Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Holy Week begins this coming Saturday, April 27. If you have not already done so, please check the website calendar and identify the specific services in which you and your family will participate. Also, please remember that this coming Saturday will be the last opportunity we will have before Pascha to take part in the Mystery of Holy Confession.
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 22—Friday, April 26: 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 22
Great Compline 7pm
Tuesday, April 23
The Parish Council 7pm; this group will meet in The Parish House
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; this group will meet in the narthex of The Long Hall; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, April 24
The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 7pm
Thursday, April 25
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Saturday, April 27
Lazarus Saturday
Orthros 6am
Divine Liturgy 8am
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, April 28
Palm Sunday
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
St Thomas School
On Saturday, April 27, Benedict H. will be leading the discussion of chapter two of Volume V entitled, “Baptism and Chrismation” (pgs 46-76). Online access is available on Discord; like to participate online, you still need to sign-up ahead of time. Just send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by Thursday, April 25, to reserve your spot.
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 one week 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 review our annual Paschal Moments of Grace and Courtesy. Here are three that focus on food:
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 refrigerator.
Please leave your food in your vehicle until after the Pascha services have ended. Once we have all reverenced the cross, 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.
an unworthy priest
aidan