The entire schedule of services and activities for Great Lent at St. Vladimir’s is available now at this link:

http://stvladimiraami.org/calendars/greatlent2018.pdf

TAKE TIME NOW – RIGHT NOW – TO PUT THE SERVICES YOU INTEND TO PARTICIPATE IN ON YOUR PERSONAL CALENDAR! If at all possible try to participate in at least one weekday service, in addition to the Saturday Vigil and Sunday Liturgy weekly. It is the WEEKDAY Divine Services of Great Lent that distinguish it from the rest of the year. May the Merciful Lord grant us all a spiritually profitable Great Lent!

With the blessing of Archbishop Peter, the annual General Unction service for our Michigan Deanery will be held at Dormition Cathedral at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6. The address for Dormition Cathedral is: 2101 Livernois St., Ferndale, MI 48220.

More important information here:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/genera ... er2018.pdf

This year, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop 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, February 28
Wednesday, March 14
Thursday, March 22 – NOTE THIS IS A THURSDAY
Wednesday, March 28

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 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.

If you do good, you must do it only for God. For this reason you must pay no attention to the ingratitude of people. Expect a reward not here, but from the Lord in heaven. If you expect it here — it will be in vain and you will endure deprivation.

+ St. Ambrose of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina

Please join us for a live broadcast of today's Great Compline with the reading of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the following link:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org:8000/liturgy.mp3

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:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

Please join us for a live broadcast of today's Great Compline with the reading of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the following link:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org:8000/liturgy.mp3

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:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

Please join us for a live broadcast of today's Great Compline with the reading of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the following link:

http://www.stvladimiraami.org:8000/liturgy.mp3

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:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

Today is the first day of Great Lent. The schedule of services for the first week of Great Lent at St. Vladimir's can be found here:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/firstw ... tflyer.pdf

Please join us as your personal schedule allows, but please also push yourself a bit. This is a special week - a week that helps us build momentum on the spiritual journey that is Great Lent!

As a continuation of our Souperbowl efforts last Sunday we will again collect non-perishable food this Sunday after Liturgy. Please bring such foods with you to donate to those in need when you come to St. Vladimir's this Sunday!l

One of the most important Sundays of the Church Year is coming up soon. This is Forgiveness Sunday – the day before Great Lent begins. This year Forgiveness Sunday is February 18. ALL ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS SHOULD ATTEND LITURGY AND VESPERS AFTER LITURGY THIS DAY. On this day, immediately after Divine Liturgy, we liturgically begin Great Lent with the beautiful, meaningful, and incredibly necessary Forgiveness Vespers. At this service (which is not long – less than an hour) we hear the beautiful words of the Lenten Triodian calling us to repentance and spiritual struggle during Great Lent. But even more importantly – we perform the order of forgiveness where each of us bows down before the other and sincerely asks forgiveness for all the offenses, known and unknown, that we have caused to our brothers and sisters in Christ. As the Lord tells us in the Gospel: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) Our gift to God during Great Lent is our spiritual struggle. But that gift will be unaccepted if we do not first forgive/reconcile with our parish family members. Let us make our gift acceptable and begin Great Lent by forgiving each other at Forgiveness Vespers February 18!