Holy Week Schedule 2024

Our Holy Week schedule.

Holy Thursday, March 28
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy
7:00 p.m. Matins and the Proclamation of the Passion Gospels

Good Friday, March 29
4:00 p.m. Vespers and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Holy Saturday, March 30
8:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods

The church is open for private prayer before the Tomb of Christ.

Easter Sunday, March 31, Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
9:15 a.m. Procession and Paschal Matins
10:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy (bi-lingual): Liturgy for the people of the parish
Blessing of Artos and Anointing-Myrovann
Blessing of Ester Foods

Holy Week Schedule 2022

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Wednesday, 4/13, Holy Priest Martyr Artemon
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Thursday, 4/14, Holy and Great Thursday
7:00 p.m. Matins with the Passion Gospels

Friday, 4/15, Holy and Great Friday
4:00 p.m. Vespers and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Saturday, 4/16, Holy and Great Saturday
9:00 Divine Liturgy
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
7:00 p.m. Prayers at the Tomb

Sunday, 4/17, Holy and Great Resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
9:00 a.m. Procession and Paschal (Easter) Matins —Blessing of Arts (bread)
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish —Anointing

Blessing of Easter Foods following the Divine Liturgy in the church hall.

Epistle: Acts 1:1-8
Gospel: John 1:1-17, Tone 1

From Desolation to Rebirth: Holy and Great Week 2021

Join us for prayer, personal and communal

Thursday, 4/01, Holy and Great Thursday
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great
6:00 p.m. Matins with the Passion Gospels

Friday, 4/2, Holy and Great FridayStrict Fast and Abstinence—NO meat or dairy
2:00 p.m. Vespers and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Saturday, 4/03, Holy and Great Saturday
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
5:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Prayers at the Tomb

Sunday, 4/04, Resurrection of Our Lord
9:00 a.m. Procession and Paschal Matins
10:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy —Blessing of Artos and Anointing, followed by the Blessing of Easter Foods

Great and Holy Saturday

Great and Holy Saturday is the day on which Christ reposed in the tomb.

The Church calls this day the Blessed Sabbath. The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day when he said:

God blessed the seventh day.
This is the blessed Sabbath.
This is the day of rest,
on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works . . . .

(Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday)

By using this title the Church links Holy Saturday with the creative act of God. In the initial account of creation as found in the Book of Genesis, God made man in His own image and likeness. To be truly himself, man was to live in constant communion with the source and dynamic power of that image: God. Man fell from God. Now Christ, the Son of God through whom all things were created, has come to restore man to communion with God. He thereby completes creation. All things are again as they should be. His mission is consummated. On the Blessed Sabbath He rests from all His works.

THE TRANSITION

Holy Saturday is a neglected day in parish life. Few people attend the Services. Popular piety usually reduces Holy Week to one day — Holy Friday. This day is quickly replaced by another — Easter Sunday. Christ is dead and then suddenly alive. Great sorrow is suddenly replaced by great joy. In such a scheme Holy Saturday is lost.

In the understanding of the Church, sorrow is not replaced by joy; it is transformed into joy. This distinction indicates that it is precisely within death the Christ continues to effect triumph.

TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH

We sing that Christ is “. . . trampling down death by death” in the troparion of Easter. This phrase gives great meaning to Holy Saturday. Christ’s repose in the tomb is an “active” repose. He comes in search of His fallen friend, Adam, who represents all men. Not finding him on earth, He descends to the realm of death, known as Hades in the Old Testament. There He finds him and brings him life once again. This is the victory: the dead are given life. The tomb is no longer a forsaken, lifeless place. By His death Christ tramples down death.

Great and Holy Saturday

Great and Holy Saturday, 4/20
8:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy
 
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
 
7:00 p.m.  Prayers at the Tomb
 
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven
#StMichaelNewHaven

Blessing of Easter Baskets

The priestly blessing of Easter foods is a venerable and beautiful tradition of the Kievan Church (not seen often among the Greeks and Melkites). The Polish and other Eastern Europeans bring their Easter foods to church to be blessed.

Sadly, too often the Slavs will bring their foods to church for the blessing but completely ignore the liturgical services of Great Week. This is a disconnect. The worship of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is paramount. The importance of having our foods blessed signals the end of the Great Fast and the arrival of joy with the celebration of our Lord and Saviors Holy Resurrection.

Blessing of Easter Foods on Great and Holy Saturday
~4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
~6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods

(The Liturgy at 7pm)

and AFTER the 10:30 a.m. Easter Liturgy.

****Pyrohy will be available for sale on Holy Saturday made on April 13 for $7. per dozen.

Great and Holy Thursday

Today we celebrate three mysteries of the church.

The Mystery of Holy Oil for Anointing the Sick. The Eastern Church has a much broader interpretation of the sick. Ordinarily, those who are suffering the crisis of physical illness receive to anointing to strengthen their whole being – body and soul – by renewing our faith in Christ the Messiah – the Anointed One. When we were baptized we received a holy anointing as a part of our Christian decision to reject evil and commit ourselves wholly to Christ. When the sick were anointed, not only the sick person him/herself but those who were to give care and those present were also anointed, a sign of our solidarity in fighting illness through faith. Perhaps the Holy Anointing of the whole congregation on Holy Thursday is because of the epistle for this day: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30). The anointing is a response to our unworthiness to receive Communion.

The Mystery of Reconciliation. In the ancient church, Holy Thursday —before the baptisms of Holy Saturday – was the time for the reconciliation of those who were in public penance. This is why Judas is presented in the liturgical texts as one who did not repent. He is contrasted with Peter, who denied our Lord but repented. Judas did not repent. “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Matthew 26:24). The constantly repeated hymn in the Divine Liturgy of this day proclaims that we should not follow Judas, but remain ever faithful to our commitment to Christ. “Accept me today as a partaker of your mystical supper, O Son of God, for I will not reveal your mystery to your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas.”

Great and Holy Week Schedule 2019

Great Wednesday, 4/17
7:00 p.m. Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts

Great Thursday, 4/18
7:00 p.m. Great Matins and the Proclamation of the Passion Gospels

Great Friday, 4/19 —a day of strict fast and abstinence –NO meat or dairy products
4:00 p.m. Great Vespers with the Laying Out and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Great Saturday, 4/20
8:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy

4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods

7:00 p.m. Great Vespers and Prayers at the Tomb

Sunday, 4/21, Resurrection of Our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ
9:00 a.m. Procession and Pascal Matins
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Blessing of Artos
Blessing of Easter Foods