"Unique and holy day, King and lord of days, feast of feasts, solemnity of solemnities. . ."  Thus we celebrate the Great Feast because of the resurrection of our Lord and begin the season of celebration which lasts through Pentecost.  The paschal solemnities (of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) are joined to the feast of the resurrection to endow the mystery of Christmas and the Incarnation with the fulness of its meaning and are the prerequisite condition for Pentecost.  Easter, therefore, is the center, the heart of the Christian Year.

 

"Come, take light from the Light that has no evening, and glorify Christ, risen from the dead."  The Church again represents the Christian mystery in terms of light; this Light, whose birth was marked by the star of Bethlehem, is shining among us with growing intensity; the darkness of Golgotha could not extinguish it.  The physical Resurrection of Jesus would be without value to us if the divine light did not shine at the same time among us, within us.  But the good news of the Resurrection is that the light brought by the Saviour now completely overcomes the darkness of our sins!

 

"Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death, and to those in the tomb He has given life!"

 

Acts 1:1-8:  From our reading in Acts we are reminded that following the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, the Church would receive the Holy Spirit to empower Her in spreading the eternal gospel to all parts of the Earth.

 

John 1:1-17:  Reading in the Gospel of John we see Jesus Christ as the eternally Begotten Son of The Father with Whom He has always existed.  We also see John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for our Lord's ministry.

 

Paschal Troparion: Christ is risen from the dead; by Death has he trodden death, and upon those in the tombs, hath he bestowed life.

 

Hypakoe of Easter:  They who were with Mary came before the dawn, found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and heard the angels say unto them,  Why seek ye him as man with the dead, who dwelleth in light eternal?  Behold the grave wrappings; make haste and declare to the world that the Lord is risen, and hath caused death to die; for he is the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind.

 

Kontakion of Pascha: When Thou didst descend into the grave, O Immortal, Thou didst destroy the power of hades.  In victory didst Thou arise, O Christ God, proclaiming "Rejoice" to the myrrh-bearing women, granting peace to Thine apostles and bestowing resurrection on the fallen.

 

 

 

Sunday, April 19  (Easter Sunday)
 3:00 p.m. – Agape Vespers – Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Clinton, MS 

 

NO FASTING DURING BRIGHT WEEK

Monday, April 20
 Office Closed – Father John's Day Off

 

Tuesday, April 21
 6:00 a.m. – Bright Week Orthros
 6:30 p.m. – Choir Practice
  
Wednesday, April 22
 5:00 p.m. – Catechism Class
 6:30 p.m. – Great Vespers with Paschal Format

 

Thursday, April 23  (Great-Martyr George)
 6:00 a.m. – Festal Orthros with Paschal Format
 
Friday, April 24  (Apostle and Evangelist Mark)
 6:00 a.m. – Bright Week Orthros
        
Saturday, April 25
 5:00 p.m. – Sandwich and Ice Cream Social
 6:30 p.m. – Great Vespers

Sunday, April 26  (Thomas Sunday) 
 8:50 a.m. – Orthros
 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School
 10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy
 6:00 p.m. – Young Adults

 

 

 

Eucharist Bread: ...was offered today by the Bakers for the Vesperal Liturgy this morning and by the Hendersons for the Paschal service this evening.

 

Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
                                     Eucharist Bread              Coffee Hour
April 18 (Sat. night) PASCHA Hendersons            Wood/Pigott/Turner
April 26                                Joanna Meadows     R. Roots
May 3  NO Services due to wedding
May 10                                Freundts                 Hendersons
May 17                                Woods                    Chamblees
May 24                                R. Roots                 Freundts
May 28 (Wed. evening)         Algoods                   Dansereaus/Morrises
May 31                               Katools                    Fahmys

 

Schedule for Epistle Readers   –  Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the front pew.  Please be sure to use this book when you read.
                                    Reader                  Reading           Page #
April 18 (Sat. night)     Warren Strain          Acts 1:1-8               25
April 26                      Mildred Morris          Acts 5:12-20           32
May 3  NO Services due to wedding
May 10                      Kh. Be'Be' Schelver  Acts 9:32-42           45
May 17                      Brenda Baker          Acts 11:19-30          52
May 24                      Tom Willingham      Acts 16:16-34          58
May 28 (Wed. evening) Tom Skirtech         Acts 1:1-12             63
May 31                      Walt Wood             Acts 20:16-18,28-36 66

 

Welcome and Many Years! to Ben Brock who was chrismated this morning!

 

Except for services, Father John will be off for the whole of Bright Week.  If you need a priest, please call Father Leo or Father James.

 

Congratulations to Max Baker! ...who has been accepted into Job Corps, and is now in training in Crystal Springs.

 

There will be no services at St. Peter's on May 2-3 (for this weekend only) since all the clergy will be at Jordan Henderson's wedding in Florida.  You are encouraged to attend one of the other Orthodox churches in the area.

 

Information concerning Paschal meals and activities:
 * Holy Resurrection has requested that we bring deserts as our contribution towards the Agape Feast. They are also asking for monetary donations to help with their food costs. Please contact Christina Katool by e-mail or at 601-594-4885 and let her know if you are planning on bringing a dessert.
 * If you have a child or children that want to go Easter Egg hunting at Holy Resurrection, they will need to bring a basket and a dozen filled plastic eggs.
 * Bright Week... We will have an Ice Cream Social on Saturday, April 25th at 5:00 pm, followed by Vespers. We will have sandwiches and ice cream.
 
