New Building Project News from Parish Council

SUPER SHORT SYNOPSIS WITHOUT BELOW NARRATIVE

Yesterday at the parish council we received GREAT news and CHALLENGING news. Thank God! We need the good news to meet the challenging news with joy in the Lord as an opportunity for spiritual growth!

GREAT NEWS: we are extremely thankful that our parishioners have hearkened to our requests to tithe in support of our building project. Our Treasurer, Mikhail Fisenkov, reported that at this point we can afford a construction loan of $10,000-$12,000, in addition to meeting our parish monthly expenses. THANK YOU ALL! And for those who have not yet had a chance to establish your tithe, please talk to one of our Financial Ambassadors listed below.

CHALLENGING NEWS: A construction loan of $10,000-$12,000 is not enough to cover a loan for the entire construction project: church and hall. This amount IS enough to cover a loan of $1MM to $1.2MM. If we add that to the approximately $380K we have in our construction fund we would fall short on what we as a parish council feel is a reasonable stretch goal: to build the church (fully - so we can obtain an occupancy permit), the parking lots, and the shell of our hall. We feel strongly that if we can build the shell of the hall we can build most of the interior ourselves, as we did with our school.

OUR GOAL FOR SUMMER/FALL 2026: Our goal is to build the church, the parking lots, and the shell of the hall. Based on Lima Township feedback we feel we can break ground when Bishop Spyridon visits us on August 30 and begin construction essentially immediately thereafter. The cost to accomplish this goal is $2.4MM. The cost of a construction loan for that amount would be $24,000 per month. This is beyond our present financial capacity as a parish. Thus, we need to gather additional funds in cash BY ST. VLADIMIR DAY – July 28, 2026 – to accomplish our goal.

• TOTAL COST OF PROJECT 2026:  $2,4000,000
• CASH ON HAND:  $380,000
• LOAN WE CAN AFFORD:  $1,200,000
• NEED TO RAISE IN CASH:  $820,000

The Parish Council is not counting money in anyone’s pockets. Only YOU can decide if YOU can make a significant contribution to help us get to the $820,000 goal. That being said, a good number of our parishioners have told us that they will make significant contributions only once we have begun construction. This is fair. But this is also a chicken and egg question. :) We need the funds to build, but the funds are on offer only after we start to build. We ask that you prayerfully consider this and make the decision that you feel is best. We said we would build a barn, a school, and a cemetery – and we did exactly that. We have a record of doing what we have said we will do. And with God’s help we will continue this consistent performance with this project as well.

OPTIONS TO CONSIDER TO REACH OUR GOAL TOGETHER:

• The housing market in our area of Michigan is extremely “hot” right now. Most of us who own homes are living in a building that has significant equity that could be used to help meet our goal. We are not telling you that you MUST do this by any means. But if you are motivated to examine this possibility we ask you to do so. If you do not have someone that you usually work on such questions with you are welcome to contact our STV parish family member Ekaterina Racine (248-854-4865 ~ caterinagol@gmail.com) who is a professional in the home mortgage field.
• For those over 59.5 years old it may be possible to contribute a portion of your retirement funds towards this goal without negative financial implications/penalties. We are not telling you that you MUST do this by any means. But if you are motivated to examine this possibility we ask you to do so. If you do not have someone that you usually work on such questions with you are welcome to contact our STV parish family member Dmitri Knysh (734-358-5996 ~ dmitriknysh@hotmail.com) who is a professional in the financial planning field.
• Of course there are other options to help us get to our goal as well, and we ask that you prayerfully consider how you might help given the reality of your financial situation. Prayers are CRUCIAL to our success! PLEASE PRAY FOR THE LORD’S BLESSING ON OUR INTENTIONS!

Discuss Financial/Spiritual Aspects of Tithing/Supporting your Parish:

• Fr. Gregory Joyce (734-649-5746 or ogrisha@stvladimiaami.org or https://calendly.com/ogrisha)
• Fr. Colin Bower (734-890-8236 or priestcolin@stvladimiaami.org or https://calendly.com/cmbower10)
• Mikhail Fisenkov (248-773-9616 or fisenkov@yahoo.com)
• Marina Edwards (734-358-9458 or mpsomsk@yahoo.com)
• Dmitri Knysh (734-358-5996 or dmitriknysh@hotmail.com)

LEARN MORE:

DONATE/TITHE

TREASURER CORNER

NEW CHURCH PROJECT PAGE

The Choice is Ours: Wretched Holy Week or Blessed Pascha

Friends,

Thank God, we have had a good start to Holy Week. Yesterday we were able to celebrate the Presanctified Liturgy as well as Vigil for the feast of the Annunciation. Today, the Vesperal Liturgy for the Annunciation, and Bridegroom Matins. The week seems ominous and long from the perspective of Great Lent, but it flies by, and it is important that we engage as soon as we can because it will be gone in the blink of an eye.

There are several pieces of advice that the wisdom of the Church, gathered from literal millennia of spiritual practice, provides for us. One is: this week is about being at the services, since when we are present at the services we are mystically present at the events commemorated at those service. We often say we want to be with Christ. Holy Week gives us the opportunity to “put our money where out mouth is”, so to speak, and be with Christ by being at the services. No one will attend every service, and that is understood. But we provide also the opportunity to walk with Christ through Holy Week via our LIVE STREAM. It isn’t the same as being in church. It is better to be in church if we can. But if we can’t – the live stream is WAY better than nothing at all.

Another piece of wisdom that the Church provides us: Holy Week should be a time of silence. Or very little talking. And no starting new things or jumping on a new idea during Holy Week! All our clergymen know that there is a sort of parish lobotomy that takes place during Holy Week. People get “great new ideas” and start doing things that are simply ridiculous. Always without a blessing too, since the priests are “too busy”. This continues into Pascha – so please beware – but it starts in Holy Week EVERY year. People start moving things from the place they have been located in the church for years, or decide to use a great new chemical to clean the bathroom, or use a flame thrower in the nursery, or to throw away the icon they don’t like, or whatever insane thing that comes to their minds. Husbands get great ideas at home, like, “let’s reseed the entire lawn this week”. Wives do too: “let’s paint the entire interior of our house”. Or, even better, they start to critique each other’s duties at home. And fight over the most inane things. No. Silence. Be at church. Stop talking. Nothing new. It is ALL a temptation. 99.9% of everything that seems like a great idea this week is just motivated by the demons, and we understand that once we have gotten to Pascha. We laugh at our crazy ideas once we meet the risen Christ. Those with many years of experience at this laugh already now – because we realize that it is all a pure temptation. Nothing but demonic inspiration to steal our Paschal joy and keep us away from church this week.

And so, if you are tempted to criticize your wife, husband, child, neighbor, fellow St. Vladimirian: be quiet. Silence. No talking. Be at church. Understand that the enemy here is the demons, and the only person who is guilty of ANYTHING this week is that guy looking back at you from the mirror. And the only real guilt is just not listening to the wisdom of the Church. Don’t think you are smarter than the fathers – you are not. Don’t think you’ll outsmart the demons by your erudition – you won’t. Don’t think you’ll be the one that makes the best decisions at church to just start changing things, moving things, experimenting with a new and super flammable lampada oil (because what could go wrong?), rearranging the books in the choir closet without asking anyone, etc. Stop. Silence. No talking. Nothing changes. Except: this week we are in church, because when we are in church we are with Christ. We wanted to be with Christ when He raised Lazarus. We wanted to be with Him when the crowds in Jerusalem shouted “Hosanna in the highest”. Let us also be with Him now. If we would be so proud as to give advice to Christ now, as He struggles so mightily for our salvation, to advise God on His plan for the redemption of mankind, then please advise your spouse or your neighbor on their shortcomings during Holy Week. But if we cannot be humble and quiet now, as we witness the ineffable sacrifice of our Lord FOR OUR SAKE, when will we ever be quiet? When will we even be humble? Silence. No talking. Be with Christ. Everything – EVERYTHING – else waits until after Pascha. And if you do unwisely open your mouth: be quick to ask forgiveness and quick to forgive. If we cannot be an example of silence and virtue – at least let us be an example of forgiveness and humility.

