logos mar logos...note from the church council president continued page 2 logos great lent begins...

reading, and evangelism. Some of the findings of growing Christian churches revealed that: Pastors are more conservative than con-gregants (opposite in declining churches). 93% of clergy believe that Jesus rose from the dead (56% in declining churches). 83% of lay people believe that Jesus rose from the dead (67% in declining churches). 46% of pastors believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life (0% in declining churches). 100% of clergy affirm the need to evan-gelize (50% in declining churches). 100% of clergy believe in miracles in response to prayers (44% in declining churches). * Above taken from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Saturday, December 10, 2016 (timesfreepress.com/life) Like most human beings, these growing churches are attracting those averse to unwarranted change: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and

Message from Father Stavros

Parish Council 2016

President - John Corum

Vice President - Bob Poulos

Secretary - Pedro Campa

Treasurer - Joey Berkley

Nick Harmon

Dr. Mike Mena

Alex Zotos

Inside this issue:

Father’s Message 1, 3 & 5

Note from Council President

1 & 2

Philoptochos News

2

Christmas Pageant Recap

4 & 8

Church Rummage Sale

5

Calendar 6 & 7

House Blessings 6

Pre-Sanctified Liturgy

7

Orthodox Com-munity Garden

8

Family Repentance and Confession

9

Announcements 9

Stewardship 10

Orthodox Charity 11

Christmas Pageant Pictures

11

Christ’s Advice on Secret Giving

12

ANNUNCIATION GREEK

ORTHODOX CHURCH OF

CHATTANOOGA

February/March 2017 Volume 1, Issue 5

Logos

DINOVITE !!! In a recent article in the “Faith & Fam-ily” section of the local Saturday news-paper, a research study was reported on. A sociologist and historian teamed up in Canada to find growing mainline churches by focusing on data from 2003-2013. They defined “growing” and “declining” as an average of two percent or more per year in either direction. The researchers asked four key Canadian denominations (Anglican, United Church, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lu-theran) to list their growing congrega-tions. They encountered a problem: “Few, if any … were actually growing … A few had experienced a little bit of growth in one or two years in the past, but for the most part, they were holding steady at best, or actually in steady de-clines.” The researchers then sought out growing churches in general and found to their amazement that growth was not pegged to adapting to social change but adher-ence to basic Christianity, prayer, Bible

2016. If the council can be of assistance in any way please feel free to call on us. Our stewardship goals are an important part for our church to meet our needs for improvement and general operation. Your support is greatly appreciated. We are in the initial stages of planning a “Greek for a Night” dinner and dance.

Note from the Church Council President First, I would like to thank the ladies of our Philoptochos for all their hard work and care for our community. They have tirelessly worked for our community and the charities they support. Please take a minute to thank all of them for their ef-forts. It is heartwarming to see how in-terested and supportive in their missions and our church. In addition, thank you for your generous donation to the church to assist in meeting our budget needs in

Continued on page 3

Continued on next page

Λόγος

Note from the Church Council President Continued

Page 2 Logos

Great Lent Begins Monday, February, 27

Currently,

repairs for the

stained glass

windows are

underway and

completion is

expected in

two to three

weeks.

the appearance of the church property. Our classrooms are in poor repair and upgrading this area is a key focus of the council and recommendations on ways to improve this area is welcomed. I will give you updates as we get closer to a strategy to make this happen. Currently, repairs for the stained glass windows are underway and completion is expected in two to three weeks. This was an important repair to protect these windows from further damage. Thank you and I look forward to a bright and prosperous New Year for our parish. Parish Council President - John Corum

The initial planned date will be May 6. In addition, we are looking at a poten-tial Greekfest in the fall. This would be a one-day event with meals and pastries. We will have a Greek band to entertain our guests. Beginning February 11th we will have a Community Workday to start the process of improving our church landscape. We will begin at 9:00 a.m. Everyone is invited to attend and assist in general cleanup and maintenance of the general grounds. Please bring your own tools, if you have them. We plan to work approximately 4 hours. Each month after the February date, we will be meeting on the second Saturday of each month. Please help us improve

