Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
The parish council has its monthly meeting this 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 check with our president, Bessie Jacob, so you can make sure and get on the agenda for the council’s August meeting.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, July 28 and Friday, July 30
Daily Services
Monday, July 26 to Friday, July 30
Orthros 5am;
Vespers 5pm
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 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.
Tuesday, July 27
Parish Council at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 29
Bible Study at 7:00 p.m.
See the emailed newsletter for Zoom login info.
Saturday, July 31
St. Thomas School at 4:00 p.m.
Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 1
The Sixth Sunday of St. Matthew
Orthros at 8:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
Fellowship Hour at Noon
Since this will be the first Sunday of the month, it is also Blessing Sunday. So, if you have icons, prayer ropes, crosses, or new cars (or if you will be traveling during August), meet by the chanter’s stand after the liturgy to get your blessing.
St. Thomas School
On Saturday, July 31, Gabe Martini will lead the discussion of Chapter 11, Early Christian and Byzantine Church Singing.
The following link will provide a summary of the material that will be covered:
See the emailed newsletter for Zoom login info.
Finance Update
Thanks to be great mercy of the Most Holy Trinity and thanks to your really consistent giving, we ended June with a surplus of $500. The reason the surplus wasn’t greater is because we spent right at $6,000 dealing with a plumbing emergency (which could have been much worse) and purchasing new picnic tables (which we had been intending to do for some time). At this point, the surplus for the year is around $48,000, which seems like a whole lot, but we still need to get the old parking lot replaced and that means we will have a lot of expenses between now and the end of the year. So, please check with Realm or one of the Finance Guys (Nick Crown and Arun Jacob) to make sure that you’re caught up with your commitment and, if you can, please give a little more to help out those folks who haven’t been able to give as much as they planned.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
“Oh, I was just ducking in for a moment!” “I’m sorry, I forgot.” “I’ll just put my hand over my mouth.” Those are some of the things we say when we find ourselves in the bookstore without a mask. However, we have disposal masks that we can all use in the store and, when we forget to put one of those on, we prevent someone who would really like to be in the store from just browsing or purchasing something they might actually need. So, please do what the sign on the door says and be courteous and wear a mask, whenever you are in the bookstore.
—
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 Hallie Martin. We prefer elephant polo to horse polo (the Divot Stomp is just a whole lot more fun) and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.