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1 THE SHEPHERD • JANUARY 2020 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO The Shepherd I S S U E 2 8 4 • J A N UA R Y 2 0 2 0 The official newsletter publication for the parish of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church of San Diego FROM THE DESK OF FATHER ANDREW www.theshepherdnews.com The Shepherd Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE FR. ANDREW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 1 PRESIDENT OF THE PARISH COUNCIL, WOMEN OF THE WORD . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 2 DIVINE SERVICES, MEMORIALS, HOLY SACRAMENTS, NEWS FROM THE LOFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 3 GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL . . . . . . . p. 4 G.O.Y.A. NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5 PHILOPTOCHOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 6 HELLENIC FAIRWAYS GOLF CLASSIC, PANARCADIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8 A.H.E.P.A., HELLENIC CULTURAL SOCIETY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 9 PARISH CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 10 SENIORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 11 CONTACT INFORMATION. . . . . . . . . . . p. 12 My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, e Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has taken place. Christ is born, let us glorify Him. e next major feast day the Church, you and I, will celebrate is the Baptism of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We celebrate the Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist annually on January 6th. is profound event is called Holy Epiphany , which means manifestation or appearance (of God). On that blessed day God revealed Himself as a Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. From the Gos- pel of Matthew 3:13-17 and Luke 3:21;22, we are reminded of that reality. From those Gos- pels we hear the voice of the God the Father; God the Son is Baptized ; and God the Holy Spirit descends like a dove . Hence, the time of Christ’s Baptism is one event where the manifestation of God as a Trinity is revealed. An Epiphany took place that day as Jesus was publicly proclaimed as God the Son, the sec- ond person of the Holy Trinity. Saint Gregory of Nyssa reminds us Jesus en- ters the sinful waters of the world and when He comes out; He brings up or puri es the entire world with Him. In other words, He sancti ed the waters and puri ed them so that we could use them as a means toward our salvation. rough our Baptism(s) we are sancti ed, puri ed and set apart. Set apart for what? As Jesus began His earthly ministry a er His Baptism, likewise, we be- gin our spiritual journey and ministry a er our Baptism. Our Baptism marks us as Or- thodox Christians, and we become God’s own (special) people, zealous for good works (taken from the Epistle reading for the Feast of Epiphany: Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7). e above verse follows what I Peter 2:9; 10 has to say about what we become a er Baptism You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy na- tion, God’s own people, so that you may de- clare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, from Ro- mans 3:23 we are reminded …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In other words, at our Baptisms we were made clean but as time goes by our Baptismal garments may have become muddied . Epiphany is one of the many times that we as Orthodox Christians revisit our Baptisms . rough the drinking and sprinkling of the waters blessed through the services for the Blessing of the Waters (o ered on the day of Epiphany: Jan. 6th) we are given the opportunity to be made clean, to be puri ed, to be sancti ed and set apart, to restart our spiritual journeys, which may have been derailed for whatever reason and/or because of sin. is year January 6th falls on a Monday. Af- ter the celebration of the Divine Liturgy we will o er up our prayers and ask God to bless the waters . On that day, we will ask the same Holy Spirit that was present at Jesus’ baptism to be present with us. We will ask the same Holy Spirit to bless, purify and sanctify the waters so that the blessings of God may de- scend upon us. On that day we will pray that the water may become for us a gi of sancti - cation, and deliverance of sins, for the healing of soul and body, that it (the water) may be for the averting of every snare of the enemy, those seen and unseen; for those who draw of it and take it for the sancti cation of their homes, let us pray to the Lord. END NOTE: As a reminder, and as is cus- tomary to our ancient Orthodox Christian continues 8 2020