If we follow this received wisdom of the Church we will do well. If we do not – then we will ruin Holy Week for ourselves, our neighbors, our family, our parish family, and everyone. The choice is ours. We suggest silence. No talking. Pray and be with Christ. Be more often at church. This will lead to a blessed Pascha rather than a wretched Holy Week. The choice is yours. We suggest you choose the wise path of silence. No talking. Pray and be with Christ by being in His House, the Holy Church.

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

New Building Project Update March 16, 2026

Friends,

Yesterday our Parish Council met for our regular monthly meeting. At that meeting, following up on our charge from the 2/15/26 annual meeting that the Parish Council determine the location of the new church that we approved at that meeting in such a way that this would be most financially advantageous for the parish, we voted to locate the new parish church and hall on the field just to the west of the existing cemetery, that is, to the north of our large paved parking lot. Your can find the pertinent architectural drawings at the link below:

NEW STV APPROVED BY PARISH COUNCIL 3/15/26

The next steps are to make some minor edits to this document and get it in front of the Lima Township Planner for his feedback. Once we have that feedback, we will make any additional refinements he suggests and officially submit the plans to the Lima Township Planning Commission. The plan is to begin construction in 2026. We had considered having Archbishop Gabriel join us on Sunday, March 29 to break ground for the project officially, but that is probably a bit premature. Once we have a solid date for groundbreaking we will invite Vladyka for this blessed event in the life of our parish.

At the same parish council meeting we heard from our Treasurer, Mikhail Fisenkov, that conversations between our Financial Ambassadors and our parish family members are going well, and that people are considering the question of how each can contribute to the support of this project in a serious manner. This is all we can ask – that you consider this question prayerfully and seriously. And if you do this, asking the Lord’s guidance, we are confident that He will bless our efforts in this regard!

Let us continue in prayer – each of us saying this prayer that was written by Venerable Gabriel of Georgia daily – that we will follow the will of God in this undertaking:

DAILY PRAYER FOR NEW CHURCH PROJECT

If we continue to approach this project prayerfully, consistently, and purposefully, I believe (with God’s blessing) there is nothing we cannot accomplish as a parish family. May the Lord grant it!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory 

Remarkable Parish Growth in 2025

Friends,

I would like to point out that I have finally been able to analyze the data from our Divine Services in 2025. Please forgive me that this has taken me longer than in past years. I know that everyone loves to read my very long Rector’s report each year before the annual meeting, and it is posted in full now, with the other reports which are available, here:

ANNUAL MEETING REPORTS

Please don’t think I am completely deluded. :) I know almost no one loves to read my long report, so I am going to excerpt the three most important paragraphs below – especially important because we are asking you to consider a revised design for our new parish church which the parish council unanimously recommended to our parish family at its January 25, 2026 meeting. The parish council made that decision without knowing these numbers. To me, the statistics below only reinforce the parish council’s recommendation that we adopt the revised design and begin to build immediately. Why? Because we are exploding in our growth as a parish community. This sort of growth, or even maintaining these staggering numbers, is simply impossible in our present facilities. There is no other way to say it: we either build or we break. I love the original design. I sincere desire to build it. But it is obvious that we do not have the five years (minimum) it would take to build that church. And that is not even taking into consideration that the revised design is projected to be less than half the cost of the original design.

Without further adieu, the three paragraphs that I sincerely ask you to read before we meet this Sunday:

ONE - In 2025 we served 177 Divine Liturgies at St. Vladimir’s parish, or one Liturgy every 2.06 days. Our all time record for Divine Liturgies in one year (182) was in the pandemic year of 2021. Our previous record for non-pandemic years was 168 (2024), and we exceeded that record this year! Whenever we serve the Divine Liturgy not only those who are present receive spiritual benefit, but our entire parish family. Let us thank the Lord for His mercy in this regard! And let us thank those who labor so diligently to sing, read, and serve so that our parish family may be benefited in this way! With God’s help we will continue to make every effort to serve the Divine Liturgy as often as possible at St. Vladimir’s!

TWO - The average number of people communing weekly in 2025 was 99. This is, far and away, the highest number in the history of our parish! This is an increase of 32.39% over 2024. Success only comes before work in the dictionary, and building good habits is hard work. So let us work towards the success of exceeding this number in 2026! With our sincere effort and God’s help we will more often be in church every Saturday night and every Sunday morning, and more often partake of the Divine Mysteries.

THREE - In 2025 the average number of people kissing the cross per week was 156. This is a MASSIVE jump from the last year – we were up 21.97% from 2024 to 2025. Clearly, we need to build our new church as soon as reasonably possible. We cannot expect people to continue to come to church when the church is wildly too small for our needs. To build the new church will require the tithing of time, talent, and treasure from EVERYONE in our parish community. Americans are searching for authenticity and truth. Orthodox Christianity is the faith that the Lord established for all as a means to salvation. And it is our job to bring this authentic and true faith to all our neighbors. It is a sin to hide this “pearl of great price”. So let us share it with our friends and neighbors more zealously in 2026! Ninty-six (96) percent of unchurched Americans are at least somewhat likely to attend church if they are invited. But only two (2) percent of American Church members have EVER invited someone to church. (Christianity Today, July 2007) LET THIS BE THE YEAR YOU INVITE A FRIEND OR LOVED ONE TO STV! 

Let us take this week to pray and ask the Lord for discernment. We are at a pivotal point in the life of our parish. We can choose to trust God and move forward with the parish council’s unanimous recommendation or choose not to. Here you have absolute free will. But let us ask for wisdom from the Lord. He has sent us MANY more parishioners and communicants in the last year. SO MANY that this is not a soft tap on the shoulder, but His hands on both of our shoulders and shaking us awake as a parish community. Let us respond to the Lord’s call to us and march forward under His banner of the Cross to bring EVEN MORE people to the True Faith by making room for them in our new parish church!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

P.S. Learn more about the revised church design at the link below (pan down a bit – below the annual meeting reports):

ANNUAL MEETING REPORTS + REVISED CHURCH DESIGN INFORMATION

Big News from Parish Council!

St. Vladimirians! We had a really wonderful Parish Council meeting yesterday and I want to share a short synopsis with you. As we’ve been telling you for several weeks now, we voted to build the $6MM church and hall project, but the finances to support this are not aligning with that vote to build. This is not a problem per se. The Parish Council is unanimous in our recommendation that we must begin building our new church this year in order to keep our community united and strong. This is often how God’s will is manifest: we try to do something that seems right, but it doesn’t work no matter how we try. Thus, we need to step back, pray, and try another way. Or, as the world might say, fail fast and try again. And yesterday the Parish Council, understanding the financial reality at hand, voted to approve an alternative design for our new parish church which is both beautiful, larger (actually a bit more floor space that the design previously approved), and affordabe. Based on the best estimates we have thus far, this new design would be a bit less than half the cost of the previous design. We have more than 10% of that cost in cash right now. We are excited about the possibilities that the future holds in this regard! 

So what is next? Those who are diligent students of the Normal Parish Bylaws will understand that the Parish Council’s vote yesterday is a recommendation to the parish. That is 100% the case and this is exactly what we want from our Parish Council: when the parish votes to undertake such a project we empower the Parish Council to execute it, and if the thing turns out to be impossible, to recommend to the parish how to do it better. I am sincerely thankful to the Parish Council for this active oversight on their part! The next steps are the following:

1. This week we will send out financial information comparing the original project and the project the Parish Council is recommending. You will receive an email alerting you how to find this information and we will post this on all our social media channels.

