Pastoral Perspective
Father Georgios Livaditis
Dear Beloved Parishioners,
As we approach Holy Week, I extend a heartfelt invitation to each of you to join us in worship and reflection throughout this sacred time. This week is a profound opportunity for a regeneration of our souls and spirits as we journey together towards the glorious celebration of Pascha.
In our fast-paced and often chaotic world, many of us face challenges that can weigh heavily on our hearts and minds. The struggles with mental illness and the burdens of our passions can feel overwhelming. However, it is during Holy Week that we are reminded of the transformative power of our faith.
Gathering together in worship allows us to draw closer to our Creator and Lord Jesus Christ. Each service offers a unique moment for reflection, prayer, and connection not only with God but also with one another as a community of believers. In these moments, we find solace, support, and strength to face our challenges.
As we commemorate the events leading to Christ's passion and resurrection, we are invited to lay down our burdens at His feet. This is a time for healing, renewal, and hope. By participating in the services, we open our hearts to the grace and mercy that God offers us, allowing us to overcome the struggles that we encounter in today’s society.
I encourage you to make attending church during Holy Week a priority. Let us come together to experience the richness of our faith and the love that binds us as a community. Together, we can find the support and encouragement needed to navigate our lives with joy and purpose.
May this Holy Week bring you closer to Christ and rejuvenate your spirit. I look forward to seeing each of you in church, united in faith and love.
In Christ's love, Fr. George
The following text has been taken from A Century of Faith: The First 100 Years of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Bridgeport
Prior to World War II, Holy Trinity participated very little in athletic competition. From 1932-1933 and from 1935-1936, the Parish had a team in the YMCA’s Inter-Church Basketball League. In 1941, a Senior team, the Holy Trinity Grinders, represented the parish at the Y, and in 1943, a Junior team was also entered. After the war, in 1946, the Greek American Youth League (now GOYA), was formed. GOYA sponsored the Athletic Program, under William Trifiatis as the Director, for the Church’s youth. This program embraced all children from eight years and over. It had an annual Athletic Budget of a minimum $635.00 per year. The Athletic Program included Basketball and Softball with approximately eighty children participating. It also sponsored a Bowling League for the recreation of its members and friends.
The Parish had a minimum of one team in each division each year, and sometimes up to four, which represented Holy Trinity at the
YMCA. Games were played between other Orthodox and Protestant Church teams in the Greater Bridgeport area. The Greek American Youth League sponsored all the teams, and purchased all the uniforms and equipment. Practices were held at the First Methodist Church on Golden Hill Street at a very minimum cost for many years until the Parish’s gym was built.
In 1950, the Youth organization changed its name in to GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth of America), and became a part of a national organization that was approved by the Archdiocese.
The Church’s basketball teams won many championships at the YMCA’s Church League, and received national recognition. In the late 1960s, the gym was completed to include a new hardwood floor, all new baskets, lockers , bleachers, and other equipment that was needed to conduct the Athletic Program that had been envisioned. Bill Trifiatis was still the Director and Louis Carawlanis was the Treasurer of the Athletic Committee.
In 1969, a group of representatives from five Eastern Orthodox churches in the Bridgeport-New Haven area met to discuss the feasibility forming a basketball league. Their goal was to offer Orthodox youth the opportunity to
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participate in an organized athletic activity with the hope of developing fellowship and sportsmanship. The Athletic Committee of Holy Trinity Church, Bridgeport was instrumental in fostering the creation of the league. Its Committee Chair, Bill Trifiatis, skillfully guided the inaugural 1969-1970 season. The charter members that participated were: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox (Bridgeport); St. Barbara Greek Orthodox (New Haven); St. Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox (Bridgeport); St. George Albanian Orthodox (Bridgeport); St. John the Baptist American Carpatho Russian (Bridgeport); and St. Nicholas Syrian Orthodox Bridgeport).
The enthusiastic response to the first season's play led to the expansion of the league from the original nine team Intermediate and Senior divisions, to twenty eight teams and two more divisions : Midgets and Juniors. The following additional churches joined the league for the 1970 1971 season: Assumption Greek Orthodox (Danbury); Church of the Assumption Greek Orthodox (Stamford); and St. George Greek Orthodox (Hartford). The success of the program had been tremendous, with approximately 500 youth and adults participating in the four divisions every Saturday and Sunday during the basketball season of November through April. This new organization was named CEOBL (Connecticut Eastern Orthodox Basketball League). Many funds were raised through the efforts of the Athletic Committee. The proceeds would go towards reducing the debt of the Church loan. The wives of the committee members ran the snack bar as another means for raising funds. Bill Trifiatis
became the permanent director of the CEOBL, and Louis Carawlanis was its Treasurer. This league was probably the first inter-Orthodox basketball organization of its kind in the country.
