March/April Vision 2022 by holytrinity4070

ORTHODOX VISION Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Bridgeport CT Father Georgios Livaditis, Presbyter March/April 2022

Upcoming Liturgies Orthos: 8:30 am - Liturgy 9:30am Liturgies March 2022 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 18 20 23 25 25 27 30

Saturday of Souls Forgiveness Sunday/Cheese Fare Sunday Great Lent begins – Kathara De era Great Compline 5:30 pm Presanc ed Liturgy 11:00 am 1st SALUTATIONS 6:00 pm Saturday of Souls Sunday of Orthodoxy Great Compline 5:00 pm Presanc ed Liturgy 11:00 am 2nd Saluta ons 6:00 pm Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas Presanc ed Liturgy 5:00 pm Annuncia on 3rd Saluta ons 6:00 pm Sunday of the Holy Cross Presanc ed/vespers 5:00 pm

Events & Programs: Saturday March Monday March Sunday March

5 7 27

Apokria ko Glendi. 7:30 pm Kathara De era 5:00 pm Greek Independence Day Celebra on Greek School Program

Memorials: Saturday Sunday Saturday Sunday

5 6 12 20

Garifalia Jordanopoulos Stergios Kou kas Vasiliki Pe as George Bolovinos

1 year 1 year 1 Year 6 months

March March March March

March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March March

Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Wednesday Friday Sunday Wednesday Friday Friday Sunday Wednesday

Liturgies - April 2022

Friday Sunday Wednesday Friday Sunday Sunday Saturday Sunday

April 1 April 3 April 6 April 8 April 10 April 10 April 16 April 17

Sunday Holy Monday Holy Tuesday. Holy Wednesday Holy Wednesday Holy Thursday Holy Thursday Holy Friday Holy Friday

April April April April April April April April April

Friday Saturday

April 29 April 30

Sunday

May 1

4th Saluta ons 6:00pm Sunday of John Climacus Presanc ed Liturgy 5:00 pm The Akathist Hymn 6:00 pm Sunday of Mary of Egypt Godparents Sunday Saturday of Lazaros 9:00 am Palm Sunday Orthros: 8:30am Liturgy: 9:30 am Holy Week Services: Nymphios Service 5:00 pm Nymphios Services 5:00 pm Nymphios Services 5:00 pm Holy Unc on 3:00 pm Nymphios/Holy Unc on 6:00 pm Liturgy 6:00 am 12 Gospels 6:00 pm Reading Royal Hours 10:00 am Apokathelosis 2:00 pm EPITAPHIOS 6:00 pm Theotokos of the Life-giving Spring Mikri Anastasi 9:00 am Anastasi 11:00 pm Agape Service 10:00 am

18 19 20 21 21 22 22 23 23

Memorials: John Frangenes Evangelos Kolitsidas Telemahos Toromanides Dimitrios Vidalis

