All young people are invited to join us for all sorts of fun ways to prepare for Pascha on Saturday, April 4th, at 4pm. There will be egg dying, crafts, making palm crosses, Pascha sweet bread and other preparations. It’s a low-key and fun way to “kick off” your child’s preparation for Holy Week and Pascha. Adult help is welcomed and needed.
On Sunday, March 29th the Sunday School students will be hosting a Lenten luncheon for the Matthew 25 Lenten Beneficiary, The Orthodox Christian Deaf Association. The luncheon will consist of soups salads, and bread prepared and served by our students. There will be a free-will offering. Please plan to stay for coffee hour and enjoy the hospitality of our children and support their efforts for our beneficiary.
Please come join us at 9am on Saturday, March 28th for an indoor/outdoor work day to clean up for Pascha. For those who prefer to be outside, there is weeding, planting, and raking to be done. For those who would rather help out indoors, there’s sweeping, polishing, and de-waxing. Please consider helping with this effort as an offering to God as we prepare to celebrate the joyous “Feast of Feasts,” our Lord’s Holy Pascha.
Once again this year we will be offering the Mystery of Holy Unction to all the faithful on Friday, March 27th at 6 pm. As a sacrament, Unction is reserved for Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared themselves through fasting, recent confession, and recent participation in the Mystery of Holy Communion. Most properly served for those who are sick in body, the service of Unction reminds us over and over that ultimately we will pass from this life and that the healing of the soul is paramount. So let us partake of this mystery as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord’s most holy Pascha.
On March 19 at 6 pm, we have the great blessing of being joined by Dr. David Ford, Professor of History at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, who will give us a true “crash course” in the history of Orthodoxy among Russians and other Slavic peoples. His lecture will be free and open to the public, and he will be bringing along a selection of his own books, which will be available for purchase after the talk. We hope to see you there!
If you are interested in purchasing a Pascha lily to help beautify the church on its most radiant of feasts, please use the online form here or the sign-up sheet which will soon be available in the narthex. Donations can be made “in honor of” or “in memory of” cherished loved ones, and the names of those remembered will be printed in the Paschal bulletin.
By the grace of God, Dn. Evan Ashmore has been blessed for ordination to the priesthood. The ordination liturgy will be held Saturday, March 21 at 10am. A reception and luncheon at The Gardens at the Penn Stater will follow. Please RSVP by March 7 using the QR code in the invitation or by clicking here. Please keep Dn. Evan and his family in your prayers as he prepares for this sacred step in service to Christ and His Church.
This year, our parish’s Lenten Collection will support the vital ministry of the Orthodox Christian Deaf Association (OCDA), a pan-Orthodox nonprofit dedicated to making the life of the Church accessible to Deaf and hard-of-hearing Orthodox Christians. To contribute, please write “Matthew 25” on the memo line of paper checks or click here and select “Matthew 25 Donations.” This appeal will run from now until Pascha. Thank you, and may God bless your generosity!
Your Lenten offerings will make a meaningful impact:
All contributions are stewarded responsibly in accordance with the OCDA’s nonprofit mission. The organization currently has no salaried employees, ensuring that 100% of donated funds go directly toward ministry work and program expenses.
Thank you for prayerfully considering this Lenten act of mercy. May God bless your kindness and multiply the good it enables within the Deaf Orthodox community.
Please be advised that due to the snowfall we are expecting tomorrow, Sunday School (and youth group tonight) will be canceled.
We still intend to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at 10 am. However, we assume that road and parking conditions will be difficult, and encourage all who may wish to attend to exercise discretion and wisdom. A livestream of the service will be available on our YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person.
Additionally, there will be no coffee hour following the liturgy this Sunday.
Keep warm, stay safe, and love God according to the strength and wisdom He gives you.
By the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, the Holy Synod has given approval for the ordination of Sbdn. Michael Stickles to the Order of the Holy Diaconate. His ordination will take place at a special divine liturgy on Saturday, January 3 at 9:30 am. A catered reception will take place afterwards. If you would like to help offset the costs of the luncheon, a free-will offering will be conducted following the liturgy. Axios! He is worthy!
