian and have spiritually prepared to receive Holy Communion, please come up from the middle

aisle of the Church with reverence and humility, row by row, in a QUIET and ORDERLY fashion, and depart as directed.

All those receiving Communion should be baptized and or confirmed Orthodox Christians. If you are married, your marriage must also have been blessed by the

Orthodox Church.

In receiving Communion, you should place the cloth under your chin, recite your CHRISTIAN NAME, and wipe your mouth after receiving. Women, please remove your lipstick prior to receiving Communion.

THANK YOU!

Fr. John Kalantzis, Commander, USN

Konstantinos Kostibas, 2nd Lt. USAF

Chris Krucke, USN

Jeff Lohmann, Lance Corporal, USMC

Ryan Lontos, USNJ

Nicholas D. Patitsas, USN

John Politz, SSgt. US Army

Stephen Serniak, Major, USAF

David Thomas, Staff Sgt. US Army

Dr. Jim Thornton, Commander, USN

Raymond Walser, LTC, US Army

Ben Winfrey, US Army

Corey Zarras, Seaman Recruit USN

Robert Adler, Commander, USN

Dale Alexander

Michael Artemis, Marines

Dana Ray Austin, USN

Arthur John Athens, Commandant, USMC

Chris Ballas, USN Reserves

Brandon Bell, USAF

Joseph Biasatti, US Army

Michael Bocan-Collins, USN

Joseph Bowley, US Army

Stephen Cariotis, SSgt. USMC

Angelo Carter, 1st Lt., US Army Reserves

Peter Costas, Major USAF

Michael Gomez, USN

PRAYERS FOR OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN

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Sunday, September , 013 Hymns at the Small Entrance

ENTRANCE HYMN

Come let us bow down to Christ and worship Him the Son of

God. Save us O Son of God, who did arise from the dead. We

sing to You, alleluia!

RESURRECTIONAL APOLYTIKION TONE 2

When you descended to the realm of death You as life immortal

rendered to Hades a mortal blow by Your all radiant dignity. And

when You from infernal depths and the darkness below did raise

the dead. All the hosts of heaven's powers did proclaim and cry

out, O life giving Christ and our God we give glory.

APOLYTIKION FOR NATIVITY OF THEOTOKOS TONE 4

Thy nativity, O Theotokos, hath proclaimed joy to the whole

universe; for from thee did shine forth the Sun of justice, Christ our

God, annulling the curse, and bestowing the blessing, abolishing

death and granting us life everlasting.

KONTAKION FOR NATIVITY OF THE THEOTOKOS TONE 4

By thy holy nativity, O pure one, Joachim and Anna were delivered

from the reproach of barrenness; and Adam and Eve were

delivered from the corruption of death; thy people do celebrate it,

having been saved from the stain of iniquity, crying unto thee: The

barren doth give birth to the Theotokos, who nourisheth our life.

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Epistle Reading St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 6:11-18

BRETHREN, see with what large letters I am writing to you with

my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the

flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and not only in

order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For

even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the

law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory

in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of

our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to

me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for

anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and

mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God.

Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the

marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your

spirit, brethren. Amen

Gospel Reading

John 3:13-17

The Lord said, "No one has ascended into heaven but he who

descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up

the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that

whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world,

but that the world might be saved through him."

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Sunday, Sept. 8 The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady the

Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary; Sophronios,

Bishop of Iberia

Monday, Sept. 9 The Holy & Righteous Ancestors of God,

Joachim and Anna; Severian the Martyr of

Sebastia; Theophanes the Confessor; Afterfeast

of the Nativity of the Theotokos

Tuesday, Sept. 10 Menodora, Metrodora, & Nymphodora the

Martyrs; Poulcheria the Empress; Afterfeast of

the Nativity of the Theotokos

Wednesday, Sept. 11 Theodora of Alexandria; Euphrosynos the Cook;

Demetrios & Evanthea the Martyrs & their son

Demetrianos; Sergius and Herman of Valaam,

Finland; Afterfeast of the Nativity of the

Theotokos

Thursday, Sept. 12 Apodosis of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady

the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary;

Autonomos the Martyr; Hieromartyr Cornatus,

Bishop of Iconium; Agirus, the Hieromartyr of

Cornoutus, Bishop of Iconium; Daniel of

Thassos; Julian the Martyr

Friday, Sept. 13 Forefeast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross;

The Consecration of the Church of the Holy

Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre); Cornelius the

Centurion & Martyr; Aristides the Philosopher;

Hierotheos the Righteous of Iveron Monastery,

Mount Athos

Saturday, Sept. 14 The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving

Cross; Commemoration of the 6th Ecumenical

Council

Daily Commemoration of Saints

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Calendar of Events

Sunday, September 8 Nativity of the Theotokos

8:15 a.m. Orthros

9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy (S)

12 - 1 p.m. Iconagraphy Town Hall Meeting (O)

Youth Choir today in the Greek School Room at 9:30 a .m.

