Welcome to The Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Christian Church (Saint Mary's) which is a parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church of the USA whose presiding Bishop is His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa. The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese is an Autonomous Diocese under the spiritual protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of which His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the ruling Patriarch.

We are thankfully to Almighty God that you are here in God's House to Worship with us Today!

If you are new to the Orthodox Church you will find that our worship is abit different than what you maybe used to, or it maybe entirely new all together! It's okay!!! All of us were new to the Faith at one time or another, but we encourage you to participate as you feel comfortable. The Blue Book in your pew has the whole Service of what we call the Divine Liturgy in it so you can follow along.

Please, if you have any questions about what you see or hear today at the Divine Liturgy, we have a Coffee Hour in the Church Hall after service that you are invited to attend! Come and join us for fellowship to have something to eat and have all your questions answered either by Our Pastor Father Vincent or a friendly member of the Church.  

If you have been on a long or short spiritual journey looking for the True Church you have found it here in the Orthodox Church!

We pray that what you find and experience here is none other than the peace of Christ Jesus Our Risen Lord and the Kingdom of Heaven!

If you are ready or interested in becoming an Orthodox Christian please see Father Vincent at Coffee Hour or contact him at (570) 640-2517 or email him at vincedranginis@gmail.com

 The New Spring of Great Lent is upon Us!!

***Please make every effort especially during The Great Fast to come to Church early on Sunday Mornings to attend both Orthros/Matins and The Divine Liturgy!***

***Remember with your extra EFFORT in working out your Salvation in fear and trembling; by attending these Divine Services, and ALL THE SERVICES of The Holy Church, The Holy Trinity will come and make their Dwelling in your Body and Soul!***

***By simply attending The Divine Services, you will be starting upon the path to Repentance; the process of being made into a Temple of The Holy Spirit and you will begin in time, to Glow with the Divine Energies of Holy God!!! What a Great and Glorious Gift of Love from Holy God!!!***

***Please do not miss these God given opportunities! They are offered for your Salvation!!! **

Saturday April 13th The Full Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete 4:00PM  

 Saturday April 13th Confessions -  Will be available after Vespers

 Saturday April 13th Great Vespers 6:00PM- Saint Mary of Egypt, Confessor Martin, Martyr Ardalion, & Martyrs Antony and John

 Sunday April 14th Orthros/Matins  8:30AM

 Sunday April 14th The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil The Great 10:00AM -The Fifth Sunday of The Great Fast - Saint Mary of Egypt Sunday, Confessor Martin, Martyr Ardalion, & Martyrs Antony and John

Wednesday April 17th Adult Catechism Class 6:00PM - Topic: Continuing: The Medicine of Immortality: The Mystery of The Holy Eucharist

Wednesday April 17th The Liturgy of The Pre-Sanctified Gifts of Saint Gregory the Dialogist 7:00PM - The Venerable Simeon of Persia, Saint Acacius of Melitene & Saint Agapitus 

Thursday April 18th The Akathist Hymn to The Holy Theotokos 7:00PM

Friday April 19th The Liturgy of The Pre-Sanctified Gifts of Saint Gregory the Dialogist 7:00PM - The Venerable John of Old Laura, The Holy Martyr Paphnutius & The Venerable George of Pisidia

Saturday April 20th The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom 9:00AM - Lazarus Saturday & The Venerable Theodore Trichinas, Apostle Zacchaeus & The Child-Martyr Gabriel  

Saturday April 20th Baking Lazarus Cookies with Pani Christyn 10:30AM

Saturday April 20th Choir Practice for Holy and Great Week 3:00PM - If you would like to help sing the services during Great Week, You Must Come to this Practice! No exceptions!

Saturday April 20th Confessions 5:00PM -  Confessions are also available after Vespers

 Saturday April 20th Great Vespers 6:00PM- The Start of Holy and Great Week - The Glorious Entry of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ into Jerusalem/Palm Sunday

 Sunday April 21st Orthros/Matins  8:30AM

 Sunday April 21st The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil The Great 10:00AM -The Start of Holy and Great Week - The Glorious Entry of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ into Jerusalem/Palm Sunday

Great & Holy Week

 Sunday April 21st Bridegroom Matins 6:00PM - Behold!!! The Bridegroom Comes at Midnight! Blessed are those that He finds watching and waiting with purity of heart for His Glorious Arrival! For they will be welcomed into His Divine Wedding Feast!  

