Tomorrow we begin Great and Holy Lent. We put our earthly cares and distractions aside to journey with Christ into the desert, to be with Christ. We fast and to pray as He did before facing and defeating the Devil. We make the most of this spiritual ‘hospital’ so that we can take several steps forward in faith, growing in the knowledge and love of God. We do so to focus on Him and the healing of our souls, to enter more fully into the Kingdom of God. Our tools are prayer, fasting, the giving of alms, the divine services—particularly the Presanctified Liturgies on Wednesdays, in addition to Great Vespers and the Divine Liturgy on the weekends. We prayer the Prayer of St. Ephraim twice daily, we struggle vigorously with our sin-sickness, making the most of the Sacrament of Confession to give our sins over to Christ, learning to trust Him more and experiencing His healing, forgiveness, and the cleansing of our souls. So that we may purify ourselves inwardly as we begin the Fast, Christ has as our starting place for the Fast, forgiveness. We acknowledge before God and before one another the spiritual pollution that our sins cause, how they harm us and those around us. We ask forgiveness, so that we, in turn, may find forgiveness from our Lord for the many ways that we abandon through our sins our calling to sonship, our inheritance with Him in the Saints. It does us no good to fast and pray and journey through Lent if we are not prostrating our hearts before God AND our fellow man. As Metropolitan Kallistos Ware says, “The fast without mutual love, is the fast of demons!” And so, we hope, we pray, we struggle, we worship, we fast, so that we may arrive at Holy Pascha changed people, transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ. May it be so! Amen!
THIS WEEK AT HOLY ARCHANGELS:
- TODAY, After Liturgy: Cheesefare Trapeza, Forgiveness Vespers & Rite of Forgiveness
- Mon, Feb., 23, Clean Monday, GREAT LENT begins!
- Tues, Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m., Canon of St. Andrew, St. John’s Boathouse.
- Wed, Feb. 25, 6:30 p.m., FIRST PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY, St. John’s Boathouse
- Sat, March 1, 6:00 p.m., Great Vespers Confession offered following the service.
- Sun, March 2, 9:30 Hours, 10 a.m., Divine Liturgy. Sunday of Triumph of Orthodoxy!
Looking Ahead: Mark your Calendars!
- Wed, March 4, 7 p.m., (please note time/location change), Presanctified Liturgy, St. Martin’s, Fellowship Room A.
- Fri, March 13-Sat., March 21, Fr. Robert, Psa. Krissy leading OCF Realbreak Romania for National OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship). Fr. Mark Koczak will be serving and be on call for emergencies: 302-547-4952.
- Sat-Sun., March 28-29, LENTEN RETREAT with His Beatitude, Metropolitan TIKHON, entitled, “The Ascetic Disciplines of the Orthodox Life: Baptizing the Culture in an Age of Disbelief.” Please register and see printable flyer online at our website!
January Financial Report: Holy Archangels received a total of $1,833 in offerings in January. $2333 was pledged. We have made our pledges to God, which is something we are to take very seriously. Please make up any pledges not made in January and stay current with your pledges/offerings. Thank God for His provision and your faithful offerings, which insures that our Mission can continue and grow! The Holy Archangels Mission Council
Prayer Requests:
- That God may grow our Mission “in spirit and in numbers…”
- For God’s financial provision for our Mission and ACM (Annapolis College Ministry);
- Newly-departed Robert
- Metropolitan Isaiah of Georgia, Archpriest George, Priest John, Dcn. Basil, Rdr. John, newly-illumined Ioane, Benedict, James, Daniel, Seraphim, Ed, Bede, Wanda, George, Daniel, Maria and family, Kristen, the Church in Georgia, Romania as they address the relativism of the West, speaking the truth in love, our persecuted Orthodox brethren in Iraq and Syria, a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine., those suffering from the Ebola epidemic and its end.
Troparion (Resurrection) Tone 4
When the women Disciples of the Lord
learned from the Angel the joyous message of the Resurrection,
they cast away the ancestral curse // and elatedly told the Apostles:
“Death is overthrown! // Christ God is risen,// granting the world great mercy!”
Troparion (Holy Archangels) Tone 4
Commanders of the heavenly hosts, // we who are unworthy beseech you:
by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory,
and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you://
“Deliver us from all harm, for you are the Commanders of the Powers on high!”
Kontakion (from the Lenten Triodion) Tone 6
O Master, Teacher of wisdom, // Bestower of virtue,
Who teachest the thoughtless and protectest the poor,
strengthen and enlighten my heart! // O Word of the Father,
let me not restrain my mouth from crying to thee:
Have mercy on me, a transgressor,// O merciful Lord!
Kontakion (Holy Archangels) Tone 2
Commanders of God’s armies // and ministers of the divine glory,
princes of the bodiless Angels // and guides of mankind;
ask for what is good for us, and for great mercy,// Supreme Commanders of the Bodiless Hosts.
