e knew not whether we “Wwere in heaven or earth… We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of St. Sophia Orthodox Church other nations. a Parish of the Outside of Russia The ” 195 Joseph Street, Victoria, British Columbia Canada V8S 3H6 Orthodox email: [email protected] website: www.saintsophia.ca Church Services are in English ith these words, envoys sent from Russia by Prince Vladimir in the Saturday Wyear 987 recorded their impression of Constantinople’s awesome Orthodox Cathedral, Vigil – 6 p.m. – Всенощное бдение Hagia Sophia. They had been sent to search for the true religion. Within a year of their report, Sunday Prince Vladimir and the Russian people were Hours – 10 a.m. – Часы baptized in Christ by Orthodox missionaries. Today, as in Prince Vladimir’s time, the Orthodox – 10:30 a.m. – Божественная Литургия Church – fully aware that man is a union of body – 5 p.m. – Вечерня and soul – uses all the beauty of creation to move her faithful children to prayer and worship: , Archpriest John Adams beautiful singing, sweet-smelling incense, and Deacon Gordian Bruce majestic services. The Greek word ‘Orthodoxia’ means ‘correct praise’ or ‘correct teaching’ and in the Orthodox worship the praise and teaching are closely interwoven.

Jesus Christ founded His Church through the Apostles. By the grace received from God at , the Apostles established the Church throughout the world. In Greece, Russia, and elsewhere, the True Apostolic Church continues to flourish, preserving the Faith of Christ pure and unchanged.) MMaayy 22001166 SSeerrvviicceess

Bright Saturday May 7- Vigil 6pm Thomas Sunday May 8- Liturgy 10:30am  dispersed after service  Father John blessing the Orthodox graves at Royal Oak and Ross Bay Cemeteries for Radonitsa, after Liturgy, with parish picnic following /weather permitting

Saturday May 14- Vigil 6pm Sunday May 15- Liturgy 10:30am  Sunday Evening Vespers- 5pm

Saturday May 21- Vigil 6pm Sunday May 22- Liturgy 10:30am  Sunday Evening Vespers- 5pm

Tuesday May 24- Vigil 6pm for Mid-Pentecost Wednesday May 25- Liturgy 10:30am; Mid-Pentecost

Saturday May 28- Vigil 6pm Sunday May 29- Liturgy 10:30am  Sunday Evening Vespers- 5pm May Parish Saint’s Days Congratulations to matushka Alexandra, Shura M, Irena, Iouri, Isidora, Marcos D, Marcus S, Rodney- Mark, James B, James P, Christopher, and Kiff. May God grant you all many, many, years!

Church Cleaners Thank you month of May Church Cleaners, especially with the extra services during, and Pascha. May God reward your continuous, diligent, and loving efforts!

Ancient Homily for

The Lord's descent into the underworld

Something strange is happening- - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness.

The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.

The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began.

God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep.

Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve.

The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.

At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: "My Lord be with you all." Christ answered him: "And with your spirit."

He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image.

Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you.

See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image.

On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back.

See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise.

I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven.

I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God.

The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager.

The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open.

The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity."

-From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday -http://www.orthodox.net/pascha/holy-saturday-homily.html

Christ’s Descent into Hades

This is frequently referred to as the Anastasis or Resurrection Icon.

Christ’s cape/robe is flowing upward, this symbolizes his radical descent into Hades to save all who have died.

The golden bars by His feet are the gates of Hades, which he has broken and torn apart. At Pascha, a tradition includes the cracking our blessed Pascha eggs together. This represents the how Christ shattered the gates of Hades.

There are keys floating in the abyss below, which symbolizes that he has entered and conquered both death and Hades. You may also note the skeletal figure who is chained up: that is Death. He has been bound and killed by Christ (all throughout Pascha we sing “Christ has trampled down death by death”).

The two figures whom Christ has grasped and is pulling on are Adam and Eve, symbolizing that his victory redeems all mankind, even back to the beginning. This resurrection scene is taking place in the past, present, and future.

