Saint John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2025-08-17
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Saint John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (212) 473-0648
  • Street Address:

  • 143 East 17th Street

  • New York, NY 10003
  • Mailing Address:

  • 143 East 17th Street

  • New York, NY 10003


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Orthros:  8:45 am.

Divine Liturgy:  10 a.m.


Past Bulletins


Always a Spiritual Focus, First

August 17th 2025

Always a Spiritual Focus, First

 

Dearest Parish Families, 

As of today and this writing, we celebrated our Church Service in honour of the Dormition (Koimisis) of the Virgin Mary, a massive Holy Day for, without the Virgin Mary Theotokos, we would not have our Messaiah, Jesus Christ. I remarked in Church that it is the Theotokos to whom we regard the pinnacle of humanity:  the act of the Virgin Mary accepting the Will of God, as messengered by the Archangel Gabriel, her accepting to become the Mother of our Lord.

 

Imagine everything that fell in line for this event to happen:  the Virgin Mary’s life of holiness, the Jewish people’s anticipation and longing for the Messiah to come, all the factors, faithful and cultural, for the moment of the Messiah to arrive.

What can we do in 2025 to emulate this? Simply to strive harder to come close to God, to strive to be an aspiring Christian, to spend our lives in this process, to treat each other with kindness and charity, being there for each other. Theology doesn’t get more simple than that. 

We look to the Virgin Mary as the purest example of a human person in harmony with God, to hear and listen to God, to accept the message. 

In a similar way, we can come close to this, also, by giving one Saturday in sacrifice to God and to ourselves. On Saturday, September 6th, we have the chance to hear and listen to a presentation designed to help us. Have you ever felt you were not heard or not listened to? Have you done that to others, as others have done that to you, being ignored, or only half-heartedly heard? Have you had people in your life been overly defensive with anything you tried to share with them?

This Saturday, September 6th, at noon, the new pilot program for our Archdiocese is giving a presentation on how to be heard and how to listen, skills we absolutely need help with in our complicated society. And our Church is the site of the Pilot Program and Presentation, free of charge. Please read this below and meet us there. Join us. Have a chance to learn something and improve your lives. Please, sign up in our Narthex with our church helpers. We need a head-count to be able to provide a light lunch for everyone who attends, us together.  Read this below and meet me this day.

Faithfully, Father Samaras

URGENT SAVE THE DATE:  SEPTEMBER 6TH, 2025 AT NOON

at Saint John the Baptist G.O. Church

143 East 17th Street / New York, NY 

This is a really good thing:  our own parish has been chosen to be the pilot program parish for a program our Archdiocese wishes to give a trial run to before they introduce the program to all our parishes. This is a huge honour for us. And this honour has been set up for us by Bishop Athenagoras and Dr. Norris Symeon Chumley,  a member of our own Parish.

The head of the religious education department of the entire Greek orthodox of America, Bishop, Athenagoras Nazianzos, has asked us to do this as a pilot program because they’re thinking of doing it in churches all over North America. It is a great distinction and honour for us to be asked. So we need to make it be great. The Archdiocese has their eyes on us!

We need the participation of our neighbouring parishes and their parish councils and their parishioners. We need to gather a minimum of fifty people attending. 

On September 6th, 2025, at noon, on Saturday, we will have an introduction to SAFE CONVERSATIONS, a program on how to better communicate personally with others.

This introduction meeting is for everyone in the entire church congregation:  Parish Councils, parishioners, clergy, attendees.  The topic is about how to really listen, empathize and validate. It’s about building relationships and fostering love and care in our community.

These are proven techniques that have been employed for the last 30+ years by highly successful authors and workshop presenters, Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt. The book it is based on is in over 36 languages worldwide. Dr. Chumley produced and co-wrote a PBS network television version of it, hosted by Oprah Winfrey. It played for years and years on hundreds of stations and was hugely successful and very much appreciated.

We could ask a nearby restaurant for some light lunch donations. It will be led by highly skilled and experienced trainers, Baldwin and Pollyanna. 

Safe Conversations Workshop promotion points

Safe Conversations is a new way of being in relationship. We teach you how to talk without criticism, listen without judgement. It is a pathway to connect even beyond difference.

— Most people speak in monologue with all focus on themselves.  Safe Conversations is dialogue. Truly interacting, listening, validating and empathizing with others: spouses, friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow Church parishioners.

—a WAY OF TALKING that helps people in all contexts speak with anyone about anything in such a way that polarization is transformed into connecting.

—When we are disconnected from our human context/persons, we simultaneously experience disconnection from the Divine. 

— When we are experiencing connecting with others, we are experiencing connecting to the Divine, according to Jesus. “They that love dwell in God and God dwells in them.”

—SC Dialogue is a connecting process operationalized as a practice, its practice creates a spiritual reality that transcends most religious practices because most religious practices are personal, and dialogue is interpersonal, embodying love. 