40 Days 40 Days 6 months 1 year

Nicholas Giotsas

1 year

April 10

Sunday

April 3

Sunday

A MESSAGE FROM FATHER GEORGIOS FatherGeorgios@holytrinitybridgeport.org Below is something that is offered for your spiritual growth and nourishment. Fr. Alexander Schmemann is, in my humble opinion (and many others as well), the greatest theologian of the Twentieth Century. I pray that you find his words as uplifting and fulfilling as I . May God grant you a blessed Lent. An Introduction to Great Lent by Fr. Alexander Schmemann Excerpts from Fr Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent When a man leaves on a journey, he must know where he is going. Thus with Lent. Above all, Lent is a spiritual journey and its destination is Easter, "the Feast of Feasts." It is the preparation for the "fulfillment of Pascha, the true Revelation." We must begin, therefore, by trying to understand this connection between Lent and Easter, for it reveals something very essential, very crucial about our Christian faith and life. Is it necessary to explain that Easter is much more than one of the feasts, more than a yearly commemoration of a past event? Anyone who has, be it only once, taken part in that night which is "brighter than the day," who has tasted of that unique joy, knows it. [...] On Easter we celebrate Christ's Resurrection as something that happened and still happens to us. For each one of us received the gift of that new life and the power to accept it and live by it. It is a gift which radically alters our attitude toward everything in this world, including death. It makes it possible for us to joyfully affirm: "Death is no more!" Oh, death is still there, to be sure, and we still face it and someday it will come and take us. But it is our whole faith that by His own death Christ changed the very nature of death, made it a passage — a "Passover," a "Pascha" — into the Kingdom of God, transforming the tragedy of tragedies into the ultimate victory. [...] Such is that faith of the Church, affirmed and made evident by her countless Saints. Is it not our daily experience, however, that this faith is very seldom ours, that all the time we lose and betray the "new life" which we received as a gift, and that in fact we live as if Christ did not rise from the dead, as if that unique event had no meaning whatsoever for us? [...] We simply forget all this — so busy are we, so immersed in our daily preoccupations — and because we forget, we fail. And through this forgetfulness, failure, and sin, our life becomes "old" again — petty, dark, and ultimately meaningless — a meaningless journey toward a meaningless end. [...] We may from time to time acknowledge and confess our various "sins," yet we cease to refer our life to that new life which Christ revealed and gave to us. Indeed, we live as if He never came. This is the only real sin, the sin of all sins, the bottomless sadness and tragedy of our nominal Christianity. If we realize this, then we may understand what Easter is and why it needs and presupposes Lent. For we may then understand that the liturgical traditions of the Church, all its cycles and services, exist, first of all, in order to help us recover the vision and the taste of that new life which we so easily lose and betray, so that we may repent and return to it. [...] And yet the "old" life, that of sin and pettiness, is not easily overcome and changed. The Gospel expects and requires from man an effort of which, in his present state, he is virtually incapable. [...] This is where Great Lent comes in. This is the help extended to us by the Church, the school of repentance which alone will make it possible to receive Easter not as mere permission to eat, to drink, and to relax, but indeed as the end of the "old" in us, as our entrance into the "new." [...] For each year Lent and Easter are, once again, the rediscovery and the recovery by us of what we were made through our own baptismal death and resurrection. A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the "bright sadness" of Lent, we see — far, far away — the destination. It is the joy of Easter, it is the entrance into the glory of the Kingdom. And it is this vision, the foretaste of Easter, that makes Lent's sadness bright and our Lenten effort a "spiritual spring." The night may be dark and long, but all along the way a mysterious and radiant dawn seems to shine on the horizon. "Do not deprive us of our expectation, O Lover of man!" Glory be to God! +Fr. Georgios Livaditis 4