2. This week, in addition to the financial information, architectural drawings will be shared as well. We likely will not have renderings of the new project (pretty pictures in essence) to share with you this week. We hope to have some before the annual meeting and we will share them when we get them.

3. This subject will be added to the annual meeting agenda. We will present the new project to the parish at the annual meeting, there will be a discussion where all your questions can be answered, and we will take a vote as a parish to accept the Parish Council’s unanimous recommendation or to reject it. I’ll be honest here – I’ve not seen this sort of enthusiasm in the Parish Council for just about anything in many years. :) And we hope that you will join us in that enthusiasm, even as you ask the hard questions about HOW we will do this that we expect and want from our parish family at the annual meeting.

To participate in the annual meeting you need to be a member of the parish. LEARN MORE/BECOME A MEMBER HERE.

More information will be coming soon. Let us pray that we can align our will with God’s will in this regard. If we can do so as a parish family, it means that we will also be doing all this for God’s glory. And THAT is what we are after here. There is no limit to what we can accomplish for God’s glory if we don’t care who gets the credit. If that is our watchword – we are well on our way to success!

Fr. Gregory 

Annual Meeting is February 15, 2026 - Preparatory Materials Here

Friends,

The 2025 parish meeting is set for Sunday, February 2/15, 2026 during annual bili dinner, immediately following the Divine Liturgy that day. To participate and vote in the meeting you must be a member of the parish - MORE INFORMATION HERE.

The agenda for the meeting is very full, and we value your time. In this regard, we will not give presentations on the reports below at the annual meeting, but rather, we offer them here so that you can read them in advance. Each report will be assigned 5 minutes for questions and answers. Reports will be posted here not later than 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 1, 2026. If you would like to ask your question in advance, please DO SO USING THIS FORM. Answers to questions asked in advance will be posted AT THIS LINK.

Annual Meeting Letter & Agenda

Rector's Report

Starosta's Report

Treasurer's Report

Sisterhood Report

Brotherhood Report

Youth Group Report

Church School Report

Ann Arbor Orthodox Classical Academy Report

Membership Report*

Building Team Report

Social Outreach Parish Report

NEW BUILDING UPDATE + REVIEW OF FUNDRAISING + ALTERNATIVE DESIGN + VOTE

• Fundraising Update 1/2/26
• Big News from Parish Council 1/25/26
• Financial Comparison Original vs. Revised Design
• Architectural Plans Revised Design
• Inspiration for Revised Design
• Ask a Question Original vs. Revised Design
• Answers to Questions Original vs. Revised Design

We are ALWAYS open to the suggestions of our parish family! We know that there are great ideas in our community about how we can improve ourselves. But MOST OF THOSE IDEAS STAY IN PEOPLE'S HEADS, and that doesn't help anyone! So - share your ideas! Use the form found here to make a suggestion. We take these very seriously, and we thank you in advance for sharing your great ideas with us!

STV Suggestion Form

*No posting here – will be available for review by members of the parish at the annual meeting.  

Tactical Babushka Team: Who Corrects Whom at STV?

Friends,

This is a reminder of sorts. A reminder that we need to hear from time to time. I think that time is now, and I hope you find it useful.

Being at the Divine Services brings us to God’s House and is a key component of living an Orthodox life. St. Paul is clear that in God’s House everything needs to be done decently and in order. That is not really up for debate – he does not say “if you can” or “if it works for you” or “if it is convenient”. But he also does not say “instantaneously”. 

Let all things be done decently and in order. (I Corinthians 14:40)

We  have lots of folks coming to church now who do not have a lot of experience with church. So they might not do the expected thing at the expected time. We have worked very hard at STV to retire our team of tactical babuskhas, who in other parishes often enforce the “rules” as they misunderstand them, and mostly drive new people away rather efficiently. 

So who drops the hammer on the new people when they step out of line!? Hammers need not be dropped. And should not be. And must not be. We have always had a very high tolerance for those who are coming to church and learning at STV. And this will not change. But those who are a bit ahead of the new folks are often tempted to teach. Co-suffering love for our fellow man can be quickly lost if we fall to a disordered zeal for correctness. And everything in the Christian life must be done with love. If we cannot do something with love we can know that it is not blessed, and having those around us assume that we are ignorant is much better than speaking without love and removing all doubt in their minds in this regard.

Teaching in church is essentially reserved for the priests and bishops on one hand, who have been given a special Grace at ordination for this obedience, and the Starosta (and his helpers) on the other hand, who has been elected by the parish family to ensure good order in the parish church. This has always been the practice of the Church. We will not change that in our church. If you are tempted to teach someone – stop. Work on yourself and your family. The better Orthodox Christian you become the better example you will be for others, and you will teach best by your example. If you are concerned that someone is doing something inappropriate - tell a priest. Most of the time you will find that the person you are policing already has a blessing to deviate from the norm. Always consider this first: “probably people do not come to church to misbehave – if this person is doing something outside the norm perhaps they have already talked to a priest about this”? Be at peace – leave the teaching to the priests and those appointed to teach. 

Everything must be done with a blessing in the church, and certainly taking on the very heavy spiritual burden of teaching, for which you will answer to God, must be done with a blessing if there is the slightest hope that good will come from this. Otherwise, if you do not have a blessing, do not teach. To put a fine point on it: you will answer to God for the souls you drive away from Him. It is better to pray for those who are struggling. God’s ability to correct others in the way that He sees best is exponentially most powerful and useful than anything else that any of us can muster – especially if we are acting out of self-will (without a blessing).

If someone asks you a question you are allowed to answer, of course. If you know – answer as you know. If you don’t – say that you will ask a priest and find out. But if someone DOES NOT ASK – this is completely different. People do not take kindly to being randomly corrected, either in church or on the street. Our calling is to attract people to Christ by having the Love of Christ abiding in our hearts. This is where we should focus our efforts. Not on nitpicking others who have not asked to be corrected. 

Our Christian struggle is a long war – it is not one battle. Many battles make up a war. A wise general fights the battles he can win and retreats from those that will just cause destruction of his troops and resources. “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) is a good watchword for us in this regard. Everything being done decently and order is a war-level goal. A process. Not an instant expectation when someone first walks in the door - or is learning. Some folks learn more slowly than others, and this is good to keep in mind too. Perhaps a nice conversation after the service would be appropriate – if the person is interested. But correcting people in real time without being invited to do so: this is not blessed. Please see me with questions.

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory 

P.S. I just listened to the sermon from yesterday. WOW – that was really noisy! I know I had to shout a bit. I didn’t notice until now how much. That simply cannot be the case when the bishop comes in a few weeks. It should NEVER be the case, but it surely cannot be the case when the bishop visits. I understand – kids will make some noises. But I’m pretty sure there were adult conversations going on for the entirety of the sermon. I get it – my sermons do not convey a lot of value. But as a parish family we cannot be so rude – either to guests or to our own priests. We have to at least pretend we are interested! Again – not kids: ADULTS. Let’s try to work on that before the bishop comes, or we might have to bring back that babushka tactical team. And nobody wants that! :) Just as there is no blessing to hunt down those who are not behaving according to our standards, there is also no blessing to talk during the sermon. If the conversation cannot wait, please step out behind the glass doors. Which are not sound-proof by the way. But that is a note for another day... 

Specific Directions on how to Build the New Church

And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had,
even all her living. (Mark 12:41-44)

AUDIO FILE OF THIS LETTER

Friends,

On November 2, 2025 we decided as a parish family to begin building our new parish church on March 29, 2026. Archbishop Gabriel will join us to break ground that day. This is happening! And thank God!

