Please join us for our Sisterhood's annual meeting on Sunday, February 8 during the weekly parish meal. At this meeting elections for Sisterhood offices will take place and reports on the last year's activities will be provided. All women of the parish are invited and encouraged to attend!

DUE TO THE INCLEMENT WEATHER ON SUNDAY 2/1/15 WE WILL HOLD SOUPER BOWL II THIS COMING SUNDAY (2/8/15)!

International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) will hold its 17th annual Souper Bowl of Caring on Sunday, February 1. On that day we are asking all our of St. Vladimir's family to bring non-perishable food items to the Divine Liturgy. At the end of the Liturgy our young people will collect all the food donations and we will in turn provide these to Food Gatherers of Ann Arbor, an excellent agency which helps many in need. Don't miss the fun! Be part of the Souper Bowl and help those in need on this day when billions of dollars are spent on Super Bowl parties alone. If we can spend that much as a society on entertainment can we not spend at least as much on those in need? Let's do our part at St. Vladimir's!

More information on IOCC here:

http://www.iocc.org/

More information on Food Gatherers here:

http://www.foodgatherers.org/

For information on IOCC associated activities in our parish and to learn how you can help, please see our IOCC liaison, Maria Edwards.

Our February podcast, the Vladcast, is up on our You Tube Channel. Click the link below to view it now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1rH-jN5dic

"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: II Peter 1:20-2:9 & Mark 13:9-13
Tuesday: II Peter 2:9-22 & Mark 13:14-23
Wednesday: II Peter 3:1-18 & Mark 13:24-31
Thursday: I John 1:8-2:6 & Mark 13:31-14:2
Friday: I John 2:7-17 & Mark 14:3-9
Saturday: II Timothy 3:1-9 & Luke 20:45-21:4

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

We are intending to hold services as scheduled this morning. We encourage all to follow our Inclement Weather Policy found below.

"In case of inclement weather St. Vladimir’s parishioners are urged to use caution and their best judgment when deciding whether to travel to the parish church for Divine Services. If the priest is able to reach the church the Divine Services will be conducted, but if parishioners perceive the driving conditions to be dangerous they should not feel compelled to travel to church."

Please keep our parishioners, friends, and those who have asked us in our unworthiness to pray for them in your prayers this coming week. Our parish prayer list can be found here:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org/SundayRea ... erlist.pdf

PLEASE NOTE! We have removed those from the list that we believe no longer should be present there. If you requested that someone be included in this list please review it carefully to make sure we have not removed someone erroneously. If we have, please contact Fr. Gregory to have your loved one again added to the list.

Each year following the feast of the Theophany (the Lord’s Baptism – January 19) it is a traditional and pious custom to have one’s home blessed by the priest. Homes are blessed at St. Vladimir’s through the fifth week of Great Lent. Please fill in your name below on a date and time that work for you at this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IgC8lReVY-IbIsRNeR7zHNOvPXrfAiNonG7WOO3_r7E/edit?usp=sharing

Please contact Fr. Gregory, or Fr. Michael to schedule a house blessing or if the times listed do not work for you. If you live far from St. Vladimir’s please consult with those other parishioners of St. Vladimir’s who live near you so that you can all have your homes blessed on the same evening. Congratulations to all with the feast of our Lord’s Baptism!

We need help serving breakfast to families at the family homeless shelter, Alpha House, on Sunday February 8. If you can help please contact Addie Lanterman in church or via email at infor@stvladimiraami.org. This is a wonderful opportunity to live our faith in a very real way – by serving others (just as Jesus Christ came to minister according to this own words). Please join us!

We have discussed the idea of a spiritual book club at St. Vladimir's for some time and Great Lent seems the right time to get started! Are you interested? We need to know! :) The topic for Great Lent is the book of the Apocalypse. This book is the most widely misunderstood and the least widely read of any of the books of the Bible. We will use this book as the basis of our discussions:

http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Saint- ... 1936270404

BUT WAIT! Don't buy it yet. We need to know who will participate first. Because if we have more than about 100 people we are going to have to plan this in great detail. So first, email info@stvladimiraami.org and let us know that you are interested. DEADLINE: 2/15/15. At that point we can make solid plans for weekly meetings (likely we will meet on Wednesday evenings after the Presanctified Liturgy) to discuss the book. Feedback to Fr. Gregory please. This is the first time we are trying this, but we would like to do it well so that we can establish this as a tradition in our parish that all find engaging and spiritually edifying.