Pascha - The Resurrection of Our Lord
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Pascha — The Resurrection of Christ
April 5, 2026
Sat 4/4/26 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Martha %par by Family
Sun 4/5/26 9:30am Divine Liturgy Parishioners of Our Parish
Mon 4/6/26 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Lucy and +Henry Radon by The Pocchiari Family
Tue 4/7/26 7 :00pm Divine Liturgy
Fri 4/10/26 7:00pm Resurrection Matins
Sat 4/11/26 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +In Memory of Prokopchak Family by Maria and Michael Streitman
Sun 4/12/26 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Beverly Zavacky (1 Year Anniv. (4/18)) by Son Richard Pribus
Variable Parts Pascha Festal Tone Pages 164 - 171
Epistle Acts 1:1-8
Gospel John 1:1-17
Memorial Candle Request: No Candle Request
Epistle Readers 4-Apr Mary Troyan 5-Apr Amanda Slavish 11-Apr John Baycura/Mary Motko 12-Apr Joel Hills
Please Pray for: Mike Oshlick, Kathy Moyta, Dorothy Moyta, Brian Buchkovich, Lejen Warner, Sharon King, Ole J. Bergh, Liz Moyta, Fr. Michael Huszti, Fr. Laska, Susie Curcio, Teresa Milkovich, Robert Saper, Anna Habil, Mike Dancisin, Diane Sotak, Anna Pocchiari, Larry Hamil, Beverly Jones, Maryann Russin Schyvers, Nick Russin and Ken Konchan
Attendance 3/18 - 25; 3/21 — 22; 3/22 — 88; 3/24 - 29; 3/25 — 13; 3/27 — 24; 3/28 - 21; 3/29 — 108
Collection: 3/21 & 3/22 $3,152.00; 3/28 & 3/29 $3,282.00
Student Food Pantry: April's school donation drive will be a continuation from March of Mac N Cheese. Any questions, please contact Pam Gagen.
Salad Bingo: it will be held on April 11th. Doors open at 11:15am. Donations of prizes for the bingo are on the bulletin board. Donations from local businesses would also be appreciated. We need donations of salads for the bingo. Parishioners are asked to please donate at least one salad. These may be Jello, pasta, etc.
Bingo Prize/Basket/Salad Dropoff: We will be wrapping the bingo prizes on Friday at 5:00pm. The back door of the church will be open all day on Friday for people to drop off bingo prizes, baskets, and salads. Please put salads in the refrigerator.
The Easter Sermon of St. John Chrysostom (circa 400 AD)
Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour, let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour, let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first. To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows. He
accepts the works as He greets the endeavor. The deed He honors and the intention He commends. Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! First and last alike receive your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together! Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not, rejoice today for the Table is richly laden! Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith. Enjoy all the riches of His goodness! Let no one grieve at his poverty,for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it. He destroyed Hell when He descended into it. He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh. Isaiah foretold this when he said,: You, 0 Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with. It was in an uproar because it is mocked. It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed. It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated. It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive. Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see. O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated! Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is Risen, and life is liberated! Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ having risen from the dead, is become the first - fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!
Christ is Risen, is the center of the Christian message. St Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve" (1 Cor 15:3-5). This brief profession of faith are the very heart of our hope. Without this faith in the death and Resurrection of Jesus our hope would be weak; but it would not even be hope; or precisely the death and Resurrection of Jesus are the heart of our hope. The Apostle said: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (v. 17).
Unfortunately, efforts have often been made to blur faith in the Resurrection of Jesus and doubts have crept in, even among believers. It is a little like that "rosewater" faith, as we say; it is not a strong faith. And this is due to superficiality and sometimes to indifference, busy as we are with a thousand things considered more important than faith, or because we have a view of life that is solely horizontal. However, it is the Resurrection itself that opens us to greater hope, for it opens our life and the life of the world to the eternal future of God, to full happiness, to the certainty that evil, sin and death may be overcome. And this leads to living daily situations with greater trust, to facing them with courage and determination. Christ's Resurrection illuminates these everyday situations with a new light. The Resurrection of Christ is our strength!
But how was the truth of faith in Christ's Resurrection passed down to us? There are two kinds of testimony in the New Testament: some are in the form of a profession of faith, that is, of concise formulas that indicate the center of faith; while others are in the form of an account of the event of the Resurrection and of the facts connected with it.
The former, in the form of a profession of faith, for example of the Letter to the Romans in which St Paul wrote: "if you confess with your lips that 'Jesus is Lord!' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (10:9). From the Church's very first steps faith in the Mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ is firm and clear. I would like to reflect on the latter, on the testimonies in the form of a narrative which we find in the Gospels.
First of all let us note that the first witnesses of this event were the 'women. At dawn they went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body and found the first sign: the empty tomb ( Mk 16:1). Their meeting with a messenger of God followed. He announced: "Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One, has risen, he is not here" (vv. 5-6). The women were motivated by love and were able to accept this announcement with faith: they believed and passed it on straight away, they did not keep it to themselves but passed it on.
