GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA HELLENIC COMMUNITY OF WA PARISH & COMMUNITY OF STS CONSTANTINE & HELENE PARISH NEWSLETTER Fr. Elpidios Karalis 9328 7452 (T&F) 0407 260 071 (Mobile) Email address: [email protected] Issue: 16 October 2011 1 A few thoughts on Greece By Fr Elpidios In this edition of the Church Bulletin I would like to share some of my wonderful moments while in Greece. Firstly I would like to mention my visit to the island of Aegina. Aegina When I arrived in Aegina I conducted the Divine Liturgy at the female Monastery of the Holy Trinity. It was at this monastery that St Nektarios would often serve when he lived on the island. A number of faithful attended the Saturday morning service bringing their fanouropites to be blessed as it was the feast day of St Fanourios. Fanouropites are pies brought to the church on the feast day of St Fanourios (27 August) where the priest blesses them. After the Divine Liturgy the pies are cut and everybody is welcome to take a piece. Following the Divine Liturgy I was allowed to view the vestments worn by St Nektarios which are kept in a special room and only shown to the public a few times a year. To enter this room one would have to pass through St Nektarios’ bedroom which to this day still has the bed that he rested on and various other personal items of the saint. During the afternoon I visited another female monastery on Aegina– St Mena. During the time of St Nektarios this monastery did not exist but only a small church dedicated to St Mena. St Nektarios would often visit this place together with some of the sisters of the Holy Trinity Monastery. He would say to the sisters that one day this place will become a Great Lavra (a large monastery). Today this monastery has about 40 nuns. Holy Martyrs of Pantocratoros in Ntaou Pendeli Another female monastery that I visited was that of the Holy Martyrs of Pantocratoros in Pendeli which is a town and a municipality in the North Athens peripheral unit, Attica, Greece. This monastery was unknown to me until His Grace Bishop Nicandros, who also was in Athens at the time, recommended that I visit it. 2 This monastery, as outlined by one of the nuns, has a very interesting history. Originally the monastery of the Holy Martyrs of Pantocratoros, built before the 10th century, was a male monastery reaching a number of approximately 600 monks at its prime. It had (and still has) 8 Holy Altar Tables in the main Church (Katholikon). The reason for this was that every three hours the Divine Liturgy was being conducted on a different Holy Alter Table by a different priest (According to Orthodox Canon law we can only serve one Divine Liturgy within 24 hours on the same Holy Altar Table. In addition a priest can only conduct the Divine Liturgy once within 24 hours). Thus within 24 hours 8 Divine Liturgies were being celebrated by 8 different priests. This indicated that the Pantocratoros Monastery was one of the rare akoimiton (unsleeping) monasteries that existed. That is, it was a monastery in which there was continuous prayer twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. During the 17th century the monastery of Pantocratoros underwent an attack by pirates killing 179 monks on Easter night in the year 1680. The sad thing was that a servant of the monastery, for some unknown reason even until today, betrayed the monks of the monastery and told the pirates of an access point otherwise unknown to outsiders. However, two monks managed to escape martyrdom. They were not at the monastery during the time of the invasion, as they travelled to neighboring Nea Makri to serve the Paschal Divine Liturgy. Upon their return to the monastery on Easter Sunday evening they found two dead monks at the entrance and their monastery burned down, except for the main church which survives till today. When they entered the main church, they saw dozens of the fathers in a pool of blood. Today when pilgrims visit the monastery they are escorted to the glass tombs of the martyrs where they kneel down and venerate their holy relics. Mt Athos – the Garden of the Virgin Mary Spending 5 days on Mt Athos was also an experience. Each day would begin at 3am with the Matins service followed by the Divine Liturgy. The Church was dark and all you could see were the flickering candles and oil lantern flames as the fathers of the monastery gently chanted and walked up and down in their black robes. No one was looking at their watch to see if the service was running late but everyone took this opportunity to reflect on the inner state of their soul. When the service ended we all received the antidoro from the hand of the priest celebrating the Divine Liturgy and in silence everyone would exit the church and return to their cells. 