Kimisis Greek Orthodox Church

Dear parents and young people, Spring is here and Holy Week is around the corner! Many of you have already had an opportunity to see the information that has been posted about Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. On Lazarus Saturday please bring your young people to both Liturgy and breakfast afterwards.... We will decorate for Palm Sunday (fold palms, etc.) Holy Week educational materials will be distributed to the kids. I'll also provide information regarding how our children can participate in services for Holy Week. I'll be meeting with the boys who will be serving in the altar during Holy Week. Teddie Karathomas will meet with the girls and parents about serving as myrophores. Also, remember that our Easter Egg hunt will take place during our Palm Sunday luncheon. Have a blessed week. We will keep you posted for more information. In the meantime, many of the resources that we will be using can be found on our Sunday School website http://www.kimisisny.org/about/our-ministries/sunday-school/ Yours in Christ Fr Jason

Today we had a wonderful time after services as members of our community young and old came together to fold palm crosses and decorate for Palm Sunday and enjoy a pancake Breakfast held by our local G.O.Y.A(Greek Orthodox Youth Association) Also Father held an altar server meeting to prepare them for their important role in Holy Week!

For our Parishioners, we are happy announce that as we get closer to Holy Week we will having our traditional fellowship events in a little bit of a different style this year. On the Saturday of Lazarus April 24th, we will follow services with the traditional folding of the Palms. This is a family event and Pancake Breakfast will be served while we fold Palms. Everyone is welcome but please bring the children and enjoy! On Palm Sunday, April 25th, in addition to our Philopto...chos hosting their traditional Palm Sunday Luncheon, we will also be moving the Kids Easter egg hunt from Easter Sunday, to directly after church also. To be aligned with Covid safety precautions, the Luncheon will not be a buffet style but will provide prepared meals for the attendees and will provide proper spaced seating outside if the weather permits. If there is rain that day, we will host the event inside and have proper Covid spacing/sanitizing stations for the tables to comply with safety standards. For the egg hunt that same day, Parents are advised to bring their own baskets for the children and the eggs/candies will be sanitized properly before being placed/hidden!

On the Fourth Sunday of Holy Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates our Righteous Father John Climacus. He is called Climacus due to his authorship of the great spiritual work The Ladder of Divine Ascent. His commemoration is designated by the Church on one of the Sundays of Lent as his life and writings affirm him as a supreme bearer and proponent of Christian asceticism. The ascetic example of this great Saint of the Church inspires us in our Lenten journey. Join us today fo...r Liturgy if you can, but if you cannot make It we are streaming services today and offering our Virtual Candle program to light a candle and one of our Parish Council members will light it on your behalf! https://my-site-105543-100439.square.site/ Stay safe and continue to work on upholding the Lenten fast and continue to pray and prepare for Holy Pasxa

Join us today for our Service for the Saturday of Lazarus at 9:30am It will be followed by Preparations for Palm Sunday and our traditional Folding of the Palms breakfast for anyone attending!

We were very fortunate to host Pre-Sanctified Liturgy at our church tonight with the Priests of our Surrounding Parishes All throughout the Hudson Valley! Aside from Wednesday services that are rotating from Parish to Parish we also host at Kimisis Great Compline on Mondays and Akathist(Salutations) services on Friday, both begin at 6:30pm If you are unable to attend the Lenten weekly services, join us on Sundays for Divine Liturgy at 9:30am always preceded by Orthros at 8:3...0am. To light a candle through our Virtual Candle program click here and one of our Parish Council will light it on your behalf! https://my-site-105543-100439.square.site/ Thank you to Nick Kalogris for the lovely pictures

Tomorrow we begin Holy Week and our final journey towards Pascha. Take a look at the Holy Week schedule below. We encourage you all to safely attend our services (all COVID policies are still in place, masks and distancing are required) or watch the livestream from home. All event details and supplemental readings are also available in the events section of our Facebook page.

Our Spring Newsletter will be in the mail shortly containing important information about ministries at Kimisis, Lenten and Holy Week Services. Attached is a preview. As always, our publications are always available on our parish website. http://www.kimisisny.org/as/files/Logos%20Spring%202021.pdf

Today, On the Third Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Services include a special veneration of the Cross, which prepares the faithful for the commemoration of the Crucifixion during Holy Week. https://www.facebook.com/82109183847/posts/10158083451753848/?d=n&substory_index=0

Join us for our Salutation Services this evening at 6:30pm and if you’re hungry our Final Friday Fishfry as we support our beloved KIMISIS! https://www.facebook.com/396781873687197/posts/4212080515490628/?d=n

Dear parents and young people, Let us thank God together for the joy of Great Lent along the upcoming blessings of Holy Week! Here are some upcoming dates for us to remember:... Sunday April 4th - Sunday School Church Day! Saturday April 24th - Pancake Breakfast & Decorating for Palm Sunday Meetings for Altar Boys* & Myrrh bearing girls *Boys ages 9 and older who have not attended previous meetings must attend this meeting if they would like to attend services during Holy Week. Have a wonderful and blessed rest of your week Fr Jason

Thank you to everyone who attended our Divine Liturgy & Bicentennial Greek Independence Day Program. It was a beautiful day full of fellowship and celebrating our heritage and remembering the heroes who gave their lives to free not only the Greek people but also set free ideals like Freedom of Religion, Democracy, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sciences and Hellenism that set the base for all modern day Western Civilization! Thank you to Hrisoula Foutsitzi Papadopoulos for organizing a wonderful program for the youth of our community and everyone who worked to help make the day a success! For the first time since the Beginning of Covid, our church was near full with respect to the current Covid restrictions and following of protocols and warm with fellowship.

