(901)
274-4119
www.stjohnmemphis.org
V.
Rev.
Pastor
Assistant Pastor
V. Rev. Fr. Basil Cushman Rev. Fr. Donald Berge
Associate
Pastor Attached
GREAT
VESPERS ORTHROS and
Saturday,
Antiochian Orthodox
“…the
Disciples were called
Sixth
Sunday after Pentecost
Epistle: Romans 12:6-14 Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8
The Holy Bread for Eucharist is offered this morning by Christi Yadron.
Welcome
to all those visiting St. John Orthodox Church.
We are honored by your presence.
It is our sincere desire that your participation today in the Divine
Liturgy will draw you closer to Christ and His Church.
If you are from a non-Orthodox background you may
see new things such as icons, incense, the sign of the
cross, the veneration of saints, and a great deal of standing. These can be perplexing to the uninitiated
eye. Rest assured that everything we do
has a solid biblical foundation and a long history among
The Orthodox Church understands the Eucharist, or
Lord’s Supper, to be – among other things – the paramount expression of
Sunday - Sacrament of Holy Matrimony for
Sally Elliott & Jason Boyle,
- NoTeen Group
Monday - First Hour,
Tuesday -
Third Hour,
- Men’s Lunch,
- Catechumen & Inquirers Class,
- Choir,
Wednesday - Third Hour,
- Vespers,
- Wednesday Dinner,
- Wed. Teaching,
Thursday -
Third Hour,
Friday - First Hour,
- Third Hour,
- Stay & Play group will meet after Third
Hour in the fellowship hall.
- Paraklesis,
Saturday - Ninth
Hour and Great Vespers,
Sunday -
Orthros,
- Divine Liturgy,
Divine
Liturgy Sunday, July 26th,
PRIEST: Fr.
Nicholas HOMILY: Fr. Nicholas
DEACONS: Dns. James & Charles READER: Mickey Hodges
HOLY BREAD: Mary Ann Coccaro USHER: Aaron White
ALTAR SERVERS: Ethan, Luke S., Luke L., Joe
COFFEE HOUR: Chase & Gigi Sliger, Rawad & Shanna Massouh
Fr.
John will be out-of-town next week:
July 20 – July 25 – Archdiocese convention,
Upcoming
Weddings:
Sally Elliott & Jason Boyle today, July 19
Barbara McWilliams & Mikael Santana on September 6
Upcoming
Chrismations:
New Catechumen
–
COMMEMORATIONS
July 19: Venerable Macrina, sister of St. Basil the Great; Venerable Dios of
Antioch; Theodore, archbishop of Ephesos; uncovering
of the relics of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov; Stephen
Lazarevic.
July 20: Prophet
Elijah (Elias); Righteous Iliya Chavchavadze
of
July 21: Venerable
Simeon of Homs, fool-for-Christ; John and Parthenios,
bishop of Radovizlios; Venerable Arta;
Martyr Victor of Marseilles.
July 22: Mary
Magdalene, myrrh-bearer and equal-to-the-Apostles; Virgin-martyr Markella of Chios.
July 23: Hieromartyrs Phocas and Apollonios; Hieromartyr Apollinaris, bishop of
July 24: Great-martyr
Christina of
July 25: The Dormition of Righteous Anna, the mother of the
Theotokos. Olympias, the deaconess of
July 26: Venerable
Virgin-martyr Paraskeva of Rome; Hieromartyr
Hermolaos of Nicomedia; Venerable Gerontios,
first settler of St. Anne skete on Athos; Moses the
Hungarian; Sabbas III, archbishop of Serbia; Priest Jabob, enlightener of the peoples of Alaska.
**For reading material on the
saints for this week, visit the display in the church library.
DAILY SCRIPTURE
Sunday Romans 12:6-14 Matthew 9:1-8
Monday I Corinthians 5:9-6:11 Matthew 13:54-58
Tuesday I Corinthians
Wednesday I Corinthians
Thursday I Corinthians 7:24-35 Matthew 15:12-21
Friday I Corinthians
Saturday Romans 12:1-3 Matthew
Sunday Romans 15:1-7 Matthew
- ALMS-GIVING –
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Rachels’ Kids,
Inc. |
Diocese of
Michael Bittle Fund – Holy Trinity
Orthodox Church –
Pray for our catechumens: In Memphis - Maria Cartagena,
Please remember in your
prayers: His Eminence, Metropolitan
PHILIP, His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN, Archimandrite Roman Braga, Rev. Fr. Mikhail
& the faithful of Spaso-Pargolovo (St.
