April 2018 Page

Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral

V. Rev. Fr. John S. Bakas

Dean

Fr. Christopher Kolentsas

Assistant Priest

Tel. 323-737-2424

www.stsophia.org

HERALD APRIL 2018

The Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio

1603 –1604, Oil on Canvas, 300 cm x 203 cm

Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

Dean’s Message 2

President’s

Message 3

Stewardship 4

Philoptochos News 5

Philoptochos VIP 5

Ministries List 12

Sacraments/

Memorials 13

Feast Day Article 17, 18

Orthodox Calendar 19

April 2018 Page 2

THE DEAN’S MESSAGE

….AND HE GAVE

CHRISTOS ANESTI!

The Paschal Canon in the form of the ecclesiastical poetry, of

St. John of Damascus, 8th century Saint, beckons us to:

“Come, let us partake of a new drink: not one miraculously

brought forth from barren rock, but a spring of immortality,

welling up from Christ’s tomb, from which we draw strength”.

The glory of Easter is not just exquisite and saintly poetry but

the truth and reality the God gave his only begotten son, so

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have life

everlasting. The reality is in one word. GAVE. The entire

canon of the New Testament can be defined in the same

word. GAVE. Through His death, He GAVE us immortality by

eliminating death. Through the glorious light of His

resurrection, He wiped out the permanent darkness of sin and

hopelessness. He GAVE us to partake of the new wine of

Himself from which we draw strength. One can compose a

dictionary full of the “GAVES” of our Lord Jesus Christ. He

not only GAVE but GIVES constantly of the new drink from

which we draw strength. He GIVES us Himself in the tangible

presence of His Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Our

Orthodox Faith is the living and giving reality of the Risen

Christ.

Giving is commemorated in every Liturgy in the form of the

Holy Gifts of our Eucharist or Holy Communion. Givers are

also remembered in prayerful petitions: “Further we pray for

those who bear offerings, those who do good works in this

holy and venerable church…” And that is why during this

Bright Season, I remind you of the blessed power of GIVING.

Our Saint Sophia Cathedral is in the fourth month of 2018

Stewardship Pledge Drive. If you have not made your pledge

to our Cathedral Ministry, please do so by asking for a pledge

card from our office staff or picking up the card in the Narthex

when you come to worship. If you’ve already made a pledge,

we prayerfully hope that it will be fulfilled. If you are moved to

increase the amount of what you have given in the past,

please respond in the manner that gratifies your own soul and

honors the master giver our Lord Jesus Christ.

In every way, our Cathedral community is experiencing a

“new and Holy Passover; a Pascha that has opened to us the

gates of paradise; a Pascha sanctifying all believers.”

This Paschal renewal is not only spiritual. Indeed, Christ

came to redeem all of creation. We see the renewal in our

surrounding neighborhood. With Saint Sophia leading the

way, crime has decreased significantly, buildings painted and

refurbished, streets cleaned and remodeled, lighting improved

and the general economic climate enhanced by increased

business opportunities. Is this something the church should

be doing? Of course it is. Pico and Normandie is where God

planted His Cathedral. Let us be His GIVING instrument of

personal and community-wide redemption.

May the life-giving power of Easter bless you and your family,

for Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death,

and bestowing life on those in the graves. And again,

Christos Anesti!

In Christ,

V. Rev. Fr. John S. Bakas, Dean

April 2018 Page 3

PARISH COUNCIL MESSAGE

EASTER SEASON

Brightly colored Easter eggs sitting in a basket. Greetings

cards with sweet-looking lambs. The smell of mother’s Easter

bread filling the house. As heartwarming as these images are,

we all know that Easter, Pascha, is so much more. It is the

day that we most look forward to in the Orthodox faith. It is the

day when we deeply bow our heads in love and deference to

our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the day we ask for our trespasses

to be forgiven as we, ourselves, forgive others.

Before Jesus made the journey to take His seat next to the

Father, He appeared before the disciples one last time. The

devoted voices asked how they should pray once he was no

longer physically amongst them. The prayer that Jesus gave

is the prayer we say today, Our Lord’s Prayer. What a perfect

prayer it is indeed.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name;

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in

heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses.

As we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever.

Amen.

It is a perfect prayer because it calls out reverence and thanks

to our Lord. It is a perfect prayer because it asks for the

sustenance and blessing of each day. It is a perfect prayer

because it reminds us of our humility as we ask for

forgiveness. It is a perfect prayer because it asks for

protection and for help to be a better person.

