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3 THE SHEPHERD • OCTOBER 2026 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO DIVINE SERVICES What is prayer? Prayer is doxology, praise, thanksgiving, con- fession, supplication, and intercession to God. Or as St. Por- phyrios of Kavsokalyvia teaches: “Turn your mind towards the Lord continually. Learn to love prayer, converse with the Lord. What counts above all is love, passionate love for the Lord, for Christ the Bridegroom. Become worthy of Christ’s love. In order not to live in darkness, turn on the switch of prayer so that divine light may flood your soul. Christ will appear in the depths of your being. There, in the deepest and most inward part, is the Kingdom of God.” To assist with our prayer life and developing a habit of prayer, our Orthodox Christian Faith has comprised selections of morning and evening prayers, prayers to our most Holy The- otokos, the Saints, and our Guardian Angels. These prayers can be found in a variety of prayer books stocked in the bookstore. Please take a look for: My Orthodox Prayer Book, A Pocket Prayer Book, My Daily Orthodox Prayer Book, Or- thodox Christian Prayer Book (Full size or Travel edition), The Psalter, and When You Pray to name a few. There is also a selection for children too: I Pray Today, We Pray, A Child’s Guide to Prayer, Goodnight Jesus, Potamitis publication: My First Orthodox Prayer Book & My Little Prayer Book. May these traditional prayers help all of us Orthodox Chris- tians continue to grow in the life of prayer; hence growing closer to our Lord. Thank you to Mrs. Anastasia Kyriakidis for her generous donation to the Bookstore in memory of Marion Demos . May her dear memory be eternal! Happy Fall, many blessings, Stephanie Mourafetis, Mary Mastorakos, Francesca Captain, Hitomi Shue, and Kaylin Marino BOOKSTORE SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4: 2nd Sunday of Luke Orthros 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM Epistle : II Corinthians 9:6-11 Gospel : Luke 6:31-36 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11: Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council Orthros 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM Epistle : Titus 3:8-15 ✟ Gospel : Luke 8:5-15 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18: Apostle Luke the Evangelist Orthros 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM Epistle : Colossians 4:5-11, 14-18 ✟ Gospel : Luke 10:16-21 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25: 6th Sunday of Luke Orthros 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM Epistle : Galatians 2:16-20 ✟ Gospel : Luke 8:26-39 MONDAY, OCT. 26: St. Demetrios the Myrrh-Streamer Orthros 9:00 AM ✟ Divine Liturgy 10:00 AM Epistle : II Timothy 2:1-10 ✟ Gospel : John 15:17-27; 16:1-2 MEMORIALS SEP 20: Argiro Kouretas 6 months Haralambos Panayiotou 10 years SEP 27: Mary Ann Stylianides 40 days OCT 11: Fr. Michael Makridis 40 years Presv. Eve Makridis – Gamble 2 years OCT 18: John Demos 40 days Athanasios Nicolaou 31 years OCT 25: Kalliopi Christakos 6 months Sarantos Christakos 8 years DEATHS SEP 7: John Demos 95 years old Dear Friends of the Choir, October is here, and can you believe how quickly the year is flying by? We have officially entered the “ber” months, and before we know it, the holidays will be upon us once again! Where does the time go? Our choirs are already busy preparing for the beautiful music of the upcoming holiday season and, of course, our very special Centennial celebration in 2027. There is so much to look forward to! The first Sunday of October is a very special day for our music ministry as we celebrate National Church Music Sunday, established by the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians. On this day, we honor and recognize all those who dedicate their time and talents to the musical life of our Church—our adult choir, youth choir, chanters, clergy, and all who help lead us in prayer through music. Their dedication, countless hours of preparation, and love for our Faith help make our worship so meaningful. Please take a moment to thank our church musicians for all they do! Have you noticed our youth choir members singing alongside the adults on Sundays? If not, take a look up in the choir loft! These young voices bring so much joy and beauty to our music. It is wonderful to see them growing in their faith, learning our beautiful Orthodox hymns, and becoming part of our church’s musi- cal traditions. They are the future of our choir, and we couldn’t be proud- er of them. Thank you to our young singers and their families for their dedication and commitment! Our hearts and prayers go out to our dear Bill Demos, who recently lost his beautiful wife, Marion. Marion was a wonderful woman—spunky, funny, caring, and always full of life. Did you know that many years ago, Marion was also our church organ- ist? She shared her musical talents with our parish and was a special part of our church music family. Bill, please know that your choir family is here for you. We love you, and we pray that God grants you strength, NEWS LOFT FROM THE BAPTISMS SEP 5: Anastas Lamce Godfather: Lazi Danga SEP 12: Luna Aleesia Johnson Godfather: Daniel Berhe Godmother: Sewit Mengisteab WEDDINGS SEP 19: Yasmeen Wehbe & Chris Constantinou Koumbaros: Arjan Jooyan 40-DAY BLESSINGS SEP 18: Emmelia Alexandra Reizian Daughter of Alex Reizian and Helen Moreno continues 7 CHRISMATIONS AUG 9: Susan (Nonna) Ioannides Sponsor: Julie Karαgianides