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St. John Chrysostom Greek Orthodox Church Of Nashville
Publish Date: 2022-05-08
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Myrrbear
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St. John Chrysostom Greek Orthodox Church Of Nashville

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (615) 957-2975
  • Street Address:

  • 4602 Indiana Avenue

  • Nashville, TN 37209
  • Mailing Address:

  • P.O. Box 90162

  • Nashville, TN 37209


Contact Information




Services Schedule

* Visit our Facebook page for an archive of Services. 


Past Bulletins


Announcements

THE MAIN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THIS WEEKEND

As Fr. Parthenios is preparing for his retirement at St. John, we are looking forward to having Fr. Michael Marcantoni and his family begin joining us this Sunday.

As many of you know, Fr. Parthenios and Presvytera Marion founded this Church 24 years ago, and have seen it grow from a little chapel and bookstore by Vanderbilt University to what it is today. We thank, and hold dear to our hearts all who came through our doors over these many years. Some have gone on to Seminary, some have stayed, some have moved; all will be remembered through the love we shared in Christ.

We hope and look forward to seeing you soon.

With love in Christ,

Fr. Parthenios


ST. JOHN BOOKSTORE

The St. John Bookstore has quite a nice selection of Orthodox books, Icons, crosses, incense, CD's, and porcelain vessels for sale.

For Bookstore hours of operation, or to request an appointment, please email: stjohnnashville@gmail.com or call 615.957.2975


WITH LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER

Taking precautions

As with the common flu, or any other virus, if you have any symptoms of illness, please do not come to the service. However, please do notify us so that we may keep you in our prayers.

With love in Christ,

Fr. Parthenios


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SERVICES CALENDAR

  • SERVICES CALENDAR

    May 2022

    Saturday, May 7

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 8

    8:30AM Matins

    10:00AM DIVINE LITURGY

    Saturday, May 14

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 15

    8:30AM Matins

    10:00AM DIVINE LITURGY

    Saturday, May 21

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 22

    8:30AM Matins

    10:00AM DIVINE LITURGY

    Saturday, May 28

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, May 29

    8:30AM Matins

    10:00AM DIVINE LITURGY

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Synaxis of the Holy Powder (or manna) which emitted from the tomb of Saint John the Theologian
The Reading is from St. John's First Universal Letter 1:1-7

THAT WHICH WAS from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
The Reading is from Mark 15:43-47; 16:1-8

At that time, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.


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Saints and Feasts

Myrrbear
May 08

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when the Lord Jesus was going throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had received of His beneficence left their own homeland and from then on followed after Him. They ministered unto Him out of their own possessions, even until His crucifixion and entombment; and afterwards, neither losing faith in Him after His death, nor fearing the wrath of the Jewish rulers, they came to the sepulchre, bearing the myrrh-oils they had prepared to annoint His body. It is because of the myrrh-oils, that these God-loving women brought to the tomb of Jesus that they are called the Myrrh-bearers. Of those whose names are known are the following: first of all, the most holy Virgin Mary, who in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 is called "the mother of James and Joses" (these are the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, and she was therefore their step-mother); Mary Magdalene (celebrated July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the names of the rest of them, the evangelists have kept silence (Matt 27:55-56; 28:1-10. Mark 15:40-41. Luke 8:1-3; 23:55-24:11, 22-24. John 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14).

Together with them we celebrate also the secret disciples of the Saviour, Joseph and Nicodemus. Of these, Nicodemus was probably a Jerusalemite, a prominent leader among the Jews and of the order of the Pharisees, learned in the Law and instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He had believed in Christ when, at the beginning of our Saviour's preaching of salvation, he came to Him by night. Furthermore, he brought some one hundred pounds of myrrh-oils and an aromatic mixture of aloes and spices out of reverence and love for the divine Teacher (John 19:39). Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was a wealthy and noble man, and one of the counsellors who were in Jerusalem. He went boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and together with Nicodemus he gave Him burial. Since time did not permit the preparation of another tomb, he placed the Lord's body in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, as the Evangelist says (Matt. 27:60).


Arseniosgreat
May 08

Arsenios the Great

Saint Arsenios was a deacon of the Church of Rome, born of an illustrious family, and wondrous in virtue. In the days of Saint Theodosius the Great, he was chosen to be the tutor of the Emperor's young sons, Arcadius and Honorius. While living at the imperial palace in Constantinople, compassed with all luxury and innumerable temptations to sin, Arsenios often besought God with tears to guide him to salvation. This prayer was answered one day when a voice came to him saying, "Arsenios, flee from men, and thou shalt be saved." He sailed secretly to Alexandria, and from there went to Scete, where he became a monk. Yet after he had withdrawn from the world, and was come among the most illustrious monks of his day, he heard, 'Arsenios, flee, be silent, pray always, for these are the causes of sinning not." Following this call, he separated himself even from his fellow monks, practicing extreme silence. On Saturday evenings, he would turn his back on the setting sun, and would stretch out his hands in prayer to Heaven, till the sun shone upon his face the following morning, and only then would he sit down. Once a monk came to visit him, and looking into his cell saw Arsenios entirely like a flame of fire. After living some fifty-five years as a monk, and attaining to heights reached by few, he reposed in peace about the year 449, at the age of ninety-five.


