THE ORTHODOX WAY
February 2018

Dear St. Nicholas Family,
 
Our Journey to Great Lent is just around the corner! Here is a helpful outline for each week, showing Gospel readings and how to participate in your daily life. We hope to see you at many of the upcoming services.
Quick Links:

Sunday Worship:
Orthros: 8:15am
Divine Liturgy: 9:30am

ST. NICHOLAS GREEK SCHOOL
APOKRIATIKO GLENDI
Saturday, February 10

Lives of the Saints - click on icons for more info
Orthodoxy in the News
Children's Word - Written by Presbytera Alexandra Houck
Ministry News
Ministry News:

Fr. Demetri's Message

PC President's Letter

Philoptochos

Greek School

GOYA
A Message from Father Demetri

“Forgive me”  may be the most beautiful words anyone can say! They mean so much! By just saying these words you are including the words “I Love you…I respect you…I am sorry”.  
 
It is even that much greater when our Church allows us to gather for forgiveness.  
 
In the Gospel passage for Forgiveness Sunday (Matt. 6: 14-21) we are warned that our Heavenly Father will not forgive us if we do not forgive others…so this shouldn’t be a one-time thing, but “seventy times seven.”  
 
Yet, this is the most difficult thing to do… forgive someone! Sometimes our human ego takes control of us and we relish each wrong done to us. Our Hearts become hardened and we let our pride take control.
 
Great lent is the opportunity for us to obey God in every way, shape or form. As we say in the Lord’s prayer “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” If we truly love God and want to become God-like then we must forgive  ALL!
 
This forgiveness though cannot be done alone or by oneself. It must be rooted in personal prayer, asking our Lord for the strength of forgiveness ( we also can confess our unforgiveness at the time of Holy Confession ). This year we will have the opportunity to gather as a family and pray to our Lord asking Him and each other for forgiveness.
 
This year on Sunday, February 18 following Fellowship Hour, we will celebrate the Vespers of Forgiveness as we begin our Great Lenten Journey. I ask that you come back into the church for this brief service (35 minutes) and it concludes with the exchange of mutual forgiveness. The icon of Christ is placed at the center of the Solea and the faithful come up one by one and venerate the Icon, after which we will all ask each other (one by one) saying those beautiful words, “Forgive me.” When all have asked for forgiveness, the service is then completed.
 
I pray that you and your loved ones will be present at this beautiful service that way we welcome Great Lent by forgiving each other!

With love in the Lord,
St. Nicholas 2018 Parish Council

William Sager, President               
Leto Papadopoulos, Vice President       
George Papayannis, Treasurer           
Nicholas Vafiades, Asst. Treasurer    
Don Khoury, Secretary             
Olympia Wheeler, Asst. Secretary        
Penelope Tzougros
Judy Gray
Jason Kontos
Brian Macintosh
Mary Raftopoulos
Nector Ritzakis
Lou Saledas
PC President's Letter

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year. The new parish council is up and going. I am looking forward to an exciting and enriching year. Anyone with any concerns or questions is welcome to contact me to discuss these.

A strong finish with stewardship and other donations will set us up for a good start on our 2018 budget. If you haven’t returned your stewardship form yet please remember that getting them in sooner will help with the budget and planning. Thank you to everyone who has returned their form.

I would like to thank Rick DiOrio for being Maintenance Committee Chair. He has done a tremendous job. Now that the painting project is complete, we need to keep our eye on the boilers, pilot system for our stove. The garage door on the parish house has finally outlived its use and will be replaced shortly.

Finally our work on a master plan for our parish continues. The subcommittees continue to explore options and evaluate costs. An informational meeting will be scheduled soon to share this information.

Don’t forget we will be hosting a festival this fall. We will need what time, talent, and/or treasure you can provide. It takes our whole parish to make this event a success. It is also a great opportunity to get to know other parishioners better and enjoy some time with friends.

Bill Sager
Philoptochos

Thank you to everyone who attended January's Philoptochos meeting. We discussed our 2018 national and metropolis commitments. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 27th, 6:30-8:00 PM.

