Fifty Years of Saint Andrew!

Fr. John Theodosion

In the year 2012 we will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the forming of the community of Saint Andrew! It seems like an amazing thing to say. We oftentimes still feel like a community which is still starting out with a few families and struggling to survive. I am always filled with a feeling of awe as I think about the church and its progress in the past 7 years and when I think about the 42 that came before my time I am speechless. The struggles, countless hours of volunteering, hard work, and ingenuity that so many people employed to bring our community to where it is today. Of course all of this work would be wasted if it were not for the Grace of God who makes all things possible. He has blessed us in so many ways that our minds can hardly comprehend how much he has loved and supported us as a church.

I wish to share with you an important shift that has occurred at Saint Andrew as well as many other Greek Orthodox Churches over the past several decades. I remember hearing as I was growing up that, “We must preserve our faith and heritage for the future!” There was always someone at a general assembly meeting or clergy laity discussing the importance of preserving our faith and heritage for the future. And indeed we needed at the beginning to have a preservationist mentality. There was a fear and understandably so, that the many small Greek Orthodox Communities wouldn’t make it. That they would not survive into the future or that we would be swallowed up by the many other Christian denominations. Or maybe our people would just go to other churches in an effort to assimilate and not stand out in a “white bread” American culture. Keeping and holding on to our faith as a means to keep from losing it worked so very well for our fore fathers and mothers because they were able to band together and strengthen and fortify one another. Their love for Orthodox Christian Faith and the Grace of the Holy Spirit were the ties that bound them together. Their example of love and unity is a tremendous example for us today as we plot the course of the community of Saint Andrew for the future.

I realize however that there was a time when the church began to break out of its preservationist mentality and began to look outward. I am not sure what brought this about. Maybe it was the fact that many churches had been built already and expansions had been completed so the people began to reexamine their mentality for their work in the church. I think they began to realize that just preserving the faith and heritage was not enough, but that sharing our culture and faith was going to do more to ensure the future of the church then keeping it to ourselves. This shift in mentality also seems to have brought out and highlighted by the calling of Christ that our Greek Orthodox Christian communities to become more philanthropic. This most certainly is a mentality which has been a part of the Greek culture to show philoxenia, (love of strangers) and philanthropia (love of fellow man), to those in need.

The growth of our community from approximately 50 families to over 700 families is not an accident. The synergistic relationship between the parishioners of Saint Andrew and God Himself has brought us to the place we are today. By the Grace of God, we have a beautiful and spiritually uplifting church, we have an excellent gymnasium, a state of the art kitchen, and finally we have beautiful new classrooms and meeting space for our students and ministries. Along with all this we also have a good size mortgage, but now we have worthy place to do all of the good work of the church.

With all of these blessings we also comes a great responsibility. This responsibility is to use these blessings to share our faith with those who long to hear it and to as well minister to those who have a great need in their life. It reminds me of the calling of Saint Andrew our patron saint. See what is says in John chapter 1:35-42. “Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour). One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” After being a disciple of John the Baptist and having met Christ and visiting His dwelling, Andrew felt compelled to go out and bring others to meet Christ. So he went and brought his brother Simon Peter, and Peter ended up becoming a leader of the apostles.

Friends, I believe we have a calling as individual Christians and as a Christian Community, we need to keep growing in our faith and our understanding of the role each of us plays at Saint Andrew. First, we should never underestimate the power of prayer. Our prayers both personally and communally at the Divine Liturgy as well as the other services of the church are our top priority. These prayers will build us up to do the work of the church. But this can only happen as a community when all of us come together in worship at the Divine Liturgy. This is where we are strengthened and unified to continue the good work started and passed down to us by our forefathers and foremothers here in Morris County. They began this work and left us a tremendous legacy, a legacy for which we should be very thankful.

What does the next fifty years hold? What will our legacy be? And what kind of a community will we pass on to our children and grandchildren? After 50 years of Saint Andrew we should look inside and examine ourselves and ask ourselves these questions. These are the questions we need to answer both personally as well as communally.

It is my fervent prayer that this holiday season will be a source of inspiration and strengthening of faith for each member of our community, and that the examples of the saints will always be as models for all of us to follow.