Every day I say this prayer because I know that life just works

so much better when I surrender to the Lord’s guidance

instead of going it alone. I think all who are strong in faith

believe this as well. We share this and feel this as a

community each Sunday. It connects us, recharges us, and

brings us back again the next Sunday and the Sunday after

that.

Christ is in our midst; He is and always shall be.

May the blessings of this Easter season bring you great joy,

love, and hope.

Agape,

Maria Baltazzi

Parish Council President

The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and

glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk

uprightly.

~Psalm 84: 11 (NKJV)

April 2018 Page 4

STEWARDSHIP FAMILIES UP TO MARCH 20, 2018

* Life Members Endowment Fund +Blessed Memory

Believe and Belong through Christian Stewardship

When making out your will, please include our Saint Sophia Cathedral in you estate and financial planning

$4,000 To $5,999

Haidos, Mr. & Mrs. Alek

*Ambatielos, Mr. & Mrs. Evangelos

$2,000 To $3,999

Balamaci, Mr. Thomas & Wildnauer, Mr. Patrick

*Defterios, Mrs. Georgia

Settelmayer, Mr. & Mrs. Daniel

Wellington, Ms. Dinah

Zanetos, Mr. & Mrs. Dean

Zarocostas, Mr. Peter

$1,000 To $1,999

Anonymous (3)

Berk, Mrs. Hope

Chrys, Mrs. Annie

Eliopulos, Ms. Georgia

Hondas, Ms. Alida

Jordan, Ms. Olga

Karavas, Mr. & Mrs. Dan

*Kountouris Mickelopoulos, Ms. Ruth

Manolelis, Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas

Patzakis-Prappas, Ms. Michele

Suchy, Prof. Gregoria Karides

Venetos, Mr. & Mrs. Paul

Waldron, Mr. & Mrs. William

$650 To $999

Anderson, Mr. & Mrs. Perrin

Anonymous (3)

Aronis, Mr. & Mrs. Vas

Defterios, Mr. & Mrs. Christo

Deryiades, Ms. Vickie

Eagar, Mr. & Mrs. Robert

Houndalas, Mr. & Mrs. Dimitrios

James, Mr. & Mrs. Nicolas

Kourafas, Ms. Alexandra

Kousoulas, Mr. & Mrs. Gus

Pieptea, Ms. Laura

Smith, Mr. Kenyatta

OTHER

Doukas, Ms. Stavroula

Mitropetros, Mr. & Mrs. Constantine

Pappas, Mr. James

Pilichos, Mrs. Efrossini

Russos, Mr. Emmanuel

Russos, Mrs. Asimina

April 2018 Page 5

PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS

January 2019 ~ DEBUTANTE BALL

Plans are underway for the SAINT SOPHIA PHILOPTOHOS DEBUTANTE PRESENTATION BALL to be held on Sunday,

January 20, 2019 at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Interested young ladies who will be high school juniors (aged 16)

and older should contact the Presentation Ball Chair, Georgia Kezios (562)822-2229. An informational meeting will be held

at the Saint Sophia Cathedral Huffington Center on Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 12:30 p.m.

EASTER FLOWERS ~FOR THE CONVALESCENT AND HOME-BOUND

If you have recently submitted a name of someone who is convalescing or homebound and you are planning to make a visit,

please stop by the Philoptochos table to pick up the Easter flower on Palm Sunday, April 1st. I am sure the visit will be much

appreciated. To submit names, please contact Mary-Kay Demetriou

marykaydem@gmail.com

GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING DATES – (Sundays)

April 29th (date change*), May 20

th

ADDRESS NOTICE: In order for Philoptochos to be efficient and cost productive, we are working hard to keep a good address

and email list. If you have moved or changed your mailing address, please send us your corrections. Also, if you do not

receive mail and/or invitations, but would like to, please send us your mailing and email addresses to Maria Toczek at

mttoczek@gmail.com

PHILOPTOCHOS VIP

I would like to wish all of you a Kalo Pascha, Kali Anastasi, Happy Easter!

Sorry that we had to cancel our trip to the World Famous Garden due to weather conditions. I am hopeful that we can

reschedule for a later time.

Hope to see all of you in church during Holy Week and at our Easter picnic on Easter Sunday. Let’s all celebrate the

Resurrection of our Lord together.

Our next events:

Monday, April 23, we will be going to St. George church in Downey for the St. George Feast Day Service. We will participate in

the Liturgy and then we can enjoy a nice fellowship luncheon. If we have a large amount of people we can use a bus

transportation. Otherwise, you will provide your own transportation or schedule a carpool with others. Mary Kezios is making

arrangements with the church. For reservations call Angela Ananias at 562-695-7234.