3 Visiting the monastery of Vatopedi was also a great experience. At the end of the Saturday Vesper Service, that was attended by about 200 monks and lay people, a number of relics were brought out for the faithful to venerate. We venerated the belt of the Virgin Mary as well as a portion of the Skull of St. John Chrysostom. This portion included his incorrupt ear in which St. Paul spoke to him to help in his interpretation of his epistles. Finally, I would like to mention a very important point that I observed in the monasteries while on Mt Athos. I noticed that the meal time was seen as being a very sacred moment and was treated as being a service in itself. For example, on Sunday morning following the Divine Liturgy, the Abbot was escorted by a small number of monks who proceeded from the main church towards the dining room. During the procession the monks were chanting the Sunday Dismissal hymn while incensing until they reached the dining table. Once the meal prayer was read everyone sat down and commenced eating. Everyone waited for the Abbot’s blessing before they could start drinking. No talking was permitted while eating but instead everyone was listening to a monk read from a spiritual book. Once everyone had eaten all stood and a hymn to the Virgin Mary was chanted. Further incensing was done while each person was given a small portion of blessed bread. Following this the Abbot, priests, monks and laypeople (in this particular order) all formed part of another procession and exited the dining room and returned back to the main church of the monastery where the final benediction was recited by the Abbot. This concluded the Sunday morning meal and all returned to their cells glorifying the Name of the Trinitarian God. Above: Relics of St ektarios (Aegina) 4 Are you interested in helping us make our Church Candles? If yes, then please contact Fr Elpidios at [email protected] Sts Constantine and Helene Food Drive for Homeless Connect Homeless Connect Perth 2011 will be held on Wednesday 16 ovember at the Hellenic Community Centre and Russell Square in Northbridge. It is about the whole community working together to extend some hope, dignity and joy to homeless people and show them that their wellbeing and life matters. This year, as like last year, the Church of Sts Constantine and Helene will participate in Homeless Connect by donating Non Perishable Foods and various other goods. For this reason we are now asking everyone to assist us by donating various non perishable goods and items such as tin food, pasta, long life milk, biscuits, rice, cordial, long life orange juice, chocolates, crackers, sugar, soups, sleeping bags, blankets, nappies, books, toys, soap, deodorant, baby items and toothpaste. The last day for bringing in goods is Sunday 13 November. 5 Do you have any questions relating to our Orthodox faith? If yes, then feel free to email us your question at [email protected] STS. CONSTANTINE AND HELENE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIME: 10.00 – 11.00AM (In the classroom adjacent to Fr Elpidios’ office) All Children Welcome to attend 6 PARISH NEWS Infant Baptisms The following parents recently christened their children at the church of Sts Constantine and Helene: Raad Gillies and Sophia (nee) Kouzinas. The child received the name Christianos. The godmother was Ekaterina Phylactou. Gerasimos Couanis and Maria (nee) Agostino. The child received the name Anton. The godfather was Gerasimos Couanis. Michael Spartalis and Despina (nee) Kounis. The child received the name Dialecti. The