This year Forgiveness Sunday falls on February 14. Please make plans now to join us for one of the most important services in the yearly life of our parish. Great Lent is a special time of repentance – of seeking forgiveness from the Lord and seeking to change ourselves so that we improve spiritually with God’s help. However, if we wish to receive forgiveness from God we must first seek forgiveness from our parish family members. Our Lord makes this clear to us in His own words:

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

Before the Lord will accept our gift of repentance we must first seek forgiveness from our brothers, that is, our friends and loved ones, and especially our parish family with which we share our faith and our spiritual lives. The order of forgiveness gives us this opportunity. Fr. Gregory recommends in the strongest possible terms that each and every one of our parish family, both children and adults, participate in this most meaningful rite of the Holy Church. This is ESPECIALLY true if you are harboring a grudge against someone that you are likely to see at this service. Let us be diligent in asking forgiveness of our brother that our gift of repentance to the Lord will be accepted by Him with gladness! The order of forgiveness is held immediately after Vespers on February 14. Vespers follows immediately after the Liturgy that day (before the coffee hour). Please start your Great Lenten journey the right way and join us for Forgiveness Vespers!

Today we cease to eat meat until Pascha (which is April 4 this year), but for this week we are allowed to consume fish and dairy products for the express purpose of cleaning out our refrigerators and homes so that next Monday, when we begin the Great and Holy Lent, there will be none of these items left to tempt us. Please plan to attend the Forgiveness Sunday services next Sunday so that we all, as a parish family, start Great Lent in the right way - having asked forgiveness of each other!

In order to help increase the general knowledge of scripture in our parish family we present here for your edification the scripture readings for the coming week. At least one Gospel Reading and one Epistle reading are assigned for each day of the year. Hearing or reading only those readings appointed for Sunday merely scratches the surface of the great spiritual wealth that the scriptures provide us. Some of the readings are easily understandable – others are less so. As Orthodox Christians we do not make private interpretation of scripture, but rather consult the fathers of the Church for their explanations to aid us in our understanding. Those wishing to have access to such explanations are asked to contact Fr. Gregory or inquire in the kiosk for further reading in this regard. Bibles may also be acquired in the kiosk.

Monday: III John 1:1-14 & Luke 19:29-40,22:7-39
Tuesday: Jude 1:1-10 & Luke 22:39-42,22:45-23:1
Wednesday: Joel 2:12-26 & Joel 3:12-21
Thursday: Jude 1:11-25 & Luke 23:1-34,44-56
Friday: Zechariah 8:7-17 & Zechariah 9:18-23
Saturday: Romans 14:19-26 & Matthew 6:1-13

Please find below several very nice articles on how to read the scripture from an Orthodox point of view.

By St. Justin (Popovich):

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/bible_how.aspx

By Bishop Kalistos (Ware):

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/phronema/ware_howto.aspx

This short article explains to us not just HOW to read the scriptures, but also what our goal should be in reading the scriptures. A short read and well worth it:

http://www.chrysostompress.org/reading-scripture

As noted in the article above we need God's help and blessing to read and understand the scriptures correctly. What better way to entreat God's help in this regard than through prayer? Please find the prayer before reading the scriptures here:

http://www.chrysostompress.org/prayer-b ... -scripture

Our weekly bulletin, "Sunday Reading", has been posted at the following link:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/SundayRea ... eading.pdf

Please remember in your daily prayers this week our ill, traveling, and unemployed parishioners and friends found on this list.

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/SundayRea ... erlist.pdf

To have persons added or removed from this list please contact Fr. Gregory.

Please find coverage of Bishop Peter's recent visit to St. Vladimir's on our Diocesan Web Site at this link:

http://www.chicagodiocese.org/news_100203_1.html

Thank you again to all who made His Grace's visit such a resounding success!

