St. Sophia/Ss. Faith, Hope & Agape

GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF VALLEY FORGE

Special points of interest:

Volunteer at our

Fall Festival.

“Hold the Date” for our

Dinner Dance.

Inside this issue:

President’s Message 2

Church Award 2

Bible Study 2

Philoptochos 3

Senior Parea 3

Youth Ministries 4, 5

Stewardship Update 6

Icon Screen 7

Holy Week/Pascha 2013 8

Spring Festival 2013 10,

11

Greek Dance Groups 12

Community Registry 13

Community Newsletter

Summer 2013

Volume 1, Issue 2

On August 15, the Orthodox

Church celebrates the falling

asleep of the Theotokos, the

Virgin Mary. In the Orthodox

Christian Tradition, we say

that when somebody dies that

they fall asleep in the Lord to

be awakened again at the final

judgment. The Virgin Mary,

being human, reached an old

age under the care of the

Apostle and Evangelist John.

We recall that on the cross

Christ entrusted the care of

his mother to St. John. She

was buried in Gethsemane by

the apostles and leaders of the

Church. In the Icon of her

Dormition, we see Christ, her

son, receiving her soul into his

loving care. Tradition also

tells us that her body was also

taken up in to heaven, giving

us the example of what Christ

has in mind for all of us.

On August 1st we begin a two-

week fast period in prepara-

tion for the celebration of this

feast. During this time we

celebrate the Paraklesis Ser-

vice in which we ask the The-

otokos for her help in our dai-

ly lives and we remember

those who are living who are

in need of the saving grace of

Christ.

During the Great Vespers of

the Feast, we decorate the

Kouvouklion with flowers and

we place the icon of the Dor-

mition in it, just as we do for

the Epitaphios of Christ on

Good Friday. Also during this

service, those who celebrate

their Feast Day offer the

Artoclasia for the health and

well being of all those who

celebrate and their family

members.

This feast is often referred to

as the “Pascha of Summer” in

that it foretells what is in store

for all faithful believers, as

well as it reflects the level of

celebrations that accompany

this feast.

We wish many years to all

Panagiotis, Panagiotas, Mari-

as, Marios, and Despinas.

Xronia Polla!

Father Peter

Falling Asleep of the Theotokos

We hope that everyone is en-

joying their summer so far

and taking that all important

break from the usual routine

to relax with family and

friends.

In the meantime, we continue

to make progress. The town-

ship has conducted its final

inspection of our site; no par-

ticular issues were noted so

we should be receiving our

permanent certificate of occu-

pancy very soon.

Steve Kavroulakis and his

group of craftsmen are work-

ing tirelessly to complete our

icon screen, pulpit, altar,

Bishop's Throne and chanter

stand in time for a September

delivery and installation. (See

Page 7.)

Our dance, bible study and

senior groups are meeting on

a regular basis. All are wel-

come to participate.

Although we just finished a

successful Spring festival,

many thanks to John Papadi-

mitriou and all the volunteers,

the Fall festival is just around

the corner and preparations

are already underway.

Our iconographer, Dr. George

Kordis will be returning later

this Fall to paint the icons for

our icon screen among other

items.

Of course, none of this would

be possible without the gener-

ous financial support and ef-

fort offered by all of our stew-

ards and friends and for that

we thank all of you.

Sincerely,

Dean W. Laskaris

President’s Message

tractors Inc. and held at the

Radisson Hotel in Camp Hill,

PA. More than 300 people

were in attendance with St.

Sophia’s represented by John

Papadimitriou and Peter Patu-

kas.

Also among the 28 companies

receiving awards was Para-

mount Contracting who

walked away with two awards

for their work at St. Sophia’s –

for Metal Work & Interior

Finishes.

Award for Construction of Our Church

For leading the building of our

beautiful church, Horst Con-

struction – the general con-

tractor – received an Excel-

lence in Construction Award.

The award was presented dur-

ing the “24th Annual Excel-

lence in Construction Awards

Gala” on Tuesday, July 16th

2013. The event was put on by

the Keystone Chapter of the

Associated Builders and Con-

Our dance, bible study

and senior groups are

meeting on a regular

basis. All are welcome

to participate.

