Saint Andrew the First-Called Orthodox Church

06/18/2026

2026-06-21 — 3rd Week after Pentecost (Martyr Julian of Tarsus)

[The Apostles' Fast continues through 6/28]
- Saturday 6/20, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 6/21, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)
- Saturday 6/27, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 6/,28, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)

Altar Servers Needed!

Fr. Niko is calling on men and boys who want to serve their parish in the altar. Servers must be male, chrismated Orthodox Christians, age 8+, and meet the following additional requirements.

Boys:
- Can be at church and suited up by 9:40am on Sundays
- Can stand still & attentive throughout the liturgy
- Can follow along without excess spoken direction & be eager to learn

Men:
- Can be at church and ready to go by 9:20am on Sundays
- Can commit to an agreed-upon schedule

+ + +

Your mother guided you to become a glorious soldier of Christ,
and you were clad in the armor of the Spirit,
and entering the contest, you cast down the Enemy.
Now, O godly-minded Julian, pray to Christ God for all of us!

06/11/2026

2nd Week after Pentecost: Sunday of All Saints of North America

[The Apostles' Fast continues through 6/28]
- Saturday 6/13, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 6/14, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)
- Saturday 6/20, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 6/21, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Hours at 9:40am)

Please check out the linked OCA page with a bunch of information about our North American saints and the Orthodox missionary work here stretching back to 1794, including a workbook for parents and kids.

+++

Rejoice, O continent of North America,
illumined by the Holy Gospel.
Rejoice, every province, state, city, and town,
which raised up citizens of the heavenly Kingdom.
Rejoice, our venerable Father Herman, first Saint of our land.
Rejoice, O Martyrs Juvenal and Peter,
for your blood has watered the seed of faith planted in Alaska.
Rejoice, O holy Hierarchs: Innocent, Tikhon and Nicholas,
Rejoice, O holy Father Alexis and you righteous priests,
Rejoice, All Saints of North America,
for your light has shone forth to the ends of the earth.
We beseech you to pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

(from the Commemoration of All Saints of North America)

Commemoration Date: the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Orthodox Christians in North America A popular narrative account of two hundred years of Orthodox Christianity on this continent. Texts for the Services to All Saints of North…

06/02/2026

Trinity Week - Sunday of All Saints

*** Fast-Free Week ***
- Saturday 6/6, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 6/7, 10am: Divine Liturgy + PARISH PICNIC
*** Apostles' Fast Begins (6/8 through 6/28) ***
- Saturday 6/13, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 6/14, 10am: Divine Liturgy

+

Come, let us praise the heroes of our faith:
Apostles, martyrs, holy priests, and noble women!
They fought for the faith in every part of the world.
Though born of earth, they were united
with the heavenly hosts.
Through their sufferings, they triumphed over evil
by the grace of Christ.
As unfading lights, they illumine our hearts,
and with boldness they pray for our souls.

(from the Pentecostarion)

05/27/2026

Pentecost Week
- Saturday 5/30, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 5/31, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Holy Pentecost)
Followed by Kneeling Vespers
*** Fast-Free Week ***
- Saturday 6/6, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 6/7, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of All Saints)
*** Apostles' Fast Begins (6/8 through 6/28) ***

+

The arrogance of building the tower in the days of old
led to the confusion of tongues,
but now the glory of the knowledge of God
brings them wisdom.
There God condemned the impious for their transgression;
here Christ has enlightened the fishermen by the Spirit.
There disharmony was brought about for punishment;
now harmony is renewed for the salvation of our souls.

- from the Pentecostarion, for Holy Pentecost

[Image: Sopoćani Monastery, Serbia, c. 1270]

05/19/2026

Vesperal Liturgy for the Ascension of Our Lord, Wednesday 5/20 at 6pm. Hope to see you there!

+

It was Christ who first prepared the way for our ascent there. By offering himself to God the Father as the first fruits of all who are dead and buried [1 Cor 15:20], he gave us a way of entry into heaven and was himself the first human being the inhabitants of heaven ever saw. The angels in heaven, knowing nothing of the sacred and profound mystery of the incarnation, were astonished at his coming and almost thrown into confusion by an event so strange and unheard of. "Who is this coming from Edom?" [Isa 63:1] they asked; that is, from the earth. But the Spirit did not leave the heavenly throng ignorant of the wonderful wisdom of God the Father. Commanding them to open the gates of heaven in honor of the King and Master of the universe, he cried out: "Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up you everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in." [Ps 23:7 LXX]

And so our Lord Jesus Christ has opened up for us a new and living way [Heb 10:20], as Paul says, "not by entering a sanctuary made with hands, but by entering heaven itself to appear before God on our behalf." [Heb 9:24] For Christ has not ascended in order to make his own appearance before God the Father. He was, is, and ever will be in the Father and in the sight of him from whom he receives his being, for he is his Father’s unfailing joy. But now the Word, who had never before been clothed in human nature, has ascended as a man to show himself in a strange and unfamiliar fashion. And he has done this on our account and in our name, so that being like us, though with his power as the Son, and hearing the command, "Sit at my right hand," [Ps 109:1 LXX; cf. Heb 1:13] as a member of our race, he might transmit to all of us the glory of being children of God. For since he became man it is as one of us that he sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though he is above all creation and one in substance with his Father, having truly come forth from him as God from God and Light from Light."

