CHARITY GOLF TOUNAMENT WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!!

We need gifts and/or prizes for the

Annunciation Charity Golf Outing

Raffle. For example: gift cards, gift

baskets, time shares, trips, a cruise,

new items, etc.. We need gifts to be

brought in to the church office by Sept

30th. Call Les Haynes at 239-895-

7020 or Georgia Kline at 239-898-

3138 if you have any questions.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDSMOVIE & PIZZA NIGHT, Wednesday,

September 11th at 6PM (due to Yom

Kippur) in the Fr. Arthur K. Kontinos

Community Center. $5 per person.

This months movie is, “Mamma Mia!”

An independent single mother who

owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek

island, Donna (Meryl Streep) is about

to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried),

the spirited daughter she's raised

alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna

has invited her two lifelong best

girlfriends—practical and no-nonsense

Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy,

multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine

Baranski)—from her one-time backing

band, Donna and the Dynamos. But

Sophie has secretly invited three

guests of her own. On a quest to find

the identity of her father to walk her

down the aisle, she brings back three

men from Donna's past to the

Mediterranean paradise they visited

20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic,

magical hours, new love will bloom

and old romances will be rekindled on

this lush island full of possibilities.

Inspired by the storytelling magic of

ABBA's songs from "Dancing Queen"

and "S.O.S." to "Money, Money, Money"

and "Take a Chance on Me," Mamma

Mia! is a celebration of mothers and

daughters, old friends and new family

found.

GOYA Community Yard

Sale October 5th,

2013 8AM—NOON

Do you have toys or

household items you

have been wanting

to sell? Do you make

crafts that you can

sell? Reserve a

table NOW for only

$25 for your

“treasures” and you

keep all of the

profits. Or make

donations of your

items to GOYA for

them to sell.

Contact Heidi

Kubiak with any

questions: 239-464-

0549. The deadline

for receiving your

table reservations is

September 30th.

PRAYING FOR YOU We offer prayers for

health and the

needs for the

servant of God, Tom

Haley.

Please notify the

office or Fr. Deacon

John if there is

someone that needs

to be added to the

prayer list.

239-481-2099

HELLENIC–AMERICAN CLUB NOTICE: Due to scheduling and speaker conflicts, the September meeting has been

CANCELLED. The first meeting of the season will be held in the Kontinos Community

Center on Tuesday, October 15th, at 7:00 p.m. For further information regarding

Hellenic-Club membership, activities and events please contact Peter Wouralis (283-

5812).

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE CONTEMPORARY

ASCETICS OF MOUNT

ATHOS,

describes the lives

and the spiritual

images of Athonite

Elders of recent

centuries, who,

although differing

greatly from each

other in their

backgrounds,

characters and ways of life, all bear the

evident seal of the presence of the Holy

Spirit in their hearts, testifying to a

troubled world that the purpose of

man’s existence is union with God.“

“Study, my child, to acquire in your life

dignity, simplicity, understanding,

continuous prayer, manliness,

unfeigned love, wisdom, seemliness.

Be sympathetic, love the poor. Attain

silence and patient endurance. Do not

slander, do not laugh at anyone.

Acquire angerlessness, modesty, and

humility, so that the Lord will glorify

you before the angels and the saints.

Elder Athanasius of Grigoriou

The author, Archimandrite Cherubim

Karambelas (†1979), lived on Mount

Athos in his youth, and searched out

firsthand sources and living witnesses

for his information on these Elders. In

CONTEMPORARY ASCETICS OF MOUNT

ATHOS, the most exalted teachings on

asceticism and the vision of God are

seen practically applied in the persons

of these new luminaries, stars in our

midst.

