A blessed New Church Year to all!

ENCYCLICAL FOR THE FEAST OF INDICTION 2014

“In the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, until the storms of destruction pass by.” Psalm 57:1

Beloved in the Lord, The new ecclesiastical year always begins with a certain excitement, anticipation, and joy as par-ish programs resume after their summer hiatus. The summer break has refreshed us, providing us with the energy that will propel our ministries, advancing the life of our Church. This year though our new year begins as we watch the tragedy of the Middle East continuing to un-fold. Our fellow Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq have been singled out for persecu-tion and possible extinction. The word genocide should not be invoked lightly, but many are afraid that this is precisely what is transpiring. In parts of Africa and other parts of the world as well, Christians are being actively persecuted. Our most natural response is to grow angry, seeking to lash out against the prosecutors, to harm or even destroy them. But as His All-Holiness our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has recently stated, “Violence never is pacified by violence, and hatred is only overcome by tolerance.” As diffi-cult as it is, we must advocate for a peaceful and just resolution of this crisis, without the spilling of more blood or adding to the destruction. As Gandhi said so many years ago, “an eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” Without adding to the violence already occurring, we can do something to support those who are in danger. First, we must lift our voices to the Most High God and pray for our persecuted sisters and brothers. “Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands to-ward Your most holy sanctuary,” says the Psalmist (Psalm 28:2). For this reason, I ask all the clergy of this Metropolis to include a petition in the Great Synapte for our persecuted brothers and sisters. After the petition "for the city and country..." include the following: “for those being perse-cuted for their faith in the Middle East, Iraq, Africa, and throughout the world, that their suffering may end through peaceful means and they are safe from persecution and find freedom from oppres-sion, let us pray to the Lord.” Recite this petition until our brothers and sisters in these areas of strife find safety and tranquility. Second, lift up your voices to those with political power. Again, as His All-Holiness stated, “We will not remain indifferent or silent before such irrational persecution, cultural intolerance and ap-

S T . G E O R G E

G R E E K

S T . G E O R G E G R E E K O R T H O D O X C H U R C H S E P T . - 2 0 1 4

Building a Stronger Orthodox Christian Community by: Spiritually growing together; Sharing the Orthodox Faith through fellowship, outreach, and philanthropy; Worship-

ping in a traditional Byzantine church; Supported through Stewardship

202 Hillview #1 Eugene, Oregon 97408 Website: www.stgeorgeor.org Phone: (541) 683-3519 Email: frgerasimos@sntgrg.org

Agape

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palling loss of life, especially when it is caused by religious hatred and racial hostility.” Contact your elected officials in Washington stating that these Christians are our brothers and sisters who need our assistance. Remind the Senators and Congressmen that Christianity is threatened with extinction in the Middle East, disappearing from the Holy Land itself. Describe for them the con-stant threat of violence that Christians in parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world live under, merely because they are Christians. This is not hyperbole, but the reality of the situation. Call upon your elected officials to bear witness of this reality and to use the powerful voice of our nation to the whole world. Third, as you begin your parish programs, include prayers and actions for the Christians of the Middle East, Iraq and Africa. Learn about Christianity in those lands. Participate with the relief agencies, such as IOCC, to bring aid and assistance to those in need. Pray for them. Use knowledge, charity and interces-sion as your chief weapons to combat this crisis. May the One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the most compassionate and lover of humanity, grant peace to us all in this new Ecclesiastical year and al-ways. With Love in Christ, @ G E R A S I M O S, Metropolitan of San Francisco

Treasurer’s Report

While we continue to meet our expenses, the sur-plus with which we entered 2014 continues to dis-sipate. We are presently $8,000 behind in steward-ship giving. We are becoming more and more de-pendent on our fund-raisers to make ends meet. This is not the way for the parish to succeed. Please make every effort to stay current with your giving. September and October can be very chal-lenging to our parish finances.

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE

The Dexter Lake Boat Races in August went well. Thank you to all who helped. Our next and final weekend at the races is Sept. 20 & 21.

We can use extra hands for set-up and tear-down. Please let Presvytera know if you are able to help.

Our next committee meeting will be Sept. 14, after church. We will be looking ahead to the annual bake sale & craft show.

