St. John the Merciful Antiochian Orthodox Christian Mission

06/14/2026

Christ is in our midst!

Today is the Sunday of All Saints of Antioch and North America. On this day, the Orthodox church commemorates all known and unknown Saints who have lived the Orthodox Christian faith across the ancient Church of Antioch, as well as those of the North American continent. We have greeted several new visitors at St. John the Merciful mission and are looking forward to more next week.

Sadly, we also celebrated the farewell of our beloved mission member Rachel today. Rachel filled several roles with us during her time at the mission, e.g. as an involved and enthusiastic gardener, reflecting on her experiences in the mission garden in thoughtful Substack essays: https://lastnamelo.substack.com/p/on-stewarding-tomatoes
Last summer, she was instrumental in kicking off a small meal ministry for local foster families with young children: https://lastnamelo.substack.com/p/wildly-inefficient

She even has been lending her sweet soprano to our small choir recently - her easy-to-talk-to, fun, engaged and hard-working self will be missed! May God bless her, keep her, and protect her path ahead! The luncheon was a community effort, with special thanks to Mika and Jadon, Carl and Lori, as well as Gabby. Go Team!

In other news, the mission garden project is coming along. It's been raining, thank God! Our outside faucet will be replaced tomorrow, so the irrigation system that Ivan installed can be fully functioning.
We have been thinning the baby kale, and our experimental remaining bed has been filled with more seedlings and treated with a special soil amendment by Vassiliki and Konstantina (more info on that to come). Viktoria makes sure that the plan is implemented and supplements equipment and seedlings wherever needed. The team cooperation has been outstanding. Glory to God for all good things! Thank you to our volunteers and generous donors!

Remaining weekday services are planned as follows:
-Thursday, June 18th, the Feast of Saints Leontius, Hypatius, & Theodulus of Syria
-*Wednesday*, June 24th, the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner
-*Monday*, June 29th, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
-Thursday, July 9th, the Feast of Saint Pancratius
-Thursday, July 16th, the Feast of Saints Athenogenes and Julia
-Thursday, July 23rd, the Feast of Saint Phocas and Ezekiel the Prophet
-Thursday, July 30th, the Feast of Saints Silas, Silvan, Crescens, Epenetus and Andronicus

If you haven't had a chance to visit the updated mission main webpage, you can find it here: https://st-john-the-merciful-orthodox.squarespace.com/

May God bless you!

06/14/2026

(Repeat post above, but with photo uploads)

Christ is in our midst!

Today is the Sunday of All Saints of Antioch and North America. On this day, the Orthodox church commemorates all known and unknown Saints who have lived the Orthodox Christian faith across the ancient Church of Antioch, as well as those of the North American continent. We have greeted several new visitors at St. John the Merciful mission and are looking forward to more next week.

Sadly, we also celebrated the farewell of our beloved mission member Rachel today. Rachel filled several roles with us during her time at the mission, e.g. as an involved and enthusiastic gardener, reflecting on her experiences in the mission garden in thoughtful Substack essays: https://lastnamelo.substack.com/p/on-stewarding-tomatoes
Last summer, she was instrumental in kicking off a small meal ministry for local foster families with young children: https://lastnamelo.substack.com/p/wildly-inefficient
She even has been lending her sweet soprano to our small choir recently - her easy-to-talk-to, funny, engaged and hard-working self will be missed! May God bless her, keep her, and protect her path ahead!

In other news, the mission garden project is coming along. It's been raining, thank God! Our outside faucet will be replaced tomorrow, so the irrigation system that Ivan installed can be fully functioning.

We have been thinning the baby kale, and our experimental remaining bed has been filled with more seedlings and treated with a special soil amendment by Vassiliki and Konstantina. Viktoria makes sure that the plan is implemented and supplements equipment and seedlings wherever needed. The team cooperation has been outstanding. Glory to God for all good things! Thank you to our volunteers and generous donors!

