We have added one additional cycle of Paschal Divine Services to our schedule for this week. On Thursday evening we will begin Paschal Vespers at 10:30 p.m. followed by Matins and Divine Liturgy. Thus, the Liturgy will begin just about midnight. Please join us as your schedule allows. Chirst is Risen!

Please find the Paschal Epistle of His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill, at the links below.

Christ is Risen!

English:

https://mospat.ru/en/2015/04/11/news117689/

Russian:

https://mospat.ru/ru/2015/04/11/news117689/

Please note that Great Lent began this year on February 23. During Great Lent we abstain from meat and dairy products including fish (although fish is allowed on Palm Sunday – April 5). 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 12 – may God grant us all a spiritually profitable Great Lent!

Fr. Gregory, Matushka Elizabeth, Maria, Michael, and Natalia invite all St. Vladimir’s family and friends to their Paschal Open House on Bright Monday, April 13 beginning at 6:00 p.m. at their home in Saline. Please join them as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Two of the most-attended services of the year are Palm Sunday and Pascha. We urge all our parishioners to car pool for both of these feasts if at all possible. It is wonderful that so many people want to come to church, but it would be so very unfortunate if we do not have enough parking to allow everyone who wants to attend these important services to indeed attend. Carpooling will allow us to utilize our limited parking spaces to the greatest extent possible. We hope to be able to install additional parking in the early summer. We thank everyone for their cooperation!

Please note that we have Bridegroom Matins scheduled for Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. Thus there will be no Matins on Wednesday morning connected to the Presanctified Liturgy. This means Liturgy will begin significantly earlier than usual - likely around 9:00-9:30 a.m. Please make plans according. The on-line schedule has been adjusted and can be found here:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/calendars ... lendar.pdf

The full Holy Week and Bright Week schedule can be found here:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/pa ... lyer15.pdf

This year the feast of the Annunciation falls on Holy Tuesday. At St. Vladimir's we will hold services this evening at 6:00 p.m. and tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. for the feast. Please join us as your schedule allows! Congratulations to all with the great feast!

More information on the feast of the Annunciation below.

English:

http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/03/25/ ... nd-ever-vi

Russian:

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/put/1695.htm

Please find this weeks' "The Path" podcast at the following link:

http://stvladimiraami.org/sound/vigil04-04-15.mp3

Please visit our sound blog to view the pictures referred to in Mrs. Dale's interview:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/20 ... -2015.html

The schedule of services for Holy Week and Bright Week at St. Vladimir's is now available at the link below.

PLEASE NOTE: There are two services that traditionally have not been as well attended as they really should be and we would like to make a real effort this year to do better in that regard. Those services are:

1. Matins for Holy Friday (12 Passion Gospels): Thursday, April 9 at 6:00 p.m. The choir works SO HARD to prepare for this service, and the hymnography is SO BEAUTIFUL. DO NOT MISS this service!

2. Paschal Vespers and Matins on the day of Pascha itself: Sunday, April 12 at 2:00 p.m. Celebrate Pascha again by attending this service. The hymnography of Pascha is so beautiful and meaningful - how can just standing and participating all night be enough? That is rhetorical - it CANNOT be enough! :) Join us on Pascha afternoon for more and prepare for Bright Monday Divine Liturgy by participating in Paschal Vespers & Matins on Pascha itself!

Holy Week and Bright Week Schedule:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/pa ... lyer15.pdf

"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: Matthew 21:18-43, Ezekiel 1:1-20, Exodus 1:1-20, Job 1:1-12, Matthew 24:3-35
Tuesday: Matthew 22:15-23:39, Ezekiel 1:21-2:1, Exodus 2:5-10, Job 1:13-22, Matthew 24:36-26:2
Wednesday: John 12:17-50, Ezekiel 2:3-3:3, Exodus 2:11-22, Job 2:1-10, Matthew 26:6-16
Thursday: Luke 22-1-39, Matthew 26:1-20, John 13:3-17, Matthew 26:21-39, Luke 22:43-45, Matthew 26:40-27:2
Friday: Please attend the Divine Services – the list of readings is too long to publish here
Saturday: Romans 6:3-11 & Matthew 28:1-20

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.html

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 ... pture.html