Many of you were very clear with me in private conversations: begin the building and support will be forthcoming. Honestly, Mother Gabriela at the convent in Rives Junction has been telling me that for years. I just wasn’t smart enough to listen. And support has already begun to come in. Some in small numbers, some in big numbers. It is pretty clear: having committed to this project as a parish family with trust in God, He is blessing the work to begin.

That might sound temptingly like: great – I don’t have to give! Someone else will do that for me. This is WRONG! This project only succeeds if we ALL pitch in as we can. Folks have been asking for clear direction. That is – what do we do now? How do we make this happen? How do we participate? What is OUR part in this great undertaking? We have heard you.

And a few folks have expressed that it will be hard for those who are just starting out, or who are struggling financially, to participate. We have heard you.

Sometimes we just get too stuck in our heads. We forget to read the scriptures regularly, and thus we forget that many of these questions have already been answered by the Lord. This is one of them. I ask your forgiveness for not having been smart enough to see this. But Karl Meyer saw it and spoke up at our meeting on November 2. And Marina Edwards did too. It is easy, clear, and already mandated by the Lord. It also covers every possible financial concern. Not just because the Lord doesn’t make mistakes about what He tells us to do (please remember: He instructs us for our salvation – not for His good), but it is also ultimately fair. More fair than any humanly constructed system.

The way to build Phase 5 and just keep right on going to finish the project in one fell swoop is TITHING. Tithing is based on one’s material wealth as the LORD has blessed you. If you make a lot, then your tithe is larger. If you make little, your tithe is smaller. But since it is set at 10% of your income it is all the same in the Lord’s eyes: we all participate equally in fulfilling the Lord’s command in this way no matter our income. Our participation in tithing is not just a material question, it is rather mostly a spiritual question, and that is why it is important for everyone to tithe – no matter their income.

The whole project is set between $5-6MM. We’ll use $5MM in our math below for ease of proof of concept and ease of doing division in one’s head.

The average income for a household in Washtenaw County is $122,000/year. We’ll use $120K for this proof since it divides nicely by 12 and by 10. :) We understand that not everyone makes this much. This is an AVERAGE, so some make much more and some make much less. But we’ll use this number so we can show how tithing can make a HUGE difference in a short amount of time.

• We have 135 adult members in our parish, but we are talking household income, and we have about 80 households.
• If your household makes $120,000 per year then your monthly income is about $10,000. And your tithe would be $1,000/month.
• If we have 80 households at that rate, then the parish would collect about $80,000 per month. 
• Our 2024 monthly burn rate (all of our expenses) was about $30,000 and hasn’t changed much in 2025 (this includes ~10% being put into savings). Therefore, if we take that number and pull it out of the $80,000 we will have $50,000 left to spend on the new project monthly
• That means we will have paid for Phase 5 of the project in 10 months!
• And that means that we would pay for the whole $5MM in 100 months and likely not have to take a loan to do it!

The above assumes that no one gives any cash at all to the project outside of tithing. That is already very much NOT true. People are already giving to get this project going. 

It also assumes zero growth in the parish, which would make us the first Orthodox parish in North America to undertake a building project and not grow at all. That seems rather unlikely.

It also assumes that everyone will tithe at 10% right away. That is also likely not true. A figure in the Church as great as St. John Chrysostom writes that Christians need not follow the Old Testament tithe of 10%. Rather, in the New Testament, we should give MORE than 10%. Still, that probably isn’t where we are going to land to start. BUT WE MUST START!

What you give to God’s Church is a spiritual question. And you should approach it in this way. We ask you to tithe not because we need the money. We ask you to tithe because it is spiritually good for YOU. Our building project just makes this topic come more sharply into focus. We have been encouraging you to tithe for your own good for many years. Now we just get to see that if we do that we also can accomplish a great work – build a church that will serve generations of Orthodox Christians even long after we have gone to the next life. And what better legacy could we hope for than that?

Take a close look at your finances. Sit down with your spouse if applicable and discuss how to begin. If you can’t do 10+% right away then do 7%. If you can’t do 7% then do 5%. Then push yourself to do a bit more every month. And please notice when you start down this road – not only do you not starve when you tithe, but you always have more than enough. And this is exactly as the Lord promised – when you tithe He blesses you materially.

Finally ask one of the folks below to sit down with you and help you figure it out if needed. We are a parish family. We need to rely on each other. We need to trust each other. No one below is going to tell others about your family finances. But all can help you figure these things out. NOW is the time to figure it out! If we all pitch in our mite (that is, whatever it is we can without trying to justify shirking our duty in this regard) we can continue to hope on the Lord’s blessing for our building project. If we don’t do our part, then we should expect the project to fail. It is up to us. Let’s decide to succeed for God’s glory! And let’s decide to get ourselves to the point of tithing ASAP to make this happen!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

Discuss Financial/Spiritual Aspects of Tithing:

Fr. Gregory Joyce (734-649-5746 or ogrisha@stvladimiaami.org or https://calendly.com/ogrisha)

Fr. Colin Bower (734-890-8236 or priestcolin@stvladimiaami.org or https://calendly.com/cmbower10)

Mikhail Fisenkov (248-773-9616 or fisenkov@yahoo.com)

Marina Edwards (734-358-9458 or mpsomsk@yahoo.com)

Dmitri Knysh (734-358-5996 or dmitriknysh@hotmail.com)

LEARN MORE:

DONATE/TITHE

TREASURER CORNER

NEW CHURCH PROJECT PAGE

Church Shootings in Michigan – STV Response

Yesterday there was a major church shooting in Michigan. Again. You are not wrong if you perceive that these incidents are on the increase. At STV we have had an active shooter protocol since before the pandemic. And it is still in place today. However, this is not a static protocol. We review incidents, such as the one that happened on Sunday, to try to learn how we can better protect our parish family. Our active shooter team will be meeting later this week for this express purpose. All this was begun with Archbishop Peter’s blessing and continues with Archbishop Gabriel’s blessing.

As Orthodox Christians we understand that our life ends exactly when the Lord deems it most expedient for our salvation. And that end will come whether we are in a plane, on the street, sleeping in our bed, or wherever we are. Our days are numbered by the Lord because of His love for us. We are pilgrims on this earth and the Heavenly Kingdom is our true homeland. The Lord allows us to go to Him when we will be as close to Him in that next life as we can be. One of our great struggles is to trust God in this regard. We forget that He loves us more than we love ourselves, and He desires our salvation more than we desire it.

That being said, we do not take a cold, detached approach to this question. We live our lives with zeal and love for God and our fellow man in the beautiful garden He has provided us – not as people just waiting around to die. And we take our responsibility to provide security to our community VERY seriously. We aim to cooperate with God in this regard – to do our best while we trust Him and His providence. That being said, we will not be mounting machine guns on our roof anytime soon. We have to find the happy medium between a parish church as an armed fortress and no security whatsoever. Most of you probably didn’t even know we had a protocol and an active shooter team, or who is on that team. And that is exactly how we want it. But I think, in the face of increasing violence against houses of worship in our Michigan, you need to know that this is something that we are actively managing.

“Fear not – believe only.” (Luke 8:50)

The words of the Lord above have to be our focus in the face of evil. Fear undermines faith. It is hard for us to do anything when we are in fear. So let us march forward as a parish family with this short verse from the gospel on our lips and in our hearts. STV will do everything it can to keep our parish family safe. And we will trust God that He will give us what is best for our salvation. Coming to church has always been an act of defiance in a way. We live in the world, but we strive not to be consumed by the world, and we show this when we come to God’s House and affirm that we desire to follow the gospel. Like that gospel phrase noted immediately above. The Christian life was called “The Way” in ancient times. This is the Way: to be in God’s Church as often as we can be, and to trust Him that He will give us what is best for our salvation.

