During the Nativity Fast, we will be serving the Nativity Paraclesis on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. We will offer the service on November 27, and also on December 4, 11, and the 18th. Our hope is that everyone will do their best to join us for at least one of the evenings, but, of course, you’re welcome to attend as often as you would like.

The vigil will be served on the night of Friday, August 30, and into the morning of Saturday, August 31. August 31 is the feast day of St Eanswythe of Folkestone, the Patroness of our Capital Campaign, and, with that vigil, we will also begin gathering the information for our Three Year Pledges.

A vigil is a series of services that are offered back to back; typically that’s done at night. Most of us are familiar with the Paschal Vigil, which is simply The Midnight Office, Orthros, and the Divine Liturgy all run together. However, for special saints and special occasions, it’s customary to also offer a vigil—and, for our parish, Eanswythe of Folkestone is definitely one of our favorite saints, and the only occasion that will be more exciting than kicking off fund-raising for our new temple will be the completion and consecration of that new facility. So offering a vigil just makes sense.

Here is the specific schedule for the services that will begin on the night of Friday, August 30th:

• 11:00 pm - Little Compline with the Canon of Preparation for Holy Communion and the Akathist Hymn

• Around 11:50pm - Great Vespers with Litia and Artoklasia

• Around 12:50am - Festal Orthros

• Around 2:35am - Divine Liturgy (which will wrap up about 4am on Saturday, August 31)

And, no, you don’t have to stay up all night. Vigils are designed to be come and go events. However, since this series of services is going to be so very historic, you are, for sure, going to want to be able to tell your godchildren and grandchildren that you were there. And let’s be honest: There’s no reason why single folks can’t stay up all night on a Friday. And as far as folks with families are concerned, one parent can represent the whole family while the other stays home with the children. Bottom line: This just isn’t something you want to miss.

And don’t forget: We’ve already put our new St Eanswythe Reliquary on display back during the Pascha Book Study, but, during her Vigil, we will open the reliquary up. That means you will be able to reverence the cloth that was blessed on our Patroness’ skull, and that will be a wonderful opportunity to intercede, not only for all those that you love, but also for the quick completion of our new temple.

This year our Fall Theological Seminar promises to be a whole lot of fun. We’re going to be reading a book by a Protestant pastor; the book is called Stability, and it’s available in the bookstore. But we’re not only going to be talking about the spiritual advantages—and challenges—of sticking it out in a particular community, we’re also going to be talking with folks in our parish who have done just that. Below is the schedule for the readings and the interviews. We will be meeting in the parish house each Wednesday evening at 7pm through the start of Nativity Lent, and, while we will have an online option available for those folks who live at a distance, let’s not forget that the conversation is always richer and more meaningful if you are actually present.

• Aug 28 Introduction: Stability, History, and Holy Orthodoxy

• Sept 4 Reading Assignment: A True Story. Guest: Pat K.

• Sept 11 Reading Assignment: Introduction. Guest: Vera P.

• Sept 18 Reading Assignment: Chapter 1. Stability and God. Guests: Rob and Becky T.

• Sept 25 Reading Assignment: Chapter 2. Stability and Self. Guests: Matt and Valerie G.

• Oct 2 Reading Assignment: Chapter 3. Stability and Relationships Guest: Rick K.

• Oct 9 Reading Assignment: Chapter 4. Stability and Place. Guests: Jerry and Maggie B.

• Oct 16 Reading Assignment: Chapter 5. Stability and Change. Guests: Chris and Sarah S.

• Oct 23 Reading Assignment: Chapter 6. Practices of Stability. Guest: Baker G.

• Oct 30 Reading Assignment: Chapter 7. Where Do We Stay From Here? p 125-134. Guest: Mary K.

• Nov 6 Reading Assignment: Chapter 7. Where Do We Stay From Here? p 134-148. Guests: John and Lindsey B.

• Nov 13 Conclusion: The Final Stability

This coming weekend will be especially busy and especially joyful because Sunday is the Great Feast of Pentecost and that following Monday, June 24, is our parish feast day, The Nativity of the Forerunner. So, here’s what the schedule will look like:

• Saturday, June 22, is the final Saturday of Souls for 2024. We will offer Orthros at 6am and serve the Divine Liturgy at 8am; that evening we will serve Great Vespers for Pentecost, and then we will Beat the Bounds, processing around our property, blessing the land and all the creatures, and whupping up on our King Herod piñata.

• Sunday, June 23, is the Great Feast of Pentecost. We will keep the usual Sunday morning schedule—Orthros at 8am with Divine Liturgy at 10am, then we will have our Annual Pentecost Picnic (featuring, in honor of the Holy Forerunner, fried locusts and wild honey), and then, no later than 1pm, we will offer the beautiful service of Kneeling Vespers, which, this year, will be combined with hymns for the Nativity of the Forerunner

• Monday, June 24, is our parish feast day, and we will offer Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am.

