Perhaps it has been some time since you came to Church – maybe even since your childhood. Please know that we WELCOME you at St. Vladimir’s. The Church is here for you – our Lord became incarnate for the salvation of all. If you have been away for a while please consider this your invitation: we WELCOME you at St. Vladimir’s! Please contact Fr. Gregory at 734-649-5746 or ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org with questions or concerns. Rest assured – you will be welcome as a part of our parish family!

The schedule of services for the first week can be found at this link:

GREAT LENT FIRST WEEK 2020
We simply cannot overstate this: EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND EVERY SERVICE OF THE FIRST WEEK OF GREAT LENT.

We know that won’t happen, and it probably isn’t realistic, but that should be our goal – this is what we should strive for. In fact, the canons of the Holy Church mandate that even if the services are not held in the parish church the clergy should read the services at home – because these services are SO IMPORTANT for our spiritual lives.

All services of the first week will be streamed live, so even if you can’t join us in person you can join us in prayer. Our live stream, which is on only during the Divine Services, can always be found at this link:

STV LIVE STREAM
Want to get a peek at the rest of Great Lent? Here is the full schedule – please pay special attention to Holy Week (the week before Pascha) when again – EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND EVERY SERVICE:

GREAT LENT FULL SCHEDULE 2020
We understand that this is just like the First Week – not truly possible for most. But if we don’t know what we should strive for we will never get there. May the Merciful Lord grant that we do our best every year to participate to the greatest extent possible in the Great Lenten Divine Services – especially the First Week and Holy Week!

OK - it isn't a NEW posting. But it is an important one! Please read and act according to your ability. If you need a ride to church please reach out: info@stvladimiraami.org or 734-475-4590.

FORGIVENESS SUNDAY - A MUST ATTEND

We present here a short educational offering for both children and adults on the upcoming Sunday's principle Gospel reading so that all can better prepare for the Divine Services. 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 All: from the Antiochian Archdiocese (various age groups)

Thank you to all who made yesterday’s annual parish assembly such a huge success! The tenor of the meeting was very positive and there were some great conversations about what we were able to do last year and what we hope to do this year as a parish family! Thank you to all who served in parish offices last year. This year’s parish office holders are:

Starosta: Jack (Alexey) Mitchell – Term Runs through 2022
Treasurer: Mikhail Fisenkov
Secretary: Lauren (Maria) Rogers
Parish Council Trustees: Marina Edwards, Dmitri Knysh*, Igor Obertas, Natalia Veniaminova
Auditing Committee: Deacon Vladimir Pyrozhenko*, Subdeacon Colin Bower, Michael Marsh
Editing Committee: Subdeacon Colin Bower & Zhanna Skalitzky

I look forward to working closely with all these outstanding volunteers for the good of our parish family!

Fr. Gregory

*Dmitri and Deacon Vladimir could not join us for the annual meeting, but with Archbishop Peter’s blessing they will continue in this position until we can hold a special meeting to elect them properly. Likely this meeting will take place after Pascha.

The week before Great Lent (this week) has a unique fasting regiment. This week we are allowed to eat fish and dairy products, but no meat. Here the Holy Church is helping us to prepare ourselves for a good start to Great Lent by allowing us to remove all the dairy products from our homes before Great Lent begins. During this week most folks will probably want a very good grilled cheese sandwich, or other cheesy treats. We should very much stress moderation this week, but it is probably OK to have a treat too. And this is a great opportunity to support our own Nick Vlisides’ sandwich shop “Nick’s Big Cheese Grill”. The shop is located at 2072 Whittaker Rd., Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Support our St. Vladimir’s businesses whenever you can! And start with stopping by Nick’s this week!

VISIT OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL TO SEE MORE

“During our earthly lives, we need to make sure we have a decent garment for our souls. Our soul garments are soiled by sin. You must repent immediately after you have committed a sin.”

Metroplitan Onuphry of Kiev & All Ukraine

"This is the cause of all evils: the ignorance of the Scriptures. We go into battle without arms, and how ought we to come off safe?" -St. John Chrysostom, Homily IX on Colossians.

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 (although during Great Lent the readings are from the Old Testament). 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 1:1-15 & 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 8:19-23
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

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

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