WHAT IS PENTECOST? Most of us recognize Pentecost Sunday as the day on which the “Kneeling prayers” are said at the end of the Liturgy. These prayers draw to a close our long celebration of the Resurrection of Christ on Holy Pascha. But the roots of Pentecost are much older than Christianity, and to understand it we have to look at both the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, and also at the great prophets such as Ezekiel and Joel. In the Torah or Books of the Law, written by Moses, we read that God instructed Moses to keep various feasts throughout the year. A full list of the feasts is found in Chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus. One of the most important is Passover, in Hebrew called Pesach (from which we get the Greek word, Pascha ). Passover is an annual memorial of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. On this day the Jewish people remember how their ancestors escaped Egypt. That night, the Angel of Death “passed over” the houses of the Jews, which were marked in the shape of a cross with the blood of a lamb. To remember the original night of Passover, the people were to sacrifice a lamb and eat it just as they had eaten quickly before their night-time escape from Egypt. They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread for a week, remembering that on the night of the Passover there was no time to allow the bread-dough to rise (see Leviticus 23:6). The next Feast to occur is called Omer , described in Leviticus 23:9 ff. This feast falls on the Sunday after the first day of Unleavened Bread. On this day the people were to take grain and offer it to God. This feast is also called “wave-offering” or “first fruits”—so called because on this day in ancient times, the people brought the first ears of grain, usually barley, to the temple to “wave” it before the LORD. It was a way of remembering that when they reached the Promised Land, the Hebrew people offered the first grain of the first harvest to God. The Feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew called Shavuoth (sha-voo-OAT), is a Jewish festival which occurs fifty days after Omer or the Sunday after Passover. By New Testament times, educated Jews throughout the Roman Empire spoke Greek, and called the Hebrew feasts by their Greek names. Therefore, Pentecosti is the Greek name for the feast, from the Greek words for “fifty” and “day”. Now we remember that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, which that year was the day on which lambs were being slaughtered at the Great Temple in preparation for the Passover feast. Then, as we know, on the third day following—the first day of the week, or Sunday—Jesus rose from death. That day, which was also the third day of Unleavened Bread, was the Feast of Omer. For that reason, St. Paul calls Jesus “the first-fruits of the dead” (see 1 Corinthians 15:33). In other words, Jesus was Himself an offering of first-fruits on behalf of all people. (Continued on next page) Holy Wisdom Holy Wisdom Holy Wisdom Holy Wisdom St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, Founded in 1926 2504 N. St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio, TX 78212-3799 Office: 210-735-5051 Emergency : 210-788-8797 June/July Newsletter
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WHAT IS PENTECOST?
Most of us recognize Pentecost Sunday as the day on which the “Kneeling prayers” are said at the end of the Liturgy. These prayers draw to a close our long celebration of the Resurrection of Christ on Holy Pascha.
But the roots of Pentecost are much older than Christianity, and to understand it we have to look at both the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, and also at the great prophets such as Ezekiel and Joel.
In the Torah or Books of the Law, written by Moses, we read that God instructed Moses to keep various
feasts throughout the year. A full list of the feasts is found in Chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus. One of the most important is Passover, in Hebrew called Pesach (from which we get the Greek word, Pascha).
Passover is an annual memorial of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. On this
day the Jewish people remember how their ancestors escaped Egypt. That night, the Angel of Death “passed over” the houses of the Jews, which were marked in the shape of a cross with the blood of a lamb.
To remember the original night of Passover, the people were to sacrifice a lamb and eat it just as they had eaten quickly before their night-time escape from Egypt. They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread for a week, remembering that on the night of the Passover there was no time to allow the bread-dough to rise (see Leviticus 23:6).
