Vacation Church School 2024, Aug 5-9

A collaboration of St. Michael’s and St. George’s Orthodox Churches
Dates: August 5th-9th
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Registration: $10 per child
Location: St. George’s Orthodox Church
1130 Falmouth Rd
Centerville, MA 02632

For children kindergarten through 5th grade. Please reach out Macrina Stewart for more information and to register your children! The deadline for application is July 21st.
Macrinastewart@gmail.com

We need volunteers! Children older than 5th grade and adults!!!

More about our Vacation Church School curriculum:

Super Saints is a dynamic Vacation Church/Bible School (VBS) program designed specifically for children from Kindergarten to 5th grade. It offers an engaging and interactive platform for kids to learn more about the Saints and the path to Holiness through fun activities,
inspiring stories, and meaningful lessons.

Throughout the week, children will embark on a journey through the lives of various saints, learning important lessons about repentance, seeking truth, standing firm in faith, witnessing to others, and enduring through struggles. Each day will feature lively songs, creative crafts, fun games, and delicious snacks, ensuring an enriching and
enjoyable experience for every participant!

White Elephant Boutique & Bake Sale

Our White Elephant Boutique will be filled with beautiful gift-ware, home goods, antiques, new and handmade goods, artwork, jewelry, and too many items to mention. Come find your treasure!
Saturday, November 18th • 9AM – 2PM
St. Michael the Archangel • 62 Main Street, Cotuit MA
All proceeds support St. Michael Orthodox Church Women’s programs

  • Fine Art Raffle! Enter for your chance to win an original oil painting by a local Cape Cod artist
  • Religious Book Store and gift items
  • Bake Sale & Coffee offering Ethnic and American baked goods (get there early before we sell out!)

Come find desserts for your Thanksgiving table and start your holiday shopping

White Elephant Boutique Donations Needed

Women’s Group is organizing a WHITE ELEPHANT BOUTIQUE to be held on Saturday, Nov 18. We will be selling raffle tickets for original oil painting at coffee hour leading up to the event so please support us and take you chance at winning!!!

Accepting donations: Nov 11 before/after Vespers; Nov 12 after Liturgy; Nov 13-17 by special arrangement with committee members below! Please include a list of your donated items along with your name and phone number. THIS IS REQUIRED FOR ALL DONATIONS as unsold items must be returned to the donor since we are not able to store them at church or bring them to another donation facility.

We will also need empty boxes for use in packing sold items. Please help us collect and bring to church Nov 11-12. Liquor stores and supermarkets are a great source of empty boxes!

LIST OF ITEMS THAT WILL BE ACCEPTED CLEAN AND IN WORKING ORDER:

  • Small appliances
  • Small Electronics – speakers, headphones, games
  • Tools
  • Kitchenware – pots, pans, bakeware, corning ware, pyrex, mixing bowls, serving platters
  • Giftware – decanters, vases, candy dishes
  • Collectibles – figurines, depression glass, crystal, English Bone China
  • Original Artwork – Water Colors and Prints
  • Jewelry
  • Toys, Puzzles, Baby items
  • Table linens, placemats, napkin rings
  • Seasonal / Holiday Items
  • Books, CDs, DVDs (make sure they are appropriate to be sold at a church event)
  • Sporting goods
  • Ladies Pocket books, leather goods
  • Luggage (weekend bags, carry-on, two-suitors, etc…)
  • Baskets
  • NO MUGS. NO CLOTHING. NO BIG FURNITURE PIECES

Please contact any of the committee members with your questions: Mary Rahal // Pauline Rassias // Soraya Bandeli

Thank you for your continued commitment to St. Michael!

Please Save the Date – June 25, 2023!

On Sunday, June 25th, Bishop John will join us for Orthros service and a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. This will be a special occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fr. Ben’s ordination and his elevation to Archpriest, with the blessing of Metropolitan Saba and Bishop John. We are also taking this opportunity to thank Fr. Joseph and his family for the amazing service to us over the past three years. Fr. Joseph has been re-assigned thru the Navy to Camp Lejeune.

Following services, the Parish Council and Women’s Group will host a luncheon in celebration. They will be setting up the hall in preparation for the luncheon with Bishop John on June 25. Come anytime after 4:30 then join us for Paraklesis service starting at 7. Also, they need help with clean up on June 25 after the luncheon.

Holy Bread Baking Tutorial

Thanks to Annie Boruch for leading an amazing Prosphora baking tutorial. Thanks yo everyone who came out to be part of this important ministry.

Thanks to Tatiana for the video.


Orthodox Holy Bread (Prosphoron)

A prosphoron is a small loaf of leavened bread used in Orthodox liturgies. The term originally meant any offering made to a temple, but in Orthodox Christianity and Byzantine Rite Catholicism it has come to mean specifically the bread offered at the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist).

A prosphoron is made from only four ingredients, wheat flour (white), yeast, salt, and water.[1] Salt was not used in early times and is still not used in the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.

A prosphoron is made up of two separate round pieces of leavened dough which are placed one on top of another and baked together to form a single loaf. This double-loaf represents the two natures of Christ: human and divine. Before baking, each prosphoron is stamped with a special seal called Sphragis or Panagiari, usually bearing, among other things, the image of a cross with the Greek letters IC XC NIKA (“Jesus Christ conquers”) around the arms of the cross. This impression is baked into the bread and serves as a guide for the priest who will be cutting it.

The Lamb and particles placed on the diskos during the Divine Liturgy.

