Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Our Arch Episcopal Vicar, Father Calinic Berger, would like all communities to do their best to participate in the feast days for the parishes in their deanery. Our mother parish, St Elias, will be celebrating their feast day this coming weekend, July 19-20, so, on that Saturday evening, July 19, we will not have St Thomas School or Great Vespers at our parish. Instead, we will join our brothers and sisters at St Elias’ downtown location for Great Vespers at 5pm and refreshments afterwards.
Sunday, July 20, is the Feast of St Elias, so, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, we will have our Annual Blessing of Vehicles. That means just as we clean up our homes and apartments before they can blessed, we need to wash and polish our sedans, SUVs, trucks, and roadsters and have them in the parking lot on that Sunday morning so the clergy can bless them with Holy Water as we process around the property.
Fasting Days
Wednesday, July 16 and Friday, July 18
Daily Services
Monday, July 14-Friday, July 18; Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (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 “Touching Heaven” by Father John Oliver. 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 July 15
Inquirer’s 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Thursday, July 17
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition on Discord
Saturday, July 19
On this particular Saturday, we will not be holding any classes or services at our parish. Instead, we will be at St Elias in downtown Austin to celebrate their feast day. Great Vespers will be offered at 5pm, followed by a reception and refreshments
Sunday, July 20 The Feast of the Holy Prophet Elias
Orthros 7:30am followed by Baptisms
Divine Liturgy with Blessing of Vehicles 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Church School Registration
Please note: Beginning this year, our Archdiocese is requiring all children who participate in Church School to register ahead of time. So, please read the following announcement carefully, and let us know if you have any questions.
It is time for church school registration for the 2025-26 school year!! As a reminder, children need to be at least 3 years of age by September 1, 2025 and potty trained to register for Level 1, 6 years of age to register for Level 2, and 9 years of age to register for Level 3. SOYO (youth) is for ages 13-18. If you have any questions about CGS (Levels 1-3), feel free to reach out to Sandi A. If you have any questions about SOYO, you can reach out to Father Aidan or Father Andrew. The new CGS calendar will be posted to our parish website shortly and like last year, CGS will be offered at its regular time (8:15 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Sunday morning) for the first three Sundays of each month. We would like to encourage you to register your child if you have any intention of them participating at all in the upcoming school year as it assists us tremendously with our planning. Please note that the first day of church school will be Sunday, September 7th. Look for the link for all church school registration on Discord.
Coming Up
On certain Sundays in July and August, we will be meeting in small groups to hear about next steps in our Building Program. Father Aidan is sending out email invitations to these sessions, so be watching for that note, and, if you don’t receive one in the next few weeks, just let him know, and he will get you into a group, because we want everyone to be able to participate in these meetings.
On Friday, August 1, we will begin the Dormition Fast. During this Fast, which runs through Wednesday, August 14th, the eve of the great feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, we observe the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, wine and olive oil) Monday through Friday with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday, and for fish, wine and olive oil on the great feast of the Transfiguration on Wednesday, August 6th. If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
During the Dormition Fast, we offer The Paraclesis to the Mother of God just about each week night between August 1 and August 13. That means, this year, there will be eight opportunities to participate in this lovely service, and that means all of us should be able to be present at least once during the fast. So please look at the website calendar and then look at your calendar and make plans to join us as we ask the Most Holy Theotokos for her intercessions.
Before the Feast of the Dormition on Thursday, August 15, the Archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession. In our parish, that Holy Mystery is offered on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers and just about any other time with a specific appointment.
Our sister community, Transfiguration Greek Orthodox parish in Westlake, will celebrate their feast day in August. They will offer Great Vespers on Tuesday, August 5, at 6pm, and on Wednesday, August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration, they will serve Orthros at 9am and Divine Liturgy at 10am. Their bishop will be present, refreshments will be served, and we are all invited.
Our sister community, St Luke's Serbian Orthodox parish in Leander, will be blessing the foundation for their new temple on Saturday, August 9. They will serve Great Vespers on Friday, August 8, at 6pm, and Divine Liturgy on Saturday, August 9, at 9am. Their bishop will be present, lunch will be served on Saturday, and we are all invited.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
We often run this announcement at Pascha, but, due to the fact that our nave is often crowded on normal Sundays, we need to repeat it more often: It is important that young children not lie down on the floor. Even if they are in close proximity to parents or older siblings, a child stretched out on the floor could cause others to trip and fall, and that could lead to serious injuries. If children need to move around in that way, please take them outside or over to the Parish House.
an unworthy priest
aidan