The Transfiguration: This week we will celebrate the Great Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord. Forty days before his crucifixion Jesus revealed his glory to Peter, James, and John on Mount Tabor in the presence of Moses and Elias. This revelation of Jesus’ glory to the disciples was to inspire hope at the time of Jesus’ suffering and death. Today we celebrate that hope fulfilled – 40 days after the Transfiguration we observe the Feast of the Universal Elevation of the Holy Cross. We glorify the Cross of Christ as the instrument of our salvation and as the Tree which redeemed us from the curse of Adam and Eve who ate of the forbidden tree.
Upcoming Holyday: The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God is a Day of Precept / Holyday of Obligation in the Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolia of Pittsburgh.
Saturday August 15th 10:00 AM Divine Liturgy (Blessing of flowers)
Paraklesis: By Tradition the Paraklesis or the Office of Consolation to the Holy Mother of God is celebrated during the Great Fast/Lent. Further it is also customary to celebrate it daily from August 1st to 14th in preparation for the Feast of the Dormition. Next Sunday, August 9th we will celebrate the Paraklesis Service at 9:00 am in place of the regular Sunday Matins Service.
Otpust: This year will mark the 81st annual Pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Mount St. Macrina in Uniontown, PA on Labor Day weekend, Saturday, September 5th and Sunday, September 6th.
The Dormition Fast began on August 1st and continues through August 14th. Traditionally this preparatory period before the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God was a time of Strict Fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (no meat or dairy products) and a lesser fast on Tuesdays and Thursdays (no meat) with mitigations of the fast on Saturdays, Sundays, and the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6th). While the observance of this fast today is voluntary, we should practice Simple Abstinence (from meat) on all Fridays and extend the abstinence to Wednesdays during the fast period.
Wedding Anniversaries: The annual Eparchial wedding anniversary celebration for the Middle States Syncellate will take place on Saturday, November 14th at 4:00 PM. Please inform Father if you are celebrating this year an anniversary of 5 years or any multiple of 5 years thereafter (10, 15, 20, 25, etc.).
EWTN: The choir of the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family, Washington, D.C. will sing the responses to the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom during the annual Convention of the Knights of Columbus at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Archbishop Stefan Soroka, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia will be the celebrant. EWTN will broadcast the Divine Liturgy live on Wednesday morning, August 5th at 8:00 am.
Papal Mass: Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Wednesday, 23rd September at 4:15 pm.
Baking: Since we usually bake our first batch of kolácsi for the Slavic Food Festival some time in August, it is not too early to begin looking for good buys on butter, margarine, flour, and sugar.
Byzantine Internet Resources: To learn more about Eastern Christian theology, Liturgy, and tradition there are several valuable resources available to us on the Internet. “Coffee with Sister Vassa” is a series of podcasts available on YouTube that cover a wide range of topics. In a very informal manner Sister Vassa Larin, an Orthodox nun and a highly accomplished scholar and writer who is a member of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna, explains complex theological and liturgical topics with us as neighbors sharing a morning cup of coffee. In the course of about 10 minutes Sister Vassa manages to clarify the complexities of our faith in terms that are easy to understand and allow us to gain a new perspective on some aspects of our Christian tradition.
“Be the Bee” is a series of podcasts presented by Steven Christoforou, the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. This series also presents a wide range of topics including theology, Scripture, tradition, iconography, and Liturgy. Steven, like Sister Vassa, presents the topics in a simple and straightforward manner so that we can say after each presentation that we learned something new or have gained a new perspective on something we are already familiar with. For instance, Podcast #55 “Rise like Incense” or #75 “Memory eternal!” provides fresh insight into a few things are already very familiar to us.