Saint Gregory the Theologian
Publish Date: 2024-05-19
Bulletin Contents
A Word from Father Alex
Sunday Notes
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Saints and Feasts
Wisdom of the Fathers
Ministries, Programs & Parish Updates
Calendar: Next Two Weeks
Coming Events & News
Metropolis of Boston News
Archdiocese News

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Saint Gregory the Theologian

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (508)337-9986
  • Fax:
  • (508)337-9987
  • Street Address:

  • 1007 West Street

  • Mansfield, MA 02048
  • Mailing Address:

  • PO Box 293

  • Mansfield, MA 02048

Services Schedule

Sunday & Weekday Services
Orthros/Matins: 8:30 am
Divine Liturgy: 9:30 am

Youth Religious Education Ministry is currently offered Sundays in person and remotely following Holy Communion. Please see weekly updates from our ministry leaders for updates on each class. All are welcome to join us for Fellowship Hour after Divine Liturgy. 

Past Bulletins


A Word from Father Alex

Fellow Parishioners and Friends: 

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! 

I hope you enjoy this week's eBulletin for May 19, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women. 
 
Congratulations to our high school graduates. Last week’s program honoring our beloved youth was inspiring and gave us occasion for reflection on just how much our children mean to us. Likewise, hearty congratulations to our scholarships award winners.

We can look forward to more celebrations of our youth on June 2, the last day of Sunday School classes. Please save the date and make sure to join us.

For our college and graduate students who have completed (or are completing) their semester, we wish them a wonderful summer. We love them all and look forward to seeing them at Saint Gregory in the weeks and months to come. 

Finally, many thanks to those parishioners who have become Stewards for 2024. I encourage all our beloved parishioners who have not yet had an opportunity to visit our Stewardship pages today. There you'll find the program description, 2024 Commitment Card and an easy giving solution from Vanco. Many thanks for your generosity and caring toward our parish home. 

Hope to see you Sunday,

Fr. Alex

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Sunday Notes

EPISTLE: Joe CaraDonna.

HOMILY: "The Stone."

ALTAR TEAM: Team Archangel Gabriel (Elliot Hess, Leland Hess & Linus LaFond). Capt., Mario Salzillo.

MYRRHBEARER: 
May 19th: Ashleigh Cromack.
May 26th: Georgia Stavros.

ORATORICAL FESTIVAL PRESENTATION: Eleni LaFond.

MEMORIAL: Steve Theodorakis (40 days), Lilian Patellis (6 months), and Mary Contos Howard (1 year). May their memory be eternal!

ALTAR FLOWERS: Please consider sponsoring altar flowers for a coming Sunday. The donation for flower sponsorships is $75. Please contact Gina in the church office to learn more or sponsor. 

FELLOWSHIP HOUR: This week's Fellowship Hour is sponsored by the Wheeler Family in loving memory of Mary Contos Howard. All are welcome to join us following Divine Liturgy. This month and beyond, Fellowship Hour sponsors are welcome and needed. Please sign up in the hall this weekend or use our new SignUpGenius link. 

WORSHIPPING FROM HOME: STREAMING AND INTERNET MINISTRY:

ACCESS SERVICES VIA FACEBOOK:
St. Gregory the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church | Facebook

ACCESS SERVICES VIA YOU TUBE:
St. Gregory The Theologian Live - YouTube

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fourth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking spices, which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered His words and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the Apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home wondering at what had happened.

Epistle Reading

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
The Reading is from Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7

In those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, "it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochoros, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaos, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
The Reading is from Mark 15:43-47; 16:1-8

At that time, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

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Saints and Feasts

May 19

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when the Lord Jesus was going throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had received of His beneficence left their own homeland and from then on followed after Him. They ministered unto Him out of their own possessions, even until His crucifixion and entombment; and afterwards, neither losing faith in Him after His death, nor fearing the wrath of the Jewish rulers, they came to the sepulchre, bearing the myrrh-oils they had prepared to annoint His body. It is because of the myrrh-oils, that these God-loving women brought to the tomb of Jesus that they are called the Myrrh-bearers. Of those whose names are known are the following: first of all, the most holy Virgin Mary, who in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 is called "the mother of James and Joses" (these are the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, and she was therefore their step-mother); Mary Magdalene (celebrated July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the names of the rest of them, the evangelists have kept silence (Matt 27:55-56; 28:1-10. Mark 15:40-41. Luke 8:1-3; 23:55-24:11, 22-24. John 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14).

Together with them we celebrate also the secret disciples of the Saviour, Joseph and Nicodemus. Of these, Nicodemus was probably a Jerusalemite, a prominent leader among the Jews and of the order of the Pharisees, learned in the Law and instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He had believed in Christ when, at the beginning of our Saviour's preaching of salvation, he came to Him by night. Furthermore, he brought some one hundred pounds of myrrh-oils and an aromatic mixture of aloes and spices out of reverence and love for the divine Teacher (John 19:39). Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was a wealthy and noble man, and one of the counsellors who were in Jerusalem. He went boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and together with Nicodemus he gave Him burial. Since time did not permit the preparation of another tomb, he placed the Lord's body in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, as the Evangelist says (Matt. 27:60).

