Please join us - but please sign up! There is adequate time to make breakfast, clean up, and get to St. Vladimir's in time for the 10:00 a.m. Liturgy. If this Sunday is full please sign up for a future Sunday. All Alpha House volunteer opportunities are here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZYD3jC1XHNclUu33kX7w-3GpyAMazGgmdDQJ2nvaxI4/edit#gid=0

With the blessing of Archbishop Peter we will take up a special collection this Sunday for the thousands of victims of the California wildfires, many of whom lost absolutely everything, including members of their families to the fires. If you will not be present at the Sunday Liturgy this weekend, but you would like to support this collection, please contact our Treasurer, Mikhail Fisenkov, at treasurer@stvladimiraami.org. Mikhail has taken over the Treasurer duties from Marina Edwards with Archbishop Peter’s blessing, although Marina remains part of the parish finance team and parish council and you are welcome to contact her about these sorts of things as well.

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:

https://chrysostompress.org/c_22nd_pentecost.html

For children, from the Antiochian Archdiocese (various age groups):

http://www.antiochian.org/sites/default ... 1-05-b.pdf

The Divine Services are theology in action – one of the most important and most easily accessible sources of truth provided by the Holy Church for our salvation. In order to help more and more people gain access to this source of truth and to introduce new people to the Orthodox Faith our parish practice is to serve one cycle of Divine Services per month (Friday Evening Services and Saturday Divine Liturgy) completely in English. This is a missionary effort designed to allow those who are interested in Orthodox Christianity to more easily access the beauty of the Divine Services. ALL ARE WELCOME at these services! Please invite friends and loved ones! Let us work together to no longer allow Orthodox Christianity to be the best kept secret in the spiritual life of North America! Please join us!

Future All English Divine Services at St. Vladimir’s:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/englis ... le2017.pdf

“The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and to conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things. For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.”

+ St. Anthony the Great, “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts,” Text 2, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)

Each year around the feast of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica (whose relics reside in our parish foundation) there is a special Church-wide commemoration of the departed: Demetrius Saturday. This year Demetrius Saturday falls on October 28. At St. Vladimir's we will hold Vespers & Matins on Friday, October 27 at 6:00 p.m. and Divine Liturgy and a Pannykhida on Saturday, October 28. Please email Orthodox Christian names for the memorial services to info@stvladimiraami.org

If we make every effort to avoid death of the body, still more should it be our endeavor to avoid death of the soul. There is no obstacle for a man who wants to be saved other than negligence and laziness of soul.

+ St. Anthony the Great, “On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts,” Text 45, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)

Please join us on Sunday, October 22 for a Zoe for Life presentation. We will talk about Zoe for Life moving to Ann Arbor and becoming a joint effort by St. Nicholas and St. Vladimir parishes. Please join us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h5-6VuMZmM