Stop to see these new books and many

others, along with Icons and many

religious items, in our church bookstore

this Sunday after Liturgy.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

8210 Cypress Lake Dr

Fort Myers FL 33919

239-481-2099

www.annunciation.fl.goarch.org

Check us out on Facebook:

Annunciationgocfm

Fr. Deacon John Howard

Office Hours

Monday-Friday 9am-3pm

Sunday September 1, 2013

September 8th:

The Gospel of John

3:13-17

Orthros 9am,

Liturgy 10am

EPISTLE READING St. Paul's First Letter to Timothy

2:1-7

TIMOTHY, my son, first of all, then,

I urge that supplications, prayers,

intercessions, and thanksgivings

be made for all men, for kings and

all who are in high positions, that

we may lead a quiet and

peaceable life, godly and

respectful in every way. This is

good, and it is acceptable in the

sight of God our Savior, who

desires all men to be saved and to

come to the knowledge of the

truth. For there is one God, and

there is one mediator between

God and men, the man Christ

Jesus, who gave himself as a

ransom for all, the testimony to

which was borne at the proper

time. For this I was appointed a

preacher and apostle (I am telling

the truth, I am not lying), a

teacher of the Gentiles in faith

and truth.

GOSPEL READING The Gospel of Luke 4:16-22 At that time, Jesus came to

Nazareth, where he had been

brought up; and he went to the

synagogue, as his custom was, on

the sabbath day. And he stood up

to read; and there was given to

him the book of the prophet

Isaiah. He opened the book and

found the place where it was

written, "The Spirit of the Lord is

upon me, because he has

anointed me to preach good news

to the poor. He has sent me to

proclaim release to the captives

and recovering of sight to the

blind, to set at liberty those who

are oppressed, to proclaim the

acceptable year of the Lord." And

he closed the book, and gave it

back to the attendant, and sat

down; and the eyes of all in the

synagogue were fixed on him. And

he began to say to them, "Today

this scripture has been fulfilled in

your hearing." And all spoke well

of him, and wondered at the

gracious words which proceeded

out of his mouth.

Labor Day:

September 2nd

OFFICE CLOSED

Nativity of Theotokos:

September 8th

LPS: September 9th

BOARD MEETING

10:30AM

Hellenic American

Club: September 10th

MEETING

Circle of Friends:

September 11th

MOVIE NIGHT: 6PM

“Mamma Mia!”

Exaltation of the Holy

Cross: Saturday,

September 14th

(Orthos 9am/Divine

Liturgy 10am)

Sunday School:

September 15th

FIRST DAY

Circle of Friends:

September 19th

GENERAL MEETING-

NOON

Spaghetti Luncheon

for Holy Cross:

September 22nd

Following Divine

Liturgy

ECCLESIASTICAL NEW YEAR

Entrance Hymn

Come let us worship and bow down before

Christ. Save us, O Son of God who arose from

the dead, we sing to You, Alleluia.

Δεῦτε, προσκυνήσωμεν, καί προσπέσωμεν Χριστῶ. Σῶσον ημᾶς, Υιέ Θεοῦ, ο αναστάς εκ νεκρῶν, ψάλλοντάς σοι, Αλληλούια

Resurrectional Apolytikion

Τοῦ λίθου σφραγισθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλασσόντων τὸ ἄχραντόν σου Σῶμα, ἀνέστης τριήμερος Σωτήρ, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ζωήν· διὰ τοῦτο αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐβόων σοι ζωοδότα· Δόξα τῇ Ἀναστάσει σου Χριστέ, δόξα τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου, δόξα τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ σου, μόνε φιλάνθρωπε. The stone had been secured with seal by the

Judeans, and a guard of soldiers was watch-

ing Your immaculate body. You rose on the

third day, O Lord and Savior, granting life un-

to the world. And therefore the powers of

heaven cried to You, O Giver-of-Life: Glory to

Your resurrection, O Christ; glory to Your king-

dom; glory to Your dispensation, only One

who loves mankind.

Apolytikion for the Ecclesiastical New Year

Ὁ πάσης δημιουργὸς τῆς κτίσεως, ὁ καιροὺς καὶ χρόνους ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ θέμενος, εὐλόγησον τὸν στέφανον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τῆς χρηστότητός σου Κύριε, φυλάττων ἐν εἰρήνῃ τοὺς Βασιλεῖς καὶ τὴν πόλιν σου, πρεσβείαις τῆς Θεοτόκου, καὶ σῶσον ἡμᾶς. O Fashioner of all creation, who made sea-

sons and years by Your own authority, bless

the crown of the year with Your goodness, O

Lord, and preserve our rulers and Your city in

peace, at the intercession of the Theotokos,

and save us.