godmother was Jessica Pritchard. Andrew Blythe and Ekaterina (nee) Yiannakis. The child received the name Thomas. The godmother was Michelle Vlahos. Jason Allardice and Eleni (nee) Xanthis. The child received the name Antonios. The godmother was Demetra Xanthis. Paul Pruiti and Ekaterina (nee) Toutountzis. The child received the name Vasiliki. The godmother was Zoe Sarris. Athanasios Dimitriou and Anastasia (nee) Tsafi. The child received the name ikolaos. The godfather was Evangelos Battalis. Anastasios Hatzianastasiou and Dominca (nee) Daniele. The child received the name Sophia. The godmother was Evangelia Capece. Duncan Purtill and Emily (nee) Tsokos. The child received the name Ilia. The godmother was Despina Tsokos. Michael Tringas and Maria (nee) Fotinos. The child received the name Mihaela. The godmother was Angela Fotinos. Todd Kay and Suzanne (nee) Pendelton. The child received the name Patrick. The godmother was Pauline Treeby. 7 Funerals Our deepest sympathy to the families of the following people who recently reposed in the Lord. May God grant eternal rest to their souls. • • • • Kaliope Haldoupis aged 100 Ioannis Begos aged 64 Nikolaos Pinakis aged 82 Christos Mylonas aged 85 Week Day Divine Liturgies (8-10am) Tues 18 October Thurs 20 October Fri 21 October Wed 26 October Fri 28 October Tues 01 November Tues 08 November Fri 11 November Mon 14 November Tues 15 November Wed 16 November Mon 21 November Fri 25 November Sat 26 November Luke the Evangelist St Gerasimos St Hilarion the Great St Demetrios Holy Protection of the Theotokos St Kosmas and St Damian (Agiasmo) Archangels Michael and Gabriel St Menas Apostle Philip St Elpidios Apostle and Evangelist Matthew Entry of the Virgin Mary in the Temple St Katherine St Stylianos 780 Email Addresses on the Church Database If you have a friend or relative who would like to join the Sts Constantine & Helene Church Database then email their name and email address to [email protected]. This will allow them to be updated with various activities taking place in the parish as well as receiving an electronic copy of the Church bulletin. 8 Learning to Love By Deacon John Athanasiou I recall some years ago watching some very young children play a game of soccer. The two teams were enthusiastically engaged in chasing the ball – with the active positive encouragement of their parents on the sidelines. After the game, one of the parents asked me whether I had enjoyed the game. I answered that I had and made the comment that the children didn't appear to worry about the offside rule. The response of the parent was "first we teach them to love the game, then, we teach them the rules". That response struck me as being most profound. First, comes in love and secondly, come the rules. These children grew to love the game and as a celebration of that love engaged in the rules so they could better understand the game and their love would grow even deeper. That message is something that perhaps we as Christians have forgotten. We tend to have rules for almost all facets of our faith following. Indeed, the rules themselves are sometimes parodied by us to the point where most of their meaning is emptied and the original purposes of the rules are lost. So, for instance, instead of fasting being a time for collection and recollection of thoughts towards our loving Creator it becomes an activity whereby we actively read the ingredient labels on foodstuffs played out amongst the supermarket aisles of our local supermarket. Let us return to the idea of love. The two supreme examples of love are shown to us, firstly, by God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, and, by His Son Jesus Christ who self emptied himself on the cross so that we can become gods by grace. It is the fact that God that offers Himself in love for each one of us that should excite us and motivate us to imitate Jesus Christ. As parents we have a responsibility to offer unconditional love to our children just as God gave unconditional love to us. It is by showing children the way to love that they can in their turn come to know love. Make no mistake; a child will absorb life lessons that their parents