PARISH COUNCIL John Tsil des - President Hello. My name is John Tsil des and I am the new parish council president. I have been a member of Holy Trinity for over 15 years and the last ve, I have served on the parish council. I am honored to be able to serve our church. I am married and have been blessed with four wonderful children, who are highly active within our community. There are many wonderful ministries and activities that our church has to offer. The church is the gateway into our community. It starts with attending church, praying in the pews and receiving communion. As our faith grows our community grows around us and together, we can move mountains. It has been a real struggle in our church during these dif cult times with the pandemic. Our faith must be more vigilant than ever, and we must continue to do Gods work now more than ever. We all have been called to serve and if you bring your talents to the church and community you will nd the need to ful ll them. It is more important than ever that we continue to make our parish grow and prosper. I pray that I can ful ll my duties as president and help provide a faithful future for our children and community. One that will complement with the wonderful history this parish has had thus far. I look forward to another great year at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Αγαπητοί ενορίτες της Αγίας Τριάδας, Ονομάζομαι Ιωάννης (Γιάννης) Τσιλφίδης και είμαι ο νέος πρόεδρος του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου της κοινότητας μας. Είμαι μέλος της ενορίας πάνω από 15 χρόνια εκ των οποίων τα τελευταία 5 υπηρετώ ως σύμβουλος. Είμαι παντρεμένος και ο Θεός μας ευλόγησε με τέσσερα καλά παιδιά που υπηρετούν και αυτά με το δικό τους τρόπο ως μέλη και συμμέτοχοι των οργανισμών νεολαίας της κοινότητας. Η Εκκλησία μας είναι αυτή που μας οδηγεί στη ευρύτερη κοινοτική ζωή καθώς μας προσφέρει πολλούς οργανισμούς και πολλά προγράμματα είτε είναι μορφωτικά, παιδαγωγικά, αθλητικά, πολιτιστικά είτε φιλανθρωπικά. Όλα αρχίζουν με την συμμετοχή μας στη Θεία Λατρεία, Θεία Λειτουργία, Θεία Ευχαριστεία με προσευχή και πίστη. Όσο καλλιεργούμε και δυναμώνουμε την πίστη μας καλλιεργείτε και μεγαλώνει η κοινότητα μας και μαζί με την βοήθεια όλων μπορούμε να δημιουργήσουμε πολλά. Όπως όλοι έτσι και εμείς αντιμετωπίσαμε και αντιμετωπίζουμε μεγάλες δυσκολίες λόγω της πανδημίας. Η πίστη μας πρέπει να είναι επάγρυπνη πιο δυνατή από ποτέ ώστε να μπορέσουμε να κάνουμε έργα ευάρεστα στο Θεό. Καλούμεθα να υπηρετησουμε και αν όλοι προσφέρουμε τα ταλαιντα μας προς όφελος της εκκλησίας μας θα οφεληθούμε και εμείς. Ο σκοπός μας είναι η πρόοδος και η βελτίωση της κοινότητας ώστε να προσφέρουμε ένα λαμπρότερο μέλλον στα παιδιά μας. Εύχομαι ο μεγαλοδύναμους Θεός να με δυναμώνει, να με φωτίζει και να με οδηγεί ώστε να μπορέσω να ανταπεξέλθω στα καθήκοντα μου με την αγάπη σας και την υποστήριξη σας. Η κοινότητα μας έχει μια λαμπρά ιστορία και οφείλουμε να σταθούμε άξιοι αυτής. Είθε ο Κύριος να χαρίσει μια ειρηνική, ευλογημένη και δημιουργική χρόνια στη Κοινότητας της Αγίας Τριάδας. Με αδελφική αγάπη, Γιάννης Τσιλφίδης Πρόεδρος Δ.Σ

Greek School Eleni Limberis - Director GREEK SCHOOL – ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟ Dear Parents and Students, of all Greek School,