May’s event is always our famous Senior Citizen of the year luncheon. It is on Thursday, May 24, 2018. This year we’ve elected

the very nice couple of Mr. & Mrs. Gianoulis. I hope to see you all at the celebration. Donation is $25.00. Chair person is Vivi

Demopoulos, co-chair is Mary Gallanis and Mersy Loukaris for reservations. Please call Mersy at 323-661-1592.

As you can see, your board has been busy trying to plan activities for your enjoyment. If you have any event ideas that you

would like to chare, please let anyone from the board know.

Reminder to send in your membership dues as soon as you can. Information was sent to everyone at the beginning of January

in a letter. If you did not receive it just let one of the board members know.

Thank you for participating in the events and try to make your reservations as early as possible.

In His service,

Angela Ananias

President

April 2018 Page 6

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Your stewardship number is forever

However, we need you to fill a pledge card

EVERY YEAR

Dear Parishioners,

In January we mailed out our 2018 Stewardship Commitment Cards also known as Pledge Cards. We understand that your

days can be busy but we kindly ask you to please take the time to fill one out. You also have the option to pledge online on our

website. We want to clarify that it is necessary that you fill out a pledge card every year even if you have filled one out for

previous years. Many of you have been very generous with your donations but have not continued to submit your Stewardship

Commitment Card on a yearly basis. We count on your “pledged” dollar amounts as a way to budget what we need to run this

amazing Cathedral and it’s ministries. Thank you all greatly in advance for your financial commitment to our dear St. Sophia

Cathedral.

If you have questions, please feel free to call the Cathedral office or reach out to a Parish Council member.

Phone: 323.737.2424, www.stsophia.org

SAINT SOPHIA CATHEDRAL

STEWARDSHIP

BELIEVE, BELONG, BELOVED

April 2018 Page 11

THE PICKER’S BRIGADE

For over two decades, Fr. John S. Bakas has walked the city streets surrounding St. Sophia Cathedral with a trash picker in

one hand and a trash bag in the other. He has picked up items as small as gum wrappers to as large as living room sofas.

Over the past twenty years Fr. John has taken the time to involve his assistant priests in the effort to clean our neighborhood,

the Byzantine Latino Quarter. Handfuls of priests have left this Cathedral to serve in other communities, and they all have

greatly benefited from serving our neighborhood community.

At this time, we the clergy of St. Sophia Cathedral are calling upon each and every abled bodied parishioner of St. Sophia

Cathedral to assist us with cleaning our city streets. We ask that you please consider joining the team that has been

affectionately named “The Picker’s Brigade.”

We will be meeting as a team on the third Sunday of every month after coffee hour. Our first street cleanup will take place on

Sunday March 18, 2018. Aprons, rubber gloves, trach bags and pickers will be provided.

“Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.” (Proverbs 16:3)

April 2018 Page 12

MINISTRIES

Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral

Very Reverend Father John S. Bakas, Dean Chris Kolentsas, Assistant Priest

Jim Kollias, Choir Director Mario Lazaridis , Protopsaltis Michael Kontaxis, Assistant Psaltis

Christopher Yokas, Organist James Karatsikis, Sexton

ADMINISTRATIVE AND CUSTODIAL STAFF

John Kopatsis, Executive Director

Jessica Benitez, Admin. Assist. , Angela Kim, Accountant

Oscar Castro, Mauricio Mira, Alejandra Villasenor, Devin Smith

Staff

PHILOPTOCHOS SOCIETY

Executive Officers

Judith Christopoulos, President

Christina Peratsakis, 1st VP

Jan Pastras, 2nd VP

Virginia Noyes, Recording Secretary

Mary Tassop, Corresponding Secretary

Mary Gallanis, Treasurer

Connie Cooper, Assistant Treasurer

Members

Dorothea Ales, Anna Aronis, Mary-Kay Demetriou, Dina

Demetrius, Alexia Itzigsohn, Olga Jordan, Constance

Manders, Sophie Mastor, Marianna Politis, Jayne Poullos,

Patricia Skeriotis, Allison Stavaridis

FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Executive Officers

George E. Preonas, President

Dr. James A. Demetriou, Vice President & C.F.O.

