june/july 2016 monthly newsletter

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

www.stnicholaswilmington.org

Holy Ascension

June 9

June and July 2016

http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church June & July 2016

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: [email protected]

Fr. Jon’s Email: [email protected]

Church Website: www.stnicholaswilmington.org

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

2016 PARISH COUNCIL

CHURCH STAFF

Angelique Skandalakis, Parish Office Administrator

PARISH MINISTRY TEAM

Officers Members

Barbara Reynolds, President Evangelos Fragos Debra Rallis

Jack Poulos, Vice President Peter Manolukas Nick Saffo

Tina Bostic, Treasurer Emanuel Miliotis Maria Stasios

Peter Malahias, Assistant Treasurer

Irene Sotiriou Vogiatzis, Secretary

Emanuel Miliotis, Chairman of the Council of Ministries

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…Debra Rallis, Alexandros

Hellenic Culture…Kitsa Wiersteiner, Ministry Chair Theodoropoulos

Hellenic School…Anestis Logothetis, Acting Director

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

Zoyra Dance Group…Lucas Bostic, Katerina Katsikis 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…Doug Brown, Ministry Chair LOVE…Angelique Skandalakis, Kay Skandalakis

GOYA…Benjalee Pittman, Alexia Porzio, Doug Brown,

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

Metropolis Strategic Planning...Koula Katsikis Community Service…Christina Mount

Parish Care…Pat Poulos, Tina Stamatakis,

Liturgical Life… Dr. Michael Rallis, Ministry Chair Kay Skandalakis , Dr. Mary Frankos

Liturgical Music… Dr. Michael Rallis

Acolytes…Doug Brown Philoptochos…Tia Saffo, Chapter President

Neokoros/Sexton…**Volunteer Needed**

Stewardship…Debra Rallis

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.stnicholaswilmington.org/

http://www.facebook.com/StNicholasWilmington


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From the Desk of Father Jon Thank You

A huge thank you to everyone who made our 24th annual St. Nicholas Greek Festival a great success! Outside of the

brief weather hiccup on Friday, the blessed conditions enabled us to spend time with many friends and new acquaint-

ances from the Wilmington area and beyond. The appreciation for our Orthodox Faith, our culture and our hospitality

was seen everywhere. Thank you again for all you do!

Summertime Activities and Schedule

The summertime blessings are about to begin! Yes, it is a time for family and vacations, but also very great for faith,

fellowship and setting the stage for a great academic year to come! First, God’s blessings to all our high school and

college graduates. May all they undertake be according to God’s will and blessed.

The following activities are already scheduled:

1. Council of Ministries – year end meeting, Saturday, June 4, 2016: 9am-4pm, all ministries invited

2. Graduation Sunday – Hellenic School & SCS, Sunday, June 5, 2016: 12pm after Liturgy

3. Family Youth Picnic – All Youth Groups, Sunday, June 5, 2016: 2-6pm at Halyburton Park

4. Vacation Church School – K-5th grade, June 13-17, 2016: 9-12pm at Church

5. GOYA Mountain Hike Retreat – 6th-12th grades, June 16-17, 2016: with HTC Charlotte, NC

6. Summer Schedule Begins, Sunday, June 19, 2016: Orthros 8am, Divine Liturgy 9:30am

7. OCF Rising College Students – Information deadline, June 2016: All NC graduating high school seniors stay con-

nected to their Orthodox Church at college.

8. Journey to Marriage Seminar, Saturday, June 25, 2016: 10am-4pm: St. Nicholas, Wilmington (tentatively scheduled)

9. OCF Connect, July, 2016: Connect all UNCW & CFCC students early! Let the parea begin!

10. St. Stephen’s Summer Camp, July 17-23, 2016: Diakonia Retreat Center, SC

11. Paraklesis Services, August 1-13, 2016, 6pm: St. Nicholas, Wilmington

12. Last Sunday of the Summer Liturgy Schedule, Sunday, August 21, 2016.

13. Council of Ministries – Planning Meeting, Saturday, August 27, 2016: 9am-1pm at Church

14. Summertime Family Challenge – Reward Outing, Sunday, August 28, 2016: 1pm at the Bowling alley on Shipyard

Boulevard.

Summertime Family Challenge

This is an invitation for parents and rising youth from 3rd - 12th grades for the summer! Do you accept the family chal-

lenge? Here is the challenge in a nutshell:

1. Reading Scripture: As families gather around the dinner table, read a chapter a day from the Orthodox Study Bi-

ble. The books for the challenge are Tobit from the Old Testament and the gospel of Luke from the New Testa-

ment. Tobit has only 14 chapters and teaches youth and parents alike many lessons about love, almsgiving, family

and faith! The gospel of Luke has only 24 chapters and gives us the teachings of Jesus Christ! The questions for

each of the books are easy and just show the family has read the books.