Prosphora is sent into the altar with the names of living and departed friends and loved ones. Small pieces are taken from the prosphora in memory of these loved ones and placed on the discos. After the communion of the faithful at the Liturgy the small pieces are lowered into the chalice with a special prayer asking God to wash away their sins. The prosphora are sent back to the kiosk where the faithful may gather them. Recently we have noticed that people occasionally throw the prosphora in the garbage or eat it as they would other food and we would like to provide a small instruction in this regard. Prosphora should be eaten carefully. Ideally crumbs should not be allowed to fall to the floor. For this reason parents must help their children to eat the prosphora, perhaps breaking off pieces and giving them these rather than the entire prosphora. Prosphora should be eaten with prayer – prayer for those who were commemorated when the prosphora was sent to the altar. The best practice is to take the prosphora home and cut it into small pieces – enough so that each of the family member may partake of the prosphora with some Holy Water before breakfast each day and pray for those friends and loved ones who were also prayed for at the Liturgy. If prosphora get stale or moldy they should be brought to the church to be burned. They may also be buried, or in an extreme case thrown into moving water (such as a river). Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions you may have regarding prosphora or other spiritual things.

The latest schedule of services and activities at St. Vladimir's has been posted on our web site and will be distributed via our email and mailing lists to our parishioners in the next few days. Please click the "Related Link" below or see the link at the top of the page entitled "Complete Schedule of Services". To join our mailing list please email info@stvladimiraami.org.

Dear parishioners,

In the role of a newly elected Head Sister of the Sisterhood, I wish to extend my warm invitation to all St. Vladimir’s parishioners to share in the regular coffee-hour efforts. Namely, I want to ask every family and single parishioners to consider volunteering their time, energy, and/or resources once, twice or three times per year (more, if you wish). I would appoint an experienced sister to guide and help you every step of the way in arranging an easy and pleasant coffee-hour for the parish. This will allow everyone to participate in this meaningful and highly satisfying endeavor. If you are unable to stay for or help during the coffee-hour, but still would like to participate, we are accepting donations to cover the coffee-hour expenses. And vice versa, if you are able to help, but wish to be reimbursed for the expenses, we are glad to do that as well. Please contact me ASAP with your availability, preferred degree of participation and questions. My email is headsister@stvladimiraami.org or cell (734) 717-6814.

Thank you!

Zhanna Skalitzky

Please do not forget our wonderful annual blini dinner this Sunday immediately after the Divine Liturgy! This is always a very pleasant event, and helps us to begin to come to terms with the fact that Great Lent is just around the corner. Also on this day Fr. Gregory celebrates his name’s day and he and Elizabeth and their family invite all our parish family and friends to their home that evening to celebrate the feast of St. Gregory the Theologian. Details on the blini dinner and the reception at Fr. Gregory's home can be found at the link below – please join us for both!

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/blini10.pdf

We would like to thank all those that made our parish goodbye to our brother in Christ Fredrick Pallas so beautiful. The choir sang marvelously, our Sisterhood prepared a wonderful dinner and cleaned the church beautifully, and many others worked diligently and anonymously for the glory of God to make the services and the entire farewell comforting for Rick’s family. Although we grieve for our loss this was a wonderful showing of Christian Service by our parish family – exactly in line with the sorts of good works that we hope all our parish family members will participate in regularly in 2010 – our year of Christian Service at St. Vladimir’s. Thank you all!

We present here a short educational offering for both children and adults. Parents are asked to review the children’s portion with their children. It is very important for us to attend the Divine Services on Sundays and whenever else we are able, but in addition it is our spiritual responsibility to educate ourselves and our families in the faith. It is our hope that this mid-week offering will be an aid in this regard. Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions or suggestions.

For Adults – The Explanation of last Sunday’s Gospel Appointed Reading from Blessed Theophylact:

http://www.chrysostompress.org/gospel-c ... entecost34

For Children – Various activities for various ages based on the last Sunday's Gospel reading:

http://www.antiochian.org/sites/antioch ... -01-31.pdf

Each year following the feast of the Theophany (the Lord’s Baptism – January 19) it is a traditional and pious custom to have one’s home blessed by the priest. This year homes will be blessed until the fifth week of Great Lent by Fr. Gregory or Fr. Michael. Please contact one of our priests to arrange your house blessing as soon as possible. Houses will not be blessed the first week of Great Lent due to the many Divine Services that week.