Petersburg), Buddy Taylor, Margaret Layman, Chris Hodges, Judy Smith (Julie Sanderlin’s mother), Shirley Gore (
Catechumen and Inquirers’ class will meet this week on
Tuesday evening at
Sons of
Thunder - After a great discussion of
Charlie Wilson's War last week, it was decided to meet again sooner than normal
to honor one of our founders, Matthew Snowden. Since he will be returning
to seminary August 17th we will meet on SUNDAY, August 9th
at
Church
Directory – With new additions & many updates we will be printing new directories
at the beginning of August. Please check your information in the directory and
contact the church office if you have any corrections to be made.
Mark your calendars! - July 27th & August 17th
Remember the community bulletin board – there is always new information going up – most
recently sale items.
Antiochian Women of
We will have a brief
meeting in the room next to the kitchen on Sunday, August 2nd during
coffee hour. Please take a few minutes to join us.
Women’s Teaching
Upcoming dates: August
13th, September 10th & October 8th
is invited to witness
the Holy Mystery of Matrimony of
&
Jason Patrick Boyle
TODAY,
LIBRARY LINES – St. Macrina’s feast day is Sunday (7/19). A miracle occurred at
her birth, resulting in her name being Macrina-Thecla. Besides being the sister of Sts. Basil and
Gregory of Nyssa and six other siblings, she was a beacon of light to her
entire family. Like the Theotokos, she
was betrothed but never married. She
cared for her widowed mother’s physical needs and was a standard of asceticism
for her.
Two
of the saints we commemorate this week are honored in two very special
children’s books in St. John Library. A Child’s Paradise of Saints by the nun Nectaria McLees tells us about
Sts. Mary Magdalene (7/22). The accounts
are a couple of pages each and are accompanied by beautiful, icon-styled
illustrations. The picture of St. Mary Magdalene shows her offering a red egg
to Caesar.
The Story of Mary the Mother of God by Dorrie Papademetriou is a
beautifully illustrated book for young children. The first half of the short book is devoted
to Sts. Anna (repose/ 7/25) and Joachim, their desire for a child and the early
life of the Thoetokos.
On
the 24th we commemorate Sts.Boris and Gleb. These men were sons of Prince Vladimir the Great
(7/15) who were murdered by their brothers who sought the throne.
These saints with strange sounding names to our
English ears are in a category called Passion-bearers. They are not ascetics, hierarchs, martyrs,
but innocent men and women, though unwilling to die, renounced violence and
humbly submitted to suffering and death with the spirit of Christ.
See
icons and the stories of these saints in St. John Library.
We have recently received some good donations to the food pantry.
However, at the moment we are low on crackers, peanut butter and canned fruit.
Please consider giving alms in this way.
National Convention – This week, Fr. John and four of our parishioners
will be attending our archdiocesan national convention in
As always, we should pray for their
safe travel there and back, but your prayers are even more important than
ever. The ecclesial, financial, and
governance issues that have arisen need to be addressed forthrightly at this
convention for the good of our archdiocese and our parishes. Please remember our own members, as well as
our hierarchs, other clergy, and all who attend – that the will of God might be
done.
More bittersweet news – Most of you are already aware, but for those who
are not – Charlie and
So . . . with the bitter comes the sweet – I am happy to announce that Trish Ratliff has agreed to become our church secretary! She and Rod and their children are
catechumens and well on their way to being received into the Church. Trish has lots of business experience in
dealing with all types of folks, and that is who we are – all types – and
wonderful folks, at that! For those of
you who have met her, I am confident you are thrilled. For who have not yet, you have a treat in
store. I was very blessed to have had a
number of very qualified people in the church to inquire, and would that we
could hire all of you! Thank you for you
serious interest. As much as I regret
seeing Meribeth go, I am equally excited to see Trish jump into her seat. May God bless us all with these changes!!
Teen Group Events
TODAY, July 19th – No Teen Group (Elliott/Boyle Wedding)
Next Sunday, July 26th – Dinner & a Movie
From
the Fathers
“The true Christian is a
warrior making his way through the regiments of the invisible enemy to his
heavenly homeland.” - St. Herman of
“Blessed the one who has made
his fellow servants glad with spiritual gladness from the fruit of the virtues,
which he planted by toiling to give back the fruit of life in the Lord.” - St. Ephraim the
Syrian
“A person cannot acquire a
reliance on God if prior to this, he hasn’t fulfilled His will according to
one’s own strength. Because hope in God and fortitude is born from witness of
the conscience (in God): and only with genuine witness of our mind (in God) can
we have trust in Him.” -
St. Isaac the Syrian
“After God, let us have our
conscience as our mentor and rule in all things, so that we may know which way
the wind is blowing and set our sails accordingly.”
- St. John Climacus
“The old men used to say,
'When we do not experience warfare, we ought so much the more to humiliate
ourselves. For God, seeing our weakness protects us; when we glorify ourselves,
he withdraws his protection and we are lost.” -
Desert Fathers