2. Be the Bee Videos – The family can gather around the computer or smart TV and view these amazing 5 minute

teaching videos from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. I will be sending out a link to 17 introductory videos for

the family to view together! These videos are fun to watch and reflect on! The only thing required is to write 3

sentences on what you liked about each video! (The total viewing time is less than the time to watch 1 movie!)

3. Attend Church – The challenge here is to attend Divine Liturgy 6 times during the summer prior to the gospel

reading. This is on the honor system but please write down the dates you attended, even if you are on vacation!

This is a great blessing to all families!

Rewards Party

For all families that accept and complete the Summertime Family Challenge there will be special bowling outing com-

plete with meal on Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 1pm after Liturgy. The joy of growing deeper in our faith will bring us

closer together! Please email me at [email protected] if you accept the challenge or have any questions.

Love always, Fr. Jon.



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From the Parish Council President

Barbara Reynolds

Thank you to Fr. Jon and all those who helped make our Holy Week such a beautiful and spiritually uplifting

time for our St. Nicholas family. It was wonderful to see the church filled with worshipers.

Also thank you to everyone that worked together to make our festival a success.

We want to make sure that all of the Community has access to their Parish Council Members when needed.

Please see below for phone numbers and email address of your current Parish Council.

Parish Council Contacts

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.

Parish Council Member Phone E-mail Address

Fr Jon Emanuelson Parish Priest 910-685-0080 [email protected]

Barbara Reynolds President 910-285-8772 [email protected]

Jack Poulos Vice President 910-617-3086 [email protected]

Tina Bostic Treasurer 910-791-3650 [email protected]

Peter Malahias Asst. Treasurer 910-799-7714 [email protected]

Irene Sotiriou (Vogiatzis) Secretary 910-791-8672 [email protected]

Evangelos Fragos 910-233-2572 [email protected]

Peter Manolukas 910-547-3443 [email protected]

Manny Miliotis 910-471-0695 [email protected]

Debbie Rallis 910-256-3024 [email protected]

Nick Saffo 910-262-8772 [email protected]

Maria Stasios 910-392-0458 [email protected]

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Philoptochos Enosis Chapter #5027

Tia Saffo

We would like to thank all the beautiful ladies who

joined us for our Big Fat Greek Garden Party. What

beautiful hats and dresses. A nice time was had by

all. The food was great and the door prizes were a lot

of fun. We thank Tia Saffo for opening up her lovely

home to us.

Our next event is the much awaited Panigiri for our

Panayia, in remembrance of the Dormition of the

Thoetokos on Monday, August 15th. We will have a

traditional dinner and an exciting gift basket raffle for

all ages, again. See our flyer on page 17 for more

information.

We thank all the ladies who have joined Philopto-

chos. Please consider being a member. All ladies 18

and up are welcome to join. Of your membership

donation, $22 goes towards national and metropolis

obligations; anything over this amount remains here

in our community to help the poor in our area.

We wish everyone wonderful summer and will kick

off our 2016-17 membership campaign in the fall.

Hellenic School Anestis Logothetis

The Greek School graduation will take place on Sun-

day, June 5 after the Holy Liturgy.

This year we have 12 kids graduating from the lower

class, 8 from the advanced class and 10 from the

adult class. The kids participated in the 28th of Octo-

ber OXI Day celebration and at the 25th of March

Greek Independence Day celebration with poems and

short plays. We are very proud of the effort they have

put in learning Greek, the language of their heritage.

I want to personally thank the teachers, Evgenia

Karonis, Yanna Hernandez, Christina Lazaridis and

Panagiotis Malahias who have given so much of their

time teaching our kids. I also want to thank Kitsa

Wiersteiner who shared with me in teaching the adult

class.

Credit should also go to the mothers of the Greek

school kids who are always there to help out and who

also co-organized with Hope/Joy a lemonade and

sno-cone stand during the Festival. It was wonderful

to see the kids involved in the spirit of the Festival.

We plan to have Greek School next year and hope to

have more kids and adults participating.

LOVE Angelique Skandalakis and Kay Skandalakis

Hello and happy summer to all of our LOVE fami-

lies! We have had a great year and we hope that you

all have a wonderful summer. Our next LOVE event

will be a group picnic with all the Youth Groups on

June 5th at 2PM at Halyburton Park. Please see the

enclosed flyer for more details. We hope to see you

all there before we break for the summer and return

in the fall!

Forever Young Stella Vallianos

Forever Young will meet on Tuesday, June 7, at

11AM at the church. This will be our last meeting

before we adjourn for the months of July and August.

