Sunday Services: Orthros-8:45 a.m. Divine Liturgy-10:00 a.m. Sunday School after Distribution of Holy Communion. Holy Day Services As announced in weekly bulletins.
Ushers: ALL available Parish Council Members are asked to be here to help
Epistle Reader: Stephanos Mangafakis
Prophoro: Father Andrew
Coffee Hour:
Pick up will be Friday, December 4th from 4:00-6:30pm and Saturday, December 5th from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
Pick up at: HOLY TRINITY & ST JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
5725 PEAR ORCHARD ROAD
JACKSON, MS 39211
2020-2021 Parish Directory has been sent out electronically - if you are not listed and want to be listed please send us your information and we will add your information during our periodic updates of the directory. A limited number of "hard" copies are available as you enter the Church proper. Many thanks to Ellen Hontzas for compiling this list. Try as we do, sometimes a minor error or two slip by...if there is an error let us know.
Sunday School Classes to begin On October 11th-Students will meet in the Church Hall and will follow "social distancing" all other rooms other than the restrooms area are off limits at least for the time being. We ask that parents be respectful of the Sunday School students time in class and perhaps wait outside for their children since at this time no coffee hours or "fellowship" activities are allowed. We realize the importance of teaching our children about their faith and the Orthodox Church and we are trying to start up this ministry without using virtual learning rather "in person" learning. Here is a list of our students and their teachers. We of course welcome any "new members of the Parish Family" to add their names and information to this list. Contact Father Andrew with Name, Phone, E-mail etc. and he will pass on the information
FALL 2020 SUNDAY SCHOOL
Teacher-Sarah Kountouris cell-601-953-6397 sarah@keepmsbeautiful.com
Teacher-Leslie Zouboukos cell 601-672-4251 home 601978-3461 lesliecz@comcast.net
Doss Thompson, Katherine Efstratiou, Sarah Chandler Fowler, Hutson Hontzas,
Emma Papadimitriou, Joy Glisson, Lio Nikolis
Teacher-Ellen Hontzas cell 601-953-3938 ehontzas@aol.com
Zoe Efstratiou, Sophia Efstratiou,,William Glisson, Caden Fowler, Alexa Kountouris
Presvytera Bonnie Koufopoulos Cell Phone – 919-368-o396 blkoufopoulos@bellsouth.net
Emalea Efstratiou, Anastasia Efstratiou, Michael Kountouris, Elena Zouboukos.
Erynn Sturgon, Nicholas Mangafakis, Stefano Mangafakis,
Please Note - Our guidelines for "worshiping in person"
Please join us on Sundays for the celebration of the Orthros 9:00 am (for those who may feel uncomfortable in a "group setting" the hour between 9 and 10 may be a good time to come to church, light a candle, pray, or leave your offfering) and Divine Liturgy 10 am as we are now "open" following the guidelines of our Metropolis and of our State of Mississippi.See the guideline details below. If you cannot join us the Liturgy will be streamed "live and in color", (streaming at 10:00 am). If you cannot attend and still want to light a candle, or make an offering and watch. Please use any of the links below
Our Facebook page click on the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/269685419794311/ or go to our church web page
or go to
www.holytrinitysaintjohnjackson.org and click on the link
We are grateful to those who have contributed and continue to contribute their donations through the mail or by the two secure on-line options both of which can be found on our web page.
The light a candle say a prayer link below or the Donate Button on the bottom of the home page
https://holy-trinity-st-john-the-theologian-greek-orthodox-church-jac.square.site
There will be limited access to the church proper - the door by the Church offices will be unlocked please use this one, please note that one or both of the double doors to the Church proper will remain open, so please enter quietly. We ask that when you enter or leave please wash your hands in the appropriate rest rooms or use the hand sanitizer provided by the door as you enter the Church proper. A limited number of disposable masks will be available.
Per the guidelines - all persons are asked to wear a mask or face covering in church.
