St. John Orthodox Church A Parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America 1663 Tutwiler Ave. Memphis, TN 38107 www.stjohnmemphis.org 901.274.4119 “…the Disciples were called Christian first in Antioch!” Acts 11:26

His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH V. Rev. Fr. Philip Rogers, Pastor Archbishop of New York & V. Rev. Fr. John Troy Mashburn, Jr., Metropolitan of all North America Pastor Emeritus

His Grace Bishop NICHOLAS V. Rev. Fr. Basil Cushman, Associate Pastor Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Miami V. Rev. Fr. Don Berge, Attached and the Southeast

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32nd Sunday after Pentecost Commemoration of Anthony the Great ~ January 17, 2021 ~

Epistle: Hebrews 13:17-21 Gospel: Luke 17:12-19

The Holy Bread for Eucharist is offered by Anne Castrodale.

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 Christian people. Please feel free to participate where you feel comfortable and feel equally as free only to observe when you prefer.

The Orthodox Church understands the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper, to be – among other things – the paramount expression of Christian unity. While it is our deepest hope that Christendom will one day fulfill Christ’s desire for true unity among all those who claim His name (John 17:21), the unfortunate reality of our day is that the various segments of Christendom are not unified with the historic Orthodox faith. Since participation in the Eucharist expresses a unity with all the dogma and practice of the Orthodox Church, non-Orthodox guests do not receive Holy Communion. The Holy Eucharist is reserved for those members of the Orthodox Church who have prepared themselves by prayer, fasting, and recent confession. All visitors and unprepared Orthodox are invited to partake of the blessed bread as they come forward to venerate the cross at the end of the Liturgy. Thank you for your understanding.

ST. JOHN CALENDAR January 17-24 (Fast: Wed & Fri.)

Sunday -Youth Group (Middle & High), 1pm Monday -First Hour, 6:45am CHRISMATION Tuesday -Third Hour, 9am Jan. 17: Rhy Williams -Orthodoxy 101, 7pm, Sanctification of Time Wednesday Third Hour, 9am MEMORIAL -AWSJ Teaching, 10am Jan. 17: Sue Ingram -Divine Liturgy for St. Maximos, 6pm Jan. 24: Hani Ibrahim, 40 days Thursday -Third Hour, 9am (Rana Ibrahim’s father) Friday -First Hour, 6:45am ENROLLMENT -Third Hour, 9am Jan. 31: Emily Nuckolls -Sixth Hour, 12pm

Saturday -Ninth Hour and Great Vespers, 6pm BAPTISM Sunday -Atrium Prayer Table, 9:30am Feb. 14: Julian McGee -Orthros, 9am -Divine Liturgy, 10am

DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS Birthdays, Anniversaries, Namedays Sunday Hebrews 13:17-21 Sunday, 1/17 Thursday, 1/21 Luke 17:12-19 Dashiell Ortwein Musa Khlaifat, Mike Monday Hebrews 13:7-16 St. Anthony the Great: Hill, Mike Jackson Matthew 5:14-19 Nawar Mansour, St. Maximos: Max Tuesday Galatians 5:22-26:6:1-12 Michael Redmond Mendenahll, Max

Matthew 22:2-14 Monday, 1/18 Wallace, John Sneed, Wednesday 2 Corinthians 4:6-15 Clare Freeman, Zach Ervin Romero Luke 6:17-23 White, Rana Khlaifat Friday, 1/22 Thursday Philippians 1:12-20 St. Athanasius: Austin Apostle Timothy: Dn. Luke 12:8-12 Brown Tim, Tim Elliott, Tim Friday 2 Timothy 1:3-8 Tuesday, 1/19 Stanek Matthew 10:32-33; 37- Luke Heisig Saturday, 1/23 38; 19:27-30 St. Makarius: Mickey Saturday Philippians 3:20-21; 4:1-3 Hodges

Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-5 Wednesday, 1/20 Sunday 1 Timothy 1:15-17 Ella White Luke 18:35-43 Carlos & Jodi Yzaguirre

Remember in Your Prayers

Our catechumen: Page Walley; Austin Brown, Joel Gulledge; Travis, Maggie, Sophie, Kenneth, Nate, & Bella Harms; Carole Sneed; John Pecoraro; Jake Sparks; Jeff Bennett

Prayer Requests: Nicholas Hill, Ernestine Pruitt (Nicholas Hill’s mother), Chris Hodges, Mickey Hodges, Elizabeth Allie (Buddy Bowick’s mother/Lawson’s grandmother), Brenda Thomas (Tupelo), Shukurat Nasanga Kisakye, Jay Brownlow, Bill Thomas (Kathryn McWhorter’s father), St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, victims of the wildfires in CA, those suffering in the Middle East, most especially the Christians.