Page 2 St. Sophia’s

about them. Bring your ques-

tions or send them before-

hand to Fr. Peter.

Future Bible Study discus-

sions will include a study of

the book of Psalms (and how

it is used during Orthros, in

iconography, etc.), what the

Bible tells us about fasting,

confession and Holy Com-

munion and more.

As always, our Bible Study is

open to everyone and takes

place every other Tuesday

evening at 6:30 p.m. in the

Cultural Center. Join our

Facebook group for more de-

tails or look for the next read-

ings in the Sunday Bulletin.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/stsophiavalleyforge/

Adult Bible Study

Our Bible Study ministry con-

tinues to flourish over the

summer months. In late June

and early July we focused on

St. Paul’s first letter to the

Corinthians and how his writ-

ings impact our lives as Or-

thodox Christians.

Our August 13th, Bible Study

will be Stump the Priest

Night! Our discussions will

focus on current world events

and what The Bible tells us

Our August 13th, Bible

Study will be Stump

the Priest Night!

This summer is in full speed

now. I pray that everyone is

keeping cool during these hot

months. Our first festival of

the year is behind us and the

next one is on the horizon.

The new ecclesiastical year

begins with the following Sep-

tember events:

Fall Festival

The 7th Annual Fall Grecian

Festival is just around the

corner running from Thurs-

day, September 5th - Sunday

September 8th. Keep a look-

out for the pastry and food

preparation schedules in Au-

gust. Please allot some time

out of your busy schedules to

volunteer before, during and

after the festival.

Yiayia’s Attic Treasures

If you are preparing to do

some household clean up,

keep St. Sophia Church in

mind. The Ladies Philopto-

chos will be selling donated

“treasures” in the balcony

during the Fall Festival. We

are in search of items to sell.

The list of items that you can

donate is limited only to your

imagination. Unfortunately,

we cannot accept donations of

clothing, mattresses, bed pil-

lows, any type of quilted

items, stuffed animals and

food products. Please place

your items in the balcony.

Any items unsold will be do-

nated to a local thrift store.

Volunteers are needed during

the festival hours to sell these

treasures. Please call Flora

Poloway (610.792.0588 or flo-

ra.poloway@gmail.com) to sign

up or if you have any questions.

St. Sophia’s Feastday

Vespers and Artoklasia will

begin at 7:00 pm on Monday,

September 16th with a recep-

tion to follow. We welcome

your bite size sweets for the

reception. Please drop off your

sweets in the kitchen before

entering church Monday even-

ing.

On Tuesday, September 17th

our Feastday will be celebrated.

Orthros will begin at 8:45 am

with Divine Liturgy and

Artoklasia to follow.

We thank all the Philoptochos

JOIN IN THE SPIRIT OF THE LADIES PHILOPTOCHOS SOCIETY!

Following the Fall Festival

(Sept. 5th—8th), the Senior

Parea will meet weekly on

Thursdays in the church hall

from 10am-12 noon for fellow-

ship. On the third Thursday

of every month we have a for-

mal meeting beginning at

10am. For more information

please contact the Parish Of-

fice.

Senior Citizen Ministry

Our senior citizen ministry –

St. Sophia’s “Senior Parea”

continues to meet during the

summer. This group wel-

comes all senior citizens of the

community. The group has

been meeting once a month

during the summer. Our Au-

gust meeting will be held on

Thursday, 8/22.

Page 3 Summer 2013

members who have volunteered

in the past and continue to serve

so willingly and tirelessly. We

look forward to our new mem-

bers joining us in our labors of

love. Philoptochos needs your

time and talents. With the

blessing of St. Sophia and her

three martyred daughters, I am

sure we will have a wonderful

year!

Respectfully yours,

Kathy Tsipras

Philoptochos President

St. Sophia Ladies Philoptochos Society

“Pistis, Elpis & Agape”

Fall “Senior Parea” Meeting Dates

September 12, 19, 26

October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31

November 14*, 21*

December 5, 12*, 19*

*Will start following Divine Liturgy

Once again Fr. Peter and sev-

eral Children from our parish

attended the Camp Good

Shepherd summer camping

ministry of the Metropolis of

New Jersey. The camp was

held in the lush green region

of north western New Jersey.