To his left, we see three Old Testament saints: Kings David and Solomon, two of his ancestors according to his fleshly nature. We also see, closest to him John the Baptizer, who was his forerunner in both life and death.

On the right, we have the New Testament, including the apostles who are alive. The purpose is to show that Christ’s redemption transcends time and space. This is an act that happened in the past, is happening right now, and will happen in the future. Christ is always in the state of redeeming and setting us free.

The blue shape around Christ is called the Mandorla (which is Italian for almond, which describes its shape). The Mandorla is the uncreated, eternal light of Christ. In the writings of the Eastern Orthodox mystics, God is often prayerfully experienced as light. This is not simply a pretty bright light. It is the same light which filled the apostles with wonder when they witnessed His Transfiguration. It is the light which Christ Himself described as the power of the Kingdom of God (Mark 9:1 Matt 16:28 Luke 9:27). It is the light that filled the once perpetual darkness of Hades when Christ descended and brought life into the realm of death. It is also the light that is seen when one purifies their heart and mind (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.) Those who seek God will find that the more they know Him, the less they comprehend Him. To know God, to experience Him, is to walk in the darkness of His light, to enter into the mystery of His presence. - From St. Sophia Youth Choir Education Let us Be Radiant

Christ Is Risen

This joyful exclamation fills the whole world. It fills and renews it, for Christ the Lord has conquered all the powers of evil - henceforth the "new creation" reigns. The depths of hell are destroyed. The earth, hitherto a vale of tears, has become heaven. Heaven has become accessible to mankind. All of creation has been changed, everything has been made new. The Lifegiver, Christ, Himself has united heaven and earth and the regions under the earth. "Now are all things filled with light, heaven and earth and the nether regions: let all creation celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, whereby it is strengthened" (Paschal canon, song 3). Willingly He became man, willingly He endured spitting and beating and buffeting and death. Of His own will He rose again, in order to raise up the whole human race with Himself.

"Now are all things filled with light, heaven and earth and the nether regions." But is man filled with this light - man, for whose sake the God-man Christ accomplished these saving deeds, uniting us all in His Body, which is at once both Divine and human, and illumining us with His unwaning light?

The Lord Himself accomplished this saving act of His own will, and He awaits our willing acceptance of this light. Do we participate in the unspeakable sufferings of the Saviour, or do we fulfill in ourselves the words of the Prophet, who foresaw a terrible indifference to the sufferings of the Redeemer: The just man has perished and no one lays it to heart (Isaiah 57:1)? Do we not expect a cheap resolution of our disastrous spiritual state, thinking that in the Paschal night we will suddenly be able to join in the universal rejoicing? Let us not forget that we must endure the suffering and beating and buffeting and the cross and death before our hearts will be capable of being filled with real joy. Without this we can participate in the outward, bodily celebrations, but our hearts will not receive the Righteous One or the gift of resurrection sent down by Him. The Holy Prophet Isaiah foresaw the human vanities which would prevent man from participating with his heart in anything diving? For they drink wine with harp, and psaltry, and drums and pies: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of His hands (Is. 5:12). Is this not how we behave, finding time for all kinds of earthly vanities, but finding no time free for the works of God? This is why the Lord dwelt among us only for a short time, calling to us, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? (Matt. 17:17). Evil could not endure the presence of the Only Good One. The world in which evil reigns did not receive Him, and so His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

But He also said, The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). It truly is within us if we receive Him with our hearts. The Resurrection of Christ is also our resurrection, if we receive His suffering and death on the Cross in our hearts. Just as medicine remains ineffectual if it remains in the bottle, but heals only when it is introduced into the organism, so also the Resurrection is not effectual for us as long as we receive only the outward rejoicing, but do not admit spiritual joy to our hearts, not having previously received the whole of Christ - His divine words, His commandments, His sufferings and death. To receive His death means willingly to take upon oneself death to this world.

