Today is the beginning of the Dormition Fast.   Prayer to the Theotokos:    O Mother of God, help of Christians, we thy servants, having obtained thy protection, gratefully sing to thee: Hail, purest Virgin, Mother of God, our most speedy help, ever deliver us by thy prayers from all evils.

Sunday Divine Liturgy - Today's Prokeimenon in the 6th Tone: O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. (Vs.) To Thee, O Lord, will I call. O my God, be not silent to me.

Transfiguration - Divine Liturgy - On August 6, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is viewed as one of the 12 Major Feasts of the Holy Orthodox Church. Christ’s Transfiguration occurred as His public ministry was drawing to a close. Soon before entering Jerusalem for the final time, our Lord went to the top of Mt. Tabor to pray, taking with him the Apostles Peter, James and John. Scriptural accounts tell us that Christ’s face “shone like the sun,” and His garments became “white as snow.” Appearing with Him were Moses and Elijah. God’s awesome voice reminded them that “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased. Hear Him.” The Apostles then found themselves alone with their Master once again. The mysterious manifestation had ended. The Transfiguration serves to show, without a shadow of a doubt, the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The connection of “light” with our Lord reminds us that it is only through Him that we can find salvation, for He is the One Who illumines our paths, being an “Everlasting Light” for all those who believe in Him. This beautiful symbolic imagery is emphasized repeatedly during the services prescribed for this Feast Day.

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - The Church proclaims that Mary truly needed to be saved by Christ, as all human persons are saved from trials, sufferings and death of this world; and that having truly died, she was raised by her Son as the Mother of Life and participates already in the eternal life of paradise which is prepared and promised to all who “hear the word of God and keep it.” (Luke 11:27-28)

Sunday Divine Liturgy - Verse from Matins (Dormition):      O Pure Virgin, you have won the victory over the world by bringing forth God; yet like your Son and Creator, you have submitted to the laws of nature in a manner above nature. Therefore, in falling asleep, you have risen to live eternally with your Son.

"Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.  For being the Mother of Life, she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb! " (Kontakion 2)

Dormition of the Theotokos -    "In giving birth, you preserved your virginity, in falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos, you were translated to life, O Mother of life, and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death."   (Troparion Tone 1)

Great Vespers - "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; to declare Thy steadfast love in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night."     (Ps 92:1-2)

Divine Liturgy - Afterfeast of the Dormition of the Mother of God   -  On the third day of the Afterfeast of the Dormition, the hymns at Vespers call upon us to “sing the praises of the pure and most holy Virgin.” She did not ascend to heaven in a chariot of fire, as did the Prophet Elias, but “He Who is truly the Sun of Righteousness” received her pure soul.

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy  -  O Lord, keep us this day without sin. Blessed are Thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your name forever.

Great Vespers with Litya for the Beheading of St. John the Baptist  - "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."  (Psalm 141:2)

Divine Liturgy - The Beheading of St. John the Baptist - The life of John the Baptist was one of sacrifice and penance. He preached a baptism of repentance, proclaiming the presence of the Savior to a people who had long awaited His coming. It can also be said that his blessed life was crowned by his noble death - his beheading was a direct result of his fearless condemnation of Herod’s sinful, scandalous behavior. It is no wonder that our Lord had this to say about St. John the Baptist: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” (Matthew 11:11)

September 1st is the first day of a New Year for the Orthodox Church.  A tradition of the Church tells that Jesus of Nazareth began preaching the good news of His mission on September 1st. When our Lord entered the Synagogue, He was given the book of the Prophet Isaiah to read, and He opened it and found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:18-21).