It was a tremendous experi-

ence where the children were

able to grow in their faith

through many different ways.

Each day began with Orthros

in our Camp Chapel. The Chil-

dren ate their meals together

with their cabin mates. They

attended lively Orthodox Life

Sessions where they learned

about the importance of build-

ing bridges of faith between

themselves and God, as well

as between each other. This

was done through talks by the

priests, singing songs and

hymns of the Church, study-

ing the Bible, and Devotionals

at night. We also had fun with

campfires and smores, climb-

ing wall, the low ROPES

course, canoeing and

kayaking, camp olympics and

of course the Thursday night

family barbeque.

Camp Good Shepherd is truly

a spiritually uplifting experi-

ence that creates bonds be-

tween the children and Christ.

We are looking forward to the

2014 camp season.

Camp Good Shepherd

school starts in September.

Classes meet once a week, and

there are classes for all ages

and skill levels.

The 2013/14 Greek Language

School year will begin the

week of September 9th and

runs through

May. Registration deadline is

September 1st. Classes are

available for adults and chil-

dren, and for all skill lev-

els. Class levels are based

upon a student's Greek lan-

guage ability, rather than age

or grade in school. If you are

new to the program, please

contact Erietta Fotiadis

(eriettafotiadis@verizon.net

or 484-716-6059) who will

determine the appropriate

level for you or your child. If

you have any questions re-

garding the program, please

contact Erietta Fotiadis. If

you have any other questions

(regarding registration/

payment), please contact

Greek School

Have you always wished you

could join in the conversation

with your Greek speaking

family and friends? Have you

ever wanted your children to

be able to speak Greek with

Papou and Yiayia? How

would you like to be able to

read the menu and order

on your trip to

Greece? Would you or your

child like to learn or improve

your Greek? Now is the time

to start! Our Greek language

Page 4 St. Sophia’s

“They learned

about the

importance of

building bridges

of faith between

themselves and

God, as well as

between each

other.”

Youth Ministries

Christine Bailey

(ckokolisbailey@gmail.com or

610-256-1087). If you have not

received the registration form by

email, please contact Christine

Bailey or the church office to

obtain a registration form.

LEVEL DAY TIME PreK Monday 4:00-5:00pm* K/Introduction to Greek Wednesday 4:30-6:00pm 1 (to be scheduled if students at this level are registered) 2 Tuesday 5:00-6:30pm 3 Monday 6:30-8:00pm 4 Tuesday 6:30-8:00pm 5 (to be scheduled if students at this level are registered) 6 Wednesday 6:00-7:30pm Adult I Monday 5:00 - 6:30pm Adult II Wednesday 7:30 - 9:00pm

*To be held pending registration of students (4-5 year old children)

GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL SCHEDULE 2013-2014

The first day of Sunday School is

scheduled for September 15th.

Following liturgy, the PTO will

sponsor a "Welcome Back" Ice

Cream Social for the children of

the parish.

Sunday School registration

forms will be available later in

August in the church office and

Pangari. For more information,

please email Sofia Sprayberry at:

sprayberry4@verizon.net. Also,

check the church website later in

August for more information

regarding events for the PTO,

the Sunday School calendar, and

parent volunteer opportunities.

Sunday School/PTO

All of our GOYA activities are

driven by three specific guid-

ing themes – faith, fellowship

and service. Each GOYA

meeting includes a discussion

of our faith, a service project

and a fun fellowship activity.

Most recently, our GOYA en-

joyed the summer weather

with a Splash Party on July

6th. Thanks to the Dowzicky

family for opening their home

to us. Everyone had a great

time. Good times and fellow-

ship are what keep our kids

coming back year after year.

Whether it is snow tubing,

going on haunted hay rides or

camping – our kids enjoy a

strong bond with each other

that goes way beyond GOYA.