Presvytera Maria

Missions & Evangelism Committee Report

On August 22nd we had the blessing of hearing the conversion story of Klaus Kenneth. Trans-figuration was the introduction to his captivat-ing witness. Klaus is a true seeker; and what propelled him to continue seeking through abandonment, trauma, betrayal, anger, self-destructive behav-ior, philosophy and converting to the world’s major religions? He was looking for love. All these ultimately did not reach his heart with love until Christ literally spoke to him. He made the journey from his mind to his heart and experienced Christ’s love. Conversion stories can speak to us if we listen. They can tell us what people are seeking and what is hurting and empty inside. People need to be heard, so listening is the first behavior of our witness. The next is to relate our experi-ence of Christ and the Orthodox Church. As their interest grows, the next step is to say, “Come and see.” This witness may occur over days, months, or years. They must sense the love of Christ in us, the Transfiguration of our heart. If you missed hearing Klaus, you have a second chance. He will be speaking at Northwest Christian College on September 4th at 6 pm. In service, Melita Green

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STEWARDSHIP REPORT

The following families and individuals are supporting Saint George through freewill giving, stew-ardship and the offering of their time and talent. Please remember your commitment of time and tal-ent is just as important as your offerings of treasure. Get involved with our many ministries and feel the satisfaction of knowing you are growing Orthodoxy in the Willamette Valley and Southern Ore-gon. Our 2014 supporters are:

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Diane Banos Tatyana Bartrum Brett & Cassandra Batterson Rickey Beauchamp & Sandra Pisarski Andrew Bentley Barron & Cheri Black Adrienne Bonosevich Nick & Eleni Boston Ann Campbell Arin Carmack Stephanie Carroll Marie Cominos Michael & Liana Creech Nick & Elena Diamond Bonnie & Porter Daniel Doran Violeta Draghici Froso Drakatos Joseph & Anna Drakatos Peter & Katharine Drakatos Robert & Leah Essa Alexis Gavriilidis & Jessica Shotts

Robert & Bonnie Graham Richard & Melita Green Leo & Debra Hall Mark & Maria Hauser Stella Hayes Cristian Hutanu Monica Hutanu Connie Janis Emiley Jensen Brian & Ann Marie Kaelin Panayotis Katsoyannos & Ann Leith George & Kathy Kleinert Jo Ann Kluge Sarah & Raymond Knerl Andrew & Jody Kokkino Elena & Dimitri Kokkino John E. & Georgia Lallas Julie Lenkoff Andrew & Larisa Lilles Lisa & Bill Lilles Leda Litke Father Jerry & Pres. Maria Markopoulos

Charles & Veronica McGlade Art & Kay Mehas Devin & Sonia Merritt Gus D. Mikilas Diane Monger Marvin & Carol Nichols Ty & Maria Pos Bill & Helen Radcliffe Joan & Jerry Rundt Jan Schmidt Greg Sebastian Judy Sebastian David & Sarah Shafer Chris & Barbara Skrepetos Jerry & Sharon Smith James Stephenson Bradney Thomas John & Gloria Timmons Paul & Pamela Williamson Lester & Debi Wilson Urania Yost Neal Zoumboukos

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COFFEE CHAT :

Thank you to all who were willing to add or switch fellowship dates to fill in the slots vacated by our de-parted parishioners. The schedule is once again complete. J

A change for December 14. Because of the pastry and craft fair, there will be NO COFFEE HOUR that day. Instead, please support our parish fundraiser, purchase a food item from the Kafenion, enjoy the holiday at-mosphere and plan to Christmas shop at our gift booths.

Thank you.

Julie Lenkoff, Fellowship Coordinator

CLEANUP CORNER:

Since we have acquired a few empty cleanup slots, if you can just help tidy up the church when you see the need, your efforts will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Julie Lenkoff, Cleanup Coordinator

PHILIA:

In preparation for our International Show, and just for fun and exercise, we created a dance troupe, open to anyone interested. For more flexibility, we meet every week on alternating days, Monday or Tuesday in the late afternoon. Please contact Julie for exact summer schedule which will be revised once school starts. We now have 10 members! Even with the summer heat, the ladies are enjoying both the camaraderie and the fun of learning Greek, Romanian and Ukrainian/Russian dance steps.

Philia has recently bought new Rada knives for our kitchen, and two folding plastic tables to be used as needed at any fundraisers.

Thanks to Gloria’s efforts, we now have T-shirts with a Greek logo available for purchase. And with Katie’s sewing skills, we also have aprons with the same dancing Evzone. These will be sold at our Gyrofests and Craft fair. And they all can be worn by volunteers at our festivities. Please see Gloria if interested in owning one. The T-shirts come in men’s or women’s sizes and sell for $12.00 and the aprons for $18.00.

For info on wedding or baptismal items contact Gloria at 541-424-0575 or via email at zeazeastim-mons@gmail.com. And check with Melita if interested in Rada products. Plans for the future: International Luncheon and Show on November 2.

