TSN0523

3 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2023 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO SUNDAY, MAY 7: Sunday of the Paralytic Orthros : 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy : 10:00 AM Epistle : Acts 9:32-42 ✟ Gospel : John 5:1-15 SUNDAY, MAY 14: Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Orthros : 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy : 10:00 AM Epistle : Acts 11:19-30 ✟ Gospel : John 4:5-42 SUNDAY, MAY 21: Sunday of the Blind Man Orthros : 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy : 10:00 AM Epistle : Acts 26:1, 12-20 ✟ Gospel : John 9:1-38 SUNDAY, MAY 28: Fathers of the First Council Orthros : 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy : 10:00 AM Epistle : Acts 20:16-18, 28-36 ✟ Gospel : John 17:1-13 DIVINE SERVICES MEMORIALS APR 2: Athanasios Poulos 57 years Elaine Poulos 33 years Dear Friends of the Choir, Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen!!! What a beautiful Lenten and Holy Week journey we had. We have so much to be thankful for. The choir keeps growing and that is the biggest blessing of all. Please welcome Linda Farrell to our group. We are so happy to have you with us. Come join us! Our youth choir has been preparing to sing for Divine Liturgy on May 21st. We hope that many of you will come to church to hear them and support them. They have been working hard!!! The choir wishes to say Happy Birth- day to Erika! Enjoy your day! The biggest Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there! No greater love than the love of a mother. God took the fragrance of a flower... The majesty of a tree... The gentleness of morning dew... The calm of a quiet sea... The beauty of the twilight hour... The soul of a starry night... The laughter of a rippling brook... The grace of a bird in flight... Then God fashioned from these things A creation like no other, And when his masterpiece was through He called it simply – Mother. – Herbert Farnham Katherine Loukatos Meck Choir Master NEWS LOFT FROM THE 40-DAY BLESSINGS MAR 26: Kalliope Daughter of Nicholas & Brianne Angelopoulos Dear Seniors, Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen! We hope you all had a beautiful and blessed Pascha. Please join us for our next gathering on Tuesday, May 9th at 11am. The luncheon will be gen- erously sponsored by Mr. Tasos and Mrs. Irene Ampelas. RSVP to Cyn- thia Samarkos at 619-582-4109 be- fore Sunday, May 7th so we can plan accordingly. We hope to see you all there! SENIORS 2 WOMEN OF THE WORD great choir that is the praying church, the royal priesthood, offering a daily and hourly "sacrifice of praise." Amen to taking on new understandings of the cross, the joy, to healing and re- pentance, to patience through faith in Christ, to the womanly work of fulfillment of the Incarnation, and to a deepened prayer life. With Love in our Risen Lord, +The Women of the Word Bible Study Christos Anesti! We hope that you all had a wonderful Lenten journey and a blessed Pascha celebration, the Feast of Feasts. Want to enhance your family’s celebration of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church? Take a look at this new book: Heaven Meets Earth: Celebrating Pascha and the Twelve Feasts. This beautifully designed book is written for all ages and illustrated with icons and more. The book brings the Twelve Great Feasts alive with hymns, traditions, Old and New Testament scriptures, explanations of the festal icon, and quotes from the Fathers. It is a great companion as we go through the liturgical calendar year. The Feasts determine not only our calendars and schedules but also the way we see and understand the world. We also stock The Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, an activity book for children. It contains colorful illustrations, pages of icons to color, crossword puzzles, ll in the blanks, multiple choice questions, and a page to read explaining the Feast, which are mostly suitable for ages 8-12. We hope to see you in the bookstore! Happy Spring! Stephanie Mourafetis, Mary Mastorakos, Pat Tsopanoglou, Collette Pepelis, and Francesca Captain BOOKSTORE In keeping with beloved tradition, a team of St. Spyridon faithful completed the dying of red eggs on Holy Thursday in the Church kitchen. The red dye symbolizes the blood Christ shed on the Cross, while the egg’s hard shell represents the sealed tomb of Jesus. The cracking of the egg is symbolic of His exit from the tomb and as an emblem of Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. The decorated Easter variations are globally recognized as a symbol of the most holy day on the Christian calendar.