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St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2017-09-10
Bulletin Contents
Lectionary & Typicon
Church Services and Events
Parish Stewardship
Announcements
Saints and Feasts
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Wisdom of the Fathers
Bulletin Inserts
Diocesan Stewardship Blog
ACROD News
Assembly of Bishops News
Diocesan Resources
Moses
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St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (203) 375-2564
  • Street Address:

  • 1240 Broadbridge Avenue

  • Stratford, CT 06615

Contact Information

Very Rev. Protopresbyter Peter Paproski


rppaproski@gmail.com | 203-375-2564

Services Schedule


Divine Liturgy - Sundays and Feast Days : 9:00 am

Great Vespers - Saturday Evenings: 5:00 pm

Great Vespers - Eve of Great Feasts: 7:00 pm

Moleben to St. Nectarios - Second Tuesday 7:00 pm 

Past Bulletins


Lectionary & Typicon

Image result for transfiguration icon

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

 St Moses The Ethiopian

September 10, 2017


    Epistle : 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
  Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Resurrectional  Tone 5

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Church Services and Events

  • Calendar

    September 10 to September 24, 2017

    Sunday, September 10

    9:00AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, September 11

    9:00AM Divine Liturgy - The Beheading of St. John The Baptist

    Tuesday, September 12

    7:00PM Moleben to St. Nectarios

    7:30PM Parish Council Meeting

    Saturday, September 16

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, September 17

    9:00AM Divine Liturgy

    10:45AM Church School

    Monday, September 18

    4:00PM Lord's Kitchen - Christ Church, Stratford

    Tuesday, September 19

    7:00PM Catechism Class

    Wednesday, September 20

    6:30PM Great Vespers

    7:30PM Orthodox Boot Camp Adult Education

    Thursday, September 21

    9:00AM Liturgy - Nativity of the Mother of God

    Saturday, September 23

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, September 24

    9:00AM Divine Liturgy

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Parish Stewardship

Logo_-_stewardship_commission_-_10-7-2013_(234_x_249)
Date Coffee Hour  Host Hours Epistle Church Cleaner

Sept 17

 Ryan/Nucifora Holly Matt Cleaning Service
Sept 24 Stirna/Meyernick Pani Carol Cantors Cleaning Service
         
2017 Parish Stewardship Offering (As of 08/27/17)
YTD: $44,042.00 Goal: $68,000.00
 
Be a Good Steward Help Your Parish Carry Out Its Vital Mission!

 

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Announcements

HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS - Bishop Gregory has asked all parishes to take a special collection for the benefit of IOCC's hurrican relief efforts.  Our special collection will be next Sunday, Sept 17 and will replace the usual Bishop's Fund Collection.  Please be generous. The National ACRY is also coordinating a Diocesan wide initiative of assembling Emergency response kits for  IOCC,  Clean up Buckets and Hygiene Kits. Today after Liturgy,  Fr. Peter would like to meet with the ACRY/Parish Outreach Committee  to discuss how our parish can take part in this hands-on outreach project.  

ADULT EDUCATION DISCUSSION - Our Orthodox Boot Camp Adult Education will resume on Wed June 20, 2017.  We will be studying the  Assembly of Bishop Study on best practices for growing parishes.  Please let Fr. Peter know if you are unable to physically attend the class, but would like to participate via video conferencing or by telephone. 

CHURCH SCHOOL - The  2017-2018 Church School Year begins on Sunday Sept 17.  Class list  and schedule has been sent to all parents.   The First Monthly Teen Clergy Rap with Fr. Peter is also on Sunday Sept 17.

ADULT/TEEN CATECHISM CLASS - We will have a weekday  Adult/Teen refresher catechism class on the basics of Orthodoxy.   Tentative schedule is Tuesday evenings from 7:00 pm - 7:45 pm.  All adults and teens interested in attending are kindly asked to contact Fr. Peter. 