We will be going out to eat. Please make every effort

to attend.

Community News

GREEK FESTIVAL

A big THANK YOU to all our festival volunteers.

Without your help, this would not have been a suc-

cessful festival. Your devotion to St Nicholas with

your time, talents and treasures is beyond words.

From the youngest dancers who share our culture, to

the kitchen help, food preparers and pastry makers

who served the delicious food, every task completed

by every volunteer - we thank you! We are truly

blessed to have come together as a family in Christ to

celebrate our culture, food and religion with the

greater Wilmington Community. Even though the

weather on Friday evening was not the best, we made

up for it and had one of our most successful Festivals

to date!

We look forward to everyone assisting in our 25th

Anniversary Festival next year....


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FOR SALE

We have greek beer and wine for sale. A case of My-

thos Beer (24 bottles) is $36. Various bottled wines

are $12 and the larger bottles are $20. Please see An-

gelique Skandalakis or a Parish Council member to

purchase. All checks to be made out to St Nicholas

Greek Festival with the memo stating “TAVERN.”

We also have various Greek food items for sale - Ol-

ive oil, orzo, canned giant beans , dolmades, coffees

and spoon sweets. See Sandra Papanikolaou or Irene

Sotiriou to purchase. All checks to be made out to St

Nicholas Greek Festival with the memo stating

“GREEK MARKETPLACE.”

WITH GRATITUDE

Thank you to the various Youth Groups and Commu-

nity Members too numerous to be named who spent

their time, talent, and donations to assist with prepara-

tions for Holy Week, the Holy Friday Retreat, and

Great and Holy Pascha. Your contributions are truly

priceless. We are truly GRATEFUL for your gifts.

Thank you to all our girls who participated in Holy

Friday Lamentations on April 29, 2016. Our entire

Church is so proud of their participation in the time-

honored custom.

Myrofores:

Thank you to the

Ladies of Philopto-

chos for preparing our

Church to celebrate

Holy Week this year!

From the Palm Sun-

day Luncheon to the

decorating of The

Tomb of Christ

(Kouvloukion) this is

a testament to your

love of Christ and

your Community.

DONATION REQUESTS

TIME, TALENT, OR TREASURE

***NEW: Philoptochos will be collecting personal

hygiene items for homeless teens this summer, to be

distributed in the fall. Toothpaste, toothbrushes, deo-

dorant, soap and shampoo, all items we take for grant-

ed everyday, are desperate needs for these children.

We will set up purple bins in the Hellenic center so

that we can start receiving your donations.

We are in need of some Commandaria wine for the

altar. It is available for purchases at Greek stores in

Raleigh, Charlotte, or online. Please see Father Jon if

you would like to donate some.

We are looking for a handyman (or woman) to volun-

teer to help with minor repairs around the church.

We are accepting donations as we continue to improve

our Hellenic Center. Any donations would be greatly

appreciated. Items needed include new banquet

chairs.

Melina Baynard

Despina Brewer

Poppy Ann Calhoun

Helen Dandulakis

Maria Fulton

Stamatia Fulton

Katerina Fulton

Alexis Margoles

Elena Margoles

Fiona McTaggart

Antoinette Psilos

Ella Ronner

Mia Skandalakis


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Please donate all weekly coupons from newspapers &

ads to the Hellenic Center. These coupons will be used

to help our parishioners save money on products. For

more information, please see Benjalee Pittman.

We are looking for volunteers to host coffee hour. If

you are interested in hosting coffee hour please con-

tact Angelique Skandalakis in the Office. For the

weeks when we do not have a volunteer we will still

have coffee and juice.

PLEASE REMEMBER

Please pray for those who are ill, recovering, and/or

homebound: Presbytera Barbara, Stavros Chantiles, So-

phia Copes, Sherry Demas, Theodore James Demas, Kathe-

rine Demetriou (sister of Angelo Demetriou), Nicholas

Devoles, Constantine Dukas, Larry Flowers, Sue Fokakis

(Silver Stream), George Fokakis (Pacifica nursing home),

Demitra George, Nick Karloutsos (Silver Stream), Angelo

Katris, Dan Kirkby (brother of Matthew), Lambra

Koklanaris, Nikoloas Kotsinis, Rev. Fr. Manousos Emman-

uel Lionikis, Olga Mancuso, Stamati Poulos (Nephew of

Olympia Fragos), Claire Skarpentzos, Pat Skinner-Darby,

Charity Skinner-Darby (daughter of Pat), John & Olympia

Stamboulos, Andy Tsingelis, Vasilios Vogiatzis.

Congratulations

For all the people celebrating their birthday, anniver-

sary, and name day in the months of June and July,

may you have many happy years! Many Happy Years!

