January 2018

Dear Parishioners:

Happy New Year! Καλή Χρόνια!

I wish you all health and happiness this coming New Year 2018.

St. Nicholas will start the New Year with the annual cutting of the Vasilopita and the

GOYA Brunch on Sunday, January 7, 2018. We hope you will all be able to attend.

As you know, His Eminence has appointed Deacon Alex Radulescu to become our

second priest. Deacon Alex will be ordained at our church on Saturday, January 20th at 10 a.m. All are invited to attend and then join us for a luncheon afterward.

Planning for our 2018 festival has begun! Please join us for our first festival meeting on Wednesday, January 10th at 7 p.m. in the church conference room. New volunteers and

ideas are always welcome.

Yours in Christ,

George Kokales Parish Council President

Directors: Katherine A. Phan and Photios G. Ioannou

Website: http://churchschool.stnickaa.org

The Church School wishes everyone a Blessed and Prosperous New Year! The annual Church School Christmas Pageant took place on December 24, 2017 following the Divine Liturgy. This year’s Christmas Pageant was “Strange and Wondrous Events”. We congratulate the Church School students for the hard work they put into making this year’s Christmas Pageant a great success. Jeannie Price and Cynthia Templeman organized the pageant. We extend a special thank you to them and all the teachers and parents for donating their time to help make this event a success. The Church School hosted the coffee hour following the Christmas Pageant. We thank Mrs. Stasi Webber for chairing the coffee hour, the parents who assisted her and those who provided food and monetary donations.

On Sunday, January 14, 2018, our Church School will have the traditional blessing and cutting of a Vasilopita in each of the classrooms. The goal in requesting our Church School families to make the Vasilopites, is to encourage the continuation of one of Orthodoxy’s great traditions for future generations. We ask parents to volunteer to bake a Vasilopita for their child’s class. The Church School will provide the Vasilopita coins. Parents who volunteer to bake a Vasilopita are requested to contact the Church School director, Katherine Phan, at kapsule@sbcglobal.net or at 734-971-0813.

The Coin Collection for St. Basil’s Academy continues until Sunday January 14, 2018. Coin collection boxes are located in each classroom for our Church School students to put the coins they collect. The coins collected will benefit St. Basil’s Academy. St. Basil's Academy is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese home that serves children in need.

The “Parish St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival” will take place on Sunday March 4, 2018. We want to remind students that they should be working on their “St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival” essays. It is a requirement of our Church School that all students participate in our St. Nicholas Parish-level Oratorical Festival. Dr. Vicki Kiningham (vakiningham@gmail.com) is chairing the Oratorical Festival. She and the Church School teachers are available to assist students with their essays. The Church School library has many resources available for the students. Details about the Oratorical Festival are available on the Church School’s website (see above).

This month, continuing our mission of informing our St. Nicholas Community about the curriculum offered by our Church School, we are featuring the curriculum designed by our dedicated 8 & 9th grade teachers; Nicholas Chapekis Jr., Sophia Radwanski, Robert Templeman and Cynthia Templeman. Nicholas Chapekis Jr. has prepared this article detailing the 8 & 9th grade curriculum.

For the past four months, the 8th and 9th grade class has been reviewing the Old Testament. We started out the year discussing Creation, the Fall, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses and the Exodus. We continued with Joshua and the conquest period, the Judges, Samuel, David, Solomon, Israel and Judah, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and finally Elijah and Elisha. Our review of the Bible has led us to a study of the Psalms and Prophets, which we are embarking on this month. We will learn of the many prophecies found throughout the book of Psalms, and how they relate to the life of Jesus.

Later this year, we will explore the reasons religious doctrine is so important and why it matters. We will determine whether or not religious beliefs are really just the arguments of a bunch of academics that have little bearing on real life, and also outline how the beliefs and practices of certain Christian and non-Christian religious denominations compare and contrast with the Orthodox Christian Church. The Church has from the very beginning both studied and responded to other religious. St. John of Damascus famously wrote in detail on Islam. St. Basil responded to several kinds of heretics. St. Athanasius responded to Arians and pagans. St. Justin Martyr responded to pagans and Jews. St. Ignatius of Antioch responded to Docetists and Judaizers. And even St. John the Theologian responded to Docetists. It was important for these saints, and many others, to have an understanding of other religions’ teachings and practices in order to draw their members to life in the Church and to protect Christians from being led astray. The Church has always responded to the religions that surround it, and doing so is where a significant amount of her dogmatic and theological heritage comes from.