The offering tray will be on the bench as you enter the nave - you may leave your offerings as you enter the Church proper.
You may proceed to the back of the church to light a candle - for now we ask that you refrain from kissing icons, priest's hand, etc. Bowing is another way to show our reverence to icons etc. etc.
Pews have been marked with a green cross so that the proper social distancing of 6 feet between people. There are 40 seats marked so there is plenty of room that allows for social distancing. Members of the same family may sit together.
Distribution of Holy Communion - row by row and stand six feet apart in line. You may remove your mask to receive Holy Communion - allow the servers to hold the Communion cloth under your chin. But please refrain from "touching the cloth" to your lips. Please understand that our Metropolis guidelines have insisted that all priests and their adult servers that help with the distribution of Holy Communion wear face masks while doing so.
Antidoron will not be offered after Holy Communion but will be available when you leave Church and will be offered in plastic zip lock baggies. As we leave the Church please follow the directions of the ushers so that we leave in an orderly fashion and still observe the six feet rule of social distancing.
Since we are asked to avoid "gatherings" of people we ask that you avoid, at least for the time being, "the temptation" to socialize as you enter or leave the Church proper and building.
We of course will continue to live stream We hope that this will unite us as we pray, will calm our souls and bring us closer to Christ. Stay well. Thoughts and prayers for all of you.
October Birthday List:
Sarah Kountouris-October 1st, Ana Kelley Hontzas-October 1st, Vic Applewhite-October 3rd, Paula Fowler-October 4th, Carl Boschert-October 4th, Leslie Valsamakis-October 5th, Christ Castanis-October 11th, Angeliki Polles-October 8th, Jane Armstrong-October 12th, Christina Nica-October 14th, William Anthony Hontzas-October 15th, Georgia Kountouris-October 15th, Katina Castanis-October 18th, Caden Fowler-October 19th, Emily Alexandra Cora-October 21st, Sawyer Baggett-October 24th, Sharon Mavridoglou-October 25th, Macye Laird-October 26th, Katina (Fowler) Hutson-October 29th, Anastasia (Hontzas) Seevers-October 31st. Please let us know of any additions or corrections. Thank You!
Our Holy Trinity-St. John the Theologian Prayer List:
"Remember Lord, those whom each of us calls prayerfully to mind" Chuck Odom, Nicholas & Dianna Psaris, William Abihider, John Botes, Christ Castanis, George V. Pinchuk, Chris Grillis, Lambryne Angelo, Callie McDole, Malissa and Pat Zouboukos have asked that we pray for their friend Bill Hardin and the friend and neighbor Bill Spence, Paula Fowler, Victoria Lepsa (Cristina Nica's mother in Romania), Tatianna Koufopoulos Quick of Phoenix Arizona, Please keep Costa Glennis's daughter Wanda Parker in your prayers, Miles "Alex" Graham has asked us to pray for his friend Alena Nasianceno, Maria Costas. Theo Mavridoglou asks that we pray for his dear friends Stelios and Penelope, Thomas, Stephanie Mangafakis has asked that we pray for Devak. Please remember to pray for our Doctors, Nurses, and all those on the fronlines during these times and for all those who may be suffering or in hardships from this pandemic.
According to some, Hierotheus, like Saint Dionysius, was a member of the court of Mars Hill. Having first been instructed in the Faith of Christ by Paul, he became Bishop of Athens. He, in turn, initiated the divine Dionysius more perfectly into the mysteries of Christ; the latter, on his part, elaborated more clearly and distinctly Hierotheus' concise and summary teachings concerning the Faith. He too was brought miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit to be present at the Dormition of the Theotokos, when, together with the sacred Apostles, he became a leader of the divine hymnody. "He was wholly transported, wholly outside himself and was so deeply absorbed in communion with the sacred things he celebrated in hymnology, that to all who heard him and saw him and knew him, and yet knew him not, he seemed to be inspired of God, a divine hymnographer," as Dionysius says (On the Divine Names, 3:2). Having lived in a manner pleasing to God, he reposed in the Lord.