Such a death is a life-creating death, leading us into eternal life. It is accomplished in our hearts, which are brought to life by it for Christ. The human heart awakens from spiritual sleep through our efforts in prayer, which can grow and be nourished only in the Church of Christ. Prayer opens our hearts to receive the whole of Christ, in Whom is Life, and the life is the light of men (John 1:4), and Who is Himself the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25).

Arise, O sleeping Christian race!...Take up the intense effort, or podvig of prayer. The light of Christ's Resurrection can shine forth...only when it has first illumined our own hearts. Let us then ourselves become participants in the Resurrection of Christ, with our whole heart and soul, so that truly the whole world might rejoice with us.

It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant O ye people. Pascha, the Pascha of the Lord. From death to life and from earth to Heaven Christ our God has led us, singing the song of victory. -Archbishop Mark of Germany and Great Britain, Pascha 1987

Homily for Mid-Pentecost

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. CHRIST IS RISEN!

If we come to the daily services and pay close attention to the hymnography in this Paschal period, or if we read through the (which is a great thing to do at home even outside of Church) we will hear and read about the theme of “water” all throughout this period between Pascha and Pentecost in which the Church uses this liturgical book known as the Pentecostarion. On Pascha we hear “come let us taste a new drink, not miraculous water drawn forth from a barren rock, but the Fount of Immortality, springing from the tomb of Christ, in Him we are established,” and in the succeeding weeks we hear of the Sheep’s Pool, the Well of Jacob, the Pool of Siloam, and the Living Waters of Christ which cause us to never thirst again. We receive this living water in baptism, and in the Cup of Life which is the side of Christ from which flowed blood and water as He hung, triumphantly, on the Cross. He is truly the Fount of Immortality. Thus, in the Dismissal Hymn of Mid-Pentecost we ask Christ for the “waters of piety” to be imparted to our souls.

This feast looks back to Pascha and ahead to Pentecost, originating from both, offering to us, in a sense, a torrent of overflowing grace. The grace of these two amazing feasts is united on this day, and perhaps it is for this reason that this feast was held in especially high esteem by the holy elder Joseph the Hesychast, who was instrumental in renewing the spiritual life on Mt. Athos, and reposed in 1959. He delighted in this feast with the faith of a simple child and awaited with great expectancy and preparation in order to receive these “waters of piety.” It is said that the ascent of his soul and the divine visions he received were especially great on this present feast. Such is the love, mercy and grace of God towards man that are poured out in this Paschal period. Pentecost pours out such abundant grace that it reaches all the way down to Hades—and so on Pentecost we pray on bended knee for those who have reposed. Christ is the Living Water for both the living and the dead. And the Pentecostarion period concludes with the Sunday of All Saints on which we read from Isaiah 55, that as rain and snow pour out of Heaven and saturate the earth, causing the plants to bud and bringing bread to man, so shall be the Word of God. Whatever proceeds from the mouth of God shall not turn back until all things He wills shall be accomplished. His ways and commandments will prosper, and all peoples, mountains, hills, and trees—indeed, all of creation—shall exalt with joy, and the Lord’s name shall be an everlasting sign for Israel. Of course we know that as the Church we are the New Israel, so we are seeing in Isaiah a promise of God’s everlasting fidelity to us and the promise of His well-spring which can never be quenched.

Even beginning from the Old Testament we see innumerable important references and events involving water. Genesis shows all life beginning and being sustained by water—and again, Christ is the well- spring of life—He invites all who are thirsty to come and drink from Him and to have their thirst quenched from His unquenchable fount. There are also the events of the Red Sea, the Jordan River, etc. These are all prefigurements of the spiritual realities that are revealed in full in the Incarnation of Christ and are available to us without limit within Christ’s Holy Church, which is His very water and life-giving Body.

From the life of Christ, this feast celebrates the time He was found in the Temple at twelve years old in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles. He spoke concerning His origin from God and the living water that He offers, and He astonished all those who heard Him. Here Christ is celebrated not only as the Spring of Living Water but also as Holy Wisdom, which is of course intimately connected to His living water. We sang tonight: “Thou, the Wisdom of God, didst come to the temple at Mid-feast,” and many other hymns referring to Christ as the Wisdom of God. Some scholars even believe that the Church of the Holy Wisdom, Agia Sophia, in Constantinople celebrated its feast day on this feast of Mid-Pentecost.

