Our original appeal during the height of the pandemic crisis was very successful – and we are very thankful to all who provided prayerful and material support to our parish! We are coming out of quarantine now, but it is important that we convey to our parish family the needs of the parish. Please have a look at the letter at the link below. Then pray about this – ask the Lord to help you make the decision that makes the most sense to your family. We feel strongly that if all our parish family prayerfully consider this question all will be well.

STEWARDSHIP COMMUNICATION 6-1-20

As of Monday, June 1, the Michigan Stay at Home Order has been lifted. It is now possible for up to 100 people to gather, maintaining 6-foot distance, outside. Therefore, the late Divine Liturgy on Sundays will be held outside starting with Sunday, June 7. Mask are strongly recommended. Everyone household must maintain a 6-foot distance from every other household. Parish Council members will be available to help for those who have questions. Hands should be washed/sanitized at arrival, departure, and as needed on site.

Divine Services during the week will follow a new rule beginning on June 8. Each of the 18 physically spaced spots can be occupied by up to two people from the same household. Masks will continue to be required for the Divine Services inside the church. The sign up sheet for Monday, June 8 and going forward has been updated to reflect these changes. We appreciate your patience as we work out these new guidelines and how these apply to our parish. Except for the changes noted here we are still following our Quarantine Exit Plan. This can be found at the sign up sheet for this week (the sign up sheet has been modified to reflect the new plan for services inside the church):

SIGN UP FOR DIVINE SERVICES WEEK OF 5-31-20
Or the sign up sheet for next week:

SIGN UP FOR DIVINE SERVICES WEEK OF 6-8-20
Let us be diligent in making sure that St. Vladimir’s is a place that gives life – not that causes death. We hope that our zeal in following the Quarantine Exit Plan will help our state in our own small way to continue to exit the quarantine and never return!

Do you use Twitter? If so – please consider following us! We have a very active Twitter feed and if you tweet you don't want to miss St. Vladimir's as part of your Twitter experience. Following us on Twitter gets you the LATEST UPDATES on all our social media! Sign up here:

ST. VLADIMIR TWITTER

Thank God we have the ONLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CEMETERY IN MICHIGAN. There are others, but new burials are no longer allowed in any other Orthodox Cemetery in our state. What a blessing the Lord has given us! Let us take advantage of this blessing and arrange our burial plots at the earliest opportunity. St. Vladimir’s members receive a discount on their plot – and YOU CAN PAY OVER TIME WITH NO INTEREST CHARGE. Reserve your plot now – visit our parish cemetery page:

ALL CEMETERY INFORMATION
To learn more about parish membership please visit this link:

ST. VLADIMIR PARISH MEMBERSHIP

VISIT OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL TO SEE MORE

Orthodox Detroit Outreach is in need of the following - please look for these things when you are shopping. If you can buy any of these we will collect them at the church until further notice. Look for the box near the front door. Here is the list:

Wipes of any sort (Clorox, baby wipes)
Medium sized jars of peanut butter and jelly
Loaves of bread
Cans of tuna fish and chicken
Vienna sausages
Small jars of mayonnaise
Pasta and pasta sauce
Cans of Chef Boyardee
Fruit cups
Medium sized boxes of cereal
Boxed/canned milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated
Boxes of macaroni and cheese deluxe (the kind that you don’t need milk and butter to prepare)
Vegetable and fruit pouches
Boxed or bottled juice
Granola bars
Plastic bags to pack pantry and to-go meals in
Toilet Paper

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 Adults: from the writings of St. Theodore the Studite

For Children: from the Antiochian Archdiocese (various age groups)

We will be creating a special page on our web site called “Pandemic FAQ”. This is needed because when there is a lot of stress in our lives it is easy to forget what the Church teaches, what it has done in past pandemics, or just sort of make stuff up in a pinch. The Church has gone through many pandemics – we have a plan for this. We follow the plan. And when the question is not a dogmatic one (dogmas have to do with our salvation and are not negotiable, like: “Jesus Christ is the Son of God”), we exercise obedience to our ruling hierarch. The bishop answers for whether he is “right” or “wrong” (although in most cases there is not really a provable right or wrong answer). We answer for whether we were obedient. So our part is easy. But we struggle with it, because although obedience is hypothetically easy, when we give it a try it often takes some practice before being able to execute it well. So ask a question here – we will answer the questions as we can:

https://forms.gle/LoemtnnwyekNbxzZ7

Most of us use Amazon. Why not do that shopping on Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) and choose “St Vladimir Russian Orthodox Church” (Location: Dexter, MI) as your charity? This is EXACTLY the same web site as amazon.com, but a portion of every dollar you spend goes to support St. Vladimir’s. It is EASY, QUICK, and PAINLESS. Click HERE to start using Amazon Smile and Support St. Vladimir’s – Thank You!

As of Monday, June 1, the Michigan Stay at Home Order has been lifted. It is now possible for up to 100 people to gather, maintaining 6-foot distance, outside. Thus, it is very likely that the late Divine Liturgy on Sundays will be held outside starting with Sunday, June 7. More information will soon be forthcoming. The early Sunday Divine Liturgy will remain closed to the public. Divine Services during the week will have some limit on the number that can attend, but it is not yet clear exactly what that number will be. Masks will continue to be required for the Divine Services inside the church. We are working out all the details with the Parish Council now and hope to share those details by mid-week at the latest. We appreciate your patience as we work out these new guidelines and how these apply to our parish.

For now, you can still sign up for the weekday Divine Services based on the previous regime and following our Quarantine Exit Plan (this can be found at the sign up link below). If the rules change you will not lose your place, so signing up now is a good idea:

SIGN UP FOR SERVICES WEEK OF 5/31/20
Let us be diligent in making sure that St. Vladimir’s is a place that gives life – not that causes death. We hope that our zeal in following the Quarantine Exit Plan will continue to help our state in our own small way to continue to exit the quarantine and never return!