The Path - April 29, 2015

Please find our weekly podcast, "The Path", at the link below. This week we are pleased to welcome Tamara Real to The Path. Tamara speaks to us about death and dying. In a short time Tamara lost her husband, her mother, and her step father. She gained much knowledge from this experience, and she shares that with us on The Path. Tamara notes how important it is that we visit those who are sick and home-bound and she speaks with the voice of experience. This interview is very worth listening to! We also have this week's announcements as well as liturgical highlights from the past week.


PLEASE NOTE: Due to Fr. Gregory's travels over the next few weeks this next edition of The Path will be available on Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

The Path for April 29, 2015

Sermon from the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

Please find the sermon from the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women at the link below. This Sunday shows the boldness of these zealous disciples of Christ - and provides us an example to emulate. May the Lord grant us the strength to do so!

Sermon - Myrrh-Bearing Women 2015

Divine Services from Myrrh-Bearing Women Weekend

At the links below please find the Vigil and Divine Liturgy sound files for the Myrrh-Bearing Women weekend. What a great weekend it was too! Please join us soon as St. Vladimir's, but in the mean time, enjoy the recordings of the Divine Services!

Vigil - Myrrh-Bearing Women 2015

Divine Liturgy - Myrrh-Bearing Women 2015

Lecture from Sunday, April 26, 2015

Please find a link to our lecture from this Sunday below. Gracie Willis and Danica Taylor from the University of Michigan Law School Human Trafficking Clinic were kind enough to join us and to help inform us about this really serious problem in the world today. And by the world we do not mean Asia or Africa only – but right here in Michigan! If you feel strongly about helping those who are enslaved in this way please talk to Fr. Gregory. We may be able to help – even in a small way. But if we can save one person from being trafficked that is already a wonderful start! Learn more by listening to the lecture or visiting the web site below or both.

Human Trafficking inMichigan – April 26, 2015

University ofMichigan Law School Human Trafficking Clinic

Sermon from Thomas Sunday

Please find the sermon from Thomas Sunday at the link below. Doubt is a temptation - not unbelief. But there is a bit more than that there. See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

Thomas Sunday Sermon 2015

Thomas Sunday Divine Services

Please find links to the Divine Services for Thomas Sunday below. Following the Divine Liturgy that day, according to our parish's established practice, we began to visit our departed loved ones and greet them with the Lord's Glorious Resurrection. Pictures of that visit to Forest Hill Cemetery will soon be up on our photo album. Until then, we have included a few of those below. See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

Thomas Sunday 2015 Vigil

Thomas Sunday 2015 Divine Liturgy

Bright Saturday Divine Services

Please find two links below to the evening services on Bright Friday (in preparation for Bright Saturday) as well as the Divine Liturgy for Bright Saturday. This was our English cycle of Divine Services for the month and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to serve an entire Paschal cycle in English. Christ is Risen!

Bright Saturday Vespers & Matins 2015

Bright Saturday Divine Liturgy 2015

Vespers, Matins, and Liturgy for Bright Friday

Please find a link to the Bright Friday Vespers, Matins, and Divine Liturgy. Vespers starts about mid-way through the service since unfortunately I forgot to press the "Record" button before that. I ask the forgiveness of all in this regard. We hope you find these services beautiful and edifying - as they indeed were - even if they were in the middle of the night. :) If you recall, this is the cycle of services that we started at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday evening, with Liturgy beginning about 12:00 a.m. Christ is Risen!

Vespers, Matins, Liturgy - Bright Friday 2014

The Path for April 22, 2015

Beginning with this week the Path will be published at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays. This week's path includes the usual announcements and a commentary on why Orthodox Christians are Pro-Life. And of course, liturgical highlights from the past week. We hope you enjoy this week's offering and that you will share it with others. Please join us on The Path!

The Path - April 22, 2015

Bright Thursday Vespers & Matins

Please find the sound file from Bright Thursday Vespers & Matins (served on Wednesday evening) at St. Vladimir's below. Thank you to all who make these Bright Week services possible and carry the Paschal Joy through the week!

Bright Thursday 2015 - Vespers & Matins

The Path for Bright Week

Please find below this week's edition of The Path. This week we do not have an interview. We had two excellent interviews already complete and ready to share with you – but unfortunately these were lost due to a technical problem. :( So in place of the interview we have a commentary from Fr. Gregory about Holy Week, Bright Week, and covering three questions that have been asked by parishioners for our “Ask the Priest” segment. These questions are:

1. How are we to treat prosphora? What are we to do with it? Is this is an after Communion snack or something more significant?

2. Why do we not serve Pannykhidas on Sundays throughout the year, and during all week days of Great Lent?

3. How often should we partake of Holy Communion and how should we prepare ourselves for this mystery?

We ask your forgiveness for the background noise on some of the liturgical selections for this week. The most beautiful hymns of Holy Week are often accompanied by veneration of the plashenitsa or some other movement in the church, and the microphone cannot distinguish between a cough, footsteps on our wooden floor, the bells of the censer, and the hymns. That being said, we have chose selections that have the least background noise and which we think will provide the most edification to our listeners. You will note too that we have no selections from the Paschal services. This is because there were simply so many people in the church that the sound of the choir was muffled somewhat significantly. That being said, the entire Paschal service has been posted on this blog and you are welcome to listen to it at any time. Listen to next week's Path for many Paschal hymns from the many Bright Week services. See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

The Path – Monday, April 13, 2015

Children's Bright Monday Pascha Liturgy

Today we held our Children's Paschal Liturgy. This happened de facto last year and it got us thinking - why not plan such a thing? So, God-willing, we will have a Children's Liturgy on the following days of the year:

-Bright Monday
-Holy Spirit Day (the day after Pentecost)
-St. Nicholas Day (December 6/19)
-Synaxis of the Theotokos (December 26/January 8)

Please pray for our success in this regard! Below please find the sound file from today's Liturgy. You can also see a few pictures from the Liturgy here - all will be posted on our Photo Album page soon. Thank you to all who worked SO HARD to make this service possible!

Children's Bright Monday Pascha Liturgy 2015

 

Paschal Divine Services

We present here several of the Paschal Divine Services - but there are more to come! Pascha is just too big and too important to be contained in one 24-hour period and at St. Vladimir's we will hold Liturgy on Bright Monday morning (this will be a children's Liturgy with the kids singing, serving in the altar, and leading the Paschal procession), Paschal Vespers and Matins on Wednesday evening, Paschal Vespers and Matins on Friday evening, and Paschal Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning. We are also trying to schedule another cycle of Paschal services before Bright Week ends. More to come on that soon. In the mean time, we hope you enjoy the sound files of the Divine Services at St. Vladimir's below. Christ is Risen!

Reading of the Acts of the Apostles - Holy Saturday 2015

Paschal Midnight Office - 2015

Paschal Matins and Divine Liturgy - 2015

Paschal Vespers and Matins (for Bright Monday) - 2015

Holy Saturday Vesperal Divine Liturgy

Below please find a link to the sound file for the Hours, Vespers, and Divine Liturgy of Holy Saturday at St. Vladimir's Church. Now we are just a few hours away from the feast of feasts and the day of days - the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Please join us as you are able, and remember please that we have Liturgy on Bright Monday and Bright Saturday if you are not able to be with us for the Paschal Liturgy. Remember too that we hold Paschal Vespers & Matins on Pascha itself at 2:00 p.m. The Reading of the Acts of the Apostles begins at 9:00 p.m. on Holy Saturday. See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

Hours, Vespers, and Divine Liturgy - Holy Saturday 2015

Holy Friday Divine Services

Please find links to the sound files of our Holy Friday Divine Services at St. Vladimir's below: Royal Hours, Vespers, and Matins. Please join us at St. Vladimir's as your schedule allows. And when you can't - stop here at the Sound of the Parish to hear the services that you missed! See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

Royal Hours - Holy Friday 2015

Vespers - Holy Friday 2015

Matins - Holy Friday 2015

Holy Thursday Liturgy

Please find the link below to the sound file for the Holy Thursday Hours and Vesperal Divine Liturgy at St. Vladimir's. Unfortunately the sound file from the Matins service for Holy Friday was somehow corrupted and cannot be shared. That is unfortunate because that services was truly beautiful - despite the tornado that touched down a few miles from the church during the service. Please join us as your personal schedule allows and please pray that we will not have any more corrupted files - or tornadoes for that matter!

Holy Thursday Hours and Divine Liturgy 2015

The Path in MP3

Please find below our first three editions of "The Path" in MP3 format. Some people  have had trouble listening to our offerings in .wav format, and thus we will present these in MP3 going forward. But here are the previous versions in this format. We hope this will be convenient for all!

"The Path" - March 16, 2015 - MP3

"The Path" - March 23, 2015 - MP3

"The Path" - March 30, 2015 - MP3

Matins for Holy Thursday

Please find Matins and the First Hour for Holy Thursday at the link below. God-willing we will post each of the Divine Services of Holy Week and Bright Week on Sound of the Parish. Check back often - or even better: sign up for email updates on the right side of the blog - to enjoy these beautiful and meaningful services.

Matins and First Hour for Holy Thursday

Full Schedule of Holy Week and Bright Week

Full Great Lenten Lecture Series 2015

Please find each of our Great Lenten Lecture Series presentations at the links below. Thank to you all who made the series possible this year, and especially to Lilia Vershynin who coordinated the lectures!

Lecture #1 – March 1, 2015 – John Zroika “Altar service at St. Vladimir Parish”

Lecture #2 – March 8, 2015 – John Hill "Brotherhood and its Role in the Parish Life" and Zhanna Skalitzky "Sisterhood and its Role in the Parish Life"

Lecture #3 – March 15, 2015 – Professor Roy R. Robson “Understanding Orthodoxy in the Context of a Multi-cultural, Multi-ethnic, Multi-religious Society”

Lecture #4 – March 22, 2015 – Roman Vershynin "The Ministry of the Parish Choir at St. Vladimir Parish"

Lecture #5 – March 29, 2015 – Lilia Verchinina "The Ministry of the Church School at St. Vladimir Parish"

Lecture #6 – April 5, 2015 – Vadym Pyrozhenko "Getting Organized: Effective Parish Management"

You can also find these lecture on our You Tube Channel.

Please join us next year in person for our Great Lenten Lecture Series!

Bridegroom Matins and Final Presanctified Liturgy of this Year - Holy Wednesday

Judas Sells the Lord for 30 Pieces of Silver

Please find the sound files for the Bridegroom Matins on Holy Tuesday evening and the final Presanctified Liturgy of this year (from Holy Wednesday) at the links below. Note the extra Prayer of St. Ephraim after the Prayer behind the Ambo at the Liturgy. This marks the last prostrations done in Church until Pentecost Kneeling Vespers (with the exception of prostrations done before the icon of our Lord in the Grave later this week). Please join us soon for Divine Services in person at St. Vladimir's!

Bridegroom Matins - April 7, 2015

Hours and Presanctified Liturgy - April 8, 2015

Divine Services from the Last Day of Great Lent

Great Lent ends on the Friday of the sixth week of the lent, this year April 3, 2015. Below please find the Divine Services for this day. We have split the day's services into two separate links: Matins & Hours, and the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. We hope you find these services edifying!

Matins and Great Lenten Hours - April 3, 2015

Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts - April 3, 2015

Annunciation of the Mother of God Services

Annunciation of the Theotokos

Today the Holy Church celebrates the great feast of the Annunciation. Below please find links to the Vigil and Divine Liturgy sound files. Note that Vigil begins quietly - with Great Compline and the reading of psalms. But it has its very triumphant moments as well, but because this is Holy Week the Vigil ends as a daily matins service. Liturgically this is a very interesting feast. The Divine Liturgy begins with the Hours and Typica, followed by the Liturgy beginning as Vespers. Again - very liturgically interesting. Congratulations to all with this great feast at which the Mother of God becomes the Mother of God, humbly accepting the cross that God gives her for the salvation of all mankind!

Vigil - Annunciation of the Mother of God

Divine Liturgy - Annunciation of the Mother of God

Sermon - Annunciation of the Mother of God

Great Lenten Lecture - Sunday, April 5, 2015

We were pleased to welcome our parish family member Vadym Pyrozhenko as the final lecturer of our Great Lenten Lecture series this year. Vadym is a professor at the University of Michigan Dearborn and his lecture to the parish was on the topic of non-profit management and was entitled "Getting Organized: Effective Parish Management". A link to Vadym's lecture can be found below. In the next few days we will publish all the Great Lenten Lectures together in one posting so that you can easily access them. Thank you to all our lecturers for a wonderful series of lectures!

