St Herman's is having another Great American Picnic to celebrate the summer - and as a fundraiser. Presbytera will prepare her delicious chicken dinner. There will be delicious pies for dessert. Even games for the kids are planned.

It all happens on Saturday, July 12. Great Vespers are served at 5 pm. The picnic begins at 6 pm. Suggested donation is $15 for adults, but give what your means and generosity allow. You'll get your money's worth!

Christina, daughter of Fr Paul & Presbytera, was officially engaged to Emanuel Sas on Thursday, June 26. Emanuel is the son of Fr Aurel and Presbytera Lydia Sas, priest and presbytera of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Las Vegas. Christina and Emanuel are planning a wedding at St Herman's next May.

'Twould seem that St Herman's is enjoying an epidemic of engagements. Phyllis Melgaard, newly chrismated this last Pascha, announced to the faithful of St Herman's on Sunday, June 29, her engagement to Paul Twedt of Tacoma, WA. Happily, they are planning a wedding this July, at St Herman's. Sadly, Phyllis will be moving to Tacoma, WA. Fr Paul can't understand why she can't stay in the Twin Cities and just commute to Tacoma to say hi to Paul every now and then.

St Herman's annual summer pilgrimage to Holy Dormition Monastery in Rives Junction, MI, is from July 29-31 this year (Tues - Thurs). We eat, work and pray with the nuns to get a sense of the monastic life. Each person or family takes care of his or her own transportation to and from the monastery. A sign up sheet is on the bulletin board downstairs, or you may notify Fr Paul of your desire to participate in the pilgrimage with the faithful of St Herman's by e-mailing him at stherman@sthermanmpls.org.

The day after the Lenten retreat led by Fr Jonah was the first Sunday of Great Lent. This is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this Sunday, the faithful commemorate the restoration of holy icons in the worship of the Church by the holy fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, and again in 841. The icon is a form of religious art that follows strict canons so that it is historically and theologically faithful to its holy subjects: Christ, the Theotokos (Mother of God or the Blessed Virgin Mary) and the saints, in whom God rests. The holy fathers of the Seventh  Ecumenical Council called holy icons "mirrors," suggesting that they reflect the spiritual realities of the "Kingdom of Heaven within you." The icon is critical to Orthodox worship and theology because it affirms the reality of the Incarnation. Those who deny the veneration of icons in effect deny the Incarnation of God the Word.

Traditionally, the Orthodox parishes throughout the Twin Cities area come to St Mary's Cathedral in NE Minneapolis to celebrate Orthodoxy Sunday together at the service of Lenten Vespers. Fr Jonah Paffhausen was the guest homilist.

On the Third Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, we were blessed to receive Darren and Jessica into the Church through Baptism and Chrismation. Darren was baptized and chrismated; Jessica was chrismated. Mother Gabriella, Abbess of Holy Dormition Monastery, was present as well. The beauty of the service can only be described as heavenly. Congratulations to Darren and Jessica!

Two weeks after the Lenten Retreat led by Mother Gabriella and the reception of Darren and Jessica into the Orthodox Faith, we baptized and chrismated the new-born daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Gauvain on the Sunday of St Mary of Egypt, the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent. Their daughter's name is Veronike Zoe. Her godmother is Malene (Elizabeth) Ford, who is herself expecting her second child in late June!

On Lazarus Saturday, April 19, we received four more catechumens into the Orthodox Faith.

Joe, Matthew and Becca, and Jonathan were received through confession of faith and Holy Chrismation. Joe's chrismated name is Joseph the Betrothed (husband of the Blessed Virgin); Matthew's is Bartholomew, Becca's is Martha, and Jonathan's is John the Righteous.

On Palm Sunday, April 20, we received two more catechumens into the Orthodox Fatih. Phyllis and Robert were received through confession of faith and Holy Chrismation. Phyllis' chrismated name is Marina; Robert's is Joseph the Betrothed.

Great Lent 2008 ended with the reception of eight new converts and one newborn daughter into the Holy Orthodox Church. We are most grateful to God for blessing us with these wonderful people. They have already proven to be a blessing to our parish.

An Orthodox icon is characterized by "inverted perspective." Through this means, the icon draws the viewer into the subject of the icon, and makes the viewer a participator in it. The services of Holy Week and Pascha are a liturgical icon that the faithful of each parish put together. The iconographer subjects his creativity to strict canons and traditions that have been handed down over the centuries so that the icon he produces is faithful to the Worship of the Church in Spirit and in Truth. Even so, the icon he produces is an expression of his own love for the Savior and reveals something of the particular iconographer's own soul. So also the faithful of each parish submit their creativity to the liturgical canons and traditions of the Church to produce their own liturgical icon of Christ's Holy Passion that is faithful to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic tradition of the Church; and yet the liturgical celebration of each parish expresses at the same time something of its parishioners' own soul, and their own love for the Savior.

Fr Paul completed his series of lectures on "The Ontological Vision of Byzantine Theology," sponsored by Twelve Apostles Greek Orthodox Church and St George Serbian Orthodox Church in Duluth, on Tuesday, March 25 and Thursday, April 10.

His lectures looked at the theological vision of the nature of God as that is revealed in the mystery of Christ's incarnation, and what that tells us about who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.

The lectures took place at the College of St Scholastica on the Duluth campus.

Fr Paul plans to offer these lectures at St Herman's in the near future.

Through our pilgrimage we seek to accomplish two objectives:

1. to establish a spiritual connection between our parish and the monastery.

2. to absorb at least a little bit of the monastic spirit by becoming part of the monastery's rhythm of daily life, to deepen our own experience of the Church's Faith.

Last summer, we were at the monastery from Tuesday to Thursday, July 31 - Aug 2. Some of the work we did under Mother Macrina's supervision:

we dug six 40" deep holes in the cemetery for cement foundations for the several hundred pound stone markers that will be placed at the head of the burial site. A cement truck came in and poured cement into the holes, and we helped "screed" the cement - smooth it out.

We dug out a section of ground by the refectory and installed six cement slabs to create a sidewalk there.

We raked out weeds and rocks in a newly-acquired section of the monastery property.

We moved several hundred chairs and several tables in the pavilion, hosing them down and washing them and restacking them, to get them ready for the Divine Liturgy to be served in the pavilion on the Feast of the Dormition when the monastery welcomes hundreds of pilgrims in honor of their patronal feast. We also power-washed the walls and cement floors of the pavailion.

On Wednesday evening after dinner, Mother Gabriella came to the guest house and spoke to us, addressing such questions as: why do monastics wear black? How are they able to get by on so little sleep while they work so hard and pray so much? Do they ever wish they could return to worldly life?

Mother Gabriella answered:

black symbolizes death to the old man and regeneration in the resurrection of Christ.

Monastics need little sleep because their minds are filled with the prayers of the Church that enable them to sleep in deep peace, so they don't need as much rest. Their diet, too, is healthy and not heavy and so it does not tax their bodies as does rich foods. They also rely on the grace of the Holy Spirit to help them.

The monastic life is hard and demanding, but very rich and rewarding. Monastics love the monastic life.

We all fell in love with Mother Gabriella and with the mothers and sisters of Holy Dormition Monastery. We look forward to our pilgrimage next year!