His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew on 60 Minutes

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Appear on
60 Minutes Segment on Orthodox Christianity

NEW YORK - His All Holiness Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians who constitute the second largest Christian denomination in the world, will be featured on the CBS News program 60 Minutes reported by Bob Simon, scheduled to air on Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 7 p.m. EST. The segment will focus on the Orthodox Church, the most ancient Christian church, and its development from its earliest years to modern times in what is now the Republic of Turkey.

His All Holiness was named 11th among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and was awarded the US Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts to promote human rights and religious tolerance. He has also been recognized by the United Nations as a Laureate Champion of the Earth for his pioneering work to protect the environment. Affectionately known as "the Green Patriarch," Patriarch Bartholomew has called upon leaders of all denominations to join him in this effort, noting simply that "If life is sacred, so is the entire web that sustains it."


His All Holiness recently concluded an extended visit to the U.S., where he participated in an environmental symposium in Mississippi, ministered to the five million Orthodox faithful in America, and met with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama, among many others. He is the author of Encountering the Mystery (Doubleday) and In the World, Yet Not of the World (Fordham).

Commenting on the upcoming broadcast, Archbishop Demetrios of America said:

"The appearance of the Ecumenical Patriarch on a program such as 60 Minutes is an extraordinary opportunity for the American public to become aware of our Orthodox Christian Faith. Millions of people who would otherwise have limited knowledge of the Orthodox Church will have the chance to see and hear the highest ecclesiastical personage of our Church in their living rooms. It is also a tremendous opportunity for our own Orthodox Faithful in the United States to see His All Holiness in a way that will surely touch their hearts and minds with love and deep respect."

60 Minutes is the pre-eminent investigative television news show in the United States and has run on CBS since 1968. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life and has garnered numerous awards over the years. The show will also be broadcast over the Internet on the 60 Minutes website: www.60minutes.com

More information about His All Holiness's work for religious freedom, human rights, environmental conservation, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as texts of his addresses may be found at: www.patriarchate.org

Nativity Greetings

“We bow unto Thee, the Sun of Righteousness”
–From the Troparion of the Nativity

The One Who was born of the Virgin Mary, Whom we call “the Sun of Righteousness,” and Whose miraculous birth we glorify again this year, is indeed worthy of our worship and our reverence.

Let us bow unto Him for He was pleased to be born like one of us—entirely because of us and our salvation. Let us bow unto Him because of His love towards all creation and especially towards man. And let us rejoice this year also in the Newborn One, in hope that he will warm our hearts and that He will, by His might, make way for that which is God-pleasing, good, honorable and steadfast to be born in our souls.

This Nativity, we greet all of you, the faithful of our Diocese, for whose souls we answer before the Lord, and we pray that we all work more diligently on the path of salvation. “Let us be people,” was the message of our most-holy Patriarch Pavle. The authenticity of his persona and the simplicity of his message have touched the soul of Serbia, as well as of millions of Orthodox throughout the world. May the God-Child grant that this message produces a rebirth in us also!

Peace from God – Christ is Born! Happy and Blessed New Year 2010!


+LONGIN
Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America

Chistmas Schedule

CALENDAR OF CHURCH SERVICES AND EVENTS
FOR THE NATIVITY SEASON AT STS CONSTANTINE & HELEN 2009/2010

DECEMBER

Sunday, December 6th 26th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 13th 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 20th 28th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 27th 29th Sunday after Pentecost


JANUARY

Sunday, January 3rd Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

Wednesday, January 6th Christmas Eve Great Vespers Service @ 7:00 p.m. with Traditional Burning of Yule Log

Thursday, January 7th NATIVITY OF OUR LORD.

Sunday, January 10th 31st Sunday after Pentecost

Thursday, January 14th Circumcision of our Lord; St. Basil the Great

Sunday, January 15th 32nd Sunday after Pentecost

Tuesday, January 19th THEOPHANY -Baptism of our Lord (Great Blessing of the Water)

Sunday, January 24th Sunday of the Publican & the Publican

Sunday, January 31st Sunday of the Prodigal Son

FEBRUARY

Sunday, February 7th Sunday of the Last Judgement

Sunday, February 14th Sunday of Forgiveness

Monday, February 15 Beginning of Great & Holy Lent

All Divine Litirgies commence at 10:00am

Benefit Concert

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Iva Milenkovic is 28 years old and battling a rare and aggressive form of cancer called extra-skeletal osteosarcoma with telangectatic features. She is being treated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Being from a foreign country and without any insurance, Iva must cover all costs from personal funds.

A benefit concert for Iva will be held at Dunham Theater Houston Baptist University 7502 Fondren Road, in Houston on Thursday, Sept 3, @ 8:00 pm. The music of Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninov will be played beautifully by two concert pianists, Ivana Ristova and Krume Andreevski. All proceeds will go towards Iva's fight against cancer. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the door.

We are trying to sell 1,100 tickets, so in addition to attending, we need everyone's help in promoting this event. Please tell friends, family, co-workers, etc. This is a great opportunity for everyone to support Iva in her fight and enjoy a relaxing evening of great music!

For more information please visit:

http://www.saveiva.org/

Road Closure on HWY 45 August 30th 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I just got off the phone with one of parishioners who was privy to the information concerning the closure of Hwy 45 this Sunday. It seems that both the City Councils of League City and Galveston were strongly debating this move. One for obvious tourism reasons and the other for traffic congestion reasons. League City has won out and the closure will proceed as planned. This means all lanes both north and south, including feeder roads will be closed at the Calder Exit near 518. All traffic is to be diverted onto Hwy 3. This means that the trip back home will mean travelling along this path which will be congested as all traffic will be heading along the same path. Be prepared and allow for extra travelling time, both to and from church for those who will be brave enough to weather the traffic storm.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/construction/construction_report.aspx

Church Records

Brothers and Sisters,

We are extremely excited to offer to all our faithful the original parish records of the births/baptisms, weddings, deaths and burials of Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church. I would like to take this opportunity in thanking Christine Kovacevich who painstakingly scanned each entry one by one with the greatest of care and in the highest resolution possible for all of us to enjoy and cherish. The entries begin with the first records dating back to 1895 and go up to 1924 for now. We are still in the process of scanning the rest of the entries. To best view these records I would "save as" and then name either church records with the years to my desktop, hard drive. Under the View options scroll down where it says Page Display and select Show Cover Page During Two-Up. We also have the ability to zoom in up to 6,400% for those who might need a little extra help in viewing them up closer.This will also allow us to print off the pertinent information that we need in the gathering on information for family trees. I should like to give everybody a heads up that the records vary in size in Adobe Acrobat Format so it might take a couple of minutes each downloading and saving them.

http://www.tejascomputerservices.com/SCHSOC.html

Russian Television programme: Orthodoxy in America

Dear Friends,

On June 6th, 2009 we were very privileged to have with us all the way from Moscow Russia the official television crew under the direct blessing of His Holiness Patriarch KYRIL. Very Reverend Father Alexei Uminski who together with the able crew of "Orthodox Encyclopedia" made a journey/pilgrimage to the United States where they paid particular attention to the history of Orthodoxy in Texas. Although the video is entirely in Russian it nevertheless offers the viewers a glimpse of what our church looked liked during it's repair post Hurricane Ike (21:35). The programme itself runs for 25 minutes and is actually part 2. Father Alexei has visited many different continents in search of Orthodox communities to show the viewers of the largest Orthodox country in the world back home in Russia where and how the rest of Orthodox faithful live and practise their faith. Our own Mitchell Chuoke and Officer Steven Brewer make an appearance in the video.

http://www.sedmitza.ru/text/723427.html