608 SOUTH COLLEGE ROAD WILMINGTON NC 28403 (910) 392-4444 FAX (910) 392-4905

www.stnicholaswilmington.org

November 2015

The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

November 21

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

2

Fr. Jon Emanuelson

Parish Priest

Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 9AM – 2PM

Office Phone: 910-392-4444 Office Fax: 910-392-4905

Fr. Jon’s Mobile Number: 910-685-0080

Office Email: office@stnicholaswilmington.org

Fr. Jon’s Email: FrJon@stnicholaswilmington.org

Church Website: www.stnicholaswilmington.org

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StNicholasWilmington

2015 PARISH COUNCIL

CHURCH STAFF

Angelique Skandalakis, Parish Office Administrator

PARISH MINISTRY TEAM

Officers Members

Barbara Reynolds, President John Burgee Debra Rallis

Evangelos Fragos, Vice President Peter Manolukas Nick Saffo

Irene Sotiriou Vogiatzis, Secretary Peter Malahias Maria Stasios

Tina Bostic, Treasurer Emanuel Miliotis

Religious Education…Richard Reynolds, Ministry Chair Communications - Technology Ministries…

Adult Education…Richard Reynolds Alexandros Theodoropoulos , Ministry Group Leader

Youth Catechism…Courtney Malahias, Director Webmaster… Alexandros Theodoropoulos

Bookstore/Library…Mary Ann Wall Publications…Angelique Skandalakis, Stella McTaggart

Oratorical Festival…Courtney Malahias Technology… Alexandros Theodoropoulos

Media/Community Relations…Beth Burgee, Debra

Hellenic Culture…Kitsa Wiersteiner, Ministry Chair Rallis, Alexandros Theodoropoulos

Hellenic School…Anestis Logothetis, Acting Director

Romiosini Dance Group… Zaharoula Katsikis Parish Family Life…**Volunteer Needed**

Zoyra Dance Group… Benjalee Pittman Parish Family Night…**Volunteer Needed**

Choral…Dr. Michael Rallis Men’s Group…Richard Reynolds

Special Activities… Kitsa Wiersteiner Women’s Group…**Volunteer Needed**

Forever Young…Stella Vallianos

Youth Diakonia…Koula Katsikis, Ministry Chair LOVE…Angelique Skandalakis, Kay Skandalakis

GOYA…Alexia Porzio, Doug Brown, Benjalee Pittman,

Koula Katsikis, Courtney Malahias Outreach & Evangelism…Diane McGowan, Ministry Chair

HOPE/JOY… Joyce Patsalos, Sophia Brewer, OCF…Fr. Jon, Alexandros Theodoropoulos

Jaime Saffo, Renée Karonis Psilos & Connie Ronner Hospitality…Ed Mayorga, Kathleen Mayorga

Community Service…Christina Mount

Liturgical Life… Dr. Michael Rallis, Ministry Chair Parish Care…Pat Poulos, Tina Stamatakis,

Liturgical Music… Dr. Michael Rallis Kay Skandalakis , Dr. Mary Frankos

Acolytes…Doug Brown

Neokoros/Sexton…**Volunteer Needed** Philoptochos…Tia Saffo, Chapter President

Stewardship…Debra Rallis

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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From the Desk of Father Jon

On Creating Opportunities for Spiritual Growth

For all who attended and helped, I believe the Family Retreat and Cross Dive in October was one of those

special events in which God blessed us. The weather turned cool and dry just in time for the weekend. The

food was amazing! Hats off to the chefs. Our theme – Spiritual Warfare: Renewing our Baptismal Pledge –

generated some amazing input from youth and adults alike. We got to know the new pastoral assistant at Ho-

ly Trinity in Raleigh – Robert Shand – what a wonderful young man! Presbytera Barbara stepped up to give

some lessons for the HOPE/JOY youth! Outdoor worship services, camp fires and hot chocolate! Who could

ask for more?

By seeing and experiencing the blessings from attending such an event, we start to realize why Lenten Re-

treats, Camp St. Stephen’s and Ionian Village have such an impact on our youth. These spiritually focused on

our Orthodox Faith events, offer us an opportunity to grow in Christ! What makes this weekend long event

even more special is the fact the youth are joined by their parents, grandparents, and godparents in a beautiful

outdoor setting. Seeing multi-generational ministry right before your eyes warms the heart, presents some

challenges, and brings many blessings that are not apparent at first.

First and foremost, we are all gathered together in the name of the one, true and living God in an environment

of love for each other. This is a powerful witness. Second, worship outdoors brings a joy that is unique and

special. Everyone wants to be there and participate. Third, even in the fellowship, there are opportunities to

discuss our Orthodox Faith and learn from each other. Fourth, dedicating 3 or 4 sessions to a theme over a

weekend gives us a focus to learn more in a short period of time. Not only do we have the benefit of every-

one’s participation, we ourselves receive even more than we give!

