"O Forerunner, thou hast proved to be truly even more venerable than the Prophets, since thou wast granted to baptize in running waters Him who was proclaimed."

In This Issue

• Informative

• For the Holidays

• CASA

• Prints of our Church

• Yard Sale

• Orthodox Family Night

• Red Cross Dinner

• Philoptochos Update

• Marriage: The Great Sacrament (Part 1 of 2)

• Archangel Michael Feast

• Turkey ~n~ Fixins

• Spiritual Admonitions

Click Here to view the calendar

PANGARI
Dec. 6   - George Moustakis
Dec. 13 - Timothy Vaughan
Dec. 20 - Loretta Siotka
Dec. 27  - George Karukas

COFFEE HOUR
Dec. 6  - Lili Morris & Family, 1 yr mem.
Dec. 13 - Dena Platingos/Stella Mislitchi
Dec. 20 - Jimmy & Brenda Arakas, and George & Linda Moustakis
Dec. 27 - Ladies Philoptochos

To host a Coffee Hour, please call Linda Moustakis at 238-1473.

PROSFORON
Dec. 6   - Roula Bofilios
Dec. 13 - Jane Radomsky
Dec. 20 - Jane Radomsky
Dec. 27 - Veatriki Vrantsis

Fr. Konstantine would like the prosfora in the office on the Friday before your Sunday. Please call the office to make sure someone will be there. If you want to learn how to make prosforo, or sign up for a Sunday, please contact Linda Moustakis at 238-1473.

SUNDAY GREETERS
Dec. 6   - George & Linda Moustakis
Dec. 13 - Teodora Rotis & Stella Mislitchi
Dec. 20 - Loretta Siotka & Mary Vaughan
Dec. 27 - Chris & Amy Castanes

MEALS ON WHEELS VOLUNTEERS
Dec. 7 Elaine Karavan/Anna Kouis
Dec. 8 Linda Moustakis/Dena Platingos
Dec. 9 Timothy & Mary Vaughan
Dec. 10 Kalla Szostek/Maria Veselinovich
Dec. 11 Demitrios Tselides/John Popa
If you are unable to attend on the day you are assigned, please contact Linda Moustakis at 238-1473 as soon as possible.

THEE HOLY NOOK Offers imported Greek items including hand painted ceramic tiles and jewelry boxes, greeting cards, beautiful icon bracelets, pure olive oil soap, Greek coffee, "brikia" and delicious halva, as well as "A Voyage in Greek Cooking," St. John's parish cookbook.

Check out the all new webpage, and please stop by, or you may contact Adrianne Finn at 903-1901. If you don't see what you're looking for, ask a Board member.

LADIES PHILOPTOCHOS Will hold their December Board meeting on Wednesday, December 2nd at 12 Noon, at the fellowship hall coffee room. There will be no General Meeting.

ST. JOHN’S PARISH CHRISTMAS PARTY will be held on Sunday, December 13th @ 5 PM. Our Greek school children will be performing, dinner will be served, and Santa will be dropping by. Parents are asked to bring a wrapped gift labeled for their child ($15 gift limit, please).

PLEASE REMEMBER IN PRAYER ~ Marie Bilyk, who fell asleep in the Lord on November 2nd, and also, Peter Lecouras, who fell asleep in the Lord on November 9th. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families. May their memory be eternal.

ATTENTION PROSFORA BAKERS - To ensure that your prosfora can be used for the Sunday Divine Liturgy, and to help keep order in the Church, please have your prosfora at the church before the office closes on Friday. Those who wish to bring prosfora with them to Saturday Vespers are kindly asked to first notify Fr. Konstantine. Thank you for your efforts in serving our parish!

GENEROSITY - For those who are able and willing to generously offer to the Church, we are always in need of the following items:

• Large containers of olive oil
• Good incense from the Monastery
• Communion Wine

Note: the following are appropriate for communion wines: "Byzantino Nama", "Mylopotamos Nama", and "Roussos Nama". In addition to these, one may also bring "Commandaria". Please contact Fr. Konstantine or Veatriki Vrantsis for more information on where to purchase these wines.