FUND DRIVE FOR AIRCONDITIONING & PARKING LOT - At  our parish annual meeting, we decided to allocate the necessary funds to complete the Church Parking Lot  and install central airconditioning in the Church.  While there is sufficient funds in the Church Treasury to cover the costs, we have decide to have a special fund drive  to defray the cost of these projects to allow a bigger cash reserve in case of unforseen expenses or shortfalls in the parish budget.  To date,   $2985.00 has been already raised for the airconditioning and $10,000 for the  Onofrey Parking Lot.  If you would like to make a donation please see Fr. Peter or any parish council officer.  Thank you for  your consideration of this request.

COMMUNITY SUPPER - Our next meals will be  Sept 18, 2017 at Christ Church in Stratford.   Please See Mary or Eve to help.

CHURCH PICNIC  - Our Church Picnic will be on Sept 24th.  Please RSVP on the sign up sheet in the Church Hall.  There is no charge but donations, including raffle prizes are being requested.  Also some help is needed setting up and cleaning up, working the grill and serving as greeters.

PARISH TAG SALE -  We will hold a tag sale on our church grounds on Fri/Sat Sept 29/30th.  Help is needed at the sale.  Please add your name to the sign-up sheet in the Church Hall if you are able to help.   

 

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES 
Sept 11 Debbie Booth, Monica Lomme Birthday
Sept 12 Sarah Booth Birthday
Sept 14 Kyle Lomme Birthday

 

 

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Saints and Feasts

Moses
September 10

Moses the Black of Scete

Saint Moses, who is also called Moses the Black, was a slave, but because of his evil life, his master cast him out, and he became a ruthless thief, dissolute in all his ways. Later, however, coming to repentance, he converted, and took up the monastic life under Saint Isidore of Scete. He gave himself over to prayer and the mortification of the carnal mind with such diligence that he later became a priest of exemplary virtue. He was revered by all for his lofty ascetical life and for his great humility. Once the Fathers in Scete asked Moses to come to an assembly to judge the fault of a certain brother, but he refused. When they insisted, he took a basket which had a hole in it, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. When the Fathers saw him coming they asked him what the basket might mean. He answered, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and I am come this day to judge failings which are not mine." When a barbarian tribe was coming to Scete, Moses, conscious that he himself had slain other men when he was a thief, awaited them and was willingly slain by them with six other monks, at the end of the fourth century. He was a contemporary of Saint Arsenius the Great (see May 8).

Jobpochaev
August 28

Job of Pochaev

Saint Job of Pochaev was born about 1551 in southwest Galicia of a pious Orthodox family. In his tenth year the Saint departed for the Ugornitsky Monastery of our Saviour in the Carpathian Mountains. Tonsured after two years, he was ordained hieromonk about 1580. Renowned for his meekness and humility, Job was invited by the great zealot for Holy Orthodoxy in the Carpatho-Russia, Prince Constantine Ostrozhky, to be Abbot of the Monastery of the Cross in Dubno. In his zeal for the preservation and propagation of the Orthodox Faith, and to counteract the propaganda of the Uniates, he printed and widely disseminated Orthodox spiritual and liturgical books. About 1600 he removed to the Mountain of Pochaev where at insistence of the brethren, he became Abbot of the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, which he enlarged and made to flourish. Through his labours, a large printing works was founded at Pochaev and greatly assisted in the nurture of the Orthodox faithful in that region. His monastery became the center of the Orthodox Church in western Ukraine. The Saint reposed, having taken the schema with the name of John, in 1651, at the advanced age of one hundred.

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

The Reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 1:21-24; 2:1-4

BRETHREN, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

But I call God to witness against me - it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Gospel Reading

The Reading is from Matthew 22:2-14

The Lord said this parable, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.' But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.' And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

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Wisdom of the Fathers

One should approach the contemplative life with fear and trembling, with contrition of heart and humility, with much experience of the Holy Scriptures, and, if one can find him, under the direction of some experienced elder; and not with audacity and self-esteem.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
Spiritual Instructions no. 39, Little Russian Philokalia Vol. 1; Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood pg. 57, 19th century

No man, wise in his own opinion, because he has studied all the sciences and is learned in external wisdom, will ever penetrate God's mysteries or see them unless he first humbles himself and becomes foolish in his heart, repudiating his self-opinion together with the acquirements of learning.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
Practical and Theological Precepts no. 116, Writings from Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart; Faber and Faber pg. 124, 11th century