 Great and Holy Monday April 22nd Bridegroom Matins 6:00PM

Great and Holy Monday April 22nd The Liturgy of The Pre-Sanctified Gift of Saint Gregory the Dailogist 7:00PM -  Saint Theodore the Sykeote, the Relics of Saint Vsevolod & The Apostle Nathaniel 

Great and Holy Tuesday April 23rd Bridegroom Matins 6:00PM

Great and Holy Tuesday April 23rd The Liturgy of The Pre-Sanctified Gift of Saint Gregory the Dailogist 7:00PM -  Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer & Alexandra the Empress

Great and Holy Wednesday April 24th The Liturgy of The Pre-Sanctified Gift of Saint Gregory the Dailogist 5:00PM-  Martyr Sabbas Stratelates, Wonderworker Elizabeth & Saints Iorest & Sava

Great and Holy Wednesday April 24th Holy Unction 7:00PM

Great and Holy Thursday April 25th The Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil The Great 9:00AM- The Commemoration of The Mystical Supper

Great and Holy Thursday April 25th - The Reading of The Twelve Passion Gospel 7:00PM

Great and Holy Thursday April 25th - Confessions 8:30PM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st  - Day of Strict Fast - Royal Hours & The Placing of The Cross 9:00AM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st - Day of Strict Fast - Cross Procession 6:30PM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st - Day of Strict Fast - The Burial Service of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ 7:00PM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st - Lamentations at The Tomb 8:30PM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st - Grave Watch 9:30PM - The Holy Church will be open for Personal Prayer all of Friday Night and Saturday Morning ending with Divine Liturgy at 9:00AM

Great and Holy Friday April 26st - Last Opportunity for Confessions before Pascha 9:30PM

Great and Holy Saturday April 27th - The Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil The Great with Holy Baptisms and Chrismations 9:00AM - The Commemoration of Christ's Descent into Hades - Hieromartyr Simeon Kinsman of our Lord & Saint Eulogius

Great and Holy Saturday April 27th - Removal of The Burial Shroud from the Tomb 7:30PM

Great and Holy Saturday April 27th - Resurrection Matins 8:00PM

BRIGHT WEEK - FAST FREE WEEK!!

Pascha Sunday April 28th The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom 10:00AM - Great and Holy Pascha!!! - The Feast of Feasts - The Holy Day of Holy Days - The Glorious Resurrection of Our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ

Pascha Sunday April 28th - Blessing of Easter Foods 11:45AM

Pascha Sunday April 28th Agape Vespers 3:00PM

RESURRECTION MATINS AND DIVINE LITURGY WILL BE CELEBRATION EVERY DAY OF BRIGHT WEEK!!! - MONDAY THE 29TH THROUGH SATURDAY THE 4TH AT 9:00AM

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory be Forever!

   In the Gospel according Saint Mark we heard Our Lord telling His Apostles about how they will go to Jerusalem and how He will be arrested by the Chief Priests and be crucified and rise from the dead. The Apostles are said to be both amazed and afraid because of this prediction of the suffering and death of their master and Lord. We hear in the Gospel Jesus saying these words, listen closely; “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise.”

   Did you listen closely? Our Saviour predicted the death he would suffer through His own free will, accepting death by being nailed to a wooden cross. This death was an execution sentence for a condemned common criminal, reserved by the Roman Government for the most evil of men. Our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Eternally begotten Son of God, chose to be born in time of the Theotokos and be raised as a poor boy in Nazareth. When He grew up into a Man, at the age of 30, he began to preach about the Heavenly Kingdom of His Father, the One with whom He created the Heavens and the Earth. He preached a beautiful message of Love, peace, and repentance, yet He was hated by the Hebrew leaders because He called Himself the Son of God.  

   Have you been listening? What have you heard? We should be pondering within ourselves; Why did Jesus choose to die on the Cross and Rise from the dead? This question can be answered easily with this simple statement: Jesus Christ freely chose to die on the Cross and Rise from the dead because of His great Love for mankind. He came into this world of darkness and died on the cross to save us from our sins, and He rose from the dead to destroy forever, the power of the devil and to lead us all into the Heavenly Kingdom of Our God and Father.

