Holy Cross Orthodox Church

This week in Church school -- still more ethnic adventures.  Review the stories of St. Sergius, St. Innocent (Apostle to the Aleuts), St. Herman, and St. Peter the Aleut.  Visit the library for books on Eskimos and Aleuts; look at pictures of Alaskan scenery, igloos, seals, walruses, etc.  Visit these animals at the zoo.  Now travel to Russia – try a dinner of cabbage, kielbasa, pierogies (Mrs. T’s are easy),  beets, etc.  Visit one of our Slavic parishes – St. Andrew’s OCA or Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox or Four Evangelists Ukrainian.  Time to pull out that Cyrillic alphabet again and practice some Russian words; just wait till you try “hello”, “thank you”, and “good-bye” in Russian! Don't forget the word puzzle and coloring pages in the Parents' Guide -- color the icons and place them in your icon corner this week. ...

Due to rain, tonight's movie night is cancelled.

Saturday, June 14, and Sunday, June 15

...Each of these services is important in our celebration of Pentecost, each speaks to the great themes of the day, while each also emphasizes some aspect that is vital to the whole. May the God who delivered us from sin and death through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also the Holy Spirit was poured out on the New Creation, the Church, grant us all his blessings of the Feast! ...

This coming Saturday is a Soul Saturday (Matins 8:30am, Liturgy at 10am), one of the days of the year when we specifically pray for all the departed, regardless of when they reposed. Please send the names of your departed Christian family and friends whom you wish to be remembered to Fr. Gregory by this Friday. Many thanks.

Memorial service for our Holy Cross fallen asleep fathers will be held after the Divine Liturgy next Sunday June 15. If one wishes to commemorate his/her fallen asleep father, please email Fr. Gregory by Friday the 13th.

Soup and Saints has been moved to next week, June 18, 7PM at Katherine M's home. We will have a 'slavic saints' night with the reading of the lives of St John of Rila and St John Maximovitch, and enjoy some Russian/East European soups & appetizers. All are welcome!

Peter Maris will continue to his "Christ in the Old Testament" series this Thursday evening following Vespers.

Check out this new singing group! All proceeds from CD sales go to support the mission of Orthodox Christian Fellowship! http://www.antiochian.org/fellowship/*Ncense

This Saturday evening (June 14), after vespers, the Church School will show "Fiddler on the Roof" on our big outdoor screen, with dinner and popcorn. We'll be doing hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill! Fiddler's a great movie -- and will make "Balalaika on the Onion Dome" the following week even more fun. This is open to the whole parish -- please come. Unfortunately, if it's raining, we'll have to postpone since the hall will not be finished to hold the show indoors.

This week the children studied the saints of Japan. Again, a fun week. Review the story of St. Nicholas, Evangelizer of Japan. Have a Japanese tea ceremony with little girls – green tea, chopsticks, Japanese food, fans, silk scarves all make for a great afternoon. There is an Oriental grocery in Catonsville that will have everything you need. Make pearl necklaces; stringing beads (in this case, bags of pearls can be purchased at any craft store) is always fun for small children. ...