Schedule of Services

Note: week-day services can be attended online via Zoom.

Friday, July 30
    9:00am Matins - Church University
Saturday, July 31
    5:00pm Vespers

++++++++++++Dormition Fast Begins +++++++++++++++

Sunday, August 1
    8:30am Matins
    9:45am Liturgy
    12:00pm Catechism Class
Monday, August 2
    9:00am Matins - Church University
Tuesday, August 3
    9:00am Matins - Church University
Wednesday, August 4
    9:00am Matins - Church University
    6:00pm Paraklesis
Thursday, August 5
    9:00am Matins - Church University
    6:00pm Vespers
    7:00pm Liturgy
Friday, August 6 HOLY TRANSFIGURATION
    9:00am Matins - Church University
Saturday, August 7
    5:00pm Vespers
Sunday, August 8
    8:30am Matins
    9:45am Liturgy

See the whole calendar at http://www.stjohn-monterey.org/parish-calendar

News & Events

DORMITION FAST BEGINS THIS SUNDAY

The period of preparation for the Dormition of the Theotokos feast (August 15) is beginning this Sunday. This summer-time fast is short, just 14 days, and easy. It includes the Holy Transfiguration (August 6), a transformative event in the life of the Church, and it invites us to coming together every evening to pray the Paraklesis Service (service of Supplications) to the Theotokos.

OUR FAMILY GETS TOGETHER: HOLY TRANSFIGURATION CELEBRATION AND POTLUCK DINNER

The Royal Feast of the Holy Transfiguration is in the middle for the Dormition Fast, always on August 6, this year on Friday next week. The Divine Liturgy will be celebrated on the eve (Thursday), in the evening and it will be followed by the Blessing of the Fruits, a tradition of the greek Church. Please bring the fruits to the chapel and place them in the front on the provided table. After the service, please join us for the potluck dinner (fish allowed) on the patio.

40 DAYS MEMORIAL FOR FATHER MARK VINAS

We will remember Father Mark with the Memorial Service on Sunday, August 8. May his memory be eternal!

SUNDAY CATECHISM CLASSES

A Ministry led by Father Ion

The Catechism Class will continue this Sunday, August 1 following Fellowship The topic for this Sunday is The Church: worship, architecture, iconography, vestments, liturgical actions and behavior in church - Part 3. Father Ion will offer a Power Point presentation on Orthodox Worship after the Liturgy. Please pray for our catechumens: Angelina, Mikael, Justin and Jenel.

Education

BOOK FORUM: MOUNTAIN OF SILENCE

A ministry led by Kathy Shaw.

About the author:

Kyriacos C. Markides, a professor of sociology at the University of Maine, is the author of Fire in the Heart: Healers, Sages, and Mystics (1992) and Riding with the Lion: In Search of Mystical Christianity (1995). In this extraordinary work, he presents the spiritual teachings of Father Maximos, a monk from Mount Athos who is abbot of Panagia Monastery in Cyprus. Clearly, Markides is quite taken by this charismatic representative of Greek Orthodox Christianity.

Markides manages to draw out Father Maximos on a variety of subjects including justice, evil, silence, the meaning of the church, saints, the Jesus prayer, icons, and the process of theosis, or union with God. The author's enthusiasm for his search for meaning in Eastern Orthodoxy gives this book its special momentum and vibrancy.

Our next meeting on Wednesday, AUGUST 4
Meeting time: from 10am, right after the Matins service.
To prepare: Please read Chapters 15-16

Zoom in at the known link.

Adult Education

THE CHURCH UNIVERSITY: DAILY SERVICE, PRAYER and REFLECTIONS

A ministry led by Father Ion

Every weekday morning, the Church University will offer the daily Zoom webcasting from Saint Nektarios Chapel with the short Matins Services. At the end of the service Father Ion offers a reflection, teaching on the readings and the saints of the day. Connect via Zoom to extend Matins with the study of the Scripture readings, great discussion and fellowship time.

