Bright Week, aka Renewal Week, the first week after Pascha
Bright Week, aka Renewal Week, the first week after Pascha
Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. Your Cross do we worship, O Christ, and Your holy Resurrection do we hymn and glorify. For You are our God, we know no other but You, we call upon Your name. Come all the faithful, let us worship the holy Resurrection of Christ; for behold through the Cross, joy has come in all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we extol His Resurrection. For enduring the Cross for us, He destroyed death by death.
When the women with Mary had come before dawn, and they found that the stone had been rolled away from the sepulchre, they heard from the Angel, “Why do you seek among the dead, as a mortal man, the One who exists in everlasting light? See the grave clothes in the sepulcher. Run and proclaim to the world that the Lord has risen and put death to death; for He is the Son of God who saves the human race.”
Though You went down into the tomb, O Immortal One, yet You brought down the dominion of Hades; and You rose as the victor, O Christ our God; and You called out “Rejoice” to the Myrrh-bearing women, and gave peace to Your Apostles, O Lord who to the fallen grant resurrection.
In body were You inside the sepulchre, and with Your soul in hell, as God in Paradise were You as well with the Robber, and on the throne with Father and Spirit, O Christ, filling all things, being uncircumscribed.
How full of life and even more beautiful than paradise, and by far more splendid than any king’s royal chamber has Your sepulcher, O Christ, been shown to be, and the source of our own resurrection.
Divine and hallowed habitation of the Most High God, rejoice. For through you, O Theotokos, has the joy been bestowed on us who cry aloud to you, O Lady, blessed are you among women, all-blameless one.
Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life.
The human heart is in the most need especially of the healing touch of Jesus. Many don’t have in person contact with the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the form of a local Orthodox Church Parish with a full time Priest or even a Deacon for a reader service. Many Priests and Deacons work unrealistic bi-vocational hours to share the love of Jesus. We can bring relief.
Christ is Risen! He is our hope and anchor. He is our vision; our call to duty; we are to remain steadfast.
Christ is Risen! He is our hope and anchor. He is our vision; our call to duty; we are to remain steadfast…we are reminded in Scripture to give ourselves fully to the work of The Gospel and when we’ve don all to stand. Pray earnestly and without ceasing. We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. The Great Commission is to the whole body of Christ, yet some are more able like our Clergy, so we give and give and give to them to complete the work of The Gospel. Hopefully we’ve all read at least some of St John’s Ladder of Devine Assent. May this Bright Week be a reminder that the fight is not over though the last fast is for a time and a season. God is calling us to invest our time, talent, treasure and resources back into His Kingdom. Freely you have received. Freely give. This is a time of great joy and reflection, yet we must not forget our call in any season. The time is now to advance God’s Kingdom. The time is always now. The human heart is in the most need especially of the healing touch of Jesus. Many don’t have in person contact with the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the form of a local Orthodox Church Parish with a full time Priest or even a Deacon for a reader service. Many Priests and Deacons work unrealistic bi-vocational hours to share the love of Jesus. We can bring relief. Share The Faith is the call. Orthodox Christian Mission to America is the Campaign. We help missional Orthodox Priests supplement their income so they can give more time to ministry and family and less time to secular work. To donate, click the button below.
The continued existence of Saints Sergius and Herman of Valaam is a testimony to the veracity of the Faith and indomitability of the Holy Spirit.
The continued existence of Saints Sergius and Herman of Valaam is a testimony to the veracity of the Faith and indomitability of the Holy Spirit. The mission began with a small handful of women in the basement of a family home and now is housed in a former CatholicChurch. This community has not only survived but thrived in a rugged and isolated region despite repeated setbacks and evolving leadership. Over the years, the church has been served by a number of visiting priests when finding one willing to move his familyhere proved impossible. It could never have survived without the faithful leadership and devotion of its founders, who trusted the Holy Spirit to guide them through repeated trials and disappointments. We have learned to find strength in our challenges andcourage in our community and can see the fruits of our labors.
The transient nature of a university town means that while we have a higher percentage of students who will only live and worship here for a limited number of years, it has also presented the opportunity to engage with young, vibrant people in their college andgraduate school years. These students bring brawn to the parish workdays and their engineering expertise to our computer systems. Their vitality and ready service as altar servers, readers, and singers are a joy to the locals who worship here. The universityhas also been a means of bringing the faith to the world. Since Father’s ordination to the priesthood in 2019 (he was previously the permanent deacon here), he has catechized and baptized six students.
The congenial community has also enabled cradle Orthodox students to strengthen their faith and take it on as their own. We spend the time training them in the tones and structure of the services, knowing that we will never reap what we sow. We prepare them togo serve other parishes with their gifts, and we are grateful for their larger service.
