sermon news
20/09/2022 In Sermons & Services

Sermon for the 14th Sunday after Trinity – 18 September 2022: AMOS: 8:4-7,! TIMOTHY 2:1-7, LUKE 16:1-13

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

I speak in the name of the Triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit AMEN

As we continue reading the Gospel of Luke and have wended our way with Jesus and the disciples to Jerusalem, in step with the journey and ministry of Jesus, the parables become even more testing and trying, to my mind, but we can’t just skip over the difficult bits of scripture.

All our readings today are challenging, lifted only by the words of the Psalm, but then we are in challenging times and we are also in the season of Creationtide which runs from 1st September through to the feast of St Francis on 4th October. As Fr Leonard explained in a previous sermon, this year we are invited to listen out for the Voice of Creation, groaning. The theme text and illustration chosen by an ecumenical group this year is Moses and the Burning Bush from Exodus chapter 3 . Interesting to note how Moses is already on Holy Ground and the fire burns but does not destroy.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020
13/09/2022 In Blog News

Service for the 14th Sunday after Trinity – 18th September 2022

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Please note that the church has a POS facility. Drinking water is always available at the back of the church, and bottles for sale.  Fr. Leonard will preside. Deacon Christine will preach. Today Rebecca Misthou of the Salvation Army is with us. She runs the ‘Green Light’ project which St. Paul’s supports. There is coffee available in the garden after the Liturgy.

 

Entrance Hymn    395  Let bells peal forth

 

Priest:    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

     All:         Amen

Priest:    The Lord be with you

     All:         And also with you

 

The priest then informally welcomes the people of God and leads us into Confession.

 

Deacon: We run the race set before us, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Therefore let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, bringing them to Jesus in penitence and faith.                            (A short period of stillness and silence)

Deacon:            Your raise the dead to life in the spirit.

Kyrie eleison              All: Kyrie eleison

Deacon:            You bring pardon and peace to the broken in spirit.

                           Christe eleison          All: Christe eleison

Deacon:            You make one by your Spirit the torn and divided.

                           Kyrie eleison             All:  Kyrie eleison

 

Absolution: Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Service picture blog
12/09/2022 In Blog News

A Service of Commemoration for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – Saturday 17th September 2022

Introit sung by the Athens Singers  Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our heart

(Purcell)

Opening Sentences 

‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ says the Lord. ‘Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.’  John 11, 25-26

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Matthew 5, 4

Welcome (Father Leonard)

1 O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home:

2 Under the shadow of your throne
your saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is your arm alone,
and our defense is sure.

3 Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received its frame,
from everlasting you are God,
to endless years the same.

4 A thousand ages in your sight
are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.

5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
soon bears us all away;
we fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.

6 O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
still be our guard while troubles last,
and our eternal home!

Collect:

Gracious God, we give thanks

for the life of your servant Queen Elizabeth,

for her faith and her dedication to duty.

Bless our nation as we mourn her death

and may her example continue to inspire us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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E-Mag Cover
12/09/2022 In Blog News

Our New E_Mag is here!

We are delighted to announce that our new E-mag is now available to read and enjoy.

Click here to open the new E-Magazine

 

Our grateful thanks go to Oliver Knight for his hard work in producing this colourful and entertaining magazine.  A new magazine will be produced on a bi-monthly basis and any notices or pictures should be sent to him  Here

community_connect_athens_1100
12/09/2022 In Blog News

Community Connect Coffee Mornings resume

Central Athens (close to Syntagma Square and its metro station)

On the second Wednesday of each month from 11.00am until 1.00pm Community Connect  Coffee morning. Coffee and refreshments are available, as well as English books, cards, jams, second-hand clothing and other items for sale. Everyone is welcome. There is no agenda; it is just an opportunity to chat, make friends, catch up with news, share information – all over a cup of coffee.

This month it will take place in the Church Garden, information about future coffee Mornings will be posted on our website and Social Media pages.

For more information, please ring (+30) 210 721 4906.

Queen
08/09/2022 In Blog News

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II RIP

A service of commemoration for the life of Queen Elizabeth II

will take place at St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens 

on Saturday 17th September 2022 at 11.00 hrs

ALL ARE WELCOME

Gracious Father

Whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life

Pour out your mercy on your faithful people in all lands

As we pray with thanksgiving for the life Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

And commend her into your loving embrace.