— The part of the practice that makes it the embodiment of love is the focus on “listening,” which enables differentiated knowledge of the other which is the precedent of love. Paul Tillich, the great theologian said: “Listening is the first act of love.”

— The afternoon workshop is an abbreviation of the 3-day weekend workshop based on the phenomenal bestselling book, home video and PBS-TV series, Getting the Love You Want, with Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelley Hunt.

Please give us this one Saturday afternoon to take part in and preview this inaugural program for our Archdiocese. See you there. 

Faithfully, Father Samaras

10th Morning Gospel Lesson

On August 17th, we commemorate the holy Martyr Myron; the holy Martyrs Straton, Phillip, Eftychianos and Cyprian; the holy Martyrs Paul and his sister Juliana; the holy Martyrs Thyrsous, Leucios, Coronatos, and those with them; and the Synaxis in Armatios in honor of our most holy Lady Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary. We also commemorate the holy, devout monastic Martyr Demetrios the New, from Samarina, Epiros, who contested in the year 1808.

2025 PARISH COUNCIL

 President - Theo Christ 

Vice President – Yvonne Anastasiou

Secretary – Dina Mastoras

Parish Council Member - Evdokia Sofos 

Parish Council Member - Dialecti Voudouris 

Parish Council Member - Anastassios Mentis 

Parish Council Member – Paula Refolo

Parish Council Member - Theodore Vougiouklakis

Parish Council Member - Mike Anastasiou

 

 

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the First Mode

Although the stone was sealed by the Jews, and the soldiers guarded Your most pure body, You arose on the third day, O Savior, giving life to the world. For this reason, the heavenly powers cried out to you, O Giver of Life: Glory to Your resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your kingdom! Glory to Your dispensation, only Lover of Mankind!
Τοῦ λίθου σφραγισθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλασσόντων τὸ ἄχραντόν σου σῶμα, ἀνέστης τριήμερος Σωτήρ, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ζωήν. Διὰ τοῦτο αἱ Δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐβόων σοι Ζωοδότα· Δόξα τῇ ἀναστάσει σου Χριστέ, δόξα τῇ Βασιλείᾳ σου, δόξα τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ σου, μόνε Φιλάνθρωπε.

Apolytikion for Afterfeast of the Dormition in the First Mode

In giving birth you retained your virginity, and in dormition you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You were translated unto life, being the Mother of Life. And thus by virtue of your intercessions you deliver our souls from death.
Εν τή Γεννήσει τήν παρθενίαν εφύλαξας, έν τή Κοιμήσει τόν κόσμον ού κατέλιπες Θεοτόκε, Μετέστης πρός τήν ζωήν, μήτηρ υπάρχουσα τής ζωής, καί ταίς πρεσβείαις ταίς σαίς λυτρουμένη, εκ θανάτου τάς ψυχάς ημών.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

Neither the grave nor death could contain the Theotokos, the unshakable hope, ever vigilant in intercession and protection. As Mother of life, He who dwelt in the ever-virginal womb transposed her to life.
Τήν εν πρεσβείαις ακοίμητον Θεοτόκον, καί προστασίαις αμετάθετον ελπίδα, τάφος καί νέκρωσις ουκ εκράτησεν, ως γάρ ζωής Μητέρα, πρός τήν ζωήν μετέστησεν, ο μήτραν οικήσας αειπάρθενον.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Tenth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 21:1-14

At that time, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and He revealed Himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. .

