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Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2018-09-16
Bulletin Contents
Schedule of Services
Community Calendar
Prayer Requests
News & Events
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese News
Assembly of Bishops News
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Wisdom of the Fathers
Saints and Feasts
Exaltation
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Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 408.605.0621
  • Street Address:

  • 9th and Lincoln

  • Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
  • Mailing Address:

  • PO Box 5808 Carmel by the Sea

  • Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921

Contact Information

Priest: Father Ion Coman


fatherion@gmail.com | 408.605.0621

Services Schedule

 

Weekend services: the weekend schedule is fixed for most of the year. The services take place in Carmel-by-the-Sea, at All Saints Church, lower level, 9th and Lincoln.

Saturdays: 5:00pm Vespers

Sundays:   8:30am Matins

                   9:30am Liturgy

Week-day services: during the week we may celebrate the major feast days of the Church either in Carmel or in Salinas. Please check the calendar! The schedule pattern is:

Wednesdays:  6:00pm Paraklesis

Eve of feasts: 6:00pm Vespers

Feast days:    8:30am Matins

                       9:30am Liturgy

Past Bulletins


Schedule of Services

Friday, September 14   Exaltation of the Holy Cross (in Belmont)
Saturday, September 15   Saint Nikitas /  Saint Visarion
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, September 16
    8:00am  Orthros (Matins)
    9:00am Baptism (Kazuko and Antonio Wheeler)
    9:45am Liturgy
  12:00pm  Orhtodoxy 101 + Sunday School
Tuesday, September 18
    12:00pm  Akathist Service
    1:00pm  Book Discussion: "The Struggle for Virtue"
Wednesday, September 19
    6:00pm  Paraklesis
    7:00pm  Dinner, Discussion
Saturday, September 22
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, September 23   Conception of Saint John the Baptist
    8:30am  Orthros (Matins)
    9:30am  Liturgy
    12:00pm  Orthodoxy 101 + Sunday School
Tuesday, September 25
    12:00pm  Akathist Service
    1:00pm  Book Discussion: "The Struggle for Virtue"
    6:00pm  Vespers
Wednesday, September 26   Falling Asleep of Saint John the Theologian
    8:30am  Orthors + Liturgy in SALINAS
    6:00pm  Paraklesis
    7:00pm  Dinner, Discussion
Saturday, September 29   Saint Kyriakos of Palestine
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, September 30
    8:30am  Orthros (Matins)
    9:30am  Liturgy
    12:00pm  Sunday School

 

 

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Community Calendar

September 16 - Baptism Kazuko and Antonio Wheeler
September 30 - Lunch with All Saints Church
October 6 - Non-violent Communication Workshop
October 13 - Philoptochos Fall General Meeting
November 11 - Parish Assembly and Parish Council Elections
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Prayer Requests

Please remember in your prayers the following who are in need.

"Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on your servant (first name)."

+Alex and his parents Paul and Sasha, Sheila Doyle-Rickenbacker, Christina and newborn baby Eleanor, Maria Kastros-Taubman, Tiffany Yant, Helen Saites, Sophie Britton, Jeanny Elliott, Nina and George Kadiev and their daughter Annie, Christina Pressas, Gus Moutos, Jonah and his parents Nick and Sarah Ledo and Father Mark Vinas.

Father Ion is available for home visits. Please call him directly at 408.605.0621 if you would like to schedule one.

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News & Events

WHEELER BAPTISMS

With great joy we welcome back home the enlarged Wheeler family: Kevin, Julia, Kazuko and Antonio who was born in Singapore on July 29. The children will be baptized on Sunday, September 16 right before the Divine Liturgy. The godparents are Dimitri and Mahi (Kazuko) and Geoge Pepps (Antonio) who will come from Singapore. We rejoice in having them back home and we thank God for the great gift of His Church.

