Dear brothers and sisters!
Our church is located at:
4820 E 6th AveSpokane Valley, WA 99212
We have All-Night Vigil every Saturday, starting at 5 pm. Every Sunday we have Divine Liturgy, starting at 9 am. We also have services on feast days and holidays. You can find our Service Schedule here.
God save us all!
Pre-Paschal days…
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today marks the end of the Holy Forty Days of fasting, but Great Lent is not yet over. Starting tomorrow, we enter into the special pre-Paschal days, when together with Christ and His disciples, we will go through the most important events of the Gospel and all of human history.
According to tradition, just like on Forgiveness Sunday, on this day we ask forgiveness from each other. I ask forgiveness from all of you if I have offended anyone by word or deed, and I sincerely forgive everyone, calling upon God’s blessings for all of you!
Tomorrow is Lazarus Saturday, the day when Christ, by raising Lazarus who had been dead for four days, proclaimed the forthcoming resurrection from the dead: His own – on the approaching Pascha, and ours – on the day of the general resurrection at the end of times. The Liturgy will begin tomorrow at 8:00 am, followed by a meal where caviar is allowed.
Tomorrow evening, the Vigil of the great feast of The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) will be served, the day when Christ begins His journey to Golgotha. On Sunday, there will be a festive Liturgy and meal, during which fish is allowed. The Vigil will begin at 6:00 pm on Saturday, and the Liturgy will start on Sunday at 9:00 am.
Then we enter Holy Week. Our services will start from Holy Thursday: in the morning at 6:00 am, the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great will be served, during which we will commemorate the Mystical Supper, the day when the Lord instituted the Sacrament of Communion.
On the same day in the evening, we will serve the Matins of Great Friday with the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels. It is essential to make an effort to be in the church on this day, to stand with Christ during His sufferings for our sins on Golgotha. It will start at 6:00 pm.
On Friday morning – Royal Hours and Vespers with the placing of the Holy Shroud. It starts at 6:00 am.
On Friday evening – Matins of Holy Saturday with the Burial service and the procession around the church with the Holy Shroud. It’s also a very significant day – the Saturday of all Saturdays. Not to come to the church on this day without a valid reason is a much more uncouth action than missing the funeral of your closest relative: after all, closer to the Lord, Who created us and then shed His precious Blood for us, we cannot have anyone!
On Holy Saturday morning – the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. This is already the beginning of Pascha, and therefore after the Liturgy, we will first sanctify the Paschal dishes, kulich, eggs, and other items (I know, no one needs to be persuaded to come to this event).
But the main celebration of Pascha will be served at night from Saturday to Sunday (from May 4 to May 5). Confession and the reading of the Acts of the Apostles will begin at 9:00 pm. At 11:00 pm, the Midnight Office will start, during which the Shroud is moved to the Altar. And exactly at midnight, from the cross procession, the Paschal service will begin. After the night service, there will be a light meal. Before the meal, the second sanctification of the Paschal dishes (kulich, eggs, etc.) will take place. Please don’t bring too much food. The real Paschal feast will be on Sunday during the day…
At 1:00 pm on Sunday, we will gather for a short Paschal Vespers, followed by a small festive play performed by the children. And then there will be a real festive meal, to which everyone can bring whatever they can. Before the meal, the third sanctification of the Paschal dishes will take place.
May the Lord strengthen all of us to pass through these final days before the bright Feast of feasts and the Triumph of triumphs!
God save you all!