Bulletin February 16, 2014

Cheesefare Sunday:

  • Cheesefare Sunday is just two weeks from today (March 2nd). As in the past, we will gather for lunch following the Divine Liturgy and then celebrate Vespers which liturgically ushers in the Great Fast.
  • In preparation for this parish event, I request your help on Saturday, March 1st, following the Divine Liturgy (at about 10:00 AM). There will be some light cleaning and ordering, Social Hall set-up, and a bit of food prep. We should be finished quite early if a sufficient number of volunteers respond.
  • Plan on staying for the Divine Liturgy, lunch and Vespers on Cheesefare Sunday. Please bring a cold dish, finger foods, hors d’oeuvres, crudités, or a sweet, gooey, decadent dessert
    for a pre-Lenten treat (in order to cut down on preparation work and clean up, we will stick to cold dishes such as salads, sandwiches, etc.).

The Great Fast / Great Lent begins on Pure Monday, March 3rd. It is a day of Strict Abstinence (from meat and dairy products). Please note that the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be celebrated at 7:30 PM on that day.

All Souls Saturdays or Memorial Saturdays are five days set aside for the commemoration of the Faithful Departed within the liturgical year of the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Saturday is a traditional day for prayer for the dead, since Christ rested in the Tomb on Saturday. In our tradition there are 5 All Souls Saturdays throughout the year:

  • The Saturday of Meatfare Week (the second Saturday before Great Lent)
  • The second Saturday of Great Lent
  • The third Saturday of Great Lent
  • The fourth Saturday of Great Lent
  • The Saturday before Pentecost

These days are devoted to prayer for departed relatives and others among the faithful who might not be commemorated specifically as Saints. The Divine Services on these days have special hymns added to them to commemorate the departed. There is normally a Panachida (Memorial Service) served either after the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning, or after Vespers on Friday evening, for which Koliva (a dish made of boiled wheatberries and honey) is prepared and placed in front of the cross or icon before which the Panachida is served. After the service, the priest blesses the koliva and it is then eaten as a memorial by all present.

The wheat kernel is considered a symbol of death and resurrection recalling the words of Jesus: “€œVery truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12: 24)

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