Categories
FOCUS MGOCSM Sports

Weekly Announcements – 03/19/2017

  1. Mid-Lent Service – will be held this Tuesday, 21st evening at 6:30pm.
  1. Feast of Annunciation – will be held on March 25th. Morning prayers will begin at 8am.
  1. STYL Basketball Tournament Meeting – next Sunday the 26th after Sunday School. All youth and FOCUS are requested to attend this meeting.
  1. Parish General Body – meeting date is changed and will be held Sunday, April 2nd. All eligible members are requested to attend.
  1. Lenten Retreat – Our Parish Lenten Retreat and Confession will be held on Saturday, April 8th starting at 2pm. This year we will be having two speakers, one for the Youth and one for adults. Dn. Shawn Thomas will be here to address the Youth and FOCUS and Rev. Fr. Biju Paranthal will be here for the adults. All are requested to attend.
  1. Holy Week Schedule – Please see the schedule for Holy Week on the Calendar. Just a reminder that we will be having evening prayer every evening during Holy Week. Kindly make arrangements to attend.
Categories
MGOCSM

Weekly Announcments – 03/12/2017

  1. Week 3 Of Great Lent – Please see the lectionary (bible readings) and devotional for Week 3 of the Great Lent at the following link. Great Lent Week 3 Lectionary & Devotional.
  1. MGOCSM Meeting – the next MGOCSM will be held week next on Friday, March 17th at 6pm. All Youth members are requested to attend.
  1. Parish Committee Meeting – will be held this  Saturday, March 18th at 3pm. All Committee and members are requested to attend.
  1. Mid-Lent Service – there will be a Mid-Lent service held on Tuesday, 21st evening at 6:30pm.
  1. Feast of Annunciation – The Feast of Annunciation will be held on March 25th. Morning prayers will begin at 8am.
  1. Parish General Body Meeting – will be held on Sunday, March 26th. All eligible members are requested to attend.
  1. First Day at Church – Kindly join us in welcoming the newborn baby boy, David Varghese, of Bills and Nancy Varghese. Let us uphold the new born baby and his family in our prayers.
Great Lent Week 3 Lectionary
Categories
FOCUS MGOCSM

Weekly Announcements – 03/05/2017

  1. Great Lent Evening Prayer – During Great Lent we will be having evening prayers on Wednesday at 6:30pm.
    • After evening prayers on Wednesday, I request all the choir members to assemble to go over the songs for Holy Week.
    • Please see the lectionary (bible readings) and devotional for Week 2 of the Great Lent at the following link. Great Lent Week 2 Lectionary & Devotional.
  1. FOCUS Meeting – will be held this Friday, March 10th at 7pm at the residence of Juby and Giny Thomas. All FOCUS members are requested to attend.
  1. MGOCSM Meeting – will be held week next on Friday, March 17th at 6pm. We will be beginning to read a new exciting book and discussing it. We will begin with Evening prayer followed by the meeting. All Youth members are requested to attend.
  1. Parish Committee Meeting – will be held on Saturday, March 18th at 3pm. All Committee and members are requested to attend.
  1. Parish General Body – meeting will be held on Sunday, March 26th. All eligible members are requested to attend.
  1. First Day at Church – Kindly join me in welcoming the newborn baby girl, Evelyn Panicker, of Linu and Remya Panicker. Let us uphold the new born baby and her family in our prayers

Great Lent Week 2 Lectionary

Great Lent Week 2 Devotional

Categories
Uncategorized

Happy Birthday to Our Vicar!!

The Assistant Vicar, Rev. Fr. Abraham(Abey) George, and the parishioners of St Thomas Malankara Orthodox Church of Long Island would like to wish our Vicar, Very. Rev. Dr. Yohannan Sankarathil, Cor-Episcopa, a blessed Happy Birthday!

Achen has been our spiritual mentor for the past 31 years serving at St. Thomas, LI. He has ceaselessly pushed our parish to grow in all levels. From the origins of the American Diocese, Achen’s hard work and dedication towards serving the Diocese cannot be forgotten. All the spiritual organizations of St. Thomas Long Island are very thankful to him for bestowing his knowledge and ideas to help the parish grow as God’s faithful children. Through his prayers and his ministry, the parishioners are strengthened and are moved to grow closer towards Christ and His Kingdom.

We want to wish him a very Happy Birthday, and a blessed ministry in the Lord’s vineyard!