Philoptochos News

rack in the hall. **Please note that dona-tions between now and the Rummage Sale, will go to the Rummage Sale** Some of our future fundraisers will be baking and pre-selling Tsoureki (Easter Bread) and a Bake Sale. There will be more to come on both of these events. We are in the process of creating a new cook book. We have received some reci-pes from several people. If you have them on a flash drive or just handwritten, please get them to Betsy Corum so we can create a new book. If you would like to be a part of this mis-sion focused group of women, come to our next Philoptochos meeting after the coffee hour on February 12th in the con-ference room (approx 12:15).

Philoptochos has been busy over the last few months. In December we rec-ognized new members at a Luncheon for the entire community. We are al-ways looking for women that want to be a part of our ministry. Our mission is “help the poor, the destitute, the hungry, the aged, the sick, the unem-ployed, the orphaned, the imprisoned, the widowed, those with disabilities and the victims of disasters” not only in our community, but nationally. We recently had some board member changes and welcome Jessica Bikas as Treasurer and Barbara Harmon as Re-cording Secretary. We have committed to continue our support of the Community Kitchen and donate most of the clothing there. They have the ability to ensure the clothing is distributed to those truly in need and trying to get back to a normal life. If you would like to contribute like-new, clean clothing, please leave it on the

Orthodoxy

has been

compared to

a three-legged

stool. The

three legs are

worship,

doctrine, and

morality. Take

any one of

the legs away

and the stool

falls over.

today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). They do not want to change with the times or be “tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), or to be associated with a church espousing no doctrine at all! Everyone seems to have something to say about the Bible. Many are less concerned with what the biblical authors intended and more driven to take Scripture out of context to support their own views. The Gospels are no longer according to the Evangel-ists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) but according to me, myself, and I. The Bible is a book that begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation. No one has the right to censor it or decide what it means to me. Creations and in-ventions of all kinds say something about its creators and inventors, they tell a story. Prose, poetry, music, art, to name but a few, are express images of the writers, poets, musicians, and artists; their work says something about them and what they believe and the convic-tions and values that define them. We can agree or disagree with them, accept or reject their views, but we have no right to tamper with their work or, pur-poses of this article, to change the Bible because modern man rejects doctrine. In our world today, the systematic re-duction and eventual elimination of doc-trinal teaching and dogmatic statements of the Judeo-Christian tradition as prom-ulgated in the Bible is, so we are told, a necessary component to peaceful coexis-tence on earth. This attack now occurs even from those liberal Christians for whom God’s unconditional love in Scripture is license to sin (i.e. no conse-quences). Children who were raised like this by their parents became ‘spoiled brats.’ The rest of us knew well that un-conditional love included unconditional

expectations to rules or face the consequences. The rules were an integral sign of our parents’ love. You could not separate the two without hurting the whole. This is why children who grow up without this oversight have more difficulties in life and blame their parents for it, while those raised with this oversight thank and honor their parents for it. This is a major reason why the family unit in particular and society in general is ‘messed up’ today. In light of the societal chaos we experience, the Canadian sociologist and historian cited above are finding that Christians and the unchurched (12% in their findings) are attracted to Christian assemblies that promote worship of God as understood in traditional Christian doctrines and practiced in a moral way of life. Orthodoxy has been compared to a three-legged stool. The three legs are worship, doctrine, and morality. Take any one of the legs away and the stool falls over. Without a commitment to worshiping God we end up worshiping something else (work, leisure, money, to name a few). Without doctrine, God has no identity and is however each of us perceives deity. Without morality, wor-ship and doctrine are irrelevant because true worship and true doctrine are vehi-cles by which we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit: “those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24). Immorality cuts us off from the Holy Spirit and renders true godly spiri-tuality impossible because the Holy Spirit, who alone sanctifies, will have nothing to do with the immoral save to turn them away from it and back to God.

