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Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2024-03-03
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Prodson
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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, CA 93921


Contact Information




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

                   9:45am 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

                       9:45am Liturgy


Past Bulletins


Schedule of Services

Note: our services are posted on Zoom unless specified otherwise.   

Saturday, March 2
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, March 3   Sunday of the Prodigal Son
    8:30am  Matins
    9:45am  Liturgy
    12:30pm Catechism Class

Monday, March 4
    9:00am  Church University - CANCELLED
Tuesday, March 5
    9:00am  Church University - CANCELLED
    4:00pm  IHELP - Ladies
Wednesday, March 6
    9:00am  Church University: Prayers and Bible Study (online)
    10:00am  Book Forum - CANCELLED
    6:00pm  Paraklesis Service
    6:45pm  Catechism Class
Thursday, March 7
    9:00am  Church University: Prayers and Bible Study (online)
Friday, March 8
    9:00am  Church University: Prayers and Bible Study (online)
    6:00pm  Vespers + Liturgy + Memorial Service
Saturday, March 9   Saturday of Souls
    5:00pm  Vespers
Sunday, March 10   Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)
    8:30am  Matins
    9:45am  Liturgy

For more information, go to  //www.stjohn-monterey.org/parish-calendar

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News & Events

NEW: MEATFARE PLANS FOR MARCH 10

A ministry led by Despina Hatton

MEATFARE on JUDGMENT SUNDAY

 

DONATIONS ARE REQUESTED to benefit the Building Fund.

We thank the Sponsors of specialty items that will be served.
Send your contribution to Saint John's with the note "Sponsor of Special Luncheon".

ATTENDEES MAY BRING AN AUCTION ITEM.
Themed baskets, gift certificates for restaurants, or bottles of wine are appreciated.

Invite your family and friends to this culinary delight and joyful transition towards Lent.

Community


RETURN

This second Sunday of the Triodion period we will partake of the love of God the Father as in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Lord, help each one of us to return like the lost and dead son did!

Hymn from the Saturday evening Vespers:

Brethren, let us learn the power of the mystery: When the Prodigal Son runs back from sin to the warmth of his Father’s house, the all-loving Father, goes to meet him and kisses him, and he gives him back again the tokens of his own glory; and he sacrifices the fatted calf and thus celebrates the mystical joy with those in heaven. Let us understand this so that we might live lives worthy of the loving Father, who offered the sacrifice, and of the glorious sacrificial victim, who is the Savior of our souls.

Download the Hyperlinked diagram HERE.

 


CATECHISM CLASS THIS SUNDAY

A Ministry led by Father Ion

The Catechism Class this Sunday will be a lecture on the mystery of Baptism. The series will continue this coming Wednesday evening with the follow up lecture on Chrismation. Open to all.

Living the Gospel, Community


LOOKING AHEAD: SPECIAL SATURDAYS

There are three Saturdays at the beginning of the Triodion period that have special themes:

  • Saturday of the Souls - March 9. Services will be on the eve, on Friday: Vespers, Liturgy and the special Saturday of the Souls Memorial Service from 6pm. Please plan to bring the Kollyva and the names of the departed at the Friday evening services. Father Ion will be out of town on Saturday.
  • Saturday of the Ascetics - March 16.
  • Saturday of the Miracle with the Kollyva by Saint Theodore - March 23.

 


WELCOMING AND HOSPITALITY: SERVING THIS SUNDAY

A Ministry led by Angelina Taylor

Sunday, March 3
Greeter: Angela Wagoner, Ita Williams
   Fellowship Gratitude Meal: ORANGE TEAM - Thank you to Mimi, Marissa, Christine D, and Melanie

Sunday, March 10 (Meatfare Sunday)
   Parish Council: Ali Castanada
   Greeter: Anthony Zavitsanos
   Fellowship Gratitude Meal:  Thank you to Despina Hatton and sponsors for the special Meatfare Lamb meal. Also Mary, Georgia S, Charles, Kathy S and Pink Team support.

Community


OUTREACH MINISTRIES

Ministries led by Despina Hatton

FOOD BANK: Tuesday, March 12 9:00 -10:30am @St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Seaside.

LADIES I-HELP: Tuesday, March 5. Cooking - 4-5pm, Dinner with the ladies - 5-6pm. Plan to stay for prayers in the chapel after dinner.

Community


BOOK FORUM TO START NEW BOOK IN MARCH

A Ministry Led by Kathy Shaw

Starting on March 13 and continuing on Wednesdays from 10 am via Zoom. (Note: there is no meeting March 6.)

St. Athanasius: The Father of Orthodoxy

This is a very short, yet powerful book. Buy your own copy ahead of time HERE.

Adult Education, Community


COMPLETED: ORTHODOXY 101 - A JOURNEY TO FULLNESS

A ministry led by Angela Wagoner

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

The Journey to Fullness series just completed another cycle. The new series will begin after Pascha. Until then, all the focus is on Lent, Holy Week and Pascha

Adult Education


CHURCH UNIVERSITY

A Ministry led by Father Ion

Study of Scriptures, church hymns and lives of the saints. Week days, 9:00am online.

Worship, Education, Community


IN THE AREA

Ahepa Crab Feed Fundraiser at St. Nicholas San Jose - Apr 13th

Ahepa Crab Feed Fundraiser at St. Nicholas San Jose - Apr 13th

 

Please see the attached flyer.