In meeting Christ in the Church in worship and in the sacraments we come to know His Wisdom experientially. This wisdom of course, is not that of man, but it is the Divine Wisdom of God—it is the very life of Christ. It is the life-giving water that He pours out into our souls and with which He saturates our entire being. This Wisdom, which is the life of Christ, is humility. The preaching of Christ is foolishness to the world, but all the wisdom of the world is foolishness in the face of the humble Christ Who gives endlessly of Himself to us who are undeserving of His life. But here, in the Church, on this feast, and at all times, we receive His life through our humility and our repentance—our recognition that we absolutely need His energy to bring us again to Paradise. This is Wisdom and this is Life. Come let us taste this new drink.

Christ spoke in the Temple of His divine origin, and Mid-Pentecost continues the glorious celebration of His defeat of death, which emphasizes His divinity for only God Himself can defeat death. Only God IS Life. Today we remember Pascha, but today we also look ahead to the feast of Pentecost. We are reminded of the coming of the Spirit and are emboldened in preparation for receiving the Spirit. This is the summation of the Christian life according to St. Seraphim of Sarov—the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. And not only do we receive the Spirit—today we prepare moreover to GIVE the Spirit. Christ says “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly show flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). After Pentecost the Apostles did not stay in Jerusalem and keep this gift of Life to themselves. They went out into all the world and imparted that which they had received, as they had been commanded by Christ. If Christ has given to us, surely we must give to others. Otherwise, where is Christ in our life? Christ is love and humility. Deal with everyone in love and humility, no matter how it works against our egos, and burns us. This burning is cleansing and is cooled by the water we are receiving from Christ. Elder Joseph loved this feast and the grace it imparts, but his life and legacy demonstrates that he also loved to give the Spirit. His influence is keenly felt on Mt. Athos, in Greece, and even here in America, and throughout the world. This is the mark of the true Christian—he who transmits that which he has received and changes those around him for the sake of Christ.

In his homily on Mid-Pentecost, Fr. Seraphim Rose says if there is anything we learn from this feast it is this: to THIRST. Even in the midst of our rejoicing and feasting on the good things of the earth in these days of Pascha we look ahead to the outpouring of the Spirit—to the good things from above the earth. Indeed, let us seek this Wisdom, and let us thirst for this living water. Thus we sing:

“Having come to the middle of the feast, refresh my thirsty soul with the streams of piety; for Thou, O Savior, didst say to all: Let Him who thirsts come to Me and drink. O Christ our God, Source of Life, glory to Thee.”

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. CHRIST IS RISEN! -Jesse Dominick http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/79141.htm

Pearls of Wisdom The Church of Christ is One, Holy, Universal and Apostolic. She is herself a single spiritual body, whose head is Christ, and who has the one Holy Spirit abiding in her. The local parts of the Church are members of a single body of the Universal Church, and they, like branches of a single tree, are nourished by one and same sap from a single root. She is called holy because she is sanctified by the holy word, deeds, sacrifice and suffering of her founder, Christ, to which end He came in order to save human beings and lead them to holiness. The Church is called universal because she is not confined by place, not by time, nor by nation nor language. The communicates with all humanity. The Orthodox Church is called apostolic because the spirit, teaching and labours of the Apostles of Christ are entirely preserved in her.