Remaining weekday services are planned as follows:
-Thursday, June 18th, the Feast of Saints Leontius, Hypatius, & Theodulus of Syria
-*Wednesday*, June 24th, the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner
-*Monday*, June 29th, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
-Thursday, July 9th, the Feast of Saint Pancratius
-Thursday, July 16th, the Feast of Saints Athenogenes and Julia
-Thursday, July 23rd, the Feast of Saint Phocas and Ezekiel the Prophet
-Thursday, July 30th, the Feast of Saints Silas, Silvan, Crescens, Epenetus and Andronicus

If you haven't had a chance to visit the updated mission's main webpage, you can find it here: https://st-john-the-merciful-orthodox.squarespace.com/

May God bless you!

05/31/2026

Christ is in our midst!

Happy Feast Day! It is the Sunday of Holy Pentecost, the day on which Orthodox faithful commemorate the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto the Apostles. This gift of the Holy Spirit enabled the Apostles to go out and miraculously speak to all they encountered on their travels in their own respective language.

In his sermon, Fr. John emphasized that we had members and visitors of seven different language families among us this morning. He then urged us to go out as the Apostles did - to live our own Apostolic lives - and to offer meaningful personal ministry to others who thirst, thus being a present, living example of Christ's love to the people around us. The mission, with its food pantry contributions, garden project, twice-a-month meal ministry and other smaller-scale projects, is one such attempt to "show up" and be present to others in love, both with each other and with those we encounter in our surroundings.

Quick garden update: We delivered our first few bags of fresh produce to the Missionaries of Charity's local food kitchen last week (just an 8 minute drive from St. John the Merciful mission!), Ivan has begun work on the irrigation system installation, most of the seedlings are thriving and turning into real plants, the kale seedlings are growing and will need to be spaced out soon, and the front bed is popping with colorful blooming pollinators, greeting visitors and neighbors passing by. The fig trees have recovered from hungry deer gnawings, and the bees are flying. Thanks be to God for all good things!

Join us this coming Thursday at 9:30 a.m. for a weekday Divine Liturgy, if you are able.

Please pray for peace in the world!

God bless you!

05/28/2026

Christ is in our midst! We celebrated Holy Ascension at the mission last Thursday, and a "regular" weekday Divine Liturgy this morning.

After Liturgy today, we harvested the first organic mission garden greens for this year. We delivered them to the nearby soup kitchen of the Missionaries of Charity, where they will be prepared and served to needy families and individuals in the next few days.

The rain of the past week has been wonderful for the seedlings. The deer netting is up and seems to deter most of the critters who would like to have a nibble. We're learning to garden as a team, and "by doing", as they say. God willing, we will be able to take a lot more fresh produce to our nearby partner organizations in the next few months. Shout-out to our busy and generous gardeners!

If you are looking for a small and intimate Orthodox parish and/or a way to get involved in hands-on community service, join us this upcoming Sunday, May 31st, for the Feast of Holy Pentecost!

05/24/2026

Greetings in Christ from the DC mission of St. John the Merciful!

Read below why the Orthodox Church commemorates the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council today.

In the year 325, 318 bishops representing Christian Churches from various lands gathered together at Nicea to confront the heresy of Arianism. Among the assembled bishops were many confessors who had suffered during the persecutions, and who bore the marks of torture upon their bodies.

05/20/2026

Happy World Bee Day from the DC Mission!

We are trying to do our part to support urban biodiversity, help local food production, and offer stewardship to our little spot of God's beautiful Creation.

Several of the Fathers and Saints of the Orthodox Church have spoken of bees and their place in nature.

"As the bee gathers sweetness from flowers, so the soul gathers life from the Word.”
- St. Ephraim the Syrian

"The bee is more honored than other animals not because she labors, but because she labors for others."
-St. John Chrysostom

And here is a lovely blog post about bees in Orthodoxy (from 2016): https://www.pravmir.com/a-lesson-on-bees-saint-john-the-baptist-and-the-nectar-of-life/

Today is Leavetaking of Pascha, last day of the Paschal season, and we meet for Liturgy tomorrow to celebrate Christ's Holy Ascension. Join us if you can!

05/17/2026

Christ is Risen!

Greetings from the DC mission on the Sunday of the Blind Man.