But we are not just a fun so-

cial organization. We have a

strong commitment to serving

our parish and our communi-

ty. On Saturday, June 22nd,

we had the great honor of

serving 50 dinners at Manna

on Main Street in Lansdale.

Special thanks to Lexie,

Stephanie, Vanessa, Xena,

George and the dads for help-

ing out. While we were there,

we observed three very painful

things:

1) The need for soup kitch-

ens and food pantries is

at an all time high.

2) The food pantry at Manna

was running very low

with some shelves com-

pletely empty.

3) We should be doing

more. (That means that

more people should be

showing up, too!)

Of the 20+ GOYAns in our

parish who are blessed with

comfortable homes, full pan-

tries and all of God's bless-

ings, only a handful were able

to commit to helping. We all

have busy lives with sports,

activities, etc. But we also

need to remember what Christ

expects of us:

Acts 20:35 - In all things I

have shown you that by

working hard in this way we

must help the weak and re-

member the words of the

Saint Sophia’s GOYA

Information on the 2013/14

HOPE and JOY schedule will

be available in the fall. All

children between the ages of 5

and 11 are welcome to partici-

pate. If you have any ques-

tions please contact Christine

Bailey

(ckokolisbailey@gmail.com).

Saint Sophia’s HOPE and JOY

The children of the HOPE and

JOY groups ended the year

with an afternoon of fun at

Jungle Wonder. They enjoyed

a round of miniature golf in a

cool glow in the dark minia-

ture golf course, as well as

climbing and sliding on the

jungle gym, and some fun in

the balladium. And what bet-

ter way to end the day then

with some yummy ice cream!

Page 5 Summer 2013

Our HOPE and

JOY children at

Jungle Wonder.

Lord Jesus, how he himself said,

‘It is more blessed to give than

to receive’.

It is our duty to give back. And

God willing, we will. Our next

volunteer event with Manna is

set for August 24th. Please con-

tact John Pogas if you can help

or sign up for the event on our

Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/

groups/stsophiagoya/

Summer Food Drive

Our food drives during the holi-

days are certainly welcome, but

like blood supplies, food pan-

tries have the greatest need dur-

ing the summer months. There-

fore, we have agreed to start our

first Summer Food Drive. All

non-perishable food items will

benefit Manna on Main Street in

Lansdale, PA. Ask your friends,

neighbors, relatives, etc. for

their help. Go to your local su-

permarket and ask if they can

donate non-perishables to this

very worthy cause.

Our GOYA is also going to

help by taking some of the

money we raised from lunch-

eons and our dance to pur-

chase non-perishable food

items to help "seed" our food

drive. Please make a more

concerted effort to help us

with our food drive as well as

our other community out-

reach ministries.

Moving forward, our 2013 –

14 GOYA Calendar will be

available by the end of July.

Copies of the calendar will be

e-mailed to all GOYAns, post-

ed on our Facebook page and

included in the Sunday bulle-

tin.

Stewardship Update

July 2013

We hope that everyone is having a fantastic summer! Despite many folks taking vacations or time at the shore or mountains, attendance this summer continues to be very strong. We have had a lot of visitors and new faces so far this summer, which is truly wonderful to see! And with the Sunday Greek Dance classes, we are seeing lots of kids this summer as well.

When in town, please be sure to join us for Divine Liturgy on Sundays. With the new summer hours (Liturgy at 9:00 am), you can worship with us and still have virtually the whole day left. Nobody wants God to take a vacation from us over the summer. As stewards of the Faith, we need to make sure we don’t take a vacation away from Him either!

Stewardship is our way of thanking God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us. To be considered good stewards of our parish and the faith, we must give back in gratitude to Him by giving of our time, talent and treasure.

Regarding our TIME commitment, please mark the dates of Sept. 5-8 for our Fall Festival. We will need EVERYONE’s help to make this event successful!

As a reminder, please continue to make payments on your Financial Commitment—our bills do not take a vacation during the summer! Also, if you have not yet submitted your 2013 Pledge Card, please do so as soon as possible.