Catechetical School after Holy Communion.

Holy Cross Bake Sale & Coffee hosted by Philoptochos immediately fo llowing

Divine Liturgy (A,D).

Monday, September 9

11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Yarn Guild (BR)

Tuesday, September 10

1 - 3 p.m. Sr. Fellowship Planning Mtg. (BR)

2 p.m. Pickleball (Gym)

5—6:30 p.m. HT Greek School (Children) (GS Rooms)

6:30 p.m. DOP & AHEPA Dinner & Installation (O)

6:30 p.m. GFF Leaders Mtg. (A,D)

7 p.m. HTA Board Mtg. (HTA Library)

7 p.m. Webinar with Fr. Jonathan (BR)

Wednesday, September 11 5—6:30 p.m. HT Greek School (Children) (GS Rooms)

6 p.m. Paraklesis (C)

7 p.m. GOYA (A)

7 p.m. HOPE (Gym)

Thursday, September 12 10:45 a.m.—11:45 a.m. Adult Bible Study (BR)

5—6:30 p.m. HT Greek School (Children) (GS Rooms)

7 - 9 p.m. Pickleball (Gym)

6:30 p.m. HTA Parent Club (D)

Friday, September 13 6 p.m. Great Vespers for the Elevation of the

Venerable & Life Giving Cross (S)

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VOLUNTEER TODAY !

Please join us during Coffee Hour

to sign up and for FREE Give Aways!

There are two ways to volunteer:

1. Sign up in the Community Center after church

(every Sunday until the Festival).

2. Go to our website www.greekfestivalofdallas.com ,

click on the VOLUNTEER tab

(pass code Opa!2013 – case sensitive)

Saturday, September 14 Elevation of the Venerable

& Life Giving Cross

8:30 a.m. Orthros

9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy (S)

10:30 a.m. Baking Fenekia (K)

11 a.m. Caregivers Support Group (BR)

5 p.m. Great Vespers (C)

Sunday, September 15

8:15 a.m. Orthros

9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy (S)

12:30 - 4:30 p.m. HTHD Practice (O)

Catechetical School and Adult Faith Enrichment after Holy Communion.

Coffee hosted by the Arcadians immediately following Divine Liturgy (A,D).

40 Day Memorial for John Peet

Parish Council Schedule September 8

Jim Dolmas Ellena Fox George Karahal

Jimmy Horiates Nic Carayannopoulos Dan Shaheen

September 15

Chris Canellos Ari Rigopoulos

Jim Chappel Sam Paulos Mary LeBrecht

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Philoptochos

Holy Cross Bake

Sale TODAY!

Celebrating Over

75 Years

Holy Cross was founded in 1937 as Holy Cross Theological School in

Pomfret, Connecticut, at which time Archbishop Athernagoras directed

the Philoptochos to “devote” themselves to the school. In 1946, the

school moved to Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1968 it expanded the

Undergraduate division into a four-year liberal arts college named

Hellenic College. Holy Cross has become one of the most important

Institutions of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Western

Hemisphere. Your Donation and/or Purchase

Supports a Philoptochos Tradition!

(It’s not fattening if it’s for

a good cause!)

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The AHEPANS, Daughters of Penelope and members of the Maids

of Athena and Sons of Pericles are celebrating! We are celebrating

the installation of all our newly elected local Chapter Officers for

2013-14. Also, we will be honoring the following:

AHEPA Supreme Governor, Nick Dixie

District Lt. Governor & Scholarship Chairman, James Thomas

Dist. Secretary & Dist. Advisor to AHEPA Lodge & Sons of Pericles,

John Boyd

Daughters of Penelope District Governor, Vali Maglaras

District Lt. Governor, Stacie Thomas

District Treasurer, Hrisanthe Patts

District Advisor to DOP Lodge & National Maids of Athena Advisor,

Anne-Marie Cariotis

We invite you to contribute a mezedakia or dessert of your choice.

AHEPANS will be serving dinner.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. in the Arthur L. Sarris Community Center

Join us for an evening full of food, fun and fellowship!

