IT WAS OUR JOY to enroll Chee Vang and her two children, Ethan and Iris, and Alissa’s daughter, Elena, into the catechumenate yesterday afternoon before Vigil.

TODAY IS MEATFARE, THE SUNDAY OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. Great Lent and the full Fast begin on Monday, Feb 23. Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are Apr 4&5. Pascha is Apr 12. We are now serving the Vigil [Vespers & Matins] on Saturdays. We will continue to do so until Lazarus Saturday on Apr 4. We prepare this week for the Fast of Great Lent. Today is called ‘Meatfare’ because it’s the last day we eat meat until the LORD’s Holy Pascha. This week is ‘Cheesefare’ week. We clear out all the dairy in our stores. Next Sunday, Feb 22, is ‘Cheesefare’ Sunday. It’s the last day we eat dairy until the LORD’s Holy Pascha.

ST HERMAN’S ANNUAL CHAMPIONSHIP CHILI COOK-OFF was last Sunday. Congratulations to our Chili Champions! Not a one of them was Fr Paul! Erica was third place, Marisa and Olivia tied for second place; Laurie took the Championship. But everyone was a winner who got to taste some delicious chilis last week!

NEXT SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, after an abbreviated coffee hour, we come upstairs to serve the Vespers of Mutual Forgiveness. At the conclusion of the Vespers, we observe a ritual of mutual forgiveness. This is a crucial part of entering into Great Lent in the Spirit of the Church. All are urged to make it a priority to participate in that Vespers service if at all possible. With this Vespers service, the most sacred and beautiful season of Great Lent begins.

IN THE FIRST WEEK OF GREAT LENT the Canon of St Andrew is served on Mon, Tues, and Thurs evenings. Heads up: during the Canon on M, T and Th evenings, we make 40 – 50 prostrations!

PRE-SANCTIFIED LITURGY is served on Wed and Friday evenings during Great Lent. Because of its penitential character, the Divine Liturgy is not served during the week in Great Lent. The ‘Pre-Sanctified Liturgy’ is an augmented Vespers combined with a modified anaphora from the Divine Liturgy. The holy gifts are consecrated and sanctified during the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday before; hence the name: Liturgy of the ‘Pre-Sanctified’ Gifts.

PRE-SANCTIFIED LENTEN meal is served after the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on W and F evenings. Look for a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board to see what dishes you could bring.

THE LITURGY OF ST BASIL THE GREAT is served on the Sundays of Great Lent. St Basil’s Divine Liturgy is the same as St John Chrysostom’s except for the prayers for the catechumens, which are slightly different, and the anaphora, which is longer. (St Basil’s Divine Liturgy is older than St John’s; the latter is an abbreviation of St Basil’s.) Also, on the Sundays of Great Lent, we serve a Lenten Sunday Vespers at different MEOCCA parishes throughout the Twin Cities. The Lenten Sunday Vespers begin at 5 pm. The schedule of Lenten Sunday Vespers services is posted on the bulletin board downstairs and on our website calendar.

THE LENTEN FAST from meat, dairy, wine and oil is the goal, not the requirement. We do not fast to hurt ourselves. We fast to help us gain mastery over our carnal desires and to prepare ourselves body and soul to receive Christ’s Heavenly Spirit. The body is not evil. It is made to be a temple of God. We fast, therefore, according to our strength and circumstances. Tend to your health issues first; then, beyond that observe the Fast as your strength and circumstances allow.

GREAT LENT is a most sacred season given us by our Mother, the Church, to renew our baptismal vow to renounce the devil and all his host and all his pride, and to unite ourselves to Christ. The faithful strive to repent, to turn inward in prayer, the prayer of the Church, to enter the closet of their heart and to shut the door to stand naked before the LORD in the stillness of prayer. To this end, we fast not just with our stomach. We fast with our eyes, our ears, and all our senses. Turn off all the noise and sensual stimulations in your home. Fill your home with prayerful stillness. Put on Christ and fill the stillness [the boredom? the anxiety?] of your ‘inner man’ with attentive prayer anchored in regular participation in the Church’s Lenten worship services. See if the Church doesn’t carry you through the ‘sweet sadness’ of Great Lent into the sacred fear of Great and Holy Week and into the fearsome joy of Christ’s Holy Pascha that transforms us into children of God!

