Saturday of Souls 2024
Mar
9
to Jun 22

Saturday of Souls 2024

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This year, the Saturdays of Souls fall on March 9 and March 30, as well as on April 6 and June 22. On those Saturdays, we pray for our departed friends and loved ones, but we also prepare for our departure from this life, and our Burial Society can help us with a lot of those practical details. Members of the society will be present on March 9 and April 6, along with a representative from Beck Funeral Home, and they can answer all your questions and help get you started on that process that so very many of us just try to postpone (on those Saturdays, a light breakfast will also be provided). Since there are four Saturdays of Souls, our hope is that all of us will attend the Divine Services on at least one of those days, so look at your calendar and go ahead and pick a Saturday on which you can join us.

  • Orthros - 6am

  • Divine Liturgy - 8am

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Feast of the Annunciation
Mar
25
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of the Annunciation

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

We will offer Great Vespers for the feast after a brief Fellowship Hour on Sunday, this coming Sunday, March 24 (the service will begin no later than 1pm). On the day of the feast, Monday, March 25, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Join us as we honor the Most Holy Theotokos on this lovely feast day.

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Feast of the Presentation (Meeting) of our Lord in the Temple
Feb
2
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of the Presentation (Meeting) of our Lord in the Temple

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

On Friday, February 2, we will close out this Festal Season with the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord and Master in the Temple. On Thursday, February 1, we will offer Great Vespers at 7pm; on Friday, the day of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Join us as we finish up the celebration we began back on December 25th!

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Service for the Victims of Abortion
Jan
26
7:00 PM19:00

Service for the Victims of Abortion

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

On Friday, January 26, we will offer The Service for the Victims of Abortion. By Orthodox standards, the service is pretty short, but we will start promptly at 7pm, and we will offer up to the Most Holy Trinity our prayers for all children and parents and for those folks who are victims of the great moral evil of our age.

We will also be collecting supplies for Bastrop Pregnancy Resource Center (www.bastropprc.org). The list of things they need includes blankets, bottles, sippy cups, formula, potty training underwear, girls’ winter clothes and pajamas, sizes 12mo-5T, and board books. So please buy a number of those items and bring them with you to the service on the 26th.

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Feast of Theophany
Jan
6
8:00 AM08:00

Feast of Theophany

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This year, the Great Feast of Theophany falls on a Saturday. So, on Friday, January 5, we will offer the Royal Hours for the feast at noon and Great Vespers for the feast at 5pm. On Saturday, January 6, we will serve Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy and the Blessing of the Water at 8am. We will also join other Orthodox communities in the area on Sunday, January 14, for the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters at Twin Lakes Park at 1pm.

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Feast of the Circumcision
Jan
1
8:00 AM08:00

Feast of the Circumcision

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

On Sunday, December 31, we will follow the regular Sunday schedule, but we will have a brief, coffee only, Fellowship Hour, and then we will offer Great Vespers for the Circumcision no later than 1pm. The following morning, Monday, January 1, we will offer Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am.

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Feast of the Nativity
Dec
25
10:00 AM10:00

Feast of the Nativity

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Since the Feast of Nativity falls on a Monday this year, we will offer the Royal Hours for the feast on Friday, December 22 at noon. Great Vespers for Nativity will be served no later than 1pm on Sunday, December 24, Christmas Eve, after a very brief, coffee only, Fellowship Hour. The services for the feast will continue on Monday, December 25, with Orthros at 8am and Divine Liturgy at 10am (and no Fellowship Hour after the Liturgy). Please plan on joining us as often as you can for the services.

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Feast of St. Nicholas
Dec
6
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of St. Nicholas

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This coming Wednesday, we will celebrate the Feast of St Nicholas. Great Vespers will be served on Tuesday evening at 7pm; on Wednesday, December 6, we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. St Nicholas is the patron of all children, so this is a wonderful opportunity for all parents and grandparents and godparents to pray for the children in their lives.

Also, please don’t forget that the St Nicholas Box is now in the narthex: You may bring a new, unwrapped toy to place in the box, and all the toys we collect will be donated to Blue Santa following the festal services on December 6.

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Nativity Paraclesis
Nov
15
to Dec 20

Nativity Paraclesis

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

During the Nativity Fast, we always offer the Nativity Paraclesis on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. This year, there will be six of those services—on November 15, 22, 29 and December 6, 13, 20—so all of us should be able to make at least one of them. So please go ahead and note on your calendar the services in which you will be able to participate.

