Prophet Elias – Santa Cruz, CA

29th Annual Greek Food Fair 2009 begins September 11th

Come and enjoy authentic Greek Food, Pastries, Spirits and Live Bouzouki Music and of course, Dancing!

It’s time for the 29th annual award winning Greek Festival in Downtown Santa Cruz. Greek Festival lovers will pack the streets at Center and Church Street, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 11th—13th. Come and enjoy authentic Greek food and desserts, live Greek music, Dancing, Gifts and Crafts, and a Rock Climbing Wall for the kids! The tavern will be serving Greek and American beer, wine and traditional Greek spirits. Our vegetarian food booth is a huge success as so many wonderful Greek foods, such as Moussaka (Moo-SA-Ka) are meatless. A wonderful variety of food, including lamb dishes, calamari, gyros (YEEROS), Shish kebobs, baklava (Bak-la VA) and other delicious Greek delicacies will be available. Kids and adults both will appreciate the variety of food, and the low cost, all while experiencing a taste of the Greece here at home.

Festival hours are:

Friday, September 11th 5pm-10pm

Saturday, September 12th, 11am -10pm

Sunday, September 13th, 12noon-8pm.

Admission is Free.

Our Pilgrimage to the Holy Virgin Cathedral
by
Shirley Manis

Our visit to the Holy Virgin Russian Cathedral in San Francisco included attending the Divine Liturgy, venerating the shrine of St. John [Maximovitch] the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, then visiting the orphanage and the Old Cathedral. (St. John is in repose in a glass case as I saw Pope John XXIII in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.) It was a divine day!

It was wonderful to see Father Nectarios there. He’d led a group from the Sacramento area. Others from San Jose and Sts. Peter and Paul also joined us.

After the Divine Liturgy with the men’s choir chanting beautiful Russian hymns, Father James Corazza led our tour to the orphanage – an apartment building that then Father John set up in the 1940’s to house the children he brought from China to San Francisco to escape Communism in their homeland.

We learned many things about the orphanage and St. John. For example, the icon screen from China was cut apart for shipping. When reassembled, it miraculously fit within inches in its space. St. Sarov’s icon had renewed itself, meaning the icon’s dark image turned light on its own. An icon of the Virgin Mother and Jesus oozed myrrh. A scientist asked to analyze the liquid. Permission granted. The scientist reported back that nothing in the myrrh appeared on the periodic chart! St. John prayed unceasingly. He was often found on his knees, exhausted from doing so many prostrations.

I was most spiritually moved in St. John’s cell. The crowded room had a desk, two chairs (a recliner and an ordinary leather office chair), a stand with his Gospel and wooden cross. A photograph of his parents hung on the wall. Books were crammed everywhere. Also, a life-sized icon of St. John now stood wedged in this small space. First-timers, like me, were invited to sit in one of St. John’s chairs, and say a prayer. I did. When finished, I walked out into the hallway. I began to cry. Suddenly, I felt a strong presence, something squeezing my head. My jawbone clenched shut and felt pressed up into my skull for about 10 seconds. It wasn’t painful, but it was clear that something unusual had happened to me. I had an indescribable feeling afterward…a peacefulness.

Our last stop was the Old Cathedral – an 1870-era Episcopalian church that was converted to a Russian Orthodox Church. Toward the front of the church was an icon of St. John draped with his healing mantel. After the intercessory service, groups of three or four of us to knelt before the icon. The mantel was wrapped around us as Father James read a prayer of healing. (Note: Monday was St. Panteleimon, the physician healer’s Feast Day.) Blessings for healing, twofold.

Following this service, Father James anointed everyone with Holy Oil – the oil collected from the candili in St. John’s shrine after each Divine Liturgy. It is bottled and given away to pilgrims, like us.

By then, we were very hungry and headed to a restaurant for lunch. Our conversation centered on the beautiful day we’d spent together, a journey with the Faithful. We will surely go again for a day of spiritual refreshment. Come with us next time! You, too, can have an uplifting experience.

Many thanks to Lara Willingham for arranging our tour.

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Hronia Pola – Kai Tou Chrono!

Our first and foremost gratitude to His Eminence, Metropolitan Gerasimos,
for coming to our great Saint’s Day celebration and making the day an even
more special event for us. We were so happy to have him with us, and we
look forward to his next visit.

And thank you to all our friends and parishioners who attended this special
event. Almost 200 of our friends and parishioners came to church on Monday
to celebrate our great Saint’s name day and to have lunch with us. It was
truly a very memorable event for us.

Please remember that our 29th Annual Greek Food and Cultural Festival begins
September 11 through September 13. We hope you all join us then for a
wonderful time with food, music and dancing.

Kali Mera:

We are getting ready for our church’s name day, Prophet Elias, which is on
July 20. Every year, our friends come from surrounding churches to pay
their respects to our great saint and to celebrate with us, and this year
will be no exception. We will be having Vespers on Sunday evening and
services on Monday at 10:00 a.m., followed by the luncheon we always prepare
and serve in our courtyard.

This year is even more significant for us because his Eminence, Metropolitan
Gerasimos, will join us and we are looking forward to having him with us.
His presence makes it an even more momentous day as we honor our great Saint
and celebrate his greatness.

Everyone is welcome to join us for Sunday evening Vespers, Monday’s Liturgy,
and the Prophet Elias luncheon on Monday.

In August we will have a food booth at the Cabrillo Music Festival. Please
come and join us and the music festival on August 8 and 9.

We are now cooking for festival. All help is welcome, even if you have only
a couple hours a week. And all donations of money or food are welcome to
help offset the costs. Festival this year is September 11-13.

Efharisto to all for continuing to show your commitment, dedication and love
for Prophet Elias. Our church continues to thrive and move forward because
you are in church on Sunday, you help, you contribute and you roll up your
sleeves when needed.
It’s a pleasure to serve you and celebrate the joys of our beautiful
Orthodox faith, culture and community throughout the year.

Prophet Elias celebrates our patron Saint’s Name Day!

Monday July 20th: Liturgy: 9:30 a.m. Luncheon: 12 noon

Special Visit by Metropolitan

A special liturgy and luncheon will be held July 20th at the church. This is a special occasion as we have many visitors from out of town. We are specially honored to have His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos attending this year.