This Week at St. Andrew

Week of March 17/30

Author

St. Andrew Orthodox Church
April 03, 2025

SUNDAY March 24/ April 6

Trapeza Team 1

Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

Commemoration of St. Mary of Egypt

Forefeast of the Annunciation

9:00 - Hours

10:00 - Divine Liturgy

All are welcome to join us for a Trapeza meal following Divine Liturgy

MONDAY March 25/ April 7

Feast of the Annunciation

5:00 PM - Vesperal Liturgy

TUESDAY March 26/ April 8

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel

NO ZOOM CLASSES DURING LENT

WEDNESDAY March 27/ April 9

6:00 PM - Presanctified Liturgy

8:30PM - Lenten meal following Liturgy

THURSDAY March 28/ April 10

FRIDAY March 29/ April 11

6:00 PM - Presanctified Liturgy

SATURDAY March 30/ April 12

Lazurus Saturday

9AM - Baptisms and Divine Liturgy

12PM - Potluck meal

PREPARATION FOR PASCHA 2025

For those of you who will be celebrating Pascha at St. Andrew for the first time, here is a brief summary of what to expect for celebrating the feast:

  • On Lazarus Saturday (April 12th), beginning at 9AM, there will be several baptisms and then Divine Liturgy, followed by a potluck meal. Please plan to bring enough for your family and a little extra to share.

  • There will be many preparatory activities during Holy Week, plus services each day of Holy Week. You’re encouraged to try to participate where you can, as each opportunity brings many blessings! The schedule of the events outside of services will be available in the coming weeks, but the church google calendar has been updated with the services. We will be baking Pascha bread, making Pascha cheese, dying Pascha eggs and lots of other fun “small t” traditions. Since it’s Spring Break for most of the area schools, this may help families with children participate more fully.

  • Our actual Pascha service begins Saturday (April 19th) evening at 11PM and will end around 2AM. Families with children are encouraged to bring sleeping bags and PJs so the littles can sleep when they need to. Generally, the St. Nicholas room ends up being a smattering of pallets with children asleep. After the service, everyone is invited to break the fast together and it will be a potluck meal. Bring the dishes you’ve missed the most and enough to share! Many times, the celebrations will continue until dawn, but do what you can.

  • On Sunday, April 20th, we will come together as a parish at 3PM to celebrate the feast together with a barbeque. The Parish Council provides multiple meats as main dishes and we have some UBER talented pit masters *cough, cough, Daniel* who have graciously shared their talents in past feasts and their masterworks should not be missed! The rest of the foods will be by potluck and we ask each family who is planning to attend to sign up for your favorite dish. You can visit THIS link and find what we need and sign up for your favorites.

  • Pascha is THE Major Feast of the Orthodox year and the memories that are made are priceless! We look forward to celebrating together! Plan for tired legs, full hearts and bellies!

THE CLERGY CHRONICLES

Resources Fr. George recommends for this week:

Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt

This week of Great Lent, the Church celebrates the memory of St. Mary of Egypt. The story of St. Mary is the story of a repentant harlot. Why does the Church find this story so important? Why does the whole Orthodox world remember this woman?

orthochristian.com/102368.html

WANT TO HELP OTHERS FIND US? PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW

Today’s generation will OFTEN use google maps as a way to find something near them. If you’re in Redding (or anywhere outside Anderson) you may not see a listing for St. Andrew at all when you search for “Orthodox Church”. We have heard from MANY new inquirers that they didn’t even know there were two Orthodox Churches in the area. We are trying to change that!

In an effort to be more visible and accessible to new inquirers, we are encouraging our members to leave a review on our Google business listing. This helps Google show more people our listing and helps people who see our listing feel welcome! If you would like to contribute to this effort, please click HERE and leave us a review. Thank you!

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Reading recommendations from our parish bookstore

The existence of "fools for Christ" in the Orthodox tradition mystifies many people, even some within the Orthodox Church itself. People often wonder what purpose these sometimes comical and oftentimes tragically misunderstood saints serve in the life of the Church—especially given their unconventional and seemingly bizarre behaviors. In Holy Fools we begin to gain a better understanding of these saints' curious manner of serving Christ, as we learn about the extraordinary lives of twenty of the most well-known fools for Christ in a series of brief hagiographies.

Click HERE to read Fr. George’s recommendation for Lenten reading

Our Journey to Pascha is an annual publication, produced by Fr. Jonathan Bannon. It’s a very helpful tool in understanding what’s going on in the coming weeks leading up to Pascha 2025! Take a look at the image below and feel free to download your own copy to print using the link below the image.

JourneytoPascha2025.pdf258.94 KB • PDF File

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK AND SUFFERING

  • Vladimir and Xenia Runyon

  • James Walton

  • Kaylyn and Kenton Burris

  • Barbara Stackpole

  • Pelegia Ahlstromer

  • Zacharias and Elisabeth Tierney

  • Diakonissa Patricia

  • Christopher Elliott

  • Kieranna Dunn

  • Seraphima Banks

  • Herman

  • Peter

  • Nina

  • Macarius

  • Euphrosyne

  • Elena

  • Donnan

  • Thomas

  • Hierschemamonk Ambrose

  • Nun Olga

  • Hieromonk Paisius

  • Monk Nicholas

  • Brother Ambrose

  • Anna

  • Leah

  • Abbess Joanna

  • Eugenia

  • Basil

  • Elena

  • Matushka Stephania

  • Dorothea

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR CATECHUMENS

  • Blain

  • Daniel

  • Lindsie

  • Gwendolyn

  • Teagan

  • Gracelyn

  • Kale

  • Joe

  • Rebecca

  • Sarah

  • Morgan

  • Margo

  • Kate

  • Dylan

  • Ethan