Fall General Assembly

Our Fall General Assembly is scheduled for Sunday, Dec 3, following Divine Services. A proposed Agenda, Minutes from our Spring Meeting, and reports are provided below. Please check back throughout the week as other reports are submitted.

 Fall General Assembly

Agenda (proposed)

Sunday, December 3, 2023

The following is the proposed agenda for the next General Assembly meeting. Join us on Sunday, December 3, immediately following Divine Services. All active stewards* of the Church of Saint Anna are encouraged to participate.

1.     Prayer & Call to Order

2.     Selection of General Assembly Chair

3.     Approval of Minutes of previous GA

4.     Clergy Report

5.     President’s Report

6.     Treasurer’s Report

  1. Community Updates (reports will be posted on the parish website).

    1. Philoptochos 

    2. Religious Education  

    3. Archangel Gabriel Bookstore 

    4. Byzantine Chanting

    5. Youth & Young Adult Ministries

    6. Stewardship

    7. 2023 Greek Food Festival

    8. Sanctuary Construction

    9. St. Vincent de Paul

    10. Men’s Fellowship

8.     Old Business

a.     Sanctuary Beautification and Capital Campaign

9.     New Business

a.     2024 Operating Budget

10.  For the Good of the Parish

11.  Closing Prayer

12.  Adjournment

*To be considered a member in good standing, the member must regularly participate in the life of the parish and have fulfilled the previous year’s stewardship commitment and contributed toward the current year’s commitment.  New members may exercise their vote at Parish Assemblies if they have been in good standing at the parish for at least three months.

Stewardship Report/Marci Pelka

Stewardship is based on scripture (1 Peter 4:10, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Proverbs 16:3, 1 Corinthians 4:2) and many more.  I must quote 2 Corinthians 9: 6-7: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”   Our faithful Stewards certainly live up to this.  We give from our hearts.  It is a blessing to be able to support the ministries of St. Anna’s through Christ’s Church.   As Orthodox Christians, we recognize that everything, truly everything we have, is a gift from God.  We are to be grateful to Him for His blessings and generous with our gifts to others.  Peter 4:10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”   Good stewardship brings joy into the lives of others.  Our philanthropy includes but is not limited to IOCC, Kenya Mission, Skete of St. Anna, and Life-Giving Monastery, to name a few.

In 2023, our budget is $460,000.  As of October 31, 2023, our year-to-date (collected) is $372,345.  Our year-to-date budget is $383,333.  We are (-) $10,988.

 We have 208 Stewards.  Some are pledged, others give on a regular basis, and others give randomly.   We do not have annual stewardship drives.   If you need to change your pledge, don't hesitate to get in touch with Morfoula (Church Administrator 916-772-9372) or (Marci 916-258-3769).

We welcome all new Stewards.  If you want to be a Steward, don't hesitate to get in touch with Morfoula or Marci at the above numbers.  We need your name, address, phone number and email.  A member of our stewardship team will then send you a stewardship packet.

Stewardship also includes our time and talent.  Some of the areas supported by St. Anna’s include our prayer shawl ministry, serving in the altar as an acolyte, volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul, assisting in the bookstore, straightening the chairs and hymnals after service (good ones for the kids), clean the candle box, volunteer for candle duty, become a member of Philoptochos, or when needed sign up for a meal train and many more.  No activity is too small.

Once again, I am grateful to all of our faithful stewards who continue through easy and tough times for their support of our beacon on the hill, our new church, and to the glory of God. 

If you use a phone or tablet, an easy way to give, not only for stewardship but for many of our ministries, you may consider downloading the APP Church Center, following the prompts, and inputting your info.  This will also be used for our Church directory.

Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Byzantine Chant Program

Our chanting program, led by Tim Burkhard, has a Divine Liturgy team and a weekly chant practice program.

Nick Pasco has led the Divine Liturgy team through the worthwhile effort of implementing the green liturgy hymnal. I am immensely appreciative of his sticking with it to accomplish this challenging task. Moving forward, we want to continue refining toward proficiency with the new hymnal, introduce the Digital Chant Stand music for variable hymns (e.g. resurrectional apolytikia) so that those among the congregation who wish to look up the music on their handheld devices may follow along, and train up a couple more people to lead the liturgy with proficiency.

 We meet for chant practice on Wednesday evenings, following the Akathist service. We are studying basic Byzantine music theory using western notation (not Byzantine neumes). The near-term goal is to train up a couple people who can chant services outside of Divine Liturgy. In the longer term, we want a decent-sized group of people able to perform unison singing as a small choir. We'll need a few more recruits to accomplish this, so please feel free to join us if you are interested! 

 In the meantime, we are also refining the new sound system to strike a balance between making homilies and scripture readings comprehensible, while not bombarding the congregation with electric noise. 

2023 Greek Food Festival

submitted by Mike Dindio

The September 2 day festival based around our feast day celebration was a big success.  Our faith and hospitality were on full display and brought in many community folks who were curious and needed our spiritual offerings. Not only did patrons love our festival, but the gross income of $251K was a surprisingly great outcome. After all expenses were paid, our profits came in at around 85K. Father has decided future festivals will remain a two-day event and be held in September.

