Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Saturday, following the Divine Liturgy, the Myrrhbearers invite you to join them in the Memorial Garden to pray for the departed who have stones laid there in remembrance of them. The choir will perform an encore of the Hymn "Rejoice O Bethany" in the garden, and after the prayers for the departed are completed, the Myrrhbearers will serve Desserts and Lazarakia Buns and invite you to adorn the stones with flowers.
The archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession prior to Pascha. Here in our parish, we do not offer the Mystery of Holy Confession after Lazarus Saturday, so that means we now have just one week in which to get that done. In addition to Saturday evenings after Great Vespers, Holy Confession is also available just about any other time with a specific appointment (our priests do not hear immediate-request-on-the-spot confessions).
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. In addition to processing with the palms, we will also be making folks catechumens and receiving folks into the Church through Holy Baptism and Chrismation. Please arrive early to participate in all the activities on this beautiful feast day.
Fasting Days
We are keeping the traditional fasting discipline in which we go without meat (beef, pork, chicken, and fish with backbones), dairy products, oil, wine, and hard liquor through Pascha, Sunday, April 12. If you need to modify that discipline in any way, please speak with your spiritual father as soon as possible.
Daily Services
Monday, March 30-Friday, April 2: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (please also check the schedule of Lenten 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 Hymn of Entry by Archimandrite Vasileios. 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.
Monday, March 30
Great Compline 7pm
Tuesday, March 31
The Inquirer’s Class 7pm
Wednesday, April 1
Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 7pm
Saturday, April 4 Lazarus Saturday
Orthros 7am
Divine Liturgy 9am
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, April 5 Palm Sunday
Orthros 7:30am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Bridegroom Orthros 6pm
Coming Up
The sign-up sheets for the Tomb Vigil and reading the Gospel at Agape Vespers are available in the email version of the newsletter.
This year, the Pascha Book Study will run from Wednesday, April 15-Wednesday, May 13. Dr Benedict H. will lead the discussion about Paul Kingsnorth's popular book Against the Machine. The group will be in-person only; it will meet in the parish house at 7pm. The bookstore has plenty of copies of the text, so pick one up soon.
Also starting on Wednesday, April 15, we will resume our weekday Divine Liturgies. Orthros will begin at 4am, and the Liturgy will begin at 6am.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
It’s time to start getting ready for the Feast of Feasts, so here is our next Paschal Moment of Grace and Courtesy:
Let’s all plan on dressing up for the Feast. It takes place over-night, but it’s not a slumber-party. Think prom or ball or banquet and dress accordingly.
Please do not bring confetti eggs to the parish; they make a huge mess, and they are really difficult to clean up. If you wish to use confetti eggs, wait until you get home.
Please plan on cleaning up after yourself and your children or grandchildren--even if your children or grandchildren aren't actually sitting with you during the Paschal Feast. Also, if your schedule will allow, please plan on helping clean up after the feast: we will need to put up all the tables and chairs, clean up the kitchen, take out the trash, wipe down the bathrooms and vacuum before Agape Vespers that afternoon
an unworthy priest
aidan