|
|
|
The History of the Ocala Greek Orthodox Mission BACKGROUND It was in January 2002, Dr. Cary Pantazis, then president of the St. Basil Antiochian Eastern Orthodox Church Council, thought of holding a second, Greek oriented service at St. Basil’s following the regular morning Divine Liturgy in an attempt to accommodate Greek families living in the area. This was discussed with Fr. George Papadeas renown retired Greek Orthodox priest residing in Daytona, and Fr Basil Banyasz of St Basil’s Church. As a result of these discussions, for the next two years, we had our services every other Sunday in the St. Basil’s Antiochian Church at 12 noon. Unfortunately, during this first two year period we had, at most,10 people in attendance. In December 2003, after considerable discussion, it was decided that a separate Greek Orthodox Mission should be organized with its own facility. It was felt that the Mission would not grow unless we had a place to hold services at a more traditional hour. Early Beginning In January 2004, a parishioner approached the principal of a brand new Catholic High School. He offered the use of the School’s chapel on Sundays for as long as we needed it. The only stipulation was to compensate the maintenance person $50 per Sunday to open the chapel and cafeteria for our agape/coffee hour. To date, the High School and Catholic community continue to welcome us in their facilities. With no start-up funds, we planned to have our first service for the beginning of January 2004. However, all we had to conduct the service were the gold Bible & liturgy books that were previously purchased. Within one week everything miraculously came together. One of our parishioners (92 years young) sewed an altar cloth. We made icons by enlarging pictures from the Internet and pasting them on cardboard. We struggled with finding the remaining service essentials. Within days, a retired priest from Miami loaned us a chalice and communion essentials. We used a large baking pan for the candles. On January 11, 2004 at 10:00AM we held our first liturgy service at our new location and churched our first baby. The following month, we incorporated the Greek Orthodox Mission of Greater Ocala as a non-profit mission. By this time our congregation had grown to 25 people and continued to grow every week thereafter. Our only form of advertising was word of mouth. Our first Easter was a miracle in itself. Knowing we had no epitaphio to decorate, a parishioner made one out of PVC pipes. After the ladies of the church wrapped flowers, fern and greenery all around it – it was a beautiful sight to behold. Our beloved Presbytera was able to celebrate her last Easter with us and participate in the holy resurrection of our Lord. One week later, she left our earthly realm to be with our Lord and Savior. We were blessed to have her as long as we did. Father George began serving our community EVERY week after his dear wife and our beloved Presbytera passed away. He said our community helped him grieve and gave him renewed purpose to carry on. We know Presbytera is watching over us. All of the memorial donations received on her behalf were given by Father to our building fund. Soon thereafter, we began our search for an existing building and/or land to purchase for our new church. Our committee searched for months, encountering disappointments, failures, and constantly escalating real estate prices. We finally came across 9.6 centrally located acres. A parishioner was passing by a sign that only had a website on it – so we researched it and called the owner. The owner was the grandson of a Greek Orthodox man. He said his grandfather would be so happy to know that the land would someday have a church built on it. We purchased the land in January 2006. As a result of our intensive fund raising activities, we were able to put down a substantial amount and mortgage the balance, hoping to pay it off within three years before the interest rate increased. Since 2001, our primary fund-raiser has been an Annual Greek Festival. We approached Blessed Trinity Catholic Church requesting the use of their church hall, kitchen and parking facilities. In return, we committed to donate a percentage of our profits to their new Catholic High School to support a scholarship for a disadvantaged student. The head Catholic priest of Blessed Trinity, agreed to this arrangement, which has continued to date. We also donate funds from our proceeds to local charitable organizations. Since we were part of St. Basil’s, the first three festivals were shared with St Basil Orthodox Church. In 2004, after we incorporated as the Greek Orthodox Mission of Greater Ocala, the proceeds have gone to our building fund, the High School, elementary school and local charities. In 2007 we had our traditional Greek Festival, as well as a new fundraiser. We organized a cruise to celebrate our Greek Heritage as well as become more informed about our Orthodox religion. Our cruise was very unique with a variety of planned events. We had daily religious services, discussions and presentations conducted by Metropolitan Alexios and Father Papadeas. We also had an amazing Greek Band, Comedienne, lectures, Greek dance classes, and special Greek meals prepared by Costa Cruise lines. The Cruise line extended themselves in every way possible to accommodate and please us. They prepared a special Greek Luncheon and a private cocktail party. The cruise was a tremendous success and we plan to make this an annual event. It is our hope that the annual cruise, festival and other fundraising events will help to pay off our property and eventually enable us to build a church. Our second annual cruise was also very successful and we look forward to our third annual cruise February 8-15th, 2009. PRESENT We currently have between 50-60 parishioners attending Liturgy every Sunday (more during the holidays). We mail out 120 newsletters weekly. Every Monday, our Parish Council President and his wife invite three or four parishioners to their home for dinner, after which the newsletter is assembled for mailing. Every Saturday Father George (90 years young) drives 80 miles from Daytona, Fl. for Bible Study at a parishioner’s home. Sunday our families take turns hosting agape/social hour. Every third Sunday we have a Parish Council meeting following our agape hour. Our small congregation is involved in many community activities. Every activity is targeted to benefit one or more local charities and our building fund. A few of the activities/events we are involved in are: Ocala’s Cultural Festival, Light-Up Ocala, cookies for the homeless children at Christmas, and our Annual Greek Festival. We also host an annual luncheon at a local restaurant, an annual dinner/dance, November bake sale, church store, and various other fundraising activities and events. FUTURE God must have been watching over our community because directly across the street from our new property is a new development with 250 lots for homes in the 250K to 350K range. As Orthodox Christians across the country plan for retirement, they may find this an ideal opportunity to be within walking distance of an Orthodox Community. In addition, a mobile home park adjacent to our property has been purchased by a developer who plans to build 300 mid-priced (200k) homes and town homes. Since purchasing the land, many miraculous things continue to occur. For example, a parishioner has donated landscaping of one hundred and thirty trees, which will eventually be placed on the perimeter of the land as well as in our serenity/memorial garden. This donation included fencing, an irrigation system, a well and a utility power pole. Other Orthodox businessmen have come forward to donate their time and expertise in development, engineering, and sewage systems. In only 11 months we raised sufficient funds to pay down the mortgage by $166,000. As we enter the third year of ownership of the property we are hopeful that a successful festival, the Greek cultural cruise, and individual building fund contributions will enable us to pay off the mortgage .We are, therefore, optimistic that we can then break ground in late 2008 with the construction of a multipurpose hall which will contain a room used as a chapel until we are able to also build a church. In the future we want our Greek Cultural cruise, in concert with the Metropolis of Atlanta, to provide a forum for Metropolitan Alexios to disseminate his message and perpetuate Hellenism and Orthodoxy. It will be an opportunity for people of Greek descent, Orthodox Christians, and all who appreciate Hellenism, to come together and celebrate their heritage and enjoy Greek music, dancing and various other entertainments. We want our cruise to help support our Mission, as well as other future Orthodox Missions. We are often asked why we give away so much of our profits. The answer is simple: We are a Christian organization and that is what Christians do. We want to share and perpetuate Orthodoxy. This is one small way we can achieve this goal. In the future, we will invite other missions to submit written requests and we will select one per year to help support their missions. So when you sign up for our Greek Cultural Cruise you will be helping Orthodox Missions around the United States and eventually the world.
Written July, 2008 |
|
SBack to home page
Send mail to
epantaz@yahoo.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|