Please join us this evening at 6:00 p.m. and tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. for our monthly cycle of Divine Services entirely in English. This month we are privilaged to have the opportunity to commemorate one of the great saints of Rus' - St. Alexander Nevsky. St. Alexander's life is informative for us as Christians living in the west and we think it is well worth reading, which is why we include it here below. But don't limit yourself only to reading about his life - come celebrate his life by participating in the Divine Services. Please join us as your personal schedule allows!

English:

http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/30/ ... der-nevsky

Russian:

http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life3212.htm

Please join us for the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist at St. Vladimir's tonight at 6:00 p.m. for Vigil and tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. for the Divine Liturgy. This is an important day for us. St. John was a key figure in the life our our Lord and his death is very instructive for all of us who live in a culture of immoderation. The best way to learn more is to attend the services listen carefully to the words and hymnography of the feast. Second best would be to read the explanation of the feast below. Please join us as your personal schedule allows!

English:

http://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/08/29/ ... and-baptis

Russian:

http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life4542.htm

This will be a very busy liturgical weekend at St. Vladimir's. Please join us as your schedule allows for any/all of the services listed below.

Thursday 6:00 p.m. - Vigil for the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Friday 8:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy for the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Friday 6:00 p.m. - Vespers & Matins for St. Alexander Nevsky - All English Cycle
Saturday 9:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy for St. Alexander Nevsky - All English Cycle*
Saturday 6:00 p.m. - Vigil**
Sunday 10:00 a.m. - Divine Liturgy**

*Following the Divine Liturgy will be a pannykhida for Bishop Alexander of Buenos Aires. Bishop Alexander led a youth retreat and the hierarchal services at St. Vladimir's before his repose. He was also instrumental in so many finding the Church through his extraordinary missionary efforts. Please join us as we pray for this good, kind bishop.

**Services this Sunday will be in honor of Sts. Peter & Febronia, patron saints of the married. Husbands and wives are urged to prepare themselves prayerfully, confess their sins on Saturday evening, and partake of the Holy Mysteries together on Sunday. What better image of marriage as God's plan for the mutual salvation of those who enter in to it than to partake of the Holy Mysteries together - especially on such a day?!

We present here a short educational offering for both children and adults. 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: the explanation of last Sunday's Gospel reading by Blessed Theophylact:

http://chrysostompress.org/c_14th_pentecost.html

For Children – an activity based on last Sunday's Gospel reading for various ages:

http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default ... 9-06-b.pdf

This week the asphalt for the cutout on Jackson Road will be surfaced with asphalt as will part of the new drive way. The present driveway will cease operations this week sometime. When that happens we will communicate with you via email, using our web site, and Twitter. We will also mark the closed driveway clearly with construction barrels. Please be cautious this week when you come to church and if you have any questions please call Nathan or Fr. Gregory. Thank you for your understanding!

Thank you to all who worked so hard to make the Walk of Life such a success this weekend! This was the first time such a procession has been attempted here and although we admittedly had a few hiccups along the way, overall things went extraordinarily well and we have much to thank God for. Some of the procession was on “back roads”. Some was on busy roads. Many people were exposed to Orthodox Christianity in a positive way via the procession, and the pilgrims who took part had the opportunity to struggle prayerfully and to set aside all earthy cares – to concentrate (if only for a few short hours) on their relationship with God. Many walked for specific reasons – to pray for specific people in their lives who are suffering. Others joined specifically because of the challenge involved – to embrace their faith in a more radical and open way. All reported that the pilgrimage was, for them, successful in that they drew closer to God and to their fellow man. And certainly one could spend one's Labor Day weekend in a lot worse ways than that! Our parish shone in support of this spiritually positive event! Thank you to all who made the Walk of Life possible – may the Lord reward you richly in this life and the next for your efforts!

It is time now to volunteer for this September's Festival! The Festival will be here before you know it, and as our biggest missionary effort of the year we need all hands on deck to help make it a huge success! At the Festival we have many guests who learn about our parish and Orthodox Christianity for the first time. We are all missionaries in our community – sign up now to work at the festival! Is it hard work? You bet it is! Is it fun? You bet it is!!! Don't miss it! Sign up today!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LiLL9esKU3ZpsV8NZZXRPdIui7gu93Q-Kr1z5y6dGHg/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

As is our usual parish practice, we will hold a moleben for the beginning of the school year this Sunday, September 6, immediately after the Divine Liturgy. Please plan to join us for this moleben whether you are a student, teacher, or parent of either!

You can only make a first impression once. That is why it is so important, and the responsibility of each and every one of us, to warmly welcome visitors to our parish. Is the visitor not acting “appropriately”? Assure them that all will be fine and lovingly help. Is the visitor’s child fussy? Assure them that we welcome children in the church and not to worry. If they ask for a place to go to quiet the child please point out the nursery – do not push them out the door. Does the visitor have questions? Answer them if possible, and if not, refer them to someone who can. A smile and a welcoming word can make the difference in someone’s spiritual life both in this life and the next. Please show love one to another so that people will know that we are Christ’s disciples! We want to be known for our warm hospitality as was Abraham – but we all must work together to make our parish as welcoming as we possibly can!

We are pleased to announce our Marriage and Family Retreat this year will take place the weekend of October 24-25. We are also pleased to announce that with the blessing of Bishop Peter, Archpriest David Moser will lead this retreat. Fr. David has been a priest and a family counselor for many years and his insights from both his spiritual and secular work will benefit all our St. Vladimir's families. Please reserve the dates now for this retreat! Worried about how to deal with your kids at the retreat? Don't be - we will provide babysitting FREE! Please plan to join us! More information coming soon...