Gig Kyriacou, Vice President

Constantine M. Boukidis, Secretary

Tina Callas, Treasurer

Members

V. Rev. Fr. John S. Bakas, Maria Baltazzi, Timi Loomos

Freshman, Steve Hanna, Diane Sakellaris Lapa, Tony Natsis,

John Peterson, Jean Paul Wardy, Jim Zaferis

Presidential Appointments

Nicholas Manolelis, Associate

Trustees Emeritus

Nicholas Bissias, Andrew Evangelatos, John T. Pappas,

Alek Haidos

PARISH COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Officers

Maria Baltazzi, President

Glenn Lianos, 1st Vice President

Peter Cosfol, 2nd Vice President

Angela Ananias, Treasurer

Bertha Angels, Recording Secretary

Dinah Wellington, Corresponding Secretary

Members

Bill Striglos; Costa Bargeliotes; Daniel Settelmayer;

Dean Peratsakis, Jeanine Hanna; Paris Yatskar;

Tonifaye Palomares

Auditing Committee

James Boltinghouse, Anthony Demetriou,

Phillip Ruhl, Pete J. Cazacus

ALTAR BOYS

Chris Halekakis

BASKETBALL

Gig Kyriacou & Paul Cooper

BIBLE STUDY

Very Rev. Father John Bakas

BOOK STORE

William Striglos

CHILD CARE

Kathy & Marsha Zagorianos

CHOIR

Jim Kollias

COFFEE HOUR

Ann Pappas

Georgia Vasila

DOCENTS

Angela Ananias

EASTER PICNIC

Ted Pappas

GREEK DANCE GROUPS

Barbara Kappos

Eleni Constantine Manolelis

Demitra Koutsos

HELLENIC ENTERTAINMENT

COOPERATIVE

Dina Demetrius

HELLENIC ACADEMY

Alex Oxyzoglou

John Kopatsis

HOSPITALITY Niki Korbakis

Maria Pelargos L.A. GREEK FEST Parish Council

Executive Board

MR. & MRS. CLUB Dean & Christine Peratsakis

ODOS “The Way” Helen Lambros

PARENTING Barbara Kappos

PHILOPTOHOS V.I.P. Angela Ananias, President

SAINT SOPHIA CAMP Melanie O’Regan

Kathleen Kyriacou Stephanie Lubian

(Co-Chair Golf Event)

Nick Ananias

(Co-Chair Golf Event)

Tony Mastor (Tennis Event) Mary-Kay Demetriou

(Tennis Event)

SUNDAY SCHOOL Eleni Yokas

YOUTH

V. Rev. Father John S. Bakas

April 2018 Page 13

MEMORIALS

EPISTLE READERS

WEDDINGS

April 14 Emily Putnam and John Pantelides

Koumbaro: Pete Paxos

April 14 Caroline Burkard and Marcos Ferreira

Koumbaro: Tony Chavos

April 1 (Palm Sunday) Stephanie Katherine Yallourakis

April 8 (Easter Sunday) Agape Service

April 15 (Thomas Sunday) Christina Hanna

April 22 (Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women) Sophia Axiotis

April 29 (Sunday of the Paralytic) George Nikopoulos

April 15

V. Rev. George J. Venetos

(15 years)

Frances Bissias (6 months)

Chase Morrison (40 days)

Marika

John

Georg

Shannon

Yiannoula

Eleftherios

Constandinos

Vasilios

Efstathios

Arghiri

Steve

Panayiota

Edith

Vasiliki

April 22

Dorothea Stamatiades

Maria Caiopoulos McCoy

Magdalene Caiopoulos

Christos (Doumakes) Dumas

Persephone Caiopoulos

Diamontopoulos

Athanasia Alexopoulos

(6 months)

Peter Ellis (28 years)

Yiannis Kouvelakis

Tasia Kouvelakis

Mike Alevizos

Voula Alevizos

Anastasios Eliopoulos

Eleni Eliopoulos

Nicolaou Stavropoulos

Christina Stavropoulos

Theofaniou Stavropoulos

Peter Georgeson

Sophia Georgeson

April 28 Matias Esparza son of William Esparza and

Theodora Esparza

Sponsor: Giannis Doulamis

BAPTISMS

5 TONS OF LOVE CLOTHING DRIVE

Having entered this beautiful Lenten season, in anticipation of coming

together, joyfully, to sing the triumphant Paschal hymn, let us once again

show our Love of neighbor.

Please join the AMNOS Ministry and the students of our St. Sophia

Sunday School, in an attempt to fill a 5 ton truck with your donation of

quality clothing which will be distributed to those less fortunate.