For next year’s Family Retreat and Cross Dive, my hope and prayer is that we not only have everyone back

from this year’s event, but that we fill up Camp Kirkwood with people from all over the region. Potentially,

parishes in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Florence, Myrtle Beach

and Charleston could attend! The people that came from Raleigh this year were a joy to meet and spend time

with.

Creating opportunities for spiritual growth in our modern era is more important now than ever before. Let us

plan to set aside this Family Retreat and Cross Dive weekend for God’s glory and our growth in our Orthodox

Christian Faith!

Catechism Classes for 2015-2016

I am going to start the new catechism class in November. Any and all people interested in learning more

about our wonderful Church and Faith in Christ, please contact me at frjon234@gmail.com! Once I learn the

best day and time for us to meet, our class will last only an hour. God bless you and keep you.

– Fr. Jon

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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From the Parish Council President

Barbara Reynolds

I just returned from the wonderful St. Nicholas family retreat and cross dive. It was a beautiful fall weekend

with sunny blue skies and cool breezes (OK maybe cold wind on Sunday morning at our church service). The

theme of the retreat was Spiritual Warfare – Renewing our Baptismal Pledge. The church services were held at

the outdoor lakeside chapel. We watched the sunset during the Saturday night vespers service. We had

breakout sessions to discuss the theme for the young ones led by Presbytera Barbara, for GOYA age led by

Robert Shand, the pastoral assistant from Holy Trinity in Raleigh, and for the adults led by Fr. Jon. I know that

we had great discussion in the adult sessions. Our best discussion was around the campfire Saturday night when

we all (adults and youth) shared what we were grateful for.

Congratulations to Demetri Brown for retrieving the cross in the cross dive. Four of our youth braved the cold

lake water to retrieve the cross – George Fragos, Pantelis Poulos, Demetri Brown and George Malahias.

During our recreation time the youth canoed and fished and shot basketball hoops. The women went on walks

in the woods (I have the mosquito bites to prove it) and some of us went on a fun hand-pulled raft ride across

the lake. I guess the men sat around and talked?

Have I said that the food was wonderful!! Friday night Isaac Georgiadis brought us delicious pizza and ice

cream sundaes for dinner. Each morning we had breakfasts cooked on the grill (pancakes, eggs, bacon and sau-

sage) and Saturday lunch (grilled sausage, with peppers and onions and hamburgers) cooked by our famous chef

Darious (Babson). Saturday night we had pork cooked by Darious and two lambs cooked on the spit by Dino

Psilos, Evangelos Fragos, and Peter Malahias served with great potato salad donated by Chris’s restaurant.

There are so many people to thank for making this weekend a success. It takes a lot of organization to make

something like this successful. I know I will leave someone out. Please forgive me if I do. The Cross Dive Re-

treat committee led by Michael Rallis, with Fr. Jon, Koula Katsikis, Alexia Porzio, Nick and Kristi Dodge.

Evangelos & Olympia Fragos and family for planning of food and daily organization, Doug Brown and Alexan-

dros Theodoropoulos for set up and tear down of all our equipment. And of course, Fr. Jon for leading the spir-

itual retreat. Finally thank you for all of you that got out of your comfort zone to enjoy a wonderful spiritual

retreat.

Save the Dates

November 15 - December 25: Advent Fast

December 5: Stop Hunger Now

December 6: Nicholas the Wonderworker Feast Day

December 7: Children’s Christmas Program

December 19: Christmas Caroling

December 24: Eve of the Nativity including Royal Hours and the Vesporal Liturgy

December 25: Holy Nativity including Divine Liturgy

December 28 - 30: GOYA Winter Youth Rally

December 31: Pan-Icarian sponsored New Year’s Eve Dance

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Stewardship Debra Rallis

THOUGHTS ON OUR FAMILY

Earlier this year, all of us prayerfully considered your

stewardship contribution to St. Nicholas Greek Or-

thodox Church. We thank you for sharing your finan-

cial treasures to support St Nicholas as an active

steward.

As we move into the fall season, our thoughts now

turn to gathering in full the final payments of each

stewardship commitment. The Parish Council moni-

tors and plans for the financial health of the Parish

relying upon Stewardship commitments and the time-

ly receipt of those offerings.

For those families who have already completed their

2015 stewardship pledge, we thank you. If you

should have any additional questions, or if your cir-

cumstances have changed since your commitment,

please contact Fr. Jon. We respectfully ask that each

family offer their commitment in full by the end of

November so that we can plan for a balanced budget

by year end.

May our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ continue to

bless our beloved St. Nicholas family!

