629 Sunshine Avenue • Central City, Pa. 15926,
Tipple Road • Goodtown (Pine Hill), Pa. 15530
the Liturgy for every Sunday of the Great Fast is that of St. Basil the Great. This liturgy begins on page 101 of our pew books, and contains the older, more penitential prayers suited for the Lenten Season. Confessions are heard before every Sunday Liturgy and every Friday Presanctified Liturgy. Please make your canonically required confession during the Lenten Season, but preferably before Wednesday of Holy Week. Please don’t wait till the last minute! Confessions should be occurring on a semi-regular basis, anyway. To those few people who habitually contact Fr. Elijah and want to go to confession on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, pay attention: the answer is no—you have time, get it done before then!
to all of our parishioners and friends who attended the Presanctified Liturgy last Friday evening and brought fasting food for our Lenten social. It was a beautiful evening, and much appreciated by all in attendance.
it has come to our attention that the Orthodox Study Bible is available as a downloadable app! The App is free to download on your device (computer, laptop, tablet, or phone). On Google Play it can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=software.vdub.osb2&pcampaignid=web_share On Apple.com it is available here: https://apps.apple.com/qa/app/orthodox-study-bible/id6738711125. Fr. Elijah can personally attest to the quality of the Orthodox Study Bible, as one of his Doctoral Professors (and priest-colleague and friend), Fr. Michel Najim, is one of the editors of this bible!
as of today, we are half-way through the Great Fast. This year, we will donate the contents of our “poor box” to the scholarship fund at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. This includes the contents from every Sunday, and from every Friday. Also, there is a collection box in the foyer for cat and kitten supplies to benefit the Johnstown Animal Welfare Society. Please consider a small contribution to both projects! Thank you, and may God bless you!
Please continue to publicize locally the annual Vespers Service on Sunday, March 15 - 5 PM taking place at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Allison Park (8290 Thompson Run Road). A Lenten meal will be served downstairs in the church hall immediately following the 5 PM service.
it seems early, but willows are blooming! Fr. Elijah already cut his supply and brought them to the church. If you have access to willows, please check them, cut them when they are ready, and bring them to the church basement. We will have a bundling party after church closer to Willowy Sunday. Stay tuned for more information. Thank you!
Cemetery and burial policies (drafted in 2018) are included in this section as a PDF file.
With regard to genealogy requests: current church members are entitled to their sacramental records. Previous or lapsed members who require verification of sacraments are entitled to those documents, and a donation toward cemetery care is much appreciated. As we are a functional church and not a genealogy service, we cannot devote time to historical requests for information. If there is a valid reason for such a request, it must be accompanied by precise information (names and dates). Keep in mind that the oldest records require translating services. A fee will be assessed to each such request and information (when available) will be provided once the appropriate donation is received