Jesus Christ taught us to love and serve all people, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. To understand that, we need to look no further than to the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, it is offered "on behalf of all, and for all." As Orthodox Christians we stand against racism and bigotry. All human beings share one common identity as children of God. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatian 3:28)

Members of our Parish Council are:

Carolyn Neiss- President     Greg Jankura - Vice President
Boris Doph - Treasurer     
Sharon Hanson - Member at Large
Luba Martins - Member at Large    
Brett Malcolm - Member at Large

Pastoral Care - General Information

Emergency Sick Calls can be made at any time. Please call Fr Steven at (860) 322-2906, when a family member is admitted to the hospital.
Anointing in Sickness: The Sacrament of Unction is available in Church, the hospital, or your home, for anyone who is sick and suffering, however severe. 
Marriages and Baptisms require early planning, scheduling and selections of sponsors (crown bearers or godparents). See Father before booking dates and reception halls!
Funerals are celebrated for practicing Orthodox Christians. Please see Father for details. The Church opposes cremation; we cannot celebrate funerals for cremations.

Save the Date: August 4th - 9th, 2025 Youth Rally! Come join the Orthodox youth from across the diocese as we meet at the St. Methodios Center in NH for another year of Youth Rally! Old veteran or first timer, every year is new! Come and experience an Orthodox camp where the kids can grow in faith and build strong Orthodox friendships! Apply to camp here: Youth Ministry | Diocese of New England (www.dneoca.org/youthministry)

New Council Representative

As many of you know, Jim Ifkovic has left our parish for one that was closer to his home. He was our parish council secretary and representative to the Diocese Assembly (scheduled for the end of October). Deirdre Garfield has volunteered to become our new secretary. According to our BYLAWS, we need to have a parish wide vote to confirm her in the position. Unless someone objects, I propose a parish vote at the end of Liturgy, by voice, and providing we have a quorum.

We still need a volunteer for the Diocese Assembly.

Many Years! to Anne Hosking and Bryn Rose Littlefield on the occasion of their birthdays.

Pray for: All those confined to hospitals, nursing homes, and their own homes due to illness; for all those who serve in the armed forces; widows, orphans, prisoners, victims of violence, and refugees;

• All those suffering chronic illness, financial hardship, loneliness, addictions, abuse, abandonment and despair; those who are homeless and dispossesed, those who are institutionalize, those who have no one to pray for them;
• All Orthodox seminarians & families; all Orthodox monks and nuns, and all those considering monastic life; all Orthodox missionaries and their families.
• All those who have perished due to hatred, intolerance, predjudice; pestilence and natural disaster; all those departed this life in the hope of the Resurrection.

Please let Fr. Steven know via email if you have more names for which to pray.

• Departed:  Evangeline, Wayne,
• Clergy and their families: Fr Sergei B, Fr Vladimir, Matushka Anne, Matushka Sharon Anne, Fr Vladimir
• ​Catechumen: James
• Individuals and Families: Luba, Suzanne, Rosemary,  Daniel & Dayna, Kristen, Victor, Susan, Gregory, Nancy
• Birthdays and Name’s Days this Month: Anne Hosking (B-5/4), Luba Martins (B-5/12), Katerina Hoehnebart (B-5/14), Kathryn Brubaker (B-5/24), Stella Boruch (B-5/24), Alexander Melesko (B-5/25), Fr Steven Hosking (B-5/28)
• Anniversaries this Month: Brubaker (5/23), Melesko (5/24), Kuziak (5/28), Jankura (5/29)
• ​Expecting and Newborn: Katie and Aaron and their unborn child, Valery and Jason and their new born, Augusta Mary
• ​Traveling: Michael, Dn Timothy and Maureen
• ​Sick and those in distress:  Thomas, Sheri, Joanna, Joshua, Julia, Stormy, Scott, Anne, Noah, Nancy, Sophia, Gregory, Tomas, Nicholas, Carol, Vincent, Matthew, Mark, Hermon, Sandra, Dorothy, Alan, Phyllis, Richard, Peter, Loretta, Boris

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

3rd SUNDAY OF PASCHA — Tone 2. Myrrhbearing Women.Virgin Martyr Pelagía of Tarsus in Asia Minor (ca. 290). The Alfanov (Sokol’nitsky) brethren: Ss. Nikḗtas, Kirill, Nikifor, Clement, and Isaac, of Novgorod (14th-15th c.). Holy Confessor Erasmus, Bishop of Formia in Campania (303). Hieromartyr Silvanus, Bishop of Gaza, and with him 40 Martyrs (311). Ven. Nikēphóros of Mt. Athos (1300). New Martyr Vasily (1945).

• Again we pray for those who have lost their lives because of the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East: that the Lord our God may look upon them with mercy, and give them rest where there is neither sickness, or sorrow, but life everlasting.
• Again we pray for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, for those who are suffering, wounded, grieving, or displaced because of the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
• Again we pray for a cessation of the hostilities against Ukraine and the Middle East, and that reconciliation and peace will flourish there, we pray thee, hearken and have mercy.

Priest:  Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages

Choir: Amen

Priest:  Christ is Risen (2 ½ times)

Choir:  And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Tone 2    Troparion    (Resurrection)
When You descended to death, O Life Immortal,
You slew hell with the splendor of Your Godhead.
And when from the depths You raised the dead,
all the powers of heaven cried out://
“O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to You!”

Tone 2    Troparion    (Pentecostarion)
The noble Joseph,
when he had taken down Your most pure Body from the Tree,
wrapped it in fine linen and anointed it with spices,
and placed it in a new tomb.
But You rose on the third day, O Lord,//
granting the world great mercy.

Tone 2    Troparion    (Pentecostarion)
The Angel came to the myrrhbearing women at the tomb and said:
“Myrrh is fitting for the dead; 
but Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption!
So proclaim: ‘The Lord is risen,//
granting the world great mercy.’”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

Tone 2    Kontakion    (Pentecostarion)
You commanded the Myrrhbearers to rejoice, O Christ God.
By Your Resurrection, You stopped the lamentation of Eve, the first mother.
You commanded them to preach to Your Apostles://
“The Savior is risen from the tomb!”

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Tone 8    Kontakion    (Pascha)
You descended into the tomb, O Immortal,
You destroyed the power of death.
In victory You arose, O Christ God,
proclaiming: “Rejoice!” to the Myrrhbearing Women,//
granting peace to Your Apostles, and bestowing Resurrection on the fallen.

HYMN TO THE THEOTOKOS
(Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:)
The Angel cried to the Lady, full of grace:
“Rejoice, O pure Virgin! Again, I say: Rejoice,
your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb!
With Himself He has raised all the dead.”
Rejoice, O ye people!

Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem!
The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now, and be glad, O Zion!
Be radiant, O pure Theotokos,
in the Resurrection of your Son

COMMUNION HYMN

Receive the Body of Christ; taste the fountain of immortality!
Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest!
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

• Priest: “In the fear of God…”
• Choir: “Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord… “
• Priest: “O God, save Your people… “
• Choir: “Christ is risen from the dead… “ (sung once, instead of “We have seen the True Light…)
• Priest: “Always, now and ever…”
• Choir: “Let our mouths be filled…”

At the Dismissal,

• Priest: “Glory to You, O Christ…”
• Choir:  Christ is risen from the dead…” (thrice).
• And unto us He has given eternal life.
• Let us worship His Resurrection on the third day!

