Boy Scouts Troop 268 has first Eagle at 100 Year Anniversary
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. As we head into the
next century, St. Nicholas Boy Scouts held a Court of Honor on Sunday May 2nd for Eagle
Scout Basile (Billy) Galitsis. Within the members of the Boy Scouts, only 2 out of 100 boys
reach the rank of Eagle Scout. Current members of St. Nicholas Boy scouts which recently
became Eagle scouts include Charlie Diamantis, Peter Stratoudakis and Andrew Kaplan. Billy Galitsis will now join his fellow scouts in this high honor. The event was most
memorable. There were about 100 people in attendance and many made presentations, including a State Medal presented by Senator Frank Padavan as well as a citation presented by
Eagle Scout and Councilman Dan Halloran. Numerous letters of congratulation and certificates were presented. These include letters from President Obama, Secretary of State Hilary
Clinton, former Presidents George Bush Sr., George W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter. Certificates were also received from current and
former Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani including NYC Police Chief, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Marines, NYC
Office of the Comptroller and many more.
Being an Eagle Scout is a distinction recognized nationally by universities, corporations, government agencies and the general
population. We hope to have many more
of them coming from St. Nicholas Boy
Scouts Troop 268.
Pictured above: Billy Galitsis (center) with parents,
Senator Frank Padavan and Scoutmaster George Vonortas.
Coming in Next month’s issue
CORRECTION
The photo caption listing the Sr. Boys MGOBL basketball team from the last issue was in error.
Team member, NICHOLAS ATHANASOPOULOS
was not listed correctly. We apologize for the error.
As we go to press, the Archdiocesan District
Olympics are being held during the Memorial
Day weekend at Suffolk County Community
College. Our next issue will include results
and many photographs of our young St
Nicholas athletes. Please check back with the
Argus supplement to see how well our children did.
SUPPLEMENT
From the Desk of Fr. Paul
We have just completed the celebration of
the great feast of Pentecost. It was wonderful to pray with so many of you on the
feast in the church. We invoked the descent upon the holy gifts of bread and wine
and felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
just as the Disciples did. We knelt together and prayed the three great prayers
of the kneeling.
This Feast of Pentecost, which is celebrated fifty days after the feast of Pascha,
reminds us that we are living in the “end
times” since we have the Holy Spirit
poured out upon us. The end times refers
to God’s judgment as we affirm and confess in the creed, “and he will come to
judge the living and the dead and his kingdom shall have no end.” This judgment is
a powerful image since we are held accountable for the Gospel. During the service of Great Vespers for Pentecost, we
read the verses from the prophet Ezekiel
(36:22-28) and they remind us of the continuous temptation to worship idols and
false gods even in our own day and age.
Very often, we are just like the Israelites,
turning away from the Lords, seeking gods
which we construct with our own imagination and worshiping them on altars which
we build to honor them.
MAY 2010
Our heart is often a heart of stone, refusing
to listen and follow Jesus. Yet, all is not
forsaken, since the Lord loves us so much
he has sent his Spirit upon us in order to
lead us back to repentance and to walk the
narrow path towards the kingdom.
We have been given a new lease on life,
another chance to follow Jesus as he leads
us to the knowledge of the truth which is
God Himself. May we always remain
steadfast in our faith, seeking the will of
God, offering prayer and praise to Him
who reigns from His throne forever and
ever.
News from Cherpelis Greek Afternoon
School
By George Kanellopoulos, Principal
As the school year comes to an end for our
Afternoon School, there are still three major events that we are preparing and looking forward to. The first one is the graduation of our Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten, which is to take place Saturday,
June 5th from 10-12 noon. The second is
the Certificate and Award ceremonies, to
be held on Wednesday and Thursday,
June 9 and 10th for Grades 1st through 6th
(cont on page 2)
(cont from page 1)
Αnd the last one is the Eighth Grade Graduation on Saturday, June 12,at 11:30 to -1:30 p.m.in our
Church. We congratulate all of our students for such a successful academic year and wish our
eighth graders the best of luck. Our School and our Community offered you a lot and we expect
you in return to offer a lot to your community. On Friday, May 21st our Theater Class presented
with great success Ioannis Xanthoulis’ play “Climb up the Roof to taste the Clouds “ All of our
little thespians were truly magnificent. We also like to congratulate our Theater teacher Mr.
