ANNUAL MINISTRY REPORT
GREEK SCHOOL
During the renovation period, our Greek school experienced a very difficult time. We lost all our teachers and most of the students. This year, we came back by hiring two new teachers and seven new students.
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SUNDAY SCHOOL
Our School is going through its normal course. We have three very qualified teachers with about 15 students.
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PRISON MINISTRY
We just started this ministry last year, and during this year and a half, we have been writing cards of hope and love to people in the prisons around us. We reached out to a gentleman (George) who had just come out of prison, and we bought clothes and supported him financially as much as we could. This endeavor was made possible by cooperation between the prison ministry and our Ladies of Philoptochos Society. On December 22nd, 20 families with one of the parents in prison will visit our church and receive their Christmas gifts prepared by the members of our community. The Children of the community decided to work with our newly formed prison ministry and invite the children supported by this ministry to join us during the Christmas pageant on the 22nd.
THE PHILOPTOCHOS SOCIETY
This organization of 35 members has been working very hard to reach out to the poor in cooperation with the Metropolis Philoptochos. They have provided meals for the less fortunate brethren from Somerville and surrounding areas quarterly, joining the endeavor of our Family Table. They have contacted families who struggled financially, supporting them with food and housing costs.
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FAMILY TABLE
This is one of our charitable organizations that provides homemade dinners for about 20-30 brethren on the first Wednesday of every month. Every year, we invite them to a Thanksgiving and New Year's party, sponsored and served by many members of the Dormition Community.
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GOLDEN CLUB
We just reviewed our Golden Club, which now has about 35 members. The club has organized many events for the elderly in our community, including a trip to the St. Nicholas National Shrine in New York, a visit to the Icon Museum in Clinton, MA, and a Christmas party this Saturday, the 14th.
MUSIC MINISRTY
Until now, we have only had a Byzantine choir of about eight musicians led by Richard Barrett. They have been slowly mastering the art of the Byzantine chant. Two of our musicians are attending the music classes the Metropolis offers, and they have advanced significantly.
This year, we also revived our Western-style choir, which has about ten members led by Cortney Row.
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OCF
At TUFTS University, we have monthly Vespers services, weekly fun events, and Bible Studies for the Orthodox students of the University.
At MIT, we just started an OCF. I met with the students, and we plan to develop a program for the next semester.
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BIBLE STUDY
We have two Bible Studies.
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We meet every Saturday in a hybrid style. Some people from different geographical locations, denominations, and jurisdictions join over Zoom, and some of our parishioners participate in person. We study the synopsis of the four Gospels by running parallels and examining them from the patristic perspective.
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Bible study for young adults every second Thursday of the month. We study the Gospel of St. Mark.
We plan to start a weekly Bible Study for TUFTS graduate students at their request.
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YOUNG ADULTS
Our Young Adult ministry meets weekly and has about 15 members. It conducts two Bible Studies monthly, one fun/game/movie night event, and one outing.
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ENQUIRER'S CLASS
This group of 10-15 people meets every Tuesday to learn about Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy following a 40-week program. Some participants are enquirers, and some parishioners want to deepen their knowledge of Orthodoxy.
SACRAMENTS
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Weddings 2
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Baptisms 5
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Funerals 6
GOYA
It fell apart during COVID-19, and we have been unable to revive it.
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LENTEN SPEAKERS SERIES
We hosted four Lenten Speaker dinners after Wednesday Presanctified Liturgies during Great Lent, hosted by our Ladies of Philoptochos. We invited two professors from HCHC, Dr. James Skedros, and Dr. Bruce Beck, to speak about Icons and The New Testament. Fr. Philip Halikias spoke about “Inter-Religious marriages,” and Pres. Kellie Tandilyan had a presentation on “Raising a Family in Communion with Christ.”
EVENTS
This year, we have hosted the Archons of our Metropolis in honor of Bill Galatis as their newest member.
We have hosted OCMS to speak to our parishioners about their mission worldwide.
We Hosted Cappella Romana for a concert called “From Ashes of Smirna.”
Our Christmas Concert will take place on the 22nd of December.
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THE FUTURE
We have a three-year strategic plan for our community, which is divided into three parts. The implementation process will start on February 1st at our parish leadership retreat at St. Methodios Retreat House in Contoocook, NH.

Fr. Anthony Tandilyan