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St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2017-05-14
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St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 408.605.0621
  • Street Address:

  • 9th and Lincoln, Carmel-by-the-Sea

  • ,
  • Mailing Address:


  • PO Box 5808 Carmel by the Sea, CA 93921


Contact Information




Services Schedule

  • Sunday Orthros and Divine Liturgy: 8:30 a.m.
  • Week day feasts Orthros and Liturgy: 8:30 a.m. - see Liturgical Calendar
  • Paraklesis most Wednesdays: 6 p.m. - see Liturgical Calendar


Past Bulletins


Schedule of Services

Saturday, May 13
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, May 14 
    8:30am  Orthros + Liturgy
Saturday, May 20
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, May 21  Saints Constantine and Helen
    8:30am  Orthros + Liturgy
Wednesday, May 24
    6:00pm  Vespers
Thursday, May 25  Third Finding of Head of St. John
    9:00am  Orthros + Liturgy
Saturday, May 27
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, May 28
    8:30am  Orthros + Liturgy

 

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News & Events

WELCOME FR. CONSTANTINE

We welcome Father Constantine Efstathiou celebrating Divine Liturgy with us this Sunday. Father Constantine is Priest Emeritus at Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church in Novato, CA. We are honored to have him with us today.

Father Ion is visiting Mt Athos this week, returning May 20.


CONFESSIONS OPPORTUNITY

Father Constantine Efstathiou will be with us the weekend of May 13-14. Father will be available to hear confessions on Saturday, May 13, before Vespers, 4-5pm. If interested, please call Charles to set up an appointment time for confession.


SUNDAY SCHOOL UPDATE

Sunday School will meet this Sunday for both levels. The younger group is beginning a new unit: "Lamp Unto My Feet: Reading the Bible as Orthodox Christians."


SLIDE SHOW PRESENTATION THIS SUNDAY

The Orthodoxy 101 Class will not meet this Sunday. Instead, God willing and with the blessing of Gerontissa Markella, a slideshow of the Monastery of the Life Giving Spring will be shown during the coffee hour on Sunday.

 


SERVING THESE SUNDAYS

In Honor of Mother's Day this Sunday, the men of our congregation will be serving lunch at coffee hour. Please join us for fellowship, good food and relaxation.

 

 The teams on duty these coming Sundays are:

May 14
   Welcoming: Rania Zavitsanos
   Parish Council Member:  Euthimios Saites

May 21
   Welcoming: Anthony Zavitsanos
   Parish Council Member:  Christina Pressas
   Fellowship: Team 3 (Orange) - always on  3rd Sunday of the month.

 

 


PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS

On behalf of Tiffany Yant and her family, Philoptochos would like to thank the community and friends for the generous support of our sister Tiffany.  As a result of your generous gifts, we achieved our goal three times over and were able to help the family catch up, and Tiffany was able to receive the holistic cancer treatments which she needed.  It is truly a blessing to give.  On Sunday, May 21st, Tiffany's mother Connie and family will be visiting the parish.  Father will offer special prayers for Tiffany's healing, which will be followed by a fellowship and cake to celebrate Tiffany, welcome her family, and thank our amazing community.

Philoptochos next board meeting will be on Sunday May 21st all board members are required to attend.

· Board Elections also Sunday May 21st, you must be in good standing with the chapter to vote.   

Just a reminder that our chapter is conducting their membership drive, please take a moment to join.  Your vote of confidence and support help to further the embrace of this small but dynamic chapter doing His good works in our church, civic, national, and global communities.

 


I-HELP

On Monday May 8th, I- Help served 23 homeless men a delicious hot dinner. Many volunteers from Saint John's showed up to cook, set up, serve and visit with the men. The dinner was very successful and the men were very appreciative.  This is the second dinner we have provided for I -Help and we will continue with more in the near future. 

 


VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL THIS JUNE

Vacation Church School 2017

BEHOLD THE LIGHT

Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

 Monday, June 26th – Friday, June 30th

8:30am – 12:30pm Grades K- 8th

 Early Registration April 1 – May 14

Register online: stjohn-monterey.org/youth-ministries/vacation-church-school

For more information contact Joan Ioannou:  j_ioannou2@msn.com 


BENEFIT DINNER FOR THE LGS MONASTERY

On Sunday, May 21 at 4:30 pm the parish of St. Lawrence will be hosting a fundraiser dinner for the Monastery of the Theotokos, The Life Giving Spring.  Everyone is invited to come support Gerontissa Markella and the sisterhood in the beautiful and much needed building expansion project.  Tickets are $70 for adults and $35 for children.  The choice of a meal is Salmon or Chicken. Guest Speaker will be His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas.  If you are not able to attend, please consider making a donation and purchasing tickets for the raffle

To purchase your ticket, please contact Presbytera Ana - presbytera.ana@gmail.com


SANTA CRUZ GREEK FOOD FAIRE

Prophet Elias hosts the 11th annual Santa Cruz Greek food Faire
May 19, 20, and 21, 2017
Located at Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church, 223 Church Street, Santa Cruz

Faire Times:
Friday, May 19: 5 pm to 10 pm
Saturday, May 20: 11 am to 10 pm
Sunday, May 21: 12 pm to 7 pm

Free Admission. For information call 831-429-6500 or visit www.livelikeagreek.com


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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Seventh Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:1-10

At that time, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 4th Mode. Psalm 103.24,1.
O Lord, how manifold are your works. You have made all things in wisdom.
Verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 11:19-30.