Worship and Education

GREEK FESTIVAL AUGUST 28 & 29

It’s almost here!! The Greek Festival is a welcome activity for our community and a way for Saint Johns to both thank our neighbors and share a little about us.

It is scaled down from previous years, simply because we could not meet to cook for the 4-6 months prior to the festival. But we will still have great fare for our guests.

Your help is needed!

This is typically an “all hands on deck” parishioner participation, so please consider where you can lend a hand. Areas needed are:

Friday Set up – 8:30 am laying tarps, marking booth areas, guiding support to their locations.
Friday afternoon setup – 3 pm Getting tables and chairs set up, guiding the vendors to their rented space, setting up the booth. Signs posted. Finish by 6 pm
Saturday and Sunday – beginning at 9:30 am booth set up. Man the booth s for sales. The festival begins at 11:00 am. It runs to 9 pm on Saturday, and until 4 pm on Sunday.
Sunday evening cleanup – beginning at 4 pm We must have the plaza cleared by 10 pm, so it is

Booths are: Gyros, Corn, Loukomadas, Greek Fries, Taverna, Pastry, and Salad.

Now is the time to let everyone you know about the Festival. It is a new date. As many people as possible need to be reminded and told when. If this is also an area you can assist further, let Simi G know.

Do let us know how/where you can help by emailing:
Mary K at tasktrak@hotmail.com, or
St Johns by responding to this bulletin, or
text Thimi.

NEW BOOK FOR THE NEXT BOOK FORUM

A ministry lead by Kathy Shaw

Hello Fellow Book Lovers! We will be finished with The Mountain of Silence within the next few weeks. Our next book will be Big in Heaven: A Collection of Stories About Life in an American Orthodox Parish

This book is available on Amazon and will also be in our church Bookstore.

You will find this collection of short stories very interesting. Join the Book Forum on Wednesdays from 11am, right after the daily Matins service.

Adult Education, Community

NEW: SERVING THESE SUNDAYS

A ministry lead by Corkey Balcom

Serving these coming Sundays in church and at the fellowship hour following Liturgy:

August 1
Parish Council: Brian Balcom
Welcoming: Rania Zavitsanos
Fellowship Gratitude Luncheon: Team 1 (Gold) 1st Sunday of the month

August 8
Parish Council: Thimi Saites
Welcoming: Temia Demakopoulos
Fellowship Gratitude Luncheon: Team 2 (Pink) 2nd Sunday of the month

Community

A JOURNEY TO FULLNESS - Session 12: Our Ultimate Purpose

A ministry led by Angela Wagoner

JOURNEY TO FULLNESS: An Introduction to the Fullness of the Original Christian Faith -

The Journey to Fullness presentations and small groups discussions will meet again is September. Enjoy the summer time off!

Education

FAITH AND FELLOWSHIP TO BREAK DURING THE SUMMER

A ministry led by Paige Benton

The small groups Faith and Fellowship evenings will take a break for the summer. We will resume our meetings in September.

Adult Education

ONLINE RESOURCES from THE COVID ERA

Most of our services and meetings are available online.

Witness remotely:

Zoom with video here.
By phone dial - add the following string to your address book: +16699006833,,9475885646#,,1#,April2020#

Liturgical texts at Ages Initiatives here. Select the date and the service of interest. Then, choose pdf if you want to print, or DCS for viewing on the screen (which also has a night mode).

• Please note that the Metropolitan requests compliance with CDC regulations. This means parishioners who are not vaccinated wear masks for their own protection. It is also recommended for those who are vaccinated. Please respect the comfort level of those around you by keeping reasonable distance.

• The choir is still allowed to chant and coffee hours continue as usual.

Lighting Candles remotely is possible through our Light a Candle website. Click this link: Light a Candle

OUR AUDIO AND VIDEO ARCHIVES

The Audio/Video Ministry is led by Hussam Ibrahim

Daily services, reflections and homilies video.
Sunday homilies audio.
Some Sunday homilies video and archives prior to June 1 2020 audio.