Kali Sarakos As you know Lent begins on Monday, March 7, 2022. All students will meet in the classrooms and then at 5:15 pm we will go in the Hall and have Lenten dinner and sweets - and if the weather permits, we will go outside and y kites, PTO will provide the kites, but if you have yours you can bring it. Also: On Sunday March 27, we will have the Program for our Greek Independence Day. Please help the students learn their poems and songs. Recep on will follow a er the program. DRESS CODE: BLUE & WHITE – GREEK COSTUMES if you have or you can borrow from the Church. Please see ka. Eleni or ka. Shalene Vene s. Thank you. Thank you! ka. Eleni and Teachers. All Parishioners are Welcome! Αγαπητοί γονείς και μαθητές/τριες, όλων των τάξεων του Σχολείου μας, Καλή Σαρακοστή. Όπως γνωρίζετε την Δευτέρα 7 Μαρτίου 2022, αρχίζει η Σαρακοστή, θα γιορτάσουμε την Καθαρά Δευτέρα με νηστήσιμα φαγητά, λαγάνες, γίγαντες (φασόλια), γλυκίσματα, κ.λ.π. Ολα τα παιδιά θα μαζευτούν στις τάξεις τους και στίς 5:15 μμ, θα πάμε στην Αίθουσα για φαγητό και αν ο καιρός το επιτρέπει – θα πάμε έξω να πετάξουμε τους χαρταετούς μας. Το Ρτο μας έχει αγοράσει χαρταετούς, αλλά άν έχετε τον δικό σας μπορείτε να το φέρετε. Επίσης την Κυριακή 27 Μαρτίου θα έχομε το πρόγραμμα της 25ης Μαρτίου. Οι μαθητές/ τριες έχουν πάρει τα ποιήματά τους, παρακαλούμε βοηθήστε τους να τα μάθουν. Θά ακουλουθήσει δεξίωσις μετά το πρόγραμμα. ΜΠΛΕ & ΑΣΠΡΑ ΡΟΥΧΑ, Η ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΕΣ ΣΤΟΛΕΣ άν έχετε, μπορείτε αν θέλετε να δανειστείτε στολές απο την Εκκλησία. Δείτε την κα. Ελένη ή την κα. Βενέτη. Σας προσκαλούμε όλους σας. Ευχαριστούμε πολύ. Κα Ελένη και δασκάλες Επίσης τα παιδιά μας θα λάβουν μέρος όπως κάθε χρόνο στους Χαιρετισμούς Της Παναγίας. Οι πρώτοι Χαιρετισμοί αρχίζουν Παρασκευή 11 Μαρτίου.

Sunday School Alexandra McGoldrick and Kathy Bothos You are Always Welcome to Join Us! Important Sunday School Dates to Remember March 6

March 7 March 13 March 25 April 10 March 27 April 16 April 17 April 18 April 22 April 24 May 22 June 5

Holy Trinity Oratorical Festival Apokries (Judgement Sunday) Forgiveness Sunday (Cheese Fare) Lent Begins - Clean Monday Potluck Sunday of Orthodoxy - Icon Procession Annunciation Godparents’ Sunday Sunday of the Holy Cross - Procession of Crosses Saturday of Lazarus Make Crosses for Palm Sunday and PTO Easter Egg Hunt Palm Sunday Holy Week Begins Good Friday Pascha (Easter) Sunday School Graduation Greek Independence Day Parade in New York

Please “Like” us on Facebook! For info and updates @Holy Trinity Bridgeport Sunday School. We’d love to hear from you! Co-Directors: Katherine Bothos and Alexandra McGoldrick. Please connect with us at drkatpsyd2@gmail.com or abmcgoldrick@yahoo.com

Sylvia Bal - President

Kali Sarakos . Thank you to all the ladies of Philoptochos for their many hours of support. Whether it is for memorials, makaries, baking, luncheons or cleaning the church you ladies always try and answer our calls for help. Your help and dedicaon are very much appreciated. Tsiknopemp was great, thank you to all that helped make the night a success. We had a wonderful turnout, all the food that was on the menu was excellent. Thank you for all the orders for the Saturday of the Souls and the remembrance of our loved ones that have passed. Also, thank you for the most delicious laganes, great job ladies. Thank you to all of our Parishioners for suppor ng our events, without your contribu ons none of this would be possible. Upcoming Events: March - We will start baking for our annual Easter Bake Sale that will be on Saturday April 16th and Sunday April 17th. Baking days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays every week from 9:30am – 3pm. We need all the help we can get. Please call the church before you plan to come in the event anything changes. April - Preparing for the Easter Bake Sale as well as baking, cooking, cleaning the church, dying red eggs, packaging baked goods, and preparing food baskets and dona ons for our needy Parishioners and the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. All Dona ons are Welcome For Immediate Release New York, NY – For over 90 years the stewards of the Greek Orthodox Philoptochos Society have demonstrated their commitment to charity through the ministry commitments of the society as well as special projects. The Na onal Philoptochos asks you to respond to the Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine. This past week the world has been stunned by the human pain and su ering caused by the Russian invasion into Ukraine. As Orthodox Chrisans we pray without ceasing for those whose lives are a ected, both directly and indirectly, by this humanitarian tragedy. The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc. is responding to this humanitarian crisis and asks you to do the same. Please be generous this sacred season, by dona ng to your local Philoptochos Chapter. As we enter the Lenten Period, let us all consider our calling for both almsgiving and prayer for our sisters and brothers in Ukraine. Please join us in this e ort. Kali Sarakos and Kalo Pascha