Philoptochos Enosis Chapter #5027

Tia Saffo

Please welcome our 2015-2017 board:

Thalia Kefalas – Advisor

Tia Saffo – President

Debbie Rallis - Vice President

Irene Sotiriou - Recording Secretary

Evyenia Karonis - Corresponding Secretary

Irene Voneiff – Treasurer

Mary Beth Miliotis - Assistant Treasurer

Helen Kaprantzas

Sue Lawler

Courtney Malahias

Sandra Papanikolaou

Athena Poulos

Kay Skandalakis

Maria Stasios

Kitsa Wiersteiner

We extend our best wishes for a happy and healthy

November to all. Our work has now begun in full

swing. We have hit the ground running!

Congratulations to Anne Bakalis Pinkston on receiv-

ing her 50 year pin for over 50 years of service to

Philoptochos.

We invite all ladies 18 years and older to attend our

meetings and offer your ideas. Let us all work as a

team. If we complement one another our job is more

pleasant and less tiresome! We will have our General

Meetings on the 1st Sunday of each month. Please

join us.

Our ladies have started to collect food for our

Thanksgiving baskets. Please see the flyer for a list of

food needed. We will also be accepting monetary do-

nations if you are unable to shop. Let us help those in

and out of our community at this Thanksgiving sea-

son.

Our annual Bake Sale will be held on November 14th

from 10AM-3PM and Sunday, November 15th from

12PM-3PM. Please come out and help us bake, sell,

and cup the pastries. Bake days will be announced in

the weekly bulletin. We want you all to come out

and help do what you all do so well. We cannot do it

without “our ladies.”

Please save these dates:

November 1st- General Meeting after coffee hour

November 14th & 15th - Bake sale and due date for

Thanksgiving food for baskets

December 5th - Stop Hunger Now meal packaging

event

December 13th - Christmas social (invitations to fol-

low)

Thanksgiving blessings to you all!

AGAPE CELEBRATION

Thank you to all our parishioners and youth who

helped to make our Agape Celebration such a suc-

cess! It was a remarkable day full of Agape! It start-

ed with our own, talented musician, Tommy Mala-

hias, playing the piano and our program began with

the beautiful voice of Katerina Katsikis singing the

National Anthems. Our Mayor, Bill Saffo was a de-

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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light as were the fabulous youth speakers, Ava Porzio,

Jordan Mount, and Peter Vogiatzis. There wasn’t a

dry eye in the room!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Country Club of

Landfall with gorgeous centerpieces designed by

Evyenia Karonis and her beautiful daughter, Renée.

And someone from each table was presented one to

enjoy at their home! Complimentary Greek wines

were enjoyed thanks to Melissa Kirkby!

Presvytera Mary Christy of Holy Trinity, Raleigh gave

an inspiring talk, one that will live in our hearts forev-

er! There were many out-of-town guests including

our Metropolis of Atlanta Philoptochos President,

Dee Nicholaou. She presented Anne Pinkston with her

50 year Philoptochos pin.

The Silent Auction was a hit and the display was pro-

fessional and amazing due to our talented Nadine Ba-

tuyious, Bette Parrett and Kitsa Wiersteiner.

As of today, we have made a profit of $17,000! The

Diocese Youth will receive 75% and our Youth Minis-

try will receive 25%.

This memorable event was possible with the support

of Fr. Jon, our Agape Committee, Philoptochos mem-

bers, Parish Council, Youth, Sponsorship and Silent

Auction donors. Thank you all so much!

May we always remember the highlight of the after-

noon when our Mayor Bill Saffo invited us to express

our love to one another! May our Lord continue to

bless our St. Nicholas family!

Me Agape,

Koula Katsikis & Debra Rallis

Communications Alexandros Theodoropoulos

We hope that all of you had a great month of October

as we are now in the Fall!

We would like to remind that, through our Technolo-

gy ministry, we now have an online giving system in

place on our website that can be used for conveniently

making donations towards stewardship pledges. The

pertinent donation buttons are located on the left pane

of the homepage at www.stnicholaswilmington.org as

well as on the Stewardship page of our website at

www.stnicholaswilmington.org/Stewardship.html . It

is our hope that this new system will provide a helpful

tool for our parishioners and for our church’s Steward-

ship ministry in general.

We would like to have your photos and videos! In case

any of you has photos and videos from our various

parish life events, please consider sharing them with

our Communications Chair and our church office us-

ing the email addresses listed at the end of this article.

We are trying to collect all these items for our publica-

tions and online media. We would like to use this op-

portunity to extend special Thanks to all of you that

have contributed media content so far!

Online Calendar. We would like to remind and stress

here that the official and most updated calendar is our

online one that is posted on our website at

http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/ParishCalendar.

html . All changes/additions are posted on our online

calendar dynamically so this should be used as a refer-

ence when possible. Furthermore, in order to better

serve our parishioners that do not have internet access,

in addition to the calendar versions in our printed pub-

lications, our office administrator now posts every

week a printed copy of our updated monthly newslet-

ter in the Hellenic Center. We hope that this will be

very helpful. In case you experience any issues, please

let our Communications Chair and church office

know.