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are secret disciples of Jesus. They are also mem-
bers of the powerful assembly of Jerusalem, known as the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was
the Jewish religious leaders’ supreme judicial and administrative council, composed of 71
members. For any member of the Sanhedrin to openly display a connection with Jesus
Christ would place them in grave danger.
Yet, Joseph had opened his heart to God’s will and eagerly sought His Kingdom.
He courageously goes to the governor, Pilate, and asks for the Body of the Lord to give
Him a proper burial. Pilate marvels that Jesus is already dead. Crucifixion was a method
of punishment reserved for the vilest criminals. The purpose of crucifixion as a method of
execution was to inflict long-lasting pain and torture. A crucified person would die public-
ly and slowly to deter others from criminal behavior.
On Friday, when the Lord is crucified, the Jewish people do not want to profane
the holy Sabbath, which was to begin at sunset. Therefore, they ask the Romans to break
the legs of Jesus and the thieves to accelerate their death and to remove them from the
cross. As we read in the Gospel of John: “The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that
He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side
with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:32-34).
This was to fulfill the Old Testament prefiguring of Christ as the Paschal lamb —
the lamb sacrificed at Pascha — about which Moses instructed the people: “Nor shall you
break one of its bones” (Exodus 12:46). As the centurion pierces the side of Jesus to make
sure He was dead, water and blood pour forth. This has profound significance. Just as
Eve, the spouse of Adam, was born from his side in Paradise, so the Church, the spouse of
Christ, is born from His side on the Cross. The water and blood symbolize the two essen-
tial sacraments of the Church — Baptism and Eucharist. For it is in the waters of Baptism
that each Christian becomes a member of Christ’s Church. And it is in the Eucharist that
each Christian is nourished with Christ’s Body and Blood.
When Pilate learns from the centurion that the Lord is dead, he grants the Body to
Joseph, who wraps Him in a linen shroud to prepare Him for burial. Joseph lays Jesus in
an unused tomb carved out of the rock, and he rolls a stone against the door. As Christ
was born in a cave and innocently lies in a manger, He rises from a cave and victoriously
exits a tomb.
The Sabbath starts at sunset on Friday, as they put the Lord in the tomb. Mary Mag-
dalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, see where He is laid. The Lord fulfills the Sabbath
rest by laying in the tomb on Saturday. On Sunday, the first day of the week, He recreates
all things. Christ’s resurrection is the new beginning of life — of humanity’s reunion with
God and all of creation as a manifestation of God’s glory. When the Sabbath was over, in
the early morning hours of Sunday, the women bring spices to anoint Christ’s Body. This
is why they are called the “Myrrh-Bearing Women.” They wonder: “Who will roll away the
stone for us from the door of the tomb?”
When the women arrive, they see that the large stone is already rolled back. This
was not because the Lord needed a stone to be removed for Him to exit the tomb. His
glorified and divinized Body can appear and vanish (Luke 24:31), enter a house where the
doors were locked (John 20:19), and ascend to heaven (Luke 24:51). The stone was rolled
away not for Him, but for the first witnesses to the Resurrection, to show that He is truly
risen!
As the women enter the tomb, they see a shining angel sitting where Christ was
laid. And the angel says to them: “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who
was crucified. He has risen, he is not here . . . go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is
going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you.” The women leave
the tomb but are astonished and say nothing to anyone, for they are afraid.
The Myrrh-Bearing Women are the first to witness the most extraordinary event of
all time, which changes the course of history and provides the cure to what has plagued
humanity since the Fall. The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ defeats the works of
the Evil One and opens the door to man’s salvation. It is not the Apostles or the other
disciples, but the Myrrh-Bearing Women who first learn the most fundamental truth of our
Faith. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins” (1
Corinthians 15:17).
Let us consider for a moment what this means for us today. Women performed an
essential ministry in the life of Christ. And it is women who continue to offer themselves
in service to Christ throughout our churches today. In the Gospel, the remarkable role of
women is highlighted from the very beginning. It was from a woman that the God-Man,
Christ Jesus, was born. It was women who financially supported Jesus and His disciples
(Luke 8:3). It was women who had the courage to accompany Christ during His arrest and
trial. It was women who were present when Christ was crucified. It was women who came
to the tomb to anoint His Body with myrrh oils. They do not fear the Jewish leaders or the
Roman soldiers who would have been expected to be guarding the tomb. It is not surpris-
ing, then, that it was women who were the first to witness Christ’s resurrection because it
was women who first went to the tomb.
The Kontakion hymn for the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearers reads, “In saying
Rejoice to the myrrh-bearers, You allayed the lament of the first mother Eve, at Your Res-
urrection, O Christ our God. And You ordered Your Apostles to proclaim, “The Savior has
risen from the sepulcher.”
The example of godly women is what the Church provides for us today. As Saint
John Chrysostom says, “Do you see the women’s courage? Do you see their affection?
Do you see their noble spirit in matters of money? Their noble spirit even unto death? Let
the men imitate the women.” Let us uphold the privileged place of women in the Church.
And, most of all, let us imitate the women who accompanied Christ throughout His life
and death. And may we, like the Myrrh-Bearing Women, experience the grace of His resurrection.

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