Father’s Message Continued

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 5

Continued on page 5

Thank you to Theodora Rice and her hus-band, Tracy, for bringing Amon and Davey to rehearsals and for the incredible costumes of Saint Nicholas and Grandpa. Theodora handmade the hat and stole for Amon’s costume of Saint Nicholas and it turned out beautiful and I loved the sus-penders on Grandpa! I think it really added to the character. These boys had a lot of lines to memorize and I was so im-pressed with both their effort and spirit in playing these parts. This was their very first time performing anywhere and I am so proud of both of them for their hard work, dedication and bravery to conquer these big roles of Grandpa and Saint Nicholas! Bravo! Thank you to Yang Welch who brought Lydia, Jan-ye and Sam to rehearsals and the adorable pajamas and also for the deli-cious mussels she brought to the coffee hour. It really made the fellowship special and fancy. Thank you so much! Thank you to Tamara Taylor for bringing Lazar to rehearsals, for crocheting a new strap for Manny’s drum, bringing in a Christmas tree for the set, for helping out a great deal with the children and prepping the food during the everlasting Saturday rehearsal we had. Thanks for bringing your daughter, Juliana, to videotape. She is so warm and optimistic! Lazar, you did wonderful with your clear voice and com-manding character. Thank you for devot-ing so much work to this show. This is the second time Lazar has been our angel in a Christmas Pageant for this church. He did great the first time and for this one, too. Thank you for all your help and charm with the other children and keeping us moving along during rehearsals with help-ful hints and ideas. You are wonderful to work with and I hope we will get a chance to do it again. “Break a Leg” this year in your future productions! The Williams Family. Thank you so

By Kristina Pavelski Dear Parishioners and Families of Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Church, Christ is Born, Glorify Him! Thank you for allowing me to write and direct this year’s Sunday School Christ-mas Pageant. I wanted to take a moment and say how proud I am of every boy and girl who took part in this production! Get-ting up and performing in front of people takes a lot of guts and a lot of getting used to. You all did so well! I’m very proud of each and every one of you! And I am humbled and honored to have had the privilege of helping make this possible. Theatre is a great love of mine and to be able to do this was very special for me, so thank you to all the parents and supporters who put their love, trust and faith in me to do this. I have some thank yous… Thank you to Fannie Moore and her Mother for organizing the food for coffee hour and for bringing her children to re-hearsals. It was such a blessing to have John and Ellie perform in the play. They both are delightful children and they both did great! Thank you to Bob and Lara Poulos for finding the drum and bringing Manny and Max to rehearsals amid your busy sched-ule. Manny and his drum were fanstastic and added a real heartbeat to the show! Wonderful! Max, you had a very good performance for how little time we had to rehearse. Next year, I know you can do even better. Great costumes, Mom! Jisook Kim and Titus Albu, thank you for bringing Romi and Silvia to rehearsals Romi did a fabulous job. What a great speaking voice! “It’s Saint Nicholas It’s Saint Nicholas!” was as clear as a bell. I’m so glad your adorable children could be in it as well and thank you for the wrapped Christmas present props!

Christmas Pageant Recap

Lord have

Mercy upon

me.

Page 4 Logos

Saturday of Souls Orthos - 8:45am Liturgy - 10am Feb 18th - 1st Satur-day of Souls Feb 25th - 2nd Satur-day of Souls March 4th - 3rd Sat-urday of Souls

Continued on Page 8

“Sadly, increasingly,

the assault against

Christianity is

coming even from

Christians whose

Christianity is not

seated upon the

“three-legged

stool” of worship,

doctrine, and

morality, but upon

the ‘snow sled

saucer’ of societal

shift,

‘shooshing’ down

the hills and

contours of

generational

change …”


ing for volunteer Mothers or Teachers to help run this booth. Volunteers are needed for both inside and outside sales during the event; Men for outside furniture sales and Women for Church Hall, small item sales. Publicity volunteers to help post this event on facebook, community newspa-per calendars, Comcast’s community station, hang up flyers and post signs are needed. If you have any contacts or wish to help, please let Kristina Pavel-ski, Jessica Bikas or Joey Berkley know. This is not a Philoptochos event or a Parish Council event, but a Church-wide event. All of us should endeavor to par-ticipate and share our resources to make this event successful. Donation drop-off times and organizing are on Mondays between 5pm and 7pm & Saturdays between 2 and 4pm, before Vespers. Please come and help. Thank you for all your donations thus far that we have received!

