"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: Isaiah 48:17-49:4, Genesis 27:1-41, Proverbs 19:16-25
Tuesday: Isaiah 49:6-10, Genesis 31:3-16, Proverbs 21:3-21
Wednesday: Isaiah 58:1-11, Genesis 43:26-31; 45:1-16, Proverbs 21:23-22:4
Thursday: Isaiah 65:8-16, Genesis 16:1-7, Proverbs 23:15-24:5
Friday: Isaiah 66:10-24, Genesis 49:33-50:26, Proverbs 31:8-32
Saturday: Hebrews 12:28-13:8 & John 11:1-45

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

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

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

Please find this week's issue of "The Good News" at the link below. This bulletin/handout contains the Troparia and Kontakia that will be sung by the choir at today's Divine Liturgy as well as the readings from the Epistle and Gospel readings of the day - all in both English and Russian. This little bulletin is distributed to visitors and others who may find it useful by our parish Greeters on duty today at St. Vladimir's. We cordially invite you to join us at St. Vladimir's for Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. - or any Sunday soon. You are always welcome at St. Vladimir's!

This Sunday's "The Good News":

http://stvladimiraami.org/pamphlets/goodnews.pdf

Please keep our parishioners, friends, and those who have asked us in our unworthiness to pray for them in your prayers this coming week. Our parish prayer list can be found here:

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

PLEASE NOTE! We have removed those from the list that we believe no longer should be present there. If you requested that someone be included in this list please review it carefully to make sure we have not removed someone erroneously. If we have, please contact Fr. Gregory to have your loved one again added to the list.

Fr. Gregory, Matushka Elizabeth, Maria, Michael, and Natalia invite all St. Vladimir’s family and friends to their Paschal Open House on Bright Monday, May 2beginning at 6:00 p.m. at their home in Saline. Please join them as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

St. Vladimir Parish Family members who would like to donate flowers to decorate the tomb of our Lord for Holy Week and the Paschal Icon for Bright Week are asked to stop in the kiosk or contact Svetlana Sokolova or Elena Mullin to make your donation. Please be sure to provide the names of your loved ones both living and departed to be commemorated at the Holy Week and Bright Week Divine Liturgies when you make your donation. Thank you kindly for your generosity!

Please note that the Liturgy for Lazarus Saturday begins at 9:00 a.m. We usually serve at 8:00 a.m., but this is a special day and so we have moved it to 9:00 a.m. But we have so many publications with the service schedule in them that we don't always catch each instance and we are sorry for the oversight. Tomorrow we begin at 9:00 a.m. and we hope to see you all then!

We congratulate all our readers on today's last day of Great Lent. Today's Presanctified Liturgy is the final Divine Service of Great Lent, with tonight's Matins for Lazarus Saturday being the first Divine Service of Holy Week. May the Lord grant all a spiritually profitable Holy Week! Find the full schedule of services for Holy Week and Bright Week here:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/paschaschedule16.pdf

Please join us!

Please plan to come to Confession for Pascha early! All those who confess beginning on Friday, April 22 do not have to confess afterwards again in order to go to Communion on Pascha itself or for the entire Bright Week. Everyone should be planning to go to Communion on Pascha, as this is the Feast of Feasts, the most important spiritual day of the Orthodox year. Please see Fr. Gregory with questions, and PLEASE come early to Confession!

You say you haven't made it to EVERY Divine Service of Great Lent and every Great Lenten Lecture!? Do not be disturbed! Neither has anyone else to be honest. And that is OK! We do not expect every person to attend every Divine Service or every lecture or every anything. Rather, we try to have many services and activities so that everyone can attend at least some of the services and activities. But those you have missed you can find on our Sound of the Parish blog. This makes a wonderful Great Lenten background for your office during the work day too. The link is here:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com

Please take a moment to sign up for email updates on the right side of the browser window of the blog. That way each time we post a new sound file you will be alerted via email. Those who follow us on Twitter will also receive a notification of each posted file. Please join us on "Sound of the Parish"!