In case you have any suggestions or feedback that

could help us in our continuous effort communications

publications/media please contact our church office at

(910) 392-4444 or office@stnicholaswilmington.org

or our Communications Chair, at communica-

tions@stnicholaswilmington.org .

Romiosini and Zoyra

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful luncheon spon-

sored by our Romiosini and Zoyra dancers. We also

hope you enjoyed watching our youth perform for you

on OXI Day.

Our dancers are busy practicing so they can do their

best in representing St Nicholas at this year's competi-

tion. All persons interested in participating (even spec-

tators) please book your hotel rooms now.

https://bookings.ihotelier.com/Rosen-Shingle-

Creek/bookings.jsp?hotelID=6840&groupID=1407810

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Hellenic Culture Kitsa Wiersteiner

On Saturday, November 7th at 7PM, there will be a

lecture by Angela Dentiste on the topic The Asia Mi-

nor Catastrophe. The St. Nicholas Adult Greek Dance

Group, as well as the Romiosini dancers will perform

dances from the region. Please do not miss this im-

portant event. Refreshments will be provided.

Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) Fr. Jon & Alexandros Theodoropoulos

Sunday, September 20th, was College Student Sun-

day. In celebration of that day, both the St. Nicholas

and St Basil parishes invited our OCF group and all

college students in the Wilmington, NC area (at

UNCW, CFCC & BCC) to Divine Liturgy. After-

wards, Fr. Jon and Fr. Tim gathered all the students

and carpooled to the College Diner in order to offer

them a free meal. Emma Sieck and Eleni Carros, our

OCF President and Vice President were also there

during both the Divine Liturgy and the meal and wel-

comed all students. Everyone that attended had a

wonderful time socializing and sharing good Fellow-

ship and a wonderful meal! Please see the photo from

the event.

May God’s blessing be upon all of you students and

your studies this academic year!

Students, in case you haven’t done so already, please

consider liking our local OCF chapter facebook page

by looking up our UNCW/CFCC Orthodox Christian

Fellowship group as well as checking the ocfsouth-

east OCF page for details on regional events and ac-

tivities in the Southeast. Please do not forget to also

check our St. Nicholas facebook page at-

www.facebook.com/StNicholasWilmington as well

as our website at www.stnicholaswilmington.org .

Please help us spread the word!

Please be reminded to look out for the pertinent com-

munications regarding our OCF group’s informal

Open Forum lunch meetings with Fr. Jon and Fr.

Timothy (from St. Basil) at the Varsity Cafe in the

UNCW Fisher Student Center. All are welcome to

join! In case you know of any students that would be

interested, please encourage them to attend.

Furthermore, we would like to identify potential host

families for our OCF students. The pertinent docu-

ment/form can be found on our website at

www.stnicholaswilmington.org/Docs/OutreachEvang

elism/OCF/OCFSponsors.pdf .

Please see Fr. Jon for more information about our

new OCF Host Family or Sponsorship program.

Please consider becoming a host family for one of our

OCF students.

GOYA Alexia Porzio, Doug Brown, Benjalee Pittman, Koula

Katsikis, Courtney Malahias

Our service project for October was making rice bags

for Hospice. Our lead advisor for this was Doug

Brown. We made twenty-five bags that we will be

taking to the hospice center. The rice bags are used

for pain relief. Our youth participated in cutting, sew-

ing and filling up the bags. Thalia Porzio was our

youth leader for making wish bracelets for breast can-

cer awareness month, which is October. We made

about twenty-five bracelets. We would like to thank

all of our youth and parents and some of our young at

heart Dena Poulos, Maria Spyropoulos and Irene Har-

alambous who were teaching our youth how to sew

and assemble the bags.

In Christ Service,

Koula Katsikis

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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LOVE Angelique Skandalakis and Kay Skandalakis

Attention LOVE parents: The next event will be a

Mom’s Night Out on November 10th at 6PM at The

Melting Pot at Mayfaire, so mark your calendars! This

is a kid free night, so come on out and relax with us!

We will need to make a reservation, so please RSVP

by November 6th. Thank you!

HOPE/JOY Joyce Patsalos, Sophia Brewer, Jaime Saffo,

Renée Karonis Psilos & Connie Ronner

Thank you to everyone who supported our Kick-Off

event, at the Make-A-Wish walk September 26th either

with donations, walking, or both! We exceeded our

goal and were able to raise $405 for this wonderful

cause! The money raised will support this organiza-

tion’s mission of granting future wishes to children

with life-threatening medical conditions right here in

Eastern NC. A big shout out to our kids (and parents)

who braved the rain and made the walk.