The feast of the Hierarchs of Moscow was established during the reign of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich and Patriarch Job in the year 1596. Their individual feasts are: Saint Peter (+1326), December 21, and August 24, translation of holy relics; Saint Alexis (+14th cent.), February 12, and May 20, recovery of holy relics; Saint Jonah (+1461), March 31 and June 15, with the recovery of his holy relics celebrated on May 27. In 1875, at the proposal of Metropolitan Innocent of Moscow, to this feast was joined the commemoration of Saint Philip of Moscow (+1569), whose feast is kept on January 9, and the recovery of his holy relics on July 3. In more recent times, the holy Patriarchs Hermogenes (+1612) and Tikhon (+1925) have been added to the Synaxis. Saint Hermogenes, who was starved to death by the Poles, is also celebrated on February 17 and May 12, and Saint Tikhon, a confessor under the atheist yoke, on March 25. the Menaion service itself makes reference only to Saints Peter, Alexis, Jonah, and Philip.
The name Thomas means, "twin." He was one of the Twelve, a Galilean by birth. Sophroneus (not the famous Patriarch of Jerusalem [7th Century, celebrated March 11], but a friend of Jerome's), quoted also by Jerome, says that Saint Thomas preached to the Parthians, Pesians, Medes, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and neighbouring nations. According to Heracleon, the Apostle died a natural death; according to other accounts, he was martyred at Meliapur His tomb was known by Saint John Chrysostom to be at Edessa in Syria, to which city his holy relics may have been translated from India in the fourth century.
These holy Martyrs were Romans of high rank in the service of the Emperor Maximian, to whom it was reported that they did not take part in the festivals of the idols. When he called them into his presence, they confessed their Faith in the one God. He had them arrayed in women's clothes and paraded through the streets in mockery. They were afterwards scourged, from which Saint Bacchus died. This was about the year 296. Saint Sergius was then taken to Resapha in Syria, where he was tortured and beheaded. His tomb in Resapha became a very famous shrine, to which pilgrims came from as far away as Western Europe; Resapha was later renamed Sergiopolis in his honour.
This Saint was a prominent actress of the city of Antioch, and a pagan, who lived a life of unrestrained prodigality and led many to perdition. Instructed and baptized by a certain bishop named Nonnus (Saint Nonnus is commemorated Nov. 10), she departed for the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, where she lived as a recluse, feigning to be a eunuch called Pelagia. She lived in such holiness and repentance that within three or four years she was deemed worthy to repose in an odour of sanctity, in the middle of the fifth century. Her tomb on the Mount of Olives has been a place of pilgrimage ever since.
The holy Apostle James was one of the Twelve, and preached Christ to many nations, and finally suffered death by crucifixion.
Sixth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:36-53
At that time, Jesus, having risen from the dead, stood in the midst of his disciples and said to them, "Peace to you." But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high."
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Prokeimenon. Plagal Fourth Tone. Psalm 75.11,1.
Make your vows to the Lord our God and perform them.
Verse: God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel.
The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:16-18; 7:1.
Brethren, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
2nd Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 6:31-36
The Lord said, "As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
In today's readings, in both the Epistle and the Gospel, we see much tribulation, and how we should act in the midst of it. It's really very simple. Christianity is not at all "Rocket Science". We follow what our Lord tells us, and what He tells us in many cases is "common sense", although it is generally ignored in the world today. Common sense tells us that if you want people to do kindly to you, you do kindly to them, but beyond, that, supernaturally beyond that, is that you do good to people regardless of what they do to you. Do you see the revolution the Lord calls us to? Common sense is that you do good to people and expect them to do good in return. Every culture understands this, and there is even honor among thieves. Christianity is beyond this, way beyond. We do good to everyone, regardless of what they do to us. We do not have a choice in the matter, it is a requirement of us, because our Lord has told us to act in this way.
