Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha Schedule
Lent is here! Please see the church website for our calendar of Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha services. A printable PDF calendar is available by licking the link below. All are welcome!
Services continuing though this week are:
- Tuesday, 24 February 2026 at 6 PM - Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
- Wednesday, 25 February 2026 at 6PM - Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
1st Sunday of Great Lent (Sunday of Orthodoxy)
01 March 2026 is the 1st Sunday of Lent and the Sunday of Orthodoxy. We will serve the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great at 9:00 AM. This liturgy is celebrated during the Sundays of Lent and at several other times throughout the year.
On this day are commemorated the Martyr Eudocia of Heliopolis (+152), the Martyrs Nestor, Tribimius, Marcellus, and Anthony (+3rd c.), the Martyr Antonina of Nicaea in Bithynia (+284-305), and the Virgin Domnina of Syria (+450-460), among others.
The readings for this Sunday are:
- Epistle to the Hebrews 11.24-26, 32–12.2
- Gospel According to St. John 1.43-51
The Sunday of Orthodoxy? The Triumph of Orthodoxy? "The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts (i.e. those heretics who refused to honor the Holy Icons) ... In the year 843, on the first Sunday of the Fast, Saint Theodora and her son, Emperor Michael, venerated the Holy Icons together with the clergy and the people. Since that time this event has been commemorated every year, because it was definitively determined that we do not worship the Icons, but we honor and glorify all the Saints who are depicted on them. We worship only the Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and no one else, neither a Saint, nor an Angel". [from the Orthodox Church in America website - 1st Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Orthodoxy]
A note on the word triumph. Far from being a triumph in a triumphalist way, -God forbid!- the Sunday of Orthodoxy commemorates the full implications of the Incarnation and the fullness of the Christian faith, against those who would deny it.
Prayers for All
In your prayers please continue to remember Metropolitan Antony, Archbishop Daniel, Fr. Gregory, our church family and catechumens (Rob & Stacy M., James T., Samantha T., and Hunter B.), visitors and inquirers, new mothers and babies, the betrothed, the married, the sick, the poor, travelers, those impacted by war and calamities, our country, and all those in need.
If you have sinned and fallen, rise, arise please. For the good and loving Master who was put to shame by your sin is beside you and does not reject cohabitation with you. Give him your hand.
What Christians Need to Know About Prayer
Please consider watching this interview on prayer with Father Mark Shillaker, a priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of The British Isles & Ireland.
Lenten IOCC Giving
A thank you to Lee Ann for coordinating our Lenten giving this year with IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities). Please the flyers in the rear hallway of the church or see Lee Ann for details.