CATECHISM CLASS is held next Sat, Feb 21. After Sat, Feb 21, our schedule for Saturday Catechism class will be made to fit our Lenten service schedule. However, the Adult Ed on Sunday morning is meant to be an extension of the Saturday morning Catechism. All our classes are livestreamed and recorded on our Facebook page. You do not need to be a subscriber of FB to view the livestream. The recorded livestream is held for viewing on FB for 30 days. Within that time, we upload the recording to our YouTube channel. Catechumens, if you are unable to attend the catechism classes in person, please be sure to view the livestream and/or the recordings. The vision of reality in the Orthodox Church is altogether different from the vision of reality we are shaped in outside the biblical reality of the Orthodox Church. We need to be catechized in the biblical faith of the Church. Learning the doctrines of the Church is to be healed of our blindness so we can walk in the Light of Christ’s Resurrection. We need to be equipped and made strong for the inner Exodus of the Gospel through the wilderness of this life and into the Heavenly Kingdom.

POCM [Pan-Orthodox Choir Ministry] presents its 4th Annual Lenten Concert benefitting FOCUS-MN, at 7 pm this Friday, February 20th at St. Mary's OCA Cathedral (1701 5th St NE, Minneapolis, MN).

OUTCOME OF MOTHER NANCY’S MISCELLANEOUS NOTES LAST WEEK;

A WOMEN’S GET TOGETHER is set for Thurs, Mar 12, in our Church basement, organized by Katie B, Megan T, and McKenna K. This will also be a kid’s toys and clothing swap. More details to come.

ST HERMAN’S BAKER’S GUILD is being formed under Marisa as the Guild’s Guide. After vigorous argument, the guild is being opened to men, too! Cuz we all, male and female, like eating delicious chocolate chip cookies. But to eat ‘em, someone has to make ‘em. The more who are making ‘em’ the more of ‘em there are for us all to eat. To join this tasty guild, talk to Marisa or Mother Nancy.

ST HERMAN’S SEAMSTRESS GUILD has been picked up by Maureen. She will teach you how to embroider, starting with the embroidery of Pascha Basket covers, and how to sew so we can have lots of help making baptismal gowns for all the baptisms coming up in the next year. Talk to Mother Nancy or email her if interested: jafranancy@gmail.com.

RECOMMENDED TITLES for Lenten Recipes: Power Plates, Nistisima, The Moosewood Cookbook, When You Fast.

A SACRISTAN tends to the liturgical needs of the altar, but also in the nave: changing and cleaning altar cloths, setting out the priest’s vestments, trimming the candles, and more. Right now, Tom and Dave serve as our main sacristans. If you’d like to be part of the Sacristan ‘diakonia’ with Tom and Dave, talk to Fr Paul.

He who does not train himself to frequent prayer will never receive unceasing prayer. Unceasing prayer is a gift of God, given by God to a slave and servant of His of proved fidelity. ‘It is impossible to draw near to God otherwise than by unceasing prayer’ [St Isaac of Nineveh]. Unceasing prayer is a sign of God’s mercy towards a man; it is a sign that all the powers of his soul are bent on God [cf. Ps 85.3].

The essential, indispensable property of prayer is attention. True grace-given attention comes from the mortification of the heart to the world. With the union of the mind and heart the ascetic receives the power to resist all passionate thoughts and passionate feelings. Can this be the result of technique? No! It is the result of grace; it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who overshadows the unseen labor of the Christian ascetic [believer]. The union of the mind with the heart is the union of the spiritual thoughts of the mind with spiritual feelings of the heart. Since man has fallen, since his thoughts and feelings have been changed from spiritual into carnal and earthly thoughts and feelings, it is necessary by means of the commandments of the Gospel to lift up the mind and spirit to spiritual thoughts and feelings. When mind and spirit are healed, then they are united in the LORD. Strictly speaking, by prayer the holy Fathers mean the Jesus Prayer, which is said thus: ‘LORD Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

St Ignatius Brianchaninov The Arena, chptrs 23-26.