 

 


Bay Area Project Mexico Trip Opportunity This June

Bay Area Project Mexico Trip Opportunity This June

 

We invite you to join parishioners from the Resurrection parish in Castro Valley who will journey to Mexico this summer on a mission trip to build homes for poor working families just south of the border. We will depart Castro Valley on June 25th and return July 1st. For more details, visit projectmexico.org. In addition, you can view a video of our trip in 2019 to get an idea of what this mission trip involves. Go to Youtube and query, "Project Mexico 2019". For questions about this mission trip, please contact Mark Fridell (maark56@hotmail.com or Cell: 925-872-8111).
  

Adult Greek Language Classes - St. Nicholas San Jose

Adult Greek Language Classes - St. Nicholas San Jose

 

The Adult Education Program (AEP) is comprised of three tracks, Modern Greek, New Testament Greek and Ancient Greek. Courses within each track have been developed to meet the needs of adult Greek language learners as they enter their journey of Greek Language Acquisition at the Beginner basic literacy stage, moving forward to the Intermediate Level, then seeking to achieve fluency at the Advanced Level, and finally reaching complete communicative Proficiency. Please read the attached flyer for more information on the offerings of our Adult Greek Language classes at St. Nicholas.
 


ONLINE RESOURCES

Most of our services and some ministry meetings are available online.
Witness remotely:
  1. Zoom with video here.
  2. By phone dial - add the following string to your address book: 16699006833,,9475885646#,,,,*871732#
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).
Lighting Candles remotely is possible through our Light a Candle website. Click this link: Light a Candle

 


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Assembly of Bishops News

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Saints and Feasts

Prodson
March 03

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Through the parable of today's Gospel, our Saviour has set forth three things for us: the condition of the sinner, the rule of repentance, and the greatness of God's compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the parable of the Publican and Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition -- inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries -- we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.

Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts of such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the forecourts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God's compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin -- no matter how great it may be -- that can overcome at any time His love for man.


Gerasimosjordan
March 04

Gerasimos the Righteous of Jordan

This Saint, who was from Lycia in Asia Minor, lived there for many years as a hermit, and then went to Palestine. There he built the great Lavra by the Jordan River, where a lion served him with great obedience and devotion. One day the lion came looking for Gerasimus that he might feed him, but his disciples took the lion to the place where they had buried the Saint shortly before. The lion fell at the Saint's grave and, after roaring with grief, died at that very place. Saint Gerasimus reposed in 475.


Lastjudgement1
March 09

Saturday of Souls

Through the Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII, ch. 42), the Church of Christ has received the custom to make commemorations for the departed on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after their repose. Since many throughout the ages, because of an untimely death in a faraway place, or other adverse circumstances, have died without being deemed worthy of the appointed memorial services, the divine Fathers, being so moved in their love for man, have decreed that a common memorial be made this day for all pious Orthodox Christians who have reposed from all ages past, so that those who did not have particular memorial services may be included in this common one for all. Also, the Church of Christ teaches us that alms should be given to the poor by the departed one's kinsmen as a memorial for him.

Besides this, since we make commemoration tomorrow of the Second Coming of Christ, and since the reposed have neither been judged, nor have received their complete recompense (Acts 17:31; II Peter 2:9; Heb. 11:39-40), the Church rightly commemorates the souls today, and trusting in the boundless mercy of God, she prays Him to have mercy on sinners. Furthermore, since the commemoration is for all the reposed together, it reminds each of us of his own death, and arouses us to repentance.


40martsb
March 09

40 Martyrs at Lake Sebaste

These holy Martyrs, who came from various lands, were all soldiers under the same general. Taken into custody for their faith in Christ, and at first interrogated by cruel means, they were then stripped of their clothing and cast onto the frozen lake which is at Sebastia of Pontus, at a time when the harsh and freezing weather was at its worst. They endured the whole night naked in such circumstances, encouraging one another to be patient until the end. He that guarded them, named Aglaius, who was commanded to receive any of them that might deny Christ, had a vision in which he saw heavenly powers distributing crowns to all of the Martyrs, except one, who soon after abandoned the contest. Seeing this, Aglaius professed himself a Christian and joined the Martyrs on the lake, and the number of forty remained complete. In the morning, when they were almost dead from the cold, they were cast into fire, after which their remains were thrown into the river. Thus they finished the good course of martyrdom in 320, during the reign of Licinius. These are their names: Acacius, Aetius, Aglaius, Alexander, Angus, Athanasius, Candidus, Chudion, Claudius, Cyril, Cyrion, Dometian, Domnus, Ecdicius, Elias, Eunoicus, Eutyches, Eutychius, Flavius, Gaius, Gorgonius, Helianus, Heraclius, Hesychius, John, Lysimachus, Meliton, Nicholas, Philoctemon, Priscus, Sacerdon, Severian, Sisinius, Smaragdus, Theodulus, Theophilus, Valens, Valerius, Vivianus, and Xanthias.


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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Sixth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:36-53

At that time, having risen from the dead, Jesus went up and stood among His disciples and said to them, "Peace be with 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 My 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 had 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 some honeycomb], 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 in 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 returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the Temple blessing God.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Plagal 2nd Mode. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 6:12-20.

Brethren, "all things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" -- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh." But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
The Reading is from Luke 15:11-32

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"


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