Saint Joseph Melkite Greek-Catholic Church,Scranton

5:30pm tonight

Blessed feast day of the Dormition of the Most Pure Theotokos!

From Orthros: "In giving birth, your conception was without seed; and in falling asleep, your death was without corruption. A second wonder followed swiftly on the first, O Theotokos. How could a maiden untouched by a man nurse a child while still remaining a virgin? And how, O Mother of God, could you experience death? Therefore, with the angel we cry to you; "Hail, O full of grace!"

May the powerful prayers of the Holy Mother of God be with you always.

Bonus: To learn the festal hymn of this feast, go to 1. melkite.org 2. navigate to "Resources" at the top left of the screen 2. Click "Music" from the drop bar and navigate to the section called "festal hymns" where you will find one call "Dormition: O Strange Wonder"

See you at Divine Liturgy!

Aug 15, 5:30pm Divine Liturgy at St Joseph

Great Vespers for the Feast Day, a Holy Day of Obligation Wed Aug 14 5:30pm, Divine Liturgy Thurs Aug 15 5:30pm

Tonight begins our services for the Feast of the Dormition

Now is a good time to stop by.

Join our event today . Ready to serve you our delicious ethnic foods and your favorite local picnic foods. Baskets raffled tonight

Join us today.

Some of our youth volunteers

Delicious baked goods - baklava, shredded wheat, farina, mamool, anise cookies etc

Today is a beautiful day for our Food Fest. 4-9pm and tomorrow 1-7. Be sure to share!

Some of our guests

Thank you Constantino Michael Siconolfi for setting up our sound system and your audio expertise in choosing great ethnic tracks to accompany our foods. We can see why you are requested to DJ many events. Although you aren’t here in person this weekend, we again want to thank you! Saint Joseph Melkite Greek-Catholic Church,Scranton Annual Lebanese-American Food Fest. === NO CURBSIDE PICKUP===

We are serving now until 9

Our food fest has begun. God has blessed us with dry skies and sunshine. Park in surrounding area and walk in or drive up Cabrini to drop folks off. The full street is blocked after the court. Once you get here - the right side is food, left tent is tables and raffles

Wednesday Paraklesis 6:30pm, various times tomorrow for food prep tent setup etc.
Some of the baskets coming in thank you ShopRite of Birney Plaza Moosic, The Dime Bank, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Mike & Bertha, a Friend. More pictures coming soon

Feast of the Holy Transfiguration
of our Lord, God & Savior, Jesus Christ

Season of Preparation for the Dormition of the Theotokos

Tuesday Evening, August 06, 2024
Feast of the Transfiguration
Divine Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
Paraklesis: 6:30 p.m.

August 6, 2024

Feast of Transfiguration is an event where Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John upon Mt. Tabor where Moses and Elijah appeared, and Jesus was transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon the Mt. Tabor.

O Christ, God let your eternal light shine upon us sinners. Through the prayer of our Mother of God, O Giver of light, Glory to you.

Blessed Feast Day!

Feast of the Holy Transfiguration
of our Lord, God & Savior, Jesus Christ

Season of Preparation for the Dormition of the Theotokos

Monday Evening, August 05, 2024
Paraklesis: 4:30 p.m.
Great Vespers: 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday Morning, August 06
TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD
Festal Orthros: 9:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
Sixth Paraclesis: 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday Evening, August 07
Seventh Paraclesis: 6:30 p.m.

Thursday Evening, August 08
Eighth Paraclesis: 6:30 p.m.