Our St. Xenia Sisterhood held their annual meeting on Sunday, January 31. At the meeting many issues important to the Sisterhood were discussed and resolved. In addition, a new Sisterhood Council was elected:

Head Sister: Zhanna (Ioanna) Skalitzky
Assistant Head Sisters: Elena Kashchenko, Leta (Ksenia) Nikulshina, Olga Noll
Treasurer: Katherine Fomicheva
Secretary: Elizabeth Joyce

We congratulate all on their elections and thank those who served on the Sisterhood Council last year but chose not to run this year: Gloria Hovan and Tatiana Scrochi.

All women of the parish are strongly urged to provide their contact information to the Sisterhood so that they can be made aware of Sisterhood activities and join in those activities that are interesting and compelling to them. To share your information with the Sisterhood please email info@stvladimiraami.org or contact any of the Sisterhood Council members listed above.

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful annual meeting on Sunday, January 24! The reports given were all very informative and positive. The draft minutes, which were sent to Bishop Peter for his approval, appear below, as well as copies of the reports submitted in writing to the annual meeting. We would like to point out the positive trend evident in the reports. We increased in average numbers kissing the cross, partaking of Holy Communion, and in membership. We also increased our collections. Thank you to all who worked so hard to make 2009 a wonderful year at St. Vladimir’s! With God’s help and the hard work of our parish family we hope to make 2010 even better!

A new Parish Council was elected at the annual meeting. The Parish Council members are:

Starosta: Karl (Mercurius) Meyer
Treasurer: Molly (Sophia) Martincheck
Secretary: Helen Gabl
Trustees: Scott (Dimitry) Gusakov, Dimitry Kashchenko, Dimitry Knysh, Leta (Ksenia) Nikulshina, and Konstantin Poplavsky

We would like to thank those that served last year on the Parish Council but who chose not to run again this year: Don (Basil) Griffiths, Gloria Hovan, Eugene Poplavsky, and Tamara Real.

Annual Meeting Minutes & Reports:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/pamphlets ... es2010.pdf

We are very pleased to publish with the permission of Cyril Yanov (the son of the author and English translator of this work) “A Missionary’s Notes – The Pskov Mission” for the edification of our St. Vladimir’s family and friends. Please find a link to the booklet below in English. Note that the original was published in 1952 and is appropriately dated and in the context of the time it was written. We will also publish on-line the original Russian text in the next few weeks. We thank C. Yanov for his permission to publish this memoir and ask the prayers of our St. Vladimir’s parishioners for the Orthodox Christian Missionaries, past and present, who dedicate their lives to the service of the Lord in bringing the good news of the Gospel to those who have not yet heard it. May the Lord reward them for their service!

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/pamphlets ... spskov.pdf

During the cold winter months, just as during the hot summer months, we sometimes forget the necessity of dressing appropriately for church services. We include below a helpful guide for appropriate dress in church. If it is too cold to wear appropriate clothes to church we ask you to bring the appropriate clothes and change in the wash rooms before the Divine Services begin. Thank you very much for supporting our parish family by conforming to these important standards (which are applicable to all Divine Services – not just Sunday Divine Liturgy)!

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/properattire.pdf

Please note that Great Lent begins this year on February 15. The week previous to this is a week where all foods are allowed except for meat. During Great Lent we abstain from meat and dairy products including fish (although fish is allowed on Palm Sunday – March 28). Let us recall that fasting is a tool given to us by God to aid us spiritually. For some it is easy to fast, for others it is difficult. However, what is most important is that we make a sincere effort to follow the fast. Why? Simply because the fast helps us to see our sins by helping us to focus spiritually. Eating “light” foods, or perhaps rather, abstaining from “heavy” foods such as meats and cheeses, allows us to be less focused on our stomachs and more focused on our souls, and of course, in this season when we undergo our journey to the Resurrection of our Lord we dearly wish to improve ourselves spiritually that we might meet the risen Christ better than we were when we began Great Lent. St. John Chrysostom writes that we abstain from meats that we might abstain from our sins. This nicely sums up the reason the Holy Church, as a loving mother, gives us the gift of fasting. Pascha is April 4 – may God grant us all a spiritually profitable Great Lent!

