Christ is Risen! Christos Voskrese!
Dear Friends,
I wanted to share with all of you what my Holy Week was like because it was the best ever. I go to public school so I was supposed to be in school on Holy Thursday. I had my Dad call me in (he actually said that I was attending religious services and they didn't give him trouble!) and I went to Bridegroom Matins at Annunciation in Homer Glen. That night I went to vespers and the Liturgy of St Basil. After that our ByzanTEENs started our offical Easter retreat. We gave tours to people from other churches that came to visit our church. Then a group of us started chanting the psalms. ALL OF THEM!! They were completed at 5:36 am Good Friday. Needless to say I was the only one who decided not to sleep. Good Friday we all attended The Twelve Gospels service. After that we went to protest abortion at a planned parenthood center. We finished just in time for Royal Hours. Fr Tom let Nathan Hicks(another usual on this forum) read the epistle and old testament readings!
We then tried to get things ready for Pascha. We make Pascha baskets for members of our parish that order them. They are really great. Good Friday vespers we phenominal and luckily the rain held off but off in the distance we could see lightning!( I found this to be really cool). I've never cried on Good Friday during vespers but I did this year. That night from 11-12 I guarded the tomb of Christ with my aunt. Then went home for some much needed sleep before waking up for Jerusalem matins. The rest of the day consisted of cleaning up the church putting baskets together and coloring eggs. I think this has been the best Pascha ever. Fr Tom is the greatest for letting us stay at church over the entire weekend. Without him and our Youth Coordinator Cathy I don't think any of this would have ever happened. We (I'm speaking for all ByzanTEENS at my parish) are so lucky to have such inspirational people.
I wanted to share this becuase Christ commanded us to share the good news to the world!
CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRISTOS VOSKRESE!
In Christ,
Katie g

Sounds like you had a busy week! I certainly share your sentiments; the joy of Pascha is infectious!

Indeed, He is risen!
Voistinnu voskrese!


God bless,

Chris

Sounds like you have a great group. I really like the idea of making Pascha baskets for people.

Katie,

I wish we had ordered one from the Byzanteens. They were beautiful. The inspiring leadership of our Byzanteens in so many areas of the Church emphasises the Orthodox truth that the wisdom of Christ can be shared by anyone with anyone.

Chist is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

CDL

Katie,

You and the teen group at Annunciation are inspiring. Being the old guy I am, I wish I could keep up with you guys.

My daughter, Beth, is very shy, but after spending a bit of Thursday with you all she says that next year she will spend the night at the Church. (I have been hoping that she would get more involved, but I can't push her or she will push back.

Again, you teens are going to blaze a trail for our Church!

John Gibson

Katie and others,

Christ is Risen!

After hearing your wonderful story, I wanted to share mine as well.

This year was the best Holy Week experience that I (and many of my friends) ever had. From Holy Thursday until Holy Saturday evening, there were people who stayed at the Church to keep vigil every night.

After Holy Thursday evening Vesperal Divine Liturgy, my friends and I joined the rest of the parish for a quick meal before beginning Orthros for Great and Holy Friday at around 10:00am. Between the service and confessions, we were all in Church until about 3:30am. At that time, we decided to sleep for a few hours before the first Royal Hour at 6:00am. Throughout the day we also celebrated the other Royal Hours at 9 am, 12 noon, and 3 pm. Besides our group of young adults (most of us being high school or college age) we had a number of parishoners to show up throughout the day and pray before the Tomb and join in singing the Hours throughout the day.

At 7:00pm that evening we had Vespers for Great and Holy Friday, including the veneration of the Burial Shroud at the end. So many people participated in the service this year that is was almost defeaning in the Church! After that service, we had about a 30 minute break before singing the Canon for Small Compline for Friday.

At 4:00am and 6:00am respectively, we had the first two stations of Jerusalem Matins. At 9:00am we went to a local abortuary to sing the Third Station. Finally, at 12 noon (assisted by a visiting cantor) we sung the Canon of Jerusalem Matins.

At 4:00pm we began the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. During the service, another student friend of mine was chrismated. Some of his family members (none of whom are Catholic, as far as I know) were in tears during the service. This year I was in charge of getting all the readers organized for the Old Testament and Epistle Readings (we sang all 16 readings designated for the service). The readers did an absolutely incredible job- one of the best of any Vesperal Liturgy that I can remember. To top this off, my priest's voice, which he had almost lost prior to holy week, came back almost completely, which made his singing of the Anaphora of St. Basil particularly memorable.

After the service, my friends and I went out to dinner, and then returned to clean dishes and continue cooking (we had been doing both of these things continually between all the services from Holy Thursday night).

At 6:30am on Pascha morning we began Pascha Orthros. The whole experience of the Great Fast, Holy Week and Pascha was so powerfully moving for me this year that I was on the verge of tears while listening to St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Homily. This year, we also celebrated Divine Liturgy with Pascha Orthros. Despite the early time, the Church was completely packed for Orthros-- so much so that it was difficult for everyone to exchange the kiss of peace.

After this experience, I can only say one thing: if you have the opprotunity, PLEASE go to Church for Holy week. Pray, sing- just participate in as many as you are able. By the time Pascha comes, you will be a changed person, and will have the spiritual armor needed to go back into the dark world and really make the bright light of Pascha really shine forth.

--Mark Therrien

Katie is right, the retreat was incredible to say the least. We surmised that Thursday there were two groups: the Martha group that worked all night, and the Mary group that did psalms and other prayers. I made a third group: the Lazarus group that died of exhaustion and rose the next morning. Unfortunately I couldn't stay up till 5:00 am to finish the psalms due to health junk going on, but I was there until Saturday noon. Now while I will make no claims that I cried Great Friday, I will say that I walked away changed. A deepening, if you will. Nothing emotional, just something clicked in my soul.

Overall I must thank Fr. Tom for letting us stay in the church, it has helped me in ways that I probably won't see for years to come.

Mark,
Your experience sounds terrific! I must agree with what you said: show up to every single service, holy week or not, that you can. It's already making a difference in me.

Awesome.

The future just got a little brighter.

It seems that it is Theosis that revitalizes the soul and the parish. Pastors, clergy, bishop lurkers-- take note.

Thanks Katie and Nathan for sharing your experiences. You make us with nothing going on for youth in the parish very, very jealous

-uc

Amen, brother. Indeed, He is risen!

Chris