March
Special Events
March
28 - Palm Sunday
March
29– Holy Monday
9:00 am Presanctified Liturgy
6:00 pm Bridegroom Matins
March
30 – Holy Tuesday
9:00 am Presanctified Liturgy
6:00 pm Bridegroom Matins
March
31 – Holy Wednesday
9:00 am Presanctified Liturgy
5:00-6:00 pm Confessions
6:00 pm Matins with Holy Unction
April
1 – Holy Thursday
5:00-6:00 pm Confessions
6:00 pm Matins 12 Passions Gospel reading
April
2 – Holy Friday
9:00 am Royal Hours
5:00 pm Vespers
The Bringing Out of the Shroud of Christ
Matins
Lamentations
April
3 – Holy Saturday
10:00 am Liturgy of St. Basil
9:00 pm Reading of the Acts by the People
11:00 pm Nocturnes
11:30 pm Paschal Matins
April
4 – Great and Holy Pascha
12:30 am Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
2:00 am Blessing of Easter Baskets followed by the Feast
6:00 pm Agape Vespers followed by the leftover Feast
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The
Pascha Vigil
by V. Rev. Dennis Kristof
The
Paschal Vigil that is currently used in the Orthodox Church only became
fixed in the life of the Church in the 15th Century. The original vigil
was the Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great that is
now celebrated on Great and Holy Saturday morning. This service was the
ancient Baptismal Liturgy of the Church. The catechumens who had been
undergoing the final stages of preparation for Holy Baptism were
Baptized and Chrismated in the baptistry outside of the temple while
the Vespers vigil was being chanted in the cathedral. Naturally, the
large number of people that this would involve in a large city made it
an extremely lengthy service. Indeed, there are still 15 Old Testament
Readings prescribed for these vespers!
Thus, the vespers service and christenings would start at sunset, the
usual starting time for the vespers service, and continue until all
were baptized, chrismated and dressed in white baptismal robes ready to
enter the cathedral bearing candles.
The
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great would begin when they would enter
the cathedral while chanting the hymn taken from St. Paul's Epistle to
the Galatians, "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on
Christ! Alleluia! (3:27)" This was followed by the Prokeimenon taken
from Psalm 65 which is same psalm now used for the First Paschal
Antiphon: "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; sing forth
the glory of His Name; make His praise glorious". The Apostolic Reading
from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (6:3-11), is still the reading
chanted at Baptisms.
This is followed by something is totally unique to this liturgy:
Alleluia is not chanted between the Apostolic and Gospel Readings.
Instead, a verse from Psalm 81 is chanted: "Arise, 0 God, judge the
earth! For You will have an inheritance in all the nations." At this
time the altar coverings and vestments were changed from dark to white
in anticipation of the Resurrectional Gospel account according to St.
Matthew being chanted (Matthew 28:1-20).
The final five verses of this account are still chanted at the
Baptismal service. Thus, both the newly illumined and altar coverings
were vested in white. Part of the reason that the week following Pascha
began being called Bright Week was because of the change from dark to
white at this Paschal vigil.
As Christianity spread beyond the large cities, the structure of the
catechumenate, the fixed period of preparation for Holy Baptism, fell
into disuse. Baptisms began spreading to other major feasts like
Pentecost, the Divine Manifestation and the Nativity, and then
eventually to any day of the year. Once the baptisms, which were the
cornerstone of this vigil, became removed from it, there was pressure
from the monastic community to introduce the vigil which had developed
in the monasteries. The ancient vigil was moved to an earlier time to
accommodate the Midnight Office and Matins of the monasteries. The
result is that altar coverings and vestments change from dark to white,
and the Resurrection Gospel account is chanted, while the shroud
(plashchenitsya), is still in the tomb! In many Mediterranean Orthodox
countries, the shroud is also removed from the tomb either at or prior
to this liturgy. This is why the pious custom of visiting parishes and
venerating the shroud is strictly a Slavic custom.
Remember
to
Pledge to Your Church, The Church, Our Church!
The Amount you pledge is known only to you
and Randy (because he's our Parish Treasurer). The pledge can be
changed at any time. The pledge cards are very important to the mission
and budget planning for the coming year. NOT TO MENTION TO PAY FOR FR.
JAMES' SALARY AND THE BILLS.
Read Fr. John
Matusiak on Giving to the Church
Prayer
Requests
Please
pray for Caryn, Archbishop Job, Fr. James and his family,
Stephanie, Amy, Madelyn, Sheila, Dave, Ray, Elizabeth, and a
special prayer request for a Family Conference now being
organized and hosted by our church will become a reality by next
summer. Elena, Sam, and Ray are trying to get the ball moving and
organize it [if you have any questions about this event, please contact
Elena, Sam or Ray].