Spring is coming and this year we are starting fresh with a Church-wide Rum-mage Sale and Sunday School Bake Sale on March 11th from 9am to 1pm. If you have anything that you wish to donate to the poor or any donation cen-ters, consider bringing it with you to church and donating items for our Rum-mage Sale. This fundraiser is not about trying to squeeze as much cash as we can out of every item but more to benefit the poor and needy in our community and free up space in our storage area. We are in need of bookshelves, not just for the church library, but also for help-ing to organize donations. Hangers, clothing racks, strait pins and plastic bins would also be of great value to helping organize. We will not be doing the Community Yard Sale at the same time, but instead raising money for Sunday School with a simple bake sale. Please consider donat-ing a tray of baked goods. We are look-

Church Rummage Sale

traditional Christian churches rooted in specific time-honored beliefs and the decline of those who have abandoned this stability for an in flux social gospel because for them doctrinal teachings and dogmatic statements are divisive, or, you could say, doctrine and dogma are food ‘for the dogs.’ DINOVITE !!!

Self-gratification is the mother of im-morality and takes root when we turn a blind eye to the truth (Rom. 1:18-25). In the end, according to Scripture, God’s only choice is to give us up to the base things we crave (Rom. 1:26-32). Sadly, increasingly, the assault against Christianity is coming even from Chris-tians whose Christianity is not seated upon the “three-legged stool” of wor-ship, doctrine, and morality, but upon the ‘snow sled saucer’ of societal shift, ‘shooshing’ down the hills and contours of generational change that equate tradi-tional Christian doctrine with exclusiv-ism, bigotry and hatred, but its rejection as love and compassion. The conse-quence of it all, if the researchers are correct, is the increasing attraction of

Father’s Message Continued

Schedule of Events

1 Feb, Great Vespers Presentation of the Lord

2 Feb, Orthros 8:45 Liturgy 10 Presenta-tion ...

5 Feb, Triodion begins (Publican & Pharisee)

6-11 Feb - Fast Free week

10 Feb, Orthros 8:45 Liturgy 10 for St. Hara-lambos

12 Feb, Prodigal Son

18 Feb,1st Saturday of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

19 Feb, Meatfare Sunday

23 Feb, Orthros 8:45/Liturgy 10 St. Polycarp

25 Feb, 2nd Saturday of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

26 Feb, Cheesefare (Forgiveness Sunday) Philoptochos Luncheon

26 Feb, 4 pm Vespers of Forgiveness

27 Feb, Great Lent begins Great Compline 11am (meal to follow)

with prayer and the sprinkling of holy water. The priest, at this annual visit, asks God to have mercy and upon all who dwell in it, and on the house, to rid it of every evil and to fill it with every blessing. Everyone in the house pray and sing the hymn of salvation and process from room to room while the priest blesses the house. If you would like to schedule a House Blessing this year, please contact the Church Office at 423-629-4881 before Lent begins, if possible.

Blessing homes of Orthodox Christians is done each year on or after the feast of Theophany (Jan 6.) This act is the central sign of God's sanctifica-tion of all things through the river Jor-dan and his epiphany to the world. The family is considered, by the Ortho-dox faith, to be a small church. The family table is the home altar where the members gather each day to receive their daily bread from God with thanks-giving in the name of Christ. The sanc-tification of the home takes place

House Blessings

Page 6 Logos

February 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1Great Ves-pers 6pm

2 3 4Rummage Sale Meeting 2– 4pm

5Triodion Begins

6Rummage Sale Meeting 5 - 7pm

7 8 9 10 11Church Clean-up Day 9 -12pm Rummage Sale 2 - 4pm

12Prodigal Son

13Rummage Sale Meet-ing 5 - 7pm

14 15 16 17 181st Satur-day of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10) Garden Club 12 - 2pm

