Sunday Church Services
8:30am: Orthros
10:00am: Divine Liturgy
IMPORTANT LINKS
Chapel Services
9:00am: Orthros
10:00am: Divine Liturgy
OUR MISSION:
To proclaim the Gospel of Christ in the Orthodox Christian Tradition while creating a vibrant, loving compassionate and welcoming commUNITY.
OUR VISION:
With the grace of God to provide a loving community where all are one with Christ through worship, learning, outreach and fellowship.
Parish Priest:
Rev. Father George Khitiri
You can now pay your Stewardship Online!
CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!
CLICK HERE for information on how you can help our Church through Planned Giving
CHURCH SERVICES
Friday, April 3rd:
The Akathist Hymn
To be Live-Streamed - 6:30pm
CLICK HERE to view Live-stream
Sunday, April 5th:
Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt
Othros: 8:30am / Divine Liturgy 10:00am
CLICK HERE to view Live-stream
Saturday, April 11th:
Saturday of Lazarus
Orthros: 8:30am / Divine Liturgy: 10:00am
Sunday, April 12th:
Palm Sunday
Orthros: 8:30am / Divine Liturgy: 10:00am
Orthros of the Bridegroom: 7:00pm
April 13th:
Holy and Great Monday
Orthros of the Bridegroom: 7:00pmm
April 14th:
Holy and Great Tuesday
Orthros of the Bridegroom: 7:00pm
April 15th:
Holy and Great Wednesday
Ninth Hour: 9:30am
Presanctified Liturgy: 10:00am
Sacrament of Holy Unction: 3:00pm
Sacrament of Holy Unction: 7:00pm
April 16th:
Holy and Great Thursday
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great: 8:00am
Reading of the 12 Gospels / Orthros and Procession of the Crucified: 7:00pm
April 17th:
Royal Hours: 10:00am
Great Vespers and Descent from the Cross: 3:00pm
Lamentations / Procession of the Sacred Tomb: 7:00pm
April 18th:
Holy and Great Saturday
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great: 9:00am
Orthros of the Resurrection / Divine Liturgy: 11:00 pm
April 19th:
Holy and Great Pascha
Great Vespers of Agape: 11:00am
Thursday, April 2, 2020
PUBLIC NOTICE
AS A RESULT OF THE CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC THE MERCEDES-BENZ CAR RAFFLE SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 29, 2020, HAS BEEN POSTPONED. ONCE THE CRISIS IS OVER AND WE HAVE THE PERMISSION OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND OTHER LEGAL AUTHORITIES, WE WILL RESCHEDULE THE RAFFLE AND POST ANOTHER PUBLIC NOTICE WITH THE NEW DATE
ON BEHALF OF SS NICHOLAS, CONSTANTINE AND HELEN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND CONTINUED SUPPORT.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CALL THE CHURCH OFFICE AT (973)251-2920.
THANK YOU, BE WELL!
March 31, 2020
Dear Parishioner,
I pray that this message finds you healthy. As I mentioned in my previous message, I will keep everyone up to date as to the status of our church and community as often as possible.
These are unprecedented times that we are living. Basically, everything is shut down in an effort to control this virus pandemic and that includes church. The Catholic Newark Archdiocese has canceled Palm Sunday and Easter and we are in danger of doing the same. Everyone, no matter where you live or what line of work you are in, is affected by this.
We have received donations and Stewardship funds from our fellow Parishioners of approximately $10,000. Close to $4,500 are emergency fund donations. I want to thank those who have done their part in helping our church, your church, get through this financial challenge.
We do realize that in addition to your generous donations, the Parish Council needs to act as well. Therefore, the purpose of this message is to update you on what steps we have taken and are prepared to take to help minimize the effects this is having on our financials along with attempting to keep life as normal as possible for us all.
As everyone would agree, no one likes to see people out of work, however in times like these difficult decisions must be made for the good of the entire community. To this end, we as a non-profit do not pay into unemployment tax, therefore our staff cannot collect unemployment.
The Parish Council has scaled down to essential duties only. We agree that our staff are of great value to the running of our church. That’s why I said “duties” in lieu of “staff”. The non-essential duties, such as rentals for one example, have been suspended which in turn reduces our payroll and shifts the focus of our staff.
The shift of essential duties will start with cleaning and disinfecting the entire facility, top to bottom, so that once we open again, we will be ready to move forward. Since this, let’s call it event, event started, our staff has been cleaning systematically the entire facility. To date the education wing has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and has been closed down. The sanctuary, since Father George holds services there, has been constantly cleaned, even though only a handful of people are in the church. The gym, where most people repeatedly congregate, is the next phase of cleaning, then painting. The common areas are constantly being cleaned as well. The savings to the church are approximately $800/day if we were going to outsource the cleaning.
Our Greek School is continuing with their work as well. Our Greek School Director, Kyria Rita, has arranged for homework to be taken home by the students and sent back to the teachers for review and grading. Our main goal here is to have our students continue their Greek School education, get promoted to the next grade and those who are of age to be able to graduate this year.
The Parish Council, through the office, began contacting our creditors for a deferment of certain bills, that as I mentioned in my previous email, continue to come in. The donations have helped tremendously. We have contacted the bank that holds our mortgage and they have deferred our payment for 3 months.
The car raffle has been postponed. The State of New Jersey and local authorities have given us, along with other organizations, permission to postponed the raffle. A date has not yet been determined.
May rentals have been canceled/postponed. A loss to the church of $10,000.
Last year we had our most successful festival, raising $90,000 for our church. With this “event” upon us, many churches will be cancelling their festivals for the spring and possibly rescheduling for the fall, around the same time we have our festival. This will hurt our profits since people may not come.
On a positive note, we have been able to Live-Stream Services which many of you have been watching. Father George will be holding Services on Friday nights and Sunday Liturgy. I ask that you tune in to be a part of and pray along with your fellow Parishioners. You can access the link from our website or click here, .
Once again, I ask that you please consider making a donation towards your church financial well-being. It can be in the form of an emergency donation, accelerate or increase your Stewardship or send us a check to have candles lit for you. Please also remember that we are here for you should you need us. You can contact us directly by phone 973-251-2920 or by email .
We are all in this together and through each other’s support, prayer and spiritual guidance we will persevere.
In Prayer,
Peter A. Vardakis
Parish Council President
Updated!
CLICK HERE to go to our Iconography Page to view the pictures and for more information about the Iconography Project and ways you can donate!
GREEK DANCE INSTRUCTION
FOR CHILDREN!
We are pleased to announce that we are offering Greek Dance Instruction for Children ages 4 to 11. Classes are on Sundays following the Divine Liturgy in the Small Hall. The cost is $150 per child. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!
This is a great opportunity for our children to learn how to dance Greek!
To register online CLICK HERE. Or CLICK HERE to download and print the Registration Form. Or you can call the Church Office at (973) 251-2920 or email Father George at frgeorge.khitiri@gcrmail.org
Upcoming Events