Greek School Anestis Logothetis

The Greek School has been operating for a month

quite successfully. We have four classes for our youth

and three for adults. We are very pleased by the inter-

est shown by adults in learning or improving their

Greek. I want to thank the volunteer teachers who do-

nate their time to teach these classes. I also want to

thank the parents who bring their kids to classes. The

Greek language is our heritage and let’s try to keep it

alive.

We are working hard to learn the poems to be recited

in the "OXI" celebration on Sunday, October 25 at the

Church Hall. Despina Saffo will be the speaker who

will talk to us about the Italian invasion, the Greek

victory and the hardship under the German occupa-

tion.

Forever Young Stella Vallianos

Forever Young will meet on Tuesday, November 3rd

at 11AM at the church. Our special guest and speaker

at this meeting will be Presbytera Antonia Wozniak

from Camp Lejeune. Her topic will be “Journey to

Wisdom” and we can certainly use some of that. I

hope to have a good crowd at this meeting. Please

bring a covered dish to share and please do not forget

that on Sunday, November 1st, we will be hosting the

coffee hour in memory of our former members. Bring

your desserts, etc. Thank you.

Community News

VETERANS

The Metropolis is having an event for Greek Ameri-

can veterans and their families at the Diakonia soon.

He needs the full information for both living and de-

ceased veterans.

Please provide our Office Administrator, Angelique

Skandalakis with the following information:

Veteran’s Full Name, Branch of Service, Parish, Con-

tact Mailing Address, Contact Phone Number(s), Date

of Birth, Date of Death (if applicable). And, for those

submitting FOR a Veteran, please include your Name

and Relationship to Veteran.

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Calling all St. Nicholas youth! Join us as we cele-

brate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Mark your calendars for DECEMBER 7. Following

our program please join us, and our surprise guests,

for food and fellowship in the Hellenic Center. Hope

to see all of you there!

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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STOP HUNGER NOW EVENT

Meal-packaging Event

Saturday, December 5, 2015

St. Nicholas Hellenic Center

Did you know that 25,000 people die each day due to

starvation and hunger-related illnesses?

We want to do our part and help reverse this trend.

On Saturday, December 5th, in our Parish’s Hellenic

Center, we will gather volunteers to package meals for

the world’s most vulnerable. Our goal is to package

25,000 meals and we need your help! At a cost of 29

cents per meal, we’ll need to raise $7,250. (“Yes”,

there was a modest cost increase… from 25 centsper

meal in past years to 29 cents per meal this year.)

You may ask: “How can I help?” You can help in

one of three ways:

1) Volunteer to help package meals on December 5th

by signing-up in the Hellenic Center after Divine

Liturgy on Sundays or by calling the church office.

2) Donate money to help us reach our goal of $7,250.

Visit this web page to contribute:

http://events.stophungernow.org/StNicholasGO

$116 will cover the cost of 400 meals

$ 58 will cover the cost of 200 meals

$ 29 will cover the cost of 100 meals

3) Tell a family member or friend and ask them to

help us reach our goals.

This will be the fifth annual SHN meal-packaging

event that our parishioners have volunteered to help.

Volunteers of all ages will work side-by-side to as-

semble, weigh, seal and box meals. This is a joint ef-

fort of Parishioners from St. Basil the Great Orthodox

Church, our St. Nicholas Outreach & Evangelism

Ministry, GOYA, and AHEPA-Cape Fear Chapter No.

408.

Will you please join us in this worthy effort?

Thank you!

Irene Sotiriou

Jim Stasios

GREEK FESTIVAL

GREEK FESTIVAL SHARES FAITH, CULTURE

AND SERVICE

[Pictured in photo] Barbara Reynolds (center), St.

Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Parish Council

President, Wilmington, N.C., along with Lee King

(left), St. Nicholas Greek Festival Co-Chair, present

the representatives of Good Shepherd, Jane Birnbach

(right), Senior Development Director, and Carolyn

Gonzalez (center right) with a check in the amount of

$7,500 from the 2015 Greek Festival benefits, with the

blessings of Fr. Jon Emanuelson (center).

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church held its 23rd An-

nual Greek Festival in May 15-17, 2015. Many local

agencies have benefited from the festival, including

but not limited to: the American Diabetes Association,

Cape Fear Area United Way, Muscular Dystrophy As-

sociation, Carousel Center, Food Bank of North Caro-

lina, Lower Cape Fear Hospice, March of Dimes and

the homeless. The 2016 Greek Festival will be held

May 13, 14 and 15.

OCMC

Around the world there are adults and children long-

ing to learn more about the Faith. There are women

who want to offer their time and talents to the Church,

but need guidance on how best to serve. There are

people desperate for healthcare. In 2016, Orthodox

Mission Teams from the OCMC will do these things

and more. Your service on one of these teams is need-

ed! Mission teams will be serving in seven countries

this year including Alaska (USA), Albania, Guatema-

la, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda. Dates and

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Cross Dive 2015 &

Family Weekend

Spiritual Retreat,

-

October 2015

Congrats Demetri Brown!