On April 22 at an AHEPA luncheon at Chris' Restau-

rant, AHEPA made a special presentation to one of

their members. This Brother was initiated into

AHEPA on December 1, 1964; he later transferred his

membership to our Cape Fear Chapter No. 408, here,

in Wilmington. He now has 50 years of membership

in the Order of AHEPA! Congratulations to Dr. Anes-

tis L. Logothetis for receiving his AHEPA Life Mem-

bership Certificate, Life Member Lapel Pin and Life

Member Card. Brother Logothetis has joined an elite

group and brings to five (5), the number of Life Mem-

bers in our local AHEPA Chapter. The other four

AHEPA Life Members are: Brother George T. Foka-

kis, Brother James Patsalos, Brother Avgerinos V.

"Doky" Saffo, and Brother George A. Saffo Please

join us in congratulating Brother Anestis L. Logo-

thetis on this milestone in his membership in the

Order of AHEPA. "AXIOS!"

We would like to welcome home Master Sgt. Brian

Pittman, husband of Benjalee Lawler Pittman, from

his deployment. Your Community is thrilled you are

back safe and sound!! Brian came home on Tuesday,

April 26th by surprising his kids with his return.

Thank you for your service Brian. We truly appreci-

ate the work you do and the sacrifice of your family.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Ben

and Victoria Fernandez Boron as well as to Deacon

Tom and Diakonissa Anastasia (Stacey) Fernandez on

the birth of their daugh-

ter (first child) and

granddaughter (first

grandchild) respectively

- Gabriella Grace Bo-

ron! Gabriella was born

at the New Hanover Re-

gional Medical Center

at around 7:19 am on

Sunday, (Sunday of the

Holy Myrrhbearers),

May 15, 2016, 8lbs 11

oz and 21 inches long.

She and her mother Vic-

toria are both doing fi-

ne! It is always such a

great joy and blessing to

see our parish children

start and grow their own

families with such little

angels like Gabriella!

ΝΑ ΣΑΣ ΖΗΣΕΙ !!! NA SAS ZEESEE !!!

MAY GABRIELLA BE BLESSED TO LIVE MANY

MANY PROSPEROUS YEARS !!!

Sympathies and Memorials

On April 17 we held the 40 day Trisagion for Annivas

Theodoropoulos, father of Alexandros Theodoropou-

los. May his memory be eternal.

On April 17 we held a memorial for Elias “Eli” and

Aphrodite Stephanou, parents of George Stephanou.

May their memories be eternal.

It is with great sadness that our St Nicholas Communi-

ty and Dance Troupes mourn the loss of our beloved

Nota Dukas. Nota has been sewing costumes for our

festivals and for the Hellenic Dance Festival since its


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inception. Her meticulous, authentic reproductions

have won her 4 awards for Best Costumes in our entire

metropolis - for Pontic, Cretan, Thassos Island and

Macedonian costumes. Our youth have been admired

by all attendees at HDF, and we constantly are being

stopped and asked where their costumes came from.

She will be dearly missed by all and her costumes will

remain a treasure for St Nicholas for generations to

come.

We express our deepest sympathy to the Ioannou, Di-

as, and Wetherington familes on the falling asleep in

the Lord of Nota Dukas on April 20. May her memory

be eternal!

On May 8 we held a 1-year memorial for Plato The-

ophilos, husband of Renee Theophilos. May his

memory be eternal!

On May 8 we held a 10-year memorial for Peter Soti-

riou, father of Irene Sotiriou. May his memory be eter-

nal!

On May 22 we held a 1-year memorial for Frances

Batuyios. May her memory be eternal!

A one year memorial will be held for Georgia Macris

on June 12.

Orthodox Youth Egg Hunt, May 1, 2016

Holy Friday Retreat

Thank you to the volun-

teers and children who

participated. His Love

and Knowledge shines

bright in our hearts and

minds.

No

ta D

uk

as


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Greek Festival 2016


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Greek Festival 2016


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Christ is risen!

In anticipation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, the Press Office of the Ecumenical Pa-

triarchate is preparing resources to assist you to pray for and learn more about this important event in the life

of our Orthodox Christian Church. For even more information you can visit https://www.orthodoxcouncil.org.

For the first time in 1,200 years, the fourteen autocephalous Orthodox Churches will meet, with a com-

mon desire to reinforce their relations and address contemporary spiritual and social challenges in the

world.


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August 15: Dormition of the Theotokos,

Philoptochos Panigiri

August 29: Beheading of St. John the Baptist

September 17: Annual St. Nicholas Golf

Tournament , Masonboro Country Club

Save the Dates

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For a complete and up-to-date version of our Parish Calendar, please visit us online at:

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

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608 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403

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