PHILOPTOCHOS HOLIDAY FOOD BASKETS

We are looking for donations of stuffing, gravy, canned corn, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce, fruit cocktail, instant mashed potatoes, lg boxes of mac & cheese, and other Thanksgiving-related items. If you have any questions, please contact Anna Halaris at 293-5984, or Christina Asllanaj at 650-6026. Deadline for Thanksgiving baskets is Sunday, November 22nd. We will continue to accept donations for our Christmas baskets through Thursday, December 17th.

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS: THEE HOLY NOOK has imported Greek items including hand painted ceramic tiles and jewelry boxes, greeting cards, bracelets, olive oil soap, Greek coffee, "brikia" and delicious halva, as well as "A Voyage in Greek Cooking," St. John's parish cookbook. We also have Christmas and Name Day cards and Christmas ornaments -- a gold-foil depiction of our own St. John the Baptist Church -- for ($10). Catalog available online or in the Narthex. Please stop by, or you may contact Adrianne Finn at 903-1901.

POINSETTIAS AND COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS CARD - we are accepting donations for our Christmas Poinsettia plants and Community Christmas card. An order form is available at the Pangari and online

• The deadline for the Christmas Card is December 6th. 

• You can make your donation online as well

CASA: CITIZENS AGAINST SPOUSE ABUSE

Violence Breaks Up Families... and Ruins Lives

Due the economy, CASA funding has been cut. The safe houses are in need of groceries-- especially food cards from any grocery store, in any amount, will be greatly appreciated.

Since June, our church has donated 31 bags/boxes to CASA, which included clothing, household items, books, and non-perishable food. A big "thank you" to everyone who has contributed.
During this flu season they especially need hand sanitizers for the safe houses, as well as paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels. They also need laundry detergent. Please bring all your donations to church marked CASA. Thank you for your generosity.

WANTED - Your photos
We would like your pictures from our upcoming Greek Festival and other church events to be included in our monthly newsletter and on our parish website.
If you have digital photos you would like to share, please e-mail them to Donna Tripp at office@stjohn-mb.org

MEGA YARD SALE

Scheduled for Saturday, April 17^th, 2010

7AM – 4PM

St. John’s Fellowship Hall & Grounds

By Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

Nobody would dispute that the most important day in a person's life, after his birth and baptism, is that of his marriage. It is no surprise, then, that the aim of contemporary worldly and institutional upheavals is precisely to crush the most honorable and sacred mystery of marriage. For many people, marriage is an opportunity for pleasures and amusements. Life, however, is a serious affair. It is a spiritual struggle, a progression toward a goalheaven. The most crucial juncture, and the most important means, of this progression is marriage. It is not permissible for anyone to avoid the bonds of marriage, whether he concludes a mystical marriage by devoting himself to God, or whether he concludes a sacramental one with a spouse.

Today we will concern ourselves primarily with sacramental marriage. We will consider how marriage can contribute to our spiritual life, in order to continue the theme of our previous talk [1]. We know that marriage is an institution established by God. It is "honorable" (Heb 13.4). It is a "great mystery" (Eph 5.32). An unmarried person passes through life and leaves it; but a married person lives and experiences life to the full.

One wonders what people today think about the sacred institution of marriage, this "great mystery", blessed by our Church. They marry, and it's as if two checking accounts or two business interests were being merged. Two people are united without ideals, two zeros, you could say. Because people without ideals, without quests, are nothing more than zeros. "I married in order to live my life", you hear people say, "and not to be shut inside four walls". "I married to enjoy my life", they say, and then they hand over their childrenif they have childrento some strange woman so they can run off to the theater, the movies, or to some other worldly gathering. And so their houses become hotels to which they return in the evening, or, rather, after midnight, after they've had their fun and need to rest. Such people are empty inside, and so in their homes they feel a real void. They find no gratification there, and thus they rush and slide from here to there, in order to find their happiness.

They marry without knowledge, without a sense of responsibility, or simply because they wish to get married, or because they think they must in order to be good members of society. But what is the result? We see it every day. The shipwrecks of marriage are familiar to all of us. A worldly marriage, as it is understood today, can only have one characteristicthe murder of a person's spiritual life. Thus we must feel that, if we fail in our marriage, we have more or less failed in our spiritual life. If we succeed in our marriage, we have also succeeded in our spiritual life. Success or failure, progress or ruin, in our spiritual life, begins with our marriage. Because this is such a serious matter, let us consider some of the conditions necessary for a happy, truly Christian marriage.