ALSO

Baby Shower!!  Join us to celebrate the arrival of Antonio Wheeler (Julia & Kevin & Koko's new baby) on Saturday, September 15 at 2:00 PM at Mary’s house 26301 Paseo Del Sur, Monterey, CA 93940. Refreshments, fun, games & celebration.  Hosted by Corkey Balcom & Mary Kanalakis


Please RSVP to 998-2611 (Corkey)  - Ladies Only  

 


CELEBRATE WITH METROPOLITAN NIKITAS

Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018, the day after Saint Nikitas: Saint Nikitas Day Luncheon will take place at Saint Nicholas Church in San Jose following the divine liturgy. $55 payable to St. Nicholas Church. Contact Roula Demertzis - rdemertzis@sbcglobal.net or (408) 564-2387.  Live performance by the Greek Rebetiko Trio.


ORTHODOXY 101

The Orthodoxy 101 class from 12 noon is for our guests and for ourselves. The class will meet in Saint Nektarios Chapel.


THE STRUGGLE FOR VIRTUE - BOOK FORUM

We are reading and discussing "The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society" book by Archbishop Averky (Taushev).  The book is available at our bookstore and from Amazon.com. The text offers wisdom, scriptural support, practical directions and it is very enriching. It's a short book and we will be reading 3 chapters each week.

Our next group will meet on Tuesday, September 18, after the Akathist service (12 noon). Even if you haven't read the chapters, you are welcome to join in the discussion. Bring your own lunch and join us! Prepare Chapters 4 and 5.


SERVING THESE SUNDAYS

Serving this Sunday in church and at the fellowship hour following Liturgy:

September 16
   Parish Council: Christina Pressas
   Welcoming: Alexandra Mouzas
   Fellowship: Team Orange – always 3rd  Sunday of the month.

September 23
   Parish Council: John Ehab
   Welcoming: Mary Kanalakis
   Fellowship: Team Green – always 4th Sunday of the month.


PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS

A very important ministry of our faith and for the Philoptochos organization is the HELLENIC COLLEGE HOLY CROSS SEMINARY. Archbishop Athenagoras established the Holy Cross School of Theology in June 1937, in Pomfret, Connecticut. The Archbishop addressed a special appeal to the Philoptochos to devote themselves to the School, “where your sons will be educated as priests and teachers.” Over seventy-five years later, Philoptochos continues its strong commitment to and financial support of Hellenic College/Holy Cross through the following programs:

Scholarships: Scholarships are awarded to worthy and dedicated students, both men and women at Hellenic College and seminarians at Holy Cross to assist with tuition expenses. In 2015, National Philoptochos awarded $78,500 in scholarships. In the spring of 2016, we awarded $41,700, providing 29 scholarships and 4 merit scholarships to students at HCHC.

Lenten Event: On the Third Sunday of Lent, observing the Veneration of the Holy Cross, Philoptochos chapters sponsor a Lenten Event, following the Divine Liturgy, with proceeds dedicated to operating expenses of the School. In 2016, Philoptochos donated $27,000 from the Lenten Event drive to Hellenic College Holy Cross.

This Sunday, the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, our local Philoptochos chapter takes a second collection to benefit the Hellenic College Holy Cross Seminary. Please be generous in your response. If you are unable to attend services this Sunday, you may also mail your gift for Hellenic College Holy Cross Seminary to: Philoptochos, St. John the Baptist Chapter, PO BOX 5808, Carmel by the Sea, CA 93921

Upcoming Philoptochos Events & important dates:
- September 16th Tray Passing for Holy Cross
- September 23rd Board Meeting
- October 13th Fall General Meeting


LITURGY IN SALINAS

The Liturgy for the Falling Asleep of Saint John the Theologian will take place at our church in Salinas on September 26.


CONFESSIONS AT SAINT JOHN’S

Father Ion is available to hear confessions after services and also by appointment at other times. If you need to do confession, please contact him ahead of time.


CLEAN-UP DAYS WITH ALL SAINTS CHURCH

Our brethren from All Saints Church will gather for cleaning once a month as listed below. We were invited to participate and take care of the space that we use and offer support in other areas as needed. Let us join the effort with gratitude and joy on these following Saturdays from 10:30am: October 6 / November 10 /December 8.


