Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Holy Week is finally here! Please read through all the important information in this week’s newsletter, and please plan on joining us at the Divine Services as often as you can.
Also, it costs a lot to make our temple beautiful during Holy Week; you can help off-set some of that expense by putting some money if the Flower Collection Basket that will be in the nave.
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. Great and Holy Saturday, April 11 is a strict fasting day. If you need to modify that discipline in any way, please speak with your spiritual father as soon as possible.
Daily Services
There are no daily services during Holy Week. However, Fr. Andrew, Father Deacon Seraphim, and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading The Collected Homilies of St Gregory Palamas . 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.
Great and Holy Monday, April 6
Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am
Bridegroom Orthros 7pm
Great and Holy Tuesday, April 7
Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am
Bridegroom Orthros 7pm
Great and Holy Wednesday, April 8
Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am
Service of Holy Unction 7pm
Great and Holy Thursday, April 9
Vesperal Divine Liturgy 6am
Service of the Twelve Holy Gospels 7pm
Great and Holy Friday, April 10
Royal Hours 9am
Descent from the Cross Vespers Noon
Service of Lamentations 7pm
Great and Holy Saturday, April 11
Vesperal Liturgy 8am
Midnight Office, Orthros, and Paschal Divine Liturgy 11pm
The Great and Holy Pascha, April 12
Agape Vespers 2pm
Paschal Picnic 3pm
Coming Up
The link to the sign-up sheet to read the Gospel at Agape Vespers is 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 22, 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
The Feast of Feasts is this coming weekend, so here are all of Paschal Moments of Grace and Courtesy:
During the Paschal Services on Saturday night/Sunday morning, if young children need to sleep, then they must be A) in the parish house with a family member or friend, or B) held in the arms or on the lap of a family member in the nave. Please do not, under any circumstances, allow your children to sleep on the floor of the nave, the narthex, the cry room, or the kitchen. This is not safe, and our ushers have been instructed to remind parents and grandparents that children are not allowed to sleep in these locations. Also, please remember that if your children are going to sleep in the parish house, there must be a family member with them at all times; they are not to be left alone for any reason.
Pre-school children should not be given lighted candles. Battery operated candles are available at craft stores, and that is what pre-school children should use. Parents and grandparents should use their best judgment when it comes to allowing elementary-age children to hold a lighted candle. This is not only a safety issue (hot wax can cause bad burns; hair and clothing can blaze up quickly and unexpectedly); it also takes a great deal of work to remove wax from the carpet. Again, our ushers have been instructed to remind parents that very young children should not be given lighted candles.
Please remember to bring extra food for the Paschal Feast early Sunday morning. Godparents, if this is your godchild's first Pascha, please teach them about the feast and encourage them to bring food and join in. If you have friends who have been visiting the parish but aren't yet catechumens, please let them know about the feast so they can participate.
Please do not bring food that requires cooking or warming up or extensive preparation; there simply isn't room for that in our kitchen. Also, if you bring food that requires refrigeration, you also need to bring an ice chest; there simply isn't room in our refrigerators.
Please leave your food in your vehicle until after the Pascha services have ended. Once we have all reverenced the cross and received our red eggs, there will be plenty of time to get the food and get organized; however, we simply won't have room for all the food during the services.
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