Expecting: Chelsea Yadron, Sarah Ortwein, Sally Boyle, Hillary Klimksowski, Whitney Klimkowski

ST. JOHN COMMUNITY

Annual St. John Parish General Assembly Meeting – We will be holding our annual parish meeting via Zoom on Sunday, February 21 immediately following liturgy. Please plan to attend! As a community, we encourage all to stay informed and engaged in the business of our parish.

DOMSE Winter Retreat: The Diocese will be hosting a virtual retreat January 29 – 31. The retreat will offer 4 tracks: clergy; Teen SOYO; Antiochian Women, Amen (Antiochian Men), Young Adults; Kids Club. Registration is free and con be found on DOMSE.org.

Theophany House Blessings – Fr. Philip will be blessing houses through the beginning of Lent. If you would like for him to bless your home, please email him with the most convenient days of the week and times for your family. He will then contact you to set the specific date and time. Metropolitan JOSEPH has asked that priests only do 2 blessings a day to lessen any potential spread. Out of an abundance of caution, Father will stay only long enough for the blessing. If you would like to wait to har your home blessed until later in the year, that is perfectly fine.

St. John Cookbook 2021 The deadline for submissions to the new cookbook has been extended to January 31. We invite all parishioners – long-time members, new members, young adults, men & women- to submit their favorite recipes! -appetizers -veggies/sides -soups -salads -desserts -main dishes -drinks/cocktails -liturgical Send your recipe submissions to Anne Castrodale, [email protected] by Jan. 31, 2021!

Stay Vigilant – Thank you for your continued respect and love and adhering to all of the current guidelines for attendance. Please continue be mindful of those around you. In particular, please be mindful of congregating on or around the stairs after the services as people leave the building. Thank you!

Parish Council Update The Parish Council was unable to meet in person this past week because of a schedule conflict. However, the council corresponded via email about the end of 2020 financials and updates on ongoing projects. To help with the HVAC replacement, the council decided to bring in a mechanical engineer to look at the system and our building and help us to determine exactly what is needed. Lord willing, we will have a report soon. The parish General Assembly Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 21. The meeting will be immediately following the Divine Liturgy and there will be a zoom link for anyone interested in participating in the meeting virtually

Women of St. John Calendar St. John Youth Group

1/20 (Wed.) Teaching, 10am Today: joint meeting via Zoom @ We will be continuing All is Well by Dr. Al 1pm Rossi.

1/11 (Mon.) AWSJ Book Club, 7pm Coming Up: We will be discussing The Tattooist of Auschwitz Jan. 29-31: DOMSE Winter Retreat by Lale Sokolov Feb. 12-13: Winter Camp!

LIBRARY LINES

This week we commemorate a group of “the Great Saints.” Today is the feast day of St. Anthony the Great (1/17), the father of monasticism. His pious parents brought him up to be serious about church services and the Holy Scriptures. From his youth, he engaged in strict asceticism and was attacked by demons, sometimes in the form of wild beasts. At age thirty-five, he began his monastic life as a hermit, which was unheard of at the time. He lived in the desert eighty-five years and died peacefully in 356 A.D. at age105. According to the OCA website, The Life of Anthony (PAT ANT ATH) by St. Athanasius of Alexandria is the first biography of a saint who was not martyred. St. John Chrysostom urged every Christian to read the book. Also, take a look at The Letters of Saint Anthony the Great (PAT ANT), Athanasius…The Life of Anthony and the Letter to Marcellius (HAG ATH ANT), Talks on St. Anthony, CDs, (HAG ANT HOP) and Saint Anthony the Great: Angel of the Desert (KID STS ANT).

Athanasius the Great and St. Cyril were both bishops of Alexandria. They share a feast day (1/18) because their writings upheld the truth of Scripture and reject heresy. St. Athanasius was born in 298 to pagan parents. He declared himself Christian after seeing a group of students at school acting out the services of the Church. Before reaching the age of 20, he wrote the treatise On the Incarnation (PAT ATH), affirming and explaining that Jesus Christ was both God and man thus beginning Christianity’s fight against the heresy of Arianism. Athanasius participated in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325, which was the first of two councils that produced the symbol of faith commonly called the Nicene Creed. It was finalized in 381 at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople. At Nicea, Athanasius surpassed everyone there in his zeal to uphold the teaching that Christ is consubstantial with the Father. Athanasius was also the first person to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today. Various ones were in use at the time but eventually it was Athanasius’s list that was ratified and universally recognized as the New Testament canon. He also wrote a biography of Anthony the Great that later served as an inspiration to monastics in the East and the West. Saint Athanasius reposed in 373.