Thank you for your support of God’s work and our Ministries through your generous and sacrifi-cial stewardship gift. God bless you and your family. We look forward to seeing you in church!

2012

(Year End)

2013

(7/15/13)

Pledge Unit Goal 220 230

Pledge $ Goal $200,000 $200,000

Number of Pledges 211 185

Amount Pledged $185,743.00 $189,750

Average Pledge $880.30 $1,026

New Stewards 43 24

Did you know it costs us over $1,200 EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

to run our parish? That is over $2,000 for every stewardship unit

(single or family). Please consider increasing your stewardship

level to the Pacesetter level ($2,080 / $40 per week).

Page 6

Icon Screen Progressing

Even as we enjoy our summer vacations, the craftsmen of the world-renowned Kavroulakis Ecclesiastical wood carv-

ing studios in Chania, Crete are busy completing the artifacts that will soon grace the front of our beloved St Sophia

Church. The pictures illustrate the work in progress on our icon screen, altar, pulpit, bishop’s throne, altar cross and

chanter’s stand as of mid-July. All items are carved from the finest White Oak available that will stand the test of

time for many generations to come. Everything will be completed by the end of July and the finished artifacts will be

shipped from the Greek port of Piraeus on August 6. It will take about a month between transportation and U.S.

customs, so we hope to have delivery sometime in early to mid-September. Initially we will use temporary icons for

the icon screen but we are looking forward to our iconographer, Dr. George Kordis’ arrival later this fall to paint the

permanent original works of art that will grace the icon screen, pulpit and bishop’s throne. Many of these artifacts

and icons are still awaiting sponsorship as a lasting way of honoring or commemorating a loved one. As always, we

are grateful to all who continue to make the progress at St Sophia possible.

Page 7

Photos of

Holy Week/Pascha 2013

Page 8

Schedule of Upcoming Services

Thurs. Aug. 1st Dormition Fast Begins – Paraklesis to the Theotokos 7:00 pm

Mon. Aug. 5th Great Vespers 7:00 pm

Tues. Aug. 6th Holy Transfiguration – Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Wed. Aug. 7th Paraklesis to the Theotokos 7:00 pm

Fri. Aug. 9th Paraklesis to the Theotokos 10:00 am

Mon. Aug. 12th Paraklesis to the Theotokos 10:00 am

Wed. Aug. 14th Great Vespers 7:00 pm

Thurs. Aug. 15th Dormition of the Theotokos – Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Thurs. Aug. 29th Beheading of St. John the Baptist – Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

St. Sophia’s Dinner Dance

Saturday

September 28th

Hold the Date...

Page 9

From May 29th to June 2nd we welcomed our friends and neighbors to our 18th annual Spring Festival, featuring our ethnic Cultural foods, music and dances. This event embarks on the true nature of our community, involving the young and old, with all types of talents. Preparation starts as early as March and it involves our young at heart, the ladies of the Philoptochos, and our general parish community. These individuals endure many hours in the kitchen creating those decadent pastries – Koulourakia, Baklava, Galaktoboureko, and many more. All of these items are made from scratch, with recipes handed down from years past. Maria Hatzipavlides, heads this effort and she truly endures many pains, but finds comfort that we love her and trust her abilities to manage this. This year was especially tough and grueling, by having less hands helping in the kitchen with the prep work, we had to seek other means – our savior was our own Albert Garcia. He tirelessly pro-vided help and was Maria’s second hand. Without this huge effort of both Time and Talent, our products, quality and profit would we worth nothing. I hope everyone in our community realizes that baking our goods is a Hercule-an effort, placed on a small group of individuals. In the future I hope to see others with equal talent be able to help further our culture and pride in making these wonderful pastries. So as we can see, creating the pastries is just one area that comprises the Festival. Other time consuming efforts include the Big Tent, Kitchen, Vendors, Mykonos, and the general logistics of the event. I am proud to say that we are blessed to have so many people step up to help with these areas. I cannot thank everyone in this group because there are many with various talents. Some of the people include:

Kathy and Maria Tsipras – logistics of sign development, paperwork and ad books

Elaine Piligian – paperwork and religious store

Tom Novitski and Frieda Bell — welcome booth

Tom Cox – ad book

John Pogas – tent, marketing

Alex Nikas – parking, monies, propane

Angelo Bellos – provisioning, tent, Mykonos, many more items

Dean Laskaris – MC, and any help that is needed

Nick Tsouros – everything that is requested

John Solomon – our resident MASH unit cook

Socratis Tsipras – cooking in kitchen, second hand of John

George Evangelopoulos – our newest PC member and huge help in the kitchen

Christine Bailey – logistics and coordination of personnel

Carnation Karros – dance coordinator (with short notice)

All of our kids – pitching in wherever needed You can see that this list can go on for a while. I promise you I have missed people because I was late in creating this article, so this is not a complete list, but I can tell you that we are a community that involves themselves. If any-one has any better ideas on how to conduct this event, please do not hesitate to participate in the Festival meetings throughout the year. The success of this event was because of us, not anyone else, but us. We have made over $90,000 dollars and should be proud of what we have accomplished. All this hard work and effort provides the profits to allow us to ulti-mately pay the bills for the parish. This amount is ¼ of what is needed to support our budget for the parish, so your support of stewardship is needed to fill this gap. We should not rely on our events to provide the stop gap for run-ning our Parish. Please involve yourself, with your time, treasure and talent throughout the year. Our next Festival is in the Fall - Sept 5th to Sept 8th. Hope to see you there. Thanks, John Papadimitriou

Spring 2013 Grecian Festival Page 10

Please volunteer for our Fall Festival—September 5th - 8th

Page 11

St. Sophia’s Greek Dance Groups

St. Sophia’s new Greek Dance instructor, Carnation Karros, began teaching dance to the children of our parish this

past spring. There are about 30 participants in the junior and senior “Asteria” dance groups and they proudly repre-

sented the church during our Spring Festival. It was wonderful to watch the dance groups perform and also nice to

have so many people join in and dance the “Kalamatiano” with them. They did an amazing job and all their hard

work paid off.

Although learning the Greek dances requires a commitment to attend the practices regularly,

the children and teenagers also have fun learning and dancing together.

Throughout the summer, practices are held after liturgy each Sunday and last between 1 and 2

hours. Carnation has been teaching new dances to the groups to get them ready for our Fall

Festival. They are learning dances from the regions of Epirus, Macedonia, Pontos, and vari-

ous Islands of Greece.

Communications have been sent through email to encourage others to join the groups and

learn the Greek Dances. All JOY and GOYA age children of the parish are welcome! Please

Contact Carnation at falia@karrosfamily.com or 215.917.5014.

Page 12

St. Sophia’s Community Registry

(January through July 2013)

Baptized into Christ

February 17 Kristina, daughter of Elias Proios and Megan Pavlanszky.

Godparent: Veronia Macricostas.

April 14 Aidan Henry, son of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.

Godparent: Sofia Sprayberry.

April 14 Daphne Elizabeth, daughter of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.

Godparent: Flora Poloway.

April 14 Chelsea Marie, daughter of Sean and Scarlett McDermott.

Godparent: Maria Tsipras.

April 21 Kristen Elaine Shuler, husband of James Shuler.

Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.

April 21 Rebecca Elaine, daughter of James and Kristen Shuler.

Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.

April 21 Kevin Zachary, son of James and Kristen Shuler.

Godparent: Alice Laskaris Kotala.

Adult Chrismations

April 14 Scarlett Marie McDermott (Zoe).

Godparent: Elaine Piligian.

Marriages

June 15 Mark Toth and Aristea Evagelou.

Koumbaros: Spiridon Evagelou.

July 13 Ryan Nowlan and Lia Sandilos.

Koumbaros: Catherine Sandilos.

Coffee Hour Sponsors Needed!

We are in need of coffee hour sponsors for the upcoming weeks. If you are interested in host-

ing a coffee hour, please put your name on the list at the back of the hall or contact Elaine in

the Parish office.

Page 13

Much of church etiquette is based on common sense, showing respect for God and others. Always remember that we are in church

to worship God, the Holy Trinity. The priest says, “With the fear of God and faith and love, draw near.” Let this be the way we

approach all of worship. If we do, we will probably be observing appropriate church etiquette.