We praise you for her faith, for her steadfastness and for her humility.

Surround her family and loved ones with your Holy Spirit

Giver of hope and comfort.

Bless His Majesty King Charles and all the Royal family at this time of loss.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

God save the King.

A book of condolences is available at the Church for people to sign

sermon news
08/09/2022 In Sermons & Services

Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Trinity – 11th September 2022:Exodus 32, 1-17; 1 Timothy 1, 12-17; Luke 15, 1-10

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

John Newton was born in London, in 1725. His father was a shipping merchant. At the age of eleven, he joined his father on a ship as an apprentice; his seagoing career would be marked by headstrong disobedience.

As a sailor, he denounced his faith after being influenced by a fellow shipmate. His disobedience caused him to be press-ganged into the Royal Navy. He deserted the navy to follow the woman he had fallen in love with. After enduring humiliation for desertion from the navy he was traded as crew to a slave ship, and he began a career in cruel slave trading. While aboard the ship Greyhound, Newton gained notoriety as being one of the most profane men the captain had ever met.

In March 1748, while the Greyhound was in the North Atlantic, a violent storm came upon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crew member who was standing where Newton had been only moments before. In the midst of the terrifying ordeal he cried our ‘Lord have mercy’ thus beginning the questioning of himself that led him into faith.

Working as a customs officer from 1756 he began to teach himself Latin, Greek and Theology. He and his new wife engaged with their local parish church and with his new found passion for faith his friends suggested that he should be ordained. In 1746 he was ordained by the then Bishop of Lincoln and he became curate of Olney in 1764.

The reason I am telling you so much about John Newton is that he is the author of the hymn that we have just sung – Amazing grace.

This is perhaps one of the most famous of the Olney Hymns composed by John Newton while he was Curate in that village in Buckinghamshire.

It is personal, and profound; penitential and salvific. He speaks of the sheer grace of God in Jesus Christ redeeming him from a life of profanity and of gross degradation of human beings – yet despite all this he is found by God’s grace and transformed by it.

So often we think of people ‘finding religion’ or ‘finding God’. More often perhaps we have to turn this around and think of ourselves as being found BY God, by his grace and by his love. Salvation is an act of God through the cross, not a human action, though our co-operation is entirely necessary.

So often I tell of a story from my university days at St. Andrews. There was a very sincere Christian woman who would hand out little leaflets with passages of the bible. One day she accosted the Very Revd. Matthew Black, Master of St. Mary’s College where Divinity was taught. As she jumped out in front of him, she asked the question such earnest Christians often ask – ‘Are you saved?’. The Professor’s response was, ‘Aye madam, in the year 33AD’.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020
08/09/2022 In Blog News

Service for the 13th Sunday after Trinity – 11th September 2022

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Please note that the church has a POS facility. Drinking water is always available at the back of the church, and bottles for sale.  Fr. Leonard will preside and preach. The Assistant is Nelly Paraskevopoulou. There is coffee available in the garden after the Liturgy.

 

Entrance Hymn    437 Praise the Lord

 

Priest:    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

     All:         Amen

Priest:    The Lord be with you

     All:         And also with you

 

The priest then informally welcomes the people of God and leads us into Confession.

 

Nelly: We run the race set before us, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Therefore let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, bringing them to Jesus in penitence and faith.                            (A short period of stillness and silence)

Nelly:                Your raise the dead to life in the spirit.

Kyrie eleison              All: Kyrie eleison

Nelly:                You bring pardon and peace to the broken in spirit.

                           Christe eleison          All: Christe eleison

Nelly:                You make one by your Spirit the torn and divided.

                           Kyrie eleison             All:  Kyrie eleison

 

Absolution: Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Apostoli
04/09/2022 In Blog News

Part-time English Teacher required

INVITATION OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST TO RECRUIT STAFF
“APOSTOLI”, an urban non-profit company, in the context of the implementation of the program “INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES IN THE GREEK SOCIETY – MAKING A NEW HOME, a sub-project of Give for Greece IX” financed by the international organization IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities) announces announces one (1) part-time English Teacher job.
See the detailed invitation on the organization’s website: