At the last parish council meeting a few weeks ago we seriously discussed putting a lock on the kitchen door. This is because folks use the kitchen and do not clean up after themselves. This happened again on Saturday night. Teenagers were in the kitchen and after vigil there was a mess (those two things might not be related, but they are both true facts). The easy way to fix this is to lock the door. But what is the lesson in that? The parish council would like us to deal with this proactively as a parish family. Parents need to supervise their children – not just in the kitchen but in all aspects of life. Not helicopter stalk their children. But teach them what is right and wrong, to clean up after themselves, to be kind to others, to think about the needs of others before themselves, etc. And adults need to understand: your mother does not work at the church. And even if she does, she should not have to clean up after you. The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful and growing physical plant. If we can’t care for the 100 square foot kitchen how will we care for a new school and a new church with thousands of square feet? We have a responsibility before the Lord to care for what He has given us – otherwise why would He give us more? It is NEVER someone else’s job to clean your mess. This sort of entitlement has no place in Orthodox Christianity. As Orthodox Christians we take responsibility for our actions and any repercussions that come from these actions. It is time to change our paradigm here: the parish does not have a maid service. Let’s start by being responsible in the kitchen, because we have a lot more to take care of coming soon!

Please join us Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 9:00 a.m. for our monthly cycle of All-English Divine Services for St. Partheius of Lampsacus! If you cannot come to the Evening Services or Liturgy please try to join us on one of our live streams.

FIND ST. VLADIMIR LIVE STREAMS
All are welcome! The services will be inside the church, so we ask that you sign up. This allows us to understand the number of people that will attend since we have limited, physically distanced spaces inside the temple. The link to the sign up sheet can be found on our parish home page. If you have any trouble finding that please email: info@stvladimriaami.org.

LEARN MORE - ENGLISH

LEARN MORE - RUSSIAN

We have two Divine Liturgies every Sunday morning! The first is at 8:00 a.m. in the church and it is necessary to sign up for this. We will STRICTLY enforce the sign up – if you do not sign up you will not be allowed to enter. This is because there are people who are attending who are avoiding the larger Divine Service gatherings in the parish due to Covid concerns. Parish Council members will be on hand to enforce these guidelines. If you are not assigned to sing we ask that you not do so. The sign up sheet can be found here and will be open until 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 20 – no registrations will be allowed after that time:

SIGN UP FOR SUNDAY 8:00 A.M. LITURGY
As always, you will need to sanitize your hands before entering the church. Masks are required. Social distancing is required (spaces are clearly marked). The second Divine Liturgy is at 10:00 a.m. in the winter worship space as usual. No sign up is required, but hand sanitizing, masking, and social distancing are required.

Please join us as your personal schedule allows, and PLEASE DRESS WARMLY for Divine Services in the winter worship space!

We present here a short educational offering for both children and adults on the upcoming Sunday's principle Gospel reading so that all can better prepare for the Divine Services. Parents are asked to review the children’s portion with their children. It is very important for us to attend the Divine Services on Sundays and whenever else we are able, but in addition it is our spiritual responsibility to educate ourselves and our families in the faith. It is our hope that this mid-week offering will be an aid in this regard. Please contact Fr. Gregory with questions or suggestions.

For Adults: from the writings of Blessed Theophylact

For Youth: from the Antiochian Archdiocese (various age groups)

Construction on our parish day school, the Ann Arbor Orthodox Christian Academy, continues this week. The walls are up! The roof is up! The Lord has blessed us to get this far, and we are thankful for all your support! But now it is time to strengthen our foundation of support. You can’t build a building without a strong foundation. That is true physically (we are using cement for the school, so that part is done), and that is true financially. As of 2/15/21 we have $935 in monthly recurring donations supporting the school. This is great! This is the beginning of a good foundation – thank God! Our monthly mortgage payment on the school will be about $1500 and we need to get our recurring donations to this point ASAP. That’s 57 more people at $10 per month. If every adult member of our parish (about 150 folks) can donate $10 per month we are more than done! This is a parish-wide project – let’s all join in and make it happen as a parish family! The school is the jumping off point to the new church – help us build this step to get quickly to the next!

IF YOU ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO MAKE A DONATION PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING YOUR TIME OR TALENT AS A VOLUNTEER BY SENDING AN EMAIL: info@stvladimiraami.org

Every member of our Board of Directors has established a monthly recurring donation, as have many of our parishioners and some folks from outside the parish. JOIN US! $10/month. $120/year. Just about $2/week. Visit this link to establish your monthly donation and assure that Orthodox education in Michigan has a firm foundation:

HELP BUILD OUR PARISH SCHOOL!

St. Vladimirians,

Due to the heavy snow fall we will not have Confession or Vespers tonight. The usual schedule will resume tomorrow evening. Thank you for your understanding. 

In Christ,

Fr. Gregory

True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God. And one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the commandments, with the aid of divine grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path-start walking!

+ St. Theophan The Recluse (The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation)

Please join us for a live broadcast of today's Vigil beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the following link:

ST. VLADIMIR AUDIO LIVE STREAM
VIDEO LIVE STREAM
Please remember - the stream only broadcasts live services. If you would like to listen to previously recorded and edited services please visit our sound blog:
SOUND OF THE PARISH BLOG
If you would like to view past services please visit our YouTube page:

ST. VLADIMIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

We need two or three people to help make sure we have all the propane (and kerosene) we need every Sunday morning to warm the winter worship space sufficiently. This team works under the leadership of Dmitri Knysh, our parish council member. Please email info@stvladimiraami.org if you can help make sure that we never run out of propane and kerosene on a Sunday, and that people are warm and toasty in the winter worship space!

We need everyone to invest sweat equity into our parish life! If you are not excited about propane and kerosene do not despair! Click on the link below to learn about the many opportunities we have for you to invest in your parish!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT STV

Please join us Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and Friday at 8:00 a.m. for the annual commemoration of the Three Hierarchs! If you cannot come to the Evening Services or Liturgy please try to join us on one of our live streams.

FIND ST. VLADIMIR LIVE STREAMS
All are welcome! The services will be inside the church, so we ask that you sign up. This allows us to understand the number of people that will attend since we have limited, physically distanced spaces inside the temple. The link to the sign up sheet can be found on our parish home page. If you have any trouble finding that please email: info@stvladimriaami.org.

LEARN MORE - ENGLISH

LEARN MORE - RUSSIAN