Great Lenten Lecture - Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Path for Monday, April 6, 2015

This week on The Path we conclude our interview with Natalia Vasilievna Dale. In this part of the interview we refer to some photographs which are posting below. In addition to Mrs. Dale's interview this edition of The Path includes announcements for this week and this week's schedule of services. Finally, as always we end The Path with liturgical highlights of the past week's Divine Services. Please join us at St. Vladimir's this week as we keep watch with our Lord on His path to the Cross, Death, and Resurrection. See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

The Path - Monday, April 6, 2015

Pictures referred to in Mrs. Dale's Interview:

Row 1 Left to Right
Natalia V. Dale
Peter Dale
Name Unknown
Vasily Bezmertny

Row 2 Left to Right
George Olympich
Nadezhda Olympich
Dorothea Bibikov
Nikolai Gubin (Choir Director)

Row 3 Left to Right
Vera Bibikov
Name Unknown
Name Unknown

Row 4: Hilarion H. Bibikov

Natalia V. Dale

Vera Bibikov

Peter Dale

Ariadna Bezmertny

Matushka Name Unknown

Peter Dale

Priest Appolon Novitsky

Those in this picture are the same as those in the first picture.

Obituary of Hilarion H. Bibikov:

Palm Sunday at St. Vladimir's 2015

Below please find links to the sound files for the Vigil and Divine Liturgy for the great feast of our Lord's Entry into Jerusalem, also known as Palm Sunday. We are thankful that more than 80 people partook of Holy Communion on this day at St. Vladimir's from two chalices and that more than 120 people kissed the cross at the end of the Divine Liturgy. May the Lord grant all our parish family and friends a spiritually profitable Holy Week!

Vigil for Palm Sunday 2015

Divine Liturgy for Palm Sunday 2015

Sermon - Palm Sunday 2015

Lazarus Saturday 2015

Please find the full Divine Liturgy and the sermon for the feast of the Resurrection of Lazarus (Lazarus Saturday) at the links below. At St. Vladimir's this day, as is the case in much of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia the Church School students partake of Holy Communion as a pious beginning to Holy Week. Congratulations with the feast and may God grant all a spiritually profitable Holy Week!

Divine Liturgy - Lazarus Saturday 2015

Sermon - Lazarus Saturday 2015

MP3s Going Forward

Friends,

Palm Sunday Vigil 2015

We have been posting our audio files as .wav files, but these are large and not all devices support these. So we are going to use MP3 files going forward. It will take us a few weeks to convert the files already posted, but we will do that. However, starting immediately we will post in MP3. Thanks to those of you who gave us feedback on the difficulty with the .wav files! Please share your thoughts with us going forward so we can best share our audio files with you!

Fr. Gregory

Divine Services from April 1, 2015

Sts. Chrysanthus & Daria

Below please find three links from the Divine Services at St. Vladimir's on April 1, 2015. This was a special day at St. Vladimir's in that Matins was dedicated to the commemoration of the Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria - and we have a number of Darias in our parish. We wish them all many years! But the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was already the service for the next day: the commemoration of the Holy Fathers John, Sergius, Patrick and those with them slain at the monastery of St. Sabbas near Jerusalem. The reason this is a significant day for our parish is that the relics in our parish antimins are of these holy fathers - and this is a very unique blessing for our parish as these relics are very rarely found in antimins. We have included here the thanksgiving prayers after Holy Communion and believe these will be helpful and useful for our parishioners both now and in the future. Although we read these prayers at the end of each Divine Liturgy there are no doubt times when people must leave for whatever reason before they can hear these important prayers. By posting them here we provide another opportunity to hear these prayers if for some reason one cannot read them.

See you soon at St. Vladimir's!

Great Lenten Matins, Hours, Typica for Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria

Presanctified Liturgy for the Holy Fathers slain at St. Sabbas Monastery

Thanksgiving Prayers after Holy Communion