Stephen Stephanou, director and producer, and Miss Areti Giovanou our music teacher for a job
well done. Parents also were engaged and played a very active role. We are very grateful to them
too. Finally, we would like to wish you all a happy and healthy summer and don’t forget wherever you go whatever you do, always have a book with you!
Απ’ το Γραφείο του Διευθυντή του Ελληνικού Απογευματινού Σχολείου
«Στέφανος και Αρετή Τσερπέλη»
κ.Γεωργίου Κανελλόπουλου
Ο Ιούνιος ήταν και είναι πάντοτε για τον μαθητόκοσμο μήνας αγωνίας,χαράς αλλά και λύπης.Με
αγωνία περιμένουν οι μαθητές μας να τελειώσει το σχολικό έτος και με χαρά προσμένουν το
καλοκαίρι.Με λύπη αποχαιρετούν τους φίλους τους, τους δασκάλους τους αλλά και το σχολείο τους.
Για όσους αποφοιτούν,η προσδοκία τους είναι το επόμενο σκαλοπάτι τους και το επόμενο σχολείο
τους να είναι τόσο καρποφόρο όσο ήταν και το Ελληνικό τους Σχολείο. Δεκαεννέα μαθητές της
Ογδόης τάξεως του Σχολείου μας τελειώνουν φέτος και ατενίζουν το μέλλον τους με σιγουριά και
αυτοπεποίθηση για την Ελληνική τους Ταυτότητα.Ήταν ένας δρόμος τραχύς,δυσκολοδιάβατος για
αυτούς, αλλά άξιζε τον κόπο.Εδώ οι μαθητές μας δεν απέκτησαν μόνο ακαδημαικές γνώσεις αλλά
θεμέλιωσαν φιλίες και σχέσεις που θα τους συνοδεύουν σ΄όλη τους τη ζωή.Με την πάροδο του
χρόνου, θ΄αρχίζουν ν΄αναγνωρίζουν την αξία του Ελληνικού Σχολείου καθώς θα δοκιμάζονται
διαρκώς στην κοινωνία και στο περιβάλλον που θα ζουν.Γνωρίζοντας ότι εαν δεν έχουν την «Ιθάκη
τους» πολύ εύκολα μπορούν να χαθούν στην «Χώρα των Λωτοφάγων» τους εύχομαι η δική τους
«Ιθάκη» να είναι το Ελληνικό τους Σχολείο,και η κοινότητα του Αγίου Νικολάου που με τόση αγάπη
τα περιέβαλαν όλα αυτά τα χρόνια. Ανεπανάληπτη επιτυχία σημείωσε η παράσταση της θεατρικής
μας Ομάδας «Ανέβα στη Στέγη να φάμε το Σύννεφο» του συγγραφέα Γιάννη Ξανθούλη,που έλαβε
χώρα στο Μιχέλειο Πολιτιστικό και Εκπαιδευτικό Κέντρο της Κοινότητός μας στις 21
Μαίου,2010.Θερμά συγχαρητήρια στους «μεγάλους» ηθοποιούς μας,στον δάσκαλο του θεάτρου μας
κ.Στέφανο Στεφάνου,στη κ.Αρετή Γιοβάνου για την επιμέλεια της μουσικής,στους γονείς και στο
Σύλλογο Γονέων και Δασκάλων,αλλά και σε όλους όσους συνέβαλαν στην ετιτυχία της παράστασης
αυτής. Η γιορτή της αποφοίτησης του Προνηπιαγωγείου και Νηπιαγωγείου πραγματοποιείται το
Σάββατο 5 Ιουνίου,2010.Σας προσκαλούμε να μας τιμήσετε με την παρουσία σας και να έρθετε να
καμαρώσετε τους τελειόφοιτους της τάξεως,2018.Σας καλούνε επίσης να παραβρεθείτε στην τελετή
Απονομής Βραβείων και Ενδεικτικών του Σχολείου μας,την Τετάρτη 9 και Πέμπτη,10 Ιουνίου απ’
τις 4-6 μ.μ.για όλες τις τάξεις.Τελειώντας θέλω να ευχηθώ σε όλους σας ένα ευχάριστο και
ξεκούραστο καλοκαίρι.Και ας μη ξεχνάμε όπου και να πάμε, ότι και να κάνουμε , πάντα θα πρέπει να
έχουμε μαζί μας και ένα βιβλίο.
