Michelle’s Journey to Orthodoxy
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Church Office
1w ago
I was raised Lutheran. We were very involved in church: My mother played the organ at church every week, I was in plays, and served in the altar for several years. When I was 8 years old, my father lost his eye in a trucking accident and our middle-class life was gone. We were now receiving government assistance. I noticed quickly that people at church were treating us differently. We were not invited to activities anymore, and people would just walk by us without acknowledging us. As I got older, this behavior really started to upset me. I started wanting to rebel whenever I went to church, a ..read more
Visit website
Becoming Partakers in God
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
2w ago
“Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπισεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν” “He became man, that we might be made god.” This is perhaps the most quoted sentence from any of the Church Fathers. It was written by St. Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria, in the 4th Century, in his theological treatise, On the Incarnation. This month we commemorate St. Athanasius and his successor, St. Cyril of Alexandria, on January 18. St. Athanasius was born in Egypt during the height of Christian persecution within the Roman Empire under Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. He came of age just as St. Constantine the Great rose to ..read more
Visit website
Gratitude Toward God
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
2w ago
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High. – Psalm 91:1 Dear Beloved in Christ, This month, as we approach the most “Orthodox” of American holidays, Thanksgiving, we do well to remember the centrality of giving thanks within the spiritual life. Thanking God expresses a right relationship between God and man. Holy Scripture offers numerous reminders of the importance of giving thanks. Here are a few. (These can be cut out and memorized, to be used as little prayers in many difference circumstances.) Psalm 27:6-7: Blessed be the Lord, because He has hea ..read more
Visit website
Walking with the Saints: How to Develop your Relationship with Christ’s Friends
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
2w ago
This year, our Sunday School theme is “Walking with the Saints.” It’s wonderful that our children are learning about the saints and growing in their relationship with them—especially since many of the children in our parish are the first “cradle Orthodox” in their family tree, being raised by parents who are converts to the Faith. When a person journeys into the Orthodox Faith, the presence and importance of saints can be overwhelming. There are so many! And keeping track of names and lives and feast days and roles can be mind-boggling. It’s like trying to memorize an immense family tree. And ..read more
Visit website
Photini’s (Crystal) Journey to Orthodoxy
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Church Office
2w ago
I am thankful I was raised in a Christian home. All of my family is Christian and, growing up, the majority of my family on my dad’s side were nearby and attended an Assembly of God church where we went as well. My grandparents were active in music and my dad ran the A/V. We went regularly through my freshman year of high school and then I was off to college. College was where I heard the word Orthodoxy for the first time.                              ..read more
Visit website
John’s Journey to Orthodoxy
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Church Office
2w ago
In 2006, I moved to Beaverton and down the road from my apartment was a Baptist church where I decided to attend. The worship pastor had written some of his own compositions, one of which was titled “Come, Lord” which was based on The Invocation of St. Symeon. What was even more strange to me was the idea that any Baptist church celebrated Lent. Wasn’t that a Catholic idea? As I slowly started exploring more of the ancient Church’s ideas and trying to answer the typical questions a Protestant seemingly must go through when considering a liturgically based church, I found a copy of The Catechis ..read more
Visit website
A New Era at St. John: Welcoming Ioan Gheorghiu
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
7M ago
Dear Beloved in Christ, This month, we begin a new era at St. John, as we invite our new Director of Youth and Family Ministries into our parish community. Ioan Gheorghiu (“ee-oh-AHN”) will arrive on July 1. Just look at the providence of God: Our beloved Saint John Maximovich of San Francisco has been our intercessor throughout this process of finding a new youth director. And now Ioan arrives on the eve of St. John’s feast day and he bears his name. His first service will be the Great Vespers on July 1, which will include hymns for St. John Maximovich. (Ioan’s patron saint is St. John Chryso ..read more
Visit website
Gaining Wisdom
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
7M ago
On Sunday, June 4, we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the Church through the holy Apostles. The apolytikion hymn of the feast proclaims, “Blessed are You, O Christ our God, Who have shown forth the fishermen as supremely wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit.” Throughout the hymnography of the feast we hear about the wisdom of the Apostles. What is wisdom? Even in our common lexicon, wisdom is a great virtue which everyone desires. It is greater than the sum of knowledge, expertise, and experience—all of which are contained within wisdom. We g ..read more
Visit website
Sweet Eating and the Love of God
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
7M ago
Let the world now bitterly mourn with Eve and Adam, for it fell together with them who fell by sweet eating. ~ Synaxarion of Forgiveness Sunday   “Sweet eating.” Once again the profound theological poetry of the Church’s hymns have cut to the very heart of the matter. Sweet eating. Adam and Eve’s sin is the same sin with which I struggle. We all battle the passions, because we are human and live in a fallen world. We are sweet eaters, that is to say we pursue the “sweet” desires of our appetites, our passions—not just in food, but our desire for praise, for more possessions, for gratifica ..read more
Visit website
God’s Providence for His Beloved
St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
by Fr. Matthew Swehla
7M ago
It is a great joy to introduce to you Ioan Gheorghiu, who will, by God’s grace, become our Director of Youth & Family Ministries. Our loving Lord has responded to our prayers of entreaty—prayers we offered to Him, to His Mother, to His beloved kinsman St. John the Baptist, and to that friend of Christ is recent times, St. John Maximovich. It is fitting that his name is Ioan, which is “John” in Romanian. (His patron saint is St. John Chrysostom.) Ioan is completing his final year in the Master of Divinity program (as a seminarian) at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He was born ..read more
Visit website

Follow St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR