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St Euphemia Greek Orthodox College 202 STACEY STEET BANKSTOWN NSW 2200 PHONE : (02) 9796 8240 FAX : (02) 9790 7354 www.steuphemia.nsw.edu.au Yet again, our College was one of the High Achieving Schools in New South Wales and one of the best in the local area. Our results in 2014 were again exceptional and highlight the status of our College. There are limited vacancies from Kindergarten to Year 12 for those considering to enrol their children. Give your child the gift of a safe and successful learning journey by enrolling them at Saint Euphemia College. For more information, please contact the Principals on 9796 8240.

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Our Patron Saint Euphemia

Join the St Euphemia fellowship and learn everything about our Orthodox Christian faith. Our fellowship is open for all ages! • Divine liturgy in English • Bible study • Talks & group discussions • Social events & monastery trips. Fellowship is held at the parish hall and commences at 7.30am. Also, the Divine Liturgy in English is held the third tuesday of every month commencing at 7.30 pm. For more info, please contact : Fr Panagiotis on 0402219214 or Fr Peter on 0416145300. You can also email us at fellowship@steuphemia.org.au

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Greek Orthodox Parish and Community of Bankstown St Euphemia : 6-12 East Terrace, Bankstown NSW, 2200 Τηλέφωνο Εκκλησίας - Church Phone : (02) 9709 6908 Ωρες Γραφείου Δευτέρα-Παρασκευή 4.30μ.μ - 6.30μ.μ Office Hours Monday to Friday 4.30pm - 6.30pm Για Μνημόσυνα και Αρτοκλασίες - (02) 9709 6908 Memorial Services & Artoklasies - (02) 9709 6908 ΤΗΛ ΙΕΡΕΩΝ: π.Παναγιώτης Πρωτοψάλτης (Fr Panagiotis) : 0402 219 214 π.Παναγιώτης Μαυρομμάτης (Fr Peter) : 0416 145 300 ‘St Euphemia’ is a canonical Greek Orthodox Church serving the spiritual and community needs of the Bankstown area in Sydney. It functions through the authority of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. St Euphemia Parish is also responsible for the founding and continuing development of St Euphemia College.

ΙΕΡΑ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΗ ΑΥΣΤΡΑΛΙΑΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΣ ΕΝΟΡΙΑ & ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΣ BANKSTOWN & ΠΕΡΙΧΩΡΩΝ «Η ΑΓΙΑ ΕΥΦΗΜΙΑ»

ΚΟΛΛΕΓΙΟ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΕΥΦΗΜΙΑΣ Υπάρχουν θέσεις σε κάποιες τάξεις για να γράψετε τα παιδιά και τα εγγόνια σας. Κάντε αυτό το δώρο στα παιδιά και τα εγγόνια σας, εξασφαλίζοντας το μέλλον τους σε Ελληνο-Ορθόδοξο Δίγλωσσο Κολλέγιο που κάθε χρόνο είναι από τα καλύτερα στην ευρύτερη περιοχή! Επικοινωνήστε με τους Διευθυντές στο 97968240 για περισσότερες πληροφορίες. SAINT EUPHEMIA COLLEGE There are places available in some classes for you to enrol your children and grandchildren. Give your children and grandchildren the gift of an excellent education in a school that consistently rates among the best in the greater area! As results consistently show, the educational programs of the College are of an exceptional standard! For more information, please contact school administration on 97968240. “Little Butterflies” PLAYGROUP - ΟΙ ΠΕΤΑΛΟΥΔΕΣ Κάθε Τετάρτη 10.00 - 12.00πμ. Συγκέντρωση για νήπια. (Στο χωλ της εκκλησίας) Playgroup every Wednesday 10.00 - 12.00pm. In Church Hall during school terms. ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΓΩΝΙΑ - ELDERLY GROUP Κάθε Τρίτη 10.00 - 12.00πμ. Συγκέντρωση ηλικιωμένων. (Στο χωλ της εκκλησίας) Meets every Tuesday 10.00 - 12.00pm. “Greek Corner” - Weekly gathering of the elderly every Tuesday from 10.00 - 12.00pm. in the Church hall. SUNDAY SCHOOL - ΚΑΤΗΧΗΤΙΚΟ (10.15 - 11.00am) For school-aged children straight after Holy Communion, above the Church hall. Κάθε Κυριακή μετά απ’ την Θεία Κοινωνία (10.15πμ - 11.00πμ.) Για παιδιά σχολικής ηλικίας, μετά απ’ τη Θεία Κοινωνία, πάνω απ’ το χωλ της Εκκλησίας. ADULT FELLOWSHIP - Νεολαία/Ομιλίες στα Αγγλικά Fellowship continues weekly throughout the year. We begin at 7.30pm. And ends around 9pm. Come and learn about our faith. Talks are in English for all ages. Οι συγκεντρώσεις της νεολαίας συνεχίζουν κάθε Τρίτη. Κοινοποιήστε στα παιδιά και τα εγγόνια σας, να έρθουν να μάθουν για την πίστη μας. GREEK SCHOOL - ΑΠΟΓΕΥΜΑΤΙΝΑ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΑ Τα σχολεία λειτουργούν κάθε Παρασκευή (4μμ-7μμ) και Σάββατο (9πμ-12μμ) για το Δημοτικό, και Παρασκευή (4.00μμ-7.00μμ) για το Γυμνάσιο και Λύκειο. Επικοινωνήστε με την Διευθύντρια κα. Αδαμαντία για περισσότερες πληροφορίες. (τηλ.97096908) Greek Afternoon and Saturday Schools operate on Fridays (4pm-7pm) and Saturday (9am-12pm) for Primary School students and Fridays (4.00pm-7.00pm) for High-School students. Please contact Mrs Adamantia for further details. (97096908 before classes).