Church School

Please place your order for Easter Bread by April 6.

The price is $10 per one pound loaf and it is plain, without the red egg.

The order forms are in the hallway near the church office.

Pickup date is April 13.

For questions, please call Perry at (734) 995-4766. Thank you!

GOYA

Please place your order for Easter Bread by April 6.

The price is $10 per one pound loaf and it is plain, without the red egg.

The order forms are in the hallway near the church office.

Pickup date is April 13.

For questions, please call Perry at (734) 995-4766. Thank you!

We look forward to seeing your children at our next meeting January 14, 2018 from 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Last meeting the children learned about our forefather, Abraham. Father Vasili taught the children that Abraham was a great, great, great, great, great grandfather of Christ. The children learned that Abraham

was asked by God to move his whole family to a new land. Abraham obeyed God’s word and immediately prepared for the long journey. When asked whether the children would get up and go if God asked them to, the children immediately replied, “Yes! We would go for God.”

The children learned that Abraham had great faith and trust in God. Abraham believed God’s promise

that his ancestors would be as the stars in the sky and the sand in the sea. The children then learned that Abraham and Sarah were old and had been unable to have children. An angel from God told them that

Sarah would bear a child. Another promise came true, and Isaac was born. Lastly Father explained to the children that Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his only child. Abraham had so much faith and trust in the Lord that he prepared for the sacrifice. Abraham believed God’s promise that his

ancestors would be great in number. He knew that God would not allow this sacrifice to occur. God

stopped the sacrifice and provided a ram instead. The children then made a combined

Abraham/Nativity project where they made a Nativity scene with abundant stars in the sky which said, “God Keeps His Promises.” Next month the children will be learning about Joseph and his coat of

many colors. Remember, increasing exposure to the Church early in your child’s life is an important step in the

building and strengthening of their Orthodox Faith.

For more information contact: Sophia Grias-Radwanski (sgrias@mhsi.us) Margarita Bekiaris (pappas@med.umich.edu)

or Jeannie Price (jkteachmitchell@gmail.com)

HOPE

Please place your order for Easter Bread by April 6.

The price is $10 per one pound loaf and it is plain, without the red egg.

The order forms are in the hallway near the church office.

Pickup date is April 13.

For questions, please call Perry at (734) 995-4766. Thank you!

At our last meeting on December 10, Fr. Vasilios taught us about Abraham. We learned that Abraham was married to Sarah and God told them that they would be

parents. This was hard to believe because Abraham and Sarah were both so old at the time. However, they soon

had a son named Isaac. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Because Abraham had great faith in God, he was

going to sacrifice his son. However, at the last moment, God told him to sacrifice a sheep instead. It is important to learn about Abraham’s faith in God and also that

Abraham and Sarah began the “tree of life” that

JOY

eventually leads to Christ. We made a star Christmas ornament with an icon of Abraham holding Isaac. We hope to see you at our next meeting on January 14, 12:30-2:00 p.m. where we will discuss Joseph.

Children in grades 3-6 are always welcome, even if this is their first meeting! Please sign up to bring a lunch their first meeting! Please sign up to bring a lunch at SignUp Genius:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0a4fa4ab29ab9-lunch1

You can find the 2017 Stewardship card at

http://www.stnickaa.org/assets/files/forms/Stewardship_card_2017.pdf

and pay online at: http://www.stnickaa.org/donate/online-pledge.

St. Nicholas Church: Stewardship 2018

Dear Stewards of St. Nicholas Church:

The members of the Stewardship Committee wish all parishioners of St. Nicholas a Happy New Year!! St. Nicholas Parish Council and the Stewardship Committee thank each and every parishioner who completed the Treasure portion of their 2017 Stewardship Pledge before the end of 2017, and are especially thankful for the 100+ parishioners who completed the 2018 Time, Talent and Treasure portions of your Membership Card. Your contributions to our Church help us achieve the goals of promoting our spiritual growth and strengthening our faith. We are grateful to your dedication to the spiritual ministries of our Church. We thank all of you who increased your Stewardship contributions for 2018. Your increased pledge will help us pay for our operating expenses and has allowed us to add an additional priest. We welcome Fr. Alex who will devote his energies to supporting Fr. Nick in ministering to all of our parishioners.

Every January many of us make resolutions to do better in the coming year. Many of us resolve to eat healthier and to exercise more, and thereby lose the pounds we gained the previous year! Others may resolve to pray more and thank God for all the blessings He bestowed on us the previous year, and ask Him to continue those blessings in the New Year.

