Palm Sunday Recap

Posted on by Fr. Peter
What a busy day yesterday! Well I guess it all began on Saturday morning rather than yesterday. Saturday was the Saturday of Lazarus and we had an all too rare Saturday morning Liturgy. After this Liturgy a cleaning of the church, bulletin preparation, homily finishing, newsletter stuffing, and then vespers and confessions. After all of that, the ladies were in the church kitchen preparing for our meal after Palm Sunday Liturgy. A little shut eye and ready for Sunday.
Sunday mornings always begin early for me. I usually rise about 6am and begin the day by looking over the Scripture passages again for the morning liturgy. Here in our little church we celebrate the service of Orthros at 9am. This is a great service that sets the mood for the day. Liturgy at 10am with the blessing of palms. I do this at the beginning of the liturgy and I was surprised at how many people were not there for the blessing, although liturgy always starts at 10! I guess we are still getting used to the time change… LOL
The church looked great, sorry I forgot to take pictures! Palm branches were all over and this year I used the Palm fans for decorations, man did they look good. The opened up over night and were about three feet across I was so shocked when I entered the church in the morning.
After liturgy off to the hall for a little simple meal as a community to begin Holy Week. It is nice to be able to sit and have some food with the folks here and get caught up on all of there comings and goings. We had some new faces in the crowd today and rumor has it they were brought to the church because they found these humble pages. That took me back a little to think that someone came to the church because of something I wrote here. Hmmmm that still needs some thought. The meal was simple tuna casserole prepared by the ladies and served buffet style. Most everyone came to the hall after liturgy. We had some food left over so I jumped in the truck and took it to my guys at the Fire House. They are always so appreciative of free food, as I am!
Back to the church to begin the transformation from Palm Sunday to Holy Week. The first liturgical celebration was last night with Bridegroom Matins. Actually this service is for the morning but we seem to mix things up a little during Holy Week and we do our service in “anticipation” of the next day. Thankfully we have one book for the entire week so no more shifting around looking for things. Last year we purchased several copies so the people can follow along. Fr. Greg has a great post on this little book, commonly know as the quarter pounder because of its size. I think these first few days of Holy Week are my favorite. I am not sure why, maybe because they are the lest complex services and the cantor has to do all the work, but I think it goes deeper than that. Look for more posts on this subject latter on.
Well blessed Holy Week to all and if you are in the neighborhood stop by for a service. I posted the Schedule earlier so scroll on down to see.

Holy Week Liturgical Line Up

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Below is the Schedule of services for Holy Week here at St. Michael’s. If you are in the area pop in and say hi.

Palm Sunday
Matins 9am
Liturgy 10am
Bridegroom Vespers 7pm

Holy Monday
Bridegroom Vespers 7pm

Holy Tuesday
Bridegroom Vespers 7pm

Holy Wednesday
The Mystery of Holy Unction 7pm

Great & Holy Thursday
Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great 10am
Holy Passion (Reading of the 12 Gospels) 7pm

Great & Holy Friday
Royal Hours 9:30am
Vespers with Taking Down from the Cross 3pm
Lamentations – Matins of Holy Saturday 7pm

Great and Holy Saturday
Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great 10am
Vigil of Pascha 11:30pm

Great & Holy Pascha
Resurrection Service 12:00am
Holy Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom 12:30am
Vespers of Agape 11:00am

Palm Sunday

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Today on both the Eastern and Western calendar is Palm Sunday. How nice it is that we are able to celebrate Holy Week and Easter together this year. Maybe this is a sign of things to come! Well we can dream any way. Continuing the previous post I am linking to the website from St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church for information on Palm Sunday. Once again I must say thanks to the folks from the church for this great resource.

Palm Sunday

Saturday of Lazarus

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Today is the Saturday of Lazarus and the real beginning of our Holy Week Service. Over the next week the services will lead us to the event of the Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. In surfing around the Internet I came across the website for St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. The priest Rev. Father Peter J. Orfanakos has put some resources up on the website for each of the days of Holy Week. Rather than write something myself I will just link to each day on their site. The site is very complete and even lists the fasting regulations for the days. Great Job and they deserve our thanks for putting this information together.