In lieu of the state of the pandemic, Kimisis is happy to announce that we are going to restart streaming weekly church services every Sunday and in process of starting a YouTube Channel for our faithful! Our new channel on YouTube will include Church services and other videos about the faith from Father Jason and some of our very own parishioners at Kimisis. As we continue to deal with this pandemic, both Father Jason and the Parish council felt it to be critical to keep r...eaching out to our parish who isn’t able to be with us in person during Liturgy! Please subscribe(it is obviously free to follow us) to our channel below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFmRGV4Sn82Dwr-286kwrQw

Please look to support our yearly Fundraiser!

Today we celebrate the Bicentennial of the Greek Independence with a Doxology after Divine Liturgy followed with a small program from our Greek School! Let us rejoice for this wonderful day as we also Celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of St Gregory Palamas For those who cannot be with us today you can log into our Live Streaming of today’s service and you can light a Candle with our Virtual Candle Online Donation Program by clicking here: ... https://my-site-105543-100439.square.site/ See more

Dear Faithful, Please remember to respect our Covid-19 Safety guidelines here at Kimisis. If you are not feeling well or have any symptoms that are associated with Covid-19, please stay home and seek medical attention. More importantly, notify Fr. Jason in order to receive pastoral care.... Our goal at Kimisis is to provide a safe and healthy worship experience for our parish family as we implement the current safety guidelines from our civil and ecclesiastical authorities. We continue to clean and disinfect the church between each service, require masks, hand washing/sanitizing, social distancing, and a limited capacity of 50%. Please be aware that we will be temporarily suspending the following activities until further notice: Fellowship/coffee hour Acolytes/altar boys under 18 years of age Guidelines for Attending Divine Worship MASKS ARE REQUIRED Everyone is required to wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth from the time they exit their vehicle. Exceptions are permitted for those with valid medical reasons and children less than 2 years of age. UPON ARRIVAL Social distancing begins when you enter the Church. Please do not congregate, and socialize in the narthex. Light your candle, pray, and be seated. Please venerate Icons by bowing and doing the sign of the cross. No touching or kissing. FOLLOW THE SIGNS Please follow signs to posted entry points and maintain distancing via the ground markers. These have been prepared in advance to provide safe social distancing and need to be respected for everyone’s well-being. SEATING Seating has been designed to adhere to social distancing requirements. Only members of the same family may sit together without distancing between them. Please remain seated throughout the entire service, unless you must excuse yourself for a valid reason. HOLY COMMUNION AND DISMISSAL Holy Communion will be offered at the usual time in the usual manner. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that Holy Communion is the medicine of immortality. For any reason, if you would like to receive Holy Communion privately, please inform Fr. Jason. Please remember the following: Please approach the line in an orderly manner. Proceed through the Communion line with respect to Social Spacing Remove your mask below your chin before approaching the Chalice. Receive the Body and Blood in a natural manner from the spoon. Do not simply leave your mouth open or do anything else to attempt to "avoid the spoon." This can cause the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to spill.

Our Trunk or Treat despite the Rain/Drizzling will still be held today. If the rain persists we will be moving the event inside!

Join us for our first ever trunk or treat event from 3pm-5pm. This will be a fun and safe time for us to get together. Thank God for our Kimisis family and our Stewardship Committee for putting this together. We need volunteers. Please let us know if you are interested!

For young men ages 9 and older! Please remember that we will have a mandatory retreat for all altar boys (and those interested in serving) on Saturday October 2...4th from 1pm-3pm before our "Trunk or Treat." All who are interested in serving in the altar must attend these sessions. Don't worry...it will be fun!!! Reminder: Beginning on Sunday October 25th, boys who are 12 and older may begin serving in the altar once again. Boys between ages 9-12 will be allowed to serve as we make further progress with our ability to accommodate social spacing guidelines.

ByzanFest, the online Orthodox Film Festival is only a couple of days away! My Father Gabriel’s Prayer short film will be among the roster of films from around the world. Visit ByzanFest.com for more info.

Dear Faithful, Please be aware of the following upcoming services and events through the remainder of October taking place at Kimisis: Friday October 23rd at 9:30am, Liturgy - St Iakovos ... Saturday, October 24th, 1-3pm - Altar Boy Retreat for boys ages 9-12 Saturday, October 24th, 3-5pm, Trunk or Treat at Hellenic Center Monday, October 26th, 9:30am Liturgy - St Demetrios November 1st after Liturgy -Philoptochos Artoklasia -Community luncheon -Sunday School "Church Day" moved to November 15th.

The Holidays are coming and as we approach them let us take the chance to help those in need this Christmas! We are hosting our Annual Christmas Packing Party Friday November 13th at 7pm to benefit children all over the world working with Operation Christmas Child!

Presenting Virtual Sunday School Episode 2. Please be sure to like and follow us on the Kimisis Sunday School page. Join us the first Sunday of each month after liturgy for our live family Church Days. #SundaySchool #LiveOrthodoxy

Please don’t forget as the event is quickly approaching in 2 weeks! Kimisis will be Officially Honouring our new incoming Priest, Father Jason Dickey and family. We will also be celebrating the retirement of beloved Chanter/ Mr Antoni Paravalos after serving our community for 25 years. ... This is an RSVP event so please contact the office

Tonight, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America met with the Clergy of the Hudson Valley and Upstate NY Region. They were hosted at Saint Basil Academy in Garrison, NY, by the Vicar of that region, Father Costas Sitaras.

Join us for our First Ever Trunk or Treat Event from 3pm-5pm on Saturday October 24th! This will be a fun and safe time for us to get together. Thank God for our Kimisis family and our Stewardship Committee for putting this together. We need volunteers. Please let us know if you are interested!