CONSECRATION OF CHAPEL AT MONASTERY

At the end of this month, we will have the opportunity to join in prayer and fellowship at the Monastery of the Theotokos the Life-Giving Spring for the Consecration of the Chapel of Saint Paraskevi and Saint Nikiforos. The detailed schedule is as follows:

Friday, September 28, 2018

5:00 p.m. – Dinner

6:00 p.m. – Moving of the Holy Relics from the Katholikon to the Chapel

6:30 p.m. to Midnight – Vigil of the Consecration

Saturday, September 29, 2018

8:00 a.m. to Noon – Consecration Service followed by the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. Luncheon to follow.

Limited accommodations are available at Saint Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center (email: amber@stnicholasranch.org or call the Ranch Office at 558-338-2103). This information can also be found on our Metropolis website: http://sanfran.goarch.org/events/consecration-of-the-chapel-of-saint-paraskevi-and-saint-nikiforos/1738.


NON-VIOLENT COMMUNICATION WORKSHOP

We are blessed to be invited to attend this most relevant workshop. All Saints Church will be holding a workshop series to learn the practice of non-violent communication which will be a first step in the “how” to respond rather than to react to the tensions and divisive factions that touch us in every area of our lives – our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, and in our religious institutions. 

Training will begin with a one day workshop on Saturday, October 6, followed by three to four additional half-day workshops to hone our new NVC skill.  As with any language you lose it if you do not use it.  The additional half-day workshops will take place on Saturday morning or Sunday at noon following the 10:30am service.  We are still tweaking the dates, but follow-ups will tentatively be:  Sunday, Oct. 14; Saturday, Oct. 20; and Saturday, November 3.

The cost will be $60 per person for the whole training which will include lunch for the one full day workshop.  The workshop will be facilitated by Timothy Regan, LCSW and a Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer. Please make your reservation before September 10 by calling ASC at (831) 624-3883.


PAOI NORTHERN CALIFORNIA GALA

Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute formally invites you to I am the Vine Northern California Gala, Saturday, October 13, 2018 , 4 o’clock in the afternoon to 9 o’clock in the evening.  Filoli Gardens ,  86 Canada Road, Woodside, CA 94062 .  Limited Seating 

Please join His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas and the Board of  Trustees  of  the  PAOI in  the following: 


4:00pm-5:00pm- Optional self-guided tour of country estate and 
historical mark.
5:15pm-6:15pm- Champagne and appetizer reception in the mansion. 
6:30pm-9:00pm- Formal dinner in mansion’s ballroom with Opera Singer Mrs. Edie Delegans.    

$250 per person. RSVP  email: paoi@ses.gtu.edu,  Phone: (510) 649-3450


GALA TO CELEBRATE METROPOLIS MINISTRIES

The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco will have a Gala to Celebrate Metropolis Ministries on Saturday, October 13 at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, honoring Dr. James and Virginia Kallins. Proceeds will support ongoing development and expansion of Metropolis ministries including Family Wellness, Missions and Evangelism, Clergy continuing Education, Church Music and Youth Ministry. Tickets are $250 each at 415-753-3075. Hotel accommodations are available. More information is at www.sanfran.goarch.org.


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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion for Afterfeast of the Holy Cross in the 1st Mode

Save, O Lord, Your people and bless Your inheritance, granting victory to the faithful over the enemy, and by Your Cross protecting Your commonwealth.

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Grave Mode

By means of Your Cross, O Lord, You abolished death. * To the robber You opened Paradise. * The lamentation of the myrrhbearing women You transformed, * and You gave Your Apostles the order to proclaim to all * that You had risen, O Christ our God, * and granted the world Your great mercy.