Please REACH OUT anytime with questions. May the Lord grant those who died yesterday a place in His Kingdom, and comfort to the grieving. And may He continue to bless us at STV in our striving to be a community that trusts His providence, and works together with Him for the best possible outcomes for our parish family in this life and the next!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory 

Questions: Relics, Holy Communion, Moving at Liturgy

Friends,

I have been asked a few questions lately about Orthopraxis. We haven’t talked about this for a while, so I thought I would write a short note for Blogtushka to address these, and invite an ongoing conversation in this regard. Our priests are always happy to answer your questions. But sometimes you stump us. :) In this case we aren’t going to just make up an answer – we are going to tell you we don’t know, find the answer, and get back to you.

The first question is about venerating relics. We venerate relics just as we would venerate an icon. Make the sign of the cross twice, venerate the relics, and make the sign of the cross again. For children in arms, we would touch their head to the relics or the reliquary – just as with an icon. The question came from the visit of the relics to our parish a few weeks ago with Archbishop Gabriel’s blessing. We are all facing East during the Divine Services, so I don’t see what is happening behind me. Apparently there were some rather inventive ways that the relics were venerated at STV. We applaud creativity in many parts of our lives, but not this one. :) We should seek to venerate relics, icons, etc., just as Orthodox Christians always have. It is good for us to have a default that we do as our fathers and mothers in the faith have always done, unless there is a VERY GOOD reason to deviate from this stream of faith that flows from generation to generation.

The second question is: what time we should arrive to the Divine Liturgy if we plan to partake of Holy Communion? But first, let’s take a step back and cover: when should we arrive to the Divine Liturgy period? The answer is, as a rule, BEFORE the Liturgy begins. Ideally we should arrange for our prosphora, light our candles, and be standing in our place when the Deacon intones the beginning of the first litany. If you have little ones, you are sick, or something of that sort, of course you might come a bit later. It is better to come late and stay to the end than to come early and leave early. Liturgy at STV lasts two hours approximately. One seven-day week has 168 hours. That two hours is 1.2% of the week. Let’s give every little bit of that 1.2% to God if at all possible. 

But – what if I am running late and I have read all the prayers, gone to confession, fasted, and am planning to partake of Holy Communion? Life happens. This is understood. The demons especially work hard when we are planning to do something good, and there is really nothing better we can do for ourselves than partake of Holy Communion. A good rule of thumb is: if you are at STV in time to hear the Gospel reading then you are good to partake of communion. If not – then not. This is a RULE OF THUMB. It is not necessary for you to police your brothers and sisters in this regard. We have no tactical team of enforcers at STV and we don’t want one. We are talking now about YOU. Not about your neighbor. There are those that come late with a blessing for various reasons. You don’t have to worry about those reasons. You take care of you. And if folks with little ones can’t quite make it for the Gospel we are not going to keep the little ones from partaking of communion. This is a rule of thumb for adults.

And now, a final Orthopraxis question that I am sometimes asked, and that we all struggle with. So I think good to review here. What to do with myself during the Liturgy? I mean, I am standing there, but can I move? And if I move when can I move? And finally, what do I do with myself when I am standing there and the Holy Gifts are consecrated, are brought forth for communion of the faithful, etc.? This sounds like a huge answer! I can’t take any more Fr. Gregory! Thankfully, this one can be answered by the two posters below. Please review those and let me, Fr. Colin, or Fr. Vladimir know if you have questions. Note the one about prostrations: no prostrations on knees on Sunday (except for very rare exceptions). On Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, we commemorate our adoption by God as His sons and daughters. Yes – we need to continually strive to actualize that adoption, but because of this spiritual kinship we do not prostrate to the ground on Sunday. Every other day: we do. We just don’t come to church on weekdays that often, so prostrating to the ground seems like an exception. Actually, the exception is NOT prostrating to the ground on Sundays.

WHEN YOU CAN MOVE AT LITURGY

WHEN TO MAKE PROSTRATIONS AT LITURGY

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory 

How Not to Fall to Idolatry in the Midst of Civic Grief

Friends,

I think the piece below is well done (thanks to Fr. Colin for sharing it with me), and so no need to recreate the wheel by writing something myself. A few comments from me at the end though, which I hope provide some value.

===

American politics is NOT divided as people claim, it is a SINGLE hellmouth that is devouring us all. 

We use the term "spirit" to describe movements so often that we don't think of the meaning of the word. American spirit, team spirit, holiday spirit. A spirit is something that acts upon us and leads us to actions that are not directly related to us as individuals, to act on behalf of a collective. 

When it comes to matters of spirit, there is no moral neutrality, a spirit can only be aligned with God or against God, and we can discern the spirit based on the impact it has on the world. A spirit that moves us towards God by inspiring selflessness and humility is a Saint or an angel. 

But a spirit that guides one to act upon, what St. Augustine called the libido dominandi, "lust for power", is ALWAYS a fallen spirit. When a crowd is motivated to storm the Capitol, it is a fallen spirit. When someone shoots a public figure that they falsely believe is their enemy, it is a fallen spirit. When people mock a murder or call for revenge, it is a fallen spirit.

The most dangerous and demonic lie in America today is that the other side is a threat to you. The people on the other side of the aisle will take away our rights and harm the innocent. We have judged them culpable, and we must put an end to them before they put an end to us.

But we "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." No man is ever truly your enemy, they are being led by a fallen spirit just like any of us are. Donald Trump is not your enemy, Gavin Newsom is not your enemy. Neither are Netanyahu, Elon Musk, Zohran Mamdani, and neither was Charlie Kirk. 

The ones who bring you to court or even kill you are not your enemies, just as Christ didn't see us as enemies when we tried and crucified Him.

Your enemy is the spirit of MAGA, the spirit of progressivism, the spirits of the Democratic and Republican parties. Your enemies are the spirits of Wall Street, Marxism, Zionism, antisemitism, white nationalism, Critical Race Theory, revolution, conservatism, feminism, the manosphere... 

When you place your faith in any of these things you are acting like the Grand Inquisitor in Brothers Karamazov, who told Jesus Christ "we don't need you anymore, we have made something better". All of these ideologies and theories are attempts to impose our own will and our own vision on the world, our libido dominandi. "Humility, Love, and Beauty will not save the world, our schemes will, we just need to devour anyone in our path". 

There is no division in American politics, all sides are offering you the exact same thing, the world in exchange for your soul.

By Louis Marx

Shared by Fr. John Hogg on Facebook

===

Perhaps this excellent piece could only be improved by a short addition from C.S. Lewis’ posthumously published “Christian Reflections”:

“There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.”

Let us then fight only for the ideology that is truly existential, the only party we have as Orthodox people: Christ. If Christ is not driving the narrative of our lives, something needs to be corrected - in us. And if we are not striving to have Christ abiding solely in our hearts, how can we share Christ with others? Historically, mankind is tempted to idolatry. To put something – anything – between us and God. For Christians, who know idolatry is wrong, the idolatry of kings is particularly tempting. We know not to bow down to a statue, but to bow down to worldly power seems harder for us to resist.

Let us remember those who have died that the Lord makes us aware of. If He allows us to know their names, like the name of Charlie Kirk who was assassinated yesterday, then it means He is calling us to pray for them. If they are not Orthodox, let us remember them in our private prayers. Ours is to pray and ask the Lord to give what is best for the salvation of all. He will take care of the rest if we can focus squarely on Him and… “Trust ye not in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.” (Psalm 145)

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

Time to Start the Transition to the New Generation!