Clean out your closets at home or conduct your own clothing drive at

school, work or in your neighborhood. This, St. Sophia's 15th annual 5

TONS OF LOVE clothing drive will take place over the next several

weeks.

Clothing may be dropped off at the St. Sophia Sunday school office. For

more information please contact, Fr. Christopher Kolentsas, Eleni Yokas

or Dean & Christina Peratsakis @ 818-351-0122 or dotos@msn.com.

Volunteers needed. Thank you.

April 2018 Page 14

You are invited

to the screening of Mel Gibson’s epic film

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

after the Liturgy on Palm Sunday, April 1, 2018

in the Gianopulos Family Theater at Saint Sophia Cathedral

A Special Palm Sunday Meal will be served

$15, children under 12 - $12

April 2018 Page 15

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Arimathea buried Him. Apostle Paul declares that the gospel

of Christ involves the death, burial, and resurrection of the

Savior (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The four canonical gospels, all

of which conclude with an extended narrative of Jesus' arrest,

trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, state that, on the

evening of the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate

for the body, and, after Pilate granted his request, he wrapped

it in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb.

Among the Jews there was an anointing with spices, when

such could be afforded, to retard the stench of decomposition.

The fact that the followers of Christ provided spices, and

anointed his body for burial, clearly reveals that they fully

expected the corpse to decay and return to the dust. After

Jesus’ death, the disciples did not concoct some outlandish

plan to steal the body and proclaim that he had been

resurrected! They did not anticipate the resurrection. It was

only seeing him on that Sunday following his death and

By John Kopatsis

“He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate and suffered and

was buried” is how the Creed describes what happened to

Jesus. In one sense, we might say that the specific mention of

the burial is a bit superfluous. After all, the creed says that

Jesus died. Evidently, however, the early church thought this

aspect of our Lord’s passion was important enough to include

in its confession. The burial of Jesus is a matter of supreme

importance — intricately related to both the Savior’s death

and his resurrection.

The accounts of Jesus’ burial have value for defending the

faith. Muslims say that Jesus never died on the cross but was

taken up to heaven. Some others in search for the “historical”

Jesus claim that scavenging dogs ate Jesus’ corpse. But

these positions are completely groundless, for the sources

written the soonest after Jesus’ ministry was completed all

agree that Jesus really died on the cross and that Joseph of

The entombment of christ

continued on the next page

ST. SOPHIA’S BASKETBALL TEAM

The St. Sophia JOY basketball team received new uniforms this year.

We would like to thank Dino's Chicken and Burgers and the Pitsos Family and Choice Foods and the Fovos Family for their most generous contribution to our ministry.

Please come out and support our JOY and GOYA basketball program. The last regular season game is in our St. Sophia gym on 4/15 at 2 pm against St. Anthony.

Playoff games will be played at St. Sophia on 4/21 from 11 am - 8 pm and 4/29 from 2pm - 7pm.

April 2018 Page 18

consists of a tightly compact figurative group consisting of

figures, including the dead Christ body, a muscled, veined,

thick-limbed carpenter. Two men carry the body. John the

Evangelist, identified by his youthful appearance, supports the

dead Christ on his right knee and with his right arm,

inadvertently fingering Christ's stab wound as if emphasizing

the dead Christ's inability to feel pain. Nicodemus grasps the

knees in his arms, with his feet planted at the edge of the

slab. The stable, dignified position of the body is balanced by

the unstable exertions of the bearers. Nicodemus is the

dominant character in the picture and his body is its

compositional and spiritual anchor. Historically a man of

wealth, he is portrayed as a working man, whose deliberately

designed troll-like form suggests devoted service to his

deceased Lord. He stares unflinchingly at us out of the picture

-plane, almost challenging us to interfere with the ritual, and in

the process drawing us into the picture.

Behind the two men, the three women are grouped in a fan-

shaped pattern. They include from left to right, the partly

obscured Virgin Mary, depicted here as an elderly nun, who

extends her arms horizontally in a picture-wide blessing and

acceptance of what has happened; in the center, face

shadowed, is Mary Magdalene, the female follower of Jesus,

who dries her tears with a white handkerchief; on the right is

the wailing Mary of Cleopas (Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ), sister of

the Virgin Mary, who raises her arms to heaven.

Compositionally, the painting is based around a diagonal

pattern of form and movement, from the hysterical hands of

Mary Cleopas at the top right, down through Mary

Magdalene's sagging shoulder, Nicodemus's elbow and

Christ's torso, to the end of the white shroud at the bottom left.

