April 28, 2024

Feast of Palm Sunday:

Entrance of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem

Palm Sunday begins the observance of the eight days that encapsulate all of time and eternity as relates to man. The days begin with the proclamation on earth of the entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem and end with the Eternal King rising in incomprehensible victory to establish the heavenly Jerusalem and His eternal reign. On Palm Sunday, we begin the days of the full exhibition of the awful corruption sin has spread in mankind and the measureless love that heals and deifies our humanity. Today we thrill at the picture of Christ and the praises of the people, the object of adoration yet the perfection of humility. The imagery of the scene is beyond description: the King amidst His people, the palm and olive branches symbolizing His victory, His anointing, His peace; the cloaks and garments cast before Him symbolizing our complete submission to His will; the cries of adoration, of “Hosanna,” the coming of the Lord. Yet, on this day we are also near enough to feel acutely the dread of His passion, the desolation of the trial and Golgotha. This day also begins the week of the Eighth Day, the entry to eternity. As we observe Palm Sunday, we observe all history and the fulfillment of all history.

Philippians 4:4-9: Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice! Let your forbearance be known to all people. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things. The things which you both learned and received, and heard and saw in me, these things do; and the God of peace will be with you.

John 12:1-18: Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus who had died was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with Him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of His Disciples (he who was to betray Jesus), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the moneybox he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of My burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me.” When the great crowd of the Jews learned that He was there, they came, not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who cometh in the Name of the Lord, the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass’s colt!” His Disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of Him and had been done to Him. The crowd that had been with Jesus when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet Jesus was that they heard He had done this sign.

Troparion of Lazarus Saturday: O Christ God, when thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead before thy Passion, thou didst confirm the universal resurrection. Wherefore, we, like babes, carry the insignia of triumph and victory, and cry to thee, O Vanquisher of death, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

Troparion of Palm Sunday: O Christ God, when we were buried with thee in Baptism, we became deserving of thy Resurrection to immortal life. Wherefore, we praise thee, crying, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

Kontakion of Palm Sunday: Seated upon Thy throne in heaven, and a foal on earth, O Christ our God, Thou didst receive the praise of the angels and the hymns of the children: Blessed is He that cometh to recall Adam.

CALENDAR

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE: All services listed on the calendar will be available through streaming and webcast. (Instructions can be found on the parish website.)

Sunday, April 28 (Palm Sunday)

8:50 a.m. – Orthros

9:00 a.m. – Christian Education

10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy (webcast)

12:00 p.m. – Fish Fry Meal

6:30 p.m. – Bridegroom Matins

Monday, April 29 (Great and Holy Monday)

Father Herman off

6:30 p.m. – Bridegroom Matins

Tuesday, April 30 (Great and Holy Tuesday)

6:30 p.m. – Bridegroom Matins

Wednesday, May 1 (Great and Holy Wednesday)

6:30 p.m. – Service of Holy Unction

Thursday, May 2 (Great and Holy Thursday)

7:00 a.m. – Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil

6:30 p.m. – Reading of the Twelve Passion Gospels

Friday, May 3 (Great and Holy Friday)

7:00 a.m. – Royal Hours

3:00 p.m. – Taking down from the Cross

6:30 p.m. – Lamentations Service

Saturday, May 4 (Great and Holy Saturday)

9:00 a.m. – Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil

10:30 p.m. – Paschal Service (webcast)

Sunday, May 5 (Great and Holy PASCHA)
4:00 p.m. – Agape Vespers at Holy Trinity/St. John the Theologian Greek

Orthodox Church

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Eucharist Bread …was offered by the Algoods yesterday morning for the feast of Lazarus Saturday and by the Schelvers for the Divine Liturgy this morning.

Eucharist Bread Schedule:

Eucharist Bread Coffee Hour

April 28 Schelver FISH FRY MEAL

(Palm Sunday) Meadows/Pacurari

May 2 (Thurs. a.m.) Jones Meadows

May 4 (Sat. a.m.) Meadows Pigott/Stewart

May 4 (Sat. p.m.) Davis PASCHA BASKETS

(PASCHA) Algood/Schelver/I. Jones

May 12 D. Root Henderson/K. Jones/Lavric

May 19 Karam Dansereau/Alaeetawi

May 26 Brock Lasseter/Miller

Schedule for Epistle Readers – Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the Chanters’ stand at the front of the nave. Please be sure to use this book when you read.

Reader Reading Page#

April 27 (Sat. a.m.) Reader Chad Miller Heb. 12:28-13:8 291

April 28 Sam Habeeb Phil. 4:4-9 294

May 2 (Thurs. a.m.) Kh. Sharon Meadows I Cor. 11:23-32 295

May 4 (Sat. a.m.) Brenda Baker Rom. 6:3-11 300

May 4 (Sat. p.m.) Walt Wood Acts 1:1-8 25

May 12 Brandon Strain Acts 5:12-20 32

May 19 Katie Miller Acts 6:1-7 38

May 26 Sam Habeeb Acts 9:32-42 45

Also, please remember that we still need your tithes and offerings which may be placed in the tray that is passed during the Divine Liturgy, in the tithe box at the back of the nave or be mailed to: St. Peter Orthodox Church, P.O. Box 2084, Madison, MS 39130-2084.