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In 1978, after 32 years, Bill Trifiatis resigned as Athletic Director. Jim Trigonis, who was a member of the Athletic Committee, succeeded Bill as Director.
In 1979, the Holy Trinity Midget basketball team was the first team in the CEOBL to have a girl play in the league. Vicky Spyrou (Andriotis) played for Holy Trinity . Vicky's participation was a precursor to the girls’ volleyball league.
In 1985, Dimitrios Trigonis and Alex Boutsoulis from Holy Trinity Waterbury, started the Connecticut Eastern Orthodox Volleyball League.
George Fatsi was the Assistant Director during tenor. Nick Vomvas was the volleyball team, and he laid a very successful foundation that has enabled the volleyball program to s teams won the first five championships. Holy Trinity won 9 of the first 10 championships and 15 of the first 20 championships. Some other names that have volunteered their time throughout the years to the volleyball program are Eleftheria Fatsi, Michele Papadimitriou (Belperone), Peter Taxilarides, Gus Anastasiou, George Christopoulos , Luke Thomas, Stella Katsetos, and Terry Toth.
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What is your organiz cessful program/ project and why?
Our most successful program is the Hall of Fame event, which serves as our sole fundraiser. We events so far, starting in 2015 with three consecutive years of celebrations. Since then, the event has been held every two years. This event is significant because it acts as a reunion for all players, coaches, and other Orthodox parishes in the area that have participated in the league.
How do you fund your missions and projects?
We fund our program through the Hall of Fame event, our snack bar, and player registration fees, which makes the Hall of Fame event especially important to us. This year, it's scheduled to take place in early November. Our snack bar provides convenience for our guests, who are also our biggest supporters. Admission, however, is our most significant money maker. Success truly relies on people it’s the key backbone in all areas of life, whether in schools, sports, restaurants, concerts, festivals, or beyond.
still have today— return to coach the kids, while also bringing their own children through the s heartwarming to see the cycle continue, with the hope that these kids will do the same re older.
What would make the greatest difference in helping your organization?
The biggest difference in helping our organization would be increased participation, which has always been an ongoing challenge across the league. Other sports and commitments often take attention away from our program, and, more importantly, from the church as well. Growing up, one of my most vivid memories was having 30+ kids in our age group, which required us to form three teams
What are your organizations goals for this
We have two main goals for this year. The first is to bring more kids into the program, which is important to all of us. More kids in the program means more kids in church, and children truly are our future. Our second goal is to host a successful Hall of Fame Event, with more details to follow as everything gets finalized.
What do you want people to know the most about your organization?
Our league doesn’t operate year-round. We are most active from October to April. With over 50 years of history, many kids experience their first taste of team sports through our program. It has fostered countless lifelong friendships. Giving back to this program is incredibly important to me. It brings a smile to my face to see people I grew up playing with—friends I
In addition, we've made significant improvements to our gym, including a new floor, updated backboards and rims, renovated bathrooms, and a refreshed snack bar area. Our long-term goal is to eventually replace the scoreboard, which has been in place since the 90s. As you can imagine, like everything these days, it's not a cheap endeavor.
We are well into the Lenten journey towards Holy Pascha. Last month we fulfilled 140 kolyva orders for the 3 Psychosavata. May the memory of your loved ones be eternal.
As with previous years, we baked and sold Laganes. Thank you to all who purchased them. We also donated laganes to Greek school during their Clean Monday celebrations with parents, teachers and children.
On March 9, Holy Trinity hosted the Panorthodox vespers. Philoptochos provided, after the services, a Lenten meal for all who attended, around 65 people.
Under the Feed the Hungry project, 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were given out to John Street, on 2 different Sunday mornings. We have started our Easter food collection. Any donations are gratefully appreciated.
We also have started the Shut-in visits. Every person we visit receives a bag with a tsoureki, koulourakia and teas. Additionally, 12 gift bags that included baked goods and a $100 Shop Rite gift card, were given to Father George to distribute to individuals or families in need.
Our Easter baking is well on its way. Bake sale will be on April 12th & 13th. The deadline to place orders is April 7th.
The last two weeks before Easter will be full of preparations that will include the beautification of our church, Easter decorations, baking, red eggs dyeing, and decorating our Epitafio Immediately after Easter, we are in full festival mode. Please let me know if you want to help and/or manage the pastry tent.
Wishing everyone and their families a blessed Pascha.
