Please visit the St. Nicholas Greek Festival this weekend! The festival starts tonight and runs through Sunday afternoon. More information here:

http://www.annarborgreekfestival.org/

Without the help of the St. Nicholas Festival folks we would not have our own festival – full stop. They have helped us SO MUCH! So please, if it is at all possible, visit St. Nicholas this weekend and support their festival!

As the weather warms it is always a temptation to come to church dressed a bit too lightly. We provide the information below as a guide to help make good decisions about what to wear to church:

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

PARENTS: it is YOUR responsibility to assure that your child is dressed appropriately.

TWO ISSUES WE STRUGGLE WITH EVERY YEAR: no shorts and no uncovered shoulders - no matter the age.

ANOTHER ISSUE WE STRUGGLE WITH: we have skirts and shawls to share if needed. But these are not items to be used as weapons in the attack of a visitor, but to be offered lovingly if it is clear that someone feels out of place because they innocently came to church dressed inappropriately.

Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions or concerns.

Our next Children's Liturgy is set for Saturday, June 18. This is the Soul Saturday immediately before Pentecost. We held a Children's Liturgy on this particular Saturday 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

With Bishop Peter's blessing, this year summer courses will again be offered in the Pastoral School of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America. The following courses will be offered this year – dates for the courses are June 20 – August 6, 2016 (Liturgics is slightly longer in duration):

Liturgics
Church Slavonic
Byzantine History
Parish Management and Operations
Thesis Writing Workshop
Homiletics – NEW
New Testament Greek – NEW
New Testament Latin – NEW

All Pastoral School summer courses are available to the general public without the need for a formal application to our complete Diploma program. To register please visit the following link:

http://www.orthodoxtheologicalschool.or ... iew/summer

To learn more about the summer courses and all the offerings of the Pastoral School please visit this link:

http://www.orthodoxtheologicalschool.or ... scriptions

For more information or with questions please contact the Dean of the Pastoral School, Archpriest Gregory Joyce (fr.gregory.joyce@orthodoxtheologicalschool.org).

Please join us for the Great Feast of the Lord's Ascension on Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. and Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. As we move forward in the liturgical year this feast always comes with mixed feelings. We are happy to see the Lord ascend to the heavens – this is indespensible for our salvation. Yet, here we bid farewell to the beautiful time of Pascha. Nonetheless, this is a joyful feast for us and we will celebrate it with great joy! Please participate as your personal schedule allows – ideally at church – but also on our live stream.

Please join us for Bright Week services on Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. and Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. This is the last day of Pascha (the 39th day after the feast – the 40th day is Thursday and that is the feast of Ascension) and we serve Bright Week just one more time before we say goodbye to the feast of feasts for another year.

"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: Acts 17:1-15 & John 11:45-57
Tuesday: Acts 17:19-28 & John 12:19-36
Wednesday: Acts 18:22-28 & John 12:36-47
Thursday: Acts 1:1-12 & Luke 24:36-53
Friday: Acts 19:1-8 & John 14:1-11
Saturday: Acts 20:7-12 & John 14:10-21

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 join us for a live broadcast of today's Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the following link:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org:8000/liturgy.ogg.m3u

If you have any trouble with the live stream please visit this link:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/p/ ... dimir.html

If the information at that link does not help please email info@stvladimiraami.org and we will assist you as soon as possible (but after the Divine Service).

Please remember - the stream only broadcasts live services. If you would like to listen to previously recorded and edited services please visit our sound blog:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

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