The fan-shaped pattern presents us with a cascade of limbs

and heads that adds tension and movement to an essentially

'frozen' snapshot in time. The picture becomes quieter as our

eye moves from top to bottom. As the viewer's eye descends

from the gloom, there is also a descent from the hysteria of

Mary of Cleopas to the subdued emotion to death as the final

emotional silencing.

People are always trying to prepare for things in their life.

They go to school to prepare for a career. They go through a

career to be able to retire. They retire to recover from all the

work. People prepare for different things in different ways.

Some people prepare for death by buying prepaid burial

insurance. Death and burials though are something that

people do not deal with very well. It is hard to deal with death.

We know it is going to happen, we are all going to die, but it

seems like people are never truly prepared for the loss of a

loved one. It is possible to read the Entombment of Christ as

an allegory of life and death. At the top we have living people.

At the bottom, the tomb and death. In the middle, acting as a

barrier between the two, is Jesus Christ. It illustrates the

Christian dogma that, only by having faith in Christ can we

avoid death and ascend into heaven. Christianity is based

upon a buried and resurrected Lord. Christianity is genuine

and stands unique, in contrast to all other religious systems —

either ancient or modern.

subsequently for 40 days that generated their faith in a risen

Lord. This is extremely powerful circumstantial evidence, not

that any is needed for the believers, of the genuine

resurrection of the Savior. Jesus told disciples that He was

going to die. He was preparing them to be His witnesses here

on earth. But, as we look at the passages, it seems like the

people closest to Jesus, who He had told He was going to die,

were not ready for His death. It took two men who came to

Jesus privately at different times to bury Christ. The close

disciples were scared for their own lives because after the

Romans crucified Jesus, they might kill His disciples as

conspirators.

Epitaphios (Επιτάφιος), is an icon, most often found as a large

cloth, embroidered and often richly adorned, which is used

during the services of Great Friday and Holy Saturday. It also

exists in painted or mosaic form, on walls or panels. The icon

depicts Christ after he has been removed from the cross, lying

supine, as his body is being prepared for burial. The

equivalent subjects in Western Christian art are called the

"Anointing of Christ's body", or Lamentation (with a group

present), or the Pietà, depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the

dead body of Jesus.

Caravaggio created one of his most admired altarpieces, The

Entombment of Christ, in 1603–1604 for the chapel of

Chiesa Nuova (new church) dedicated to the Pietà. A copy of

the painting is now in the chapel, and the original is in the

Vatican Pinacoteca.

With a diagonal cascade of mourners and cadaver-bearers

descending to the limp, dead body of Christ and the bare

stone, this is not a moment of transfiguration, but of

lamentation. It is the iconographical depiction of the

Lamentation at the Tomb (Επιτάφιος Θρήνος). The painting

Detail from The Entombment of Christ

continued from the previous page

April 2018 Page 19

APRIL 2018

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Palm Sunday

8:30am Orthros

10:00am Divine Liturgy

7:30pm 1st Service of

the Bridegroom/

Nymphios

2

Holy Monday

For the Holy

Week Schedule

see page 12

3

Holy Tuesday

4

Holy

Wednesday

5

Holy Thursday

6

Holy Friday

7

Holy Saturday

8

Holy Pascha

11:00am Agape

Service

9

Renewal

Monday

10

Renewal

Tuesday

11

Renewal

Wednesday

12

Renewal

Thursday

13

Renewal

Friday

14

Renewal

Saturday

15

Thomas Sunday

8:15am Orthros

9:45 am Memorials

10:00am Divine Liturgy

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

Sunday of the Myrrh

-Bearing Women

8:15am Orthros

9:45 am Memorials

10:00am Divine Liturgy

23

George the Great

Martyr Feast Day at

St. George in

Downey, CA

9:00am Orthros

10:00am Divine

Liturgy

24

Bible Studies

Class w/ Fr. John

11 am

25 26

27 28

29 Sunday of the

Paralytic

8:15am Orthros

9:45 am Memorials

10:00am Divine Liturgy

30

Strict Fast Fish Allowed Wine and Oil

Allowed

Dairy, Eggs,

and Fish

Allowed

Fast Free

April 2018 Page 20

Saint Sophia Greek Cathedral

Greek Orthodox Community

1324 South Normandie Avenue

Los Angeles, California 90006

Phone

323 737 2424

E-mail

office@stsophia.org

We’re on the Web!

www.stsophia.org