Next meetings: August 3 and September 7, 2014.

Reminder: Philia is a philanthropic organization open to ALL women in the parish. Come and join us! We could always use helping hands and helpful minds.

Julie Lenkoff, Philia Coordinator

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September Celebrations

Birthdays

September 5th-Exenia Merritt September 6th-Jerry Smith

September 7th-Kevin Kaelin, Alexis Pope September 11th-Svetlana Zotoff, Nikolai Lilles,

Ronald Harvel September 18th-Sara Knerl, Joey Carroll

September 21st-Rachel Hauser September 26th-Katharine Drakatos

Feast Days September 1st-St Joshua

Joshua Knerl

September 7th-St. Kassiani

Jessica Graham

September 9th-St. Anna

Ann Marie Kaelin

September 13th-St Cornelius

Jerry Smith

September 24th-St Thekla

Melissa Aubin

Wedding Anniversaries September 1st-Father & Pres. Maria

September 10th-Shawn & Marci Moling September 21st-Brett & Cassandra Batterson

Baptized in Christ/Chrismated

September 12th-Michael Creech

September 25th-Brett & Cassandra Batterson

Many Years! Chronia Polla!

“I believe, but I don’t go to church.”

The basic argument of people who say that they believe in God

yet do not go to church to participate in the Mysteries of our

Orthodox Church, is that they are bothered by certain things,

such as the luxuriousness of churches, obnoxious priests and

chanters, the language is ancient (they don't understand it), the

microphones, the lights, the candle offering (where they give

money for a candle), the time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated,

etc. The excuses are certainly a lot when someone DOES NOT

WANT to live according to how the Church says. Unfortunately

these people consider themselves outside the Church since they

do not accept the basic components of the life in Christ, which is

the participation of a Christian in the Mysteries of the Church.

These people are not Christians, at least not Orthodox, because

while they (supposedly) believe, they do not follow any word of

Christ.

The issue of course is that most baptized Christians do not know

who Christ is or what the Church is, and what Christ and the

Church offer to people. Thus they do not attend church, because

essentially they do not know what they are missing, and they do

not know what the sacramental life can offer. The Church, with

all Her Mysteries, transforms us, sanctifies us, and brings us into

communion with God. Our participation in the Mysteries of the

Church is the key to this personal resurrection of ours. The

Church does not exist merely to take the position of medicine

and exhaust all its capabilities, as some wrongly treat it. The

Church exists to lead people, the faithful, to the Love, the Light

and the Life in Christ through the Mysteries.

To say you believe in God is easy, but to believe in God in an

Orthodox manner and to do corresponding works is difficult,

though not impossible. If a person really wants to know Christ,

they can do this through the sacramental life offered by the

Church. If you want to fool yourself you can claim to achieve

this on your own. However, I do not know anyone that has been

sanctified outside the Church.

All this happens for just one reason: Egoism. When each person

believes themselves to be a better interpreter of the Scriptures,

and they believe the God-bearing Fathers of the Church are be-

neath them, and they believe they are smarter, more worthy and

holier than the old "religionists" as they call them, and when

they believe they have no need to repent of any of their sins (!),

and they could be saved by themselves (whatever that means to

them), then this text will probably not trouble them at all, rather

it has been a long time since they fell into the abyss of self-love

and delusion.

The biggest obstacle that prevents contemporary man from

reaching communion with God is precisely this: they are trying

to know Him the wrong way, using the wrong means, outside

the Church. They dismiss the mystery of love and remain will-

fully grounded in a sterile faith which in a best case scenario

simply means “acknowledging the existence of God” and not

trusting and surrendering to Divine Providence.~

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News and Events

What’s New!

First Saturday Breakfast: The dates for September’s First Saturday Breakfast events are Friday, Septem-

ber 5th and Saturday, September 6th. Many hands make for light work so please consider lending us

yours.

Klaus Kenneth talk: If you missed the talk given by Klaus Kenneth here in August, I have great news for

you! Klaus will be speaking at Northwest Christian University on Thursday, September 4th, beginning at

6 pm. The title of his talk is, “My Spiritual Odyssey: From Sola Scriptura to the Communion of the

Saints”. There also will be an introduction given by Dr. Christopher Veniamin titled, “On Becoming

Theologians: Hesychia as a Prerequisite for the Encounter with God”. These talks are tailored to reach