NEWS FROM THE
MENS LEAGUE
by Evan Petkanas, Pres.
For over 50 years the Men’s League has supported many church activities and has continuously assisted the youth of the St. Nicholas Community. We honor our predecessors, respect their efforts, and will always look to them as the individuals who have the ability to
discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting. The Men’s League is currently made up of a
wide spectrum of age groups and backgrounds with the majority being first generation
Greek/Americans whose children are directly and indirectly connected to the Community.
Our members are individuals with personal pride, dignity, courage, duty, sacrifice, and deep
personal freedom. At this time, the Men’s League is grouping individual talents and
thoughts in an attempt to identify goals that will further assist and unite the next generation
of our Parish. Men’s League members meet monthly, 2nd Tuesday of each month at 8 PM.
Please come to the next meeting if you are interested in discussing new ideas and/or offer
assistance. The Men’s League is hosting the 6th Annual St. Nicholas Church Golf Outing
event on Thursday, June 10, 2010, to be held at the prestigious North Shore Towers Country
Club. Applications are available in the church office. I sincerely hope that you will all respond as quickly as possible with a completed application to golf and/or sponsorship. Your
generosity and support will allow the St. Nicholas Men’s League continue its important and
vital work.
Recent Sacraments in our Church
Baptisms
5/02 Son of George & Marcella Skulikidis
5/02 Daughter of Jordan & Stamo Karalazaridis
5/02 Son of Joseph & Penelope Guzman
5/16 Daughter of Panagiota & Peter Theodorelos
5/22 Son of Angela & Pedro Muniz
5/30 Daughter of Charles & Katherine McKeen
5/30 Son of Anthony & Kalliope Chionis
5/30 Son of Kyriakos & Maria Pierides
Weddings
5/16 Maria Hazantonis & Stephen Menna
5/16 Christina Giannikas & Michael Starcic
5/22 Marian Habib & Alexander Matsikas
5/29 Igor Jovicic & Chrystal Pinzon
Our Brothers & Sisters who have
fallen asleep in the Lord
May Their Memories Be Eternal
5/4 Vincent Thomas Palmeri
5/15 Mary Economou
5/20 Peter J. Prokos
6/3 George Tzeremes
6/3 Elli Boutsiadis
The divinely-blessed Peter was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of
Jonas and the brother of Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman by trade,
unlearned and poor, and was called Simon; later he was renamed Peter by the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who looked at him and said, "Thou art Simon the
son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)" (John 1:42). On being raised by the Lord to the dignity of an Apostle and
becoming inseparable from Him as His zealous disciple, he followed Him from
the beginning of His preaching of salvation up until the very Passion, when, in
the court of Caiaphas the high priest, he denied Him thrice because of his fear
of the Jews and of the danger at hand. But again, after many bitter tears, he
received complete forgiveness of his transgression. After the Resurrection of
Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit, he preached in Judea, Antioch, and
certain parts of Asia, and finally came to Rome, where he was crucified upside
down by Nero, and thus he ascended to the eternal habitations about the year 66
or 68, leaving two Catholic (General) Epistles to the Church of Christ. Paul,
the chosen vessel of Christ, the glory of the Church, the Apostle of the Nations
and teacher of the whole world, was a Jew by race, of the tribe of Benjamin,
having Tarsus as his homeland. He was a Roman citizen, fluent in the Greek
language, an expert in knowledge of the Law, a Pharisee, born of a Pharisee,
and a disciple of Gamaliel, a Pharisee and notable teacher of the Law in Jerusalem. For this cause, from the beginning, Paul was a most fervent zealot for the
traditions of the Jews and a great persecutor of the Church of Christ; at that time, his name was Saul (Acts 22:3-4). In his
great passion of rage and fury against the disciples of the Lord, he went to Damascus bearing letters of introduction from the
high priest. His intention was to bring the disciples of Christ back to Jerusalem in bonds. As he was approaching Damascus,
about midday there suddenly shone upon him a light from Heaven. Falling on the earth, he heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" And he asked, "Who art Thou, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus Whom thou
persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." And that heavenly voice and brilliance made him tremble, and he
was blinded for a time. He was led by the hand into the city, and on account of a divine revelation to the Apostle Ananias
(see Oct. 1), he was baptized by him, and both his bodily and spiritual eyes were opened to the knowledge of the Sun of
Righteousness. And straightway- O wondrous transformation! - beyond all expectation, he spoke with boldness in the synagogues, proclaiming that "Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 9:1-21). As for his zeal in preaching the Gospel after these things
had come to pass, as for his unabating labors and afflictions of diverse kinds, the wounds, the prisons, the bonds, the beatings, the stonings, the shipwrecks, the journeys, the perils on land, on sea, in cities, in wildernesses, the continual vigils, the
daily fasting, the hunger, the thirst, the nakedness, and all those other things that he endured for the Name of Christ, and
which he underwent before nations and kings and the Israelites, and above all, his care for all the churches, his fiery longing
for the salvation of all, whereby he became all things to all men, that he might save them all if possible, and because of
which, with his heart aflame, he continuously traveled throughout all parts, visiting them all, and like a bird of heaven flying
from Asia and Europe, the West and East, neither staying nor abiding in any one place - all these things are related incident
by incident in the Book of the Acts, and as he himself tells them in his Epistles. His Epistles, being fourteen in number, are
explained in 250 homilies by the divine Chrysostom and make manifest the loftiness of his thoughts, the abundance of the
revelations made to him, the wisdom given to him from God, wherewith he brings together in a wondrous manner the Old
with the New Testaments, and expounds the mysteries thereof which had been concealed under types; he confirms the doctrines of the Faith, expounds the ethical teaching of the Gospel, and demonstrates with exactness the duties incumbent upon
every rank, age, and order of man. In all these things his teaching proved to be a spiritual trumpet, and his speech was seen
to be more radiant than the sun, and by these means he clearly sounded forth the word of truth and illumined the ends of the
world. Having completed the work of his ministry, he likewise ended his life in martyrdom when he was beheaded in Rome
during the reign of Nero, at the same time, some say, when Peter was crucified.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone First in prominence among the Apostles, and teachers to the Universe, intercede to the
Master of all for peace in the world and for our souls great mercy.
Kontakion in the Second Tone O Lord, receive unto the enjoyment of Your good things and Your rest, the steadfast
preachers of Godly words, the pinnacle of Your Disciples. Receive their pain and death above every sacrifice, for You
alone know the hearts of men.
Advertisers Wanted
Interested in Advertising your
business or professional services?
What better way than to reach out to
your community and parishioners!
Place your ad in the monthly Argus
supplement and see the results.
Call Gloria Sfiroudis @ 718-651-4036
or Chris Pantazis @ 516-457-5471
before the 15th of each month for
rates and availability.
JUNE 2010
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
1
WEDNESDAY
2
THURSDAY
3
FRIDAY
4
SATURDAY
5
* Cherpelis Greek Afternoon
School Pre-K &
Kindergarten Graduation
* Scouts 7:15pm-9:00pm
* GOYA 7:30pm-9:00pm
6
7
8
9
10
2nd SUNDAY OF
11
SS Bartholomew & Barnaba
MATTHEW
* AHEPA Meeting 8pm
Liturgy 8:30am
1st Liturgy 8:15am
* Mens League Golf Outing
* Wm. Spyropoulos
2nd Liturgy 10:45am
* Mens League 8:00pm
@ Towers Golf Club
* GOYA 7:30pm-9:00pm
13
12
14
15
* Cherpelis Greek Afternoon
School Graduation
Graduation
* Scouts 7:15pm-9:00pm
16
17
18
19
3rd SUNDAY OF
MATTHEW
* Wm Spyropoulos
1st Liturgy 8:15am
Kindergarten Graduation
2nd Liturgy 10:45am
* Wm Spyropoulos PTA
* Sunday School Graduation
* GOYA 7:30pm-9:00pm
20
* Doulaveris School
21
22
Graduation
* Scouts 7:15pm-9:00pm
23
4th SUNDAY OF
25
NATIVITY OF
MATTHEW
JOHN THE BAPTIST
* Doulaveris School
Liturgy 8:30am
Graduation
Liturgy 8:30am
FATHER’S DAY
1st DAY OF SUMMER
* GOYA 7:30pm-9:00pm
27
28
29
30
5th SUNDAY OF
APOSTLES PETER & PAUL
Synaxis of Holy Apostles
MATTHEW
Liturgy 8:30am
Liturgy 8:30am
Liturgy 8:30am
24
* Scouts 7:15pm-9:00pm
26