Apolytikion for Great Martyr Euphemia in the 3rd Mode

To the Orthodox you brought elation, * the unorthodox, humiliation, * O Euphemia, the beautiful virgin of Christ. * For what the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical * Synod decreed well as dogma you ratified. * Pray to Christ our God, O glorious Martyr, fervently, * entreating Him to grant us His great mercy.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 4th Mode

You who were lifted on the cross voluntarily, * O Christ our God, bestow Your tender compassions * upon Your new community to which You gave Your name. * Cause our faithful emperors to be glad in Your power, * granting them the victories against their adversaries. * And for an ally, Lord, may they have You, * peace as their armor, the trophy invincible.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35

At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Grave Mode. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 2:16-20.

Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gospel Reading

Sunday after Holy Cross
The Reading is from Mark 8:34-38; 9:1

The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

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Wisdom of the Fathers

A Christian's . . . duty is to "take up his cross." The word cross means sufferings, sorrows and adversities. To take up one's cross means to bear without grumblings everything unpleasant, painful, sad, difficult and oppressive that ay happen to us in life. . .without expecting any earthly reward in return, but bear it all with love, with joy and with courageous strength.
St. Innocent of Alaska
The Lenten Spring, SVS Press, p. 147, 19th Century

To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts and desires; to suppress every evil thought; to avoid occasions of sin; not to desire or to do anything out of self-love, but to do everything out of love for God. To deny oneself, according to St. Paul means "to be dead to sin. . . but alive to God."
St. Innocent of Alaska
The Lenten Spring, SVS Press, p. 147, 19th Century

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Saints and Feasts

Exaltation
September 16

Sunday after Holy Cross

Euthemia
September 16

Euphemia the Great Martyr

Saint Euphemia was from Chalcedon and lived in virginity. According to some, she suffered martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian, in 303; according to others, in 307. Her sacred relics are preserved in the Patriarchate in Constantinople.

Sophia
September 17

Sophia & her three daughters: Faith, Hope, and Love

These Saints were from Italy and contested for the Faith about the year 126, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Faith was twelve years old, Hope, ten, and Love, nine; each was tormented and then beheaded, from the eldest to the youngest. Their mother Sophia mourned at their grave for three days, where she also fell asleep in peace; because of her courageous endurance in the face of her daughters' sufferings, she is also counted a martyr. The name Sophia means "wisdom" in Greek; as for her daughters' names, Faith, Hope, and Love (Charity), they are Pistis, Elpis, and Agape in Greek, and Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov in Russian.

Jonah2
September 21

Jonah the Prophet

The Prophet Jonah, the son of Amathi, of the town of Geth-hopher (IV Kings 14:25), was of the tribe of Zabulon; he prophesied during the years 838-810 before Christ. God commanded him to go to Nineveh, the great city of the Assyrians, and to proclaim that its destruction was nigh at hand because of the sins of its people. But he, as a Prophet who knew the great compassion of God, feared that at his preaching the Ninevites would repent; that God, accepting their repentance in His love for man, would not fulfill Jonah' threats; and that he would be branded a false prophet. So he disobeyed the divine command, and boarded a ship and departed elsewhere. Yet, the sudden and fearful sea-storm and the revelation of Jonah' disbedience caused the sailors to cast him into the sea. A great sea-monster appeared straightway by divine providence, and swallowed him up. For three days and nights he was found in its belly and he prayed, saying the words, "I cried aloud in my affliction unto the Lord my God..." (Jonah 2:3, the Sixth ode of the Holy Psalter). The sea-monster then vomited him up on dry land and he again heard God's command. Wherefore, he went and preached, saying, "In three days, Nineveh shall be destroyed." The people became terrified and all repented. The great, the small, babes at the breast, and even the irrational beasts themselves fasted, and thus, having found mercy from God, they were spared His wrath. Jonah' book of prophecy is divided into four chapters, and is placed fifth in order among the twelve minor Prophets. His three-day sojourn in the sea-monster's belly is an image of our Saviour's three-day burial and His life-bringing Resurrection (Matt. 12:39-40). His name means "dove."

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