Great Vespers for the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple.  "Rejoice O Virgin Theotokos, Full of Grace!  From you shone the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, enlightening those who sat in darkness!  Rejoice and be glad, O righteous elder; you accepted in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, who grants us the Resurrection."  (Troparion #1)

Presentation of the Lord Into the Temple – Presenting a child to God forty days after its birth originated in the Jewish faith and continues to this day in Orthodoxy.  A man named Symeon was directed to see Jesus in the temple that day by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit had told him “that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  And Symeon said, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to your word for my eyes have seen Your salvation.”  Then Anna, who was a prophetess and a widow of about 84 years of age saw Jesus, “and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”  Soon after, an angel directed Joseph, Jesus, and the Theotokos to go to Egypt to escape Herod’s soldiers, who were sent to kill the baby Jesus. 

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy – Tomorrow is the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee.  It is the first pre-Lenten Sunday and follows the Sunday of Zacchaeus.  The two men went in to pray and one of them, the Pharisee, says to God, “God I thank you that I’m not like other men-extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast 2 times a week and I give tithes of all that I possess.”  The other man, a publican who was a despised tax collector, did not even look up to heaven but, bowing his head cried softly, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”  Jesus asked, “which one was forgiven and who was condemned?”  The story of the publican and Pharisee is told by Jesus in the form of a parable or story, which is the way Jesus taught His teachings so that the people hearing would understand. 

Sunday Divine Liturgy - Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee - Let us flee from the pride of the Pharisee and learn humility from the Publican's tears.  Let us cry to our Savior:  Have mercy on us, O only-merciful One.   (Kontakion 4)

There will be an "O" Club meeting following coffee hour. 

First Memorial Saturday is on February 18.  Please give Father a list of your departed relations by February 12 so they can be included in the prayers for all the Memorial Saturdays in 2017.  Thank you. 

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - Sunday of the Prodigal Son - In the Gospel lesson for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), we are presented with a young man who, against his father’s advice, had taken all his possessions and wasted them through foolishness.   As a result, he had to resort to caring for pigs and found himself sharing the food which the pigs refused to eat.  He remembered life as it was at his father’s house and returned home hoping to be accepted as a servant.  But his father ran to meet him, kissed him as his son, clothed him regally, and celebrated his return with much festivity for, in the words of his father, “My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”  We must return to God, our Father, Who willingly and lovingly accepts us if we make the slightest motion to return home to him. 

General Confession following Vespers.

Sunday Divine Liturgy - Sunday of the Prodigal Son - "I have recklessly forgotten Thy glory, O Father; and among sinners I have scattered the riches which Thou gavest me.  And now I cry to Thee as the Prodigal:  I have sinned before Thee, O merciful Father; receive me a penitent and make me as one of Thy hired servants."    (Kontakion 3)

The "O" Club is hosting a pot  luck luncheon.  Join us for good food and fellowship.  

Please give Barbara all articles before this date to be included in the March Enlightener.  Thank you.

Memorial Saturday - Divine Liturgy - This year, the Memorial Saturdays are:  February 18, March 11 and 18, June 3,  and October 21.  Please give Father the names of those whom you wish to be included in the Memorial Prayers.   For today''s Panikhida, names may be submitted before the Divine Liturgy.  Thank you.

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - Sunday of the Last Judgment -   By recognizing Christ in those around us and by treating them accordinly, we attain salvation.  "For I was hungry and you gave Me food;  I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;  I was a stranger and you welcomed Me;  I was naked and you clothed Me;  I was sick and you visited Me;  I was in prison and you came to Me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to Me."  (Matthew 26:35-36,40)  On this we are judged.

Meatfare Sunday - Sunday of the Last Judgment - Divine Liturgy - By recognizing Christ in those around us and by treating them accordingly, we attain salvation.  “For I was hungry and you gave Me food;  I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;  I was a stranger and you welcomed Me;  I was naked and you clothed Me;  I was sick and you visited Me;  I was in prison and you came to Me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to Me.”  (Matthew 26:35-36,40)   On this we are judged.

Sunday Divine Liturgy - Veneration of the Precious Cross - With the help of God, we have almost reached the middle of the course of the Fast, where our strength has been worn down through abstinence, and the full difficulty of the labor set before us becomes apparent.  Therefore our Holy Mother, the Church of Christ, now brings to our help the All-Holy Cross, the joy of the world, the strength of the faithful, the staff of the just, and the hope of sinners, so that by venerating it reverently, we might receive strength and grace to complete the Divine struggle of the Fast.

The yearly parish meeting will be held following Divine Liturgy.  Please plan to attend.

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - Forgiveness Sunday - Cheesefare Sunday - “If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  (Matthew 6:14-15)  Man was created for paradise--for knowledge of God and communion with Him.  His sins have deprived him of this blessed life and his existence on earth is an exile.  Christ opens the doors of Paradise to everyone who follows Him and the Church is our guide to the heavenly paradise. 

Cheesefare Sunday - Forgiveness Sunday - Divine Liturgy - “If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  (Matthew 6:14-15)  Man was created for paradise--for knowledge of God and communion with Him.  His sins have deprived him of this blessed life and his existence on earth is an exile.  Christ opens the doors of Paradise to everyone who follows Him and the Church is our guide to the heavenly paradise. 

Father Igor and Matushka Anna will host a Maslanitsa before Forgiveness Vespers following Divine Liturgy.

Forgiveness Vespers - Following the Maslanitsa - The condition for real fasting is that we forgive each other as God forgives us - "If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you...."  At Vespers, Lent begins with the Great Prokimenon:  "Turn not away Thy face from Thy servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily.  Attend to my soul and deliver it."  At the end of the service the faithful ask forgiveness from one another and the Church begins her pilgrimage towards the joyful and glorious day of Easter.

Great Lent Begins

Canon of St. Andrew of Crete - At the beginning of Lent, we find the great penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete.   Divided into four parts, it is read at Great Compline on the evenings of the first four days of Lent.  It can best be described as a penitential lamentation showing us the scope and depth of sin, repentance and hope.   It is the function and the purpose of the Great Canon to reveal sin to us and to lead us to repentance, and it reveals sin not by definitions and enumerations but by a deep meditation on the great biblical story which is the story of sin, repentance, and forgiveness.     The Lenten journey begins thus with a return to the “starting point” – the world of Creation, Fall, and Redemption, the world in which all things speak of God and reflect His glory, in which all events are referred to God, in which man finds the true dimension of his life, and having found it, repents.  –Alexander Schmemann

Canon of St. Andrew of Crete - At the beginning of Lent, we find the great penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete.   Divided into four parts, it is read at Great Compline on the evenings of the first four days of Lent.  It can best be described as a penitential lamentation showing us the scope and depth of sin, repentance and hope.   It is the function and the purpose of the Great Canon to reveal sin to us and to lead us to repentance, and it reveals sin not by definitions and enumerations but by a deep meditation on the great biblical story which is the story of sin, repentance, and forgiveness.     The Lenten journey begins thus with a return to the “starting point” – the world of Creation, Fall, and Redemption, the world in which all things speak of God and reflect His glory, in which all events are referred to God, in which man finds the true dimension of his life, and having found it, repents.  –Alexander Schmemann