Written by: MARIA COOK Philoptochos President
Greetings from the Loft! “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” Hebrews 2:12.
We are making our way to Easter and have been enjoying singing all of the special hymns and prayers during this most sacred time of the year. We encourage everyone to join us in praying through singing and chanting during our services. The Choir and Chanters lead responses, prayers and hymns, but the congregation is an integral part of a Greek Orthodox service, and are encouraged to sing together with our Choir and Chanters.
We enjoy all of the services during Lent and Holy Week but the Holy Tuesday service is truly special. It emphasizes the need for repentance and preparation for Christ’s return. At this service we sing the Hymn written by St. Kassiani which is about the sinful women who repented. It is one of our most challenging and inspiring hymns. Also, the Bridegroom (Nymphios) Troparion of Holy Tuesday is a beautiful prayer which we look forward to singing each year.
“Behold, the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night; and blessed is the servant He shall find awake and watching; unworthy is the other He shall find being lazy. So beware, O soul of mine, be not overcome by sleep, so that you not be handed over to death and be shut out from the Kingdom. Come to your senses and cry aloud: Holy, holy, holy are You our God. By the intercessions of the Forerunner save us.”
Reminders: Our Youth Choir meets on Sundays after services in the Choir Room at the bottom of the Narthex stairway. Please feel free to contact/text our Director, Joanna, at 203-650-4204 for info or to have your child join. She can also be reached at jbogardus@att.net.
All are welcome to join Choir! If you’d like to join us, please contact Joanna at 203-6504204 or see her or any choir member in church on Sundays. You can come up to the Loft on any Sunday and join us too. Together let’s #filltheloft.
Kali Anastasi to all of our parishioners!
Written by: HELEN YEOTSAS
Written by: LINDA BELLAS ELF
join us for our activities.
We had a wonderful luncheon donated to our Seniors during our March 5, 2025 meeting by the Daughters of Penelope. We all truly enjoyed the lunch provided as well as the company from the ladies. How inspiring it is to see charity flow throughout our Church from one to the other with such gracious poise. We wish to thank their generosity once again!
As we travel more deeply into our Lenten
During this time, our We will be making palm crosses for Palm Sunday for Father to give to all our Parishioners as well as tying up the red eggs. Together, the Seniors can offer many hands to make this work light. The reward is seeing these gifts handed out by Father to all our Church community. Giving selflessly is a theme within our Senior group, which sends such a positive message of our faith.
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Our thoughts are with Millie Maltas and any of our Senior members who have been ill , and we will keep them in our prayers for a successful recovery. We wish to extend Happy Birthday wishes (Χρόνια Πολλά!) to Panayota Koukoulas and Nick Demos , as well as any other of our Seniors who have a Birthday celebration in April.
Please consider our group if you are a Senior and would like to join us. You may contact Linda Bellas at 203-731-1382 to let us know you are interested in joining our group.
Written by:
THEODORA FATIBENE DOP PRESIDENT
Happy Lenten season to all.
Aoration with our young members to work on a worthwhile project together. Thanks to the guidance of our sister and GOYA advisor, Maria Gountas, these terrific young people helped put together 50 lunch bags that were distributed by Operation Hope to several individuals. Bravo kids! DOP is very proud and grateful of all of you! Of course, thank you to all the sisters who helped put together this event, those who donated and those who were physically there to help.
s we enter this beautiful and spiritual time, Daughters of Penelope continues with our charitable goals and bringing a few people joy.
DOP hap-
meeting. This was an amazing project that brought joy to the DOP. Many of us have known these lovely seniors all our lives. They have worked tirelessly for our church community throughout the years. It was a pleasure to do something simple for them and we hope to do this again in the future.
Another project near and dear to our hearts is preparing Easter food gift bags for a few needy individuals. DOP will come together in early April to assemble these gift bags with a few special items for Easter. Most all food items are donated by our sisters and community members. This has become an annual project for us and a delightful way to bring cheer to a
On March 13 DOP came together with our awesome GOYANS to prepare lunch bags for Operation Hope. This was an amazing collab-
Our Mother’s Day raffle event has begun. This is another successful annual event for DOP with proceeds going to our scholarship fund. Raffles have been mailed out to our members, and once again, look for us to set up after church for you to purchase your winning raffle! Each raffle is $10 and for that you may win a (Continued on page 12)
beautiful flower pot to brighten your patio with or anything towards buying yarn, it is much appreciated.