       

Categories
Clergys Corner

Resources for our Journey through Great Lent

As we begin the Great and Holy Lent, here are some resources that will help you in your journey. Blessed Lent!

“Prayer, Feasts, and Fasts” by the Ever-Memorable Metropolitan Philaret of New York
http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/prayer_feasts_fasts.aspx

“Be the Bee” Episode On Fasting as Discipline:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rt9An2OaDs

“On Forgiveness” by Fr. Abraham (Abey) George
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W6YoRQazA8

Great Lent Prayer book (in English)
http://www.ds-wa.org/lenten-daily-prayers.html

A Podcast on “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” by Fr. John Oliver
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hearts_and_minds/god_be_merciful_to_me_a_sinner

Categories
FOCUS MGOCSM

Weekly Announcements – 02/26/2017

  1. Great Lent – Just a friendly reminder that Great Lent begins tomorrow Monday, February 27th. If you would like to setup a time for confession kindly contact our clergy as soon as possible.
    • Evening prayers during Lent – we will be having evening prayer every Wednesday at 6:30pm starting this Wednesday, March 1st during Lent.
    • Choir Practice – After evening prayers on Wednesday, all the choir members are requested to assemble to go over the songs for Holy Week.
    • Please see the lectionary (bible readings) and devotional for Week 1 of the Great Lent at the following link. Great Lent Week1 Lectionary & Devotional.
  1. Monthly Prayer Meeting – Our first prayer meeting for the year will begin next Sunday at 5pm at the residence of Valiayachen and Kochamma. All are requested to attend.
  1. MGOCSM Meeting – our next MGOCSM meeting will be held on Friday, March 17th at 6pm. All Youth members are requested to attend
  1. FOCUS Meeting – our next FOCUS meeting will be held on Friday, March 10th at 7pm at the residence of Mr. Juby and Giny Thomas. All FOCUS members are requested to attend.
  1. Valiyachen and Kochamma – will be returning back from India this coming Saturday. Let us pray for their safe return.
Great Lent Week 1 – Lectionary
Great Lent Week 1 – Devotional
Categories
MGOCSM Sunday School

Weekly Announcements – 02/19/2017

  1. Sunday School Education Day – Yesterday we had our Sunday School Education Day led by the MGOCSM of our parish. I want to thank the youth for taking the initiative for organizing the program for the day.
  1. MGOCSM Meeting – Our next MGOCSM meeting will be held this Friday, February 24th at 6pm at the residence of Dr. Thomas Mathew and Mrs. Smitha Mathew. All MGOCSM members are requested to attend.
  1. Great Lent – Just a friendly reminder that Great Lent begins next Monday, February 27th. If you would like to setup a time for confession kindly contact Valiya Achen or Abey Achen as soon as possible.
  1. Lenten Evening Prayer – We will be having Lenten evening prayer every Wednesday during Great lent at 6:30pm beginning Wednesday, March 1st. All are requested to attend.
  1. March Monthly Prayer Meeting – The monthly prayer meeting for March will be held on March 5th at Vailya Achen’s house.
  2. Worship Schedule – of the year is finalized and printed. See below for details.
2017 Schedule of Worship
Categories
MGOCSM Sunday School

Sunday School Education Day

On February 18th, the MGOCSM and Sunday School held our first Education Day for the Sunday School kids of our parish. The theme of the event was from Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.” We started the day with prayer, followed by a general session led by Shojil Abraham. Shojil helped the kids of our Sunday School better understand the theme by showing them a presentation and giving them examples of how God gives us strength. He also spoke about the importance of the grace of God and how to receive it.

After the general session, we sang songs with the kids and broke into different groups to talk further about the theme. Each group was led by our Sunday School teachers who prepared a lesson plan for their classes. The teachers emphasized the grace of God working in our lives and how he provides us strength. They also created fun theme related activities for the kids to take part in.

We would like to thank both our Achens for their guidance and presence during this event. Thank you to all our MGOCSM youth and Sunday School teachers who made this event a fun and successful day for our kids.