Philoptochos

GOYA Alexander Valbuena - President

Kali Sarakos from GOYA!! Since we last spoke, we cut the Vasilopita and our group received many blessings for a produc ve year. We came up with a lot of new ac vi es for our youth to enjoy and bond together. One thing we have been doing is having an open gym night Friday nights from 7pm – 9pm. We all gather and play basketball, but we are able to play other sports together as well, such as volleyball or kickball. Some other ac vi es we are planning are a night of bowling, Go-Kar ng, and just gathering to watch a professional athle c game and have dinner together. GOYA is s ll con nuing to help our community. We helped set up for both Tsiknopemp and the Aprokria ko Glendi. Some upcoming events to look out for:

-March 19th is our church cleanup. GOYA will be there to help with the Spring cleaning! -April 1st is the overnight retreat at our church for our youth -April 10th GOYA will have a Loukoumades fundraiser. It is also Godparent Sunday. Come with your Godparents/Godchildren and enjoy some yummy Loukoumades while suppor ng GOYA!

-May 1st – we are having another Krispy Kreme fundraising event. Look out for info on how you can preorder your boxes of doughnuts!

-Plus some more to come…. We also wanted to congratulate those who par cipated in the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical – Catherine Waldron, Senior Division First Place; Christopher McGoldrick, Senior Division Second Place; and George Hallas, Senior Division Third Place. We wish them lots of luck as they move into the District wide compe

on.

Please keep a look out for our next mee ng. If you haven’t joined, it’s not too late! Come be a part of this wonderful group that is the future of our church! Reach out to me and we will get you signed up. On behalf of GOYA, we wish everyone a safe and healthy Pascha! Un l next month, many blessings and thank you!

Alexander Valbuena

PTO Shalene Vanetis - President Hello Everyone, The Lenten Season is upon us! As we go through this wonderful me of year which leads to the Resurrec on of our Lord, we have many great events planned for our children. These special events can be even be er with your help! The more, the merrier! If you haven't already joined the PTO, please consider making the $30 family membership dona on and being part of a great group that is helping the future of our beau ful Parish! The Ladies Philoptochos put on a great Tsiknopemp dinner! It was so wonderful to see so many children running over from Church Basketball to the Parish Hall for dinner. Watching the children eat, laugh, and play is such a blessing for us all. We are looking forward to seeing many children dance the night away at the Apokria ko Glendi! During the month of March, we kick o the Lenten Season with Kathara De era where we will serve a Lenten dinner while the children y kites outside. Kite ying on Kathara De era is an ancient tradi on that symbolizes the passing of the human soul to Heaven and God. It’s also a lot of fun for our children! The PTO will be selling Lambathes from Astoria's Kentrikon & Noufaro every Sunday throughout Lent for $20. Please stop by to pick yours up! We also s ll have Vasilopitas available to anyone who would like to purchase. We may be in the 3rd month of 2022 but as we all know, the Agia Skepi Vasilopitas are delicious! In April, we have the Saturday of Lazarus Easter Egg Hunt & Breakfast, we hope to see everyone there! Thank you everyone. Wishing you a Great Lent!

