Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Since we are now in the Fifth Week of The Fast, this coming Wednesday night, April 17, instead of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, we will be offering the Service of Small Compline with The Life of St Mary of Egypt and The Canon of St Andrew of Crete. This coming Friday, April 19, we will also be offering the final Akathist Service of the season. Both services will begin at 7pm; please plan on joining us.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The traditional fasting discipline is that we go without meat (beef, pork, chicken, and fish with backbones), dairy products, oil, wine, and hard liquor through Pascha, Sunday, May 5 (there is a blessing for fish, wine, and oil on Saturdays and Sundays). If you need to modify that discipline in any way, please speak with your spiritual father as soon as possible.
Daily Services
Monday, April 15—Friday, April 19: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (please remember that if you plan on attending the in-person services, it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure the regular schedule will be observed).
Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Ethics of Beauty”. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Also, our online team will now be reading the Daily Synaxarion on Discord. Just look for this channel: #synaxarion
Monday, April 15
Great Compline 7pm
Tuesday, April 16
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, April 17
Small Compline with the Life of St Mary of Egypt and The Canon of St Andrew 7pm
Thursday, April 18
The Bible Study, New Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Friday, April 19
The Akathist Hymn 7pm
Saturday, April 20
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, April 21
The Fifth Sunday in Great Lent
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
St Thomas School
On Saturday, April 20, St Thomas School will be hosting our next Catechumen Cohort Check-In. This session is designed for all the catechumens, their sponsors, and for everyone is in interested in becoming a catechumen or a sponsor. We will be looking at the calendar together, answering everyone’s questions, and generally just getting a read on how everyone is progressing on their journey to full reception in the Church. Please plan on joining us at 4pm in the Parish House.
Coming Up
Please help us adorn the bier, nave and narthex for Pascha weekend by contributing to the Flower Fund. Simply log into your Realm account, go to Giving>Give>Fund>Flower Fund, and select the amount of your donation. This is a beautiful way to honor both Christ's entombment and Resurrection!
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 during Holy Week, so that means we now have just two weeks to get that done. Holy Confession is available on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers or just about any other time with a specific appointment (our priests do not hear immediate-request-on-the-spot confessions).
The Paschal Book Study
Every year, we build upon the spiritual blessings that we acquire during Great Lent by participating in The Pascha Book Study. The study always begins on Bright Wednesday—this year, that will be on May 8—and it runs every Wednesday evening through the entire season (the final Wednesday evening, we all attend Great Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension). The group begins at 7pm, and, this year, we’re going to be working our way through the text of The Akathist for a New Temple. We’ve been reading through that long hymn for just about a year now, but, during those five Wednesday evenings, we’re going to be talking about all the Biblical references and all the saints that are in the poem, and we will also be talking about what that means for our Capital Campaign which will officially begin in just a few months. That will be fun, but, on the final Wednesday evening, we will also have a very special surprise that you simply won’t want to miss, so, if you don’t already have a copy of the Akathist, pick one up at Christ the Lightgiver (start praying through it each week), and plan on joining us May 8, 15, 22, 29, and June 5.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
It’s time to start reviewing our annual Paschal Moments of Grace and Courtesy. Here’s one that’s brand new:
Many children—and adults—like to play with confetti filled eggs during the Paschal Feast and Agape Vespers. When these eggs are broken, colorful confetti comes out, but that confetti is then left lying on the ground for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. So, to keep our property looking good throughout the summer, starting this year, we’re going to ask that you not bring confetti eggs to any of the Paschal celebrations. If folks forget, our ushers have been asked to remind them.
an unworthy priest
aidan