May 19

Patrick the Hieromartyr and Bishop of Prusa and His Fellow Martyrs Acacius, Menander, and Polyaenus

Saint Patrick was Bishop of Prusa, a city in Bithynia (the present-day Brusa or Bursa). Because of his Christian Faith, he was brought before Julius (or Julian) the Consul, who in his attempts to persuade Patrick to worship as he himself did, declared that thanks was owed to the gods for providing the hot springs welling up from the earth for the benefit of men. Saint Patrick answered that thanks for this was owed to our Lord Jesus Christ, and explained that when He, Who is God, created the earth, He made it with both fire and water, and the fire under the earth heats the water which wells up, producing hot springs; he then explained that there is another fire, which awaits the ungodly. Because of this, he was cast into the hot springs, but it was the soldiers who cast him in, and not he, who were harmed by the hot water. After this Saint Patrick was beheaded with the presbyters Acacius, Menander, and Polyaenus. Most likely, this was during the reign of Diocletian (284-305).

May 19

Our Righteous Father Memnonus the Wonderworker

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Wisdom of the Fathers

They [the women] had followed Him ministering to Him, and were present even unto the time of the dangers. Wherefore also they saw all; how He cried, how He gave up the ghost, how the rocks were rent, and all the rest.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 88 on Matthew 27, 4th Century

And these [the women] first see Jesus; and the sex that was most condemned, this first enjoys the sight of the blessings, this most shows its courage. And when the disciples had fled, these were present.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 88 on Matthew 27, 4th Century

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Ministries, Programs & Parish Updates

SERVICES FOR SUNDAY, MAY 19TH, SUNDAY OF THE MYRRHBEARING WOMEN
We look forward to worshipping with you at Saint Gregory: 
Orthros, 8:30 am
Divine Liturgy, 9:30 am
Each week, Sunday School classes begin immediately after Holy Communion. All are warmly invited to join us for refreshments and fellowhip after Divine Liturgy. 

STREAMING DETAILS/MEDIA CONNECTIONS FOR TODAY, MAY 19TH
Access Services via You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvnXFV6xK1Nhm8ID84jFNg

Access services and join our community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saintgregorythetheologian

Join our community on Instagram:
@saintgregorythetheologian"

COMING YOUTH EVENTS
GOYA Fireside Chat, May 25th
All GOYAns are invited to the Cara Donna home for dinner and a fireside chat with Fr. Alex, 6 – 8 pm. Please contact Mr. Christo to confirm: [email protected]. 

Sunday School Ice Cream Social, June 2nd
The 2nd is our last day of Sunday School classes, and we’ll celebrate with our annual ice-cream social. Many thanks to our Sunday School leaders, teachers, families and, of course, students for another year of learning, spiritual growth and friendship. 

Youth Ministry Recognitions, June 2nd
Before Holy Communion, we will highlight the service of our Myrrhbearers and Altar Servers. Then we’ll mark the completion of the “Starting Over” Confession Program by our 4th/5th Grade Sunday School class. Last but not least, we’ll recognize our parish’s newest Eagle Scout, Chris Mosely.

GOYA Relay for Life, June 8th
Visit our GOYA table during Fellowship Hour to learn how you can support our GOYAns, as they strive to support the good work of the American Cancer Society on the 8th. GOYAns are also asked to sign up for a two-hour time slot between 10 am and 10 pm (GOYAns should see Matt Cromack).  

METROPOLIS AWARDS EVENT, JUNE 9th
This year, our parish honorees are Dennis and Nancy Savas! We are grateful to Dennis and Nancy for their loving dedication to our parish. Tickets are $100 per person, and please contact the church office with your reservation by May 23rd.

MBC COMMUNITY WEEKEND, JUNE 14 – 16th
See our flyer for details, and please share with friends and family. Faith-based sessions, swimming, boating, hiking, down time and worship are on the agenda. Come for a day, two or all three. Contact Stephanie LaFond to confirm and with questions: [email protected].

CONGRATULATIONS TO ELENI LAFOND!
Last weekend Eleni LaFond won first place in the Metropolis of Boston finals of the Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. We’ll honor Eleni today, before Holy Communion, and also be treated to a reprise of her winning speech. The next round of the competition will be in Buffalo, NY, on June 8th. We’ll be cheering her on. Congratulations to Eleni!

SAVE THE DATE OF OUR PARISH FESTIVAL, AUG. 24TH
We look forward to this fundraiser and community-building event. See our flyer, and plan to join us. Volunteer needs and other information will be available shortly after Pascha. 

SAINT GREGORY GOLF TOURNAMENT, OCT. 10TH
For a fun and dynamic change of pace, our 2024 tournament will be held at Top Golf in Canton, MA. The tournament page—along with registration and sponsorship information—is now available. Please save the date and plan to join us!