Greek-style prosphora seal, for one large loaf: in the center is the Lamb (symbol: IC XC NI KA Christogram), to the viewer’s right is the Panagia (symbol: ΜΘ (Μήτηρ Θεοῦ)), to the left are the Nine Angelic Ranks (symbol: nine triangles), and on the top and bottom are extra Lambs for Presanctified (symbol: said Christogram). The positions of the Panagia and Nine Ranks will be reversed when the impression is made.

In the part of the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist) known as the Liturgy of Preparation (Proskomedia), a cube is cut from the center of the prosphoron and is referred to as the Lamb (Greek: Ἀμνός, translit. Amnos). It is this Lamb which is consecrated into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ and from it both the clergy and the faithful will receive the Most Holy Eucharist, while the rest of the prosphora which was not consecrated into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ is cut up for the antidoron, the blessed bread which is distributed at the end of the Liturgy.

The motto “the loaf of Nature’s kitchen table,” a common metaphor for returning thanks and agape (unconditional love) back to nature, is derived from prosphora.

Prosphora can vary in size and imprinted design in different liturgical traditions. Generally, the Slavic traditions use five small prosphora with a simpler stamp, while the Greek-Byzantine tradition uses one large prosphoron with a more complex stamp, indicating the place from which the Lamb is to be taken and the places from which particles are removed for each of the remaining commemorations.

In addition to the Lamb, particles are removed from the prosphoron to commemorate the following:

  • The Theotokos (Panagia)
  • Nine ranks of Angels and Saints
  • The living (including the local authorities and the ruling bishop)
  • The departed

Baking Prosphora for Liturgy

Ingredients:

  • Flour – Must be King Arthur Bread Only Flour (Blue package)
  • Salt – Course Kosher
  • Yeast – Fleischmann’s – Instant Dry or Rapid Rise (Do not use “Active”)
  • Warm Water
  • Non-Stick Spray

Tools:

  • Prosphora Seal
  • Large Mixing Bowl (preferably glass or plastic)
  • Dough Hook or Fork
  • Cake Tester Pin
  • 7 x 3-inch round baking pan
  • Dish Towel
  • Plastic wrap
  • Large Ziplock Baggies

Steps:

  1. Say First Prayer:
    O LORD JESUS CHRIST, ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF THE ETERNAL FATHER, WHO HAS SAID WITH YOUR MOST PURE LIPS: “WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING”, O LORD, MY LORD, WITH FAITH I ACCEPT YOUR WORDS; HELP ME A SINNER, TO PREPARE THE BREAD OF OFFERING, THAT THE WORKS OF MY HANDS MAY BE ACCEPTABLE AT YOUR HOLY TABLE, AND MAY BECOME THROUGH THE OPERATION OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, THE COMMUNION OF YOUR MOST PURE BODY FOR ME, AND FOR ALL YOUR PEOPLE!
    +IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, AMEN+
  2. Mix ingredients together in a bowl with Dough Hook or Fork:
    a. 4 Cups of bread flour,
    b. ½ tsp Salt,
    c. 2 ½ tsp Yeast (or 1 small pkg),
    d. Add 1 ¾ cup Warm Water.
  3. Lightly kneed the mixture into a ball, adding in light flour as needed to reduce stickiness.
  4. Lift the dough out and spray non-stick spray in the bowl then pat the dough down in the bowl and poke soft indentations with your fingers into the dough.
  5. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let sit to rise for approximately 45 minutes.
  6. When the dough has risen, punch down several times to release the air and knee back into a ball.
  7. Flatten the dough just a bit and mark with a knife a cross to separate into fourths.
  8. Pre-Heat Oven to 350 degrees.
  9. Spray the baking pan with non-stick spray.
    Remove ¼ of the dough and put it onto a lightly floured flat surface, put the remaining ¾ of the dough into the baking pan, and patted down to spread to all edges.
  10. Take the Prosphora seal and press firmly on the ¼ portion of the dough on a flat surface.
  11. Take the cake tester pin and poke four times around the inner lamb square at each corner and then poke four times as if making a cross at the top, bottom, left, and right, then lay on top of the dough in the baking pan.
  12. Say the second prayer:
    O LORD AND MASTER JESUS CHRIST, OUR GOD, WHO ALONE HAS POWER TO FORGIVE THE SINS OF MANKIND, DO YOU, O GOOD ONE, WHO LOVES MANKIND, FORGIVE ALL THE SINS THAT I HAVE COMMITTED IN KNOWLEDGE OR IN IGNORANCE, AND MAKE ME WORTHY TO RECEIVE WITHOUT CONDEMNATION, YOUR DIVINE, IMMACULATE AND LIFEGIVING MYSTERIES; NOT UNTO PUNISHMENT OR UNTO INCREASE OF SIN; BUT UNTO PURIFICATION, AND SANCTIFICATION AND A PROMISE OF YOUR KINGDOM AND THE BREAD OF LIFE; AS A PROTECTION AND HELP AGAINST ALL ADVERSARIES. FOR YOU ARE A GOD OF MERCY AND COMPASSION AND LOVE TOWARD MANKIND, AND UNTO YOU WE SEND UP GLORY TOGETHER WITH THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT: NOW AND EVER, AND UNTO AGES OF AGES. AMEN.
  13. Place pan in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until lightly brown. Check at 30 minutes with a cake tester. If the tester comes out clean, it is done. If you have a thermometer, check the internal temperature to be 350F degrees.
  14. Remove pan from oven. Leave the bread in the pan for at least 15 minutes to cool. Wait for at least 4-6 hours for the bread to completely cool before bagging the bread. You can put a towel over the bread while it cools so it doesn’t dry out.
  15. Wrap the cooled bread in plastic wrap and store it in a large zip-lock bag. Write the date on the bag. Freeze.