Sunday School Highlights
By Katherine Bothos & Alexandra McGoldrick, Directors
On March 10th, our Sunday School held the 2025 St. John Chrysostom Parish Oratorical Festival. Our students delivered thoughtful and inspiring presentations on given topics, show-
casing their dedication to our Greek Orthodox faith. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Father George, the judges, our talented students, and the supportive families for making this event a resounding success.
2025
St. John Chrysostom’s Oratorical Festival
The following 4 students have progressed to the District Level. Please see below: Junior Division- Kyriaki Karayiannis , Nektaria Manias
Senior Division- George Karayiannis, Demetri
Karagiannis
The District Level Oratorical Festival will held on Saturday, March 29th, at St Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Orange, CT. are Very Proud of our students!!
ORATORICAL FESTIVAL
Kathari Deftera
HT A THLETICS FEATURE, C ONTINUED
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In 1986, due to health issues, Dimitrios Trigonis stepped down as Athletic Director. Jim Feris served as the Athletic Director from 1986-1991, and followed by Tom Trigonis in 1991. John Crowe, Pericles Koutroulas, and Chris Danas have also served as Athletic Directors.
Throughout the years, many people have been dedicated to Holy Trinity’s Athletic programs. Among them was Louis Carawlinas. Lou’s commitment to Holy Trinity dates back to the 1940’s. His love for the youth of our community was evident in his dedication in the time he spent in the gymnasium, along with Mr. James Mellas. Lou’s brother, Peter, who was killed in action in WWII, has a trophy named in his honor that is given out yearly to a Senior or Intermediate player who exemplifies outstanding sportsmanship and dedica-
tion to Holy Trinity Church. Lou spent the better part of 70 years volunteering his time to our athletics and the church in general. Another person involved for many years is Tom Trigonis, who started our in the Athletic Program playing basketball as a midget for Holy Trinity in 1972. Tom’s love for the church and his memories playing for Holy Trinity inspired him to give back and get involved. He served as the Director of the CEOBL for over 10 years, and over the span of 30 years (dating back to 1983), Tom served as Holy Trinity’s Athletic Director, Assistant Athletic Director, and as a coach.
The Holy Trinity Athletic program continues to provide a place for the youth of the community to congregate and enjoy the fellowship of playing with other Orthodox communities throughout Connecticut and New York.
Life after
delivery
In a mother’s womb were two babies. The first baby asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”
The second baby replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?”
“I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.”
The doubting baby laughed. “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.”
The second baby held his ground. “I think
there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.”
The first baby replied, “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said the twin, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.”
“Mother?” The first baby guffawed. “You believe in mother? Where is she now?”
The second baby calmly and patiently tried to explain. “She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.”
“Ha. I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.”
To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality when it comes….”
Fast Foods
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Course: Light meal, Salad
Diet: Vegan
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 475 kcal
Equipment
1 large pot
1 Jar with lid or medium
bowl and whisk
Ingredients
3 cups mixed
beans Chickpeas, navy beans, black beans, blackeyed peas were used here
¼ cup wheat berries
⅓ cup red onion chopped
1/4 cup dill chopped
1/4 cup parsley chopped
For the dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
50 ml red wine vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated rind of lemon
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon mustard
salt & pepper to taste
Cretan Palikaria
A traditional Cretan recipe made with wheat berries and legumes
Instructions
Rinse your wheat berries. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and then add the wheat berries. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until the wheat berries are tender and chewy. You may also note that they crack open. This will usually take between 30 - 60 minutes, depending on the variety of wheat berry you use. See Recipe Note. ¼ cup wheat berries
While your wheat berries are cooking, prepare the rest of your ingredients. Rinse your canned beans very well and transfer to a large bowl. Add the onion and fresh herbs. 3 cups mixed beans,⅓ cup red onion,1/4 cup dill,1/4 cup parsley
Once the wheat berries are cooked, drain and then add them to the bowl with your beans and onions. Prepare the dressing by combining all of the dressing ingredients in a jar and close with a lid. Shake until all the ingredients are well combined. Alternatively, place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined well. Add as much dressing as you like to your salad and toss well to combine. 1/2 cup olive oil,50 ml red wine vinegar,2 tbsp lemon juice,1 teaspoon grated rind of lemon,1 teaspoon dry oregano,1 teaspoon mustard,salt & pepper to taste
Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Sodium: 22mg | Potassium: 612mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 544IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 5mg
Per Luminary
This event is open to the public and being hosted in our Aegean Room! Tickets are $25. Snacks and beverages will be served and are included in the price of your ticket, or BYOB!
APRIL 2025
Weekday and Weekend Liturgies
Orthros 8:30am / Divine Liturgy 9:30 am
Unless otherwise noted
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
4070 Park Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Address Service Requested