-St. Nicholas of Serbia, Catechesis

Without winter there would be no spring, and without spring there would be no summer. So it is also in the spiritual life: a little consolation, and then a little grief- and thus little by little we work out our salvation. - St. Anatoly of Optina (Zertsalov)

Peace starts with a smile. -Anonymous

If you can't sleep, don't count sheep. Talk to the Shepherd. -Anonymous The main point of was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. -G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. -G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Rejoice and Be Glad! I was at the hardware store looking for a small piece of birch for an icon board. I found a piece in the “scrap” section – enough for a few boards the size I needed. The young fellow cut them for me and I asked him, “Do you know what these are going to be?” He started calculating the cost and I said “No, I mean do you know what I am going to use them for? They are going to be icons. Do you know what that is?” He said, “I’ve heard of them.” I said, “Paintings of the saints.” Then he said, “I don’t think I should charge you anything.... doing the Lord’s work!” Another worker came along and he said, “She’s going to paint icons on these.” The other worker said “With gold leaf?” I said, “How do you know about gold leaf?” He said, “I went to art school. I studied all about icons.” Well, I finally convinced the first fellow that he had to charge me something for the wood and the cuts, so he charged me $5.00 and said, “God bless you.” Isn’t that amazing? - Vera P.

The Buried Seed …As a result of the distractions we experience we end up living outside and far away from ourselves, or simply living in our heads, so to speak, and not in our deeper center. We live on the surface and not in and from our depth. We have an outer life, and often it’s very busy and complicated but it’s not always clear that we have an inner life. The image the Church Fathers often use is of the onion that has layer upon layer upon layer of complication, and when you get to the center there’s nothing there at all. The problem is that if we live in our head and thoughts, God will always be a reality that is external to us. For many people God is an idea or concept or something to be argued about. God remains external and our thoughts swarm around us like so many flies, and they distract us from ever knowing God. But if we undergo that shift from the outer to inner and from mind to heart then God ceases being simply an idea but becomes a living and powerful reality. There’s a great story about this from the desert fathers. There were three brothers and one of them decided to be a peacemaker. The second wanted to feed the poor. The third brother decided to go to the desert to pray. The peacemaker gets involved in peacekeeping organizations with politicians, but over time he finds that no matter how hard he tries he can’t get people to reconcile. Despite all efforts, fighting and war and killing continues, and he becomes very tired from working so hard without results, so he begins to lose his faith in human nature. He gives up and goes to see how the second brother did. And the second brother tells him that he has a similar story. He set up a soup kitchen and gathered all the food, but found that no matter how much work he did there were more hungry people, and he was sad and frustrated. So together they went to see the third brother and told him their stories about difficulties in the world. The third brother thought for a minute; there was an empty bucket on the ground where they were sitting. He told them to take the bucket to the spring and fill it up and bring it back to him. And the brother picked up a stick and stirred the water, and told them to look in and see what they could see. They couldn’t see anything because the water was agitated, so he told them to wait a minute. They waited and when they looked again they said, “We see ourselves.” The brother replied, “And that’s what happened to you in the world. You went into the world and you were caught up in the chaos and disorder and agitation of the world and you lost yourself.” The remarkable thing about this story is that they set out to do good—nothing evil or corrupt. They were pursuing the commandments of the Gospel but nonetheless found themselves lost in their work and losing their faith in humanity. The message here is that we really can’t be successful at our ministry if we lose that connection with the deeper part of ourselves—if we don’t know who we are, essentially. In another story someone asked a desert father what is necessary to be saved and he said, “Every day ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’” In the world we get lost and forget who and why we are, which is another reason why staying connected to the deeper ground of our being, which is God, is so critical for all that we do. God is not out there somewhere, but rather somewhere within us, woven into the very fiber of our being. God is closer to you than your own jugular vein; and when Christ was asked about the Kingdom of God He said it is not to be observed by external signs, but the Kingdom of God is within you. According to St. Paul your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you. The body as a temple has received elaborate treatment from the Church Fathers so that all of the forms of an Orthodox Church are replicated in the human body. There’s an altar in the Church and there’s an altar in the body, which is the heart… - Fr. Maximos (Constas) -http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/92580.htm

