Thank you to all who made our 2015 Great Lenten Lecture Series Keynote possible on Sunday, March 15! Dr. Roy Robson delivered the interesting lecture followed by a dynamic discussion as he fielded questions from the gathered parishioners. Many worked hard behind the scenes to facilitate Dr. Robson's visit and his lecture and we thank you all! May The Lord reward you openly for your good works done in secret! Find Dr. Robson's lecture on our Sound of the Parish blog at the link below. We are working on the video and hope to have it up sometime on Tuesday on our You Tube channel. Please join us for our next lecture following the Divine Liturgy this coming Sunday!

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com

Our blog where all sound files from parish services and activities can be found has been updated - check it out!

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com

We ask parents to please keep an eye on their children during the Divine Services as regards playing with the sand in the candle stands and with candles. Those that work hard to clean the church every week have to work even harder because of the sand all over the floor and all over the pannykhhida table, as well as lots of drips of wax on the floor. We love kids and we always will! But we ask that parents exercise some oversight in this regard. Thank you!

The schedule of services was very intense this last week. From last Friday to this Friday we served six Divine Liturgies at St. Vladimir's. That is not something to be proud of, but something to be thankful for. Thank you to all those who labored so diligently to make this happen for our parish family! If you missed those Liturgies do not despair! God-willing we have Liturgy this Saturday and Sunday too! Please join us!

Beginning March 1 we will have a lecture each Sunday of Great Lent as is our usual practice at St. Vladimir's. The weekly lecture will take place during our weekly meal on these Sundays. The full schedule of lectures can be found here:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/greatl ... ns2015.pdf

Dr. Roy (Andronik) Robson will give the keynote lecture on March 15. Dr. Robson's area of expertise is Slavic Studies, specifically Russian Orthodox Old Belief, and he has written several books on this subject, including one on the monastery of Solovki as a refuge for Old Believers following Patriarch Nikon's reforms. Dr. Robson is an Old Believer himself and grew up in the Nativity of Christ parish in Erie, PA. He was the second reader on Fr. Gregory's doctoral dissertation. You will not want to miss this lecture!

See more on Dr. Robson here:

http://www.gradschool.usciences.edu/faculty/robson-roy

This year, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Peter, we will celebrate the beautiful Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts throughout Great Lent on Wednesday evenings. Matins begins at 3:00 p.m. Liturgy will begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. Following each of these services our St. Xenia Sisterhood will organize a light Lenten dinner. Please contact our Head Sister, Ksenia Nikulshina (headsister@stvladimiraami.org or see her in church) if you would like to help with the dinner. We have excellent Lenten recipes to share if you’d like to try something new! Please join us for these remarkably beautiful and meaningful Lenten evening services and for mid-week fellowship with your parish family at the meal afterwards!

Wednesday, March 11
Wednesday, March 18
Thursday, March 26 – NOTE THIS IS A THURSDAY
Wednesday, April 1

The Liturgical Fast for those communing begins after breakfast for the 6:30 p.m. services. In other words, you may eat breakfast, but eat or drink nothing further after that. Parents should use their best judgment regarding their children, as always. Those who confessed on the weekend prior to the Wednesday Presanctified need not confess again on/before Wednesday.

PLEASE NOTE! There are MANY other Presanctified Liturgies throughout Great Lent that begin with Matins at 8:00 a.m. and Liturgy about 11:30 a.m. - mostly on Fridays. Please consult the schedule of services on our web site for more details.

In order to better share the sounds of our parish (Divine Services, Lectures, Sermons, etc.) we have created a new blog entitled "Sound of the Parish". You can find the blog here:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

Please take a moment to sign up for email updates on the right side of the browser window of the blog. That way each time we post a new sound file you will be alerted via email. Those who follow us on Twitter will also receive a notification of each posted file. Please join us on "Sound of the Parish"!

Please find a link below to an excellent synopsis on Theosis - the teaching that we, fallen as we are, have access to the Energies of God and that these are, for us, transformative. Moreover, that this transformation is both needed and to be desired. This is the authentic Orthodox Christian teaching that St. Gregory Palamas defended against the attacks of innovators such as Barlaam, Acindynus, and others. Those who have questions are urged to reach out to Fr. Gregory or Fr. Michael. At this link you will find the booklet on Theosis in English, Russian, and several other languages.

http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis.aspx

Today the Holy Church marks the feast of the first and second findings of the head of St. John the Baptist. At St. Vladimir's we will mark this feast with Matins, Great Lenten Hours, Typika, and the Presanctified Liturgy beginning at 8:00 a.m. (Liturgy begins at about 11:00 a.m.). Please join us as your personal schedule allows! Read more about the feast below.

English:

http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/02/24/ ... holy-glori

Russian:

http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life504.htm

1. Our Teen Youth Group meets at Fr. Gregory's place in Saline tomorrow from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The topic is: “Teenage Lent – What!?”. Lenten snacks are on offer, as are board games after the discussion. Young folks are urged to come with other discussion questions. We will also discuss the Monarch Butterfly Garden for the summer and a radio program our teens can produce. And we will be talking about our summer Davydovo trip to help at the special needs camp there too! More on that at this address (Google Translate if need be):

http://davydovo-hram.ru/osobiy-lager

2. TIME CHANGES TONIGHT!!! If you don't “spring forward” one hour before you go to sleep (move your clocks one hour ahead) you will be late for Divine Liturgy tomorrow. And we know no one wants that! :)

3. Tomorrow's lecture covers the topic of the ministry of our Brotherhood and the ministry of our Sisterhood in our parish. You THINK you know all they do. You don't – but you will if you attend the lecture during our weekly parish meal!

SEE YOU TOMORROW AT ST. VLADIMIR'S!