Dear Brethren,
Christ is in our midst!
Click here to view the April Calendar. As we prepare to enter Holy Week and celebrate Pascha together, I would like to draw your attention to the following:
- Tonight we will celebrate the final Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in our parish for this Lenten season at 6:00 p.m. in Madera, with Confessions beginning at 5:00 p.m.
- On Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Madera, we will mark the completion of the Forty Days with Lenten Vespers, following an abbreviated rite of Holy Unction. All faithful Orthodox Christians are invited to partake of this sacrament for health, healing, and strength for the services to come.
- There will be a one-year memorial service for our departed brother in Christ, Michael Eugene Sidorick, to be served on Lazarus Saturday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. in Madera.
- This Saturday, April 4, following Great Vespers and Litya for Palm Sunday, is the final scheduled opportunity for Confessions before Pascha.
- Daily services begin this Friday and continue through Bright Monday. We are blessed to offer a full cycle of services, including all of the appointed Matins services for Great and Holy Week. Though Matins is traditionally a morning service, these will be sung in anticipation each evening at 7:00 p.m., with the exception of Matins of Great and Holy Saturday (Lamentations), which will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10. This follows the “Un-nailing” Vespers of Great and Holy Friday at 4:30 p.m., with a brief time for refreshments between services in St. Michael’s Hall.
- We will formally begin Holy Week with Bridegroom Matins for Great and Holy Monday on Sunday evening, April 5, at 7:00 p.m. in Madera. Services will remain in Madera through Tuesday evening. Beginning with Matins for Great and Holy Thursday (served Wednesday evening), services will be held in Irvona through Pascha. As is our parish tradition, a Paschal Divine Liturgy will also be served in Madera on Bright Monday at 9:30 a.m., so that the joy of Pascha may be fully experienced in both of our parish’s churches.
- While our parish does not serve the Presanctified Liturgies of Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, you are welcome to join Fr. Alexander at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in State College, where these services begin at 9:00 a.m.
- As in past years, the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday, commemorating the Mystical Supper, will be served at St. Michael’s on April 9 at 9:30 a.m.
- Finally, as we continue our Paschal joy and make our way toward Pentecost, weekly Wednesday services will continue through May 27. These include Paschal Vespers on April 15, Great Vespers for the Feast of St. George the Trophy-Bearer on April 22, and the Vesperal Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Ascension on May 20. With the exception of the Festal BBQ Potluck on May 20, each Wednesday will also include a time of informal catechesis and conversation following the service. All are welcome; refreshments will be served.
Please keep one another in your prayers as we enter the holiest season of our Orthodox Christian life.
Wishing you strength to complete the Fast and to become eyewitnesses and partakers of the saving Passion of our Lord and God and Savior, I remain,
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Alexander