Church Attire

Women: Dresses should be modest. No tank tops or dresses with only straps at the shoulders, no short skirts (mini-skirts),

and no skin-tight dresses. Dresses should have backs and not be cut low in the front. If women wear pants to church, they

should be dress pants. Shorts of any type are not appropriate for church.

Men: Men should also dress modestly. While coat and tie are not mandatory, shirts should have collars and be buttoned —

two or three buttons undone is inappropriate. Slacks should be cleaned and pressed. Shorts are not appropriate church wear.

Entering the Church

The time to arrive at church is before the service starts. If you arrive after the Divine Liturgy begins, try to enter the church

quietly and observe what is happening. If the Epistle or Gospel is being read, then stop, stand still, and wait quietly until it is

finished. Then quickly find a seat. If the Small or Great Entrance is taking place, do the same. If the priest is giving the ser-

mon, stay in the back until he has concluded. Try not to interrupt the Liturgy with your entrance.

Lighting Candles

Lighting candles is an important part of Orthodox worship. We light them as we pray, making an offering to accompany our

prayers. Orthodox Christians typically light candles when coming into the church.

Venerating Icons

When we enter the church, it is traditional to venerate (kiss) the icons at the Narthex and the Solea. When approaching an

icon to venerate it, make the sign of the cross.

Lipstick

If you choose to wear lipstick to church, please blot your lips well before venerating an icon, before taking Communion, and

before kissing the cross or the priest’s or bishop’s hand. Even better, wait until after church to apply lipstick.

When to Make the Sign of the Cross:

1) Whenever one feel the need

2) Before and after any prayers

3) When one enters and leaves the Narthex and Nave

4) Before one kisses an Icon, Cross, or the Gospel Book

5) When one goes past the Altar

6) When one hears any of the following phrases or words::

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, Have Mercy on Us

The words Christ, Theotokos, Panayia or Virgin Mary

The Name of the Saint of the church

7) After the reading of the Epistle or Gospel

8) Near the end of the Creed at the phrase “In One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”

9) Before and after the Consecration during the Divine Liturgy (when the Priest says “Your Own of Your Own we offer

You, In every way and for every Thing.” This is the point when the Priest prays with the people for God to make the

Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

10) At the end of the Lord’s Prayer while the Priest says “For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

11) Before and after receiving Holy Communion

12) Before receiving Antidoron (The blessed bread at the end of the service).

Orthodox Church Etiquette

Page 14

Standing

When should we stand during the liturgy? Always stand during the Gospel reading, the Small and Great Entrances, the Anaphora

(prayer of the Eucharist), the distribution of Holy Communion, whenever the priest gives a blessing, and during the Dismissal. If,

for health reasons, you are unable to stand, then you may sit.

Crossing the Legs

In the Orthodox culture, crossing one’s legs is considered to be very disrespectful. Should we cross our legs in church? No.

When sitting in church, keep your feet on the floor.

Young Children

If a young child is disruptive, take him or her quickly and quietly out of church, just long enough to calm and sooth him/her.

Then return to Liturgy. Bring young children to church frequently!

Handling the Holy Bread (Antidoron)

After receiving Holy Communion and at the end of the Divine Liturgy, it is customary to receive a piece of holy bread or anti-

doron—the bread that was left over after Holy Communion was prepared. While antidoron is not Holy Communion, it is blessed

bread, and as such should be eaten carefully so that crumbs do not fall. Both adults and children should always remember to

treat and consume the antidoron with respect.

Leaving before Dismissal

Leaving church before dismissal deprives us of a blessing. Worship has a beginning “Blessed is the Kingdom…” and an end “Let

us depart in peace…” To leave before church is over is disrespectful.

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900 South Trooper Road

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

Phone: 610-650-8960

Fax: 610-650-8961

E-mail: stsophia@verizon.net

www.stsophiavf.org

St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church

REV. ECONOMOS PETER J. THORNBERG,

PROISTAMENOS

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