Apolytikion for the Saint Symeon

Ὑπομονῆς στῦλος γέγονας, ζηλώσας τοὺς προπάτορας Ὅσιε, τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι, τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς, καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀσωμάτων πολιτείαν, ὑπάρχων ἐν σώματι, Συμεὼν Πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ὅσιε, πρέσβευε Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, σωθῆναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν. You became a pillar of patience, O devout

one, emulating the forefathers, Job in his suf-

ferings and Joseph in his temptations, and

the manner of the bodiless, though you were

still in body. O devout father Symeon, inter-

cede with Christ God, to save our souls.

Apolytikion for the Theotokos

Χαῖρε κεχαριτωμένη Θεοτόκε Παρθένε, λιμὴν καὶ προστασία τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ ἐσαρκώθη ὁ Λυτρωτὴς τοῦ κόσμουμόνη γὰρ ὑπάρχεις Μήτηρ καὶ Παρθένος, ἀεὶ εὐλογημένη καὶ δεδοξασμένη, πρέσβευε Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, εἰρήνην δωρήσασθαι, πάσῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ. Rejoice, Maiden full of grace, O Virgin

Theotokos; a haven and protection are you

for all of mankind. From you did the Redeem-

er of the world become incarnate, only you

are both a Mother and a Virgin. O Lady ever

blessed and ever filled with glory, intercede

with Christ God, beseeching Him to grant

peace to the universe.

Kontakion

Ὁ τῶν αἰώνων Ποιητὴς καὶ Δεσπότης, Θεὲ τῶν ὅλων ὑπερούσιε ὄντως, τὴν ἐνιαύσιον εὐλόγησον περίοδον, σῴζων τῷ ἐλέει σου, τῷ ἀπείρῳ οἰκτίρμων, πάντας τοὺς λατερεύοντας, σοὶ τῷ μόνῳ Δεσπότῃ, καὶ ἐκβοῶντας φόβῳΛυτρωτά, εὔφορον πᾶσι τὸ ἔτος χορήγησον. You, the Creator and the Lord of the ages, O

God of all, truly transcending all essence, we

earnestly entreat, that You will bless the

year, and, O tender-loving Lord, in Your infi-

nite mercy, only Master, save us all who wor-

ship and serve You, O our Redeemer, and who

cry with fear, "For all Your servants, make

fruitful the coming year.

Hymn to the Theotokos

Ἄξιόν εστιν ως αληθῶς Truly it is Right (In book)

Communion Hymn

Ευλόγησον τόν στέφανον του Ενιαυτού τής χρηστότητός σου, Κύριε. Bless the crown of the new year by Your

goodness, O Lord.

TODAYS LITURIGAL HYMNS

Ecclesiastical New Year—September 1st For the maintenance of their armed forces, the Roman