We look forward to seeing you and your family! If you need any

additional information, please call:

Betty Boyd at (817) 821-3570 or James Thomas at (214) 842-7039

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The Greek Food Festival is the largest fundraiser our parish hosts every

year. Thanks to everyone who donates their time, treasure and talents. Our profit

margins continue to increase, but there is only so much the committee can do to

contain costs, and only so many patrons we can accommodate at our Festival every

year. Our ‘”Wish List” contains many of the items it takes to run our festival. You

can donate a portion or the entire amount. We appreciate any donation made to

help us continue with the success of our Festival. Please make checks payable to

“Greek Food Festival of Dallas” and write “GFF Donation and specify the item” in

the memo.

If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to any of the committee

members or email us at: greekfoodfestivalofdallas@gmail.com

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Chris Canellos Harry Yianitsas

2013 Parish Council President 2013 Stewardship Chairman

The Holy Trinity

Bookstore/Library/Gift Shop

Welcomes You! Fall is on it’s way and the new calendar year for Holy Trinity

Bookstore has begun. We have some excellent books to add to

your personal library. “Heavenly Banquet” is a book that enhances a Christian

way of life for all Orthodox Christians.

We are pleased to present the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church gift

collection, available in the Holy Trinity Bookstore/Library/Gift Shop.

Bob Munro is the photographic artist, whose spiritually inspired

artist-created gift collection features photographic art images of Holy

Trinity’s most sacred and treasured icons, stained glass windows and

other church details. The Holy Trinity gift collection includes matted

prints, triptych art, magnets and gift boxed porcelain ornaments. The perfect

gift for any occasion and a great way to take a piece of our church home with

you to enjoy every day.

Other items we feature include gifts for your home as well as

greeting cards, wedding crown holders, new Byzantine jewelry

(crosses), Icons for most feast days and much, much more.

Bookstore Hours

Wednesdays, 1—3 p.m.

Sundays after Divine Liturgy

until 12:30 p.m.

Weekly Bulletin Stewardship Report as of 9/5/13

Contributions received 1/1/13 to 9/5/13

2013 Stewardship Pledges

Number of Pledges

$ 2013 Pledges

$ Contributed to 2013 Stewardship

% of 2013 Pledge Contributed

No Change to Pledge 277 $378,945

Decreased Pledge 38 $31,550

Increased Pledge 357 $388,132

New Pledges 57 $67,790

TOTAL # of Pledges 729 $866,417 $548,389 63.29%

Bob Munro is here

TODAY

to sign your Icons!

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How to Help Our Children be More Christ-Centered

1) When the child is yet young, begin to train him/her in sympathy and

consideration for others and in unselfishness. By these means he/she will grow up

to understand that the material things of this world are not the most important

things for Orthodox Christians. Your life-style and example will be the greatest

influence on your child in this matter.

2) Teach your child how to chant the psalms and the hymns of the Church.

This will encourage him or her to learn to love the holy services, and to reject the

foul language and immodest songs that are so widespread today in our society.

Your example in this will have the greatest influence on your child.

3) Never cease from finding occasions to train your child in spiritual matters

and in the love of God and others, and always bring them to the Church. When we

were small, we were never asked "if" we were coming to church - or anywhere else,

for that matter. The fact that we were going to church was a foregone conclusion.

Your child must learn this from the very earliest years. If you wait until your child

reaches adolescence, it will already be far too late.

4) Teach your child the meaning of the words "right" and "wrong," "sin" and

"virtue," "truth" and "falsehood;" also teach your child to know the Church's Faith,

and to recognize erroneous belief. In this manner, your child's understanding and

spiritual discretion will grow as the years go by, and he/she will be prepared for

the future, even if he/she has to endure hate and persecution for his/her

convictions.

5) Give your child spiritual duties appropriate to his/her age and

understanding. These could include such activities as reading the Lives of the

Saints written for your child's level, or reciting some of the evening prayers

together with the rest of the family, or fasting and making prostrations, or helping

out in church if he or she is old enough.

6) Aside from providing your child with plenty of Orthodox spiritual literature

appropriate for his/her age, make sure that material of an impure or inappropriate

nature is not in your home. Unfortunately, today this includes most of television

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programming. Remember: whatever goes in, comes out. Your example in this

matter will have the greatest influence on your child.

7) Your own life-style, your personal tastes, your words, the books you read, the

music you listen to, and the things that draw your interest and attention will all

speak louder to your child than anything else. Hallow your child's eyes with the

holy icons. Sanctify his hearing with the holy hymns, his sense of smell with sacred

incense, and his entire body and soul with the holy Mysteries. If your home is a

haven of spiritual sanity, love, and peace, your child will know where to turn when

he or she inevitably encounters the blasphemous, shocking, and sordid things that

fill our society. Teach your child the Jesus Prayer.