Protestant Christians so please invite them to join you in going and listening to these wonderful speakers.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY - Help bring holiday cheer to our recently deployed Lane County Service Mem-bers in Afghanistan by donating articles to our Christmas in July Project. If you do not have time to shop, you may donate cash and we will do the shopping for you. We will also be baking cookies to add to our boxes - watch for announcements so you can join in the fun! This project has special meaning to St. George Parishioners as our own Michael Creech is now with this group in Afghanistan. Michael will be giving our packages first to those service members who might not otherwise receive gifts at Christmas. Gift suggestions can be found on the flyers posted on the back of the September calendars in the Agape and at the church. This is an opportunity for our children to learn the joy of giving to others. Deadline: November 2, 2014. Note: The Christmas in July Project Christmas in December will take the place of our annual St. Nicholas Project. If you have any questions, please contact: Gloria Zeazeas-Timmons at: 541-484-0575 or zeazeastimmons@gmail.com.

Bible Study: Ever wondered about the Old Testament and its place in the Church? Both Bible Study

classes are making their way through the Old Testament and we invite you to join us. The classes take

place Tuesdays at 7 pm (resuming in September), and Thursdays at 10 am.

Book Group: Please join us each Wednesday morning at 10:30 am for our Book Group. We lost several of

our members due to moves so we are actively recruiting new members. Our gatherings are fun and infor-

mative, and full of lively discussions. This is a perfect opportunity for retirees to learn more about the

Faith. Please consider joining us beginning on September 10th.

Discovering Orthodox Christianity is a series of talks, shows, and presentations designed to introduce

and explain the basic teaching of Orthodox Christianity. The series will be shown here at St. George on

Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm (except for the first Wednesday of each month).

Bookstore News: I just want to take this opportunity to introduce myself, my name is Shawn Moling, and

I am helping out with the parish bookstore. If there is something you would like to see offered at the

bookstore, please let me know and I will order it. You may contact me either at church or by email

(moling.shawn21@gmail.com).

In our prayers: “Pray for one another that you might be healed” (James 5:16)-Jim, Eleni, , John, Yelena,

Sarah, Sharon, Alexandra, Christopher, Ruth, Elaine, John, Fr. Constantine, Fr. James, Kevin, Lisa,

Eugenia, Niko, Rebeca, Maria, Anastasia, Zinaida, Katherine, Rachel, Nektaria, Leda, Jesse, George, John,

Ann, Kay, the Orthodox Christians in Iraq, Egypt, Syria , the Middle East and the Ukraine, the unborn,

pregnant women contemplating abortion, & those who pray for the end of abortion, and the victims of

the Napa earthquake. Please also be praying for Michael Creech who is deployed to Afghanistan, and for

Liana and the kids.

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9/7 9/14 9/21 9/28

FELLOWSHIP Kaelin

Lisa Lilles

Creech

Hauser

GREETER Liana C Larissa L Ann C Ann L

PROSFORON Lilles Hauser Creech Lilles

FLOWERS OPEN OPEN OPEN OPEN

READERS Brad Thomas Brad Thomas Brad Thomas Brad Thomas

CLEANING CREW 9/6

Mehas

9/13

Bill & Lisa Lilles

9/20

Markopoulos

9/27

Rundt

GET INVOLVED!!! Look through this list of organizations, programs, and ministries at our parish,

then call the contact person and get involved!!! PARISH COUNCIL Nektarios Kaelin 541-335-9256

ACOLYTES Bob Graham 541-937-2670

BOOKSTORE Shawn Moling 971-237-5076.

PHILIA WOMEN’S GROUP Julie Lenkoff 541-345-2107

CHURCH SCHOOL Brian Kaelin 541-335-9256

CHANTER/CHANT GROUP Brad Thomas 541-689-9690, Ann Marie Kaelin 541-335-9256

FRIENDS OF ST. JOHN CONVENT Art Mehas 541-485-8671

FELLOWSHIP Julie Lenkoff 541-345-2107

STEWARDSHIP Neal Zoumboukos 541-344-4485

GREETERS Your name here???

OUTREACH/1ST SAT. BREAKFAST Bonnie Graham 541-914-3381

FLOWERS Diane Monger 541-530-3210

MISSIONS & EVANGELISM Melita Green 541-543-8792

FUNDRAISERS Presbytera Maria 542-844-1094

A word from the Fathers…

St. Basil on Long-term Investing

“If you help a poor person in the name of the Lord, you are making a gift and at the same time, granting a loan. You are making a gift because you have no expectation of being reimbursed by that poor person. You are granting a loan because the Lord will settle the account. It is not much that the Lord receives by means of the poor, but He

will pay a great deal on their behalf. They who are kind to the poor lend to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17)

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church

202 Hillview 1

Eugene, OR 97408-5018