Due to various variables beyond our control we will not be able to hold our Sunday 2:00 p.m. Parish Council meeting as planned. The meeting will be rescheduled and the date and time will be announced on our parish home page once this is set. Thank you for your understanding. Please contact Fr. Gregory or Nathan with questions or if you have an issue that you would like the Parish Council to address.

The Pastoral School of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America is committed to making high quality Orthodox theological education as accessible to all interested students as possible.

Applications for admission for the winter semester are due February 1, 2016. Classes begin February 15, 2016. Applications and further information on the Pastoral School programs can be found at our web site:

http://orthodoxtheologicalschool.org/

Questions should be directed to the Dean of the Pastoral School, Priest Gregory Joyce:

fr.gregory.joyce@orthodoxtheologicalschool.org

It is that time of year again – time to start planning our St. Nicholas Day festivities for our parish children. We are seeking sponsors for the gifts that we will give the children (usually a few chocolate coins to commemorate St. Nicholas' generous nature and an icon or spiritual book). Please contact Fr. Gregory if you can help out in this way. Thank you!

Our Sisterhood Bake Sale is back! This year we are again pleased to offer delicious treats for the holidays to our parish family, friends, and the local community. Please spread the word – the flyer is here and is fully suitable for sharing with others. So please share!

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/bakesale2015.pdf

If you would like to help bake (and we know you do) please contact our Head Sister, Ksenia Nikulshina at headsister@stvladimiraami.org

Please join us for the feast of St. Michael and all the Angels this Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. This is our monthly cycle of all English services and we urge our parish family to invite friends, loved ones, and those they know are interested in learning more about our faith to attend. Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions. Congratulations in advance to all those celebrating their name's days this coming Saturday!

We are thankful that we have the opportunity at St. Vladimir's to have somewhat regular weekday Divine Services. Although we feel somehow that prostrations are unusual during the Divine Services this is because we usually attend Sunday Divine Liturgy, at which prostrations are never allowed. But the reality is quite the opposite. Prostrations are done at MOST Divine Services throughout the year (just not on Sundays). We include here a link to an educational flyer we created a year or so ago for the altar servers and choir in this regard:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/prostr ... iturgy.pdf

Please share feedback with Fr. Gregory about this and ask him questions – those questions are welcome!

We are seeking volunteers to join a steering committee that will help us take the next steps towards a parish school. We need to work on feasibility/demographic studies, prepare/research governance structures (best practices of other similar Orthodox schools), work on strategic planning initiatives, understand the bureaucratic/regulatory burden to begin instruction and going forward, and more. The time line for deliverables is January 2016 to the Parish Council and February 2016 to the Annual Parish Assembly. We are seeking an inclusive, diverse group of those interested in seeing our school efforts succeed. This is the single best way to influence and support this effort. Please join us! Contact Fr. Gregory by November 22, 2015 if you are interested in participating in this effort.

Our audio and video ministry is big and it is important. But it is difficult from a time perspective for Fr. Gregory to do all the editing of these files before they are posted. This is not hard work, and in fact it is quite pleasant work (Fr. Gregory states that he likes to do this – but there is simply not ample time to do this as quickly as it needs to be done). Can you help? Would you be willing to spend an hour or two per week editing the raw audio and video files we generate into publishable work? This is a great way for one or two of our parishioners to execute a ministry that really MAKES A DIFFERENCE to so many both within our parish family and all over the world. Thank you for your consideration. Please contact Fr. Gregory if you can help or if you would like to learn more!

The North American Assembly of Bishops has declared November 22, 2015 to be the International Orthodox Christian Charity (IOCC) Sunday of Sharing for this year. At St. Vladimir's we will take up a collection at the cross on the coming Sunday to support this effort. Every dollar collected will be matched by a generous IOCC donor. To learn more about the Sunday of Sharing please visit this link:

http://iocc.org/dayofsharing/

You can find the encyclical from the Assembly here:

http://iocc.org/dayofsharing/iocc-sunda ... al2015.pdf

Please take a few moments to peruse the IOCC web site here – to learn more about the remarkable work this organization does for all – regardless of religious affiliation:

http://iocc.org/

Please join us this coming Sunday and support IOCC as you are able. If you cannot be there, but would like to support this effort, please reach out to parish Treasurer, Andrei Rodzianko at treasurer@stvladimiraami.org.

Thank you to all who came together and worked so hard to make it possible for us to serve one full week of Divine Services at St. Vladimir's following Deacon Vladimir's ordination on Sunday, November 8. The possibility to serve for such an extended period of time for the newly-ordained is a great privilege and we are very thankful for all who sang, served, and otherwise made this possible. May the Lord reward you in this life and the next for your support of His Holy Church!