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church October 2015

October 10, 2015 Agape Luncheon

Hosted by Ennosis Philoptochos Chapter

50 Year Service Pin Presentation!

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

12

descriptions for upcoming mission teams are as fol-

lows:

March

3/19/2016 to 3/27/2016 - Albania: Work with Albani-

an youth leaders to host a conference for young adults

from throughout Albania.

3/26/2016 to 4/2/2016 - Mexico: Offer youth and adult

catechism to educate and encourage the faithful in the

remote villages of San Esteban and Pisaflores.

April

4/8/2016 to 4/17/2016 - Guatemala: Provide

healthcare and education in northern Guatemala.

May

5/9/2016 to 5/21/2016 - Indonesia: Assist with the

healthcare outreach at the Theotokos Orthodox Hospi-

tal in Medan, North Sumatra.

5/9/2016 to 5/21/2016 - Uganda: Provide healthcare at

the Holy Cross Orthodox Mission Hospital in Kampala.

5/23/2016 to 6/10/2016 - Albania: Earn credit hours

and study Orthodox Christian missiology with course-

work offered through the Missions Institute of Ortho-

dox Christianity with a missions practicum to Albania.

June

6/7/2016 to 6/20/2016 - Albania: Help administer

summer programs for the Children's Home of Hope in

Shen Vlash and the Protagonist School in Tirana.

6/15/2016 to 6/28/2016 - Guatemala: Offer a summer

church school program for two communities outside

Nuevo Conception in southwest Guatemala.

6/28/2016 to 7/11/2016 - Indonesia: Teach the Faith at

schools operated by the Orthodox Church in Indone-

sia.

6/28/2016 to 7/11/2016 - Indonesia: Offer a family

and youth outreach by teaching about the Orthodox

understanding of marriage, family life, and raising

children in Singaraja, Bali.

July

7/1/2016 to 7/11/2016 - Alaska: Participate in an an-

nual youth camp in Kwethluk and lead a young adult

retreat in Napaskiak.

7/20/2016 to 7/30/2016 - Alaska: Participate in an an-

nual youth camp near Pilot Station.

7/27/2016 to 8/5/2016 - Alaska: Offer a camp program

for children, teenagers, and adults in Old Harbor.

August

8/26/2016 to 9/4/2016 - Guatemala: Provide

healthcare and education in northern Guatemala.

October

10/25/2016 to 11/5/2016 - Albania: Plan and lead spir-

itual retreats for clergy wives and women leaders in

Albania.

Dates and details for teams to Kenya are still to be de-

termined.

Visit http://www.ocmc.org/about/open_teams.aspx, e-

mail teams@ocmc.org, or call 1-877-463-6784 for

more information or to volunteer.

DONATION REQUESTS

**NEW** Olive oil for the vigil lamp is in need. If

you would like to make a donation, please bring any

size bottle to the church. Thank you.

We are accepting donations as we continue to improve

our Hellenic Center. Any donations would be greatly

appreciated. Items needed include new banquet

chairs.

Please donate all weekly coupons from newspapers &

ads to the Hellenic Center. This will be a new ministry

that will help our parishioners save money on prod-

ucts. For more information, please see Benjalee

Pittman.

We are looking for volunteers to host coffee hour. If

you are interested, please sign up in the kitchen or let

Angelique know. For the weeks when we do not have

a volunteer we will still have coffee and juice.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Ladies Philoptochos Thanksgiving Baskets

To our St. Nicholas Family,

The Thanksgiving season is almost here. Philoptochos

is collecting food to help those less fortunate this sea-

son. We are hoping to help 30+ families. We ask that

you help us with our food “Wish list.” We will be col-

lecting food until November 15.

Food List

Canned/Dried fruit

Rice, stuffing mix, instant box mashed potatoes

Loaf bread or dinner rolls

Canned vegetables (corn, peas, green beans)

Canned yams

Canned cranberry sauce

Sugar or brown sugar, powdered sugar

Flour

Cold items-Need the week of November 11th: Tur-

keys, ham, milk, orange juice, eggs, butter, cheese

slices, pies (apple, pumpkin, pecan).

Fresh vegetables & fresh fruit-Need the week of No-

vember 9-11th: Celery, carrots, russet potatoes, sweet

potatoes, onions, apples, and oranges.

*If you cannot shop we will accept monetary dona-

tions so that we can do the shopping. Anyone who

would like to donate a large food item, please let us

know.

We appreciate everyone’s help with this project! For

any questions, please see Athena Poulos or Kay Skan-

dalakis. God bless you all!

Congratulations

For all the people celebrating their birthday, anniver-

sary, and name day in the month of November, may

you have many happy years! Many Happy Years!

