Church Telephone: (781) 585-8907

Church Email: stmarkofephesuskingstonma@gmail.com

Donations: PayPal or Credit Card

Administrator and Dean: Archpriest Vasily Lickwar 

Church Warden: Catherine Condrick

Divine Liturgy: Until the pandemic passes, Divine Liturgy at St. Mark is temporarily held on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month. Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 am. 

St. Mark of Ephesus is blessed with a small, but actively participating congregation. We are a warm, family-oriented body of faithful believers and our members are of all age groups and we embrace many cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The parish conducts a regular and traditional cycle of Orthodox liturgical worship throughout the course of the year. The St. Mark parish participates regularly in several community charitable ministries such as on-going charities to aid local shelters, grocery collections for our on-going food pantry, and visiting the ill and shut-ins in our community. All these inititatives are supported by the free-will offerings and volunteer assistance of the parishioners. 

Sunday Services & Announcements

May 16, 2021 - Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearing Women with the Noble Joseph

The Myrrh-bearing women are those women who followed the Lord, along with His Mother. They remained with her during the time of the saving Passion, and anointed the Lord's body with myrrh. Joseph and Nikodemos asked for and received the Lord's body from Pilate. They took it down from the Cross, wrapped it in linen cloths and spices, then they laid it in a tomb, and then they placed a great stone over the entrance of the tomb. According to the Evangelist Matthew (27:57-61) Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses (Mark 15:40) were sitting opposite the sepulchre, and they saw where He had been laid. This other Mary was the Mother of God. Not only were these present, but also many other women as Saint Luke says (24:10). 

Today the Church honors Saints Mary Magdalene (July 22), Mary the wife of Cleopas (May 23), Joanna (June 27), Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee (August 3), Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus (June 4), and the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who was the stepmother of her husband Joseph's sons James (October 23 and Joses (October 30). Today we also remember Saint Joseph of Arimathea (July 31), who was a secret disciple (John 19:38), and Saint Nikodemos, who was a disciple by night (John 3:3; 19:38). The holy right-believing Queen Tamara of Georgia is honored twice during the year: on May 1, the day of her repose, and also on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. 

Troparion - Tone 2

The Noble Joseph, when he had taken down Your most pure Body from the tree, wrapped it in fine linen and anointed it with spices, and palced it in a new tomb. But You rose on the third day, O Lord, granting the world great mercy.

Troparion - Tone 2

The angel came to the myrrhbearing women at the tomb and said: Myrrh is meet for the dead; but Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption! So proclaim: The Lord is risen, granting the world great mercy!

Kontakion - Tone 2

You commanded the myrrhbearers to rejoice, O Christ! By Your Resurrection, You stopped the lamentation of Eve, the first mother! You commanded them to preach to Your apostles: The Savior is Risen from the tomb!

Scripture Readings: Mark 16:9-20, Acts 6:1-7, Mark 15:43-16:8

The next Divine Liturgy at St. Mark will be held on May 23 at 10:00 AM; the reading of the third and sixth hours begins at 9:30 AM. Previous liturgical services are viewable on our YouTube channel at the top of our website page. 

If you would like to attend Divine Liturgy at St. Mark, please email us and we will send you an attendance form to fill out prior to Sunday services. Masks are mandatory and if you are ill we ask that you stay home until you are well. You may email us at stmarkofephesuskingstonma@gmail.com

If you would like to sign up for Confession with Fr. Kevin please do so on the Google document sent to you through email a week prior to Divine Liturgy; please follow the link and add your name next to the date and time of your preference. 

Please remember in your prayers: Francis, Alban, Alexandra, Cecelia, Robert, Mat. Eleanor, Priest Antony, Reader George, Vasily, Ramon, Maria, Peter, Alexandra, Conor, Nicholas; the kidnapped Hierarchs Metropolitan Paul (Boulos Yazigi) & Archbishop John (Yohanna Ibrahim); the suffering Christians of Egypt and Syria; Departed: John

Please email prayer requests the church warden.

Weekly Calendar and Parish Announcements

Tuesday, May 11 - Day of Rejoicing

On Tuesday of Saint Thomas week we remember those Orthodox Christians from all ages who have died in faith and in the hope of the resurrection. There are indications of this commemoration in the sermons of the Fathers of the Church. Saint John Chrysostom, for example, mentions it in his homily "On the Cemetery and the Cross." In pre-Revolutionary Russia bars remained closed and alcoholic beverages were not sold until this Day of Rejoicing so that the joy people felt would be because of the Resurrection, and not an artificial joy brought on by alcohol. Today the Church remembers its faithful members at Liturgy, and koliva is offered in remembrance of those who have fallen asleep. Priests visit cemetaries to bless the graves of Orthodox Christians, and to share the paschal joy with the departed. It is also customary to give alms to the poor on this day.

Weekly Calendar

Monday, May 10: Apostle Simon the Zealot

Tuesday, May 11: Day of Rejoicing | Ss. Cyril & Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs

Sunday, May 16: Holy Myrrhbearing Women

Parish Announcements

Paschal Appeal Letters were mailed out to your homes. As a parish, we are able to use your God-given financial gifts to support our clergy, education, growth, outreach and building maintenance, which are so important to the spiritual health of our parish community. Therefore, please consider supporting St. Mark by giving a donation in honor of the Paschal season as a gift of gratitude to Christ and His Church. Thank you.

We are collecting items for distribution to those in need via a local food pantry. Please leave the items you wish to donate in the large blue bin located in the nave of the church. It is important that we continue to care for those in need, especially during these uncertain and difficult times.

The Parish Council will meet on Monday, May 17 at 6:30 pm via Zoom.

Volunteers Needed: If you would like to volunteer to be a church cleaner or Sunday attendant, please contact the church warden.

A New Message for Hope and Encouragement (For the week of May 3, 2021):

"Our neighbors are for us a school in which we are given practice in the most perfect love: Love for God." - St. Nikolai

"Prayer is infinte creation, far superior to any form of art or science." -St. Sophrony

"The sun is reflected in clear water, and heaven in a pure heart." - St. Nikolai

***

From the Gospel of Mark 16:1-20 - taken from The Orthodox Study Bible

Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away - for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples - and Peter - that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you." So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.