PROCLAMATION

St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church

WHEREAS, this community of believers, with their first priest, Fr. Konstantine Tsigas, which included approximately 50 families, came together for St. Andrews Greek Orthodox Church’s First Divine Liturgy on December 23, 1962 in Dover, NJ; and

WHEREAS, on December 16, 1973, the ground breaking ceremony for a new church facility in Randolph took place with the Blessing of Holy Water and Celebration; and

WHEREAS, on December 16, 1975, the Divine Liturgy was officiated by His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America followed by the Door Opening Ceremony and Mr. and Mrs. Peter Sedereas being named Godparents of St. Andrews; and

WHEREAS, in December of 1991, St. Andrews Greek Orthodox Church was consecrated as an eternal Holy House of Worship; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, plans for a new community center were approved by the Parish Council and Development Committee; and

WHEREAS, on April 4, 1999, His Grace, Bishop George officiated the Community Center Groundbreaking ceremony; and

WHEREAS, the new Community Center, under the spiritual leadership of Fr. John Theodosion, is now complete and is celebrating its grand opening with a blessing of Holy Water by His Eminence, Metropolitan Evangelos, of New Jersey.

NOW , THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that on this day, May 1, 2011, I, Trina Ruane Mitsch, Mayor of Randolph Township, Morris County, New Jersey, on behalf of the Randolph Township Council and the residents of Randolph, congratulate St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church on the dedication of their gymnasium.

May 1^st 2011 Trina Ruane Mitsch, Mayor

SAINT ANDREW STRATEGIC PLAN  

1. Orthodox Worship Goal: Learning to live the Divine Liturgy every day.

• Increase level of understanding and respectfulness in the Divine Liturgy

• Give college bound young adults ways to stay connected to our faith and community

• Ensure translations are always available in Greek and English

• Establish ways for lay people to take greater roles during services 

2. Christian Education Goal: Understanding the teachings of Jesus Christ and our Christian responsibility in the world.

• Develop more adult religious education venues based on various interests and comfort levels  (for learners, non-Orthodox spouses, all adults, etc.)

• Increase youth involvement in choir and liturgy (weekly epistle reading, religious singing at an early age, etc.)

• Engage parish during liturgy to understand and sing hymns of the Church in Greek and English

• Long term — Create a curriculum for high school seniors addressing college years’ faith challenges

• Long term — Conduct parishioner led community outreach events involving all ages (e.g., a community Christmas play based on the life of a Saint)

3.  Philanthropy Goal: Sacrificing for others as Jesus sacrificed for us.

• Short-term — Find a charity that will unite the church, involving all ministries (e.g., Habitat for Humanity)

• Long-term — Provide support groups for families in need (i.e., due to illness) such as shoveling snow, mowing lawns, visiting, “circle-the-wagons group”, etc.

• Long-term — Develop programs with trained leaders for our parishioners in need (divorce, bereavement, etc.)

4. Hellenic Culture Goal: Keeping the culture and language a part of the holistic Orthodox experience, as part of our community.

Short-term

• Establish a Hellenic activity night

• Create a “Greek Corner” in the monthly magazine

• Create adult Greek dance class

• Expand Greek school to higher grade levels

Long-term  

• Establish a theatrical group which will perform in Greek

• Conduct Hellenic Culture Lessons 101

• Establish bilingual school

• Consider a Greek day care

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Office Hours :

Monday - Friday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

1447 Sussex Turnpike

Randolph, NJ 07869

Tel. 973-584-0388

Fax. 973-584-3573

Sundays Orthros @ 8:45 AM & Divine Liturgy @ 10:00 AM

For other services please check our website or call the office

Religious Education Classes are held on Sundays @11:15am
Ages 3 through High School

Greek Language Classes 2011-2012

Tuesdays @ 4:30pm Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6

Thursdays @4:30pm for PK4, PK3, K, Grades 1 & 2

Thursdays @10am Mazi Classes PK1, PK2 (Todlers and 3 & 4yr olds)

Greek Dancing Lessons: aare held on Thursdays @ 6:30pm

 Hymn of the Apostle St. Andrew

 As first of the Apostle to receive the call,

 and very brother of the prince of them,

 intercede O Andrew, with the Master of all of us,

 peace to all the world to grant,

 and to our souls His great mercy.

Directions to Church

From the East: Take Rt 80 West to 287 South to Rt 10 West. Pass the K-Mart Plaza and pass through two lights. At third light, you will make the jug-handle turn for Dover- Chester, keeping left. Turn left and continue straight across Rt 10. You are now on Dover-Chester Road heading towards Ironia/Chester. After about 1 mile, at second traffic light, turn right onto Sussex Turnpike. St. Andrew Church is just ahead at the top of the hill on the right.

From the South: Take 287 North to Route 10 West. Follow the above directions.

From the West: Take Route 80 East to Ledgewood Exit, to Route 46 East to Route 10 East. After 3 lights, make a right at the Gas Station onto Sussex Turnpike. You will see the Church around 1-1/2 miles on the left.

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