Weekly Update for April 9, 2020
THIS COMING WEEK AT ST. MARY’S
FRIDAY 4/9 – Akathist to the Theotokos 7:00pm (also Friday 4/16)
WEDNESDAY 4/14 – Presanctified Liturgy 6:30pm (also Wednesday 4/21)
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
PALM SUNDAY PALMS - Those who are not registered to attend Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday, April 25, may come by the church to pick up palms between 8:45am. and 10:15am from the ushers.
AGAPE VESPERS GOSPEL READERS NEEDED – On Pascha (May 2) at 11:00am, the Gospel is proclaimed in many languages. If you speak a foreign language and would like to read the Gospel, please e-mail Charlie Marge, marge@alum.mit.edu, by this Sunday, April 11.
REMINDERS
REGISTERING FOR SERVICES – Seating for all services at St. Mary’s is limited as long as we are in “pandemic protocol.” In order to attend any service you need to sign up ahead of time at https://stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/signup.
Lenten Services You can now register to attend the Presanctified Liturgies on Wednesdays and the Akathist services on Friday evenings in Lent. If you're not a member of the parish, you can sign up to attend one of these services at 10:00am on the previous day.
Holy Week services (4/25 through 5/1) will be available for registration around the middle of this month. These will be restricted to members of St. Mary only and will be limited to one service that week.
For regular Sunday services you can sign up for one Sunday per month. If additional spots are still available after 6:00 pm on the Friday prior to a Sunday liturgy, non-members as well as members may sign up to fill the remaining spots, even if they've already attended a Sunday service that month.
If you find that you can’t make it on a date you’ve signed up for, please cancel your reservation so someone else can use it.
Remember to sit in marked pews when attending liturgy
LIVE-STREAMED SERVICES - All the Divine Services held in St. Mary’s Church can be seen live-streamed at www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/live or https://www.facebook.com/stmarycambridge or www.youtube.com/stmarycambridge For the safety of all during the pandemic, please pray with us from home if you have a cough or cold.
E-NEWS EDITOR RETIRING – The Editor of this e-Newsletter, Melissa Nassiff, will be retiring next week (effective Friday 4/16) unless a new volunteer steps forward to take her place before then. If you’re interested in taking over this position please contact Melissa Nassiff (mnassiff@gmail.com), Fr. Antony or Ray Sayeg (rsayeg@koilaw.com). Plenty of help and guidance will be provided.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - In addition to editor of the eNewsletter (which provides information about St. Mary’s to 675 subscribers), we are looking for volunteers to assist with more of the technical responsibilities
pertaining to outreach at the church:
Website Maintenance
Social Media Maintenance and Monitoring
Sermon Editing and Posting on Web and Social Media
Occasional Tech Support, Layout, and Graphic Design Work for Various Church Ministries
Please contact Father Antony or Raymond Sayeg to sign up.
DONATIONS TO THE CHURCH - One-time donations to the church (For the Good Health of, In Memory of, etc.) can be made on our website using this form: https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/donate/donate-now In addition to bank ACH transfers, we now accept credit cards for these donations, but ask that you kindly check the box to cover the 2.6% fee incurred by the church for this convenience. For pledge contributions, please sign up for eGive to make ACH transfers.
Donations for Holy Week and Pascha will be accepted until Monday 4/19. To donate on-line, go to the Donation page on our website (https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/donate/donate-now) and select the “Holy Week & Pascha Donations” Fund. [MN1] There you can identify which items you would like to donate (i.e. the Palms, Holy Oil, Flowers to decorate the epitaphios (tomb) for Good Friday, Easter Lilies to adorn the altar, and/or Incense) and whether “For the Good Health of” (FGO) or “In Memory of” (IMO) a loved one. Or, email the church secretary (at 8 Inman St, Cambridge MA 02139) or Mary Winstanley O’Connor at moconnor@koilaw.com with your name, what you are donating, and the reason.
Please submit your donations either by mailing them to the church office (at 8 Inman St., Cambridge 02139 or by E-give, designating what you are donating and how you would like your donation listed in the bulletin. All donations will appear in the Palm Sunday bulletin, April 25, 2021. Any questions, please call Mary Winstanley O’Connor at (617) 523-1010.
MEMORIALS FOR APRIL - Those who passed away in April will be remembered on Sunday, April 18, 2021.
MORNING PRAYER - The daily morning prayer group on Zoom, led by Subdeacon James Wilcox and his wife Brooke is open to anyone who wants to take part. Prayers now run Monday through Friday, beginning at 8:30am:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/377381275 password: 28052020
ORTHODOXY 102 - This adult education class is led by Subdeacon James on Zoom. Orthodoxy 102 is designed for Christians who have spent many years in the Orthodox church, but have never had any formal teaching on the theology and liturgical structure of Eastern Christianity. This is the second year the class is being offered. It meets weekly to journey through the structure of the Divine Liturgy, while taking an in-depth look at Scripture, the Ecumenical Councils, our iconography, and the meaning and application of Orthodox theology. If you would like more information or want to join, please email Subdeacon James drjamesis@gmail.com (or introduce yourself to him on any Sunday following the liturgy, if you’re there in person). The class begins at 7:00pm every Monday on Zoom.
REFLECTION
The real and true life then is the Father, who through the Son in the Holy Spirit pours forth as from a fountain His heavenly gifts to all; and through His love to man, the blessings of life eternal are promised without fail to us men also. We must not disbelieve the possibility of this, but having an eye not to our own weakness but to His power, we must believe; for with God all things are possible.
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
For the man who believes, all things are possible because "Faith is counted as righteousness," and "Christ is the end of the Law." Belief in Him justifies and perfects the believer, for belief in Christ is considered to correspond to the works of the law. It is confirmed and witnessed by the evangelic precepts and so earns for the faithful a participation in eternal life, in Christ Himself.
- St. Symeon the New Theologian