Practical Tips At the Sacred Chalice Not long ago in one of the churches of St. Petersburg during the Divine Liturgy the attention of the people taking Communion was attracted by a little fair-haired boy who was standing not far from the altar. He was watching attentively those receiving Communion and from time to time started laughing in a loud childish manner. He was asked to behave reasonably, but of no avail. The strange behavior of the boy stopped as soon as the Communion was over. His parents who had been very much surprised asked why he was laughing and this is what the boy replied: "When I was looking at people approaching the Chalice, I suddenly noticed that a white dove flies up to some of them. Just at the moment when a man or a woman opens his or her mouth to partake of the Gifts the dove pecks the Gifts off the spoon and flies away. They do not see the dove, they close their mouths thinking that they have received the Holy Communion, but indeed they have just had an empty spoon. I thought that was very funny." For a non-believer this story told by a child could appear as something imagined, and an Orthodox heart cannot but be overcome with awe having understood the meaning of the vision sent to a child. Indeed, it is frightening to realize that the Lord would not let some of us have the Communion because we approach the Sacred Chalice being unworthy and unprepared. -http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/beginning_orthodoxy_1.htm#_Toc12286579

Links St. Sophia Orthodox Church, Victoria BC http://saintsophia.ca/

Official site of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/indexeng.htm

Official site of the Montreal and Canadian Diocese http://mcdiocese.com/en/

The Rudder: Streaming Orthodox Christian sacred music 24/7 http://www.myocn.com/rudder/

The Silver Prince: By Alexey Tolstoy; Translated by Nikita S. Galitzine http://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000167307/The-Silver-Prince.aspx

St. Sophia Parish’s FREE Lenten Cookbook Recipes “Come and Dine” http://comeanddinerecipe.blogspot.ca/

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Vancouver BC http://russianorthodoxchurch.ca/en/

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Vancouver BC http://www.stnicolaschurch.ca/home_eng.html

Pravoslavie.Ru http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/

Morning Offering by Abbot Tryphon http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/

Holy Trinity Monastery Jordanville, New York http://www.jordanville.org/

Western America Diocese Official Site http://www.wadiocese.org/en/

The Children's Word http://myocn.net/orthodox-christian-news/orthodox-christian-childrens-newsletter/

Coffee With Sr. Vassa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUQPAtvsh9U

Orthodox Tours http://orthodoxtours.com/our-tours.html e knew not whether we “Wwere in heaven or earth… We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of The other nations. Orthodox” Church ith these words, envoys sent from Russia by Prince Vladimir in the Wyear 987 recorded their impression of Constantinople’s awesome Orthodox Cathedral, Hagia Sophia. They had been sent to search for the true religion. Within a year of their report, Prince Vladimir and the Russian people were baptized in Christ by Orthodox missionaries. Today, as in Prince Vladimir’s time, the Orthodox Church – fully aware that man is a union of body and soul – uses all the beauty of creation to move her faithful children to prayer and worship: icons, beautiful singing, sweet-smelling incense, and majestic services.

The Greek word ‘Orthodoxia’ means ‘correct praise’ or ‘correct teaching’ and in the Orthodox worship the praise and teaching are closely interwoven.

Jesus Christ founded His Church through the Apostles. By the grace received from God at Pentecost, the Apostles established the Church throughout the world. In Greece, Russia, and elsewhere, the True Apostolic Church continues to flourish, preserving the Faith of Christ pure and unchanged.) Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven

pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her

wine; she hath also furnished her table.

She hath sent forth her maidens:

she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for “Christ the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God” him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

– First Corinthians Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. Troparion in the Second Tone We bow done before Thine all pure image, O Good One, asking forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ God; for Thou wast well pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh of Sophia Thine own will, that Thou mightest save what Thou hadst created from slavery to the enemy. Wherefore, we cry out to Thee in thanksgiving: Thou hast filled all things with joy, O our Saviour, Who hast come to save the world. A Devotional Newsletter of St. Sophia Parish

Kontakion in the Second Tone St. Sophia Orthodox Church O uncircumscribable Word of the Father, knowing the 195 Joseph St. victorious image, uninscribed and divinely wrought, of Thine Victoria, BC ineffable and divine dispensation towards man, of Thy true V8S 3H6 incarnation, we honour it with veneration. Canada