Organization and Leadership

Stewardship News

SAVE THE DATE: SEPTEMBER 25

Save the Date!!

Saturday, September 25
Annual Stewardship Appreciation Dinner

We missed our annual event last year. Now, let’s make up for it! This year we will have a picnic at Indian Springs Community Picnic Area, off River Road. This will be a daytime event and children are welcome! More details will be provided as we draw closer to the date.

STEWARDS OF 2021

A Ministry Led by Mary Kanalakis

We are half way through the year. Please take a look at your Stewardship giving. It may need updating or improving as we move back into regular activities. Open your Stewardship account in Breeze here: BREEZE LOGIN

Many thanks to our 2021 Stewards. 70 families or individuals are now stewards. And thank you to the 16 (23%) of these families who have committed to percent giving. It is such a blessing for these families to lead us on the path to becoming a tithing parish.

Our pledged total so far is $132,378, or 82% of our budget goal. We are four fifths of the way there.

If you have not yet completed a 2021 pledge card, please complete the Stewardship Card ONLINE!! Just Click: I WANT TO SIGN UP NOW!

Living the Gospel

Metropolis Events

GREENING THE PARISH

“How-to” Green Your Parish

The “How-to” Green Your Parish series is an initiative of the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. New episodes will be released weekly featuring ideas and ways to introduce creation care and sustainability in your parish and home. Ranging from practical to theological, each three-minute video offers a unique perspective on environmental stewardship through the knowledge and expertise of Orthodox Christians across the United States.

You can see all the episodes here: “How-to” Green Your Parish. This a wonderful way to engage the whole family in Greening the Parish and your home.

REGISTER FOR THE YOUNG ADULT CONFERENCE!

Register for the exciting 2021 YAL (Young Adult League) Conference, Labor Day Weekend, September 2-6, Phoenix, Arizona! Are you ready to Exclaim your faith? Then the Young Adult League (YAL) Conference over Labor Day Weekend 2021 is where you need to be! Conference attendees will enjoy a weekend of events, workshops, worship and relaxation at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort. Highlights of the weekend include engaging workshops, daily worship, dances, a Grand Banquet, and a special western-themed event “YeeHaw YAL”. Online registration for the conference is now open! Final deadline for registration is August 7. This is your chance to reunite in person with young adults from across the country. Visit www.sanfran.goarch.org/YAL for more registration and hotel details.

Prayer Requests

Lord, Bless, strengthen, and guard, by Your grace, all those who, with love for humankind and a spirit of sacrifice, care for the sick in their homes or in hospitals.

We pray for the servants of God:

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

Michael Borgeson - for health and quick recovery aftr surgery

Judge John and Marlyn Anton - for endurance and God's mercy upon them.

Chris (Chrisanthi) Georgalos - for health, recovery, and endurance.

Sheila (Despina) Doyle-Rickenbacher - for health, recovery, and endurance.

Sophie Britton - for strength and recovery.

Eleni Saites - for patience and endurance.

Maria Kastros - for strength and endurance.

Nina and George Kadiev - George going through many serious health trials.

Kylie and her family - for health, faith and hope.

For those who are in prisons: Constantine and Sergei.

And for our catechumens: Jenel, Mikael, Angelina and Justin.

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

Saints and Feasts

August 01

Procession of the Precious Cross

Because of the many diseases that occur in the month of August, the custom prevailed of old in Constantinople to carry the precious Wood of the Cross in procession throughout the city for its sanctification and its deliverance from illnesses. It was brought forth from the imperial treasury on the last day of July and placed upon the Holy Table of the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom; and beginning today, until the Dormition of the Theotokos, it was carried in procession throughout the city and was set forth for veneration before the people.

