ST. THOMAS SUNDAY – Tone 1
Matins Gospel #1: St. Matthew 28:16-20
Liturgy: Acts 5: 12-20; St. John 20: 19-31

TODAY – Tim & Jenny Pittman will be crowned in marriage at 4 p.m.

WEDNESDAY – Vespers 6 p.m., followed by class on Orthodox Christianity.

CHARLES HADDAD is at Baptist Hospital with what the doctor described as an “angry” infection in his foot. He is better today, however, and hopes to go home tomorrow.

HOLY WEEK PICTURES are up on our website, www.holyres.net

ANN GOOCH, Mat. Sissy’s stepmother, aged 92, fell asleep in the Lord Saturday morning, May 4, in Tyler, TX. She was a remarkable woman in many respects, and treated us as if we were her own children. Read her obituary here: http://www.holyres.net/holyres/AnnGooch.pdf

CONGRATULATIONS! Myra Rosenblatt will be graduated at the University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Optometry on May 18th, and William Rosenblatt at the University of Mississippi Medical School on May 24th. Please send Fr. Paul other graduates’ name for publication here.

ANDREW ROBINSON will be Company Commander of 150 men at the U.S. Naval Academy this fall. Congratulations, Andy!

THE GROUP PICTURE taken at out 35th anniversary celebration can be viewed at
http://www.holyres.net/holyres/anniv35/pages/Group.html
The photographer, James Patterson, will make you a professional large print for $150, of which he will donate $75 to the Church. Contact him at 601.918.3232. Or you can download the high resolution version from the link above and print it yourself or have it printed at various places. Note the link shows a 1988 group photo for comparison.

CLEANUP – Lots of dirty towels and such were left in the Break Room after the baptisms Holy Saturday. If they are yours please take them.

OUR PICTURE DIRECTORY needs updating. In the past we had members taking photos for this during coffee hour. This is very time-consuming and we never seem to get them all. If you already have a good recent picture of your family or can take one, please send it to Fr. Paul; if not let him know. Please send a full size single photo file (jpg, tif, etc.), not an album, gallery, etc. Send it as an attachment, not in the body of the email.

LOOKING AHEAD:
June 13 – Ascension
June 16 – Mike & Alicia Rials will be crowned in marriage.
June 16-28 – Campers at Antiochian Village
June 23 – Pentecost
June 30 – July 6 – Campers at Camp St. Thekla
July 22 – 26 – Diocese of the South Assembly, Jacksonville
Sept. 13 – Walk to Defeat ALS

QUOTATION: St. Paul says: “If Christ is not risen, then your faith is in vain.” There is nothing else to believe. This is the real center… [Easter is] the end of all natural time and the beginning of the new time in which we as Christians have to live … Pentecost is the fulfillment of Easter… When He sent down His Holy Spirit into the world, a new society was instituted, a body of people whose life, though it remained of this world and shared in its life, took on a new meaning. This new meaning comes directly from Christ’s Resurrection. We are no longer people who are living in time as in a meaningless process, which makes us first old and then ends in our disappearance. We are given not only a new meaning in life, but even death itself has acquired a new significance. In the Troparion at Easter we say, “He trampled down death by death.” We do not say that He trampled down death by the Resurrection, but by death. A Christian still faces death as a decomposition of the body, as an end; yet in Christ, in the Church, because of Easter, because of Pentecost, death is no longer just the end but it is the beginning also. It is not something meaningless which therefore gives a meaningless taste to all of life. Death means entering into the Easter of the Lord. … Christianity is, first of all, the proclamation in this world of Christ’s Resurrection. Orthodox spirituality is paschal in its inner content, and the real content of the Church life is joy. — Fr. Alexander Schmemann

So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death… For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection – Romans 6:3

Four children were baptized and three adults were received into the Church by Chrismation on Holy Saturday, May 8.

More Pictures of  the beautiful Holy Week Services

PALM SUNDAY
Fish, wine, and oil are used
Matins Gospel: St. Matthew 21: 1-11, 15-17
Liturgy: Phil. 4: 4-9; St. John 11: 1-45

TODAY
• Procession with palms will take place at the end of Matins, weather permitting
• Bridegroom Matins will be served after Coffee Hour

HOLY WEEK HAS BEGUN! See schedule below.

