I extend my heartfelt greetings to my eminent brother Archpastors, beloved in the Lord reverend fathers, brothers, and sisters, on this most radiant of feasts, the Resurrection of Christ from the dead!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Pascha is the only night in the year, a night like no other, which brings down upon the earth great heavenly joy, making it the birthright of all people who greet and celebrate this “feast of feasts!”

Whoever rejoices at the Resurrection of Christ palpably senses Christ Himself, and whoever senses Christ is together with Christ, and is within Christ. This proximity to Christ is nothing less than the sweetest goal of our lives. And there is no question that we can attain this goal! Christ prepares the way that we may approach Him. He is with us. Undoubtedly, each and every one of us has experienced moments of heartfelt communion with Him. Especially vividly, joyously, and brightly do we feel this proximity, this beauty, this power, and this love of God during the feast of the glorious Resurrection of Christ. Our childlike glee over the Resurrection of the Savior can be so powerful that it can remain vivid even into our old age. It is up to us, then, to preserve, to strengthen, and to develop this Paschal joy within our spiritual lives. Having partaken of this joy of the Divine in our childhood, we have been unable ‒ out of our own ignorance ‒ to preserve this joy, we have not kept close to its sweetness, but instead swerved away to chase other joys and dreams.

Lifting our thoughts to the Life-Bearing Sepulcher of the Lord and our Resurrected Christ, we pray for the reign of this omnipotent joy in the hearts of all the people of Ukraine, of Syria, and of our Church throughout the world. Brothers and sisters, if we actively see this joy of Christ and of our personal meeting with the Resurrected Christ in our inner lives, then we shall know that being with Him is not terrifying, it is not burdensome; all that we do for this temporal life is fleeting and fading, but whatever we do for eternity shall remain with us forever.

“And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke24:32), said Luke and Cleopas when the Life-Giver revealed Himself to them during the breaking of the bread. Based on the testimony of eyewitnesses present at the Paschal matins performed by St. John (Maximovich, +1966), his face literally shone during the nighttime service, and the fervor of his heart ignited everyone with the joy of the Resurrected Christ. His face shone with faith and love as he waved the censer with the Paschal triple candles, circling the church and exclaiming “Christ is Risen!” Glory be to God, even today this great hierarch of the Russian Diaspora remains incorrupt in the cathedral in San Francisco, truly living in spirit and praying for us all. The time has now come for us to plead for the prayers of St. John, so that the forthcoming Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad and the 13th All-Diasporan Youth Conference may bring forth worthy and fruitful results, for they will coincide with the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of his canonization by the Church. On Sunday, June 29, Hieromonk Nicholas (Olhovsky) will be consecrated Bishop of Manhattan. On this day, the wonder-working Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” will be present, as well.

By the prayers of our Most-Pure Protectress and of the Holy Hierarch of Christ John, may our Church life be well established and strengthened, as well as the efforts of our new laborers in Christ’s Vineyard.

Truly is Christ God, our Chief Pastor, Risen!

With Paschal joy in the Risen Christ, and asking your prayers,

+HILARION
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad

Pascha of the Lord 2014

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Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese

Reverend archpastors and pastors, dear brothers and sisters – children of the Church!

It is with dismay, pain, and alarm that I have followed and continue to follow the events in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine. Kiev is the birthplace of a great Orthodox civilization, which united the peoples of Holy Rus’. Kiev is the city of the shared font of our Baptism, the 1025th anniversary of which we only recently celebrated with all of the Local Orthodox Churches. Kiev is a city particularly dear to me, a place I have visited often, a city that I love and know well. It is with unbearable pain that I receive word of the many victims who have died in this holy place, of the hundreds wounded, of the unrest in several of Ukraine’s regions.

The entirety of our multinational Church prays zealously for peace in the Ukrainian land, for the cessation of civil strife. Our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are currently undergoing one of the most dramatic moments in their entire history. The future fate of the Ukrainian people depends on the outcome of these events. So far, glory to God, the scenario of a civil war has been avoided. But such a scenario may still come to pass. And it will come to pass, if the Lord allows the people to fall away from the moral commandments given by God, and from the Christian heritage of Ukraine, if her citizens renounce respect for themselves, for one another, and for the law.

I would like to thank those representatives of the Ukrainian episcopate and clergy, who – amidst cries and slogans of every possible persuasion ‒ found within themselves the strength to consistently call the opposing factions to peace and brotherly love; those who firmly stand for the right of Ukrainians to live in accordance with their faith and piety, for the preservation of Ukraine’s traditional and religious values, the source of which is the Kievan Baptismal font, which determined the future development of the civilization of the peoples of Holy Rus’.

Mourning with all my heart the victims, commiserating with their loved ones, and empathizing with the wounded, I ask the pastors and children of the Russian Orthodox Church to lift up their prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother. Let us pray for the repose of our departed brothers and sisters, for the healing of the wounded and sick, for the softening of embittered hearts, for the cessation of discord and strife in Ukraine, and that the Lord might send down upon all of us the spirit of love, peace, forgiveness, and brotherly love in Christ!

+KYRILL
Patriarch of Moscow & All Russia

Courtesy of the Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese

Sunday March 2, at 1:00pm

St John’s Parish Hall

Potluck Blini & Cheesefare Meal

Games and Entertainment for the Children

Please see the attached flyer

Due to the projected inclement weather for the Columbia area called for this week, we will be canceling Vespers and Church School on Wednesday evening February 12th.

In light of the violence and civil unrest in Kiev and throughout Ukraine, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, issued the following call for peace and calm:

“As faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church, we cannot remain indifferent to the troubles plaguing Her cradle – the Mother of Russian Cities, Kiev. We call on all of the faithful of the Russian Church Abroad around the world to pray for the cessation of all violence, that God might prevent all bloodshed and speedily restore brotherly love and understanding.”

His Eminence further decreed that all parishes and monasteries of the Eastern American Diocese add the following petition to all augmented litanies at Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy:

“Again we pray Thee, O Almighty Lord, that Thou mightest grant peace to Kiev, the Mother of Russian cities which is shaken by civil strife, and the entire country of Kievan Rus’, and by the power of the grace of Thy Holy Spirit extinguish all enmity and violence therein; O Source of goodness and Abyss of love for mankind, quickly hearken and have mercy.”

An printable version for insertion in service books is available here.

– Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR

Nativity Schedule at St Elizabeth Orthodox Church

Monday, January 6 – Eve of Nativity
9:00am – Royal Hours & Typika
10:30am – Vesperal Liturgy
1:30pm – Holy Supper
5:00pm – Vigil (for Nativity)

Tuesday, January 7 – Nativity of Our Lord
9:40am – Hours
10:00am – Liturgy
12:00pm – Festal Meal & Christmas Carols