Our Lebanese-American Food Fest begins Friday Aug 9 at 4. Be sure to check out our coupon in today’s Sunday Times and on Wednesday. We are a small parish church over 127 years old. Our church founders were Lebanese and Middle Eastern Catholics that settled in West Scranton. Relatives of these members continue to practice their faith and over our many years we have welcomed all nationalities who wish to embrace the Eastern Rite tradition of Catholicism. At out fest we prepare foods the prior generations taught us and we add many local NEPA picnic favorites. We are a neighborhood church. We also have church services each evening during the Dormition fast of the Theotokos. Check out our website melkitescranton.org for the bulletin, devotions, history and food fest info

Home - Saint Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church Saint Joseph Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, Scranton, PA, is a local parish of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton. CELEBRATING 127 YEARS IN SCRANTON in 2024. We are one of the three oldest churches in our Eparchy . Founded by Lebanese immigrants in the late 1890s, we are a faith community that has wit....

Join us each evening for 2 weeks at 5pm for the Paraklesis service to the Theotokos.

August 1
begins the Dormition Fast in the Byzantine Catholic Church. This particular fasting season is only 2 weeks long (ending on the Feast of the Dormition, August 15) but is a wonderful time for us to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Feast of the Dormition through prayer, fasting, and the reception of the Holy Mystery of Repentance. This feast is very important for Catholics because it shows us that we, like the Theotokos, are given the opportunity after death to be resurrected, body and soul, and live forever in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity. The Church encourages you to participate this year in the Dormition Fast to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

This week begins the Dormition fast August 1. August 01 through August 14, 2024
Paraklesis -
Intercessory Hymn to the Lady Theotokos
for the healing of Nathan Cheffers
each evening 5:00 p.m. including during the fest and weekend services.

Tonight is the Byzantine Liturgy during St. Ann's Solemn Novena, St. Ann St. Scranton. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Novena this year.

Next time you take your car out for a ride think of St. Elias and his chariot. His feast is today July 20.

Saturday July 20, meat & spinach pie prep. All hands on deck 9am. The photo is of the adults who stayed to roll the grape leaves last month. Alicia Patchoski Katie Patchoski & Patrick- Jennifer Clark. Also Karen K & Tom B. With many youth! Thank you. T shirts a coincidence!

Nice to see Andrew Milewski, Society of Jesus brother (Jesuits) and one of our parishioners at the Melkite Convention!

Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, whom we commemorate tomorrow on July 15, lived the life of a pagan until he learned that there were religions with different beliefs and customs in other regions of the world. He wanted to worship God in the best possible way and encourage those in his kingdom to do the same, so he sent envoys to far-reaching places to inquire about their faiths. When the group returned, they reported that when they attended the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, it greatly moved them. The men wrote to Prince Vladimir,

“The Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth, there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty… If the Greek faith were evil, it would not have been adopted by your grandmother Olga, who was wiser than all other men.”
~the Chronicles of the Ancient Slavs

That was something that St. Vladimir wanted to hear! He was received in baptism and declared that Eastern Christianity would become the official religion of the land of Rus, and many of us with Slavic heritage owe him a great thanks for such a decree! Our Divine Liturgy is indeed beautiful and worthy of the King of Heaven! It is something we ought not to take for granted but to admire as the treasure that it is!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vhDLoklpnwqkSaU0GyGWLTyevpBgnlfh/view?usp=drivesdk

June 24 St. John the Baptist

Upcoming is the Feast of the Chief of the Apostles, Peter & Paul: June 29 2024

Vesperal Divine Liturgy

Friday, June 28, 2024

7:00 p.m.

Mission & Vision: The Melkite Catholic Church in the United States (Diocese of Newton). Mission & Vision: The Melkite Catholic Church in the United States Bishop François Beyrouti, Ph.D./D.Th.Diocese of Newton for the Melkite Catholic Church in ...

Did you know that the Council of Nicea first accepted the Nicene Creed 1,699 years ago today, on June 19, 325 AD?
Do you know the Nicene Creed?
There will be many times in life that we Christians
are called upon to defend what we believe in. `In
order to defend your faith, you first have to
understand it.
How well do you know exactly
what you believe as a Christian?
Let's review!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tzw1YSpPTsd0bDf01_0eT-dROBx8WDQO/view?usp=sharing