Parish Guide Holy Week & EASTER 2017

Transcript

1 Parish Guide Holy Week & EASTER 2017 SAINT GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 238 WEST ROCKS ROAD NORWALK, CT PHONE: (203) WEB:

2 ΠΑΣΧΑ/EASTER 2017 Let him Easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us Gerald Manley Hopkins, The Wreck of the Deutschland On Easter day, the Church reminds us that Jesus Christ is the unending light for the world. In his poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland, G. M. Hopkins uses Easter as a nautical term, meaning sailing toward east, from where the light comes, from where the sun rises. It s a similar call to the Come, Receive the Light, from the Light that never ends that the Church is calling us on Easter night. So, Let us Εaster in us, my brothers and sisters, that we may live in the light of His glory. Αφήστε τον να βάλει πλώρη Ανατολικά σε εμάς, να είναι ανατολή στην αμυδρότητα μας... Gerald Manley Hopkins, Το Ναυάγιο Deutschland Την ημέρα του Πάσχα η Εκκλησία μας λέγει ότι ο Ιησούς Χριστός είναι το ανέσπερο φως του κόσμου. Στο ποίημά του Το Ναυάγιο Deutschland, ο Hopkins χρησιμοποιώντας σαν ναυτικό όρο την λέξη easter, που σημαίνει και Πάσχα, με την έννοια του ταξιδιού προς το φως, προς την ανατολή του Ηλίου, μας υπενθυμίζει την πορεία μας προς τον Χριστό, εν παραλληλία, θα λέγαμε, με το Δεύτε, λάβετε Φως, εκ του Ανεσπέρου Φωτός που η Εκκλησία μας καλεί τη βραδιά του Πάσχα. Ας βάλουμε λοιπόν πλώρη Ανατολικά, αδελφοί μου, ώστε να ζήσουμε το Φως της δόξης Του. Βίρα Ανατολικά (προς Χριστόν, το Ανέσπερον Φως) και καλό Πάσχα. Christ Is Risen!-Χριστός Ανέστη, Fr. Nicholas Dassouras

3 EASTER STORIES & TRADITIONS 3:30 PM Registration & Introduction 4:00 PM Session I 5:00 PM Session II APRIL 8 HOLY WEEK-EASTER YOUTH RETREAT Saturday of Lazarus Let s find out why Easter is the most important day of the Christian calendar; identify the different accounts of the Resurrection & discuss how we can be witnesses to the Resurrection in everyday life. JOY (6-12) & GOYA (12-18) No Registration Fee. 6:00 PM - Vespers Followed by Lenten Meal SAINT GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 238 West Rocks Road Norwalk, CT Mon-Fri.: 9:30-5:30

4 On Easter by Rowan Williams The joy of the resurrection has a unique place in Christian faith and imagination because this event breaks open the shell of the world we thought we knew and projects us into the new and mysterious realm in which victorious mercy and inexhaustible love make the rules. The Christian is not the person who has accepted a particular set of theories about the universe but the person who lives by the power of the joy that is laid bare in the event of the resurrection of Jesus. To be baptized into Christ is to be given a lasting connection with joy, a channel through which the basic sense of being where we ought to be can always come through, however much we choke it up with selfishness and worry. Sometimes, clearing out this debris needs a bit of explosive encounter with an extraordinary person or story, experience of passionate love, witnessing profound suffering, whatever shakes us out of our so-called normal habits. But we can at least contribute to this by giving time to clearing the channel as best we may, in silence, in the space of reflection. And we can also ask persistently what it is in our social environment that will most help create this for others, especially those who live with constant anxiety because of poverty, disability or other sorts of disadvantage. Christian joy, the joy of Easter, is offered to the world not to guarantee a permanently happy society in the sense of a society free from tension, pain or disappointment, but to affirm that whatever happens in the unpredictable world sometimes wonderfully, sometimes horribly unpredictable there is a deeper level of reality, a world within the world, where love and reconciliation are ceaselessly at work, a world with which contact can be made so that we are able to live honestly and courageously with the challenges constantly thrown at us. And on the first Easter morning, it is as if the fountains of the great deep are broken open, and we are allowed to see, like Peter and John at the empty tomb, into the darkness for a moment and find our world turned upside down, joy made possible

5 ΙΕΡΑ ΠΑΝΗΓΥΡΙΣ ΑΓ. ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ FEAST OF SAINT GEORGE Σάββατο 22 Απριλίου: 7:00 μ.μ. Μέγας Πανηγυρικός Εσπερινός μετ αρτοκλασίας. Κυριακή 23 Απριλίου: 8:30 π.μ. Όρθρος και Αρχιερατική Θεία Λειτουργία μετ αρτοκλασίας Saturday, April 22 nd : 7:00 p.m. Great Vespers & Artoclassia Sunday, April 23 rd : 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Artoclassia

6 ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΙΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΗΣ ΕΒΔΟΜΑΔΟΣ & ΠΑΣΧΑ 2017 Σάββατο 8 Απριλίου: 8:00 π.μ. Όρθρος & Θ. Λειτουργία (Αγ. Λαζάρου) Κυριακή 9 Απριλίου: 8:30 π.μ. Όρθρος & Θ. Λειτουργία (των Βαΐων) 7:00 μ.μ. Όρθρος Μ. Δευτέρας (Ακολουθία Νυμφίου) Μ. Δευτέρα 10 Απριλίου: 7:00 μ.μ. - Όρθρος Μ. Τρίτης (Ακολουθία Νυμφίου) Μ. Τρίτη 11 Απριλίου: 9:00 π.μ. - Προηγιασμένη Θ. Λειτουργία 7:00 μ.μ. - Όρθρος Μ. Τετάρτης (Ακολουθία Νυμφίου) Χοροστατούντος του Θεοφιλεστάτου Επισκόπου Ζήλων κ. Σεβαστιανού Μ. Τετάρτη 12 Απριλίου: 6:00 μ.μ. Ιερόν Ευχέλαιον & Όρθρος Μ. Πέμπτης (Ακολουθία του Νιπτήρος) Μ. Πέμπτη 13 Απριλίου: 8:00 π.μ. Εσπερινός & Θ. Λειτουργία Μ. Βασιλείου 7:00 μ.μ. Όρθρος Μ. Παρασκευής (Ακολουθία των Παθών) Μ. Παρασκευή 14 Απριλίου: 9:00 π.μ. Μ. Ώραι της Μεγάλης Παρασκευής 5:00 μ.μ. Μέγας Εσπερινός Αποκαθηλώσεως 7:00 μ.μ. Όρθρος Μ. Σαββάτου (Επιτάφιος Θρήνος) Μ. Σάββατο 15 Απριλίου: 8:00 π.μ. Μ. Εσπερινός & Θ. Λειτουργία Μ. Βασιλείου (1 η Ανάσταση) 11:00 μ.μ. Ακολουθία προ της Αναστάσεως 12:00 μ. μ. Ακολουθία Αναστάσεως, Όρθρος & Θ. Λειτουργία του Πάσχα (Μεσάνυχτα) Κυριακή, Πάσχα 16 Απριλίου: 11:00 π.μ. Μ. Εσπερινός Αγάπης & Άγιον Φως

7 PROGRAM OF CHURCH SERVICES FOR HOLY WEEK AND EASTER OF 2017 Saturday, April 8 th : 8:00 a.m. Orthros & Divine Liturgy (St. Lazarus) Palm Sunday, April 9 th : 8:30 a.m. Orthros & Divine Liturgy 7:00 p.m. - Orthros for Holy Monday (Bridegroom Service) Holy Monday, April 10 th : 7:00 p.m. - Orthros for Holy Tuesday (Bridegroom Service) Holy Tuesday, April 11 th : 9:00 a.m. - Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 7:00 p.m. - Orthros for Holy Wednesday (B Bridegroom Service) presided by his Grace Bishop Sebastian of Zela Holy Wednesday, April 12 th : 6:00 p.m. - Holy Unction and Orthros for H. Thursday (Nipter Service) Holy Thursday, April 13 th : 8:00 a.m. - Vespers & Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great 7:00 p.m. - Orthros for Good Friday (Service of the Passion 12 Gospels) Good Friday, April 14 th : 9:00 a.m. Great & Royal Hours of Good Friday 5:00 p.m. Great Vespers of the Descending of Christ from the Cross 7:00 p.m. - Orthros for Holy Saturday (The Praises on the Tomb) Holy Saturday, April 15 th : 8:00 a.m. - Great Vespers & Divine Liturgy of St. Basil (1 st Resurrection) 11:00 p.m. - Pre-Resurrection Service 12:00 p.m. - Resurrection Service, Paschal Orthros & D. Liturgy (Midnight) Holy Pascha, April 16 th : 11:00 a.m. Great Vespers of Love & lighting of candles

8 Christ, Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night We are reminded of our responsibility, in life, to keep our eyes open and on Christ. Palm Sunday, April 9 10:00 AM Divine Liturgy The Church is decorated with palm branches and bay leaves. Each person receives a palm cross and bay leaves, reminding us of the people who waved palm branches and bay leaves to welcome Jesus and laid them at His feet as He entered Jerusalem. We encourage you to bring your children to participate at the procession with palms at the Great Entrance. 7:00 PM 1 st Bridegroom Service If you can, please, attend as a family. Let your children know that the Priest will process out with the Icon of Christ (the Bridegroom). We get ready for the coming of Holy Monday, April 10 7:00 PM 2 nd Bridegroom Service There are 2 important themes we hear tonight: preparedness and hypocrisy. After Church, read again the Gospels with your children, and discuss how do we prepare to receive Christ and how do we strive to live sincere lives as Christians and not to be hypocrites to the world. Holy Tuesday, April 11 7:00 PM 3 rd Bridegroom Service Today the theme of repentance rings loudly! Read the Gospel story of the sinful woman and discuss, with your children, how can we offer

9 something to honor Christ just as she did? Holy Wednesday, April 12 6:00 PM Holy Unction + Nipter Service Tonight we are anointed with the Holy Oil, the Sacrament of healing, and, after the Gospel, were we are called to trust God and be faithful servants to Him, we are given the meaning of the Last Supper in the beautiful canon of St. Cosmas: "Come, O faithful! Let us enjoy the Master's hospitality. Discuss with your children, how do we participate to our Master's hospitality? Holy Thursday, April 13 Today, dye your Easter eggs. We dye the eggs red, the color of life and Christ s blood, and please, allow your children to decorate some eggs, discussing the sacrifice that Jesus did for us. 8:00 AM Divine Liturgy of St. Basil 2 events shape this liturgy: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples and the betrayal of Judas. 7:00 PM Service of the Passion Tonight, we read the 12 Gospels telling the story of Christ s Crucifixion. The Procession of the Crucified Christ takes place shortly after the 5 th Gospel. Allow your children to participate at the procession and discuss, afterwards, Christ s Crucifixion with your children. It s okay to feel a little antsy or tired. It s okay if your feet hurt. Let us participate that way in Christ s physical and

10 emotional pain, endured for us on this day. Lamentations, be altar-boys or Myrrh-bearers. Holy Friday, April 14 Today, try to keep your home as quiet as possible. Consider keeping schoolchildren home for the day so they can spend it preparing for the Resurrection. 11:00 AM Epitaphios (Christ s Tomb) decoration Families are invited to spend the day cleaning & decorating the Epitaphios 5:00 PM Vespers, the service of Christ's burial Tonight, we take off the Body of Jesus from the Cross & we place it in the Epitaphios (Christ s Tomb) 7:00 PM Christ's burial & Lamentations We place, in the center of the Church, the image of Christ in the tomb. Children are invited to participate in singing the Holy Saturday, April 15 8:30 AM D. Liturgy of St. Basil & 1st Resurrection This morning Service is the 1 st announcement of the Resurrection. Ask your children to listen closely to the Old Testament reading of the story of the 3 youths. Before the gospel the Priest will proceed to celebrate the victory over death by throwing bay leaves throughout the Church while chanting the beautiful hymn, Arise, o God "The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day, when he said: God blessed the seventh day. This is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of

11 rest, on which the onlybegotten Son of God rested from all His works. 12:00 PM (midnight) Holy Resurrection Christ is Risen! This is the Day of all Days, the Feast of all Feasts. The Church is darkened to remind us that at this time, Jesus is in the tomb transforming death to life for all. Midnight signals morning, and at this moment, a single light comes forth from the Sanctuary. As the Priest carries this candle to the people, he sings, Come receive the light from the Un-waning Light, and glorify Christ, who has risen from the dead. Easter Sunday, April 16 11:00 AM Agape Service of Easter This Service proclaims the Gospel in many different languages. As a family, learn to declare the Lord s Resurrection in different languages. Easter Light and Easter Eggs will be distributed to the children. Parents with children having foreign language ability are invited to read the Holy Gospel. If you or your children are able to read the Gospel in another language, we will be glad to have you read the Gospel in that language during the Service. Please ca the church office at

12 Christ Is Risen!