"I come to Thee, O Christ, blind from birth in my spiritual eyes, and I call to Thee in repentance: Thou art the most radiant Light of those in darkness!" - Kontakion of the Blind Man

After Divine Liturgy, Fr. John thanked the gardening team and explained the purpose and meaning of our mission garden project. Our long-term goal is to combat food insecurity in Ward 7/8 of DC and beyond.

Studies also show the broad-ranging positive impact of gardening on people's emotional and physical well-being. Our little mission garden provides such a space to participate in. Thanks be to God for all good things!

Many of the beloved Saints of our Orthodox Church have spoken about the miraculous effects of nature and of tending to a garden. Here are two examples:

“When you plant a flower or a tree, you cooperate with God.” - St. Paisios of Mt. Athos
“Go into nature, and nature will calm you.” - St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

A group of faithful mission members have been acting as stewards and devoted novice gardeners for a few weeks now, accountable to one another, and trying to grow not only a new crop of flowers and nutritious organic produce, but also our relationships and love with each other and our neighbors. In our gardening group chat, we exchange updates on newly acquired plants, sprouted seeds, or share the quiet moment of a well-earned lunch after a watering session. The work requires commitment and cooperation, and doing it as a team feels right. Photos are below.

In addition to the gardening progress, one of the mission's swarm boxes attracted a bee colony. This is great! Thanks to Viktoria for taking care of it and transfering its to its new location at the mission.

If you are in the DC area and are looking for something new, come and check us out. No gardening or beekeeping expertise is required.

The upcoming weekday Divine Liturgy is this coming Thursday, May 27, 2026. We will be celebrating Holy Ascension!

God bless and keep you all - have a good week to come.

05/09/2026

Christ is Risen!

More gardening today and some beekeeping (new swarm). Great job today, team! Glory to God!

Join us tomorrow morning for Divine Liturgy on the 4th Sunday after Holy Pascha.

Photo credit to E. P. and J. G.

05/09/2026

Christ is Risen!

Workweek Divine Liturgy was celebrated yesterday, the 4th Thursday after Pascha, where the Church commemorates the Precious Cross that appeared in the sky over Jerusalem in 351 A.D., Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, Akakios the Centurion of Byzantium, and the Repose of St. Nilus, abbot of Sora, Pachomios the New Martyr of Patmos.

Mission bees are flying, and one of our beekeepers caught a new swarm this week! Litte kale sprouts are coming out. The fig trees are recovering, and perennial pollinators are reappearing. Thanks be to God for all good things!

Group gardening tomorrow morning - come one, come all! Feel free to be there as early as 9 a.m. We'll be planting a few more things, watering the raised beds, and weeding. Maybe mulching some more, to get rid of the pile by the gate. If there is an interest, we can take a break and order the best pizza in DC: https://www.mamaspizzatogo.com/

God bless you all!

05/04/2026

Christ is Risen!

It is the Sunday of the Paralytic in the Orthodox Church, the day commemorating Christ's miraculous healing of a man who had been paralyzed for nearly 40 years of his life (John 5:1-15).

Mission member Rachel recalls the message of Fr. John's Sunday sermon from this morning's Divine Liturgy: "Today, we heard the Gospel reading for the Sunday of the Paralytic, and we were reminded that Jesus asked the Paralytic if he wanted to be healed. At first, that sounds almost rhetorical - of course, he would want to be healed! But when we pray for healing, being healed isn't the end state. In his suffering, the Paralytic benefited from the charity of others, but his healing comes with a responsibility to take care of himself, and even to use his ability to take care of others."

Today was also the first real day of sowing and planting in the mission garden. Thanks to Viktoria's carefully thought-out plan, we were able to brainstorm together on what vegetables to grow this year. We are thinking of being a bit more strategic with our efforts, taking some notes, and perhaps even developing a set of "best practices" to draw on in the future.

As of now, we are looking at another gardening event this coming Saturday, adding a few pollinators to the flower beds, and doing some weeding and general maintenance. Come and join us if you like to get your hands dirty and hang out with cool people!

Below are some photos of the last few days. We are grateful to God for every single one of our volunteers!

Have a blessed start to the week, everyone. Christ is Risen!