Presanctified Liturgy TONIGHT

Today, Friday, March 29, at 7:00 p.m. Father Iura will serve the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, in English and Ukrainian.

This is our weekly Lenten devotion. Join us in prayer and the reception of the Eucharist. Bring a friend.

Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts tonight

Tonight, March 13th, Father Iura will serve the Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts at 7:00 p.m.
If you are looking for a way of getting into the spirituality of the Great Fast/Lent this is the Byzantine way to do it.

Presanctified Liturgy TONIGHT

TONIGHT, February 23, the lenten Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be offered at 7:00 p.m. in English and Ukrainian. This is a great way to “get into” spirituality of Great Lent.

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Communing from the Body and Blood of the Master during the period of spiritual combat.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is attributed to Saint Gregory the Dialogist (†604), Pope of Rome, but in actuality, it is not the work of one individual, but is a composite work coming down to us from Holy Tradition.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which consists of the Service of Vespers and the Communion of the Faithful with the Holy Gifts. It is commonly celebrated daily in monastic communities, and on Wednesdays and Fridays in parishes, with Holy Bread—that is, the Body of Christ—which has been intincted in the Holy Blood and consecrated at the preceding complete Liturgies on Saturdays or Sundays. The Presanctified or “abridged” Divine Liturgy (since it is affixed to Vespers), is normally celebrated in the late afternoon, when Christians, having fasted until that time, commune, afterwards eating a meal of dry foodstuffs (dried fruits and nuts).

The celebration of the Divine Liturgy, because it is festive and Resurrectional in character, is not allowed during Great Lent and the somber period of the fast, according to ancient tradition and the forty-ninth Canon of the Synod of in Laodiceia [336]. However, from their side, the faithful children of the Church, engaged in the abstemious struggle of the Great Fast and having a clear and particular need for reinforcement by the Holy Mysteries during this period of intensive spiritual combat, desired to commune as often as they could, since Holy Communion was indeed their life and sustenance.

For this reason, so that the faithful not be deprived of the Holy Eucharist on the weekdays of the Great Fast, but that they might be able to commune from the Presanctified Holy Bread [the Body if Christ], the Church, by way of the fifty-first Canon of the Fifth-Sixth [Quinisext] Synod [692], appointed that the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts take place on the weekdays of the Great Fast.

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite [†1809], in his Rudder, citing the Byzantine canonologist Matthew Blastaris [fl.14th century], reminds us that the faithful resemble wrestlers, and just as wrestlers cease their matches in the afternoon to take nourishment in order to strengthen themselves for the upcoming bout, so the faithful commune from the Body and Blood of the Master during the period of spiritual combat in the Great Fast, that they might be reinvigorated and reinforced by the Lord, thus to continue their match against the passions and the spiritual enmity of the devil with renewed powers and more valorously.

Liturgy of the Liturgy of the Presanctified AND Pysanka

Friday, February 23, the lenten Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be offered at 7:00 p.m. in English and Ukrainian. This is a great way to “get into” spirituality of Great Lent.
 
Looking ahead:
 
PYSANKA – Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018 in the church hall from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
 
It is open to youth and adults, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Bring your children and grandchildren to learn their beautiful heritage.
 
Free to parish youth and Ridna Skhola students.
 
Call Gloria Horbaty 203-269-5909 for information.

Friday Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified

The Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts is on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated during Great Lent on those days when the ordinary Liturgy is not celebrated. This Lenten Liturgy is typically offered on Wednesdays and Fridays. “Strictly speaking, this office is not considered a ” complete Liturgy,” but is only a service of a solemn Holy Communion.”