The next Feast to occur is called Omer, described in Leviticus 23:9 ff. This feast falls on the Sunday after the first day of Unleavened Bread. On this day the people were to take grain and offer it to God. This feast
is also called “wave-offering” or “first fruits”—so called because on this day in ancient times, the people brought the first ears of grain, usually barley, to the temple to “wave” it before the LORD. It was a way of
remembering that when they reached the Promised Land, the Hebrew people offered the first grain of the first harvest to God.
The Feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew called Shavuoth (sha-voo-OAT), is a Jewish festival which occurs
fifty days after Omer or the Sunday after Passover. By New Testament times, educated Jews throughout the
Roman Empire spoke Greek, and called the Hebrew feasts by their Greek names. Therefore, Pentecosti is the Greek name for the feast, from the Greek words for “fifty” and “day”.
Now we remember that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, which that year was the day on which lambs
were being slaughtered at the Great Temple in preparation for the Passover feast. Then, as we know, on the third day following—the first day of the week, or Sunday—Jesus rose from death.
That day, which was also the third day of Unleavened Bread, was the Feast of Omer. For that reason, St.
Paul calls Jesus “the first-fruits of the dead” (see 1 Corinthians 15:33). In other words, Jesus was Himself an offering of first-fruits on behalf of all people.
(Continued on next page)
Holy WisdomHoly WisdomHoly WisdomHoly Wisdom
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church,
Founded in 1926
2504 N. St. Mary’s Street,
San Antonio, TX 78212-3799
Office: 210-735-5051
Emergency : 210-788-8797
June/July Newsletter
PAGE 2 ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
According to the Law, the Hebrew people
were instructed to “count” each day for fifty days, beginning on the Sunday following Passover (Leviticus 23:15). Modern Jewish children still
observe this ritual, “counting” aloud each morning with their parents. Then they celebrate Pentecost
with special bread and foods.
It is interesting that the Law of Moses tells the people to begin counting “on the morning after
the Sabbath,” i.e. on Sunday, and not on the day of
Passover itself. Jesus, of course, rose from the dead on Sunday. Thus the Jewish feasts of Pesach and
Omer are prophetic of Jesus’ own death and resurrection: Jesus offered Himself, first as the
Paschal Lamb on Passover itself, and then as a first offering to God on the day of the Wave Offering.
The Jewish feasts were also prophetic of
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. According to the Acts of the Apostles (see Ch. 1-2)
this occurred on the feast of Pentecost following Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples were assembled
in Jerusalem for the Feast, ten days after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven. On that day it was
customary for Jews from all over the Roman Empire to gather in Jerusalem. The disciples,
including the Mother of God, were all together—a total of 120 people, according the account in Acts.
Suddenly the sound of a powerful wind
filled the room. Mysteriously, something like tongues of fire appeared to rest on the head of each
one of the gathered disciples. Immediately they left the room and began to prophesy in many different
languages, as understood by the crowds outdoors. The Apostles understood the tongues of fire to be
the visible presence of the Holy Spirit, who in Old Testament times was associated with wind and
fire.
This strange event parallels what is described in the Book of Numbers 11:24-25, in
which seventy elders gathered together by Moses were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
prophesy. When Moses was urged to rebuke two of the “prophets,” he replied that he wished all of
God’s people would prophecy. Thus the event of Pentecost described in Acts, is a fulfilment of that
wish. The Christian Pentecost was also a fulfilment of a vision of the Prophet Joel.
Today in the Orthodox Church, at Great Vespers on the night before Pentecost we read
aloud from the passage in Numbers as a background to what is described in the Acts of the Apostles.
Then we read from the Prophet Joel, who was told by God that one day, the Holy Spirit would fall
upon ordinary people and they too would become prophets (see Joel 2:28-30).
Finally, we read from the prophet Ezekiel, who wrote that one day, God would take out the
“stony” heart of the people and replace it with a “heart of flesh”—in other words, they would no
longer be judgmental but would begin to love God and one another.