19Meatfare Sunday

20Rummage Sale Meet-ing 5 - 7pm

21 22 23Orthros 8:45/Liturgy 10 St. Poly-carp

24 252nd Satur-day of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)Rummage 2– 4pm

26Cheesefare Sunday Vespers of Forgiveness 4pm

27Great Lent Begins. Great Com-pline 11am

28

Forgiveness Sunday Vespers of Forgiveness Feb. 26th, 4pm

Schedule of Events

1 Mar, Presanctified 6; lenten meal/discussion 7:30-8:30

3 Mar, 1st Salutations 7pm

4 Mar, 3rd Saturday of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

5 Mar, Sunday of Orthodoxy

6 Mar, Great Compline 6pm


10 Mar, 2nd Salutations 7pm



17 Mar, 3rd Salutations 7pm

19 Mar, Sunday of the Elevation of the Cross


22 Mar, Presanctified liturgy 6pm; lenten meal/discussion 7:30-8:30

24 Mar, Great Vespers Annuncia-tion Feast 7 pm

25 Mar, Annunciation (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

26, Mar, Fish Luncheon for the Feast Day of our Church


29 Mar, Presanctified Liturgy 6pm; lenten meal/discussion 7:30-8:30

31 Mar, Akathist Hymn 7pm

days will have a Pre-Sanctified Liturgy Service at 6pm with a pot-luck Lenten meal and Bible Study with Father Stav-ros after in the Church Hall. This being a weekday service, it may be a good opportunity to reach out to those who may be curious about Orthodoxy. Invite your friend or neighbor to come to service with you. Stay for the Lenten Meal and Bible discussion where any-one may ask questions to deepen their understanding of Faith.

Pre-Sanctified Liturgy


March 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1Presanctified Liturgy 6pm; lenten meal/discussion 7:30-8:30

2 3 1st Salutations 7pm

43rd Saturday of Souls (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

5Sunday of Orthodoxy (children, bring your Icon)

6Great Compline 6pm

7 8Presanctified Liturgy 6pm; lenten meal/discussion 7:30-8:30

9 10 2nd Salutations 7pm

11Church-Wide Rum-mage Sale!

12 13Great Compline 6pm


16 173rd Salutations 7pm

18

19Sunday of the Eleva-tion of the Cross

20Great Compline 6pm


23 24Great Vespers Annuncia-tion Feast 7pm

25 Annunciation (orthros 8:45/liturgy 10)

26Fish Luncheon for the Feast Day of our Church

27Great Compline 6pm


30 31Akathist Hymn 7pm

Sunday of Orthodoxy March 5th Children, bring your Icon!

In this service, as in the Divine Liturgy, the faithful partake of the holy gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Lit-urgy of the Presanctified differs from the Divine Liturgy in that the holy gifts are consecrated at a prior Divine Lit-urgy, normally the previous Sunday; hence they are called “presanctified.” The service, which is sometimes called the “presanctified liturgy,” is served during Great Lent, typically on Wednesdays and Fridays. As we deepen into Lent in March, Wednes-

much to Mila and Robert for their help with the music in the production and all their ideas and suggestions. Thank you also for bringing your beautiful daughter, Juliana, to rehearsals. This is also my 2nd opportunity to work with Juliana as an angel in our Christmas Pageants. She is such a sweetheart and sang beautifully and devoted a lot of energy on learning her lines. Thank you, my Angel! You are a joy to work with! I also hope we get to work together again. Thank you to Susan and John Awad for bringing Hallie to rehearsal and also work-ing with her at home to learn all her lines. She did a fabulous job as our hip Grandma! Adorable! Thanks also for all the little things you did from bringing candy canes and chocolate coins to writing the carols out for the children during re-hearsal. Every little bit helped, so thank you! Thank you so much to Jessica Bikas who was this year’s set designer. What a beau-tiful set it was, with a crackling fireplace and window looking out at the night sky. You took my ideas, ran with them and came up with a home-run! Thank you for all your support, ideas and extra help with setting up and cleaning up our hosted cof-