One of our new projects is renting rooms in the rectory to male Orthodox college students. In exchange for their assistance with services, snow removal, and basic maintenance, the students will receive formation and a very reasonable rental price. This is a uniqueopportunity for both the parishioners and the students and creates a beautiful relationship that is beneficial to all.
Living in an economically depressed region is a challenge, but it also gives us an opportunity to be present to others. We take seriously the Lord’s command to feed His sheep in both material and immaterial ways. We provide regular meals after weekly catechism, weeknightservices, and Sundays and operate a food bank. During the early days of COVID, Father’s wife and children assembled and distributed boxes of food and basic cleaning supplies to families who were quarantined without the financial means to afford the loss ofwork. The parish community regularly takes up a collection to provide toiletries for the elderly through another organization that distributes parcels as well as collections of diapers and wipes for the local crisis pregnancy center’s diaper bank.
As we approach the thirtieth anniversary of our founding, we strive to be generous with what has been given to us. As we have been blessed to receive gifts of liturgical items, we pay it forward by sharing with other smaller missions in our region. We feel thatwe are finally hitting our stride, and we know that we have done so only with the generosity of others who have been moved by God.
Our current physical projects include new siding and interior decorating. We also want to re-gravel the parking area and purchase a new play structure for the benefit of our growing population. Since Father’s ordination just over five years ago, he has baptizedeighteen souls, several of them children. We currently have three catechumens, including an infant, and will receive another catechumen before Pascha. We need to purchase more tables and chairs for coffee hour to seat the newest members of our community, andwe have rearranged our rooms to accommodate us all. We find that parishioners linger long after coffee hour and enjoy the time that they spend together.
Other plans include advertising so that we can continue to bring the Good News to our neighbors as well as the creation of a physical lending library and a collection of digital videos for catechetical purposes. Father’s experience as a university philosophy instructorprovides him with experience in creating educational programming. Father currently has two sons at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, New York. With the graduation of the elder son in only a few weeks, one who has not yet married or been assigned elsewhere,he hopes to expand the catechetical offerings and the ability to refine the training of altar servers.
Saints Sergius and Herman is a community unlike any other, and we are all so grateful to call it our home. The funds of generous donors to Share the Faith allow us and other smaller communities to continue to do the work that we do so that more souls may be broughtto Christ and more people may find comfort in the Lord. May God, who is never outdone in generosity, bless abundantly the donors and leadership of Share the Faith.
What is done with calmness and prayer is blessed, and it also blesses the people who use it.
Unfortunately, we do not realize that when we do our work in a hurry, we become nervous. And when work is done nervously, it is not sanctified. Our goal should not be to do many things and be in constant anxiety. This is a demonic condition. What is done with calmness and prayer is blessed, and it also blesses the people who use it.
St. Paisios of Mount Athos
When I speak it’s like everything I say is describing my parents’ farm… Some people like the city lights and an office in a skyscraper with a good view of other skyscrapers. I personally like fresh air and trees and fields and ponds and streams. I do have to say though that country folk and city folk can definitely learn from each other.
Whether you are in the countryside or city, we all need the peace and Presence of God. The human heart is in the most need especially of the healing touch of Jesus. Many don’t have in person contact with the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the form of a local Orthodox Church Parish with a full time Priest or even a Deacon for a reader service.
Many Priests and Deacons work unrealistic bi-vocational hours to share the love of Jesus. We can bring relief. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; pray to God that He might send laborers into the harvest.
Share the Faith Social Media Coordinator – Eric A. Tweten
To give to this worthy cause simply click the button below.
Last year at this time we still had lots of snow…it was Christmas in April…and Pascha Sunday was a snow storm…
…Last year at this time we still had lots of snow…it was Christmas in April…and Pascha Sunday was a snow storm…don’t forget to pray on Holidays instead of just food and fellowship…
Making birthdays all about myself has never been a good experience…right when I think nothing and no one is going to ruin my birthday…God sends a demon to humble me…it’s just another day…with normal struggles…don’t forget your brother or your neighbor or the stranger…we read in Scripture that we must be hospitable even to the stranger…
The human heart is in the most need especially of the healing touch of Jesus. Many don’t have in person contact with the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the form of a local Orthodox Church Parish with a full time Priest or even a Deacon for a reader service. Many Priests and Deacons work unrealistic bi-vocational hours to share the love of Jesus. We can bring relief. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; pray to God that He might send laborers into the harvest.
STF SMM Coordinator Eric A. Tweten
To give to this worthy cause simply click the button below.
Ancient Faith Radio gave Share the Faith Director, Fr Evangelos Pepps, an opportunity to discuss Orthodox mission work in the US. How can we share the faith effectively and establish more Orthodox missions? Listen Now!
Ancient Faith Radio gave Share the Faith Director, Fr Evangelos Pepps, an opportunity to discuss Orthodox mission work in the US. How can we share the faith effectively and establish more Orthodox missions? 