Acts 2:5 also says that each person in the
crowd “heard them [the apostles] speaking in his own language,” a point which is repeated in Acts
2:8. This could mean that the disciples were not necessarily speaking in other languages, but that the
people were hearing in other languages. Either way, the point is that miraculously, the disciples began
preaching to the crowd about the resurrection of Jesus in ways that everyone could understand,
regardless of their native language.
The Church has always understood this
strange event to be a reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel, recounted in Genesis 11. In this
story, God mixed up the languages of the people because of their idolatry. Before that, people were
cooperating to build huge towers (which archaeologists call ziggurats) to reach the heavens.
God mixed up the language of the people so that they could not cooperate to build their towers. At
Pentecost, however, this punishment was reversed so that people could understand one another even
when they were speaking in different languages.
The point here is that in the Genesis story, the people were exalting themselves as powerful
beings who could reach the heavens on their own. But in the story of Acts, the disciples were
humbling themselves before God, and were pointing their listeners to Jesus Christ, the Savior of
the world. Moreover, the disciples were filled with such love that people wanted to hear their message.
Their example was so powerful that thousands were baptized in a single day (Acts 2:41).
PAGE 3 ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
There is no question that the gift of “tongues” to the Apostles was miraculous. St. Paul mentions
“speaking in tongues” in 1 Corinthians 12:30 and again in 1 Corinthians 14:2 ff, as spiritual gifts.
He compares tongues-speaking to prophesying, and says that prophesying is more important
because it builds up the Church (1 Cor. 14:5). Tongues, he says, must always be translated.
We also note that “prophesying” can mean “preaching,” and probably has that meaning in the
Pauline letters.
In the mid-19th century in Europe, and a
few decades later in America, churches sprang up which called themselves “Pentecostal.” These
off-shoots of Protestant churches emphasized the experience of speaking in tongues, or ecstatic
speech, as proof of salvation. However, in general the experience of “speaking in tongues” meant
uttering sounds which had no known meaning.
In the Orthodox Church we would point out that the biblical phrase, “speaking in
tongues” (expressed by the Greek word glossolalia) does not mean uttering nonsensical
sounds. In Greek literature it means to speak in a different language, or to speak poetically, or to
speak powerfully (prophetically). Furthermore, it could mean all three of these things at the same
time.
From Church history we learn that very early, the phenomenon of “speaking in tongues”
was not permitted at the celebration of the Eucharist, that is, the Lord’s Supper. This
followed Paul’s injunction that preaching the Gospel of the resurrection is more important, and
also that any utterances in a church gathering must be understandable. The spiritual gift of “speaking
in tongues” therefore came to be used in the primitive Church either for private prayer, or for
supernatural prophesying when the apostles did not know the language of the persons to whom
they were preaching. In the latter case, what they said could be translated for others standing nearby
because they were real languages. But Paul argued that whether he spoke in “tongues of men or of
angels,” the real point would be to communicate the love of God; otherwise the experience would
be worthless.
Today, many Christians, including Orthodox, may experience “tongues-speaking” in
private prayer. Sometimes this occurs even when the person has never heard of modern Pentecostal
Christians or their practices. There are also accounts of missionaries speaking in a language
which they did not know, to people in a mission field. This has been testified to both by
missionaries and by natives of areas where Christian mission is taking place.
Recently, tongues-speaking among
Pentecostals has been studied by linguists. They point out that ecstatic speech occurs in a variety
of religions, not just among Christians. Sceptics also claim that Pentecostal-Christian
tongues-speaking does not follow the structure of real languages. However, this could not
explain how the phenomenon works in Christian mission, either historically or today.
As Orthodox Christians, we note that if non-Christians speak in tongues, it does not mean
that they have received the same Holy Spirit as the Apostles. Just as ordinary speech can be used
for good or for evil, ecstatic speech is pointless if it is not to the glory of God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We also preserve the tradition that the Liturgy is not to be interrupted by
ecstatic speech. Apart from the sermon, we should not talk aloud (and that includes gossip!)
during the Liturgy or inside the worship area.