Go Red for Women is the American Heart Association’s national call to increase awareness and help prevent heart disease, the number one killer of American women. This is a call for women, by women, to take charge of their wellbeing and live stronger, healthier lives. The statistics make it clear why awareness is important. Ninety percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease. Only one in five women believes that heart disease is her greatest health risk. Eighty percent of cardiac events in women could be prevented if women made the right choices for their hearts. Join in the mission to increase awareness and help prevent heart disease in women today! The American Heart Association has designated Friday, February 2, 2018 as National Wear Red Day. In support of this program, we are designating Sunday, February 4 as Go Red Sunday and are asking our Philoptochos sisters across the country to join the movement and wear red, when attending Church services.

Please remember that 2018 is a new year for Philoptochos Stewardship. (The membership funds collected during our annual drive are through stewardship. As always, we are being asked to meet our per capita membership requirements at the National level, now set at $15.00 per person and those at the Metropolis level, now set at $5.00 per person. Due to these requirements, we would like to suggest an amount of at least $30.00 per steward. As you decide on the stewardship amount you plan to contribute, please take into consideration the fact that our St. Irene’s Chapter represents the philanthropic ministry of our beloved St. Nicholas Church and supports many worthy causes each year).

Save The Date! Upcoming Women's Retreat at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church - This year the retreat will be on March 17, Saturday from 9am to 3:30 pm. We will have Fr. Maximos as our speaker once again. His talks will be taken from a book he is currently translating by Elder Amilianos of Simonopetra Monastery. Registration information for the Retreat will be in the flyer which you will receive in a few weeks.

God Bless, 

Eleni Saledas    
esaledas@gmail.com / 803.514.8696 
Greek School

Καλό Μήνα! The Greek School is doing very well. On January 28, Maria Alam and Elias Tamer reflected on the lives of the Three Hierarchs. They did an excellent job. Later on that day there were presentations, poems and dances at the Maleotis Center in Brookline. The students who took the Ellinomathia exam last May received their certificates. Congratulations to Eleftheria Pantekidou and Sofia Khoury.

The Apokriatiko Glendi will be on February 10. The children have been practicing dancing every Saturday after classes in order to perform their best for you. There will be a DJ and lots of delicious Greek foods. We hope that you will come to have a good time and support the Greek School. Tickets will be sold after church and at the door.
GOYA

Dear GOYAn’s and Families,

First, THANK YOU ALL for your help in making our IOCC kit assembly a success; we collectively had 1,125 kits at the end! Also, a big thank you to our advisor Eleni and her wonderful husband Niko for driving all of the boxes down to the IOCC warehouse in Maryland.

Coming up…

*We have a setup in the church hall, selling Koliva Kits again this year, in preparation for the Saturday of Souls coming up in February!

*Souper Bowl of Caring
Once again, we will be participating in the souper bowl of caring on February 5th. We will be collecting non-parishable food for our local food pantry at the Church of the Redeemer.

We will also be taking a collection after the Divine Liturgy for a local charity of your choice.

Below are a few charities in the greater Lexington area along with a link to their websites.
Take a look at each one and vote for the charity you feel we should donate to for souper bowl of caring. If there is a local charity you feel passionately about which is not listed, let us know what it is and why you feel we should donate to them!

MHSA, Middlesex Human Service Agency

The Home For Little Wanderers

LexRap

Bikes Not Bombs

Please respond back on which charity you connect with, we will donate this year to the one with the most votes. Please know that this doesn’t mean we will not keep the other charities you feel passionate about in mind, we will have them in mind for other service projects or fundraisers we do in the future.

Meli & Eleni
Reminders

Sunday Fellowship Hour:
A gentle reminder to all Fellowship hosts: Please keep in mind that families hosting coffee hour (children's table and main table) are responsible for clean up after completion. We appreciate your help with keeping our parish clean and treating it as your own home...because it is! Thank you.

Not Recieving Church Materials?:
If you have not been receiving church material/mailing or emails, please contact the church office at 781-862-6453 or email  st.nicholaslex@verizon.net  Thank you.

Monthly Bulletin Personal or Business Ad:
If you are interested in placing a personal or business ad, please contact the church office at 781-862-6453 or email  st.nicholaslex@verizon.net