The Holy Church appoints several special Saturdays throughout the year on which we especially commemorate our departed friends and loved ones. At St. Vladimir’s we serve a general pannykhida on those days in the afternoon before Vigil. Please note the dates of these commemorations this year surrounding Great Lent: February 6, February 27, March 6, and March 13. To arrange for your departed loved ones to be commemorated at the pannykhida please contact Fr. Gregory

Perhaps the single best way that we can prayerfully help our friends and families is by seeing to it that they are commemorated at the Divine Liturgy. One can read an interesting account of indeed how important such commemoration is here:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/pamphlets ... hedead.pdf

At St. Vladimir's we want to help facilitate the commemoration of your friends and loved ones at the Divine Liturgy. We have established a web page dedicated to helping you in this regard. Please visit our web page below and please make every effort to help your friends and loved ones through prayerful commemorations at St. Vladimir's!

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/commemora ... ions.shtml

This Sunday we will continue to sing “Our Father” together. This will be the case going forward on most Sundays at St. Vladimir’s. Over time, as we become more accustomed to this, we will sing this nearly every Sunday (with the exception of some major feast days). We will rotate singing in Church Slavonic and English using this handout (this will also be handed out on Sundays before we sing for those who would like to refer to it):

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/sheetmusi ... andout.pdf

English speakers will note that we have transliterated the Church Slavonic prayer so that we all may sing together (which is the main thrust of this effort). Please review the transliteration so that you become familiar with it. If you have any trouble with the pronunciation please feel free to ask Fr. Gregory, Fr. John, or one of our Slavonic readers for help.

Bishop Peter asked on his last visit that we also sing the Symbol of Faith together on Sundays. Once we have mastered "Our Father" as a group we will begin to work on the Symbol of Faith. More information in that regard will be forthcoming.

Of course whenever we come to church we want to behave appropriately. After all, the church is God’s house. We believe this little two-page pamphlet is very helpful in this regard. The pamphlet is in both English and Russian and includes the meaning of the bright lampadas above the Royal Doors at St. Vladimir’s. We suggest that all our parishioners review this pamphlet and we thank you kindly for doing so!

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/pamphlets ... church.pdf

Please see Fr. Gregory with questions.

Students have returned to UM and EMU and they need rides to church! Can you help? The few minutes you take to swing by campus WILL make a difference in the lives of these young people. Fr. Gregory recalls his freshman year at UM and how Milo & Olga picked him up nearly every Sunday. Unquestionably these weekly trips to St. Vladimir’s were crucial for his spiritual development. Many others have also been ministered to in this way. Let us continue this wonderful tradition of service in our parish! Please contact Fr. Gregory if you can help.

Bishop Peter will be leading a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land this coming spring. Given Bishop Peter’s knowledge of the Holy Land, his over 30 pilgrimage trips to the Holy Land, and his experience as the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in the Holy Land, there is really no better leader of a pilgrimage of this sort. Please consider participating in this potentially once in a lifetime trip! For more information please see one of the files below.

English:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/bi ... ge2010.pdf

Russian:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/bi ... 010_ru.pdf

The economy in Michigan is poor. Many people have lost their jobs. If you have gotten to the point that you cannot afford to come to St. Vladimir’s due to the travel costs involved PLEASE contact Fr. Gregory (ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org or 734-649-5746). We have limited resources, so this program is only for those in truly difficulty circumstances. However, if you cannot afford to come to church we will make every effort to help you. We can only help if you ask – so please do! We WANT to help! St. Vladimir parishioners that would like to help with this program by making donations are asked to contact our Treasurer, Eugene Poplavsky (treasurer@stvladimiraami.org) or our Starosta, Karl Meyer (starosta@stvladimiraami.org).

St. Vladimir’s now has a fan page on Face Book. Look for us as “St. Vladimir Orthodox Church, ROCOR”. Become a fan if you are on Face Book and keep up with the latest in St. Vladimir’s news and events!