August 01

The Holy Seven Maccabee Children, Solomone Their Mother, and Eleazar Their Teacher

The names of the Holy Maccabees are Abim, Anthony, Guria, Eleazar, Eusebona, Achim, and Marcellus. They were Jews by race and exact keepers of the Laws of the Fathers. They lived during the reign of Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes ("Illustrious"), the King of Syria and an implacable enemy of the Jews. Having subjugated their whole nation and done many evil things to them, not sparing to assail the most sacred matters of their Faith, he constrained them, among other things, to partake of swine's flesh, which was forbidden by the Law. Then these pious youths, on being apprehended together with their mother and their teacher, were constrained to set at nought the Law, and were subjected to unspeakable tortures: wrackings, the breaking of their bones, the flaying of their flesh, fire, dismemberment, and such things as only a tyrant's mind and a bestial soul is able to contrive. But when they had endured all things courageously and showed in deed that the mind is sovereign over the passions and is able to conquer them if it so desires, they gloriously ended their lives in torments, surrendering their life for the sake of the observance of the divine Law. The first to die was their teacher Eleazar, then all the brethren in the order of their age. As for their wondrous mother Solomone, "filled with a courageous spirit, and stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly wrath" (II Macc. 7:21), she was present at her children's triumph over the tyrant, strengthening them in their struggle for the sake of their Faith, and enduring stout-heartedly their sufferings for the sake of their hope in the Lord. After her last and youngest son had been perfected in martyrdom, when she was about to be seized to be put to death, she cast herself into the fire that they might not touch her, and was thus deemed worthy of a blessed end together with her sons, in the year 168 before Christ.

August 04

Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus

The Seven Youths hid themselves in a certain cave near Ephesus in the year 250, to escape the persecution of Decius. By divine grace, a sleep came upon them and they slept for 184 years, until the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger, when the doctrine of the resurrection was being assailed by heretics. They then awoke, that is, were resurrected, confirming in the sight of all the bodily resurrection; and again after a short time, by divine command, they reposed in the Lord in the year 434.

August 06

Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Our Lord had spoken to His disciples many times not only concerning His Passion, Cross, and Death, but also concerning the coming persecutions and afflictions that they themselves would endure. Since all these evils were near at hand, but the enjoyment of good things which they hoped to receive in their stead was yet to come, our Savior desired to give them full assurance, evidently and openly, concerning that glory which is prepared for those who endure to the end. Therefore, fulfilling that which He had promised shortly before, that "there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom" (Matt. 16:28), He took His three foremost disciples and ascended Mount Tabor, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Suddenly, together with this dread and marvelous effulgence of light, there appeared those pinnacles of the Prophets, Moses and Elias, who spoke with the Lord Jesus concerning His saving Passion which was about to take place. Standing before Him as reverent servants, they showed that He is the Lord of both the living and the dead, for Moses came forth from Hades, having died many centuries before, and Elias, as it were from heaven, whither he had been taken up while yet alive. After a little while a radiant cloud overshadowed them and out of the cloud they heard that same voice which had been heard at the Jordan at the Baptism of Christ, testifying to the Divinity of Jesus and saying: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased; hear ye Him" (Matt. 17: 5).

Such are the marvels, truly worthy of God, celebrated in this present feast, which is an image and prefiguring of the future state of the righteous, whose splendor the Lord spoke of, saying: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun" (Matt. 13:43). It is because of this that the Kontakion of this Feast is said daily (when there is not a great feast) in the Service of the Typica in perpetual commemoration of the glory that will be the lot of the Saints. According to tradition, the Lord's Transfiguration came to pass forty days before His Crucifixion; this is why the Transfiguration is celebrated forty days before the Exaltation of the Cross.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

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.

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Plagal 1st Mode. Psalm 11.7,1.
You, O Lord, shall keep us and preserve us.
Verse: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 12:6-14.

Brethren, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Gospel Reading

6th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 9:1-8

At that time, getting into a boat Jesus crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Rise and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" he then said to the paralytic -- "Rise, take up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

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