IMG_4700.JPG

Please see link below for additional pictures:

Education Day 2017

SS Education Day 2017- Youtube

Categories
FOCUS MGOCSM Sports Sunday School

Weekly Announcements – 02/12/2017

  1. All Departed Faithful – Next Sunday is when we remember all the departed faithful. Kindly submit the names of your loved ones by Saturday evening.
  2. March Monthly Prayer Meeting – The monthly prayer meeting for March will be held on March 5th at Vailya Achen’s house.
  3. Basketball Tournament Meeting – on February 26th there will STYL Basketball Tournament meeting after Sunday School. All youth are requested to attend this meeting
  4. FOCUS Meeting – Our next FOCUS meeting will be held on Friday, February 17th at 7pm at the residence of Deepu and Leena Palakaddan. All FOCUS members are requested to attend.
  5. Altar Servers Meeting – will be held on Sunday February 19th after Sunday School. All Altar Servers are requested to attend.
  6. MGOCSM Meeting – Our next MGOCSM meeting will be held on Friday, February 24th at 6pm. It will be held at the residence Dr. Thomas Mathew and Mrs. Smitha Mathew. All MGOCSM members are requested to attend.
  7. New Hand Dryers –  New environmentally friendly air hand dryers will be installed in the bathrooms, if anyone wishes to sponsor them please reach out the Secretary or Treasurer.
  8. 2016 Accounts Finalization – Please finalize all 2016 accounts over the next 2 weeks, as accounts will be closed for 2016 on Feb 26th, 2017.
  9. 2016 Sunday School Newsletter – please find the Sunday School Newsletter for 2016.  It shows the various service events and activities that our Sunday School did over the 2016 school year.

Categories
FOCUS MGOCSM MMVS

Weekly Announcements – 02/05/2017

  1. Three Day Lent (Nineveh lent) – begins tonight onto Wednesday. As we cut down on food and spend more time in prayer, let us also spend time reading the book of Jonah. I suggest that you spend time discussing the book with your spouse and your children.
  1. Evening Prayer & Qurbana this Week – Friendly reminder that we will be having evening prayer Monday and Tuesday evening at 6:30pm this week. On Wednesday evening we will be celebrating Holy Qurbana for the end of the Nineveh fast. Evening prayer will begin at 6:30pm. All are requested to attend.
  1. Thomas LI Visits St. Bernards RC Church – Last Sunday we visited St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church. The Church community gave us a warm welcome: the Fr. Ralph Sommer, the priest at the parish, along with the members of the congregation. We had a little over 20 people from our parish for this visit. Special thanks to all who participated in this event.
  1. Marth Mariam Vanitha Samajam Meeting – will be meeting today right after refreshments. Going forward the samjam will be meeting every week unless otherwise notified. All Samajam members are requested to attend.
  1. MGOCSM Study Series – The area MGOCSM is launching a 4 part study series on the Holy Qurbana led by Aju Achen. The First class today from 2pm-3:30pm at St. Basil’s Church, Franklin Square. The fee is $20 to attend all four sessions. I encourage all the Youth, particularly those who are teaching Sunday school to attend.
  1. FOCUS Meeting – Our next FOCUS meeting will be held on Friday, February 17th at 7pm at the residence of Deepu and Leena Palakaddan. All FOCUS members are requested to attend.
  1. Altar Servers Meeting – will be held on Sunday February 19th after Sunday School. All Altar Servers are requested to attend.
  1. MGOCSM Meeting – Our next MGOCSM meeting will be held on Friday, February 24th at 6pm. It will be held at the residence Dr. Thomas Mathew and Mrs. Smitha. All MGOCSM members are requested to attend.
  1. FOCUS Nation – Abey Achen will be away this week starting Thursday, he will be flying out to Houston, Texas for the FOCUS Nation 2017 Conference and will be returning Sunday Night. Kindly uphold him in your prayers. We will be having a guest achen celebrating Holy Qurbana next Sunday. Also, since next Sunday is the Sunday commemorating all the departed clergy, kindly write down and submit the names of the departed clergy that you would like to be remembered to the Altar Servers for next week.
  1. Newborn Baby Boy – Kindly join me in congratulating Mr. John Abraham (Sarasan) and Naisy Abraham on their new born baby boy Aaron Mathai Abraham. Let us keep the new born and the family in our prayers.
  1. Our Last Stand Film – A documentary film about the persecuted Christian community living in Syria and Iraq called “Our Last Stand”  is going to be screened at a theater here in Long Island on Sunday February 12th, from 6:30pm -7:30pm followed by discussion and a reception.   The event is hosted by St. Peter’s Syriac Orthodox Church in Hicksville, and is open to the public. Kindly see the flyer for more details.
Our Last Stand Film