Please remember the following in your prayers: Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family; Lamia Dabit and her family; Mary Greene (Lee and Kh. Sharon’s sister); Jay and Joanna Davis; Fr. Leo and Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver and their family; Kathy Willingham; Marilyn (Kyriake) Snell; Jack and Jill Weatherly; Lottie Dabbs (Sh. Charlotte Algood’s mother), Sh. Charlotte and their family; Reader Basil and Brenda Baker and their family; Buddy Cooper; Georgia and Bob Buchanan; Fr. Joseph Bittle; Steve and Sheryl Chamblee; Rick Carlton; Very Rev. Fr. Nicholas and Kh. Jan Speier; Dora Lambert (Dimitri Zouboukos’ fiancée); Lee Greene; Joseph, Amanda and Hunter Hines; Fr. John and Kh. Janet Henderson and their family; Galina Singletary; Cole Parker.

April is Men’s Month in the Archdiocese. Please allow the men, beginning with the choir, to receive Holy Communion first. The men will also be reading the Epistle this month in the Divine Liturgy.

Please keep in your prayers all of our catechumens who will be received into the One Holy and Apostolic Church on Great and Holy Saturday this year. Those who will be chrismated during the Vesperal Liturgy will be: Ian Walters, Jenny Jones, Jimmy and Gabrielle Jones, Will, Lisa and Rad Lively.

Palm Sunday Fish Fry: Our meal today is once again catered by Sal and Phil’s. As a reminder, the cost for the meal is $10 each for adults and children 12 and over and $6 for children under the age of 12.

Paschal Meal: We will bring baskets of our favorite foods that we have not enjoyed while fasting for this meal. A handout will be available in the next week or so with information about Paschal Baskets. We ask that everyone help with clean-up following the meal (just as we do for our monthly Pot Luck Meal).

The Agape Vespers for Pascha this year will be hosted by Holy Trinity/St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church in Jackson, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

There has arisen an issue with the large amount of trash being left in the back area of the church around and inside the playground area over the past several weeks. If everyone would please monitor this situation by making sure no trash is left around the area. Thank you for your help in this matter.

On a related note: Several of the older children have begun to drink coffee on Sunday mornings. Due to the amount of creamer they use, our supply of coffeemate pods are being used up quickly. So, we will be providing a small container of almond milk for them to use in their coffee and the coffeemate pods will be for adults only. Parents, please monitor this situation with your children who are allowed to drink coffee. Thank you.

Vacation Church School: This year we will be having Vacation Church School in conjunction with Holy Resurrection and Holy Trinity/St. John the Theologian Orthodox Churches. The dates are May 30 – June 1 at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton. More details will be available at a later date. If you would like to help, please see Father Herman or Daniel Root.

Registration is now open for this year’s Parish Life Conference which will be held June 12-15th in Atlanta at the Hilton Peachtree City Atlanta Hotel and Conference Center and hosted by St. Stephen in Hiram. Please go to the Diocesan website (DOMSE.org) to register for the conference and for the hotel.

There will be an icon writing workshop at Holy Resurrection July 8-13. The iconographer who will be teaching this class is Theodoros Papadopoulos. Tuition for this class is $780. For further information and enrollment, please visit the website http://www.theodoreicons.com/clinton. Holy Resurrection is only providing space for this class.

Calendar Items:

* The men of the parish meet for lunch at 11:00 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month.

* The Ladies meet at the church at 10:00 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month to pray the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children on behalf of our children.

* The Ladies meet for lunch at 1:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday of the month.

* The schedule of services for Holy Week are as follows:

Sunday, April 28 – Bridegroom Matins, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Monday, April 29 – Bridegroom Matins, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 30 – Bridegroom Matins, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 1 – Service of Holy Unction, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 2 – Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

– Reading of the 12 Passion Gospels, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 3 – Royal Hours, beginning at 7:00 a.m.

– Taking down from the Cross, beginning at 3:00 p.m.

– Lamentations Service, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 4 – Vesperal Liturgy with Chrismations, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

– Paschal Service, beginning at 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 5 – Agape Vespers at Holy Trinity/St. John the Theologian Greek

Orthodox Church, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

* Vacation Church School May 30 – June 1 at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Clinton.

* Remaining Stewpot date for 2024 will be November 30th.

Fasting Discipline for April/May

Beginning with Clean Monday on March 18th, the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil) is observed on all days of the week until Pascha (except for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th and Palm Sunday on April 28th, when fish, wine and oil are permitted). There is no fasting of any kind during Bright Week which follows Pascha (May 6-11).

The Holy Synod of Antioch has given instruction that there will be no fasting during the entirety of the Paschal Season.

Major Commemorations for April/May

April 28 Palm Sunday

April 29 Great and Holy Monday

April 30 Great and Holy Tuesday

May 1 Great and Holy Wednesday

May 2 Great and Holy Thursday

Athanasios the Great

May 3 Great and Holy Friday

May 4 Great and Holy Saturday

May 5 Great and Holy PASCHA

May 8 Apostle John the Theologian

May 10 Simon the Zealot

May 12 Thomas Sunday

May 19 Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearers

May 21 Sts. Constantine and Helen

May 25 The Forerunner (3rd Discovery)

May 26 Sunday of the Paralytic

Quotable: “Everyone who has truly been clothed in humility becomes like Him who came down from His exalted place and hid the splendor of His majesty, concealing His glory in lowliness, so that the created world should not be utterly consumed at the sight Him. Creation could not behold Him unless He took part of it to Himself and thus conversed with it: only thus was creation able to hear the words of His mouth face to face.”

St. Isaac the Syrian

Worship: Sunday, May 5, 2024 (Great and Holy PASCHA)

Scripture: Acts 1:1-8; John 1:1-17

Celebrant: Father Herman

Epistle Reader: Walt Wood

Prosphora: Davis

Coffee Hour: PASCHA BASKETS

Algood/Schelver/I. Jones