Sunday, May 31, 2026
PENTECOST
Today’s Readings
Epistle: Acts 2:1-11
Gospel: John 7:37-52, 8:12
Schedule of Services:
-Saturday Great Vespers at 4pm.
-Sunday Divine Liturgy at 10am. Hours begin at 9:40am.
Announcements:
-Thank you, Matushka Mary, for hosting coffee hour today.
-The Sisterhood has decided to try a new approach to coffee hour. Please be on the lookout for an email with details. The Sisterhood would like to give this approach a trial period starting in July through the summer and then evaluate how to move forward. See Nellie or Pam H if you have any questions.
-The Church School is currently supporting 31 Threads by donating to their pantry (The Outreach Connection). Distributed is a list of the pantry's current needs. Please bring your items before Saturday, June 20th. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
-This week is a fast free week, dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
-There will be Adult Study sessions on the Wednesdays during the Apostles Fast.
-The parish and parish council has a variety of things and projects to consider. In order to foster transparency and collect input from parishioners, we will hold a structured voluntary goal setting session retreat open to parishioners likely on a Saturday towards the end of summer. It would be nice to do this as soon as possible, however, it is likely that many of us will be traveling off and on over the next couple months. It would be ideal to have as many parishioners as possible present for this. The goal of the session is to begin to prioritize parish undertakings and begin to establish a VISION for the parish, and a strategic plan that supports such a vision. More information to come.
-Don’t forget the needy. ShopRite gift cards or non-perishable foods are greatly appreciated.
Prayers for:
Departed: Patricia, Lucas, George Living: Josh, Byron, Robert and Marie, Sandy, Antonia, Carol, Archpriest Vladimir, Cristi, Nissa, Natalie, John, Jeannine, Bernard, Nicholas, Galina, Alexey, Sergei, Liona, Amelia, Vera, Eleonora, John, and Ted.
Words for the Day:
It is joyful to feel that we do not and cannot have any enemies among men, but only unhappy brethren, who are deserving of pity and help, even when, through misunderstanding, they become our enemies and fight against us. Woe! They do not understand that the enemy is found within ourselves, and that first of all one must cast him our of oneself, and then also help others to do the same. We have only one enemy: the devil and his evil spirits. But man, no matter how far he has fallen, never loses certain sparks of light and goodness which may be blown into a bright flame. But for us there is no reason to fight against people, even when they consistently send against all kind of blows and rebukes ... To fight against people is to take a false position of our enemies. Even if we succeed, we gain nothing from this fight, but rather become estranged from our own success.
(Martyr Roman Medved, Letter to His Daughter from the Gulag, 1932)
Next Week’s Readings:
Epistle: Hebrews 11:33-12:2: Brethren, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gospel: Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
