We begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 13, with Vespers at 7PM and the blessing and imposition of ashes and Mass at 7:30. In the weeks following, the Church calls us to more intense prayer, fasting, repentance, and alms-giving in order to better prepare for the celebration of the Feast of Feasts, the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ at Pascha. On Friday evenings during Lent, we will share pot-luck suppers at 6:30PM, continue with a class, and then end with Stations of the Cross and Litany of the Holy Cross.
Because of the way the date falls on the calendar this year, we will not have Mass for the feast of our parish patron, St. Gregory the Great on Tuesday, March 12. Please remember the feast in your personal prayers.
Mass will be celebrated for the Feast of the Annunciation on Monday evening, March 25, at 7:30PM, preceded by Vespers at 7 and followed by a pot-luck supper.
We will join with our brothers and sisters in all of the Orthodox jurisdictions represented in the Washington DC area at Vespers on the first Sunday in Lent, March 17. This celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm will be held at Ss. Peter & Paul Church in Potomac, Maryland, at 5PM. The speaker this year will be Fr. Nicholas Belcher, Hierarchical Assistant to Metropolitan Joseph.
Read the full March newsletter here.