Our Lenten classes on the Fridays in April will be on the topic of models of repentance. On April 1: Repentance in the Old Testament; April 8: Repentance in the parables of our Lord; April 15: Repentance in the lives of the Apostles; and on April 22: Repentance in the lives of saints. We will sing the service of Compline at the end of each evening. The classes will be held in homes this year to provide meeting places in several different areas, beginning at the home of Fr. Nicholas and Kh. Rebecca, 9415 Wire Ave., Silver Spring, MD, on April 1. A Lenten supper will be provided at 6:30PM. We will also meet at the home of Brian and Stella Green, 4124 Mason Ridge Drive in Annandale, Virginia and at the home of Pieter Dykhorst and Joana Tasi, 3319 Alden Place NE, Washington, DC. The location of each week’s class will be announced. Please let each host family know if you are able to attend.
We begin Holy Week with the ancient ceremonies of Palm Sunday on April 24. The service begins outside with the blessing and distribution of palms, the reading of the Palm Sunday Gospel, and a procession into the church, where the Liturgy will include the singing of the Passion Gospel of St. Matthew. On Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, Liturgy will be at 7:30PM (preceded by Vespers at 7:00) and the Passion Gospels of Luke and Mark will be chanted. The service on Wednesday of Holy Week is the Unction service, at which the oils for catechumens and for healing are blessed. On Maundy Thursday, the service includes the foot washing, the procession to the Altar of Repose, and the stripping of the Altar. For those who can remain longer, we will have a brief Lenten supper and the service of Tenebrae that evening. The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy is offered on Good Friday at 12 noon and the Passion Gospel of St. John will be sung. The Paschal Vigil will begin with the lighting of the New Fire at 9PM. The Exultet will be sung and the story of our Salvation will be read; water will be blessed, we will sing the Litany of Saints, and the first Mass of Easter will be celebrated followed by a Paschal feast. Announcement of the location of the Holy Week and Pascha services will be made closer to the time.
We are making slow progress towards the necessary permits we need to occupy our new home. As this newsletter “goes to press” we are expecting approval for our Storm Water Management plan, which in turn will allow us to submit the plans for our building renovations. If there are no major problems with the plans, we may be able to start construction by the beginning of May, and have an occupancy permit sometime in June.
View the full April newsletter here.