Thank you to all who participated in making this an overwhelmingly positive experience.  It could never have happened without all who volunteered and worked so hard prior to, during, and after the festival.  We are looking for a few folks to step up and lead the festival moving forward. We look forward to 2024.

Christmas Campfire Carols

2nd Annual Campfire Carols

We are very excited to have our 2nd annual Campfire Carols on Friday, December 15th, from 6pm-8pm. Please join us for singing, doing holiday crafts, eating tasty treats and pizza, sipping hot cocoa, and more. We ask you to dress in your warmest Christmas pajamas and bring your gloves, scarves, and blankets. For more comfortable seating we encourage families to bring their own outdoor chairs. And as always, we need volunteers to make this event a success! Thank you for your loving support of our beloved St. Anna's family ministry and for coming together for fellowship. Please reach out to Annie Moore (978-473-4756) with any questions. 

Annual Piece Meal (Nov 14) and Holy Unction (Nov 15)

On Tuesday, November 14, we will host our “Piece Meal,” an annual family potluck Thanksgiving dinner before the start of the Nativity Fast. This is a wonderful opportunity for our families to come together in Christian fellowship. Don't hesitate to contact the Church Office with questions.  Dinner will begin at 6 PM.  Please sign up below.

We will pray the Service of Holy Unction on Wednesday evening, November 15 (6 PM), to begin the Nativity Fast. May we be granted healing, forgiveness, and every good gift as we prepare to receive our newborn Lord Who took flesh for our salvation. If there are members of our community who are unable to attend Holy Unction, we ask that they remain after services (Vespers or the Divine Liturgy) the following weekend or that the family schedule a time for the clergy to visit them at home to be anointed.

Please click here to sign up for the Piece Meal

Saint Porphyrios intercede on our behalf!

We were saddened to learn last evening from the Holy Patriarchate of Jerusalem that an airstrike from Israel hit the Church of St. Porphyrios in Gaza.  The Church is the oldest active Church in Gaza City, dating to the 5th century.  Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias confirmed that the offices and entrance to the Monastery were bombarded, with sections of the building collapsing. 

The Holy Order of Saint George the Great Martyr has set up a fund to assist families. Please consider giving to the Order or through IOCC. I also encourage you to read about the life of the Saint whose holy Relic we received at our parish some years ago.  Finally, I ask that you heed that request of the Order of Saint George to  "pray for the repose of the souls who were killed in the bombing; for strength and healing of the injured; for mercy on everyone, including the perpetrators; and for peace in the Holy Land and an end to this devastating war. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered!"

May Saint Porphyrios ever intercede on our behalf!

To Donate through the Holy Order of St. George

To Donate through IOCC:

More about St. Porphyrios

“...to pray and ask God for mercy and compassion" (1 Maccabees 3:44)

Part I

Eleven days have passed since the worst terrorist attack in Israel's modern history.  Although individuals or countries may war with one another, the systematic removal of a people/nation is not a solution, nor a just cause.  We’ve read repeatedly in the Old Testament about the plight of the house of Israel, most recently when reading from the Book of 1 Maccabees yesterday in Bible Study.   Now, like then, the people are encouraged to persevere and “to pray and ask God for mercy and compassion (1 Maccabees 3:44).  

As I shared last week, evil is evil.  Targeting civilians is never just.  Using women, children, and the elderly as human shields is immoral.   Taking and torturing hostages should not be considered godly in any religion. Warring is not what God desires for His people but is a tragic reality of our fallen nature. Mindful of this, we lament and repent.    


A fog of war looms over any battle.  Carl von Clausewitz, credited with the term, explained it as “the realm of uncertainty...a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty [in military conflict].  Commanders then must gather the best intelligence to make the most informed decisions because every decision has consequences.  And, every decision weighs heavy on the soul of a commander who must consider friend and foe because this is right, even in what is fallen.  

Similarly, there is undoubtedly a “fog of sin” that looms over and around any battle.  Even for those of us thousands of miles away from conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, Ethiopia, Yemen, Haiti….we can get drawn into the fog.  Clarity for Christians, though, does not come through simply watching and reading more news** but through prayer.  We, too, ought to follow that admonition of Mattathias, “to pray and ask God for mercy and compassion."  It’s a prayer for ourselves, those who are being harmed, and those who are inflicting the harm.  As God makes the “sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), our prayers must encompass all.  As we will pray in Compline and the Akathist prayers, we petition God to have mercy on “those who hate us and those who love us.”

Over the past few days, I have had the chance to reconnect with Rabbi Yossi, who serves at the Chabad of Placer County.  Know that he is sincerely thankful for our prayers.  He also invited us to provide support through the following charities:

  • https://charidy.com/united4israel  : Charidy is a crowdfunding platform.  Monies raised through this particular campaign provide physical, spiritual, and emotional support to the Jewish community in Israel.

  • https://afmda.org/ : Magen David Adom (MDA)is the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. Founded in 1940 as the American Red Magen David for Israel (ARMDI), American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) is the sole authorized fundraising and advocacy organization in the United States supporting the life-saving efforts of Magen David Adom (MDA) in Israel and representing MDA in the US in all matters. MDA and its trained volunteers and professional medical responders depend on AFMDA support to provide the nation's pre-hospital emergency needs, including medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood services. It has a four-star rating as a charity organization.