fee hour, too. You are a big help! Bless you! I’d like to thank Maria Justice and Father Stavros for giving me this opportunity to direct. All your encouragement and kind words also helped make this happen. I pray you both have a healthy and happy 2017. Also… I’d like to thank my family. Thank you to my husband, Anthony, who has been my biggest cheerleader and fan. To my daughters, Alice, Zelda and Rose, thank you for being a constant inspiration and ready for any challenge. Alice, you did great sweetie! You sparkled on stage with your clear voice and joyful spirit! Zelda, you captured what the Christmas Pageant is really about; having fun. Going out there and enjoying the moment made the play perfect. (And baby Rose, thank you for not squirming too much while I was trying to direct!) I would also like to thank all of you in the audience for your patience and support. Thank you to all the parents of Sunday School. The memories and fellowship that we enjoyed together are priceless. I hope for more in the future. Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas Pageant Recap Continued

Thank you

to all the

parents of

Sunday

School. The

memories

and

fellowship

that we

enjoyed

together are

priceless.

Page 8 Logos

Prodigal Son Sunday, February 12th

We will be growing an assortment of Greek herbs and vegetables and also help beautify the church grounds with flowers. The garden group will also offer organic farming classes for the children through-out the growing season. This will be a long term project; any help such weed-ing, planting and watering will be wel-come. So if you have a green thumb or hope to, contact Anthony at [email protected] or call 703-935-6789.

Orthodox Community Garden Our church will be sponsoring a commu-nity garden on the Church Grounds next

to the Fellowship Hall. Any-one wishing to participate contact Anthony Pavelski. The first outdoor meeting will be held Saturday, Feb-ruary 18th, 12 - 2pm. Do-nations of Gardening equip-ment, materials such as lum-ber for grow boxing, peat moss, manure, fertilizer will be appreciated.

After confession, have a 'Prodigal's Re-turn' celebration as a family. If you can, light a fire in the fireplace and have eve-ryone carefully put their envelopes in the fire. A good habit to begin is asking forgive-ness from family members Saturday evening or on Sunday morning before attending liturgy. It is a beautiful way to start the morning and it sets a good ex-ample for them seeking forgiveness from each other. Lent is a good time to schedule a confes-sion to cleanse ourselves of sin. Please contact Father Stavros at 423-316-3681 if you would like to set a time for con-fession or to discuss binging your child(ren) to start the sacrament of Confes-sion. (excerpts taken from www.lent.goarch.org) PRAYER OF REPENTANCE O Lord my God, I confess that I have sinned against You in thought, word and deed. I have also omitted to do what Your holy law requires of me. But now with repentance and contrition I turn again to Your love and mercy. I entreat You to forgive me all my trans-gression and to cleanse me from all my sins. Lord, fill my heart with the light of Your truth. Strengthen my will by Your grace. Teach me both to desire and to do only what pleases You. Amen.

Birthdays in Feb/March

Samuel Paul Welch (2/17) Ana Maria Alexandris (2/18) Sophia Zotos (2/20) Amon Rice (3/4) Manny Poulos (3/25)

Family Repentance and Confession

Announcements

Lord,

fill my

heart with

the light

of Your

truth.

Strengthen

my will

by Your

grace.


Confession is often the most neglected sacrament of our church. As all the sac-raments, it has been given to us to aid us toward Salvation. Helping your child(ren) learn about confession is vital to their growth as Christians. Below are some things you can be doing as a fam-ily to help your child(ren) prepare for Confession and understand the impor-tance of seeking forgiveness.

Read through the Ten Commandments as a family. One by one, brainstorm the different things that fall under each com-mandment. Have a quiet (alone with God) time after this activity. Give every-one a piece of paper, a pen (for really young children give them crayons to draw) and an envelope. Have everyone write out their sins and seal them in the envelope. Schedule a time for everyone to go to confession with their envelopes.

If you are interested in advertising your business in the Newsletter, please see Joey Berkley. Prices are very reasonable, starting at $10 for a business cards size ad. Thank you.

George & Lana Alexandris George Andrews Tom & Sandy Allen Fr. Stavros & Pres. Thea Ballas Joey & Katy Berkley Jim & Sue Berros Tom & Laura Bundros Pete & Carol Caldwell Dr. Pedro Campa John & Betsy Corum David Crisman Dennis & Barbara Dimopoulos George & Brigitte Dimopoulos Melony Dunsmore Wayne & Yolanda Etherton George & Anna Evangelou Nicky & Lilly Fotiadis Ann Fox John & Jane Gaitanoglou Anastasia Gulas Nicholas & Barbara Harmon Christina, Maria & Joseph Justice Alex & Cheryl Kosmidis George Kouris Mike & Jana Machaskee Austin Martin Mick & Lynn Mastilovic Dr. Mike Mena John & Donna Mousourakis Katherine Pagnani Anthony & Kristina Pavelski Theodora Sayne Joe & Jillian Simpson John & Janice Tolbert Eugenia Tsiboukas Lena Tzavaras Andre & Anita Varava John & Charlotte Vlasis David & Yang Welch 39 Stewards as of January 24 God bless you all !!

Thank you very much to those who have responded to our request to send in your stewardship cards as a sign of your commitment to Christ and His church here in Chattanooga for 2017!

In the Old Testament Law, the people of God were depended upon for the upkeep of the worship setting and life of the people. Without the support of you the people, these necessities could not be maintained. We pray that all of us see the bigger picture of what Christ is doing, even in spite of us sometimes, and support Him in the context of his church here in Chatta-nooga. To those of you who have not as yet sent in your cards, please do so. Commit also to worship as often as possible and to offer your time and talents for the betterment of this your community. Also, thank you very much to those who contributed to the Friends of the Metropolis in 2016. It is my prayer that you will find it in your hearts to support this stewardship ministry as well, however much you may contrib-ute - no amount is too small. His Emi-nence has no one to look to but his parishes. Please attend to it now so it is out of the way. God bless you and your families with good health and every good thing! Please remember that Stewardship giv-ing is the obligation of every baptized and/or chrismated Orthodox Christian. All other opportunities for giving are extra. It is not right for a handful to meet the budgetary needs of the parish while others approach the church on a needs only basis. If you will call upon your church for anything (baptisms, weddings, funerals, blessings, hospital visitations, etcetera) then we should all be sharing annually the financial bur-den in as much as we are able. As Saint Paul reminds us, if our church provides for our spiritual needs, is too much to expect some material benefits from us as well? (1 Corinthians 9:11)

Stewardship Ministry

You did not

chose Me, but I

chose you and

appointed you,

that you

should go and

you should

bear fruit, and

your fruit

should remain,

so that

whatever you

might ask the

Father in My

name, He may

give you.

Page 10 Logos

“I am the Vine and you are the Branches.”

Christmas Pageant Pictures

Orthodox Christian charity is a true blessing for our souls, both in giving and receiving. It is special due to the strict code many Orthodox share when giving, which is done in secret or privately. Here are some guidelines that many Or-thodox follow. #1 - When offering charity to a family or individual, ask them privately first if they will accept your donation. Do not assume they want your charity. #2 - When giving your donation, also do it privately. Do not give charity in front of others not associated with the donation to avoid humiliation of the ones your are helping or to virtue signal your charity to others. #3 - When accepting charity or thanking

others for their donation, also, please do this privately. These simple guidelines are to guard us against the sin of vainglory, which is an earthly treasure. We Orthodox strive to build our treasure in Heaven among our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. These actions do not need to be broad-cast on facebook or in the newspaper. It is between you, the ones in need and God. God will know of your charity and that is who we must strive to please, our heavenly Father. May we all strive to please God and build those lasting relationships with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Orthodox Charity Lord

Jesus

Christ,

Son of

God,

Have

Mercy

on me,

a

sinner.


722 Glenwood Drive Chattanooga, TN 37404

Office: 423-629-4881 Church Hall: 423-629-2364

ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX

CHURCH OF CHATTANOOGA

“Do not lay up for yourselves treas-ures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Fa-ther who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:1-4)

Christ’s Advice on Secret Giving

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