St. Matthew Orthodox Christian Church
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
Torrance, CA

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Rev. Fr. John Mahfouz
Parish Priest
frjohn@saint-matthew.net

Fr John Mahfouz is the Priest and pastor of St. Matthew Orthodox Christian Church. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California into an Eastern Orthodox Christian family of Palestinian and Egyptian decent. Baptized at St. Nicholas Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Los Angeles, Fr. John grew up serving there as an Altar Server, Sunday School Teacher, Summer Camp Counselor and Administration, and other ministries. After finishing his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of California in Riverside, and working for 3 years as a Sleep Disorder Technician, Fr John was sent by the Church to attended Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts, where he received his Master of Divinity. Following seminary Fr John was sent to Lebanon to study at the Patriarchal School of Theology: Institute of St. John of Damascus. It was then that he met his dear wife Khouria Lina in Latakia, Syria. They were married and moved to San Diego where Fr. John worked as the Director of Student Life and Housing at the newly established St. Katherine College. In 2013 Fr. John was ordained to the Holy Diaconate at St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church in San Diego. In 2014 he was assigned as the Assistant to the Priest of Saints Peter & Paul Orthodox Christian Church in Salt Lake City,  Utah, and in 2015 he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood at Ss. Peter and Paul. In 2017 he was assigned and sent to be the Priest of St. Matthew Orthodox Christian Church in Torrance, California. Fr. John and Kh. Lina have 5 beautiful children and are expecting their 6th. Fr John especially has a heart for youth ministry and serves on the Deanery committee of Youth Ministry.


Dn. Barsoum Barsoum
Deacon
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Today's Commemorations
Obadiah the Prophet, Martyr Barlaam of Caesarea, Martyr Heliodorus, Anthimos, Thallalaeos, Christopher, Euphemia & her children, the Martyrs
Today's Scripture Readings
ST. PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS 4:1-12
Brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from unchastity; that each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the heathen who do not know God; that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you. For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. But concerning the love of the brethren you have no need to have any one write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you; so that you may command the respect of outsiders, and be dependent on nobody.
LUKE 15:1-10
At that time, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Today's Thought

When asked why the good Lord permits assaults and trials to fall on the true Faith while He permits the pleasure of tranquility to heresies and paganism, St. John Chrysostom replied: “So that you might recognize their weakness (i.e., of heresies and paganism) when you see that they disintegrate on their own without any disturbance – and also be convinced of the power of the Faith that endures misfortunes and even multiplies through its adversities.”