St. Marcarius the Great (1/19) loved the life of silence and, like St. Anthony the Great, fought the attacks of demons. He became a disciple of the elder St. Anthony who received him in love and respect for his struggles. The Church’s practice of praying for the departed is supported by this story from his life. St. Macarius was walking along a road and saw a skull on the ground. He asked “Who are you?” The skull replied that he was a pagan and said that when we pray for souls in hell, they receive some benefit. Read more on him in St. Macarius the Spiritbearer (HAG MAC PAL) and Fifty Spiritual Homilies (PAT MAC).

St. Maximus the Confessor (1/21) began his career in politics but resigned his position to serve the Church. Although the Fourth Ecumenical Council had condemned the monophysite heresy, it raged for many years, and he devoted himself to speaking against this falsehood. This story is recorded in The Disputation with Pyrrhus of our Father Among the Saints Maximos the Confessor (PAT MAX) which defends the Church’s teaching on the two natures of Christ. His defense of the Church angered the heretic emperor who imprisoned the saint and ordered his tongue and right hand severed. He was exiled to Sythia and died there in 662 A.D. His works include explanations of difficult passages of Scripture, commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms, and treaties on St. Dionysius the Areopagite and St. Gregory the Theologian. See also St. John Library’s On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ (PAT MAX) by St. Maximos and Maximos the Confessor (PAT MAX) by Andrew Louth.

January 17: Venerable Anthony the Great; Anthony the New, ascetic of Berrea in Macedonia; New- martyr George of Ioannina. January 18: Athanasios and Cyril, patriarchs of Alexandria; Martyr Theodoulis; Maximos, Serbian despot. January 19: Venerable Makarios the Great; Arsenios, bishop of Kerkyra; Venerable Mark Eugenikos, metropolitan of Ephesos, pillar of Orthodoxy. January 20: Venerable Eutymios the Great; New-martyr Zachariah of Moreah. January 21: Venerable Maximos the Confessor, Zosimos and Neophytos; Virgin-martyr Agnes of Rome; Venerable Maxim the Greek. January 22: Apostle Timothy; Venerable-martyr Anastasios the Persian; Venerable Joseph the Sanctified of Crete. January 23: Hieromartyr Clement, bishop of Ancyra; Martyr Agathangelos; Paulinos, bishop of Nola. January 24: Hieromartyr Babylas of Sicily; Venerable Xenia the merciful of Rome; Venerable Philonos, bishop of Karpason; Venerable Neophytos the recluse of Cyprus; Venerable Dionysios of Olympos, abbot of Philotheou monastery on Athos; Hieromartyr Felician, bishop of Folingo in Umbria, Italy; Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, fool-for-Christ.

From the Fathers:

St. Anthony the Great- A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’

Someone asked Abba Anthony, ‘What must one do in order to please God?’ The old man replied, ‘Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.’ Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, ‘This is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.’

It was revealed to Abba Anthony in his desert that there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a doctor by profession and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to the poor, and every day he sang the Holy, Holy, Holy with the angels.

The disciples of Anthony the Great once asked him how he could see the Lord God. He answered them in the following manner: “In the early morning, when I come out of my mud hut into the desert, I see the sun rise, I hear the birds sing, a quiet breeze blows on my face – and my heart sees the Lord and sings for joy.”

If we make every effort to avoid death of the body, still more should it be our endeavor to avoid death of the soul. There is no obstacle for a man who wants to be saved other than negligence and laziness of soul.

Be fearful that you do not become famous because of some work that you do. If they begin to praise you because of your work, do not rejoice or take delight in it, but keep your works secret as much as you can, and do not allow anyone to speak about them." ‘Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it, a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labor in vain.’

Abba Anthony said, ‘I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.”

Abba Anthony said, “He also said, ‘Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.’” (p3)

As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive till evening, and again, as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we shall not awaken. By its very nature our life is uncertain, and is meted out daily by Providence. If we think this way, and in this way live - daily – we will not sin.

Do not establish your previously committed sins in your soul by thinking about them so that they not be repeated in you. Be assured that they were forgiven you from the time you gave yourself to God and to repentance. In that, do not doubt.

Everyday I say to myself, today I will begin.

None of us are judged for what we do not know. And no one is called blessed because he has education and knowledge. Instead, each person will be judged according to whether they have kept the faith and truly observed the commandments.

The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much. He runs away when we make the sign of the Cross.

A hunter in the desert saw Abba Anthony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him, ‘Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it.’ So he did. The old man then said, ‘Shoot another,’ and he did so. Then the old man said, ‘Shoot yet again and the hunter replied ‘If I bend my bow so much I will break it.’ Then the old man said to him, ‘It is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs.’ When he heard these words “the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.

The truly Blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels, the truly Blessed are the ones who can see their own sins. St. Anthony the Great