Some years ago our previous generation of leaders was unable to continue in their positions of leadership. So Fr. Gregory went to seminary to fill that need. Other of our (then) young people stepped up and took on other leadership positions in our parish. The generational transition worked, with some hiccups, not because the previous generation was so desirous of it, but because it had to happen. But we don’t want to do it that way again. We don’t want you to have to put us in the ground before you step up. We want to share with you what we’ve learned. We know you won’t do things exactly the same way we do, but we at least want to share what we do as leaders so at least SOME of it will be useful for the next generation. But, although we do mostly know where you live, we aren’t going to steal you away in the night and make you take a leadership position. At the same time – we want to start this transition NOW – so it is MUCH easier than it was when we took leadership positions in the parish. We don’t think of ourselves as old – but that time is around the corner. Step up now! Begin to dip your toe into parish leadership. We want to replace ourselves! Help us do that! Let’s start this generational transition NOW, so that when you do put us in the ground you won’t curse us, but pray for us. Just as we will pray for you if we find favor before our Lord. This is how it works – generation to generation. But NOW is the time to begin. Contact Fr. Gregory, Brendan, or any of our parish council members to learn more about how you can help.

Pascha Party Thank You!

SEE THE PICTURES & VIDEOS HERE

Dear Friends,

Christ is Risen!

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us at our home last night for our Pascha party, and to those who could not come but who sent best wishes. A special thank to those who prepared the program marking the 30th anniversary of my ordination. That was very kind, a total surprise, and I appreciated your efforts very much!

I didn’t get a chance to say anything, which is fine. You get too much Fr. Gregory already as it is. :)

But I did want to say just a few things, so I’ll do that here. 

First, I am thankful to God for His great mercy in allowing me to serve at the Holy Altar for these 30 years. It is not because of my own qualities that I have been a priest this long, but only because of God’s mercy.

Second, there is no way I would have made it 30 days, much less 30 years, without Liza. To be a priest is hard work, to be sure. But to be a priest’s wife is unquestionably harder. And she has fulfilled her labors with grace and love for all these years. I am forever thankful for her endless sacrifice. My mother told us when we asked their blessing to be married, "if you marry him you'll be a saint!". May the Lord grant it.

Third, it is never the captain or coach of the team, but rather THE TEAM, that wins the victory. Any good thing that I may have accidentally accomplished despite my great shortcomings is because of those who are part of our STV team. Not because of me personally. I am thankful that the Lord has blessed our parish richly – with great leaders that have brought us to great places. And I am confident that our leaders will bring us to even greater places in the future in this life, and through this outstanding leadership in this life, will help facilitate the greatest accomplishment for our parishioners: the Heavenly Kingdom. This is why we are here. Everything we do as a parish family can and must lead to the Chalice. And if we make our Communion with God the center of our lives here – then the Heavenly Kingdom will be our true Homeland. May we continue our pilgrimage in this life with zeal and love for Christ and His Church, and through our efforts and God’s mercy, enter His Kingdom.

No one is promised tomorrow. Our Evening Prayers allude to this and this is good – that we understand we must do good and live as Christians now. Only the fool says “I will begin tomorrow.” Let us begin today! Now! To put away the things which bind us to the earth and embrace those things that lead us to Heaven! Not that we should leave our families, or our labors, but rather that ancillary worldliness that makes idols of so many things. That is, that makes us put so many things in front of God. 

One cannot say everything in such a note as this. And so I will end. But I will say finally: please remember me and my family in your prayers. By your prayers I have hope that we can continue to serve our STV family for many years. We have a GREAT team! I’m thankful to have the opportunity to lead that team, and prepare those on the team for what comes next. We have to train our replacements. :) If I do that, and all our leaders do that, we have be at peace that not only will STV continue long into the future, but that it will continue to improve with each generation. May the Lord grant it!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory 

Unofficial Car Sales at STV – New Church Fund Raising

A lot of fund raising and planning for a building project is about adopting a new paradigm. Right now our paradigm is: “I come to STV and everything is there for me – the building, the choir, the meals, the clergy, etc.”. All lights are on, the heat and AC works, etc. Obviously we all know that doesn’t happen magically – success only comes before work in the dictionary, and if we want to have a successful parish family we need to work for that success. And we do work for it. And we are thankful for those that make those efforts, pray for the workers, and all zeal for the glory of God and the good of His people.

But to get our brains around the fact that we have undertaken a new building project is perhaps a bit more challenging for us. That is not all bad of course. Struggle is good for our salvation on the whole, with some exceptions. But the work and success thing is true here too: if we want to adopt the new paradigm that we are focusing, laboring, praying, striving towards the completion of our new project we need to work! And we need to pray that the Lord will help us to adopt that paradigm.

I’m happy to report here that we have already made some headway in this regard. Fr. Colin reports that the little boys were trying to sell their toy cars on Sunday to support the new church project! “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings has Thou perfected praise.” (Communion Hymn Lazarus Saturday – Matthew 21:16)

The boys are on it. Sometimes the adults lead. And sometimes the youth. Thank God that our children are providing us a zealous example! Now, let us emulate them in our zeal for the glory of God’s House!

LEARN MORE/SUPPORT

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

Parish Council Resolution Regarding Fundraising for New Church

PARISH COUNCIL RESOLUTION REGARDING FUNDRAISING FOR NEW CHURCH

НА РУССКОМ НИЖЕ

At our parish council meeting Sunday, March 23, 2025 the council debated and discussed various approaches to the building of our new parish church. As all are aware, we have been making every effort to raise funds for the new project. This is happening both inside the parish, and broadly outside the parish as well. So far the there has been humble success. And we are thankful for that, ask your continued prayers, and that you consider how you might help support this project with your time, treasure, and talent.

Our practice in the past has been to gather enough funds to start a project and then in fact just begin, asking the Lord’s blessing and trusting that He will send the funds needed to finish the project if this is pleasing to Him. Thank God, so far we have done all the civil engineering work, parking lots, cemetery, and school based on this approach, as well as (a bit further back in our history) our kitchen expansion and our altar expansion. The Lord has blessed us richly as a parish family, and for this we should be thankful!

However, the new church and social hall is on another level of complexity and cost. We have never done anything that is going to cost us millions of dollars before. And so, based on very solid advice from parishioners who understand these things, we considered whether we needed to approach this project differently. Perhaps it was better to raise all the funds and THEN begin the project rather than just get started and hope the Lord would bless us as He has in the past?

After a lengthy discussion and debate, the parish council made its decision, which is below. In the end, we decided to trust more in the Lord. Which is the scarier path from an earthly point of view, to be sure. But we simply could not ignore the past record of our accomplishments, which were not due to our wisdom or effort, but simply to trusting in God and hoping that our labors would be blessed by Him – as they always have been. Past success is not a guarantee of future success, however, and in effect we are challenging our parish family to do as we always have – trust radically in the Lord and work as hard as we can, cooperating with Him for His glory.

RESOLUTION: “The Parish Council would prefer to raise $4 million (the present estimated cost of the project), hire a contractor, and build the new church all at once, but we understand that this may not be  possible. Therefore, we have decided that if by May 29th, the feast of Ascension, we do not have the needed funds, we will start building our new church project in phases and raise money concurrently, as we have in all past building projects. We feel it is better to begin the construction this year than to wait until we have all of the funds amassed.”

To be clear, if the Lord blesses us to gather the funds we will of course see that blessing as His instruction to us: hire a big local contractor and do all the work immediately. But if this is not His blessing, we will humbly accept this, roll up our sleeves, and get to work. As in all past parish building projects: WE NEED YOUR HELP! 

MOST IMPORTANTLY: we need your prayers! Not so much that we “get what we want”, but that we get what we need for our salvation. Please pray often, especially in times of doubt, that the Lord will send our parish family what is best for our salvation. If this is our common approach we are confident that indeed the Lord will bless us as HE sees fit, and we know that He cares more for our salvation even that we do.

Those who can volunteer time and talent are asked to reach out to our new Starosta, Brendan Hayden, at starosta@stvladimiraami.org.

Those who can volunteer treasure are asked to reach out to our Treasurer, Mikhail Fisenkov, at treasurer@stvladimiraami.org.

DONATIONS TO THE NEW BUILDING FUND MAY BE MADE HERE/MORE INFORMATION

Those who have have questions are asked to reach out to me at ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org.