KOLIVA PREPARATION
At any given time of the year, our faithful will seek help in the preparation of Koliva for memorials. Fellow parishioner Gina Drugas is now offering this service, with a cost of $100 per Koliva plate. Please contact Gina to learn more and make arrangements: [email protected] 

NEW KNITTING MINISTRY
Calling all knitters and crocheters in the Saint Gregory Parish: We are looking to start a group that meets once a month to create items such as baby blankets and hats. This would be to benefit our own parishioners as well as those in area hospitals, shelters, and veterans homes that are in need. Contact Kristin Lewis  ([email protected]) if interested and provide proposed times/days to meet. 

FELLOWSHIP HOUR SIGN-UP RESOURCES
All parishioners are invited to host Fellowship Hour on a coming Sunday. In addition to the sign-up poster in the hall, we can now easily learn more and sign up online. Fellowship Hour is a beloved, significant tradition at our parish that speaks to Christian fellowship and hospitality. Thanks in advance for your support, and contact Fellowship Hour Chair Brian Kaufman with any questions: [email protected]

RIDES TO CHURCH
George Dimitriou, our Driving Ministry chair, would be happy to help you or a loved one make it to Saint Gregory for worship and events. Contact George directly: [email protected]; 781.769.2085.

LOST & FOUND
When parishioners find items about the church, they leave them with the church office. You will find a mail tray labled for lost and found. If you have misplaced a small item, or found one, please stop by the office.

CHURCH OFFICE HOURS
Fr. Alex: Tue. & Thur., 9 am - 1 pm. Wed., 1 - 4 pm; or by appointment when convenient for our parishioners. Please note that on occasion, Fr. Alex may be seeing to a pastoral situation, visiting with another parishioner, attending a Metropolis event, or otherwise engaged in Church life during office hours.

Church Secretary: Mon., Wed., Thur. and Fri., 8 - 11 am. On Tue., our secretary is available remotely, 8 - 11 am. Contact Church Secretary Gina Drugas: [email protected].  

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Calendar: Next Two Weeks

  • Saint Gregory Parish Calendar

    May 19 to June 2, 2024

    Sunday, May 19

    8:30AM Orthros

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    10:30AM Sunday School classes

    Tuesday, May 21

    Sts. Constantine & Eleni

    8:45AM Orthros

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Saturday, May 25

    6:00PM GOYA Dinner/Fireside Chat

    Sunday, May 26

    8:30AM Orthros

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    10:30AM Sunday School classes

    Sunday, June 2

    8:30AM Orthros

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    10:30AM Last day of Sunday School

    11:00AM Stewardship Parishioner Testimonial

    11:15AM Sunday School/Youth Celebration

    11:15AM Ice-Cream Social

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Coming Events & News

    Metropolis Ministry Awards: June 9

    Metropolis Ministry Awards: June 9

    Come celebrate Dennis and Nancy Savas at Gillette Stadium. Reservations are due with the church office by May 22.

    Community Weekend: June 15 - 17

    Community Weekend: June 15 - 17

    Join us Father's Day weekend for spiritual reflection, sun, fun and great friendship at the Contoocook retreat center.

    Parish Festival: Aug 24

    Parish Festival: Aug 24

    Please mark your Calendars for our much anticipated festival! Share with friends, family and community!

    Annual Golf Classic: Oct 10

    Annual Golf Classic: Oct 10

    Join us for this annual fundraiser and community event on Oct. 10. No golfing expertise required to have a wonderful time with friends old and new.

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Archdiocese News

Message of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America Clergy-Laity Congress 2024

05/13/2024

https://www.goarch.org/-/message-of-archbishop-elpidophoros-of-america-clergy-laity-congress-2024?redirect=%2Fnews%2Frecent-news%2F-%2Fasset_publisher%2Fgt9jYZFyZyFT%2Frss%3F_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_gt9jYZFyZyFT_currentURL%3D%252Fnews%252Frecent-news%26_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_gt9jYZFyZyFT_portletAjaxable%3Dtrue

Message of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America Clergy-Laity Congress 2024


Save the Date 38th Annual Metropolis of Boston Ministry Awards Celebration

05/13/2024

https://www.goarch.org/-/save-the-date-38th-annual-metropolis-of-boston-ministry-awards-celebration?redirect=%2Fnews%2Frecent-news%2F-%2Fasset_publisher%2Fgt9jYZFyZyFT%2Frss%3F_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_gt9jYZFyZyFT_currentURL%3D%252Fnews%252Frecent-news%26_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_gt9jYZFyZyFT_portletAjaxable%3Dtrue

This year marks the 38th anniversary of our Metropolis Ministry Awards Ceremony, where we will gather on Sunday, June 9th to honor the faithful, loving, and dedicated ministry offered by the Clergy and Laity of our 62 parishes throughout New England. This family celebration, which hosts over 800 guests annually, is one of the most enjoyable evenings of the entire year as the Metropolis recognizes and thanks the faithful stewards of our local parishes for their dedicated service.  It is an evening of much warmth and love.


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