IN THOSE DAYS, those apostles who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabos stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius. And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
The Reading is from John 4:5-42

At that time, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the city and were coming to him.

Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him food?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony. "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we know that this is indeed Christ the Savior of the world."


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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the Plagal 1st Mode

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and bestowing life on those in the graves.

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 4th Mode

When the women Disciples of the Lord had learned from the Angel the joyful message of the Resurrection and had rejected the ancestral decision, they cried aloud to the Apostles triumphantly: Death has been despoiled, Christ God has risen, granting His great mercy to the world.

Apolytikion for Mid-Pentecost in the Plagal 4th Mode

O Lord, midway through the feast, give drink to my thirsty soul from the waters of true religion. For to all You the Savior cried aloud, "Let whoever is thirsty come to Me and drink." O Christ our God, the fountain of life, glory to You.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal 4th Mode

Though You went down into the tomb, O Immortal One, yet You brought down the dominion of Hades; and You rose as the victor, O Christ our God; and You called out "Rejoice" to the Myrrh-bearing women, and gave peace to Your Apostles, O Lord who to the fallen grant resurrection.
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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
May 14

Leontius, Patriarch of Jerusalem


Jcsamwom
May 14

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

One of the most ancient cities of the Promised Land was Shechem, also called Sikima, located at the foot of Mount Gerazim. There the Israelites had heard the blessings in the days of Moses and Jesus of Navi. Near to this town, Jacob, who had come from Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century before Christ, bought a piece of land where there was a well. This well, preserved even until the time of Christ, was known as Jacob's Well. Later, before he died in Egypt, he left that piece of land as a special inheritance to his son Joseph (Gen. 49:22). This town, before it was taken into possession by Samaria, was also the leading city of the kingdom of the ten tribes. In the time of the Romans it was called Neapolis, and at present Nablus. It was the first city in Canaan visited by the Patriarch Abraham. Here also, Jesus of Navi (Joshua) addressed the tribes of Israel for the last time. Almost three hundred years later, all Israel assembled there to make Roboam (Rehoboam) king.

When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, came at midday to this city, which is also called Sychar (John 4:5), He was wearied from the journey and the heat, and He sat down at this well. After a little while the Samaritan woman mentioned in today's Gospel passage came to draw water. As she conversed at some length with the Lord and heard from Him secret things concerning herself, she believed in Him; through her many other Samaritans also believed.

Concerning the Samaritans we know the following: In the year 721 before Christ, Salmanasar (Shalmaneser), King of the Assyrians, took the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel into captivity, and relocated all these people to Babylon and the land of the Medes. From there he gathered various nations and sent them to Samaria. These nations had been idolaters from before. Although they were later instructed in the Jewish faith and believed in the one God, they worshipped the idols also. Furthermore, they accepted only the Pentateuch of Moses, and rejected the other books of Holy Scripture. Nonetheless, they thought themselves to be descendants of Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, the pious Jews named these Judaizing and idolatrous peoples Samaritans, since they lived in Samaria, the former leading city of the Israelites, as well as in the other towns thereabout. The Jews rejected them as heathen and foreigners, and had no communion with them at all, as the Samaritan woman observed, "the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). Therefore, the name Samaritan is used derisively many times in the Gospel narrations. After the Ascension of the Lord, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the woman of Samaria was baptized by the holy Apostles and became a great preacher and Martyr of Christ; she was called Photine, and her feast is kept on February 26.


Allsaint
May 14

Isidore the Martyr of Chios

This Saint was a soldier from Alexandria. He came with the Roman fleet to Chios, where he was betrayed as a Christian to Numerian, Commander of the Fleet. Because he boldly pro-fessed himself to worship Christ as God and refused to worship any other, he was tormented and beheaded in 251, during the reign of Decius.


Therapon
May 14

Holy Hieromartyr Therapontus


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Wisdom of the Fathers

THE persecution turned out to be no slight benefit as "to them that love God all things work together for good." (Rom. viii. 28.) If they had made it their express study how best to establish the Church, they would have done no other thing than this--they dispersed the teachers.[*] Mark in what quarters the preaching was extended. "They travelled," it says, "as far as Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch; to none however did they preach the word but to Jews only." Dost thou mark with what wise purposes of Providence so much was done in the case of Cornelius? This serves both to justify Christ, and to impeach the Jews. When Stephen was slain, when Paul was twice in danger, when the Apostles were scourged, then the Gentiles received the word, then the Samaritans. Which Paul also declares: "To you it was necessary that the Word of God should first be spoken; but since ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy, lo, we turn unto the Gentiles." (ch. xiii. 46.)..."And the hand of the Lord," it says, "was with them," that is, they wrought miracles; "and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." (v. 21.) Do you mark why now also there was heed of miracles (namely) that they might believe? "Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." (v. 22.) What may be the reason that, when such a city received the word, they did not come themselves? Because of the Jews. But they send Barnabas. However, it is no small part of the providential management even so that Paul comes to be there. It is both natural, and it is wisely ordered, that they are averse to him, and (so) that Voice of the Gospel, that Trumpet of heaven, is not shut up in Jerusalem..."And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch." (v. 26.) Verily this is the reason why it was there they were appointed to be called Christians, because Paul there spent so long time!
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 25 on Acts 11, 4th Century

The example of the good Samaritan shows that we must not abandon those in whom even the faintest amount of faith is still alive.
St. Ambrose of Milan
Two Books of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Concerning Repentance, Chapter 11

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