In order to have a successful marriage, one must have the appropriate upbringing from an early age. Just as a child must study, just as he learns to think, and take an interest in his parents or his health, so too must he be prepared in order to be able to have a successful marriage. But in the age in which we live, no one is interested in preparing their children for this great mystery, a mystery which will play the foremost role in their lives. Parents are not interested, except in the dowry, or in other such financial matters, in which they are deeply interested.

The child, from an early age, must learn to love, to give, to suffer deprivation, to obey. He must learn to feel that the purity of his soul and body is a valuable treasure to be cherished as the apple of his eye. The character of the child must be shaped properly, so that he becomes an honest, brave, decisive, sincere, cheerful person, and not a half, self-pitying creature, who constantly bemoans his fate, a weak-willed thing without any power of thought or strength. From an early age, the child should learn to take an interest in a particular subject or occupation, so that tomorrow he will be in a position to support his family, or, in the case of a girl, also to help, if this is necessary. A woman must learn to be a housewife, even if she has an education. She should learn to cook, to sew, to embroider. But, my good Father, you may say, this is all self- evident. Ask married couples, however, and you'll see how many women who are about to marry know nothing about running a household.

Once we reach a certain age, moreover, the choice of one's life partner is a matter which should not be put off. Neither should one be in a hurry, because, as the saying goes, "quick to marry, quick to despair". But one should not delay, because delay is a mortal danger to the soul. As a rule, the normal rhythm of the spiritual life begins with marriage. An unmarried person is like someone trying to live permanently in a hallway: he doesn't seem to know what the rooms are for. Parents should take an interest in the child's social life, but also in his prayer life, so that the blessed hour will come as a gift sent by God.

Naturally, when he comes to choose a partner, he will take to account his parents' opinion. How often have parents felt knives piercing their hearts when their children don't ask them about the person who will be their companion in life? A mother's heart is sensitive, and can't endure such a blow. The child should discuss matters with his parents, because they have a special intuition enabling them to be aware of the things which concern them. But this doesn't mean that the father and mother should pressure the child. Ultimately he should be free to make his own decision. If you pressure your child to marry, he will consider you responsible if things don't go well. Nothing good comes from pressure. You must help him, but you must also allow him to choose the person he prefers or lovesbut not someone he pities or feels sorry for. If your child, after getting to know someone, tells you, "I feel sorry for the poor soul, I'll marry him", then you know that you're on the threshold of a failed marriage. Only a person whom he or she prefers or loves can stand by the side of your child. Both the man and the woman should be attracted to each other, and they should truly want to live together, in an inward way, unhurriedly. On this matter, however, it is not possible to pressure our children. Sometimes, out of our love, we feel that they are our possessions, that they are our property, and that we can do what we want with them. And thus our child becomes a creature incapable of living life either married or unmarried.

Of course, the process of getting acquainted, which is such a delicate issuebut of which we are often heedlessshould take place before marriage. We should never be complacent about getting to know each other, especially if we're not sure of our feelings. Love shouldn't blind us. It should open our eyes, to see the other person as he is, with his faults. "Better to take a shoe from your own house, even if it's cobbled", says the folk proverb. That is, it's better to take someone you've gotten to know. And acquaintanceship must always be linked with engagement, which is an equally difficult matter.

When I suggested to a young woman that she should think seriously about whether she should continue her engagement she replied: "If I break it off, my mother will kill me". But what sort of engagement is it, if there's no possibility of breaking it off? To get engaged doesn't mean that I'll necessarily get married. It means that I'm testing to see whether I should marry the person I'm engaged to. If a woman isn't in a position to break off her engagement, she shouldn't get engaged, or, rather, she shouldn't go ahead with the marriage. During the engagement, we must be especially careful. If we are, we will have fewer problems and fewer disappointments after the wedding. Someone once said that, during the period of getting to know me another, you should hold on to your heart firmly with both hands, as if it were a wild animal. You know how dangerous the heart is: instead of leading you to marriage, it can lead you into sin. There is the possibility that the person you've chosen sees you as a mere toy, or a toothbrush to be tried out. Afterwards you'll be depressed and shed many tears. But then it will be too late, because your angel will have turned out to be made of clay.