The Stewardship Committee made a couple of resolutions for our 2018 Stewardship Drive. First, we resolved to communicate our 2018 requests for Stewardship prior to the end of 2017 so that parishioners may plan for their Stewardship contributions. Second, we resolved to focus MORE on Time and Talent. We launched “Time, Talent and Treasure: Putting our faith in action” as our theme for all our future stewardship communication.

The articles in the Compass every month show that this theme is the correct and obvious choice! Every Compass demonstrates the Time and Talent that the people of our ministries provide to St. Nicholas parishioners and to our broader community. Every newsletter contains news about the philanthropic activities of the Ladies of Philoptochos, the spiritual education of our children through Church School, Hope, Joy, GOYA, and Greek School, the exciting news about church parishioners through Nick Stamos’ column (‘Milestones’), and the births, baptisms, weddings and chrismations at St. Nicholas.

All of these demonstrate a vibrant and active church that continues to grow through the Time and Talent of our parishioners.

What can you resolve to do as a good Steward of St. Nicholas Church? We ask that each parishioner think about the Time and Talent you contribute to the Church and resolve to increase it in 2018. You can do this by joining an additional ministry of the Church, by helping with cooking and baking for our fund-raisers and Fall Picnic, by volunteering your time in our Habitat for Humanity building events, or by joining Project Mexico this summer. You can even increase your contribution of Time and Talent by joining the Stewardship Committee!!! Everyone is welcome. We can all do a little more to build fellowship with our Church family!

Please fill out your 2018 Membership Card and let the Stewardship Committee know what ministries or activities interest you. Someone from that ministry will contact you and invite you to join!!

PHILOPTOCHOS CORNER

Christopher Mitropoulos-Rundus graduated this past December from the Eastern Michigan University Honors College, where he double majored, first in

Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics and a 2nd major in Psychology. After graduation, Christopher plans to further his education by attending

graduate school to study Industrial and Human Factors Engineering. Christopher is the youngest child of parishioners David and Demetra

Mitropoulos-Rundus.

'Gods & Monsters' Receives a Grammy Nomination!

‘Gods & Monsters” is the name of Nicholas’ latest music album being nominated for the Grammy Award

for BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM. We have been honored each year with Nicholas’ beautiful Tenor voice participating in our St. Nicholas

choir during the Christmas services and his post Liturgy offering of solo Christmas carols.

Much has been posted in the press, not only of his voice

and music, but of his love of his being, above all, an American of Greek and Chinese extraction.

The ‘OPERA NEWS’ said of him “the young American Tenor possesses a lyric instrument of exceptional

quality” and lists Nicholas’ CD as one of the “10 Best in Concert Recital recordings of 2017”.

To post Nicholas’ enumerable achievements in this

column would be impossible and I therefore refer you to his website www.nicholas-phan.com where there is

much more detail of his career. REMEMBER THE BIG

DAY, JANUARY 28TH.

Yours in Christ,

Nicholas S. Stamos

P.S. I welcome your input to the MILESTONES. My e-mail in n_stamos@yahoo.com

Milestones by Nicholas S. Stamos

The Grammy awards are to be presented on January 28th, 2018 in New York City. No, it has nothing to do with your grandmother, but rather an adaption of the word “gramophone” which was used to describe an early record player and literally translated from the Greek “grama“, meaning letter or word and “phoni”, meaning sound which gives a meaning of something like ‘written word’. The Grammy award is the most prestigious award in the music world and we are honored to be able to announce to you that the

son of Sem and Katherine Phan, Nicholas, a former acolyte, reader and choir member has received a

Grammy nomination.

January Calendar 2018

Church Registry

Births 2-5-17 Andrew, son of Chris and Maroulla Dallas 9-11-17 Alexandra, daughter of Brion and Theresa Cooley

Baptisms 2-4-17 Jacob, son of Stephen and Katie Kolokithas: Koumbaroi: Thomas and

Evangeline Kolokithas 3-19-17 Arjun, son of Ben and Maya Curtis: Koumbara: Annastacia Ballios 4-22-17 Adam Milner: Koumbaros: Phillip Sarkissian 4-22 17 Emilie, daughter of Elias and Elizabeth Taxakis: Koumbaros: Stathis Pauls 4-30-17 James Maly: Koumbara: Katerina Manikas