We would like to extend our congratulations to Melis-

sa Padgett and Corey Collins that entered into com-

munion of marriage on Saturday, October 10th."Βίον

Ανθόσπαρτον". May you be blessed with a common

life full of flowers!

Congratulations to Nadine and Louis Batuyios who

were honored by having the new John T. Hoggard

press box named after them. It is now called the

Nadine and Louis Batuyios Press Box. An honor well

deserved!

Sympathies and Memorials

We express our deepest sympathy to Kim

Dandulakis & her family on the falling asleep in

the Lord of her sister, Patricia Ann Turner, on Fri-

day, September 18 in Vermont. May her memory

be eternal!

On September 27 we held a one year Trisagion for

Margaret Passaris, mother of Presvytera Barbara.

May her memory be eternal!

On September 27 we held a seventh day Trisagion

for Rev. Dr. John Tavlarides, retired pastor of Saint

Sophia Cathedral, Washington, DC. Fr. Tavlarides

passed to the Lord on September 21, 2015 in Ber-

lin, MD, at the age of 84.

We express our deepest sympathy to Elaine

Koumpourakis-Botbol on the falling asleep in the

Lord of her father, Chris Koumparakis, on Septem-

ber 28. May God rest his soul and may his memory

be eternal.

We express our deepest sympathy to David Snow

and family, on the falling asleep in the Lord of his

mother, Elizabeth “Betty Snow” on Sunday, Octo-

ber 4th. May God rest her soul and may her

memory be eternal.

On October 11 we held a three year memorial for

Konstandinos Spyropoulos, the husband of Maria

Spyropoulos. May his memory be eternal!

On October 18 we held a one year memorial for

Despina Pamfelis “Bebe” Saffo. May her memory

be eternal!

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Treasurer’s Update Tina Bostic

Anagnost, Dr. John & Dr. Kathleen Jewel

Anagnost, John Alexander

Anderson, Renee

Angeledes, Angelo & Evelyn

Andrews, Chris

Andrews, Louis & Roula

Batis, John & Emily

Batounis, John & Nancy

Batuyios, Bill

Batuyios, Michael and Katherine

Baynard, Carl and Elisabeth

Berrehamn, Meleshaw & Gebremskal

Boardman, Frank and Demetra

Bostic, Michael & Tina

Brilakis, Antony & Shirley

Brown, Doug & Argie

Calhoun, Cameron & Pam

Clark, Ryan P.Emily Andrae

Cranidiotis, Chris & Joy Faulk

Dandulakis, Gregory & Kimberly

Demas, Ronald & Sharon

Dentiste, Angela

Diakogiannis, Ifigenia

Diakogiannis, Yianni

Dimopoulos, Pete & Katherine

Dimopoulos, George

Dimopoulos, Maria

Dimopoulos, Vasilios

Dimov, Stanislav & Diana

Dodge, Nicholas & Kristina

Dukas, Nota

Emanuelson, Fr. Jon & Presbytera Barbara

Flowers, Larry & Helen

Fokakis, George

Fragakis, John & Sophia

Fragos, Evangelos & Olympia

Franck, John Argie

Frankos, Dr. Mary

Gallaher, Pat & Marisa

Gerry, Despina

Gueorguiev, Manol & Anagnost, Adrian

Habash, Nick & Elizabeth

Hale, Pamela Mavros

Haralambous, Irene

Harrell, Stephanie

Heggler, Charles & Copes, Sophie

2015 Stewards as of October 15, 2015

Stewardship as of September 2015

Pledged $206,301.00

Full Year Goal $240,000.00

Variance of pledged to goal $(33,699.00)

Amount Received $202,814.16

Amount needed to end of year $37,185.84

Average per month needed to meet end of year goal $12,395.28

General Fund Financial as of September 30, 2015

Sep Jan-Sep

Operating Income $20,721 $266,267

Operating Expense $22,561 $245,397

Net Operating Income / Loss ($1,840) $20,870

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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Jefferies, Phil & Irene