"As ye would have that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Okay, that is what everybody does, so He says further, "For if you love them that love ye, what thank have ye?" The answer is, you have none . You will not have any reward if you only love those who love you. You must love the unlovely. You must love the ungrateful. You must love the evil, and the wicked, and the proud. He says: "For sinners also love those that love them. " That is just common. We are to live beyond this. "And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners even do the same. And if ye lend to them from whom you hope to receive, what thank have ye?" Now wait a minute. Is He going too far here? He has just reached into our pocketbooks now, something we hold very dear! Lend to someone without expecting anything in return? To the world this sheer craziness, this is insanity. This, though, is the Christian way. He is not saying that if you lend money to someone, that you do not accept repayment, but He is saying that you should not expect it and require it of a man. In the days when the church was more flourishing in people's hearts, there was no usury. There was no lending of money to a brother with interest, Instead there was giving to people who had need, and not expecting anything in return.
He says, "Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." He is kind to everyone. The rain falls on the evil and the good, you know. So we are to be like our Savior, we are to be like the Blessed Trinity, and we are to be kind to the evil and the good, without any respect for persons. This is the Christian way.
We must understand that there is a law, a fundamental law of human nature, which is built into our character. Man acts as he believes. It is very important to understand this law, because there is a very great heresy in our day, that a man can believe one way and act another, and a man's beliefs and his actions are not bound to one another. This idea is expressed in various ways, in various heresies, and it is terrible, perhaps the worse heresy ever to beset mankind -- that a man's works and his faith are not connected, completely connected. In fact, they are one and the same! If a man does not have faith, he will not act in a way that is pleasing to God, even if externally he appears to be pleasing to man. If a man knows Christ, and knows His sweet commandments, he will act in such a way that shows this. This is all over the pages of the scriptures, it is all over our prayers, it is in the very mind of the church, which is Christ's.
We have some instructions here, to listen to. Be kind to everyone. This is Christianity. Lend to people without expecting to receive. Love your enemies! We have no choice about the matter. This is how we are to act if we are to be Christians. If we do not do these things, and if we are tight with our money, or tight with the good works we do to others, then I tell you, we are not Christians. No matter how much we know, no matter how much we say, no matter how much we pray, no matter how much we do, we are not Christians if we do not do as our Lord commanded us.
The older I get, the more I realize how simple Christianity is! Our Lord touches us, our Lord gives us a great catch of fish, and we see that He is the Lord, just as the Apostle Peter did, and we are aware of ourselves and of Him, and we desire to change! This is not something we can put on paper, it is not something we can explain, but it comes within us, and lives within us, and makes us change. It is wonderful what happens to a man when Christ fills him. A man can never be filled too much with Christ, because Christ expands him. There is always capacity for Christ in a man, but only if we do those things that He enlightens us concerning - to be good to those who are our enemies, to lend to those whom we know will not give anything in return, and to not expect anything in return from them. This is Christianity - this is bare metal Christianity. This is not anything "pie in the sky" or theoretical or philosophical - this is the way we are to live.
Sometimes when I hear Holy Orthodoxy described, I hear people say "We believe in this, we believe in that, we believe in the sacraments of baptism, and of chrismation, and the Holy Eucharist, etc. And we have the seven Ecumenical councils, which codify the basics of our dogma and practices, etc." This is not the essence of what Holy Orthodoxy is! The essence of Orthodoxy is to follow Christ, to follow what He has revealed to us, and to change. We can see that there is much in us, if we look in our hearts, that is wrong, and is amiss. If you look in the mirror, you should see much that is sore, and much that needs help. Where can you obtain this help but from Christ? This is the essence of the Orthodox faith - to act in accordance with how He has enlightened us. And of course, He has enlightened us with so many things - the ecumenical councils, the dogmas of our faith, the holy priesthood, baptism confession - all these things are given to us, and they are all true, and belief in them and obedience to them is all required of us.
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