Community of Saint Michael

The following are the services this week for Great and Holy Week.

Even if you haven’t joined us in a while, we’d love to see you for part or all of the Holy Week services and for the Feast of Feasts! As St. John Chrysostom says in his Paschal Sermon: “He gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.”

Holy Thursday, Vesperal Divine Liturgy, 2PM

Holy Friday, Vespers, 2PM

Holy Saturday, Vesperal Divine Liturgy, 12 Noon (Blessing of Easter Baskets after Liturgy on Saturday)

Pascha (Easter), Matins and Divine Liturgy, 12 Noon

With gratitude to the Dominican Fathers, the services will be held at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, 411 East 68th St. between First Ave. and York Ave. The nearest subway stop is 72nd Street on the Q train. Note that on Saturday, but only Saturday, it may be difficult for us to admit latecomers to the Church, as it is scheduled to close to the public once our service begins at noon.

You can now donate to St. Michael’s online using Flocknote. (The page uses our legal name, “St. Michael’s Russian Catholic Chapel.”)

The web site has been updated. Please let me know if you find anything that’s incorrect or broken. — Reader Samuel

We will have the following Holy Week services:

• Vesper Liturgy of Holy Thursday: 6PM
• Holy Friday Vespers and Procession with the Shroud: 4PM
• Vesper Liturgy of Holy Saturday: 12 Noon
• Easter Matins and Easter Sunday Divine Liturgy: 12 Noon

We’re moving on up to the East Side!

We celebrated our last liturgy at 266 Mulberry Street February 3. But we’re going on!

Starting Saturday, February 9, we will celebrate services at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, 411 East 68th Street between First and York Avenues on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York.

Vespers will be Saturday at 6 o’clock in the evening and Divine Liturgy will be celebrated Sunday at 11:15 AM. The nearest subway stops are 72nd Street on the new Q line (2nd Ave Subway) or 68th Street-Hunter College on the 6 train (Lexington Ave line).

The link between Russian Byzantine Catholics and the Dominican Order (and St. Catherine of Siena!) goes back to the early days of the Russian Byzantine Church. Vladimir and Anna Abrikosova were early members of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church in Moscow in the early 20th century. They were Dominican tertiaries and then separated to enter religious life. Vladimir was ordained a priest and Anna became a third order regular Dominican taking the name Mother Catherine of Siena. Father Vladimir was eventually exiled and Mother Catherine died in a Soviet prison in 1936, imprisoned for practicing the faith. She is titled a Servant of God and her cause for canonization is open in Rome.