St. Xenia Parish News 170 North Lowell Street, Methuen, MA 01844 March - April 2020 Communion During Great Lent ecause Great Lent is a season of repentance, The service is preceded by the reading of the fasting, and intensified prayer, the Ortho- Typical Psalms, and the Divine Liturgy's opening B dox Church regards more frequent recep- blessing, Blessed is the Kingdom... is used at the tion of communion as especially desirable at that start of the part of the service that resembles daily time. However, the Divine Liturgy has a festal vespers. Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul is character not in keeping with the season. Thus, read. The Great Litany is then intoned and then the Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated instead; the Psalms 119–133 are read. Then the choir sings Divine Liturgy is only performed on Saturdays Lord, I have cried unto Thee with stichera. The and Sundays. Although it is possible to celebrate priest makes an entrance with the censer. If the this service on any weekday of Great Lent, the occasion is a feast, the entrance is with the Gospel service is prescribed to be celebrated only on Book and there is then an epistle and gospel read- Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent, Thursday of the ing for the feast day. fifth week of Lent (when the Great Canon of St. The choir sings O Gladsome Light, and the Andrew is read), and Monday to Wednesday of first reading, from Genesis (or Exodus), is read Holy Week. Common parish practice is to cele- with a prokeimenon. Then the priest intones Wis- brate it on as many as possible of these days. dom, let us attend. The Light of Christ enlight- During Lent, many Orthodox faithful fast ened all men, and those praying prostrate them- sometimes from midnight and sometimes the en- selves. The second reading, from Proverbs (or Job) tire workday, not eating anything after the morn- is read. ing meal until they break the fast with Holy In the second part of the service, the choir Communion at this evening service. They have chants Let my prayer be directed as incense before this anticipation to help them with this somewhat Thee, after which the prayer of St. Ephraim is difficult ascetic discipline. read. After a litany the choir sings Now the pow- Presanctified Liturgy ers of Heaven with us invisibly do worship, and The service consists of Daily Vespers com- the presanctified Gifts are brought into the holy bined with additional prayers and communion. altar in a procession resembling the Great En- The communion bread has already been conse- trance at a Divine Liturgy but in silence. There is crated and intincted with the precious Blood and no anaphora because the gifts are pre-consecrated. reserved at the previous Sunday's Divine Liturgy. The prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is re- Unconsecrated wine is placed in the chalice. Local peated, and the Litany of Petition is proclaimed. practice also varies as to whether or not this wine The choir sings the Lord's Prayer, after which the must be thought of as the Blood of Christ. The priest intones: The Presanctified Holy Things are only practical effect of this variety is that the cele- for the holy. The Holy Sacraments are brought brant who must consume all the undistributed out through the Royal Doors, and the faithful re- communion at the end of the service might or ceive Holy Communion. After the Litany of might not partake of the chalice when he com- Thanksgiving and the prayer before the Ambo munes himself. ("Every good and perfect gift is from above..."), the believers venerate the Holy Cross. St. Xenia of St. Petersburg Orthodox Church is a par- Parish Council ish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Rus- President: Archpriest Michael Crowley (978) 204-0428 sia, under the omophorion of Met. HILARION of Fr. Constantine Desrosiers (603) 775-0320 Eastern America & New York. The parish newsletter Dcn. Alexander Doohovskoy (978) 369-4486 is published bi-monthly under the direction of the Rev. Dcn. John Sarantakis (978) 621-8842 Michael Crowley. In order to ensure timely delivery Dcn Dimitri Doohovskoy (978) 835-1637 to our far-flung parish, please submit all notices by the Starosta: John Kekis [email protected] 15th of the month prior to publication to Father Mi- Treasurer: Nicholas Kronauer (978) 265-6369 chael at [email protected]. Secretary: Subdeacon David Nettleton (203) 895-7636 Thank you. Sisterhood: Pamela Ann Reed (978) 254-5043 Rector: Cemetery: Natalie Pishenin (978) 761-3449 V. Rev. Michael Crowley Choir Director: Laryssa Doohovskoy (978) 841-5960 34 Elm Street Church School: Alexei Doohovskoy North Andover, MA 01845 Alexei Rodzianko (978) 204-0428 Daniel Hakim Andrei Doohovskoy Anthony Sarantakis Confessions on Saturday during Vigil, on Sunday dur- Dmitri Nikshych ing the Hours, and by appointment. Stephen (Richard) DiMatteo Trapeza Schedule * = strict fast Trapeza can be whatever you would like to prepare, anything is appreciated. Note: If you are preparing anything containing nuts or other allergens, please put a label to that effect in front of your dish. Nut allergies are especially fatal to small children. A note about Trapeza etiquette: Standing, even for short periods of time, is often extremely difficult for older people and expectant mothers. It would be an act of Christian charity to allow them to collect their meal first and to be seat- ed. This courtesy should also be extended to visiting clergy. Thank you to all who generously donate their time and energy to provide such wonderful meals for us all! Please remember to check the clean-up list posted in the kitchen before leaving for the day. If anyone would like to volunteer to help with Trapeza, please contact Judy Engalichev @ [email protected]. New groups or individuals are always welcome! March April 1 Cheesefare Sunday -- Olena Fedina, Ksenia *5 Nettleton/Chaplain/Bottos Guryeva, Elena Rodzianko *12 PALM Sunday – POTLUCK *8 Nancy Vaters, Brigid Amy Fischer, L&A Doohovskoy 19 PASCHA – POTLUCK *15 Raisa, Natalie Avram, Alesia Alevtina 26 Brigid Justinian, Masha Doohovskoy, Sonya Carrascal *22 Pam Reed, Carolyn Savage, Diane Mendez *29 Alexandra Gonzalez, Anna Kekis, Marina Pavlova PARISH NEWS Announcements will be forthcoming regarding prepa- rations for Pascha including Church cleaning days. Condolences ~ To the loved ones of Athanasia Tamvlakis, wife of Looking for gifts or supplies? Check out: Demetrios Tamvlakis, who reposed in the Lord Feb. https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/ 19, 2020. May her memory be eternal. https://www.holycross.org/collections https://www.easterngiftshop.com/ Please Remember in Your Prayers ~ https://store.ancientfaith.com/ Peter Danas, Dimitri Nikshych, Masha Harris, Laryssa https://www.stinnocentpress.com/ Doohovskoy, and Matushka. DIOCESE NEWS Please be sure to inform the Sisterhood if someone is in the hospital or shut in at home. St. Seraphim Camp for Orthodox children entering grades 3 through 12 will be held August 9 - 16, 2020. New Youth Group! Registration will begin in the Spring at The St. Artemius Youth Group is St. Xenia’s newly https://www.stseraphimcamp.org/ formed youth group for children of the parish, ages 13- 18. The youth group aims to nurture children in the Pilgrimage Tour to Italy with Bishop Nicholas Orthodox Faith through worship, fellowship, and ser- of Manhattan May 11-25, 2020 vice. On Saturday, February 22nd, the youth group The tour includes ample visitation time at the principle had its first outing. The afternoon consisted of children Orthodox Christian holy sites in Rome, Bari, Naples, (and parents) sharing in fun and fellowship while ice and their environs. In most of these, the pilgrims will skating, dining at Chick-fil-A, and worshiping together be able hold prayer services; in some, even be able to during Vigil at St. Xenia’s. The outing was well- celebrate Divine Liturgy, led by His Grace Nicholas, attended! Thank you to parents for their help in mak- Bishop of Manhattan. More information may be found ing the first outing such a great success. This was the here: first of many events to come, Lord willing! If your https://eadiocese.org/files/announcements/2019/bn_it child/children are ages 13-18 and you have not been aly_en.pdf receiving e-mails about the youth group, please feel free to reach out to Aaron Murphy via e-mail 12th Pilgrimage of the Russian Church Abroad at: [email protected] to Holy Places of Russia 2020 Beloved in the Lord Archpastors, reverend Pastors and Deacons, Brothers and Sisters! We are happy to inform you that , with the blessings of our First Hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, and our patron, His Emi- nence, Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Can- ada, we are presenting to you the schedule for the Twelvth Pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Russia, which will take place from June 20 to July 4th. We will visit , for the first time, the following places: Toliatti - Samara - Usovka - Volgograd - Saratov - Tetiushin - Tver - Staritsa - St. Nilus Choir News ~ Hermitage - Lake Seligher If you have a private service - wedding, baptism, funer- - Valdai - Torzhok. al, etc. – and would like to have choir singers, please Also the city of Kazan will reveal its new and contact Laryssa at [email protected]. old holy places and landmarks. We will visit an- S cient monasteries and churches of the 16th and Please Note ~ 17th centuries. In Moscow we will visit St. Nicholas- Ugresh- on his relics were transferred into a church of Sainted sky Monastery, founded by the famous Grand Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours (Comm. 12 Oc- Prince Dimitry Donskoy. tober). We invite you, our "seasoned" pilgrims and those who have not yet traveled with us, to join us The Icon of the Mother of God -- "Pledge for on a journey that will positively change and spir- Sinners" ("Sporuchnitsa Greshnykh") itually enrich you for the remainder of you r life.