Saturday of Lazarus

5th Sunday of Great Lent

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Hebrews 2:11-18
Luke 1:24-38

This Sunday commemorates the life of St. Mary of Egypt, who is a shining example of repentance from sin through prayer and fasting. She lived a sinful life for many years, but was converted to a Christian life. She went into the wilderness to live an ascetic life for many years, praying and fasting in repentance of her previous sinful life, and dying there. St. Mary’s life exemplifies her conviction about Christ, which motivated the changing of her life from sin to holiness through repentance. Her understanding of repentance involved not a mere change from small things in her life, but an extreme change of her entire attitude and thoughts. The Church commemorates St. Mary for her recognition of her own sins as an example of how one can free oneself from the slavery and burden of wrongdoings. This recognition of sin is imperative during Lent for the faithful as a means of self-examination and preparation for a more virtuous life in anticipation of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ.
From: The Great Lent – A Week by Week Meaning, Rev. George Mastrantonis

Crisis in Indonesia

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (Ecumenical Patriarchate) wishes to issue the following statement, concerning situations in Indonesia.

The Orthodox Christians in Indonesia have joined the list of those attacked by Muslim extremists. Father Methodios Sri Gunarjo, his family and other Orthodox were terrorized and threatened this past weekend. Although there are no reports of physical harm at this point, the verbal, psychological and other forms of abuse continue. At one point, a knife was put to the throat of Father Methodios, as his attackers demanded that he close the Churches in the Boyolali area of Central Java. It should be noted that there is a thriving ministry in this area.

A large group of Muslim protestors has gathered in the Church area and continues making demands upon Father Methodios and the Church community. The attackers are not from Boyolali, as local Christians and Muslims have joined in showing their support for Father Methodios, who is noted for the love and compassion he has shown all people in the area. Father Methodios and his family have been forced to leave their home, as their lives have now been threatened. The attackers have also promised to purge the area of Christians.

Metropolitan Nikitas has not been able to contact Father Methodios directly, although he is in constant communication with other clergy in Indonesia. He has requested that people pray for peace and an end to the violence and attacks upon the Church community.

Presanctified Liturgy Prayers II

Posted on by Fr. Peter

This prayer comes after the Great Entrance and before the our Father.

In you are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, O God of mysteries beyond our sight and speech! You revealed the ministry of this liturgy to us, and then in your immense love for humanity, you called us, though we are sinners, to offer you gifts and sacrifices for our own sins and for the transgressions of the people. Your works are without number, O invisible King! They are great and remarkable, escaping all our understanding! Look on us, your unworthy servants, as we stand here before this altar of sacrifice as if before your very cherub-throne! Here rests your only Son, beneath the awesome mysteries that lie here before us. Rescue us and all your faithful people from every impurity and, with a blessing that can never be lost, make us holy both in body and soul. With a clear conscience and enlightened heart, let us share in these divine mysteries. Let them fill us with life, so that we may become one with your Christ, our true God. For it was he who said: Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood shares my life and I share his. Thus, with your living word within us and present in our midst, we shall become the temples of your all-holy and adorable Spirit, safe from all the wiles of the evil one, whether in word or deed or thought. Then we shall receives all the good things you promised us, together with all your saints who have pleased you form the very beginning.

A very moving prayer that sets the stage for us to receive Him in communion that is to come. I think it is a shame that most people never hear these prayers because the priest reads them silently. Perhaps we have become lazy and do not want to read them because it makes the service longer but we should.

Snow Storm Recap

Posted on by Fr. Peter
It would seem that the weather man got it right this time. We got just about 12 inches of the white stuff. 2 hours of snow blowing and shoveling this morning. Man am I tired. A little nap and then Vespers tonight.
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