Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Greetings with the feast of the Meeting of the Lord!

            This week is ‘Maslenitsa’ or ‘Cheesefare Week’… we begin our fasting from meats starting today, though fish, eggs, and dairy are permitted everyday this week. Maslenitsa is a joyful time… many families and friends gather to enjoy one another’s company and to eat the traditional foods of this week: blini (pancakes) with salmon, sour cream, caviar, etc. Many of the traditional foods of this week are a means of emptying our cupboards of those foods that will be restricted during the Lenten season. We also are transitioning into our season of repentance… we are already hearing in Church the hymns ‘Open unto me the gates of repentance’, ‘By the waters of Babylon’, etc. It is a time to begin liberating ourselves from all that shackles us to the distractions of this life and to get serious about our Christian struggle for salvation. May God bless you and be with you during this special week. Enjoy this time and make it a spiritual ‘spring cleaning’… preparing yourself for the freedom and spiritual beauty given to us during the course of Great Lent.

            This Tuesday at 6:30pm we will have an ‘in-person’ gathering at the church for our young adults. We will begin with an Akathist in the church and then we’ll move to the church hall where we will have some dinner and discussion. While aimed primarily for the young adults of the church, anyone is welcome to join us. Our intention is to begin holding these gatherings once a month to foster fellowship and learning.

Our weekly Bible Study is this Wednesday at 7pm. We are continuing our study of the Psalms. All are invited to attend. The Zoom link is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89738164102. 

Catechism, led by Fr Andrew, will be at 6pm on Thursday evening. The Zoom link is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81421729353

On Saturday at 2pm we have our ‘in person’ class in the Church Hall. We are continuing our studies of the Holy Fathers… we have covered the lives and teachings of many notable fathers from the Apostolic times up to our own century and are concluding now with some fathers very close to our own times. All are invited to attend.

On Saturday, March 7^th, we will hold our annual Ladies’ Lenten Retreat. The gathering will take place at the home of Thalia Welch. Our text for this year is ‘The Theology of the Ordinary’… a talk given by Schemanun Siluana Vlad. Please see Nadia’s weekly announcements if you have not already received the text we’ll be discussing.

With blessings,

Fr Martin