Fr. Gregory is available to bring Holy Communion to the sick, bless homes and apartments (or dorm rooms), or to provide spiritual support to any and all of our parish family whenever there is a need. Please do not hesitate to contact him! Too often those in need suffer in silence because they do not want to “bother” the priest. Fr. Gregory is here to serve our parish family – just as Christ came to minister so too is this the calling of the parish priest. You can reach Fr. Gregory by phone or SMS at 734-649-5746 or via email at ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org. Rest assured – he looks forward to hearing from you any time – whether you have a specific need or even if you just need to talk – please contact him!

Please join us at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening and 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, January 22 & 23 for our monthly cycle of all-English Divine Services. Our parish practice is to serve one cycle of Divine Services per month (Friday Evening Services and Saturday Divine Liturgy) completely in English. This is a missionary effort designed to allow those who are interested in Orthodox Christianity to more easily access the beauty of the Divine Services – the “theology in action” of the Holy Church. However, ALL ARE WELCOME at these services! Please invite friends and loved ones! Let us work together to no longer allow Orthodox Christianity to be the best kept secret in the spiritual life of North America! Please join us!

Please see the file at the link below - this outlines Fr. Gregory's basic availability to bless houses this year. Please contact him and arrange your house blessing EARLY. There is always a rush during Chessefare week. This is not the best time to have one's house blessed. Rather, one should have one's house blessed in January or February if at all possible - so that this is not rushed. Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions.

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/houseblessing2016.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. Homes are blessed at St. Vladimir’s until the beginning of Great Lent. Please consult the usual calendar (sent through the mail and available on our web site) to see the times available for house blessings. Please contact Fr. Gregory to schedule a house blessing or if the times listed do not work for you. If you live far from St. Vladimir’s please consult with those other parishioners of St. Vladimir’s who live near you so that you can all have your homes blessed on the same evening. Congratulations to all with the feast of our Lord’s Baptism!

The Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) recently launched two major new Orthodox applications for iPhone. Please visit the app store and download OCN Spark (search “OCN Spark”) and the OCN Prayer Book (“Orthodox Prayer Book”) - both are authored by Gabriel Otte. The first update that will be made to the apps is to add the Old Calendar. The app will also be translated into Russian. These apps utilize social networking to leverage prayer for others and prayer for Orthodox ministries, as well as set reminders for yourself for morning prayers, evening prayers, etc. The apps are a leap forward in “sanctifying” our on-line and mobile experience, and this is sorely needed. St. Vladimirians are early adapters of technology – please download these apps today.

Please note that we have scheduled several services for the feast of Theophany at St. Vladimir's. The full schedule of services is below.

Monday, January 18 (Strict Fast Day)*
Royal Hours, Vespers, Divine Liturgy, Great Blessing of Waters 8:00 a.m.
Vigil 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, January 19
Divine Liturgy & Great Blessing of Waters (at the “Jordan”) 8:00 a.m.
Vespers & Matins for the Synaxis of St. John the Baptist 6:00 p.m.**

Wednesday, January 20
Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of St. John the Baptist 8:000 a.m.

*This is Martin Luther King Day observed this year, and thus almost no children in the parish will need to be in school. What a great day to bring the youngsters to church to celebrate the great feast!

**The time for this service may change. Please watch future emails and our web site for more information.

Please join us as your personal schedule allows!

If you are a teenager, or you are the parent of a teenager WE NEED YOU! Tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. we leave St. Vladimir's to travel to the Saline Area Social Services facility to stage non-perishable foodstuffs to allow these to be utilized by those who need food. This is a great way for our young people to put their faith into action and to really increase their faith at the same time. We have promised 5-10 folks to help with this work and we have more teens even than that – but we just can't have anyone sitting on the sidelines for this one. We need your help! RSVP at the link below. Details on what to wear are there too (not your Sunday best – this is going to be a working activity). Please join us!

http://goo.gl/forms/9yKx6xfXWx

Please find the schedule of youth activities at St. Vladimir's for the first half of 2016 at the schedule below. Parents – please add these activities at once to your family calendar! :) Please join us as your schedule allows!

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/youthgroup.pdf

We would like to keep the parish church open daily at certain set hours. Perhaps something like 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. daily. This would allow everyone to know for certain that at least during that time they could come and pray, light candles, and otherwise seek the solace that can only be found in God's house. But we need volunteers to help us with this project. Could you help? Would you be willing to commit to being at the church at a set time weekly? Most certainly the volunteers will also benefit from this service to their fellow believers and a little more time spent in church each week. Please contact Fr. Gregory if you can help, and with suggestions about the best time for the church to be open. This is an important missionary activity - please help if you can!

As most of our parishioners are aware, Fr. Gregory has several responsibilities in addition to being our parish Rector. He is the Dean of the Michigan Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Dean of our Diocesan Seminary, and the Secretary of the the Diocesan Council. All these things are getting done, but with some help they could be done much better than they are. Presently there are two volunteer opportunities to help Fr. Gregory with these duties:

1. Help with the Michigan Deanery. This year we will found a mission advisory board for the Deanery. We will also establish a web site for the Deanery. It would be good to increase communication between the clergy within the deanery as well. This volunteer will have a direct impact on the founding of new parishes in Michigan in areas that are unserved or very under-served by the Orthodox Church. In other words, this volunteer will make a real difference in spreading Orthodox Christianity in our state.

2. Help with the Seminary. This year we intend to found a foreign language sector of the seminary, and we may execute a joint agreement with a seminary in the former Soviet Union. Much work is also needed in reinvigorating our Catechist program. If the Michigan Deanery volunteer is successful in helping to found new parishes, then the Seminary volunteer will focus on helping to prepare new clergymen and catechists to spread the faith in our state (and beyond).

Please contact Fr. Gregory if you would like to volunteer or if you would like to learn more. Both volunteer opportunities have very flexible work schedules and hours. We can work around your schedule!