Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We enter now into the fifth week of Great Lent. It will be an eventful week as, in addition to the two Presanctified Liturgies, we will have the Matins service with the reading of the full Canon of St Andrew of Crete and the Life of St Mary of Egypt; we’ll have our Archbishop KYRILL coming to preside at Holy Unction; and we’ll have the Matins with the Akathist to the Mother of God. Also, on Sunday the Holy Virgin Cathedral will be holding their Lenten Retreat which will include Liturgy in the morning followed by a series of lectures about our local saint and wonderworker, Archbishop JOHN of Shanghai and San Francisco. It will be a busy, but a very spiritually rich week!

Here is a look at the schedule of events this week…

On Tuesday evening at 7pm we will have our weekly Bible Study in which we are studying the Book of Revelation. Join us via Zoom at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82677977675  

Wednesday at 7am there will be a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

Wednesday evening at 6pm we will have the Matins with the Canon of St Andrew of Crete and the reading of the Life of St Mary of Egypt.

On Thursday evening we will not have our usual Catechism Class, instead we will be visited by our ruling hierarch, Archbishop KYRILL for the Sacrament of Holy Unction. The service will begin at 6pm. Holy Unction is provided for baptized Orthodox Christians, over the age of seven, who have prepared themselves with a recent (within the last week) confession. The anointing of Holy Unction is for the forgiveness of our sins and for the restoration of the health of our soul and body.

Friday at 7am there will be a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

Friday at 6pm we will have Matins with the reading of the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God.

Saturday at 9am we will have Divine Liturgy for Akathist Saturday.

Saturday at 2pm will be our weekly class in the Church Hall. We are continuing our studies of the book by St Theophan ‘The Spiritual Life And How To Be Attuned To It’. All are welcome!

Saturday at 4pm is the Vigil service.

Sunday we will have Liturgy at St Herman’s at 9am as usual. However, Sunday is the Lenten Retreat at Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco. Registration is required and the full details of what should be a marvelous day are included here: https://2024lentenretreat.tilda.ws/#rec705312538

I pray that you have a spiritually profitable week and that you can attend as many of these edifying services as possible. God bless you!

Fr Martin