Kaprantzas, Christos & Eleni

Karonis, Yianni & Evyenia

Katris, Gus

Katsikis, Basile & Koula

Kefalas, Thalia

King, Lee & Doris

Kirkby, Matthew & Melissa

Koklanaris, Emmanuel & Lambra

Koumparakis-Botbol, Elaine

Kratsa, Perry Caleb & Anita Nagy

Kruczko, Serge Mark & Ashlee

Lawler, Samuel & Susan

Lazaridis, Alexander

Lazaridis, Nick & Nena

Lionikis, Emmanuel & Athanasia

Logothetis, Anestis & Constance

Loizides, Michael & Theodora

Maggio, Evelyn

Malahais, Peter & Courtney

Manolukas, John

Manolukas, Dr. Peter & Joan

Markatos, Aristea

Marmaras, Mary

Maroudis, Xenophon

Mayorga, Ed & Kathleen

Mayorga, Sia

McGowan, Calvin & Diane

McHugh, Jon & Eleni

McTaggart, Micaiah & Stella

Miliotis, Emanuel & Mary Beth

Mount, Christina

Nashed, Neemat

Panagapoulos, Jessica

Papakidis, Maria

Papanicolaou, Lambros & Niki

Papanikolau, Efstratios & Sandra

Pappamihiel, Ruth

Parrett, Bette

Patsalos, Nick & Joyce

Pekatos, Spero & Lucy

Pinkston, Anne Bakalis

Pittman, Brian & Benjalee

Porzio, Andrew & Alexia

Poulos, Jack & Danielle

Poulos, John & Athena

Poulos, Patricia

Rallis, Michael & Debra Bakalis Rallis

Reynolds, Rick & Barbara

Roeske, Michael and Ekaterina

Ronner, Tom & Connie

Saffo, Doky & Despina

Saffo, Marian & Marika

Saffo, Nick & Tia

Saffo, Peter & Kimberly

Saffo, Tony & Jamie

Schaefer, Robert & Rena

Skandalakis, Angelique

Skandalakis, Kay

Skinner-Darby, Patricia

Sljaka, Mary

Sljaka, Sophia

Snow, David & Daphne

Souflas, Thomas & Linda

Spyropoulos, Maria

Staks, Marianna

Stasios, James & Maria

Stephanou, George & Peggy

Theophilos, Plato & Renee

Triantafillopoulas, Konstantinos & Debbie

Tsangarides, Arthur & Wanda

Tsingelis, Chris & Angie

Tsingelis, Konstandinos

Vallianos, Stella

Vavalette, Mary Ann

Vogiatzis, Ioannis & Barbara

Vogiatzis, Vasilios & Sotirou, Irene

Voneiff, George & Irene

Wall, Mary Ann

Whitley, John & Helen

Wickersham, Donald Ross

Wiersteiner, Sam & Kyriaki

Zezefellis, Effie

Zondos, Angela

Thank you to all of the stewards of the church

In these tough economic times please continue to give

proportionately and regularly of what you have been given by

God.

If your finances are uncertain, give more time to God in prayer.

If your schedule does not allow you to give of additional time,

choose a talent God has given you and give that talent back to

Him in the form of helping others.

If your job is secure, please continue to give of your financial

treasure. http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/Stewardship.html

STRENGTHENING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

TIME, TALENT, AND TREASURE

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church November 2015

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1 5th Sunday of Luke8:30AM Orthros10AM Liturgy10:30AM Youth Sunday Sermon12PM HDF parents meeting12PM Philoptochos general meeting

26:30PM Parish Council meeting

311AM Forever Young6:30PM Adult dance

4 10:30AM Ladies Bible study7PM Zoyra practice

5 7PM Choir practice

6 5PM Hellenic School

77PM Hellenic Culture program

8 7th Sunday of Luke8:30AM Orthros10AM Liturgy12PM General Assembly meeting

9 St. Nektarios8AM Orthros/Liturgy

10 6PM SCS teacher meeting6PM LOVE event6:30PM Adult dance

11 Veterans Day10:30AM Ladies Bible study6PM Family night event

12St. Johns the Almsgiver8AM Orthros/Liturgy7PM Choir practice

13 St. John Chrysostom8AM Orthros/Liturgy5PM Hellenic school

14 St. Philip the ApostleFr. Jon in Atlanta for Archangel Michael awards6PM Great Vespers

15 8th Sunday of LukeAdvent Fast begins8:30AM Orthros10AM Liturgy12PM Zoyra practice

16 St. Matthew the Apostle8AM Orthros/Liturgy

17 6:30PM Adult dance

18 10:30AM Ladies Bible study6PM Paraklesis and Pizza7PM Zoyra practice

19 7PM Choir practice

20 5PM Hellenic school6PM Great Vespers

21 Entrance of the Theotokos8AM Orthros/Liturgy11AM Wedding4PM Presvytera Barbara’s book launch6PM Great Vespers

22 9th Sunday of Luke8:30AM Orthros10AM Liturgy12PM Zoyra practice

23 24 6:30PM Adult dance

25 St. Katherine8AM Orthros/Liturgy10:30AM Ladies Bible study

26 Thanksgiving Day

27 28 6PM Great Vespers

29 13th Sunday of Luke8:30AM Orthros10AM Liturgy

30 St. Andrew the Apostle8AM Orthros/Liturgy

Fasting: Strict fast

Wine/oil Allowed

Fish Allowed

Fast Free

Parish Calendar November 2015SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

National Clergy Retreat

Philoptochos bake sale

Philoptochos bake sale Advent Fast

Advent Fast

Advent Fast

For a complete and up-to-date version of our Parish calendar, please visit us online at: http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/ParishCalendar.html

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID WILMINGTON, NC PERMIT NO. 634

ST. NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

608 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

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