Please remember the following in your prayers: Reader Basil's family (Dad, Bill; Mom, Cleo; sister Betty; and uncle and aunt, James and Sarah Powell), Karen Cooper (recovering from knee surgery), Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family, Penny and Dean Bruner and their family, Deborah and Paul Finley, Effie Johnson (Kh. Susan Cushman's mother) and the Cushman family (St. John's in Memphis) Jared and Stacy Autrey and their daughter Olivia Kate who has been in the hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center (St. Ignatius in Franklin).

 

 * Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m., we will celebrate Agape Vespers at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton.   
 

 * The next meeting for the PLC 2009 Planning Committee will Thursday, April 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
 

 * Parish Life Conference at the Hilton, June 10-14!! (See below)

 

Registration for the Parish Life Conference has begun!!  Be sure to register to attend the conference.  Registration forms are available on the table in the hallway and online at our website (thanks to Daniel Root!!).  On the website you can also find the schedule of events for the conference.  If you cannot afford to attend all the meals and events, be sure to register for as many as you can, especially the Grand Banquet on Saturday evening.  Come, also, for the services.  The Very Rev. Fr. Michael Dahulich, Dean of St. Tikhon's Seminary will be the speaker this year.  You will also hear many wonderful homilies by the visiting priests.  The Bible Bowl is lots of fun (as anyone who has ever seen one will tell you) and the Oratorical Contest is a chance to hear the thoughts of some of our young people on spiritual issues.  This conference will be attended by those from our sister parishes throughout the diocese and is an opportunity to showcase our parish.  So make plans now to attend.

 

Help needed for PLC 2009 Souvenir Journal!!   The PLC committee is starting to sell ads for the souvenir journal for the Parish Life Conference and we need your help! Our goal is to sell $20,000 of ads by May 1. Please consider talking to your employer about donating for a corporate ad, and if you have any suggestions of businesses to go to or people to talk to, please let Anna Kathryn know.

 

Directory Updates have been mailed to each household.  Most of these have been returned, but several are still missing.  Please correct these if needed (or place a check mark on the form if the information is already correct) and mail or bring them to the church office as soon as possible. We hope to be able to have updated directories available in a few weeks, but this will only be possible if everyone does their part.  Thank you for your assistance in this task.

 

The Ladies of St. John Orthodox Church in Memphis are hosting a bridal shower for Sally Elliott on Sunday, May 17th from 4-6 p.m.  All of our ladies are invited.

 

Please supervise your children to avoid spills, ink stains or marks from their writing and drawing on our new chairs.  We also ask that you not allow them to stand on the kneelers.  Thank you for your help with this.

 

Fasting Discipline for April:
There is no fasting during Bright Week following Pascha.  Starting on April 27th traditional fasting will resume on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

Major Commemorations During April
 April 19  PASCHA
 April 23  Great-martyr George
 April 24  Apostle and Evangelist Mark 
 April 26  Thomas Sunday

 

The Christmas Village (a pregnancy intervention ministry located in Canton) is hosting a fund-raising mother-daughter tea next Sunday afternoon, April 26th.  This worthwhile organization ministers to women who are unwed or have difficulties, but do not want to have an abortion.  Many of our ladies have helped staff their bakery at Christmastime.  Informa-tion about the tea  is posted on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall.

 

Those hosting Coffee Hour or feasts MUST be sure to place fresh trash bags in the trash cans when cleaning up afterwards.  If this is not done, items get thrown into the empty trash cans and then dumped as is into the cans outside.  The trash people will NOT pick up loose trash from the cans and have even dumped it out in the past.  This means that Father John has to pick these items up by hand and bag them!  Please help us with this!!

 

If you are the last to leave the building, please make sure that the heating and cooling unit in the Fellowship Hall is set to the optimum temperature for the building when unoccupied.  If you have overridden the programmed setting, please be sure to restore it to the original setting.  We are trying to keep our utility costs down.  If you do not know how to operate the thermostat, please consult with either Father James or Deacon Richard for instruction. 

  
Quotable: "The Son of God assumed human nature, and in it He endured all that belongs to the human condition.  This is a remedy for mankind of a power beyond our imagining."

    - St. Augustine of Hippo

 

Weekly Quote:  "The Savior becomes all things to all, according to the need of each: to those who ask for joy, He becomes the vine; to those who wish to enter, He becomes the door; to those who are under the weight of sin, He becomes a lamb, a lamb slain for them.  He becomes all things to all, but He remains nonetheless what He is.  He is called by a twofold name: Jesus because He gives us salvation, and Christ because He is priest."

    - St. Cyril of Jerusalem

 

 Scripture:  Acts 5:12-20; John 20:19-31
 Celebrant:  Father John
 Homily:  Father James
 Deacon:  Deacon Terry
 Epistle Reader  Mildred Morris
 Acolytes:  TBA
 Prosphora:  Dansereaus
 Coffee Hour:  Algoods
 Teen Hosts:  TBA