Finally, it is important to realize that the most significant dimension of Pentecost was not
speaking in tongues, but the love of God which was imparted to the disciples and their joy in
telling others about Christ. St. Paul writes about this to the Corinthians, to say that tongues will
cease, but love never ends. Our goal as Christians is to be Spirit-filled, so that our lives overflow
with divine Love for God, for everyone we meet, and for all that God has made.
+Fr Brendan
ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH PAGE 4
Saturday of Souls
June 18
PHILOPTOCHOS
Philoptochos extends a heartfelt thank you to everyone in our St Sophia Parish Community.
We appreciate all of our dedicated and hard working members and volunteers who give selflessly of their
time and talents for all our endeavors in fundraising and in service to our community. Thank you to all our
fellow parishioners and organizations who have responded generously with donations for our collections that
support many charitable organizations such as our Holy Cross Seminary, St Basil’s Academy, San Antonio
Food Bank, CAM, Warrior & Family Support Center just to name just a few.
We had a very active year with bake sales, coffee hours, serving Makarias for grieving families, making
over 1100 sandwich lunches feeding over 1000 homeless and the hungry in need through Mobile Loaves and
Fishes.
We assembled and shipped 98 hygiene kits to IOCC for relief to people displaced by natural disasters in the
US and overseas.
We have taken time for fun and social events, with our Festival of Tables Luncheon, Founders Day luncheon,
and Valentine Bingo Luncheon honoring our senior citizens.
In February, we visited Holy Archangels Monastery in nearby Kendalia and learned about the growth of
Orthodox monasticism in America and Texas in particular.
In May we hosted our first afternoon of artsy fun and mingling with friends while enjoying delicious light
refreshments and drinks. We were guided step by step, by our local artist Marie Claire Valdez, to create a
starry night on canvas that we took home.
With our summer months, comes a brief reprieve from planned activities and a slower pace that allows time
for reflection, and relaxation. We invite all women to join us in the Fall as we serve our Lord, our Church
and our Community.
A preview of some our planned activities in the fall are listed below.
September 10, Saturday General Membership Meeting and Brunch at 10:30 am
October 8, Saturday General Membership Meeting, & trip Botanical Gardens (weather permitting)
October 30, Sunday Philoptochos Founders Memorial Service & coffee hour
December 3, Saturday Holiday Brunch at Magnolia Haus
May God bless you and keep you safe in His care over the summer months and always.
Lauri Dunn
Holy Ascension
June 9
ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH PAGE 5
On May 15, we had a great day recognizing the work of our dedicated students and teachers. The dedication
of our teachers, as well as the love they have for their students helped make our Sunday Church School year a
great success. We also want to thank Tomi Papanikolaou for organizing and leading the preparation of the
delicious lunch.
We have a Director for SCS, Agape Wisenhant. Please meet her! It would be nice, however, if we had a
small team (two or three) who would like to offer their time and talents in that role. Please contact Father
Brenden if you would like more information, or if you are interested in being a teacher.
As you enjoy your summer, we are looking forward to our Vacation Church School which will take place on
Costa Sgagias, President ……….....……...………210-659-2677
Daughters of Penelope
Kathy Kaberides, President ………………...….....210-381-8135
PARISH COUNCIL
• Antoinette (Toni) Grauke
President
• Costas Sgagias
Vice-President
• Sandra Salas
Treasurer
• Pam Layden
Secretary
• Steve Brown
• Stan Masters
• Harris Papahronis
• Roger Sanftner
• Christina Welzbacher
Holy Pentecost June 19
ST. SOPHIA G REEK ORTHODOX CHURCH PAGE 7
DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE
Hello and Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there!
Our May meeting on the 9th was very productive and lots of fun! If you missed it, you missed our big Bingo game. Our winners were Pam Layden and Nickie Frey.