emperors decreed that their subjects in every district

should be taxed every year. This same decree was reis-

sued every fifteen years, since the Roman soldiers

were obliged to serve for fifteen years. At the end of

each fifteen-year period, an assessment was made of

what economic changes had taken place, and a new

tax was decreed, which was to be paid over the span

of the fifteen years. This imperial decree, which was

issued before the season of winter, was named Indic-

tio, that is, Definiton, or Order. This name was adopted

by the emperors in Constantinople also. At other

times, the latter also used the term Epinemisis, that is,

Distribution (Dianome). It is commonly held that Saint

Constantine the Great introduced the Indiction de-

crees in A.D. 312, after he beheld the sign of the Cross

in heaven and vanquished Maxentius and was pro-

claimed Emperor in the West. Some, however (and this

seems more likely), ascribe the institution of the Indic-

tion to Augustus Caesar, three years before the birth

of Christ. Those who hold this view offer as proof the

papal bull issued in A.D. 781 which is dated thus: Anno

IV, Indictionis LIII -that is, the fourth year of the fifty-

third Indiction. From this, we can deduce the afore-

mentioned year (3 B.C.) by multiplying the fifty-two

complete Indictions by the number of years in each

(15), and adding the three years of the fifty-third Indic-

tion. There are three types of Indictions: 1) That which

was introduced in the West, and which is called Impe-

rial, or Caesarean, or Constantinian, and which begins

on the 24th of September; 2) The so-called Papal In-

diction, which begins on the 1st of January; and 3) The

Constantinopolitan, which was adopted by the Patri-

archs of that city after the fall of the Eastern Empire in

1453. This Indiction is indicated in their own hand on

the decrees they issue, without the numeration of the

fifteen years. This Indiction begins on the 1st of Sep-

tember and is observed with special ceremony in the

Church. Since the completion of each year takes

place, as it were, with the harvest and gathering of the

crops into storehouses, and we begin anew from

henceforth the sowing of seed in the earth for the pro-

duction of future crops, September is considered the

beginning of the New Year. The Church also keeps fes-

tival this day, beseeching God for fair weather, season-

able rains, and an abundance of the fruits of the earth.

The Holy Scriptures also testify that the people of Isra-

el celebrated the feast of the Blowing of the Trumpets

on this day, offering hymns of thanksgiving. In addition

to all the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemo-

rate our Saviour's entry into the synagogue in Naza-

reth, where He was given the book of the Prophet

Esaias to read, and He opened it and found the place

where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

for which cause He hath anointed Me..." (Luke 4:16-

30). It should be noted that to the present day, the

Church has always celebrated the beginning of the

New Year on September 1. This was the custom in

Constantinople until its fall in 1453 and in Russia until

the reign of Peter I. September 1 is still festively cele-

brated as the New Year at the Patriarchate of Constan-

tinople; among the Jews also the New Year, although

reckoned according to a moveable calendar, usually

falls in September. The service of the Menaion for Jan-

uary 1 is for our Lord's Circumcision and for the memo-

rial of Saint Basil the Great, without any mention of its

being the beginning of a new year.

Symeon the Stylite—September 1st Our righteous Father Symeon was born about the year

390 in a certain village named Sis, in the mountain

region of Cilicia and Syria. Having first been a shep-

herd, he entered the monastic discipline at a young

age. After trying various kinds of ascetical practices,

both in the monastery and then in the wilderness, he

began standing on pillars of progressively greater

height, and heroically persevered in this for more than

forty years; the greater part of this time he spent

standing upright, even when one of his feet became

gangrenous, and other parts of his body gave way un-

der the strain. He did not adopt this strange way of life

out of vainglory, a charge that some of his contempo-

raries made against him at the first: because he was

already famous for his asceticism and holiness before

ascending his first pillar (in Greek, style, whence he is

called "Stylite"), many pious people came to him wish-

ing to touch his garments, either for healing or for a

blessing; to escape the continual vexation they

caused, he made a pillar about ten feet high, and then

higher and higher, until the fourth and last was about

fifty feet high. The Church historian Theodoret of

Cyrrhus, an eyewitness of his exploits who wrote of

him while Symeon was yet alive, called him "the great

wonder of the world." God gave him the grace to perse-

vere in such an astonishing form of asceticism that

multitudes came to see him from Persia, Armenia,

South Arabia, Georgia, Thrace, Spain, Italy, Gaul, and

the British Isles. Theodoret says that he became so

famous in Rome that the Nomadic Arabs by the thou-

sands believed in Christ and were baptized because of

him; the King of Persia sent envoys to inquire into his

way of life, and the Queen asked to be sent oil that he

had blessed. He also was a great defender of sound

doctrine, and confirmed the Orthodoxy of the Holy

Council of Chalcedon for many who had been beguiled

by the teachings of the Monophysites, including the

Empress Eudocia, widow of Theodosius the Younger.

After a life of unheard-of achievements and struggles,

he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine, in the

year 459.

SAINTS COMMERATED