AT THIS LINK.
FIND THE LATEST CALENDAR OF SERVICES HERE
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SHARE A MEAL WITH US AFTER LITURGY THIS SUNDAY
ONE: GREAT LENT IS OVER – HOLY WEEK ENDS TOMORROW – KEEP IT GOING!
What a great couple of weeks we have had at STV! Thanks to the labors of many we have had Divine Services every evening and every morning for more than two weeks straight already! May the Lord reward those laborers in His Vineyard who have made all this possible! And may He help us to keep up the good habit than many of us have acquired of not just limiting our church life to Sunday morning! Sunday morning is unquestionably the most important service of the week. But it is not the ONLY service of the week. :) Next week we have a lighter schedule – just three weekday Divine Liturgies. Can you perhaps maket it to one? How about the one on Saturday (April 25) at 10:00 a.m.? This is something new for us – the second All English cycle of the month will have at 10:00 a.m. start rather than 8:00 a.m. Or, if mornings are just impossible – perhaps an evening service? And if none of those is possible – maybe we are motivated to begin to attend Saturday evening vigils after all this activity at STV? And if none of that is possible – perhaps we will listen to the Live Stream a bit more often for our edification? We want to make it easy for you to connect with the Lord via the Divine Services. Why? For your spiritual growth and well being. May the Lord grant you to the motivation to take advantage of the services *in addition* to Sunday morning for your good, the good of your family, and the good of our whole STV family!
TWO: CHURCH SCHOOL STARTED 1/24/26!
Tomorrow Church School IS the Paschal Children’s Liturgy at 8:00 a.m. There will be no afternoon classes.
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THREE: UPDATE ON NEW BUILDING PROGRESS
We’ll try to update the STV family on building progress regularly via email. If you don’t hear from us often enough please harass Fr. Gregory. Recently we had a good meeting with the Lima Township Zoning Administrator. This has led us to prepare materials for the May Planning Commision meeting. We are going to be very close to the deadline for submittal, mostly due to the Civil Engineering contractor needing to rework some of the previous drawings. New building – new calculations – new drawings. This was expected. What is exciting is that we might make it in time for the May meeting! If you can say a quick prayer asking the Lord to bless what is best for our salvation as a parish family that would be ideal. If we don’t make the May meeting this is not the end of the world. We have a good working relationship with Lima Township and we have hope that the process will move forward expeditiously. We still expect to break ground and begin the building process this year. We’ll keep you updated!
FOUR: STV FINANCIAL AMBASSADORS – BUILDING OUR NEW CHURCH
At our parish meeting on Sunday, February 15, 2026 we made a very exciting decision! We voted to accept a revised design for our parish Church. The parish assembly empowered the parish council to build the church either to the south of the present parish church or to the north of our parking lots (on the festival field) – whichever is most financially advantageous for the parish. We are working hard to figure out that financial question now, and making good progress. But we need to pay for this revised design too. As we said at the meeting – we will pay for this in two ways: EVERYONE tithing, and NAMING OPPORTUNITIES. In the coming weeks our parish Finance Ambassadors (Marina Edwards, Mikhail Fisenkov, Dmitri Knysh) will approach each of our parishioners to discuss how each will give his “mite” to make our project financially strong and successful. That is, how to establish a tithe that works for you. Those conversations will remain anonymous and confidential. When we voted for the original design there was support, but the building fund did not grow in any appreciable way for several months. Thank God – this led us to the revised design! But if we think that SOMEONE ELSE will build OUR new church – we are frankly deluded. WE need to do this. And WE = ALL. Please prayerfully consider how you can support the revised design. Then join the winning team! Leave an Orthodox legacy for your children, grandchildren, and people you do not even know!
FIVE: GREETING OUR DEPARTED LOVED ONES WITH PASCHA ON THOMAS SUNDAY
It is the practice of most of the older, established parishes in North America to “pull forward” Radonitsa (the day of joy, so called because we share the Paschal joy with our departed friends and loved ones on this day) to Thomas Sunday. There are various reasons for this, but mostly this has to do with the fact that the new immigrants to the New World held mostly menial jobs, and getting a Tuesday off to go the cemetery was not realistic in such a situation. We’ll still serve Liturgy and a Pannykhida on Radonitsa at STV, but although we are not all working menial jobs anymore, this tradition has taken strong hold in our parish, and we will continue our 40+ year tradition of visiting our founders, loved ones, and friends this Sunday. After Liturgy we’ll have a Cross Procession to our own parish cemetery and serve a Paschal Litya for the departed, then have our weekly parish meal as usual. Afterwards, we’ll head to Forrest Hill Cemetery on the Hill in Ann Arbor (near the UM Medical Center) and greet our founders, and many of our loved ones there. THIS will be our 9-12 and Teen Youth Group Activity (probably we’ll get ice cream too!). Forrest Hill is a place of living history – especially for our parish. SO DO NOT MISS! If you have friends and loved ones at other cemeteries, please contact Fr. Gregory and we’ll arrange for one of our priests to meet you at those graves during the time between Pascha and Ascension to serve a memorial service.
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