   We are all sinners and are stuck in the mud of our passions, which are the sins that have become normal to us, which we fall into all the time and continually confess. We need Christ to save us from these sins, which, if left unattended, will cause us to spiritually die. We can not save ourselves, we need to trust in the Grace of God and fight against the temptations that the demons throw at us.

   We are truly able, with the help of God’s Divine Grace, to conquer the evil spiritual forces that make war against us. When we were created in God’s Image and Likeness, we were given everything we needed to enter into communion with the all Holy Trinity, but instead, we chose to enter into communion with the demons and freely embraced sin and passion.

   Why was this Fall into sin possible? It was possible because God our creator imparted to us three great gifts at our creation; they are freedom, reason, and Love. The Great Russian Theologian Father Michael Pomazansky wrote this about Man’s Fall into Sin: “These three divine gifts of freedom, reason, and Love are indispensable for the spiritual growth and blessedness of man. But where there is freedom there is the possibility of wavering in one’s choice; thus, temptation is possible. The temptation for reason is to grow proud in mind; instead of acknowledging the wisdom and goodness of God, to seek the knowledge of good and evil outside of God; to desire oneself to be a “god.” The temptation for the feeling of Love is: in place of love for God and one’s neighbor, to love oneself and everything that satisfies the (flesh) which are the lower desires and gives temporary enjoyment.”  

   Today we have before us a great example of a Saintly woman who was drowning in the darkness of sin and passion, and then because of her encounter with the Theotokos and the Cross of Our Saviour she woke up from her spiritual slumber in sin, and used her God given freedom to truly Love God her Creator. This Great Saint that the Church commemorates today on this 5th Sunday of the Great Fast is Saint Mary of Egypt. Listen carefully to this short story of her conversion so that we might learn how to come to true repentance and be truly sorrow for our sins.

   Saint Mary lived in the 6th century in the country of Egypt.  At the early age of twelve Mary left her home and came to Alexandria. While in Alexandria for 17 years she led a life of public prostitution. Towards the end of her time in Alexandria she decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Mary embarked for Palestine with very evil intentions for she hoped that life on board a ship would afford her new and abundant opportunities for gratifying her insatiable lust for sexual exploitation. After arriving in Jerusalem she persisted in her shameless life. Then, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross Mary joined the crowds who were journeying towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There the sacred relic of the true Cross of Our Lord was to be venerated. Mary was hoping to meet in the gathering, some new victims whom she might allure into sin.

   When she reached the church door, she suddenly felt herself repelled by some secret force, and after attempting to enter the Church three or four times, she ran out into the churchyard, and was struck with remorse for her wicked life, which she recognized as the cause of her exclusion from the Church. Mary immediately began weeping bitter tears and beating her breast, as she began to repent very much like the Prodigal Son lamenting over her sins. Just then her eyes fell upon an Icon of the Theotokos and with deep faith and humility of heart Mary prayed to the Theotokos, that she would be granted permission to enter the Holy Church and venerate the sacred wood of the Cross on which Jesus Christ our Saviour had suffered, promising that if her request were granted, she would then renounce forever the world and its ways, and follow whatever spiritual way the Theotokos would lead her.

   Encouraged by prayer and counting on the mercy of the Mother of God, she once more approached the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and this time succeeded in entering without the slightest difficulty. Having venerated the Holy Cross and kissing the pavement of the Church, she returned to the Icon of the Theotokos, and while praying there for guidance in regards to her future, Mary heard a voice from the heavens telling her that if she crossed the Jordan, she would find rest. That same evening Mary reached the Jordan and received Holy Communion in a Church dedicated to  Saint John the Baptist, and the day following crossed the river and wandered eastward into the desert that stretches towards Arabia. Here she lived as a desert Nun for 47 years, eating only herbs and roots, repenting of her life of sin, and by The Gift of God’s Divine Grace became Deified.

   Saint Mary spent the rest of her earthly life in this desert in constant prayer and repentance, only to be found by A Priest Monk named Zosima, who after the custom of his monastery, desired to spend Lent in the desert. Mary asked Father Zosima to bring her the Holy Eucharist. When the appointed evening arrived, Father Zosima, put into a small chalice a portion of the undefiled Body and the precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and met Saint Mary at the spot they agreed upon. After some time Mary appeared on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, and having made the Sign of the Cross, She walked upon the waters to the western side of the Jordan to meet Father Zosima. Having received Holy Communion, she raised her hands towards heaven, and cried aloud in the words of Simeon: "Now you can dismiss your servant, O Lord, according to your word in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation."  