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Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross
Sep
14
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This coming Thursday, September 14, we will celebrate the Feast of the Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. We will offer Great Vespers on Wednesday, September 13, at 6pm, right before the Fall Theological Seminar, and then on the next day, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am.

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Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God
Sep
8
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The first major feast of the year will be The Nativity of the Mother of God on September 8th. We will offer Great Vespers for the feast on Thursday, September 7, at 7pm, and on Friday, September 8 we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Plan on joining us as we honor the Most Holy Theotokos on her birthday.

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2023 Fall Theological Seminar
Sep
6
to Nov 8

2023 Fall Theological Seminar

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Iconography represents, perhaps, the most visibly distinctive aspect of Holy Orthodoxy. The icons are certainly beautiful and immersive, yet they are not just images that are nice to have, they are not optional, they are absolutely central to our worship, our understanding of salvation, and the work of the Church in the world. As such, this year we are devoting the entire Fall Theological Seminar to iconography. In the first three sessions, we will be discussing the theology of the icon with a particular emphasis on how we encounter them in the world and in our worship. Having laid that foundation, the remainder of the sessions will be dedicated to a discussion of the icons in our future temple.

The seminar will begin on Wednesday, September 6th, and it will meet each Wednesday night at 7pm through November 8th. For those who want to join in person, we will meet in the nave of the Long Hall. For those who want to join online, the seminar will be streamed via Discord.


Session 1 – September 6th

  • Icons in Theology: Facing Down Iconoclasm

Session 2 – September 13th

  • Icons as our Teachers: The Visual Language of Icons and Icon Programming

Session 3 – September 20th

  • Icons in the Liturgy: Memory, Participation, and Healing

Capital Campaign Kickoff Weekend – September 23rd and 24th

Session 4 – September 27th

  • Purpose of a Temple; Historical Precedents for Orthodox Basilicas, Murals Scope, Organization, and Momentum

Session 5 – October 4th

  • Principals of Festal Mural Design: Graphical and Theological Principles

Session 6 – October 11th

  • Narthex East Wall, Nave East Wall, Apse, and Nave High Murals Part 1

Session 7 – October 18th

  • Nave High Murals Part 2, Side Aisles, Narthex West Wall

Session 8 – October 25th

  • Interactive Workshop: Oratory, Prothesis, and Lunettes

Session 9 – November 1st

  • Interactive Workshop: Narthex Side Walls, Medallions, Arcade Intradoses, and Calming Room

Session 10 – November 8th

  • Color Studies, Temple Materials, Liturgical Furniture, Hardware, Flooring, Light Fixtures, Other Media, Conclusion

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Feast of the Indiction
Sep
1
7:00 AM07:00

Feast of the Indiction

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The new Liturgical Year begins on September 1 with the Feast of the Indiction. We will serve Great Vespers on Thursday, August 31, at 7pm, and on Friday, September 1, we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. Everyone is welcome to join us as we begin the new church year.

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All Night Vigil in honor of St. Eanswythe of Folkestone
Aug
30
to Aug 31

All Night Vigil in honor of St. Eanswythe of Folkestone

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

We will wrap up the old year with our first non-Paschal All Night Vigil in honor of St. Eanswythe of Folkestone. St. Eanswythe has been the patroness of our building program for the last ten years, and we are serving the vigil as a prayerful way to officially kick off the first round of fundraising for our new temple. The All Night Vigil is actually made up of five services: Little Compline, Great Vespers, Litia and Artoklasia, Orthros, and the Divine Liturgy. The services will start at 10pm, and will likely last well into the early morning. We are thinking it will take about 5-6 hours to complete, but we aren’t totally sure since we’ve never done this before. Of course, everyone is welcome to come and pray with us. You don’t have to stay for the whole service. Feel free to come and go as you please, even if you can only drop by for 30 minutes. The Holy Fathers say there is a special blessing in night prayer, so this is your chance to experience that while also asking that the Most Holy Trinity, the Theotokos, and St. Eanswythe would make firm the foundation of our new temple.

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May
27
6:00 PM18:00

First Annual Blessing of Animals

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

On Saturday, May 27, we will have our First Annual Blessing of Animals.

May 27 is the Feast Day of St Melangel of Wales; she had a special relationship with rabbits. But a great many other Orthodox saints have also had close relationships with bears and whales and mice and leopards and lions. We are not going to be blessing any whales or leopards, but, if you have a pet that you would like to have blessed, just bring your animal up to the parish, and we will bless them all before Great Vespers--and then, in the service of vespers we will listen to some very special hymnography about how all animals will be sanctified through our love of the Most Holy Trinity. Dr Jason Foster, a member of our parish who has been a vet for many years, is providing with some really helpful guidelines for this event, and we will share those with you as we get closer to May 27. But right now, go ahead and enter that date into your phone and plan on joining us for this beautiful service.