This is our biggest project ever! I am confident that, following our past practice of radically relying on the Lord to bless our endeavors, He will in fact bless us here also: whether that blessing is to build a new church and hall, or to humbly accept that this is not His will. We pray many times per day “Thy will be done…” - let us have this as our approach to our new building project! In this way we can have great hope that we will be laboring to do God’s will. And as your priest, I could never hope for anything more than that, since zealously doing God’s will clearly places on the path to His Kingdom, which I wish for all of you. May this project be not for our glory, but for the Glory of God!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

РЕЗОЛЮЦИЯ ЦЕРКОВНОГО СОВЕТА ОТНОСИТЕЛЬНО СБОРА СРЕДСТВ ДЛЯ СТРОИТЕЛЬСТВА НОВОЙ ЦЕРКВИ

Во время собрания церковного совета в воскресенье, 23-го марта 2025 г., обсуждался вопрос о различных путях подхода к строительству нашей новой церкви. Как всем вам известно, мы прилагаем усилия для сбора средств для нового проекта. Это происходит как внутри прихода, так и широко за его пределами. До сих пор, успех был незначительным. Но мы благодарны и этому. Просим ваших молитв и возможности подумать как вы можете помочь в поддержке проекта вашим временем, сбережениями и талантами.

Наш предыдущий метод был таким - собрать необходимые средства для начала воплощения какого-либо проекта и затем просто начать, прося Божиего благословения и уповая на Него в том, что Он пошлет нам средства для завершения проекта, если это Ему угодно. Слава Богу, к настоящему моменту, мы завершили все инженерные работы, парковки, кладбище и школу, основываясь на этом подходе, также как и (немного вглубь нашей истории) пристройку к кухни и расширение алтаря. Господь щедро благословил нас как церковную семью и за это мы должны быть очень благодарны!

Однако, строительство новой церкви и общественного здания, это уже другой уровень сложности и затрат. Мы никогда ничего не делали такого, что стоило бы нам миллионы долларов. И потому, основываясь на совете со стороны прихожан, на собрании церковного совета мы рассматривали вопрос: должны ли мы подойти по другому к этому проекту. Возможно было бы лучше собрать все надлежащие средства и ЗАТЕМ начать строительство вместо того, чтобы просто начать с надеждой на Господа, что Он благословит нас как Он и делал до этого.

После длительного обсуждения и прений, церковный совет принял решение, которое предлагается ниже. В конце концов, мы решили больше уповать на Господа. Со всех земных точек зрения, это, несомненно, пугающий путь. Но мы просто не могли игнорировать результаты всех наших предыдущих достижений, которые были не результатом нашей мудрости и стараний, но простого упования на Бога и надежды, что наши труды будут Им благословленны - как они всегда и были. Прошлый успех - это не гарантия успеха будущего, однако, мы бы хотели побудить нашу приходскую семью сделать то, что мы всегда делали - совершенно уповать на Господа и трудиться изо всех сил, взаимодействуя с Ним во славу Божию. 

РЕЗОЛЮЦИЯ: «Церковный совет предпочел бы собрать 4 миллиона долларов (цена строительства на настоящее время), нанять строительную компанию и сразу же построить церковь, но мы понимает что это может быть невозможно. Поэтому, мы приняли решение, что если до 29-го мая 2025г., праздника Вознесения, у нас не будет необходимых средств, мы начнем строительство пошагово и параллельно с этим, будем собирать средства для дальнейшего продолжения работ, как мы и делали в прошлом. Мы думаем, что лучше начать строительство в этом году, чем ждать пока у нас будут все необходимые средства».

Для ясности - если Господь благословит нас собрать средства, мы, конечно, видя, что это Его благословение, сразу же наймем местную строительную компанию и сделаем всю работу таким образом. Но если этот путь не будет Его благословением, то мы засучим рукава и будем работать. Как и во всех прошлых проектах: НАМ НУЖНА ВАША ПОМОЩЬ!

САМОЕ ВАЖНОЕ: нам нужны ваши молитвы! Не то что « нам надо то, что мы хотим», но то, что у нас будет то, что необходимо для нашего спасения. Пожалуйста, молитесь часто, особенно во время сомнений о том, что Господь пошлет нашей приходской семье самое лучшее для нашего спасения. Если это будет нашим общим подходом, мы уверенны, что, несомненно, Господь благословит нас, как Ему угодно, и мы знаем, что Он заботиться о нашем спасении больше, чем мы сами. 

Тех, кто может пожертвовать временем и талантами, мы просим обращаться к нашему старосте, Брендану Хейдену (Brendan Hayden) по электронной почте starosta@stvladimiraami.org

Тех, кто может пожертвовать сбережениями, мы просим обращаться к нашему казначею, Михаилу Фисенкову по электронной почте treasurer@stvladimiraami.org

ПОЖЕРТВОВАНИЯ НА СТРОИТЕЛЬСТВО НОВОГО ЗДАНИЯ МОГУТ БЫТЬ ОКАЗАНЫ ЗДЕСЬ, ЗДЕСЬ ЖЕ МОЖНО НАЙТИ И ДОПОЛНИТЕЛЬНУЮ ИНФОРМАЦИЮ

Тех, у кого есть вопросы, мы просим обращаться ко мне по электронной почте ogrisha@stvladimiraami.org

Никогда еще у нас не было такого большого проекта! Я уверен, что следуя нашему предыдущему опыту полностью уповать на благословение Господа нашим начинаниям, Он, действительно, благословит нас также и здесь: либо благословением на строительство новой церкви и общественного здания, либо, если на то нет Его воли, тем, что мы смиренно примем это. Много раз в день мы молимся «Да будет воля Твоя…» - давайте это будет нашим подходом к новому строительному проекту! Таким образом, у нас будет большая надежда, что мы будем трудиться по воли Божией. И как ваш священник, я не могу иметь большей надежды, чем эта, т.к. ревностное выполнение  воли Божией, несомненно, поставит нас на путь, ведущий в Его Царство, чего я желаю всем вам. Пусть этот проект будет ни для нашей славы, но для славы Божией!

С просьбой о ваших молитвах,

о. Григорий.

Annual Meeting 2024 Materials

Friends,

The 2024 parish meeting is set for Sunday, February 10/23, 2025 during annual bili dinner, immediately following the Divine Liturgy that day. To participate and vote in the meeting you must be a member of the parish - more information is here.

The agenda for the meeting is very full, and we value your time. In this regard, we will not give presentations on the reports below at the annual meeting, but rather, we offer them here so that you can read them in advance. Each report will be assigned 5 minutes for questions and answers. Reports will be posted here not later than 9:00 p.m. on Friday, February 14, 2025. If you would like to ask your question in advance, please DO SO USING THIS FORM. Answers to questions asked in advance will be posted AT THIS LINK.

Annual Meeting Letter & Agenda - UPDATED

Rector's Report

Starosta's Report

Treasurer's Report

Sisterhood Report

Brotherhood Report

Youth Group Report

Church School Report

Ann Arbor Orthodox Classical Academy Report

Membership Report*

Building Team Report

Social Outreach Parish Report

Property Purchase: MAP ~ FINANCIALS

We are ALWAYS open to the suggestions of our parish family! We know that there are great ideas in our community about how we can improve ourselves. But MOST OF THOSE IDEAS STAY IN PEOPLE'S HEADS, and that doesn't help anyone! So - share your ideas! Use the form found here to make a suggestion. We take these very seriously, and we thank you in advance for sharing your great ideas with us!

STV Suggestion Form

*No posting here – will be available for review by members of the parish at the annual meeting.  

Water Blessing is Evangelism

Friends,

Congratulations on the feast of the Lord’s Baptism!