demonstrate to them – either good or evil. Accordingly, it is our responsibility as parents to teach them to learn to love the game – whether it be sport, social relationships, relationships within the family and with each other or 9 whatever else it may be. As the children grow in that love we can, as loving parents, then begin to influence them with our values and rules of life. The greatest ally that we as parents have is the Church. The Church is love. To be sure there are rules but those rules flow out of love and are there to better promote and understand the developing love relationship between the Creator and His creature. Thus, encourage your children to come to Church. Let them see that you have a loving relationship with God. Let them see that you love and in turn they will also grow in love. Try it, you may be pleasantly surprised. Special Service for our Yr 12 Students The Church of Sts Constantine & Helene is having a Special Artoclasia Service (blessing of the loaves) for all our Year 12 students who will be sitting for their final Examinations starting on 31 October. This special service will take place on Sunday 16 October 2011 at the end of the Sunday service. All Year 12 students and their families are invited to attend. Singers required for Christmas Carols We have started rehearsals for the 2011 Christmas Carol evening scheduled to take place on Saturday 10 December (more information on this event will be emailed to you in the near future). We are a little short on voices as some people from last year are unable to participate this year. For this reason we are looking for people with good voices. Anyone interested in taking part are asked to contact John Stamatis on 0407 385 844 or via email at [email protected]. 10 Οι άγιοι Οσιοµάρτυρες της Ι. Μ. Παντοκράτορος Νταού Πεντέλης (Τέλη 17ου αιώνος) Οι µοναχοί της Ι. Μονής Παντοκράτορος ( Νταού) Πεντέλης σφαγιάστηκαν από Αλγερινούς πειρατές, κατ’ άλλους Τούρκους ή Τουρκαλβανούς. Την εποχή εκείνη αλγερινοί πειρατές ερήµωναν τα παράλια µέρη . Είχαν ελλιµενισθεί στη Ραφήνα κατά την Μεγάλη Εβδοµάδα. Την ηµέρα της Αναστάσεως κάποιος υπηρέτης της µονής, που εχθρευόταν τους µοναχούς, τους έβαλε στο µοναστήρι την ώρα που οι αδελφοί εόρταζαν την Ανάσταση. Τους κατέσφαξαν όλους. Σώθηκε µόνο ένας ιερέας ο οποίος είχε πάει µε ένα υποτακτικό στο µετόχι Χεροτσακούλι . Οι πειρατές µετά το φονικό λεηλάτησαν την µονή και έφυγαν. Το απόγευµα ,όταν επέστρεψε ο ιερεύς µε τον υποτακτικό, είδαν έξω από τη µονή δυο µοναχούς σκοτωµένους. Έφυγαν και διανυκτέρευσαν πάνω στο βουνό. Την άλλη µέρα, όταν είδαν να αναχωρούν τα πειρατικά πλοία από τη Ραφήνα, κατέβηκαν στη µονή όπου βρήκαν όλους τους µοναχούς φονευµένους. Πήγαν τότε στην Ι. Μονή Πεντέλης και αφού παρέλαβαν µοναχούς από εκεί επέστρεψαν και ενταφίασαν τους αδελφούς. Η ηµέρα της Αναστάσεως του έτους εκείνου, προ του 1692, αποτέλεσε ορόσηµο στην ιστορία της µονής , διότι ανέδειξε µάρτυρες, καθώς οι µοναχοί δεν έστερξαν να αλλαξοπιστήσουν και να συµβιβαστούν προς τους µουσουλµάνους επιδροµείς. Μετά την µαρτυρική κατάληξη η Μονή έγινε µετόχι της ιεράς Μονής της Πεντέλης, της Κοιµήσεως της Θεοτόκου. Στη συνέχεια έµεινε έρηµη και ακατοίκητη πάνω από 270 έτη. Η µονή λειτούργησε µετά από τρεις σχεδόν αιώνες ως γυναικεία πλέον και το καθολικό της µονής συντηρήθηκε και επισκευάστηκε. Από τον µαρτυρικό θάνατο των πατέρων της Μονής τα άγια λείψανά τους παρέµεναν ανεύρετα. Πολλοί ηγούµενοι της Μονής Πεντέλης είχαν καταβάλει προσπάθειες για να τα βρουν αλλά µάταια. 11 Η Αρχαιολογική Υπηρεσία είχε αρχίσει τις εργασίες για τη συντήρηση του Ναού τον Σεπτέµβριο του 1963 .Η ηγουµένη µε τις µοναχές έκαναν επί 40 ηµέρες καθηµερινή παράκληση για να βρεθούν τα άγια λείψανα των σφαγιασθέντων µοναχών. Την 40ή ηµέρα και ενώ διευθετούσαν οι εργάτες το δάπεδο του ναού για να τοποθετήσουν πλάκες, αντελήφθησαν ότι κάτι παράξενο συµβαίνει, διότι αισθανόντουσαν ευωδία ανεξήγητη . Πράγµατι µπροστά στον τότε Αρχιεπίσκοπο Αθηνών Χρυσόστοµο Β’ , την γερόντισσα και τις αδελφές, αποκαλύφθηκαν ενταφιασµένοι ,κατά την αρχαία συνήθεια εντός του ναού , οι Πατέρες. (vatopaidi.wordpress.com/.../άγιοι-νεοµάρτυρες-χωρίς-επαρκή-ηµερο-3/) 12
© Copyright 2024 Paperzz
