The Holy Fire, which descends upon the tomb of the Lord in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher each year on Holy Saturday, will, God-willing, reach St. Vladimir's on Thursday evening, April 27 at 6:00 p.m. At that time all are welcome to join us for the lighting of all the lamps in the Church from the Holy Fire, as well as a Thanksgiving Moleben. Those who would like to take the Holy Fire with them are welcome to do so, but a suitably safe candle/lantern will need to be provided – the parish does not have these for sale. It is our intention to preserve the Holy Fire at St. Vladimir's as long as we can, so if you cannot join us on Thursday there will be ample opportunity in the future to access the Holy Fire. We are especially thankful for those who traveled to assure that the Holy Fire would make it to St. Vladimir's this year.

This Tuesday - on the feast of Radonitsa - we will serve Liturgy at 8:00 a.m. at St. Vladimir's followed by the first Pannykhida since Pascha. We will then visit Glacier Way cemetery and other graves by appointment. Please make an appointment with Fr. Gregory by emailing him at ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org. If Tuesday is bad for you please visit Fr. Gregory's calendar page and sign up for another day/time that is convenient for you:

https://calendly.com/ogrisha

According to our long-standing parish practice this coming Sunday, the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, our St. John Brotherhood will prepare the meal, clean up afterwards, and in all ways give our hard-working St. Xenia Sisterhood a well-deserved break on this special feast day. Please join us! The Brotherhood meals always turn out to be incredible – you will not want to miss this!

It is time! Time to sign up for this year's Russian Festival! Time to encourage friends, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, and everyone you know to join us for this wonderfully fun activity, which is also our MOST IMPORTANT MISSIONARY ACTIVITY! Do not miss - sign up today!

Sign up sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Yh4aUfPECd7q0JW41W2Rp4__WRyZeCrtDZrZrod5rEI/edit?usp=sharing

Our next Children's Liturgy is set for Saturday, April 22 - Bright Saturday! We held a Children's Liturgy on this particular feast day last year and it worked out quite nicely. We are looking forward to this year's effort being equally successful. Parents should sign up for their children to fill the various duties surrounding the Divine Liturgy at this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/137Tvs8DyJyoluZ-2N0lrWu06RjLDLITO4aGzU92FSQg/edit?usp=sharing

Promotional Flyer:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/flyers/ch ... iturgy.pdf

We present here a short educational offering for both children and adults. 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: an explanation of the Sunday's gospel reading by Blessed Theophylact:

http://chrysostompress.org/c_pascha.html

For children, from the Antiochian Archdiocese (various age groups):

http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default ... 4-16-b.pdf

We cannot contain it to just one Sunday! Pascha is celebrated every day from the feast itself until the Ascension of the Lord 40 days later. Just as we celebrate Pascha every day we can’t fit the children’s Pascha celebration into just one Sunday – so we’ll do it for two this year!

Please join us on for the Paschal Egg Hunt both weeks and our two different Church School Paschal plays. Come for Liturgy and stay for all the fun! Mark your calendars now!

"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

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