You may have heard that the Orthodox Church is strange, that it is foreign; you may think it caters to people who speak languages you don’t and won’t understand. You may even fear the Orthodox Church, after all it is Eastern. You’ve probably heard that it’s for Russians or Greeks or Ukrainians or Arabs. Would you believe it if I told you that St. Vladimir Orthodox Church has more English language speaking parishioners than any other language; it was started as an English Mission? And that you would feel right at home in St. Vladimir Orthodox Church? Did you know that St. Vladimir, our Patron Saint, the Prince of Kiev was instrumental in the conversion of that part of the world to Orthodoxy, more than a thousand years ago? Did you know that the Orthodox Church has been teaching about Jesus Christ for more than 2,000 years, and that it has not altered those incredible teachings? Frequently we get asked, “Do you believe in the Bible?” Our answer has to be, “Of course we do, Orthodox Christians wrote the New Testament!” Orthodox Christians wrote the Gospels, the Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles and the great Revelation. The Orthodox Church (Orthodox meaning right believing) is the ancient and the modern Christian Church, which stretched and still stretches as far as St. Peter and St. Paul, and the other Disciples and Apostles, led by the Holy Spirit, travelled, and far beyond.
The Orthodox Church may be more than 2000 years old, but we live now, by holding on to Traditional Christian teachings. We live in and are part of the 21st Century. Glory to God!
It would be an adventure to visit St Vladimir Prince of Kiev church, and you would be welcome. We don’t criticize, we don’t judge and there are lots of children.
Saturday evening at 6pm we serve Vespers, which takes about an hour. Sunday 10am we serve Liturgy, which takes about two hours on a regular Sunday. The coffee time that follows lasts as long as people stay and chat, and eat, and drink tea and coffee. Our people love being in each others’ company so they don’t hurry away.
How do we learn about the Church? By being part of the community, so we wait to welcome you.
In Christ,
Father David
Rector
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Saturday October 12 6 pm Vigil
Sunday October 13 10 am Divine Liturgy
Tone 7
Society of St. Catherine Saturday 4:30pm before Vigil*
stream as usual here
*Catechumen should attend these lessons.
Monday October 14 Protection of the Theotokos
Liturgy 10 am
(This is also Thanksgiving)
The Archbishop has granted permission for me to be away from the parish for most of the month of November. I shall be visiting friends in BC and my Niece and her family in Cochrane, Alberta.
Just around the corner:
Way - Way ahead
Did we have fun at Noggin's farm? Did we pick a lot of apples? I think the answer to both of those is a definite - 'YES!' I have to admit that I went because I was invited by Kareryna, Sergey, young Mark and Luke. I wasn't expecting it to be fun. There was the threat of rain and there were drops while we were there, but thankfully not enough to even really wet us. I think that if it had poured, we would still have had a good time - but just with wet clothes. Some photos were taken so I'll place them here. A kind person took the photo of most of us all together
The top picture was missing Jessica, Ryan, Ivan and Andrei. They were too busy picking apples.
I'm ordering a number of Pie Bars and I'll freeze some for Noah and Andrew. I'm certainly looking forward to tasting them. Thank you, bakers! Speaking about the boys on the ship, Noah is going to be living along with Jarod and Stephen in the house managed by Mark.
Reminder: Because of the Annual General Meeting, there will not be a Catechumen meeting Sunday October 20.
I may have mentioned that Friday October 11th, I shall be seeing a surgeon to discuss, at long last, what we can do about the numbness in my left leg. The Friday following that, I shall be undergoing an ultra echocardiogram to make sure my heart is still beating.
Do you remember Peter Togni? He was a member of our congregation and choir. Perhaps you know that Peter is a composer of music. A couple of years ago, I asked Peter to compose a Liturgy as Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky had done. On October 10, that's the day I am writing this, Peter's Liturgy is being performed in Toronto by the Elmer Iseler Singers. I can't wait to hear it. It will be spectacular if I know anything about Peter's works. May God bless him.
May God bless all of you,
Love in Christ,
-- Father David
PS I've made 2 Christmas Cakes - one more to go (one that David will eat!).
Tomorrow after the surgeon - Apple Pie!
Saturday: 6:00pm Vespers
Sunday: 9:30am Hours, 10:00am Divine Liturgy, followed by coffee hour
See special service times, feasts, and parish events in our online Calendar.
Our parish uses the Old Style Julian calendar.
St.Vladimir‘s has begun the journey towards owning a permanent temple. Join Us!
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Saint Seraphim of Sarov Mission Facebook group
The Divine Liturgy will be held on Sunday, September 29th at 597 Alder Point Road, Alder Point at 10:30am. Father Alexander will be coming up to serve Liturgy. We should all share the date and invite friends and family to come along. Our doors are open to anyone who is interested in experiencing the Divine Liturgy.
For further information, contact: stseraphimofsarovmission (at) gmail (dot) com