  • https://give.zakaworld.org/campaign/protection-kits-2023-support-zaka-search-and-rescue/ : A UN-recognized humanitarian volunteer organization rapidly responding to mass casualty disasters worldwide. To date, ZAKA has saved thousands of lives—and honored those who couldn't be saved with dignity in death. Zaka was featured three days ago by the BBC for “the Volunteers Giving Dignity to Israel’s dead.” Zaka has a two-star charity rating.


I would also encourage you to support the work of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), which has a four-star charity rating.  The specific campaign for the Holy Land is found at https://support.iocc.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30116b?df_id=9183&mfc_pref=T&9183.donation=form1&_ga=2.14578224.601490820.1697644637-1330592201.1697644637&NONCE_TOKEN=D19943E550579BD36AEAACE2E6A8D6BF

**Regarding the news, I’ve found AllSides, https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news to be a good source for vetting the bias of articles.  It’s probably best to read articles written more “from the center” than those biased to the left or right.  “As the Fathers say, the extremes from both sides are equally harmful.  [We must] go on the royal path, avoiding the extremes on both sides” (Saint John Cassian).

Part II

After this post, some individuals were left with questions.  Before I share another word regarding the “fog of sin,” allow me to apologize for not providing the clarity I hoped for. My intent has been and remains twofold: 1) to provide a Christian response, not the response, and 2) to encourage you to pray, not simply for peace, but also for all of God’s children.

Sin that is, “missing the mark,” is falling short in our relationship with God.  Whether we perceive sinful thoughts, words, or deeds as little or big, all sin separates us from God.  We witness this in any conflict within families, within communities, small or large.


How Christians persevere in conflict is unique.  Yes, every religion prays to God for mercy.  Some prayers, though, are sectarian, meaning they are meant for “a” people rather than all people.  Our Holy Tradition is replete with examples of men, women, and children who have persevered in conflict, even unto martyrdom, and have prayed for their enemies.  Why?  Because if our Lord suffered, was crucified, and died upon the Cross and He has said, “he who wishes to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow,” I too may suffer.  Even so, amidst their suffering, they prayed. We were just reminded of this when commemorating the life of St. Longinos the Centurion on Monday.  Our prayers and acts of mercy, like his, are for all, and we hope, unto salvation.    

Some two thousand years later, it’s humbling to think that Christians attached to the historical Sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and even Jerusalem are persecuted.  These Christians have learned not simply to exist in persecution but to remain committed to Christ, allowing His Light to shine brightly on those in darkness.  Some of our parishioners with roots (and families) in these lands can attest to this better than I can.  This is how Saints are made. This is also how others continue to be drawn to the Light, which is Christ.   It’s persevering by God’s Grace, not because it’s right, but to be righteous.

I was speaking with another priest about what has transpired in recent days. We’re both at a loss, as we were over the events in and around Ukraine.  To think, I was to be in the Holy Land next month and again in January with our parishioners, visiting the Holy sites - functioning parishes for the faithful of these cities and towns or monasteries for the fathers of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher - all in the care of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.  As we spoke, we continued to list by region, those whom we lifted in prayer, members of our parish families, and even some of our schoolmates living in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia, Turkey, Africa, Cyprus, and the Americas who unjustly suffer. We also spoke of the sacred and humbling privilege it has been to grieve with and support those who have lost loved ones due to conflict.  There are no words besides an attempted paraphrase of St. Paul; we grieve, but we grieve as those with hope in the Resurrected Christ.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, conflicts will continue, and suffering will continue.  Again, this does not justify persecuting or being persecuted because we are all part of God’s family.  What it does testify to is the reality that peace will only reign when all come to know Christ intimately.  Again, peace will only reign when all come to know Christ, when Christians can humbly boast as did St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  This must be our prayer because this is our Orthodox faith as witnessed in the lives of the Saints and those Orthodox Christians living in far-from-ideal circumstances in these historic lands.   


Some time ago, I found a beautiful prayer that can be prayed by those who struggle to live in chastity. Within a much greater prayer, we find the words: “Grant that I may remain strong in virtue and innocent in all my thoughts, words, and deeds, only doing those things that please You. Grant me to grow in wisdom and understanding that I may serve You in purity and holiness all the days of my life. Grant, also, that I may have the courage to witness to others on behalf of Your Gospel teachings.”  The prayer concludes with the words, “I ask all this through the intercessions of Your most pure Mother, the Theotokos, and Ever-Virgin Mary, together with Saint John the Baptist, and all the Saints…. Amen.


The theological understanding and graceful sensitivity of such prayers are the beauty of our Orthodox Christian faith, rooted in Christ.  We trust that words like this, prayed by our faithful in every historical land, who commemorate those who have gone before them, are well-pleasing to God.  We also hope their examples will lead others to Christ there, as our examples should lead others to Christ here.  And, when others suffer because of the “fog of sin,” we lament, repent, and ask God to be merciful.