CONFESSIONS will be heard after evening services Monday and Tuesday. After that they will be heard only for out-of-town people and “emergencies.”

SUNDAY, MAY 5, Paschal Vespers will be hosted by Holy Trinity and St. John Greek Orthodox Church at 4 p.m. They will provide the food. St. Peter’s is asked to bring desserts, and we are asked to bring tea, soft drinks, cups and rolls for 300 people. Susan Ainsworth will post a sign-up sheet for this. Children under 10 should bring a basket for an egg hunt. Volunteers are sought who can read the Gospel in Russian or Slavonic, Armenian, Ethiopian, and other languages; speak to Fr. Paul. (Greek and Arabic are taken.)

OPPORTUNITIES
• Our charities fund is used to help members and others with personal needs and to make donations in the name of the Church to Orthodox charitable and missionary needs and local non Orthodox charities. This fund needs a boost now. Just mark a check as “Charities.”
• You can have a share in adorning the Tomb on which the Shroud of the Lord will rest on Holy Friday by making a donation to our flower fund. Just mark a check as ‘Flowers.’

PAUL ELLIS will be promoted to Staff Sergeant May 1 and will be awarded a Meritorious Service Award for actions in Afghanistan in 2012. He will be home a while in June, then will be deployed to Korea. Congratulations and thanks to Paul.

COLLECTIONS last Sunday were $1,633.98, bringing the month-to-date to $8,448.26. Our monthly budget goal is $10,000.

LOOKING AHEAD:
May 5 – Pascha!
June 13 – Ascension
June 16-28 – Campers at Antiochian Village
June 23 – Pentecost
June 30 – July 6 – Campers at Camp St. Thekla
July 22 – 26 – Diocese of the South Assembly, Jacksonville
Sept. 13 – Walk to Defeat ALS

HOLY WEEK SERVICES
April 28, PALM SUNDAY
• 8:30 a.m. Matins
• 9:30 a.m. Palm Procession, Divine Liturgy
• 12:30 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
April 29, HOLY MONDAY
• 6 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
April 30, HOLY TUESDAY
• 6 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
May 1, HOLY WEDNESDAY
• 6 p.m. Anointing Service
• 7 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
May 2, HOLY THURSDAY
• 12 noon Divine Liturgy
• 6 p.m. Matins – 12 Gospels
May 3, HOLY FRIDAY
• 3 p.m. Vespers – Shroud
• 7 p.m. Matins – Procession through Cemetery
• 9 p.m. Vigil before the Shroud
May 4, HOLY SATURDAY
• 9 a.m. Holy Baptism
• 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy (15 Old Testament Prophecies)
• 11:30 p.m. Paschal Service and Feast
May 5, PASCHA
• 4 p.m. Paschal Vespers and Feast – at Holy Trinity and St. John Greek Orthodox Church, 5725 Pear Orchard Road, Jackson

INITIATES
God willing, the following will be baptized on Holy Saturday
• Svetlana Pittman – Patroness Martyr Svetlana (Photini) (Mar. 20) sponsors Rebecca Prewitt and Mark Robinson
• Keegan Pumphrey – Patron Archangel Michael (Nov. 8); sponsors Matthew Prewitt and Rebecca Chittom
• Samuel Pumphrey – Patron Prophet Samuel (Aug. 20); sponsors Carson Chittom and Ashley Prewitt
• Reese Rials – Patron Martyr Eustathius Placidus (Sept. 20); sponsors Albert Saad and Paula Sartor

The following will be chrismated:
• Robert Bates – Patron Prophet Ananias (Shadrach, Dec. 17) sponsor Buddy Cooper
• Jenny Pittman – Patroness Martyr Zenaida (Oct. 11) sponsor Erica Robinson
• Alicia Rials – Patroness Martyr Hermione (Sept. 4) sponsor Terry Bouchillon

Let us pray for those preparing for Holy Illumination.