+ St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 9, on John 14:2-3

05/13/2026

6th Week of Pascha (Sunday of the Blind Man)

- Saturday 5/16, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 5/17, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Blind Man)
- Wednesday 5/20, 6pm: Vesperal Liturgy (The Ascension of our Lord)
- Saturday 5/23, 4pm: Great Vespers
- Sunday 5/24, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council)

[Catechism and confession will alternate every other Saturday after Vespers.]

--

The man blind from birth asked himself:
“Was I born blind because of my parents’ sins?
Or am I a living sign of the people’s faithlessness?
I am not content to continue asking whether it is night or day.
My feet can no longer endure tripping on the stones.
I have seen nothing: neither the sun shining, nor the image of my Maker.
But I entreat Thee, O Christ God, look upon me and have mercy on me!”

The Blind Man, regarding the whole of life as night,
cried out to Thee, O Lord:
“Open my eyes, O Son of David, our Savior,
that with all people I too may hymn Thy power!”

(from the Pentecostarion)

05/06/2026

5th Week of Pascha: Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

- Saturday 5/9, 4pm: Great Vespers + Catechism
- Sunday 5/10, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Samaritan Woman)
- Saturday 5/16, 4pm: Great Vespers + Confession
- Sunday 5/17, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Blind Man)
- Wednesday 5/20, 6pm: Vesperal Liturgy (The Ascension of our Lord)

[Catechism and confession will alternate every other Saturday after Vespers.]

--

Jesus met the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well.
He wraps the earth in clouds,
yet He asks for water from her.
Oh, the wonder!
He Who rides on the cherubim speaks with an adulterous woman.
He Who suspended the earth on the waters asks for a drink.
He Who causes the lakes and springs to overflow is weary with thirst.
Truly He desires to set the woman free from the Enemy’s snares,
drowning her sins in the waters of life,//
for He alone is the compassionate Lover of man.

(from the Pentecostarion, for the Samaritan Woman)

04/30/2026

4th Week of Pascha (Sunday of the Paralytic) + New Catechism Schedule

Saturday 5/2, 4pm: Great Vespers
Followed by Confession
Sunday 5/3, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Paralytic)
Saturday 5/9, 4pm: Great Vespers
Followed by Catechism Class
Sunday 5/10, 10am: Divine Liturgy (Sunday of the Samaritan Woman)

Fr. Niko will hold his first catechism class on Saturday, May 9 following Great Vespers. All are welcome to attend!

Going forward, catechism and confession will alternate every other Saturday after Vespers.

--

With Thy pure hand, Thou didst create man,
and Thou didst come to heal the sick, O compassionate Christ.
By Thy word Thou didst raise the paralytic at the Sheep’s Pool,
and didst cure the pain of the woman with the issue of blood.
Thou hadst mercy on the daughter of the Canaanite woman,
and didst not reject the request of the centurion.
Therefore we cry to Thee:
“Glory to Thee, O almighty Lord!”

The Paralytic was like an unburied co**se.
He saw Thee and shouted: “Lord, have mercy on me!
My bed has become my grave! Why should I live?
What use is the Sheep’s Pool to me?
I have no one to put me into the pool when the waters are stirred,
but I come to Thee, O Fountain of healing.
Raise me up, that with all I may cry to Thee:
‘Glory to Thee, O almighty Lord!’”

Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He came to the Sheep’s Pool, called in Hebrew “Bethesda.”
It had five porches, each filled with a multitude of the sick,
for at certain times an angel of the Lord stirred up the water,
and granted strength to those who approached in faith.
There the Lord saw a man who for many years had been afflicted.
He said: “Dost thou want to be whole?”
The sick man replied to the Lord:
“I have no man to lower me into the pool when the water is stirred.
I have spent all my wealth on physicians,
but have not been granted mercy!”
Then the Physician of souls and bodies said to him:
“Take up thy bed and walk!
Proclaim My power and great mercy to the ends of the earth!”

(from the Pentecostarion)

04/22/2026

3rd Week of Pascha (Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women)

Saturday 4/25, 4pm: Great Vespers
Followed by Confession
Sunday 4/26, 10am: Divine Liturgy

-

The myrrhbearing women reached Thy tomb
and saw the seals of the tomb broken.
Not finding Thy most pure Body, they lamented, saying:
“Who has stolen our hope?
Who has taken the dead One, naked and anointed,
the sole consolation of His Mother?
How can the Life of the dead have died?
How can the Capturer of hell have been buried?
But arise in three days as Thou didst say, O Savior,
and save our souls!”

“O myrrhbearing women,
why have you come to the grave?
Why do you seek the Living among the dead?
The Lord is risen, take courage!” cried the Angel.

(from the Pentecostarion)

04/17/2026

Saturday 4/18: Reader's Vespers at 4pm (No confession)
Sunday 4/19: Divine Liturgy at 10am - St. Thomas Sunday


Thomas touched Your life-giving side with an eager hand,
O Christ God,
when You did come to Your apostles through closed doors.
He cried out with all: You are my Lord and my God!

- Kontakion for St. Thomas, Tone 8