...thank you

Nine months of planning by our chairs and festival committee, hundreds of volunteers, and thousands of guests: our annual Greek Festival, held in anticipation of the Feasts of Ss. Joachim and Anna, has concluded! Just 14 hours after thanking our last guests, the grounds are fully prepared for services and ready to welcome our preschool and elementary students for their first day of school tomorrow.  

On behalf of the approximately 10,000 friends and neighbors who enjoyed our Orthodox Christian hospitality, thank you for a beautiful weekend.

Success after a weekend like this can be measured in many ways. As a priest, I suggest that our success is rooted in the joy of glorifying God together as we worked—setting up, cleaning up, cooking, baking, frying, dancing, laughing, praying, and worshipping. Success is also evident in the joy our guests experienced. As Irene and Fr. Lukas wisely shared on Good Day Sacramento, the Festival is our way of sharing warmth and hospitality, rooted in Faith, with the Roseville community. It is our way of letting our neighbors know that we are always here for them and that the Orthodox Church will always be here for them.


Again, I express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your love of Christ, your prayers, your tireless efforts, and the Christian love and joy you brought to this weekend.

May the Mother of God—whose Nativity we celebrate tomorrow beginning at 9:00 AM—and Saints Joachim and Anna—whose feast we celebrate on Wednesday beginning at 9:00 AM (with Great Vespers on Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM)—ever intercede on our behalf!


Notes of Hope: solo cello performance by Eliana Spiro

Elaina Spiro is a LA and Nashville-based cellist specializing in session recording work, orchestral and chamber playing, touring, arranging, and live performances of all genres. Her career highlights solo, chamber, and orchestral performance of both classical and contemporary nature.

Elaina holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Cello performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee ('24) and a Master of Music Degree in Cello performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music ('26). This summer, she won a position as a cellist in the Nashville Civic Orchestra's upcoming inaugural 2026-2027 season. She has also performed nationwide as a cellist with

the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, USC Thornton Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, and the San Gabriel Valley Symphony, among others. She has held and performed principal cello positions in renowned halls such as Chicago Symphony's Orchestra Hall, Boston Symphony's Symphony Hall, and NEC's Jordan Hall, among others. Elaina is a founding member of the Nashville String Quartet, who regularly perform and record in Nashville, TN, and surrounding areas.

Elaina has recorded cello on a multitude of iconic scores. Her cello credits include EA's ‘

Battlefield 6’ blockbuster video game, Dreamworks' ‘Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie’ feature film, Bungie's ‘Destiny 2:The Edge of Fate’, and 'Roundball Rock' NBA theme song on NBC, Disney Cruise Line’s ‘The Treasure’, Walt Disney World’s ‘Once Upon a Christmas’ parade, among others. She has recorded at legendary studios including Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros Studios, Evergreen Studios, Igloo Studios, RCA Recording Studios, Ocean Way Recording Studios, Sonic Fuel Studios, Altamira Sound, and John Williams Scoring Stage, among others. She has performed live with pop-icons Nessa Barrett, with over 2 billion streams and 30 million followers across social media platforms, and artist Lorelei Marcell.

Elaina is dedicated to bringing music to underserved communities. She is the head of Music Therapy at the Aristevi Foundation, an Orthodox Christian-based healing retreat and support center for human trafficking survivors, based in Nashville, TN. Elaina organizes and performs concerts for survivors and at fundraising outreach events. Elaina is also an active member of Salastina's Vital Sounds Program since 2024, performing weekly for patients, their families, and medical staff of UCLA Hospital’s ICU and Huntington Health’s CCU.

When not making music, Elaina cultivates her other favorite artistic mediums. She is an active gymnast and dancer studying ballet, contemporary, and hip-hop. She is a trained Byzantine Iconographer and her paintings have been featured in churches across the globe. Elaina also enjoys reading and writing in every spare moment. When not creating art, she is the biggest supporter of consuming the arts, and enjoys doing so the most when she is alongside her friends and family.

More information regarding Elaina’s career and contact information can be found on her website, elainaspiro.com

General Assembly (August 23)

General Assembly

The following is the proposed agenda for the next General Assembly meeting. Join us on Sunday, August 23, immediately following Divine Services. All active stewards* of the Church of Saint Anna are encouraged to participate.

1.    Prayer & Call to Order

2.    Opening Comments

3.    Approval of Minutes of the previous GA

4.    Treasurer’s Report

5.    Old Business

a.    Sanctuary Beautification and Capital Campaign

6.    Old Business

a.    Sanctuary Beautification and Capital Campaign

7.    New Business

a.    Saint Anna Strategic Planning

i.     Strategic Planning Overview

ii.     Mission, Vision & Core Values

iii.     Next Steps: Plan, Implement & Manage

iv.     Questions & Discussion

b.    Alignment with Lily Grant Initiatives

8.    For the Good of the Parish

9.    Closing Prayer (Comments or ideas from the floor)

*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.