8) Instruct your child in alms giving and compassion towards those who are in

need. And teach them also that they should help in house duties and, if they are

old enough, that they should labor at various odd jobs, so that they may learn from

an early age that, as the Holy Apostle Paul tells us, one who does not labor should

not eat. Idleness and affluence together have, in our society, destroyed countless

young people and led them into sin and even an early death. Never be ashamed to

say to your child: "We can't afford it."

9) Teach your child by your own example - and by the examples found in the

Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints - that abstinence from food and drink

and personal comforts is a noble and beautiful thing, taught to us by our Savior

Himself and by the Saints.

10) Be fair; if it should ever happen that your child gets into a dispute with

another child, or with teachers, or with other authorities. If your child is wrong, he/

she is wrong, and show him/her, together with your love and support, why he/she

is wrong. Your child will learn something of God's justice from your example.

11) As the years pass, if you persist faithfully in these matters, as you must, you

will discover, much to your surprise, that you have grown spiritually also. Saint

Paul was quite serious when he said that "a woman shall be saved by

childbearing"- and we know and understand that, especially in a society such as

ours, both parents are essential for the proper kind of Orthodox Christian spiritual

nurturing that is needed.

12) Prepare yourself for a life of spiritual struggles and prayers. You and your

children will need them and the grace of God, for we are not living in the world as

God originally created it. We are living in occupied territory - a land occupied by

the enemy. But, by our holy Faith and God's grace, we are nonetheless a free

people, living in hope and expectation of our deliverance in our true and

everlasting country. And if we are heedful in these matters, we will have the

boldness to say to our Savior in that last day, "Behold me, your servant, and the

children which Thou hast given me."

Tessera By Harry Yianitsas, 2013 Stewardship Chairman

Tessera (ˈtɛs ər ə) ,(plural- tesserae) (noun) -

A small square piece of stone, wood, ivory or

glass used for making a mosaic. A mosaic tile.

Etymology-From Latin tessera (“a cube, a die

with numbers on all six sides”); The Latin

comes from the Ancient Greek τέσσαρες

(téssares, “four”).

We have in our Holy Trinity church a

most beautiful mosaic icon of the

Theotokos, Mother of God. It is located in

the apse, or half-dome, above the altar. It

is composed of thousands of tesserae, or

tiles. The meticulous arrangement of

these tesserae result in the beautiful icon

we see before us. Each tile contributes to

the overall beauty and inspiration of this

wonderful icon.

Now, let’s take a look at one individual

tessera. It is made out of glass or stone of

one single color, contributing to the

overall image. It is cut in a four-sided,

nearly-square shape. The shape is not a

perfect square because it was cut by

hand, leading to its imperfection.

However, these imperfections actually

allow the light to reflect and refract

(bend) in ways that are not possible with

perfect squares and thereby enhance the

beauty of the icon.

Imagine the crate containing all the

tesserae used for this icon. Inside would

be all the ingredients for this masterpiece,

yet no one but the iconographer could tell

you beforehand what the result would be.

If you simply looked at an individual tile

from the crate, could you tell what icon it

would make? Of course not. Only the

creator of the icon knows the contribution

of each tessera.

Our Holy Trinity community is

comprised of many hundreds of stewards

and their families. Each individual

member is much like a single tile in the

mosaic. The contribution of each member

is important to the overall image of our

church. Like the tiles, each member is

different than the one next to it, be it by

personality, color, talent, wealth, age, or

ethnicity. We strive to be almost perfect,

like the nearly-square tile. Yet our

imperfections contribute to the greater

beauty of our “icon” that is our Holy

Trinity Parish. Let’s not get too caught up

in the individual tiles and fail to see the

icon. I don’t believe anyone could stand

on a ladder and stare at a single tile from

a few inches away and determine what

the icon portrays. All of our stewards

should contribute to this icon because the

icon is the message.

Who can tell us what icon our

community portrays, without standing

back and taking a look at it from afar.

What do we see when we take the long

look at our parish? Do we see any

missing tiles? Who will replace them? Are

some tiles too small and don’t seem to

contribute much to the image? The icon is

incomplete without them, but maybe

you’re standing a little close if that’s all

you see. Are some tiles too bright and

draw too much attention? Again, step

back and see the greater icon. We need

the contributions of all to have a complete

icon.

If you stand far enough back and see the

beauty of the big picture, you won’t dwell

so much on the individual tiles, but will

start to see the view of God, our

iconographer.