5-13-17 Alexander, son of Brian and Melissa Manning: Koumbara: Kristen Sgouzos 7-22-17 Apollo, son of Yannis and Penelope Paulus: Koumbaroi: Paul & Gabriela Fontes 11-18-17 Patrick, son of Marius and Florina Mathe: Koumbara: Magdalena Gulvezan

Chrismations 10-8-17 Todd Yocum – Sponsor: Diana Rooks 11-5-17 Marla Letter – Sponsor: Clevie Daniels 11-5-17 Silas Letter – Sponsor: Chris Patselas 11-5-17 Chloe Letter – Sponsor: Eva Mikhail 11-5-17 Alysse Letter – Sponsor: Vangie Kolokithas

Weddings 6-17-17 James and Marianna Maly: Koumbara: Katerina Manikas 7-8-17 Adam and Christina Milner: Koumbaros: Philip Sarkissian 9-9-17 Nicholas and Elaina D’Agostino: Koumbaros: James Grinias 10-21-17 Lyle and Denise Johnson: Koumbaroi: Nikolaos Komitas and Rula Mihalatos 11-25-17 Brendan and Amanda Haug: Koumbaros: Deno Prokos

Fallen Asleep in the Lord 1-1-17 Steve Cotitsas (Funeral: 1-4-17: Bethlehem Cemetery) 2-3-17 Tatiana Efthyvoulou (2-7-17: Funeral: St. Nicholas, Greenwood, VA) 2-8-17 Bill Claypool

6-7-17 Pearl Ahnen, Fennville, MI 6-26-17 Alexander Challis (Funeral: 6-29-17: Forest Hill Cemetery) 7-5-17 Christopher Webber (Funeral: 7-10-17: Bethlehem Cemetery) 7-6-17 Peter Poulos (Funeral: 7-11-17: Forest Hill Cemetery) 11-13-17 John Pappanastos (Funeral: 11-17-17: Bethlehem Cemetery) 11-14-17 Diana Underhill (Funeral: 11-17-17: Washtenong Cemetery) 11-17-17 Nicholas Chapekis, Sr. (Funeral: 11-21-17: Bethlehem Cemetery)

(If there are any mistakes or omissions, we apologize. Please contact the office so that we may correct it. Thank you.)

mailto:secretary@stnickaa.org

Parish Ministries

PARISH COUNCIL

President George Kokales Vice-President Dr. Michael Kasotakis Secretary Christopher Bekiares Controller Elizabeth Mitropoulos Treasurer Christos Kitromelides Asst. Treasurer Christos Philippou Corresponding Secretary Christina Vlahopoulos Members: Robert J. Ashley Jr., Tony Daniels, Chris Kerry, Lambrini Lagos, Eva Mikhail, Lana Panagoulia, Nicholas Stamos PSALTES: Zannis Res (Protopsaltis) ALTAR BOYS: Dani Nadra MUSIC MINISTRY: Dr. Jon Wardner, Teresa Stokes PHILOPTOCHOS: Vangie Kolokithas ST. NICHOLAS SENIORS: George & Diane Papandreou CHURCH SCHOOL: Katherine Phan, Dr. Photios Ioannou GOYA: Alex Chalogianis OUTREACH & EVANGELISM:

Robert J. Ashley Jr.

JOY: Pres. Sandra Kotsis

HOPE: Dr. Sophia Grias-Radwanski, Margarita Bekiares GREEK SCHOOL: Ioanna Ioannou, Principal/Teacher AHEPA: Costas Boutsikakis DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE: Christina Vlahopoulos OCF (UM Campus Ministry): Mark Sultani YOUTH ENRICHMENT COMMITTEE: Sam Roumanis, Dr. Anthony Kales BOOKSTORE: Aggeliki Evangelinos, Dr. Artemis Leontis, Joy Melzian, Dr. Sophia Roumanis, Gail Sinwell, Katerina Karagiannis COMPASS EDITOR: Panagiota Stamoulis COMPASS COMMUNICATION: TheCompassAnnArbor@gmail.com CHURCH SECRETARY: Demetra Mitropoulos-Rundus Email: secretary@stnickaa.org PARISH PRIEST FR. NICOLAOS KOTSIS Email: frnick@stnickaa.org For emergencies: (734) 604-3214 If you would like to contribute to the content of The Compass please forward all communication to our email

at: TheCompassAnnArbor@gmail.com by the 17th of each month. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church reserves the right to edit, change or omit content as deemed appropriate.

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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

3109 Scio Church Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 (734) 332 – 8200 www.stnickaa.org