April 5 Palm Sunday
One week before Easter, we celebrate Palm Sunday, the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, accompanied by His recognition as the Savior of the world. The celebration concludes with the blessing of palm and willow branches, symbolizing the coming universal resurrection.
- 4:00 pm Saturday Vigil
- 9:30 am Confession
- 10:00 am Divine Liturgy and Blessing of the Willows
April 7 Tuesday Annunciation
On this day, we celebrate the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, who announced that she would conceive and bear a Son through a virgin birth, becoming the mother of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation and the beginning of the salvation of humankind.
- 6:00 pm Monday Vigil
- 9:30 am Confession
- 10:00 am Divine Liturgy
April 9 Great and Holy Thursday
Holy Week is the most important week in the life of a Christian. Each day features a special service and holds a special significance. On Holy Thursday, we commemorate the Last Supper, during which Jesus Christ bestowed upon us a great gift—the Communion of His Body and Blood.
- 9:30 am Confession
- 10:00 am Last Supper Divine Liturgy
- 6:00 pm 12 Passion Gospels
On the evening of Holy Thursday, a service is celebrated that might be called “The Prayer in Gethsemane.” We step into the center of the church, as if entering the Garden of Olives itself. We read the Twelve Passion Gospels, recalling how Christ was seized, tried, and put to death. It is a long and arduous service. Yet it is our vigil with Christ! We hold lit candles in our hands; we are weary, but we say: “Lord! I will not forsake You in these moments; I will not fall asleep…”
April 10 Great and Holy Friday
Good Friday of Holy Week is a unique day of the year on which the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated. This is because the Liturgy is the most solemn of divine services, and on the day of the Savior’s death, it is not performed as a sign of deep mourning.
- 12:00 Noon Vespers of Epitaphios (The Deposition from the Cross)
During Vespers, the Entrance with the Gospel takes place; prophetic passages from the Old Testament are read, along with the Epistle and the Gospel. At the conclusion of Vespers, the Royal Doors are opened, and the priest carries the Holy Shroud—depicting the laying of Jesus Christ in the tomb—out from the sanctuary into the center of the church and places it upon the tomb.
- 6:00 pm Vigil and procession with Holy Shroud
This service is dedicated to commemorating the Savior’s death and burial. Funeral troparia are chanted, and the content of the liturgical texts is permeated with grief over the events that transpired on Golgotha, and with lamentation for the departed Savior. Yet, here and there—breaking through the sorrow—emerge the still-timid harbingers of the Resurrection.
April 11 Great and Holy Saturday
Great Saturday is a day filled with silence and peace. Yet for us, it is a day filled not only with sorrow but also with hope. In the morning, a wondrous divine service is celebrated—one unlike any other in the entire liturgical cycle. At the center of the church lies the Holy Shroud: an icon depicting the Savior lying in the tomb. After the morning service, the priest walks through the church, blessing the Paschal foods. Now evening has fallen, and within the church, the reading of the Acts of the Apostles begins… And very soon, we shall begin to sing: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the Angels sing in the heavens; grant us also on earth, with pure hearts, to glorify Thee.”
- 9:30 am Confession
- 10:00 am Divine Liturgy and blessing of Easter baskets.
- 11:00 pm Midnight service begins
April 12 EASTER/PASCHA
- 12:00 midnight Procession, Paschal Matins, Liturgy, Blessing of Easter baskets.
April 12 EASTER/PASCHA
- 12:00 noon Great Easter Paschal Vespers and blessing of Easter baskets
Easter is the most important of holidays, for it is the celebration of deliverance from sin, death, bondage to the Devil, and the futility of temporal existence in this fallen world — that state in which every generation merely repeats the errors of the one before it. Now, by uniting ourselves with Christ, we rise to eternal life. The entire history of humanity is not without meaning; everything possesses its own significance. And this entire significance, ultimately, lies precisely in the restoration of humanity—not merely to its primordial state (which was, to begin with, good), but to a superior, resurrected state. Thus, Easter is the Feast of deification—through which every individual, and humanity as a whole, attains the true meaning of its existence.
April 19 Bright Sunday/Antipascha
Antipascha means “in place of Pascha.” The conclusion of Bright Week is celebrated in a special manner, serving as a substitute for Pascha for those who were unable to attend the Paschal service. Following the Liturgy and the Procession of the Cross, the Artos—a loaf of bread consecrated on the first day of Pascha—will be distributed.
- 10:00 am Divine Liturgy
- 11:30 am Procession and dividing of Artos
- 12:30 pm Easter Luncheon
April 21 Tuesday Radonitsa
Radonitsa is the Easter for the departed and a day of their special, universal church-wide commemoration.
- 9:30 am Confession
- 10:00 am Divine Liturgy
- 11:00 am Panikhida
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