We hope to see you at all the Divine Services, and we hope you will join us for all the fun activities!

THE SCHEDULE FOR HOLY WEEK

SUNDAY, APRIL 28

Palm Sunday

• Orthros 8am

• Divine Liturgy 10am

• Bridegroom Orthros 6pm

MONDAY, APRIL 29

Great and Holy Monday

• Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am

• Bridegroom Orthros 7pm

TUESDAY, APRIL 30

Great and Holy Tuesday

• Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am

• Bridegroom Orthros 7pm

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

Great and Holy Wednesday

• Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6am

• Service of Holy Unction 7pm

THURSDAY, MAY 2

Great and Holy Thursday

• Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St Basil 6am

• Service of the Twelve Holy Gospels 7pm

FRIDAY, MAY 3

Great and Holy Friday

• Royal Hours 9am

• Descent from the Cross Vespers Noon

• Service of Lamentations 7pm

SATURDAY, MAY 4

Great and Holy Saturday

• Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St Basil 8am

• Services of the Great and Holy Pascha 11pm

SUNDAY, MAY 5

The Great and Holy Pascha

• Agape Vespers 2pm

• Paschal Picnic 3pm

This year, the Saturdays of Souls fall on March 9 and March 30, as well as on April 6 and June 22. On those Saturdays, we pray for our departed friends and loved ones, but we also prepare for our departure from this life, and our Burial Society can help us with a lot of those practical details. Members of the society will be present on March 9 and April 6, along with a representative from Beck Funeral Home, and they can answer all your questions and help get you started on that process that so very many of us just try to postpone (on those Saturdays, a light breakfast will also be provided). Since there are four Saturdays of Souls, our hope is that all of us will attend the Divine Services on at least one of those days, so look at your calendar and go ahead and pick a Saturday on which you can join us.

• Orthros - 6am

• Divine Liturgy - 8am

During the Nativity Fast, we always offer the Nativity Paraclesis on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. This year, there will be six of those services—on November 15, 22, 29 and December 6, 13, 20—so all of us should be able to make at least one of them. So please go ahead and note on your calendar the services in which you will be able to participate.

Iconography represents, perhaps, the most visibly distinctive aspect of Holy Orthodoxy. The icons are certainly beautiful and immersive, yet they are not just images that are nice to have, they are not optional, they are absolutely central to our worship, our understanding of salvation, and the work of the Church in the world. As such, this year we are devoting the entire Fall Theological Seminar to iconography. In the first three sessions, we will be discussing the theology of the icon with a particular emphasis on how we encounter them in the world and in our worship. Having laid that foundation, the remainder of the sessions will be dedicated to a discussion of the icons in our future temple.

The seminar will begin on Wednesday, September 6th, and it will meet each Wednesday night at 7pm through November 8th. For those who want to join in person, we will meet in the nave of the Long Hall. For those who want to join online, the seminar will be streamed via Discord.

Session 1 – September 6th

• Icons in Theology: Facing Down Iconoclasm

Session 2 – September 13th

• Icons as our Teachers: The Visual Language of Icons and Icon Programming

Session 3 – September 20th

• Icons in the Liturgy: Memory, Participation, and Healing

Capital Campaign Kickoff Weekend – September 23rd and 24th

Session 4 – September 27th

• Purpose of a Temple; Historical Precedents for Orthodox Basilicas, Murals Scope, Organization, and Momentum

Session 5 – October 4th

• Principals of Festal Mural Design: Graphical and Theological Principles

Session 6 – October 11th

• Narthex East Wall, Nave East Wall, Apse, and Nave High Murals Part 1

Session 7 – October 18th

• Nave High Murals Part 2, Side Aisles, Narthex West Wall

Session 8 – October 25th

• Interactive Workshop: Oratory, Prothesis, and Lunettes

Session 9 – November 1st

• Interactive Workshop: Narthex Side Walls, Medallions, Arcade Intradoses, and Calming Room

Session 10 – November 8th

• Color Studies, Temple Materials, Liturgical Furniture, Hardware, Flooring, Light Fixtures, Other Media, Conclusion

We will wrap up the old year with our first non-Paschal All Night Vigil in honor of St. Eanswythe of Folkestone. St. Eanswythe has been the patroness of our building program for the last ten years, and we are serving the vigil as a prayerful way to officially kick off the first round of fundraising for our new temple. The All Night Vigil is actually made up of five services: Little Compline, Great Vespers, Litia and Artoklasia, Orthros, and the Divine Liturgy. The services will start at 10pm, and will likely last well into the early morning. We are thinking it will take about 5-6 hours to complete, but we aren’t totally sure since we’ve never done this before. Of course, everyone is welcome to come and pray with us. You don’t have to stay for the whole service. Feel free to come and go as you please, even if you can only drop by for 30 minutes. The Holy Fathers say there is a special blessing in night prayer, so this is your chance to experience that while also asking that the Most Holy Trinity, the Theotokos, and St. Eanswythe would make firm the foundation of our new temple.