Week of July 19

Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Name of the Lord.

The next celebration in the Central Texas Festal Cycle will be at St. Elias. Father David Barr, the pastor, writes: “We will celebrate the Feast of the Prophet Elias this year with Great Vespers on the evening of Monday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m. at our downtown Church and Orthros and Divine Liturgy on the morning of Tuesday, July 20, at our North Campus. Orthros will start at 8:30 a.m. and the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m.” There was a good turnout for our parish feast day this past month, so let’s be sure and support the other communities in the area.

Our Calendar

Fasting Days

Wednesday, July 21 and Friday, July 23

Daily Services

Monday, July 19 to Friday, July 23

  • Orthros 5am;

  • Vespers 5pm

There will be No Daily Services on Monday night or Tuesday morning, since we will be at St. Elias. Also, if you plan on attending the daily services, it’s generally a good idea to check the day before to make sure that the service will be offered. Sometimes pastoral situations require a change of plans and the service cannot be offered on that particular day.

The Hours

This week, Seth Hart and his kittens will be at the online chanter’s stand, offering the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours every day on ZOOM.

Schedule: Monday-Friday:

  • First Hour at 6:45 a.m.

  • Third Hour: 8:45 a.m.

  • Sixth Hour: 12:00 p.m.

  • Ninth Hour: 2:45 p.m.

See the emailed newsletter for login info.

Thursday, July 22

  • Bible Study at 7:00 p.m.
     See the emailed newsletter for Zoom login info.

Saturday, July 24

  • St. Thomas School at 4:00 p.m.

  • Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m. 

Sunday, July 18

The Fifth Sunday of St. Matthew

  • Orthros at 8:00 a.m.

  • Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

  • Fellowship Hour at Noon

  • The Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children at Noon
    See the emailed newsletter for Zoom login info.

St. Thomas School

On Saturday, July 24, Karen Morgan will lead the discussion of Chapter 10, Background: Music in Ancient Israel and Greece. 

The following link will provide a summary of the material that will be covered:

www.theforerunner.org/blog/2021/7/13/orthodox-christianity-vol-iii-chp-10-music-in-ancient-israel-and-ancient-greece

 See the emailed newsletter for Zoom login info.

Church School

Attached to this edition of The Happy Priest is a letter outlining our plans for the 2021-2022 Church School Year. The letter also contains assignments for each class and each Sunday. Please read through all of that material carefully and, if you have any questions or suggestions or concerns, get in touch with Father Aidan.

Parish Council Meeting

The parish council has its monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 27. Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting, but the deadline to register to speak at the meeting has passed. So, if you have projects or issues you wish the council to consider, you’ll need to present that at the August meeting. 

The Dormition Fast

The Dormition Fast begins on Sunday, August 1, and it runs through Saturday, August 14. During this fasting season, the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, wine and olive oil) is observed Monday through Friday with katalysis for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday and for fish, wine and olive oil on the great feast of the Transfiguration on Friday, August 6th.

Paraclesis to The Mother of God

During the Dormition Fast, we will offer the Paraclesis to the Mother of God each weeknight at 7:00 p.m. That means there will be ten opportunities to participate in this beautiful service and that means all of us should be able to make at least one of those services between Monday, August 2 and Friday, August 13. On the evenings of Friday, August 6, and Friday, August 13, those services will be reserved for the folks who are not yet ready to return to the more crowded services and we will require masks on those two evenings.

The Feast of the Transfiguration

The Feast of the Transfiguration is the parish feast of our sister community, Transfiguration Greek Orthodox, in Westlake. We don’t yet have any information on the schedule for those services, but go ahead and reserve the evening of Thursday, August 5, and the morning of Friday, August 6, and plan on joining our brothers and sisters on their feast day.

The Feast of the Dormition

This year the Feast of the Dormition falls on Sunday, August 15, so we won’t have to make special arrangements for a weekday celebration. However, it’s also important to remember that during Great Vespers on Saturday, August 14, we will be offering The Lamentations for the Mother of God. The service is very similar to The Lamentations on Great and Holy Friday, so let’s take advantage of the weekend and be sure and participate in this beautiful service on Saturday night.

Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy

Our ushers are responsible for managing the flow of people in and out of the nave and for keeping things quiet in the kitchen and the narthex. Please respect their role and follow their directions. Also, please do not allow your children to ‘help out’ the ushers; they have a lot of things to do, and they cannot take on the additional responsibility of watching out for children or young people.

An unworthy priest,
Aidan

The Happy Priest is a publication of Life at a Dead Run Media, which is a subsidiary of One Take Productions. Our IT Guy is Jerry Juliano (“Go, Jerry, Go!”). Our Webmaster is Seth Hart. Our Keeper of Lists is Father Deacon Andrew Wilson. Our Roving Reporter is Bailey Quarters. When we have lunch in the automat on the top floor of our headquarters building, we always get the haggis and the Italian Crème Cake and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.