St. John the Theologian Church

Diocese: Diocese of New York and New Jersey

Deanery: New York City Deanery

Address

158 West End Ave
Shirley, New York 11967

Website: stjohnthetheologian.com

Office: 631-281-5960

Parish Contacts

Lay Leadership

Directions

General Location
St John the Theologian Church is located in north Shirley, town of Brookhaven, just off the William Floyd Parkway between the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway.

From the Long Island Expressway (LIE)
Take exit 68 south.  Go past 5 lights and take the first right-hand turn after the 5th light onto Ridgewood.  Go three blocks to West End Ave and turn left, heading south.  Proceed south on West End until you see the Church on the left hand side, at 158 West End Ave.

Schedule of Services

All Services are in English.

6:00 PM Great Vespers followed by the Sacrament of Confession.  Inquirer’s Class for those interested in learning more about the Orthodox Christian Faith is held after Vespers on certain Saturdays; call for schedule.
Saturday Evening

9:45 AM Third Hour; 10:00 AM Divine Liturgy.  Church School and Coffee Hour Fellowship follows at 11:30 AM from September through June.
Sunday Morning

7:00 PM Great Vespers with Litiya.
Eves of Great Feasts

9:00 AM Divine Liturgy
Mornings of Great Feasts

All Lenten PRESANCTIFIED LITURGIES begin at 6:30 PM.  During the first week of Great Lent, the CANON OF ST ANDREW OF CRETE (Monday through Thursday) begins at 7:00 PM.  HOLY WEEK evening services are at 7:00 PM, and morning services at 10:00 AM.
Great Lent

Confessions are heard prior to or following any scheduled Vespers Service, or by appointment.
Confessions

Memorial Services (Panikhidas or Trisagion Prayers) are held on Saturdays at 5:45 PM, prior to Vespers.  Soul Saturdays are scheduled at the standard time. 
Memorial Services (Panikhidas)

For a complete list of upcoming services, please visit the Calendar on the parish website.

Parish Background

The Orthodox Mission Church of St. John the Theologian was founded in 1983 to provide an English-language Orthodox presence in the eastern end of Suffolk County, Long Island, an area containing over a half-million people.  The establishment of the mission was the dream of Father John and Matushka Marie Sochka of St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Dix Hills, who envisioned the establishment of such a “daughter parish” back in the ‘70’s.  After Fr. John’s untimely death in 1980, Matushka Marie and several other member of the Dix Hills parish who lived out in the Town of Brookhaven got together to organize the “Yaphank Mission” and saw the first Divine Liturgy served by Father Joseph Lickwar of St. Nicholas Church, Whitestone, Queens, in December of 1983.  Following Archbishop Peter’s visit in September of 1984 and the official establishment of the Orthodox Mission Church of St. John the Theologian, Father Stavros Strikis was assigned as the first priest and a strong core of approximately thirty people began services at Yaphank Presbyterian Church, where St. John’s was housed until acquiring its own property and building in April of 1996.

St. John’s is presently still the only English-language Orthodox Church serving the eastern end of Suffolk County.  Our parish is a “pan-Orthodox” parish composed of families from all ethnic backgrounds:  Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian, for example, as well as those from Italian, Irish, Norwegian and Puerto Rican, making our community truly “a house of prayer for all people.”  There are currently over fifty active families representing about seventy adult members and forty children from infants to the late teen years.  Our Church School program, which meets after the Sunday Divine Liturgy, has over twenty children enrolled in educational programs beginning with the 3-year old Nursery and 4-year old Pre-K program and extending through the Teens program for Middle School and High School teenagers.  Parishioners come from all over the eastern end of Suffolk County, but approximately two-thirds to three-fourths of our membership is drawn from a five- to six-mile radius taking in the communities of Yaphank and Middle Island to the north, the Moriches and Mastic-Shirley to the south, and Farmingville and surrounding areas to the west.

St. John’s pastor is Father Jonathan Ivanoff, a 1986 graduate of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary who has served at St. John’s since May of 1993.  A team of dedicated and talented lay leaders working in the area of education and teen youth work, evangelization and mission, and parish organization and administration assist him in his duties.  Parishioners are encouraged to seek out an area of ministry suitable to the gifts God has given them, and use those gifts for His glory and the upbuilding of His Church.  Such broad participation of the laity ensures that a wide range of opinions and ideas will be brought into the process of formulating parish vision and mission, prioritizing parish objectives and laying the groundwork necessary to make effective, meaningful and life-changing ministry happen.

Our parish has participated in raising money for foreign and domestic missions, in clothing and food drives for needy people both here and abroad, and our community has a strong sense of outreach to others in the Lord’s service.  Stewardship, including tithing, is strongly emphasized, and St. John’s itself is a Parish Member of the Fellowship of Orthodox Stewards of the Orthodox Church in America. An active social schedule, such as our Annual Ice Cream Social before Forgiveness Vespers, the Parish Christmas Social and Talent Show, the Annual Parish Summer Clambake, monthly community meals following Saturday Great Vespers, and trips to the circus, museums, seminaries or monasteries provide the community with the joyous opportunities for building fellowship and strengthening parish family ties, so sorely needed in our times to fight the feelings of alienation, lonliness and isolation that so many people experience.

If you are looking for a place where the uncompromised truth of 2,000 years of Christian witness and history is preached, taught and lived day-by-day, and are interested in finding a place where beautiful, meaningful and edifying worship is offered to God at every occasion, and where bonds of fellowship and friendship are easily forged by those who truly care about other people who are valued simply because they have been made in the image and likeness of God, then give us a call us (631-281-5960), e-mail us (stjohnparish@hotmail.com), or, as Phillip said to Nathaniel, “Come and See!”  Glory be to God for all things!