Tenth Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Ἰωάννην 21:1-14

Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, ἐφανέρωσεν ἑαυτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς Τιβεριάδος, ἐφανέρωσε δὲ οὕτως· Ἦσαν ὁμοῦ Σίμων Πέτρος, καὶ Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος, καὶ Ναθαναὴλ ὁ ἀπὸ Κανᾶ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, καὶ οἱ τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου, καὶ ἄλλοι ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ δύο. Λέγει αὐτοῖς Σίμων Πέτρος· Ὑπάγω ἁλιεύειν. Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Ἐρχόμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς σὺν σοί. Ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον εὐθύς, καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἐπίασαν οὐδέν. Πρωΐας δὲ ἤδη γενομένης ἔστη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸν αἰγιαλόν· οὐ μέντοι ᾔδεισαν οἱ μαθηταὶ ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστι. Λέγει οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Παιδία, μή τι προσφάγιον ἔχετε; ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ· Οὔ· ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Βάλετε εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη τοῦ πλοίου τὸ δίκτυον, καὶ εὑρήσετε. Ἔβαλον οὖν, καὶ οὐκέτι αὐτὸ ἑλκύσαι ἴσχυσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἰχθύων. Λέγει οὖν ὁ μαθητὴς ἐκεῖνος ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ Πέτρῳ· Ὁ Κύριός ἐστι. Σίμων οὖν Πέτρος, ἀκούσας ὅτι ὁ Κύριός ἐστι, τὸν ἐπενδύτην διεζώσατο - ἦν γὰρ γυμνὸς -, καὶ ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι μαθηταὶ τῷ πλοιαρίῳ ἦλθον - οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀπὸ πηχῶν διακοσίων -, σύροντες τὸ δίκτυον τῶν ἰχθύων. Ὡς οὖν ἀπέβησαν εἰς τὴν γῆν, βλέπουσιν ἀνθρακιὰν κειμένην καὶ ὀψάριον ἐπικείμενον, καὶ ἄρτον. Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐνέγκατε ἀπὸ τῶν ὀψαρίων ὧν ἐπιάσατε νῦν. Ἀνέβη οὖν Σίμων Πέτρος, καὶ εἵλκυσε τὸ δίκτυον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, μεστὸν ἰχθύων μεγάλων ἑκατὸν πεντηκοντατριῶν, καὶ τοσούτων ὄντων, οὐκ ἐσχίσθη τὸ δίκτυον. Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Δεῦτε ἀριστήσατε. Οὐδεὶς δὲ ἐτόλμα τῶν μαθητῶν ἐξετάσαι αὐτόν. Σὺ τίς εἶ; εἰδότες ὅτι ὁ Κύριός ἐστιν. Ἔρχεται οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ λαμβάνει τὸν ἄρτον, καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὸ ὀψάριον ὁμοίως. Τοῦτο ἤδη τρίτον ἐφανερώθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. First Mode. Psalm 32.22,1.
Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us.
Verse: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 4:9-16.

Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Προκείμενον. First Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 32.22,1.
Γένοιτο, Κύριε, τὸ ἔλεός σου ἐφ' ἡμᾶς.
Στίχ. Ἀγαλλιᾶσθε δίκαιοι ἐν Κυρίῳ

τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς Κορινθίους α' 4:9-16.

Ἀδελφοί, ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐσχάτους ἀπέδειξεν ὡς ἐπιθανατίους· ὅτι θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ ἀγγέλοις, καὶ ἀνθρώποις. Ἡμεῖς μωροὶ διὰ Χριστόν, ὑμεῖς δὲ φρόνιμοι ἐν Χριστῷ· ἡμεῖς ἀσθενεῖς, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἰσχυροί· ὑμεῖς ἔνδοξοι, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄτιμοι. Ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν, καὶ διψῶμεν, καὶ γυμνητεύομεν, καὶ κολαφιζόμεθα, καὶ ἀστατοῦμεν, καὶ κοπιῶμεν ἐργαζόμενοι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσίν· λοιδορούμενοι εὐλογοῦμεν· διωκόμενοι ἀνεχόμεθα· βλασφημούμενοι παρακαλοῦμεν· ὡς περικαθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου ἐγενήθημεν, πάντων περίψημα ἕως ἄρτι. Οὐκ ἐντρέπων ὑμᾶς γράφω ταῦτα, ἀλλʼ ὡς τέκνα μου ἀγαπητὰ νουθετῶ. Ἐὰν γὰρ μυρίους παιδαγωγοὺς ἔχητε ἐν Χριστῷ, ἀλλʼ οὐ πολλοὺς πατέρας· ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε.


Gospel Reading

10th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 17:14-23

At that time, a man came up to Jesus and kneeling before him said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

10th Sunday of Matthew
Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 17:14-23

Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, ἐλθόντων αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν ὄχλον προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἄνθρωπος γονυπετῶν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων· Κύριε, ἐλέησόν μου τὸν υἱόν, ὅτι σεληνιάζεται καὶ κακῶς πάσχει· πολλάκις γὰρ πίπτει εἰς τὸ πῦρ καὶ πολλάκις εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ. καὶ προσήνεγκα αὐτὸν τοῖς μαθηταῖς σου, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν αὐτὸν θεραπεῦσαι. ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν· ὦ γενεὰ ἄπιστος καὶ διεστραμμένη! ἕως πότε ἔσομαι μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν; ἕως πότε ἀνέξομαι ὑμῶν; φέρετέ μοι αὐτὸν ὧδε. καὶ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τὸ δαιμόνιον καὶ ἐθεραπεύθη ὁ παῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης. Τότε προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ κατ᾿ ἰδίαν εἶπον· διατί ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτό; ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὑμῶν. ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ, μετάβηθι ἐντεῦθεν ἐκεῖ, καὶ μεταβήσεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀδυνατήσει ὑμῖν. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ γένος οὐκ ἐκπορεύεται εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ. ᾿Αναστρεφομένων δὲ αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· μέλλει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοσθαι εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθήσεται. καὶ ἐλυπήθησαν σφόδρα.


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