Our slate of officers for next year was also set: President – Kathy Kaberides, Vice-President – Lisa Griffith,
Treasurer – Meredith Rokas and Secretary – Olga Fafoutakis. If you, or anyone you know would like to
serve in one of these key positions, or another position, please let me know. We will be installing these four
officers in June.
Please remember that we will be supporting our AHEPANS by baking baklava on June 6, 7 and 8 for their
upcoming Texas Folklife. Toni Grauke will lead the baking and begin at 9 each morning.
Our annual Rummage Sale will be held July 29th and 30th this year. We are now collecting donations in the
double classroom. We also provide tax receipts for your donation. So, please donate your gently used items
to us!
Members who have not sent in their 2016 dues, please do so now. Dues may be mailed to the church office.
Please annotate “2016 Dues” on the memo line. Dues for this year are $47.00. If you are not current with
your dues, but want continuity in you membership, you will need to include your past year(s) dues at the new
current rate of $47.00 for each year or you may complete an application for reinstatement and include the
$15.00 reinstatement fee with your payment and application. .
Our next scheduled meeting is June 11th at 7:00 pm in the double classroom.
In Theta Pi,
Kathy Kaberides
President
Editor’s Note
Remember that the Newsletter deadline is JULY 15 for the AUGUST 2016 issue. Please e-mail your
articles or items before the deadline to the Church Office. (email address is on the calendar). If your name
does not appear in the birthday or anniversary lists, please fill out a Church Register form located in the Hall
pamphlet rack and return it to the office. If you know anyone who is ill and not on the Prayer List and
would like their name listed, call the Church Office at 735-5051.
ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH PAGE 8
AHEPA
Our current Chapter Officers were reelected for the 2016 - 2017 term: President –
Constantine Sgagias; Vice-President - George Hathaway; Secretary - John Graham;
Treasurer - John Fotopoulos and Board of Governors - Jim Vamvakias.
The Ahepans were thrilled to
Host the bar for Philoptochos’
“Canvas by You” Event.
A BIG thank you to all the Ahepans
that helped us recognize “AHEPA Day”
by sponsoring coffee hour on Sunday.
We had a great spread - -the mimosas were a hit.
Another REALLY BIG thank you to everyone that donated
“the gift of life” during our blood drive. We even recruited
visitors from New York (Alexandra Gavallos) to donate!
Don’t forget signup sheets for the Texas Folklife Festival are still available in Mangos Hall. This year’s festival will be three days: Friday - June 10, 5pm to 11pm, Saturday - June 11, 11am to 11pm, and Sunday June 12, noon to 7pm. Please consider signing up to help.
Following the festival, we are off to Houston, TX, for the 85th AHEPA Family District 16 Convention on June 24 – 26. Visit www.ahepad16.org for additional information.
Our next AHEPA meeting will not be until September 12, 2016, 7pm. Till then please check your email/mail for information about our events.
In July, AHEPA will once again start collecting 20-inch box fans for the “Project Cool” event
hosted by the City of San Antonio. Also, you may donate monetary contributions toward the
purchase of box fans for senior residents. Make checks in any amount payable to "AHEPA".
Please help a needy citizen by donating a new fan!
We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable summer.
Thank you and God Bless,
Constantine Sgagias
ST. SOPHIA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
PAGE 9
DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE ANNUAL RUMMAGE SALE
IN CHURCH HALL
8:00AM TO 4:00PM - JULY 29TH
AND 8:00AM TO 4:00PM – JULY 30
TH
BE SURE TO COME AND HELP SUPPORT OUR SALE. ALL PROCEEDS WILL HELP FUND NEXT YEAR’S DOP
PROJECTS.
DONATIONS OF GENTLY USED ITEMS WILL BE APPRECIATED.
TAX RECEIPTS WILL BE AVAILABLE
WE WILL BE ACCEPTING DONATIONS AFTER THE DIVINE LITURGY ANY SUNDAY BEFORE THE SALE IN