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

SAINT PAUL WRITES ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST (1 Corinthians 15:12-22) "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He is raised up Christ, Whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first- fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the crown of our Orthodox Christian Faith. The Resurrection of Christ is the first, most important, great truth, with the proclamation of which the Apostle began their preaching of the Gospel after the descent of the Holy Spirit. Just as by the death of Christ on the Cross our Redemption was accomplished, so by His Resurrection eternal life was given to us. Therefore, the Resurrection of Christ is the object of the Church's constant triumph, its unceasing rejoicing, which reaches its summit in the Feast of the Holy Christian Pascha--"Today all creation is glad and rejoices, for Christ has risen!" (Canon of Pascha, Canticle 9). The saving fruits of the Resurrection of Christ are: (a) the victory over hell and death; (b) the blessedness of the Saints in heaven and the beginning of the existence of the Heavenly Church as well as the sending down of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the Church of Christ on earth. A. The victory over hell and death Human existence after the loss of Paradise has two forms: (a) the earthly, bodily life; and (b) the life after death. Earthly life ends with the death of the body. The soul preserves its existence after bodily death also, but its condition after death, according to the word of God and the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church, is diverse. Until the coming to earth of the Son of God, and until His Resurrection from the dead, the souls of the dead were in a condition of rejection, being far away from God, in darkness, in hell, in the underworld (the Hebrew "Sheol," Genesis 37:35), Septuagint). To be in hell was like spiritual death, as is expressed in the words of the Old Testament Psalm, "In hades who will confess Thee?" (Psalm 6:6). In hell there were imprisoned also the souls of the Old Testament righteous ones. These righteous ones lived on earth with faith in the coming Savior, as the Apostle Paul explains in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, and after death they languished in expectation of their redemption and deliverance. Thus it continued until the Resurrection of Christ, until the coming of the New Testament: "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:39-40). Our deliverance was also their deliverance. Christ, after His death on the Cross, descended in His soul and in His Divinity into hell, at the same time that His body remained in the grave. He preached salvation to the captives of hell and brought up from there all the Old Testament righteous ones into the bright mansions of the Kingdom of Heaven. Concerning this raising up of the righteous ones from hell, we read in the Epistle of St. Peter: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (I Peter 3:18-19). And in the same place we read further: "For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (I Peter 4:6). Saint Paul speaks of the same thing: quoting the verse of the Psalm, "When He ascended up on high, He lead captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men," the Apostle continues: "Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended firs into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:8-10). To use the words of Saint John Chrysostom, "Hell was taken captive by the Lord Who descended into it. It was laid waste, it was mocked, it was put to death, it was overthrown, it was bound" (Homily on Pascha). With the destruction of the bolts of hell, that is, the inescapability of hell, the power of death also was annihilated. First of all, death for righteous men became only a transition from the world below to the world above, to a better life, to life in the light of the Kingdom of God; secondly, bodily death itself became only a temporary phenomenon, for by the Resurrection of Christ the way to the General Resurrection was opened to us. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept" (I Corinthians 15:20). The Resurrection of Christ is the pledge of our resurrection: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits: afterward they that are in Christ's at His coming" (I Corinthians 15:22-23). After this, death will be utterly annihilated. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Corinthians 15:26). The troparion (hymn) of Holy Pascha proclaims to us with special joy the victory over hell and death: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life, "Christ ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10). B. The blessedness of the Saints in Heaven Before His departure to the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ said to the Apostles: "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (St. John 14:2-3). The Savior prayed to the Father, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with me where I am; that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me" (St. John 17:24). And the Apostles express the desire to depart and to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), knowing that they have "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Corinthians 5:1). A depiction of the life of the Saints in heaven is given in the Apocalypse (Revelation). Saint John the Theologian saw around the Throne of God in the heavens "four and twenty seats" and on them elders clothed in white garments and having crowns of gold on their heads (Apoc. 4:4). He saw under the Heavenly Altar "the souls of them that were slain for the Word (Logos) of God, and for the testimony which they held" (Apoc. 6:9); and yet he saw "a great multitude...of all nations, and kindreds, and people," standing before the Throne and before the Lamb (Christ) and crying out: "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb" (Apoc. 7:9-10). The bright mansions of the Heavenly Home Sacred Scripture calls "the city of the living God," "Mount Zion," the "Heavenly Jerusalem," "the Church of the first-born written in heaven." And thus the Great Kingdom of Christ has been opened in heaven. Into it have entered the souls of all the righteous and pious people of the Old Testament, those of whom the Apostle has said, "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise" (until the coming to earth of the Son of God and the General salvation), "that they without us should not be made perfect," that is, attained the joy and blessedness of the Heavenly Church of Christ (Hebrews 11:39-40). Into this Kingdom in the New Testament there entered the first ones who believed in Christ, the Apostles, first Martyrs, Confessors; and thus until the end of the world the heavenly Home will be filled--the Jerusalem on high, the granary of God--until it shall come to its perfect fullness.

ΜΑΙΟΣ 2019 3/5 Παρασκευή του Πάσχα - Zωοδόχου Πηγής Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ Βράδυ - Παράκλησις Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου 6.00μμ -7.15μμ 5/5 ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ - Του Θωμά Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.15πμ - 10.30πμ 8/5 Τετάρτη - Αγ. Ιωάννου Θεολόγου Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ 10/5 Παρασκευή - (Βράδυ) ΑΓΡΥΠΝΙΑ - Αγ. Κυρίλλου & Μεθοδίου Εσπερινός, Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.00μμ - 12.30πμ 12/5 ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ - Των Μυροφόρων Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.15πμ-10.30πμ. 13/5 Δευτέρα - Αγ. Γλυκερίας Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ. 17/5 Παρασκευή - (Βράδυ) Παράκλησις Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου 6.00μμ -7.15μμ 19/5 ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ - Του Παραλύτου Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.15πμ-10.30πμ. 21/5 Τρίτη - Αγ.Κωνσταντίνου και Ελένης Όρθρος & Θ. Λειτουργία 7.30πμ-9.30πμ. 21/5 Τρίτη - Θεία Λειτουργία στα Αγγλικά 7.30μμ - 8.40μμ 22/5 Τετάρτη - Της Μεσοπεντηκοστής Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ. 23/5 Πέμπτη - Αγ. Μιχαήλ Συνάδων Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ. 24/5 Παρασκευή - (Βράδυ) Παράκλησις Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου 6.00μμ -7.15μμ 25/5 Σάββατο - Γ’ εύρεσις Κεφαλής Προδρόμου Όρθ. & Θ. Λειτουργία 7.30πμ-9.30πμ. 26/5 ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ - Της Σαμαρείτιδος Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.15πμ-10.30πμ. 27/5 Δευτέρα - Αγ. Ιωάννου του Ρώσου Όρθρος & Θεία Λειτουργία 7.30πμ - 9.30πμ. 31/5 Παρασκευή - (Βράδυ) Παράκλησις Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου 6.00μμ -7.15μμ MAY 2019 3 rd Friday of Bright Week - The Life-Giving Fountain - Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am (Evening) Paraklesis to the Theotokos 6.00pm - 7.15pm 5 th SUNDAY - Sunday of Thomas Matins & Divine Liturgy 7.15am - 10.30am 8 th Wednesday - St. John the Theologian Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 10 th Friday - (Evening) VIGIL - St. Cyril and Methodios Vespers, Matins and Divine Liturgy 7.00pm - 12.30am 12 th SUNDAY - Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearers Matins & Divine Liturgy 7.15am - 10.30am 13 th Monday - St. Glykeria Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 17 th Friday - (Evening) Paraklesis to the Theotokos 6.00pm - 7.15pm 19 th SUNDAY - Sunday of the Paralytic Matins & Divine Liturgy 7.15am - 10.30am 21 st Tuesday - St. Konstantine and Helen Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am Evening - Divine Liturgy in English 7.30pm - 8.40pm 22 nd Wednesday - Mid-Pentecost Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 23 rd Thursday - St. Michael of Synnada Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 24 th Friday - (Evening) Paraklesis to the Theotokos 6.00pm - 7.15pm 25 th Saturday - St. John Fore-runner Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 26 th SUNDAY - The Samaritan Woman Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.15am - 10.30am 27 th Monday - St. John the Russian Matins, Divine Liturgy 7.30am - 9.30am 31 st Friday - (Evening) Paraklesis to the Theotokos 6.00pm - 7.15pm

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!