08_stjohn1
May 08

Synaxis of the Holy Powder (or manna) which emitted from the tomb of Saint John the Theologian

The feast today in honour of the holy Apostle John commemorates the miracle taking place each year in Ephesus, in which a certain dust or powder, called manna, suddenly poured forth from his tomb and was used by the faithful for deliverance from maladies of both soul and body. For an account of his life, see September 26.


Christopher2
May 09

Christopher the Martyr of Lycea

Saint Christopher was at first named Reprobus. Seeing the Christians persecuted, he rebuked the tyrants for their cruelty. Soldiers were sent to bring him to appear before the ruler; but he converted them to Christ, and with them was baptized, receiving the name Christopher. After he appeared before the ruler, he was imprisoned and two harlots were sent to seduce him, but he converted them also, and encouraged them in their martyrdom. He was subjected to torments and finally beheaded in the days of Decius. Many marvellous and mythical things are said about him out of ignorance and superstition, one of which is that it is impossible for one to die suddenly from some unexpected cause on the day on which one looks at the Saint's icon. This is the origin of that proverb that is quoted in various quarters: "If on Christopher thou shouldst gaze, thou shalt safely wend life's ways." The etymology of his name, which means "Christ-bearer," has undoubtedly moved iconographers to depict him carrying the infant Jesus on his shoulders; it is completely erro-neous, however, to depict him, as some uninformed iconographers do, having the head of a dog, because of a statement in his life that he was dog-faced, by which is meant only that his countenance was exceedingly frightful to look upon.


Simonzealot
May 10

Simon the Zealot & Apostle

This Apostle was one of the Twelve, and was called Simon the Cananite by Matthew, but Simon the Zealot by Luke (Matt. 10:4; Luke 6:15). The word "Cananite" used by Matthew is believed to be derived from kana, which in the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic means "zealot" or 'zealous"; Luke therefore translates the meaning of "Cananite." Later accounts say that he was the bridegroom at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, where the Lord Jesus changed the water into wine, making this the first of His miracles (John 2:1-11); according to some, he is called Cananite because he was from Cana (according to others, from the Land of Canaan). Simon means "one who hears."


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Archepiscopal Message

Remarks By His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America At the Service of Great Compline

04/13/2022

our Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit, Beloved clergy and devout parishioners of Saint John, It seems “meet and right” to close out my pastoral visit to the Metropolis of Detroit with Great Compline, the service of closing a day. But the end of this visit is not and ending, but rather a beginning – a beginning of a long relationship with the wonderful faithful of this Holy Metropolis, many of whom I have had the privilege to meet these past days.

Remarks of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America At the Meeting with the Clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Detroit

04/13/2022

Your Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, my beloved brother in Christ, Dear and esteemed clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Detroit, Spending this time with you is a real joy for me – especially in the context of worship, just before Holy Week and Pascha. We all know that this week is called, Κουφή Εβδομάδα, because it lacks praises to the Theotokos from the Akathist. But this week is anything but empty!

Archbishop Elpidophoros Address at the National Workshop on Christian Unity

05/04/2022

It is with this traditional Paschal greeting that I would like to open my remarks, expressing my sincere gratitude to the organizers of the National Workshop on Christian Unity, and especially to the members of the National Planning Committee for their kind invitation.

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, Keynote Remarks for Intercessory Prayer Service for Ukraine

03/09/2022

Over the past two weeks, the world has watched as Russia launched an unjust and violent invasion into Ukraine. During these turbulent times, we earnestly pray for those whose lives are affected by this brutal assault. The implications of the current humanitarian tragedy are being felt throughout Ukraine, in its neighboring countries, and around the world.
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Ecumenical Patriarchate News

Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2022

04/20/2022

Having run the race of ascetic struggles during Holy and Great Lent and experienced with compunction the venerable Passion of the Lord, we are now filled with the eternal light of His splendid Resurrection, wherefore we praise and glorify His transcendent name, exclaiming the joyfully message to the whole world: “Christ is Risen!”
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Wisdom of the Fathers

They [the women] had followed Him ministering to Him, and were present even unto the time of the dangers. Wherefore also they saw all; how He cried, how He gave up the ghost, how the rocks were rent, and all the rest.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 88 on Matthew 27, 4th Century

The very fire which purifies gold, also consumes wood. Precious metals shine in it like the sun, rubbish burns with black smoke. All are in the same fire of Love. Some shine and others become black and dark. In the same furnace steel shines like the sun, whereas clay turns dark and is hardened like stone. God is a loving fire, and He is a loving fire for all: good and bad. There is, however, a great difference in the way people receive this loving fire of God. The difference is in man, not God.
Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros
The River of Fire, pp. 17 & 19, 20th century

The second [Sunday after Pascha] is dedicated to the women who visited the tomb of Christ, hoping to anoint his body with myrrh, but they found an empty tomb instead. In many ways, this reflects the content of every Sunday and every Divine Liturgy: we come to church to celebrate the sacrifice of Christ, which takes place on the altar, a symbol of the tomb of Christ. Our testimony, every time, is that the tomb is empty, a reflection of the revelation to the Myrrh bearers.
Rev. Dr. Andreas Andreopoulos
Gazing on God: Trinity, Church and Salvation in Orthodox Thought and Iconography. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2013, 55-56.

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