Four Evangelists Orthodox Church, Bel Air, Maryland

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All Saints’ Day and the 1st Sunday after Pentecost

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Glory to Jesus Christ!

Prayers
Please continue to remember in your prayers our catechumens, expectant mothers, the sick, the poor, and those in need.

Give thanks also for the recent deliveries of two baby boys born to parents in our parish (Theodore –Caleb & Ruscha; Cooper –Rob & Stacy). Please keep the babies, their parents, and families in your prayers.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,…” — 1st Epistle of St. Timothy 2.1

Sunday of All Saints and the 1st Sunday after Pentecost
This coming Sunday, 15 June 2025, is the Sunday of All Saints and the 1st Sunday after Pentecost. (Following the Pentecost, we start reckoning time as “… after Pentecost”, with the Great Feast day of the Holy Spirit as the time-marking reference point. This naming continues until the pre-Lenten season.)

This day is also All Saints’ Day on the Orthodox calendar. On this day we commemorate all of the Saints, all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives.1

Sunday the 15th is also Father’s Day. A happy Father’s Day to all of our fathers —including grandfathers, uncles, and all the men who have played a fatherly role our lives.

The readings for this Sunday are:

Adorned in the blood of Your Martyrs throughout all the world, / as if clothed in purple and linen, / through them Your Church cries out to You, O Christ God: / “Bestow Your bounties upon Your people, / grant peace to Your habitation, and great mercy to our souls.”
— Troparion for the Synaxis of All Saints

All Saints

Trinity Week
As a reminder, this current week –Trinity Week, the week after Pentecost until the Saturday before All Saints Sunday– is fast free!

This Week and Looking Ahead

Feast of Pentecost and the 8th Sunday of Pascha

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Christ is ascended!

Prayers
In your prayers, please continue to remember our catechumens, expectant mothers and fathers, new mothers and fathers, the sick, and those in need.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,…” — 1st Epistle of St. Timothy 2.1

The Feast of Pentecost
This coming Sunday, 08 June 2025, is the Feast of Holy Pentecost and the 8th Sunday of Pascha. Please join us for Vespers for the Feast on Saturday at 6PM and the Festal Divine Liturgy on Sunday at 9AM.

The Feast of Pentecost, one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles while in Jerusalem (Acts 2.1–31), along with with the full revelation of the divine Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Following the Festal Divine Liturgy we will pray the Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost, traditionally prayed during Great Vespers on Sunday evening but in many parishes prayed immediately after the Divine Liturgy.

This Sunday the hymn O Heavenly King will be sung/prayed for the first time since Pascha.

Also note that Trinity Week (the week after Pentecost until the Saturday before All Saints Sunday) is fast-free.

The readings for this Sunday are:

Blessed are You O Christ Our God / You have revealed the fishermen as most wise / by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit / through them You drew the world into Your net / O Lover of Man, Glory to You!
— Troparion for the Feast of Pentecost

Holy Pentecost
Holy Pentecost (Romanian, 20th century)

Looking Ahead

Afterfeast of the Ascension and the 7th Sunday of Pascha

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Christ is ascended!

Prayers
In your prayers, please continue to remember our catechumens, expectant mothers and fathers, new mothers and fathers, the sick, and those in need.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,…” — 1st Epistle of St. Timothy 2.1

Sunday of Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (7th Sunday of Pascha)
Tomorrow, Sunday, 01 June 2025, is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council and the 7th Sunday of Pascha.

This Sunday also one of the eight days of the Afterfeast of the Ascension, ending with Leavetaking of the Ascention on the Friday before Pentecost, 06 June 2025.

The readings for this Sunday are:

  • Acts 20.16–18, 28–36 (Epistle)
  • John 17.1–13 (Gospel)

O Christ God, You have ascended in Glory, / granting joy to Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. / Through the blessing they were assured / that You are the Son of God, / the Redeemer of the world!
— Troparion for the Feast of the Ascension

Ascension

Looking Ahead

  • Vespers for the Feast of Pentecost on Saturday, 07 June 2025, at 6pm
  • Festal Divine Liturgy for the Feast of Pentecost on Sunday, 08 June 2025, at 9am, preceded by Prayers of the Hours at 8:45am. Please note that following the liturgy we will pray a portion of the Kneeling Prayers for Vespers of Pentecost.

The Feast of the Ascension

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O Christ God, You have ascended in Glory, / granting joy to Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. / Through the blessing they were assured / that You are the Son of God, / the Redeemer of the world!
— Troparion for the Ascension of our Lord

Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension
This coming Thursday, 29 May 2025, is the Feast of the Ascension, one of the twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year.

Ascension of our Lord

On this day we celebrate Jesus’s Ascension into heaven on the fortieth day after His Resurrection. He led His disciples to the Mount of Olives, blessed them, and asked them to await the Holy Spirit’s promise before ascending.

Please join us on Wednesday, 28 May 2025, at 6pm as we celebrate the Ascension with Vespers for the Feast.

Sunday of the Blind Man and the 6th Sunday of Pascha

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Christ is risen!

Prayers
In your prayers, please continue to remember our catechumens, expectant mothers (and fathers), the sick, and those in need.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,…” — 1st Epistle of St. Timothy 2.1

Sunday of the Blind Man (6th Sunday of Pascha)
This coming Sunday, 25 May 2025, is the Sunday of the Blind Man and the 6th Sunday of Pascha. Also commemorated on this day is the Third Finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptizer John (c. 850), among others.

The readings for this Sunday are:

  • 2 Corinthians 4.6–15 (Epistle, Forerunner)
  • Matthew 11.2–15 (Gospel, Forerunner)
  • Acts 16.16–34 (Epistle)
  • John 9.1–38 (Gospel)

I come to You, O Christ, / blind from birth in my spiritual eyes / and I call to You in repentance: / You are the most radiant light of those in darkness!
— Kontakion for the Sunday of the Blind Man

This Week at Four Evangelists Orthodox Church

Looking Ahead

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman and the 5th Sunday of Pascha

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Christ is risen!

This coming Sunday, 18 May 2025, is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman and the 5th Sunday of Pascha.

The readings for this Sunday are:

The Samaritan Woman came to the well in faith; / she saw You, the Water of Wisdom, and drank abundantly / she inherited the Kingdom on High and is ever glorified!
— Troparion for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Samaritan woman (St. Photini) at the well

This week at Four Evangelists Orthodox Church:

Looking ahead: Forty days after Pascha we will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord on 29 May 2025, followed by the Feast of Holy Pentecost ten days later on 08 June 2028.

Stay tuned for more information!