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2 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2021 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO Christ Has Risen! By the time you’re reading this, we will be through Pascha. A er a long year of virtual worship, we are nally back in the Sanctuary and the regulations continue to loosen. We will hopefully soon be able to all gather together in the Sanctuary without limitations. On April 16th and 17th, Father Andrew, Spero Tzathas and I participated virtually in the Clergy-Laity Conference. is year’s theme was “Moving Beyond the Pandem- ic and Returning to Worship.” e message “ ere is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change.” – Saint Basil the Great. Rev. Father Barnabas Powell provided an upli ing presentation on how to re-engage in parish life. If you hav- en’t heard him, I encourage you to check out his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5ATE_4VhUGk. On May 23, 2021 , we will be holding a Spe- cial General Assembly Meeting to consid- er entering into a listing agreement with a commercial real estate company to solicit proposals for the potential sale and develop- ment of a “portion of the block” owned by the Church and the St. Spyridon Foundation. Last year, Marcus & Millichap approached the Parish Council about the possibility of listing a portion of the block for sale and de- velopment. ey have estimated that such a sale could generate somewhere between $18- 20 Million. e funds would allow us to pro- ceed with the Master Plan on the remainder of the block. e PC will be seeking approval from the Community to move forward with the listing. e action would only authorize the listing, and would not commit us to sell property. You will be receiving more infor- mation separately about the proposal and the Special General Assembly. I will leave you with some words from Fa- ther Barnabas about our response to this past year. “We each have a choice. Will we come through this historic time angry, bitter, faith- less and alone. Or will we rise to the moment and be Orthodox on purpose? Our children and their children stand at the edge of history looking at us to see how we choose!” Truly He is Risen! Jim Gilpin Parish Council President Yes, the storage dungeon is fewweeknights and aweeken adjacent to the Kitchen. Reno anddisposalofallcabinetsand walls were prepped and RFP open, and brighter room via u lighting, aswell as heavy duty have a few finishing touches t nextcoupleofweeks. Special thanks for theirhardwo somewell-deserved breaks) fo JimLeventis,CoreyLeventis, a request forall topleasemakea cleanandorganized,whilealso that youmay“forget”behind. Πιστεύουμε ότι θα σας αρέσε στην Κουζίνα. Όλη η ομάδα π διατηρήσουμε και μελλοντικά καθαριότητα αυτού τού χώρο μας! Regards, Vlassiand theTeam FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT WOMEN WORD OF THE Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! We hope that everyone had a most blessed and holy Pascha. We are done with our group study for this year. At the time of this writing, we are still discussing tentative plans for moving for- ward. With God’s help, we will resume our meetings in person in September. Normally, we take a break from Pascha to Labor Day, but we are still discussing the possibility of perhaps having some more infrequent meet- ings over the rest of Spring and Summer via Zoom just to stay in touch. For our last topic in April, we took a look at some of the notable women in the New Testament who followed and served Christ and the idea of diakonia , service and min- istry. We made note of Prophetess Anna , who prayed in the temple day and night and spoke to all about the Child, the redemp- tion of Jerusalem, and who was present at the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple along with St. Symeon (Luke 2:36-38); Mary who anointed Christ for burial (John 12:1-3) and Martha of Bethany, sisters of Lazarus; St. Veronica (meaning “true image”) who is the woman with the ow of blood and an exam- ple of how Christ went beyond the accepted norms of the time about “the untouchables;” Mary Magdalene , one of Christ’s most faith- ful followers and the rst to witness the Resurrected Christ and to declare His Res- urrection to the others; and the Samaritan woman at the well, St. Photini (meaning “the enlightened one”), a woman of mixed race, marginalized and discriminated against by the Jews with whom Christ had a long conversation in broad daylight (in fact, the longest recorded in the New Testament Jn 4:1-42). And though, as St. John writes: His disciples “were astonished that He was speak- ing with a woman”, perceiving her own re- ceptivity and knowing each of us even better than we know ourselves, Christ, in fact, took the conversation to a deeply spiritual level and spoke with her about “the living water” that He alone could give, and then later even revealed Himself to her as God where Holy Scripture says: “ e woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am He (ἐγώ εἰμί ego eimi) the one who is speaking to you.’” And it was this very same woman who af- ter her conversion and baptism at the rst Pentecost, became an evangelist for Christ in continues 3 GET IT FOR MOM Personal tutor, voice of reason, resident superhero – moms wear many hats. Spoil them with the gift of clean beauty. SHOP www.beautycounter.com/mariankhoury SUNDAY SCHOOL As our Sunday School year comes to a close on May 30th, we would like to thank all of our families for logging in and coming to Sunday School. We truly have been blessed by the participation of our youth in our Sunday School Program this year. A big thanks goes out toour Sunday School Teachers:Ms. iros, Ms. Tina, and Ms. Franceen. ey have gone above and beyond to bring Sunday School to our youth throughout this entire school year. Teaching Sunday School via Zoom has been a new adventure that our teachers embraced and kept our Sunday School youth connected, even from afar. ank you! Congratulations to Chrysanthe Frangos who was St. Spyridon’s Oratorical Festival winner! Her video submissionwill go to theMetropolis level competition next. We also want to honor our High School seniors who will be leaving us this year for bigger and brighter futures! We will be praying for you all!