Don't choose a person who wastes his time at clubs, having good time, and throwing away his money on traveling and luxuries. Neither should you choose someone who, as you'll find out, conceals his self-centeredness beneath words of love. Don't choose a woman as your wife who is like gun powder, so that as soon as you say something to her, she bursts to flames. She's no good as a wife.

Moreover, if you want to have a truly successful marriage, don't approach that young woman or man who is unable to leave his or her parents. The commandment of Christ is clear: man leaves his father and mother, and is united to his wife" (Mk 10.7). But when you see the other person tied to his mother or father, when you see that he obeys them with his mouth hanging open, and is prepared to do whatever they tell him, keep well away. He is emotionally sick, a psychologically immature person, and you won't be able to create a family with him. The man you will make your husband should be spirited. But how can he be spirited when he hasn't realized, hasn't understood, hasn't digested the fact that his parents' house is simply a flower-pot in which he was put, to be taken out later, and transplanted somewhere else?

Also, when you're going to choose a husband, make sure that he's not an uncommunicative typein which case he'll have no friends. And if today he has no friends, tomorrow he'll find it difficult to have you as a friend and partner. Be on your guard against grumblers, moaners, and gloomy people who are like dejected birds. Be on your guard against those who complain all the time: "You don't love me, you don't understand me", and all that sort of thing. Something about these creatures of God isn't right. Also be on your guard against religious fanatics and the overly pious. Those, that is, who get upset over trivial things, who are critical of everything and hypersensitive. How are you going to live with such a person? It will be like sitting on thorns. Also look out for those who regard marriage as something bad, as a form of imprisonment. Those who say: But I've never in my whole life thought about getting married.

Watch out for certain pseudo-Christians, who see marriage as something sordid, as a sin, who immediately cast their eyes down when they hear anything said about it [2]. If you marry someone like this, he will be a thorn in your flesh, and a burden for his monastery if he becomes a monk. Watch out for those who think that they're perfect, and find no defect in themselves, while constantly finding faults in others. Watch out for those who think they've been chosen by God to correct everyone else.

There is another serious matter to which you should also pay attention: heredity. Get to know well the father, the mother, the grandfather, the grandmother, the uncle. Also, the basic material prerequisites should be there. Above all, pay attention to the person's faith. Does he or she have faith? Has the person whom you're thinking of making the companion of your life have ideals? If Christ means nothing to him, how are you going to be able to enter his heart? If he has not been able to value Christ, do you think he will value you? Holy Scripture says to the husband that the wife should be "of your testament" (Mal 2.14), that is, of your faith, your religion, so that she can join you to God. It is only then that you can have, as the Church Fathers say, a marriage "with the consent of the bishop" [3], that is, with the approval of the Church, and not simply a formal license.

Discuss things in advance with your spiritual father. Examine every detail with him, and he will stand by your side as a true friend, and, when you reach the desired goal, then your marriage will be a gift from God (cf. 1 Cor 7.7). God gives his own gift to each one of us. He leads one person to marriage and another to virginity. Not that God makes the choice by saying "you go here", and "you go there", but he gives us the nerve to choose what our heart desires, and the courage and the strength to carry it out.

If you choose your spouse in this way, then thank God. Bring him into touch with your spiritual father. If you don't have one, the two of you should choose a spiritual father together, who will be your Elder, your father, the one who will remind you of, and show you God.

You will have many difficulties in life. There will be a storm of issues. Worries will surround you, and maintaining your Christian life will not be easy. But don't worry. God will help you. Do what is within your power. Can you read a spiritual book for five minutes a day? Then read. Can you pray for five minutes a day? Pray. And if you can't manage five minutes, pray for two. The rest is God's affair.

When you see difficulties in your marriage, when you see that you're making no progress in your spiritual life, don't despair. But neither should you be content with whatever progress you may have already made. Lift up your heart to God. Imitate those who have given everything to God, and do what you can to be like them, even if all you can do is to desire in your heart to be like them. Leave the action to Christ. And when you advance in this way, you will truly sense what is the purpose of marriage. Otherwise, as a blind person wanders about, so too will you wander in life.