5th SUNDAY OF LENT – Tone 5
St. Mary of Egypt (6th c)
Matins Gospel #2: St. Mark 16:1-8
Liturgy: Heb. 9: 11-14; St. Mark 10:32-45 (Sunday)
Gal. 3:23-29; St. Luke 7: 36-50 (St. Mary)

TODAY
• Our Women’s Group will meet after coffee hour to plan for Holy Week.
• Father Paul will hear confessions after Coffee Hour. Confessions will be heard after evening services this week through Tuesday of Holy Week. After that they will be heard only for out-of-town people and “emergencies.”

WEDNESDAY – 6 p.m. Presanctified Liturgy

FRIDAY – 6 p.m. Vespers

SATURDAY 9:30 a.m. – Divine Liturgy – Lazarus

NEXT SUNDAY IS PALM SUNDAY – see Holy Week Schedule below.

SUNDAY, MAY 5, Paschal Vespers will be hosted by Holy Trinity and St. John Greek Orthodox Church at 4 p.m.. They will provide the food. St. Peter’s is asked to bring desserts, and we are asked to bring drinks. Small children should bring a basket for an egg hunt. Volunteers are sought who can read the Gospel in Russian or Slavonic, Armenian, Ethiopian, and other languages; speak to Fr. Paul. (Greek and Arabic are taken.)

OPPORTUNITIES
• Our charities fund is used to help members and others with personal needs and to make donations in the name of the Church to Orthodox charitable and missionary needs and local non Orthodox charities. This fund needs a boost now. Just mark a check as “Charities.”
• You can have a share in adorning the Tomb on which the Shroud of the Lord will rest on Holy Friday by making a donation to our flower fund. Just mark a check as ‘Flowers.’

FR. PAUL & MATUSHKA will travel to Tyler, TX, Monday and Tuesday to visit kin. If a priest is needed in an emergency, call Fr. Matthew, Fr. John Henderson, or Fr. Andrew Koufopoulos.

OUR CLEANUP DAY yesterday was well attended and a lot was done. May the Lord bless those who came!

CONGRATULATIONS! Anastasia Lawson received honors this week for achievement in her arts classes at the Mississippi School for the Arts in Brookhaven. Joseph Lawson was awarded his first degree black belt in Taekwondo this week.

DAILY SCRIPTURES can be read from our website: http://www.holyres.net/holyres/daily_scriptures.html

PAN-ORTHODOX COLLEGE RETREAT in Mercer, PA, May 19-21, 2013 – Fr. Thomas Hopko and Mother Magdalena of Holy Transfiguration Monastery will speak. For more info:
http://www.antiochian.org/pan-orthodox-college-retreat-mercer-pa-may-19-21-2013

COLLECTIONS last Sunday were $1,718.84, bringing the month-to-date to $6,814.28. Our monthly budget goal is $10,000.

LOOKING AHEAD:

April 27 – Lazarus Saturday – Holy Week begins
April 28 – Palm Sunday
May 5 – Pascha!
June 13 – Ascension
June 16-28 – Campers at Antiochian Village
June 23 – Pentecost
June 30 – July 6 Campers at Camp St. Thekla
July 22 – 26 – Diocese of the South Assembly, Jacksonville
Sept. 13 – Walk to Defeat ALS

HOLY WEEK SERVICES
April 28, PALM SUNDAY
• 8:30 a.m. Matins, Palm Procession
• 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy
• 12:30 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
April 29, HOLY MONDAY
• 6 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
April 30, HOLY TUESDAY
• 6 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
May 1, HOLY WEDNESDAY
• 6 p.m. Anointing Service
• 7 p.m. Bridegroom Matins
May 2, HOLY THURSDAY
• 12 noon Divine Liturgy
• 6 p.m. Matins – 12 Gospels
May 3, HOLY FRIDAY
• 3 p.m. Vespers – Shroud
• 7 p.m. Matins – Procession through Cemetery
• 9 p.m. Vigil before the Shroud
May 4, HOLY SATURDAY
• 9 a.m. Holy Baptism
• 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy (15 Old Testament Prophecies)
• 11:30 p.m. Paschal Service and Feast
May 5, PASCHA
• 4 p.m. Paschal Vespers and Feast – at Holy Trinity and St. John Greek Orthodox Church, 5725 Pear Orchard Road, Jackson