Shalene Vene s

FROM THE CHOIR LOFT Joanna Bogardus We Are Stronger When We Sing Together! # llthelo

It has been a quiet new year for the choir, but we are together again to raise our voices together to sing prayers and praise to God! As we approach Great Lent and prepare for Easter, we pray, we fast, we sing. The beautiful hymns of the Easter season are lled with lamentation, humble pleas, pain, joy, truth, hope, and Love. They evoke these same emotions in each of us. We pray you are all well and look forward to being together in prayer and song as we go through the spiritual journey of Easter.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

AHEPA John Bochanis - President

The Bridgeport Chapter of AHEPA will resume their monthly mee ngs star ng on March 16th. The meeting on Wednesday, March 16th will be held at the church star ng at 7:00pm. Pizza and refreshments will be served.

If anyone is interested in joining the Bridgeport Chapter of AHEPA please contact ahepa@holytrinitybridgeport.org or call 203-394-8001. Our monthly

Jimmy Hasiotis - Athletic Director

Hello everyone, The basketball regular season has ended. Our Youth team ended the regular season undefeated. Our Junior Varsity team has had a couple of close losses however they also made the playo s. The playo semi nals and nals will be held in Stamford on March 12th and 13th respecvely. We will be having our Athle c Awards on Sunday, May 1st before the end of church services. Please make every e ort to a end if you are on the Youth or Junior Varsity teams. A special thank you to our coaches, Leo Kou kas and Taki Angelopoulos, whose dedicated coaching led our teams in another amazing season. We are very grateful to them and commitment to our youth! Last call on our gym oor commemora ve brick program. Our gym oor is “celebra ng” more than 50 years of service and needs to be replaced. Help us rebuild one brick at a me. Commemora ve bricks are available for purchase for a dona on of $150 and will be installed at the gym entrance welcoming players, coaches, fans, families, friends, et.al. for the next 50+ years. Orders must be placed by July 1st, 2022. You can write an inscrip on EXACTLY as you would like it to appear on the paver brick, up to 14 characters per line, 3 line maximum (ie. The Thomas Family, In Memory of John Smith, etc.) Please make checks payable to Holy Trinity Youth Athletics and add Paver Brick to the memo. Credit Card payment also accepted, please contact Chris Danas, 860-916-3777 or HTHOF2015@gmail.com. We thank you for your con nuous support!

Jimmy Hasio s Athle c Director

ATHLETICS

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Bridgeport CT (203) 374 - 5561 Father Georgios Livaditis, Presbyter Deacon Anastasios Hallas (203) 209-9356

Parish Council John Tsil des (203) 371-7261 Faye Demestihas (917) 217-8530 Tom Gionis (203) 803-6942 Chris Papachristos (203) 400-0738 Lee Tsouris (203) 331-3185

Chris Danas (860) 916-3777 John Frantzis (203) 246-5396 Roseann Lambros (203) 675-3100 Harry Sandalidis (203) 414-0458 Arthur Venetis (2030 982-6884

AHEPA John Bochanis (203) 254-7595 Athletic Director Demetrios Hasiotis (203) 257-6535 Cantor George Bakes (203) 374-8561 Choir Joanna Bogardus (203) 650-4204 Cultural Association Van Hatzis (203) 268-7231 Council Of Churches Stacie Kapataneas (203) 926-1751 Daughters of Penelope Alexis Koulouris (203) 414-5137 ESF Scholarship Rebecca Hasiotis (203) 258-1826 GOYA Alexander Valbuena (203) 942-4759 Greek School Eleni Limberis (203) 331-7590 Maintenance Committee Gus Hatzis (203) 260-5359 Philoptochos Sylvia Bal (203) 814-2131 PTO Shalene Venetis (203) 982-6884 Senior Citizens Van Hatzis (203) 268-7231 Sunday School Alexandra McGoldrick (203) 520-9865 Kathy Bothos (203) 808-6100 Vision Faye Demestihas (917) 217-8530

Church Contact Information: Email: email@holytrinitybridgeport.org On the web: www.holytrinitybridgeport.org On Facebook: www.facebook/holytrinitybridgeport If you would like to receive noti cations from our church via email! please email us at holytrinity4070@gmail.com.

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