Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord
The King Herod Pinata has arrived, the processional path has been cleared, and the locusts and honey are on their way! This coming Sunday, June 22, we will be anticipating our parish feast day with all sorts of great activities (bring your dancing shoes), so plan on hanging around during Fellowship Hour for some Forerunner Fun.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The Apostles' Fast begins on Monday, June 16, and runs through Saturday, June 28. During this season, we observe the regular fasting discipline (no meat, dairy products, most kinds of fish, oil, wine, and hard liquor) on Wednesdays and Fridays, with a blessing for wine and oil on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Fish, wine, and oil are permitted on Saturday and Sunday and on our parish feast day, June 24. If you need to adjust the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
Daily Services
Monday, June 16-Friday, June 20; Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (there will not be any daily services Wednesday-Friday of this week as Father Aidan will be at the Parish Life Conference; but, when it comes to the daily services, it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure nothing has come up to change the regular schedule). However, Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Orthodox Faith” by St John of Damascus. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
In addition to the daily Synaxarion readings posted in the #synaxarion channel on Discord, the online team is now posting daily Bible Readings that will allow you to read through the Bible in a year. These readings are posted in the #bible-365 channel.
Tuesday June 17
Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, June 18
Akathist to the Apostles 7pm
Thursday, June 19
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition
Saturday, June 21
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, June 22 First Sunday of St Matthew
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour with Beating of the Bounds, Live Music, The King Herod Pinata, Locusts, Honey, and The Salome Swing
Coming Up
During the Apostles' Fast, it is the custom in our parish to offer The Akathist to the Apostles each Wednesday evening. During this service, we pray for those who are not yet part of the Church and for those who have fallen away from the Faith. This year, we will be offering the service twice, on Wednesday, June 18, and Wednesday, June 25, at 7pm. All of us can make at least one of those services, and all of us should do so, since all of us know folks who are not yet part of the Church or who have fallen away from the Faith.
The memorial service during Great Vespers this coming Saturday will be for Alexey & Galina E., departed parishioners and parents/in-laws of Elena and Ricardo C. Alexey was buried in Moscow in 2021, where his dear widow Galina lived nearby until departing this life just a week ago on June 12th. Please click on the attachment that accompanies the email version of this newsletter to learn a little bit about their interesting lives; maybe a detail or two will come to mind as you sing "Memory Eternal" to our departed brother and sister in Christ.
This year, our parish feast day, June 24, falls on a Tuesday. We’ll serve Great Vespers at 7pm on Monday, June 23, and then on Tuesday morning, the 24th, we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am. However, this coming Sunday, June 22, we will observe the Annual Beating of the Bounds with the ever-popular King Herod Pinata and St John’s Honey and Locusts, and, this year, we will be adding dancing (The Salome Swing) to our celebration, so plan on joining us throughout the first three days of that week.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
Many of us change our phone numbers and our email addresses on a regular basis. However, if we forget to update our parish community on those changes, folks are going to have a difficult time getting a hold of us—and, in an emergency, that can be a big problem. So, this week, please go to the membership page on our new website and check to make sure that all your contact information is current; if you discover that you need to make any changes, please send that information to Father Andrew Wilson (you might also make sure that you have the correct contact information for our clergy entered into your phone).
an unworthy priest
aidan