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Apr
19
to May 17

The Pascha Book Study

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The study will begin on Bright Wednesday, April 19, and it will meet each Wednesday night at 7pm through May 17.

This year’s study will be structured just like the Fall Theological Seminar; we will have a series of presentations that will focus on our new temple, but we will also be talking about men’s issues and women’s issues and how, as women and men, we will interact with one another in our new temple. Please plan on joining us, either in person or on Discord, for what promises to be a very important time in the life of our community. 


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Feb
27
to Mar 3

Lenten Services

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Monday, February 28 Great Compline 7pm

Tuesday, February 29 Great Compline 7pm

Wednesday, March 1 Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 7pm

Thursday, March 2 Great Compline 7pm

Friday, March 3 Akathist Hymn 7pm

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Feb
12
12:00 PM12:00

Annual Community Meeting

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Annual Community Meeting will take place on Sunday, February, 12, after Divine Liturgy. During the meeting we will have a lot of business to take care. So, in order to prepare for that meeting and to keep the length of the meeting to a minimum, it is important that everyone read through the Annual Meeting Document before attending the meeting.

 

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Dec
23
to Dec 25

Feast of Nativity

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Our celebration of the Feast of Nativity will actually begin this

Friday, December 23, when we offer the Royal Hours at noon.

We will then serve Great Vespers for the feast on Saturday, December 24, at 6:00 p.m. and, on

Sunday, December 25, we will serve Orthros at 8:00 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

Since Nativity is one of the Twelve Great Feasts, let’s be sure and dress up for the services—no pajamas or Christmas Casual, please.

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Nov
15
to Dec 24

The Nativity Fast

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

THE NATIVITY FAST begins on November 15th through December 19th and is divided into two periods:

(A)The traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) is observed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil (some also permit fish) on Tuesday and Thursday, and for fish, wine, and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday.

B) The period of the Forefeast, December 20th through 24th, when the traditional fasting discipline is observed Monday through Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday. The eve of the feast, December 24th is a strict fast day.

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Oct
9
to Nov 6

2023 Stewardship Campaign

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

We will officially start our 2023 Stewardship Campaign. Attached to the October 10th emailed edition of The Happy Priest Newsletter is a copy of next year’s budget and a rundown of everything you need to know about our campaign. Our Finance Guys, Arun Jacob and John Willman, will be available over the next three Sundays (Oct 16th , Oct 23rd , Oct 30th) to answer all your budget and stewardship questions. They will be out at the picnic tables during Fellowship Hour, so just check out the budget that is attached to this edition of The Happy Priest, and then track down Arun or John if you have any questions. Of course, if you don’t have any questions, you can go ahead and get a 2023 Commitment Card from them, fill it out, and turn it in. Or-- and this is really cool-you can just click right now on this link--  https://onrealm.org/sjtf/give/2023pledge  -- and fill out an online 2023 Commitment Card through REALM, our stewardship App. Please remember that we need all the cards returned/filled out by November 6th, so the parish council can make any necessary adjustments to the budget.

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Aug
31
to Nov 9

The 2022 Fall Theological Seminar

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Wednesday, Aug 31

The Divine Liturgy: The Heart of our Life Together

Wednesday, Sept 7

How to Build an Orthodox Temple

Wednesday, Sept 14

Problems to Avoid and Our Model

Wednesday, Sept 21

The Library and The Bookstore

Wednesday, Sept 28

Landscaping and Parking

Wednesday, Oct 5

Fellowship Hour

Wednesday, Oct 12

Music

Wednesday, Oct 19

Church School and Adult Education

Wednesday, Oct 26

Offices, Work Spaces, Storage

Wednesday, Nov 2

The Chapel and The Temple

Wednesday, Nov 9

Iconography

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Jun
26
to Jul 9

Camp St Raphael 2022

  • St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Camper Applications are available online at https://www.campstraphael.org at Noon on February 1st.  Remember spots are reserved on a first come first serve basis, so don’t delay.  Session One is June 26th through July 2nd, and Session Two is July 3rd through 9th. This year CSR will be at new location in Kingston, Oklahoma. Scholarships are available, so if you need assistance in order to send your child to camp, please speak with Father Aidan or Father Andrew.

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