Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
During our Pascha Book Study, we talked about women and men and how we present ourselves together during the Divine Services. Our plan has always been that, when a new bishop is appointed to our diocese, we would discuss all this with him. However, in the Providence of the Most Holy Trinity, things have turned out differently.
That’s because, this past week, we received a letter from our Dean, Father David Barr. Father David is also the pastor of St Elias, our mother parish. In his letter—which is printed in full in the emailed version of the of this newsletter—Father David stated that he had “heard some concerns from both clergy and laity within the Central Texas Deanery” (Note: the deanery includes St Elias, St John, St Sophia in Dripping Springs, St Ephrem in San Antonio, St Andrew in Waco, and St Thomas in Fredericksburg). Father David did not say that anyone from St John’s had been in touch with him; he did not get in touch with any of the clergy of our parish; nevertheless, he did contact Metropolitan SABA, and, in that conversation, the metropolitan indicated that having women and men on different sides of the nave “is not an approved practice of the Church of Antioch” and that he does not want it “promoted within the Archdiocese”.
Again, we were hoping to actually have a conversation about the subject, but, in Holy Orthodoxy, obedience is always the higher calling, so we are going to do our part when it comes to “keeping good order in practice in the parishes of the Central Texas Deanery”--and, speaking of our deanery, this week is the patronal feast for St Elias; the schedule of services appear later in this newsletter; everyone is invited.
Of course, at this point, you might be wondering, “Well, where exactly am I supposed to stand during the services?” Since we haven’t been making anyone stand in a particular spot or section, practically speaking, nothing is going to change: You can stand where ever you wish. But if you have further questions about what all this means or what to do going forward, do not hesitate to talk to either Father Aidan or Father Andrew.
And, then, finally, a big Thank You to everyone who participated in the Book Study and in all the subsequent interactions. We are grateful for your curiosity and your perseverance and your hard work.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, July 17, and Friday, July 21. If you need to modify the fast, please check with your spiritual
father.
Daily Services
Monday, July 17to Friday, July 21
Orthros 5am
Vespers 5pm
(but note the festal services for St Elias).
Also Seth Hart and friends will be at the online chanter’s stand offering the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours this week.:
1st hour: 6:45 a.m.
3rd hour: 8:45 a.m.
6th hour: 11:45 a.m.
9th hour: 3:45 p.m.
Join the Daily Hours on Discord.
Fr. Andrew, Seth Heart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They will soon begin reading Welcoming Gifts by Father Jeremy Davis. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Please see the emailed version of the newsletter for the link to join the Trapeza Readings on Discord.
Tuesday, July 18
Orthodoxy 101 7pm You can also access the group on Discord.
Wednesday, July 19
Great Vespers 6:30pm St Elias downtown location
Thursday, July 20
Orthros 8:30am St Elias Round Rock
Divine Liturgy 9:30am St Elias Round Rock
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm.
You can access this group on Discord
Saturday, July 22
St. Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, July 23
The Seventh Sunday of St Matthew
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Typika with Holy Communion in Killeen 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
st. thomas school
On Saturday July 22, John Bell will be leading the discussion on Chapter 6 of Volume III (pgs 135-158, “The Iconographical Tradition in Byzantium”. Online access is available on Discord; like to participate online, you still need to sign-up ahead of time. Just send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by Thursday, July 20, to reserve your spot.
The st. joanna burial society
Memorial Services
How many of you knew the departed parishioners we pray for at the end of Sunday’s Divine Liturgies? Probably not many, since our parish has grown so much over the last several years. In an effort to help us all connect more fully to these people who are, in death, still a meaningful part of our community, we will be publishing information (and photos, if available) of them as a link included in The Happy Priest, as well as on the #myrrhbearers-info channel on the St. John Discord page.
Requests for Myrrhbearer Services
Since most of us are converts, there can often be a spiritual void when a family member departs this life. The Myrrhbearers offer three potential ways to help us fill this void: a week-long reading of the Psalter at the time of death, a clergy-led Akathist Service in church, and a stone in the Memorial Garden. There are specific guidelines for these, which can be found on the Myrrhbearers home page: https://www.theforerunner.org/st-jo. Please remember that memorial stone requests must go through the Myrrhbearers.
coming up
On Tuesday, August 1, we will begin the Dormition Fast. During this Fast, which runs through Monday, August 14th , the eve of the great feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, we observe the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, wine and olive oil) Monday through Friday with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday, and for fish, wine and olive oil on the great feast of the Transfiguration on Sunday, August 6th. If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
During the Dormition Fast, we offer The Paraclesis to the Mother of God each week night between August 1 and August 13. That means, this year, there will be nine opportunities to participate in this lovely service, and that means all of us should be able to be present at least once during the fast. So please look at your calendar and make plans to join us as we ask the Most Holy Theotokos for her intercessions.
Before the Feast of the Dormition on Tuesday, August 15, the Archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession. In our parish, that Holy Mystery is offered on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers or just about any other time by special appointment.
The first-ever St. John Festal Choir will be offering a concert after the Festal Liturgy on The Feast of The Transfiguration, August 6th! Our Festal Choir is made up of our Liturgy Choir plus others in the parish who love to sing...and it’s a pretty big group! After you reverence the Cross on that Sunday, get your food and chill a bit, we'll ring a bell to let you know the choir concert is starting in the nave within 10 minutes! We're excited to sing these beautiful hymns for all of you! That day, we will also end Fellowship Hour all together in the nave: we'll get a chance to learn the words to the Yellow Rose of St. John and We Give Thanks To Thee so we can sing and pray along with the choir every week.
Church School begins the first Sunday in September. Here is the link for registration: https://forms.gle/ZA7aSnqLzb112MJi6. Check with Sandi Andrews or Father Aidan if you have any questions.
Starting in September, Chanter Training will be regularly offered each month. If you're interested, please talk to Karen Morgan or Matt Groh to get invited to the discord thread. Men and women (and youth!) are all welcome to participate!
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
We have lots of wonderful children’s books in the Calming Room. Those books will last a lot longer if we will show our children how to treat them gently. That means opening and closing them carefully, not throwing them or tearing the pages, and putting them back carefully on the shelves when we are done with them.
Things That Make Priests Happy
Processing around the parking lot and blessing all the cars and trucks; talking with David M. about Iranian grandfathers, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Pontius Pilate’s dog; hearing about Christian and Natalia P.’s trip to Greece; reminding Father Deacon Gerasimos to feed the rabbit; watching Ben and Betty H. work on the kitchen sink together; getting New Year’s movie recommendations from Demetry Z.; checking out all the camp photos on Discord; seeing two (count ‘em, two!) shooting stars in one night.
an unworthy priest,
aidan
The Happy Priest is a publication of Life At A Dead Run Media, which is a subsidiary of One Take Productions. Our IT Guy is Christian Perez; our Webmasters are Lily Halsey and Seth Hart; our Keeper of Lists is Father Andrew Wilson; our Roving Reporter is PJ McNeal, when it comes to tie-dye, we always use the shibori method, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.