In fact, this feast is MUCH MORE than the Lord’s Baptism – it is in fact the feast of “God Appears”, that is, Theophany, Epiphany, Богоявление. All those words mean the same thing: God Appears. And this is because it is not just Jesus Christ being baptized in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist, but rather, the Holy Spirit also descends in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father is heard. That is, our God, the Holy Trinity, appears to mankind. We do not worship some far away and unknown deity – we worship the True God – the Holy Trinity – One God in Three Hypostases (Persons). The God who is Love, in the words of St. John the Theologian.

Nice. Interesting. Perhaps even inspiring. But what does that mean to us? That is, are we talking about abstract information here, or is there a call to action?

Of course there is a call to action! :) Jesus Christ said “I came not to be served, but to serve.” And if we bear His name, as Christians (which we do in case you are not sure about that), then we must serve too! Sometimes that means we feed the hungry, or clothe the naked, or visit those in prison, etc. That is, we act on a person directly in our service. Sometimes that means we act in community. And the feast of the Theophany gives us a GREAT opportunity to act as a parish family every year!

How so? As we sanctify the waters of our parish and our Michigan! The full schedule of those water blessings can be found here, and we encourage everyone to participate:

SCHEDULE OF GREAT BLESSING OF WATER

BUT – that “we encourage everyone to participate” means, to most people, that SOMEONE ELSE will be doing this participating. Not me. That is for someone else. 

And I get it – everyone is busy. But let’s return to the concept above for a moment: if I am a Christian, if I bear the name of Christ, then I need to serve.

And we have an important opportunity for you to serve our neighbors coming up this Sunday. EVERYONE (not someone else – you) should participate. I repeat: everyone.

At 2:00 p.m. we will bless the waters at Mill Creek in Dexter. We need you there. The idea of the Mill Creek water blessing is to provide a HUGE turnout of our parishioners and make a very positive impact on the people of Dexter. We'll have crosses, banners, singing, etc. If we do this right we will gain new parishioners and friends. If we have 3.5 people there it will be an embarrassment. So I think we need to focus on this since this is the sort of thing we will answer the Lord for. 

We’ll gather at 1:55 p.m. (American time – please do not be late) for a procession from the parking lot to the place of the blessing. The village authorities are aware of this and support our efforts.

Dress warmly. The forecast is not terribly cold, but as we stand and pray and sing for 30 minutes or so you’ll want to be dressed appropriately. A little suffering for the sake of Christ is fine – even good – but we are not doing this to torture ourselves. Rather, we are doing this to bring Christ to the people – the people that do not yet know Him. To show our neighbors that God has appeared to mankind, and to invite them to know Him by joining our parish family.

May the Lord richly reward our efforts in this regard!

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory

MAP - PARKING FOR MILL CREEK WATER BLESSING:

Daily Scripture - II Corinthians 7:10 and God's Gift

Friends,

This week we got a little bonus in our daily scripture readings. This verse ended Thursday’s Epistle reading and began Friday’s:

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (II Corinthians 7:10)

Whenever this happens, that is, that we have a little “repeat” like this in the scripture readings, I think (this is MY opinion – not a dogma of the Church) that it is good for us to take a closer look at what is there. It isn’t a mistake that the verse is repeated – so it probably means that something important is written that we should be attentive to.

This particular verse is rather clear – lots of exegesis is not needed. That being said, it is never bad to see what the fathers have to say about scripture!

Paul was regretful before he saw the fruit of repentance, but afterward he rejoiced. This is the nature of godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow, in contrast to this, is regret for the loss of money, reputation, and friends. That kind of sorrow merely leads to greater harm, because the regret is often a prelude to a thirst for revenge. Only sorrow for sin is really profitable. (St. John Chrysostom)

He who is sad according to God is sad in repentance for his sins; sorrow because of one’s own iniquity produces justice. (St. Augustine)

This is truly the time of fruitful sorrow, so that we may lament the state of our mortality, the abundance of temptations, the stealthy attacks of sinners, the clash of desires, the conflicts of passions ever rebelling against good thoughts. On this account let us grieve; let us be sad because of this state of affairs. (St. Augustine)

...you cannot persuade the Judge during the time of the tribunal. It is possible for you to plead with the Judge before the time of judgment. (St. John Chrysostom)

The fathers quoted above make it clear that St. Paul is talking about repentance as a kind of godly sorrow. This is quite important for us as Orthodox Christians. There are many differences between Orthodox Christianity and the various iterations of Western Christianity. Some of those are quite deep, others are less so. But this difference, our focus on repentance (many of the fathers repeat again and again that this life is given to us as a time for repentance), is perhaps the deepest and greatest difference. Frankly speaking, the concept of repentance has been lost in the west. None of our leaders (or others in the elite classes such as celebrities, oligarchs, etc.) ever seem to be a model in this regard. Rather, they seem to focus on one of our great human sinful super-powers: self-justification. Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, have repentance front and center in our lives and strive to fight against self-justification. Perhaps this is because the first instructions the Lord gave to the disciples after His Resurrection was this:

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:21-23)

He we see the Lord establishing a new law – a new spiritual way. No longer must we bring animal sacrifices as a way to make up for our sins. Rather, God FORGIVES our sins if we repent. This is radical, incredible, novel! This is not found in ANY other religion in the world. Only Christianity offers us this path of forgiveness. The sins are gone! But we have some work to do on our part...

As with all our spiritual life, we work TOGETHER with God towards our salvation. We do not wait for God to do the work, and we don’t try to do all the work without His blessing. This synergy of our effort and God’s Grace crowning that effort is how our spiritual lives work. At least how they work best. If we don’t have this approach we aren’t going to make much progress at all quite frankly. Salvation is not knowledge. Salvation is not effort. Salvation is theosis – transfiguration – transformation: our sincere struggle + God’s Grace. There are many ways in which this happens in our lives – we are striving to walk with God all day every day – in every waking moment. As St. Paul says: pray without ceasing. But that is not an attainable reality when we begin the race. Most of our work and progress comes from trial, error, repentance, and learning from our mistakes. And this happens for most of us mostly through the sacrament of Confession. Which is really named Repentance. And thus we circle back to the verse from II Corinthians noted above.

Confession and forgiveness are GREAT gifts of God to us! Let us take advantage of these gifts more often! Reference to St. John Chrysostom above: let us persuade the Judge (that is, God) before the time of the tribunal (that is, the Last Judgment). The Church teaches us two important things in this regard:

ONE – we answer for our sins either in this life via Confession or in the next life at the Last Judgment in front of all the saints and the angels. The sins we confess here are GONE – we do not need to answer for these there and then.

TWO – one can only repent and be forgiven in this life. There is no repentance after death. We can be SORRY for what we have done and not repented of, but we cannot be forgiven there. 

So let us take advantage of God’s mercy and confess our sins here and now. None of us are promised tomorrow. We will probably see it, but some will not. Let us decide today that we will more often be at Confession, that we will more often partake of the Holy Mysteries, and that thereby we will more efficiently facilitate our transfiguration into the sons and daughters of God by His Grace. This is our privilege and gift – a gift the Lord Himself has given us. Let us not waste this gift, but rather use it wisely and often, engaging in the fight against vice with God’s help, and striving to replacing that vice with virtue!

Confessions are heard before, during, and after all Evening Services. Before Liturgy on Sunday morning by appointment, and at other times too.

FR. GREGORY APPOINTMENTS ~ FR. COLIN APPOINTMENTS

We have lots more resources in this regard on our web site – please have a look at your convenience:

CONFESSION AND COMMUNION AT STV

Let us continue to discuss! Share your thoughts in the comment section, ASK A QUESTION ON CURIOUS VLAD (which will finally return from its decadently long summer break in October), or attend one of our forthcoming Spiritual Discussions (more on those to come soon) at the church on some Sundays after our meal. 

Asking Your Prayers,

Fr. Gregory