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Bulletin Inserts

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Diocesan Stewardship Blog

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On Stewardship and the Orthodox Life - Part 152: Bad Excuses (6/25/17)

05/02/2017

http://acrod.org/ministries/stewardship/stewarship-blog/stewardship-152
"Honor the Lord with your substances and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” (Proverbs 3: 9-10 RSV)

We tend to shy away from a discussion involving money when it comes to stewardship. The reason lies in the fact that the Western church has put such an emphasis on it in America that even the Orthodox Church has adopted the “westernization of stewardship.” We have tried very hard to present the true biblical connotation of stewardship through the Diocesan Stewardship Commission. Stewardship of your treasure/wealth is an important factor in the church. Without it, the church cannot pay the mortgage, priest salary, utilities and most importantly, outreach efforts.

On Stewardship and the Orthodox Life - Part 151: Giving Away the Kingdom (6/18/17)

05/02/2017

http://acrod.org/ministries/stewardship/stewarship-blog/stewardship-151
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21: 43 RSV)

The New Testament is full of parables which Christ attempts to teach us using common day examples. We see in Matthew, Chapter 21, several parables. The parable of the two sons (versus 28 -32) and the parable of the wicked tenants (versus 33- 41) both teach us that we are not guaranteed a place in the Kingdom of God. Eternal life is truly a gift that God has given us but how we experience that gift depends entirely on how we use the gifts that God has given us as well as expressing our gratitude for those gifts.

On Stewardship and the Orthodox Life - Part 150: Fairness and Credibility (6/11/17)

05/02/2017

http://acrod.org/ministries/stewardship/stewarship-blog/stewardship-150
"I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength; yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not permitted him to harm me.”.” (Genesis 31: 5-7 RSV)

Jacob was deceived several times by La’ban. It was not fair how La’ban had treated him yet Jacob persisted until God instructed him to take his wives, children and flocks and leave. I think that most of us at one time or another and to one degree or another have had something happen to us that was just not fair. Most of us took it in stride and continued with other lives. There is an ever increasing movement in this country that there must be an equality of outcomes.
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ACROD News

Acrod-logo

Camp To Celebrate 40th Anniversary September 16, 2017

09/06/2017

http://www.acrod.org/news/2017/camp-40th-liturgy
MERCER, PA [Camp Nazareth] -- Our Diocese is pleased to announce its Camp Nazareth 40th Anniversary Divine Liturgy to be held on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at 10am at Camp Nazareth – Sts. Cyril & Methodios Church. The Divine Liturgy will be followed by Lunch in the Camp Lodge. Come celebrate with your CN Family and Friends! The schedule will include the Divine Liturgy with Lunch to follow, a dancing performance, talks and more!

The event is free of charge. Donations will be accepted “at the door”.

Schedule of His Grace, Bishop Gregory For September 2017

09/02/2017

http://www.acrod.org/news/2017/10356
JOHNSTOWN, PA -- The schedule of His Grace, Bishop Gregory of Nyssa for September 2017 has been released by the Diocesan Chancery.

IOCC Responds To Humanitarian Needs In The Wake of Hurricane Harvey

08/31/2017

http://www.acrod.org/news/2017/iocc-hurricane-harvey
BALTIMORE, MD [IOCC] -- International Orthodox Christian Charities [IOCC] is closely monitoring the progression of Hurricane Harvey as it affects South Texas. IOCC staff members remain in contact with partners, including members of national and local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster [VOAD] and expresses concern for the well-being of the people in the path of the storm.

IOCC staff is reaching out to partners along the path of the hurricane, including in Texas and Louisiana. Additionally, IOCC is activating its Emergency Response Network Frontliners to stand at the ready to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. IOCC invites you to continue praying for the safety and well-being of those threatened by this storm.
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Diocesan Resources

Diocesan Website:  http://www.acrod.org Camp:  http://www.campnazareth.org
Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/acroddiocese
  Twitter: https://twitter.com/acrodnews
You Tube: https://youtube.com/acroddiocese
  National ACRY: http://www.acry.org

 

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