The 250th Anniversary of the United States Independence

As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary today, we give thanks for the blessings of freedom, peace, and opportunity we enjoy as Orthodox Christian Americans. On this historic and truly meaningful day, we express our profound gratitude to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. It is through the courage, sacrifice, and vigilance of our military service members and veterans that the liberties envisioned by our Founding Fathers have been preserved. We pray that God protects them and grants them strength and wisdom in their service.

The history of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America is a story of a single ancient faith planted on two opposite coastlines by two different cultures, yet fostered by the distinct blessings of America. Religious freedom protected early believers from the state-sponsored constraints they often faced in the Old World, while the American entrepreneurial spirit and democratic landscape empowered immigrants to pool their resources, purchase land, and build churches to the glory of God, planting deep roots, ever adapting and flourishing.

In the East, a small group of Greeks landed in New Smyrna, Florida, in 1768, eventually fleeing to St. Augustine and leaving behind the first Orthodox prayers on American soil. In the West, Russian monks arrived in Kodiak, Alaska, in 1794, integrating with the indigenous Aleut people, establishing a truly unique and local mission. When the U.S. later purchased Alaska, the Russian missionaries moved their headquarters further south to San Francisco and eventually east to New York - also the home of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese - lining up with the massive waves of Greek and Slavic immigration through Ellis Island.

Over the decades, all of our Orthodox jurisdictions have planted parishes across America. In 1998, for instance, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Sacramento looked northeast, and helped with the planting of a modest storefront mission in Roseville. Formally dedicated to Saint Anna in 2000, our parish quickly became a major spiritual landmark. We received the holy relics of Ss. Joachim and Anna from Mount Athos, were dedicated to the sanctity of marriage and family as a Metropolis Shrine, constructed Founders’ Hall and then opened our Holy Sanctuary in July 2023. Thanks be to God for His steadfast love and to our founders who gifted us Orthodoxy here in Placer County.

While we celebrate our national freedom today, we would be remiss not to look to the Church calendar and honor those who found freedom in Christ. On July 4th, we commemorate St. Andrew the hymnographer who authored the Great Canon of Repentance we chant in Great Lent. We also commemorate Venerable Martha, the mother of St. Symeon of the Wonderful Mountain, whose piety inspires us in our service to our families and the poor.

Parishes like ours represent the beautiful destination of this 250-year American journey: vibrant, multi-ethnic communities where the faith of our fathers and mothers in Christ has become a permanent, living part of the local American fabric. We are profoundly grateful for the unique freedoms of this nation—and the brave defenders who safeguard them—that allow our community to grow and thrive.

May God bless you, our families, our founders, and the United States of America!

1st Saint Anna Blood Drive a success!

Our 1st semiannual blood drive was a success! I want to thank you and let you know that our donors are deeply appreciated for their support and the role they played in making this blood drive a success.

The results from the June 6th blood drive, in addition to those who give regularly: 

  • Projection/Outcome: Successful WB Procedures: 12

  • Number of First-time donors: 7. CONGRATS!! This is a huge accomplishment! 

  • Total Red Cell Units: 12

  • With these units collected, over 25 patients will receive blood products to meet their health care needs.


Because of the blood donation, St. Anna’s is now planning to host another blood drive on November 21st, the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos to the Temple (Orthros at 8 AM). In keeping with the spirit of giving, let’s make this an even bigger success! The week of Thanksgiving falls during “Critical Days” for blood centers and hospitals. More details will follow. Please mark your calendars!

Founders' Hall Deep Cleaning (Volunteers needed, July 19)

We are so blessed to have an exceptionally beautiful parish home - the Sanctuary, Founders’ Hall, and our grounds. For those newer to the parish, phase one of our construction - the utilities, parking lot, and auxiliary building - was completed in 2006. This is our twentieth anniversary on site! The building, affectionately named “Founders’ Hall” after Fr. Demetrius and Presvytera Ellie Dogias, of blessed memory, and all the founders of our community, has seen several modifications and upgrades over the years. We expanded upstairs, added classrooms, converted our worship space into a fellowship hall and library, and added a covered patio. We have also considered expanding our kitchen, adding more shade over the balcony (overlooking East Roseville Parkway), and adding more meeting spaces and classrooms. Founders’ Hall has provided us with so much and continues to do so.

To keep our parish looking and feeling welcoming, and in preparation for our Feast Day (July 25), we will host a cleaning party on July 19 after Divine Services. Some of our tasks include: powerwashing tables and chairs, wiping down walls, cleaning windows, and deep cleaning. Many volunteers and hands are needed to make light work of it! We have a power washer at the church, but we’re looking for a few more to speed up the work.  

For more information about our Parish workday, please contact Sara Jurrens at sarajurrens@gmail.com or 916-296-6465.  

First Annual Clothing Swap

The clothing swap is scheduled for after summer/before school starts, intended to help families refresh their wardrobes with church-appropriate attire for men, women, and children. Any clothing that is not taken in the swap will be donated locally.