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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2020-10-25
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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (970) 242-9590
  • Street Address:

  • 3585 North 12th Street

  • Grand Junction, CO 81506


Contact Information




Services Schedule

8:45am - Orthros, 10am - Divine Liturgy


Past Bulletins


Message from your Priest

Beloved in Christ,

Modern life leaves us very little room for quiet. Our lives today are increasingly busy, and we have little time for seeking peace and stillness. Modern technology brings the noisiness of our social lives into our homes, removing even the illusion of privacy and seclusion. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many of us find that even are work lives are encroaching more and more on our personal time.

It is well-known that the hectic pace of our lives today tends to cause a host of psychological issues. But it causes us spiritual issues as well. As long as our lives are filled with busy-ness, then we have left no room for Jesus Christ. As long as our schedules are packed full, then we have left no time for Jesus Christ. Many of us today are starved spiritually because there is no place in our lives for quiet alone-ness with God.

A pitcher that is empty cannot fill the cups of others. A power strip cannot give electricity to your devices unless it is plugged in to the source of that electricity. We cannot fill the lives of others with the peace and love of God unless we make the time to allow God to fill our own lives.

Two people in today's Scripture readings give us examples of this. In our Epistle reading we hear about St. Paul, who ministered to Churches throughout the world. St. Paul did not begin his ministry until after he had spent years alone with God in the desert. When Jesus Christ was first revealed to him, St. Paul's first reaction was to get away from other people are find solitude with God: "when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me...I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia," (Gal. 1:15-17). Only after being filled by God in stillness could he begin his ministry to others.

Our Gospel reading shows Jesus casting many demons out of a man from Gadara, a city to the north of Jerusalem near the Sea of Galilee. After being harrassed by the crowds of demons, he discovers the peace of alone-ness with Jesus Christ. When the people from the region came to see what had happened, they find the man "sitting at the feet of Jesus," (Luke 8:35), doing nothing other than enjoying Jesus' presence. It is only after he has spent this time with Jesus that he is sent back to his city to fill others with the good news of what Jesus had done for him.

In order to cultivate alone-ness with God, we have to take some time each day to unplug from the noise. Many people like to turn the TV on just to cover up the uncomfortable quiet. Do the opposite; take some time each day to do nothing other than sit in silence. In that silence, embrace our Lord Jesus by calling on him in your heart through prayer. Even if, in the busy-ness of our lives, we can only afford to devote five minutes each day to silent prayer, then our Lord will reward our effort. Then, when Jesus has filled us with his peace and love in the quiet of our prayer, we can be a source of peace and love for others.

In Christ,
Fr. Jeremy

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Third Mode

Let all things above in heaven rejoice, and let all things below on earth be glad. With all the might and strength of his arm, an eternal deed the Lord did perform. Beneath his feet he has trampled down death by death, and first-born of the dead has he become. From the womb of Hades has he delivered us, and to all the world has granted his great redeeming mercy.

Apolytikion for Martyrs Marcian and Martyrius in the Fourth Mode

Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

The protection of Christians unshameable, intercessor to our Holy Maker, unwavering, do not turn from the prayerful cries of those who are in sin; instead, come to us, for you are good; your loving help bring unto us, who are crying in faith to you: Hasten to intercession and speed now to supplication as a protection for all time, Theotokos, for those who honor you.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Ninth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:19-31

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."

Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said: "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Mode. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 1:11-19.

Brethren, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.


Gospel Reading

6th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 8:26-39

At that time, as Jesus arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me." For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.


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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
October 25

The Holy Martyrs Marcian and Martyrius the Notaries

These Martyrs were disciples of Saint Paul the Confessor (see Nov. 6). Martyrius was a subdeacon, Marcian a chanter and reader. They were beheaded by the Arians in the year 346. Miracles were wrought at their tomb, and demons were cast out; Saint John Chrysostom began the building of the church in their honour in Constantinople, and it was completed by patriarch Sisinius.


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Parish Information

If you do not currently receive emails from our parish, please give Fr. Jeremy your name and email address to be added to our list.
 
Church School
 
Church School for our children will take place at 5pm on Saturdays. Lessons will follow the "Tending the Garden of our Hearts" curriculum. Sessions will take place outside, weather permitting. Adult family members are encouraged to stay for the lesson. Masks are required for adults when indoors. Please email Fr. Jeremy if you have any questions.
 
Adult Ed
 
Please join us on Wednesday following Paraklesis for our Adult Ed Discussion Group. We are currently continuing to meet over Zoom. Please ask Fr. Jeremy if you need the link for the class.
 
We are currently discussing Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra's “Theology and Experience,” from The Way of the Spirit: Reflection on Life in God (Indiktos Publishing Company, 2009) pp. 273-282.
 
Coronavirus Procedures
 
Here at St. Nicholas we are blessed to be able to welcome our community back to public services with the following directives in place:
 
-Individuals who have been exposed to the Coronavirus, or are at high risk as defined by the CDC (those 65-years or older, those with compromised immune systems, those with respiratory illness, heart conditions, or other underlying medical conditions) are encouraged to stay at home. Our livestream will still be active for the time being.
-A distance of six feet must be observed between families at all times.
-Use of non-medical masks is required in the Church building.
-There will be no fellowship hour following Liturgy. Parishioners are asked to depart the Church in an orderly fashion family-by-family following the dismissal.
-Icons are to be venerated by crossing oneself and bowing. Please do not kiss the icons.
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This Week at St. Nicholas

  • Sunday, October 25: 6pm Vespers
  • Monday, October 26 St. Demetrios: 8am Orthros, 9am Divine Liturgy
  • Wednesday, October 28 Protection of the Theotokos: 8am Orthros, 9am Divine Liturgy, 6pm Paraklesis, 7pm Adult Ed (online)
  • Saturday, October 31: 5pm Youth Church School, 6pm Great Vespers
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