During Great Lent the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is prayed at Divine Liturgy and not the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.
Sunday, 3/12/17 Second Sunday of Lent —Commemoration of St. Gregory Palamas
9:00 Pro Populo
10:30 Thanksgiving Divine Liturgy requested by Maria Wysowskyj
Epistle: Hebrews 1:10-2:3
Gospel: Mark 2:1-12, Tone 2
Monday, 3/13/17 —Transfer of the Relics of Our Holy Father St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople
8:00 a.m. No special intention for the Liturgy
Tuesday, 3/14/17 —Our Venerable Father St. Benedict of Nursia
8:00 a.m. +Helen Wasylyk requested by Sestrichi
Wednesday, 3/15/17 —The Holy Martyr Agapius and the Six Martyrs with Him
9:00 a.m. Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts
Thursday, 3/16/17 —The Holy Martyrs Sabinus and Papas
8:00 a.m. +Rosemary DeFilippo (Pan.)
Friday, 3/17/17 —Our Venerable Father Alexis, Man of God
7:00 p.m. Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts
Saturday, 3/18/17 —Our Holy Father Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem
8:30 a.m. All deceased of Parish
9:00 a.m. Sorokousty
Sunday, 3/19/17 Third Sunday of Lent —Veneration of the Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ — First Parish Mission
9:00 a.m. +Gregory Dubno requested by Luba Dubno
10:30 a.m. Pro Populo
Epistle: Hebrews 4:14-5:6
Gospel: Mark 8:34-9:1, Tone 3
During the first week of the Great Fast clergy of the Stamford Eparchy attended their annual clergy retreat at Mt. Alvernia Retreat Center in Wappingers Falls, NY.
This Sunday is called the “Sunday of Orthodoxy” because it commemorates the restoration of the Church’s teaching on making images (icons) of our Lord and the saints in the year 843. Before that, it was the Sunday of the Commemoration of the Holy Prophets. This explains the Gospel, Phillip witnesses to Nathanael: “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” This is our goal in the Great Fast – to find our faith in Jesus. The Great Fast was the training period for those about to be baptized, and it was a time for the whole community to rediscover its faith. Along the journey to Holy Week, we read especially from the book of Genesis and from Isaiah to guide us to Christ, who will perfect his covenant with us by his death and resurrection. This is why, in the Apostolic reading, we remember Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel and all the prophets. It was all for Jesus, “Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39)”