What then is the purpose of marriage? I will tell you three of its main aims. First of all, marriage is a path of pain. The companionship of man and wife is called a "yoking together" (syzygia), that is, the two of them labor under a shared burden. Marriage is a journeying together, a shared portion of pain, and, of course, a joy. But usually it's six chords of our life which sound a sorrowful note, and only one which is joyous. Man and wife will drink from the same cup of upheaval, sadness, and failure. During the marriage ceremony, the priest gives the newly-weds to drink from the same cup, called the "common cup" [4], because together they will bear the burdens of marriage. The cup is also called "union" [5], because they are joined together to share life's joys and sorrows.

When two people get married, it's as if they're saying: Together we will go forward, hand in hand, through good times and bad. We will have dark hours, hours of sorrow filled with burdens, monotonous hours. But in the depths of the night, we continue to believe in the sun and the light. Oh, my dear friends, who can say that his life has not been marked by difficult moments? But it is no small thing to know that, in your difficult moments, in your worries, in your temptations, you will be holding in your hand the hand of your beloved. The New Testament says that every man will have pain, especially those who enter into marriage.

(to be concluded in the next newsletter)

2009 RECIPIENTS

A Clergy Award was presented to Rev. Fr. Nicholas Spirakis for his faithful and unceasing ministry to the parishes, Clergy, and families of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Metropolis of Atlanta, and in recognition of his 50 years of service as a priest.

Archangel Michael Honors were presented to Linda Moustakis and Dorothy Radomsky, this year’s honorees from St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Myrtle Beach. Recognition and Honors Medals are given to faithful workers in our Lord’s Vineyard, who selflessly and generously offer their time, talent, energy, skills and resources to the Glory of God and in His Holy Name.

View the Photos Here

This year, St. John's parish will participate in the
5th Annual Christmas Turkey ~n~ Fixins Food Drive

Monetary donations are also being accepted
Checks should be payable to:
St. John Greek Church

with a notation for “Turkey & Fixins” in the memo line,
and mailed to:
ATTN: ANASTASIA SPIRAKIS
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
3301 33rd Avenue N.
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Spiritual Admonitions by the
Venerable Elder Pachomios of Chios

On the one-hundredth anniversary of his repose († 14 October 1905)

• This alone, O Lord: Enlighten me to know Thy will, and grant me the strength to perform it. Woe is me, the foul and impure one.

•  Christ accepts whatever good you do unto your brethren as done on His behalf.

• Whoever hears someone speaking against a brother behind his back and then goes to make it known shall not be forgiven either in this life or the next.

•  Always lower yourself and do not justify yourself; throw the blame upon yourself, and you will find repose.

•  Do your prayer rule with great care.

•  Live in simplicity: that is, if someone insults you, bear it; or if you are reviled
  or humiliated, do not retaliate or bear malice.

• Be rounded [i.e. do not have rough edges to your character].

• Reveal your thoughts clearly.

• I must beseech God with humility to protect me and ought not believe my thoughts.

• Preserve the attention of your mind.

• Attention is called the keeping of the mind, guarding of the heart, vigilance, and noetic quietness.

• When you pray, comprehend what is being said.

• Exercise restraint, which is superior to silence. Restraint is not to laugh, and not to speak idly or ill of others.

• Nothing so helps one flee from sin as remembrance of death.

• Virtue without humility is not virtue.

• Whatever you do, if you do not have humility and, especially, love, it amounts to nothing.

• Humility is to have no rancor with anyone.

• We must always say the Jesus Prayer, wherever we may be.

• When you reproach yourself, have no fear of going astray.

• Not my own will, but that of my Lord.

• I must always be ready for death; I should live as if it were the last day of my life.

• I should say the Jesus Prayer humbly, as if into His ear.

• I must always give preference to my elders.

• I must cut off my will: when the thought occurs to me to look at something, I should not look, or when it tells me to say something, I should not say it.

• I should unceasingly reproach myself.

• When they praise you, do not believe them; for they are imprecating you.

• It is impossible for God not to show mercy on one who is genuinely striving to be saved.

__________
() Source: Ἃγιος Kυπριανός, No. 329 (November-December 2005), p. 256.
Antonios N. Charokopos, Elder Pachomios: Founder of the Skete of the Holy
Fathers in Chios (Athens: 2003), pp. 189-194.