   Saint Mary asked Father Zosima to come back after a year to the spot where he had first met her in the desert. Father Zosima returned a year later to find the poor Saint's incorrupt body, and written beside it on the ground a request that he should bury her, and a statement that she had died a year before, on the very night on which he had given her Holy Communion, by the bank of the Jordan River. Father Zosima, with the help of a lion, prepared the Saints grave and buried her.

Through the Prayers of Saint Mary of Egypt may Christ Our True God have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

 Bowling Night/Day Outing Today

 Put on your bowling shoes and step up to the line, it's bowling time!!! Pani and I were thinking of our next parish event that was Lenten Friendly, so we checked out Mountaineer Lanes Family Fun Center here in Bluefield! Everyone is invited to attend after Coffee Hour Today! We have three lanes booked for 2:00PM! See you all there!!

 Grave Watch Sign ups

On Holy Friday Evening after The Procession of the Cross, The Procession of the Epitaphios and the Burial Service of Our Lord, and the Service of Lamentations; The Holy Church will be open the entire night for private prayer to be with Our Crucified and buried Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. This Holy Practice is known throughout Our Diocese as: The Grave Watch Hours of Prayer, this is an opportunity to watch and pray with Our Lord before His Great and Holy Resurrection. The Grave Watch will extend through the whole night on Great Friday into Great Saturday Morning until the Divine Liturgy at 9:00AM. I pray that all of you take advantage of spending a short hour with Our Lord on this Most Holy Night of the year. Sign-up sheets will be posted on the coffee Hall Doors for everyone who would like to participate.   

Flower Donations For Pascha

Holy Week and Pascha are quickly appoaching and we would like to decorate Our Holy Church with Flowers. As is the custom of the parish we will accept donations to help with the cost of the Flowers. Also, if anyone would like to purchase Flowers in memory of a departed loved one this is also a worthy practice. For anyone interested in supporting the purchase of the Pascha Flowers in either respect listed above, please see or contact Joyce Peters.   

Church Tile Project Up-Date

I am happy and excited to announce that our Church Floor Tile Project is moving right along as decided and planned by Our Church General Council Meeting. The color of tile has been chosen, the materials have been paid for, and the mosiac medallions for the sanctuary step are currently being made by our friend and local artist Jeff Travers, who has generously chosen to donate his art work to Our Holy Church! If anyone would like to help pay for the cost of the new flooring as a gift to the Church or as a donation in memory of a Loved One please let Father Vincent or Michael Peters know as soon as possible!! The removal of the old carpet and the installation of the new tile will begin on May 6th which is the week after bright week!

OCMC Alms Giving Box Update

Thank you to all who are actively heeding Our Lord's call to feed the hungry, give drink to the thristy, cloth the naked, and help to spread the Gospel to the four corners of the earth! Thank you for your continuing participation in this project to support our Orthodox Missions throughout the World. When you have finished filling your coin boxes please tape them up so they do not fall apart because of weight or so that the money does not escape. Then everyone can begin bring them to the Church when they are full and we will continue to collect them until Palm Sunday which is the 21st of April. So, all Coin Boxes should be returned to the Church by April 21st and then we will send them to OCMC the next day.

Orthodox Prison Ministry Almsgiving Basket

I spoke about this new opportunity for supporting the Prison Ministries last Sunday. There will be an Alms giving box in the back of the Church to support the Orthodox Prison Ministry for all who would like to heed the call of Our Lord to "visit" ie. "Support" those in the Prisons, please give generously from your heart! This collect will be taken up until Palm Sunday April the 21st and will then be sent to the Orthodox Prison Ministries Office the next day. Thank you in advance for your love and support for this worthy cause!

Painting Class

 If anyone is interested in painting a guided religious themed painting then sign-up for this event!! There is a local artist that Doris told me about that goes from Church to Church offering this class and if I'm not mistaking she provides everything for the class from canvas, to oil paints, brushes and of course the 2 or three hour instruction for only $35 dollars. The artist's name escapes Me, but an example of her work that she offers instruction on how to paint is in the coffee room on the back table. Please see Doris or another member of the Ladies Altar Society for further details!