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PARISH NEWS


ANNOUNCEMENTS SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2026

This coming Wednesday, March 18, 6 PM Presanctified Liturgy at St Michael Romanian Orthodox Church, Southbridge 

Sunday, March 22, 40-day Memorial for Alexandra Petro

Wednesday, March 25, 6 PM Evening Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Annunciation at St. Nicholas

Friday (3/27) Deanery Akathist at St Nicholas 6:30 PM. Please sign up to bring items for the Lenten Potluck dinner and dessert afterwards. The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall.

Sunday, March 29, General Confession and 1-year Memorial for Costa Rapo

Sunday, April 5, Palm Sunday



ANNOUNCEMENTS 03/08/2026

This coming Wednesday (3/11), 6 PM Presanctified Liturgy at St Nicholas
Next Sunday (3/15), Sunday of the Holy Cross (Mid Lent)
Friday (3/27) Deanery Akathist at St Nicholas 6:30 PM. Please sign up to bring items for the Lenten Potluck dinner and dessert afterwards. The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall.
The Lent-Pashka schedule can be found in the narthex at church, on our website, and attached to this mailing.


ANNOUNCEMENTS 02/08/2026


Thank you to all who contributed to our annual Sanctity of Life Sunday collections. We raised $850 for Problem Pregnancy in Worcester. PP is an entirely volunteer-run program. All funds go to support women and families in crisis pregnancies, bring their children safely into the world, and provide material resources (baby furniture, clothing, diapers, formula, along with rent and help with childcare options when needed). Our parish has given thousands of dollars over the past twenty-plus years to help in the ministry.


Next Sunday, February 15, we will sing the Memorial Service for all the departed members of our community. We will have a potluck mercy meal in the Parish Hall following the Liturgy. Please bring breakfast foods to share in memory of your beloved departed.



Also attached to this email is a flyer for the Pan-Orthodox Sunday of Orthodoxy liturgy at St. Spyridon’s in Worcester. It has been our practice to close and join more than a thousand other Orthodox for this liturgy. Please make it a high priority to be there. If you need a ride, let us know, and we can try to set up a carpool. It is truly a wonderful thing to be together with so many others on the Sunday that celebrates our common faith.



ANNOUNCEMENTS 02/01/2026
We did our first of two collections for Problem Pregnancy in Worcester (for the Sunday of Sanctity of Life). If you haven't given and would like to, we'll be collecting again next week. All of the funds go directly to helping mothers in crisis pregnancies to keep their babies. Anything from baby furniture to diapers and formula, or even rent payments for families in crisis pregnancies, is funded by people's donations. There are no paid staff; everyone who works for Problem Pregnancy is a volunteer.


Our annual icon auction was held today after a couple of weeks' delay due to snow.


The Memorial Saturday of All Souls will be celebrated on Sunday, February 15th (two weeks from today).


Our first Presanctified Liturgy of Lent will be on Wednesday, February 25th . We anticipate that we'll be alternating Wednesdays with St. Michael, as we have in the past.


Though it is a way out, St. Nicholas will hosting the Deanery Akathist service on Friday, March 25th
The full calendar for Lent and Pashka will be out soon.


Lastly, several of us from St. Nicholas attended the presentation of a relic of the Holy Cross at St. Michael Romanian Orthodox Church this past Friday. It was a profoundly moving experience to see hundreds of people in attendance and to venerate the Lord's cross and receive prayers for healing.





ANNOUNCEMENTS 01 04 2026


Next Sunday, January 11, 2026, The Great Blessing of Water following the Divine Liturgy


Sunday, January 18, 2026, The Icon Auction following the Divine Liturgy





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12 07 2025 bISHOP nIKODHIM'S VISIT FOR OUR PATRONAL FEAST dAY

His Grace, our bishop, Nikodhim, paid a visit to our parish for our patronal feast day today. The Hierarchical Liturgy was beautiful, and the ceremonies were unique to a bishop’s visitation. Our small choir sang superbly.

His Grace’s sermon focuses on the mercy of God toward the woman who had been tormented by a severe illness for 18 years. He mentions how some of the religious leaders were angry when Jesus healed her on the Sabbath, and how that shows us that God’s mercy is not limited to certain days. The leaders attempted to stand in the way, but the lesson for us is to become vessels through whom God’s mercy can flow—not for our own glory but for his.

Link to today’s Liturgy:  https://youtu.be/3v72X-bpZNU


Below: Daughters of St Nicholas with His Grace, Bishop Nikodhim, Father John Daly, and Father John Downie (St. Michael Romanian Orthodox Church, Southbridge)



ANNOUNCEMENTS 11 30 2025
  • We celebrated Albanian Flag Day with prayers and pictures today. The prayers can be found at the end of the Divine Liturgy, and the picture is attached to this email.
  • Next Sunday, our Hierarch and Shepherd in Christ, Bishop Nikodhim, will be with us to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and join us at our St Nicholas Dinner. We are all looking forward to being with him on that special day.
  • Our Nativity Collection for St Kosmas Academy will continue through Theophany. Thank you to all who have given to this wonderful venture of building the first Orthodox classical school in Worcester County. We hope to start with a Kindergarten class next fall. Eventually, the academy will go through high school. Your gifts are a great blessing.
  • The Tri Community Food Pantry is in great need of nonperishable foods (canned vegetables and fruit, cereal, pasta, and other items. Please be generous. This is a hard time of year for many people, and the fallout from the 40-day government shutdown is still being felt.

NATIVITY SEASON PROJECT 2025

SAINT KOSMAS ACADEMY COLLECTIONS


We will be taking collections for our new Orthodox Classical Education school which will be initially housed on the property of St. George Antiochian Cathedral in Worcester. 

The first class will begin next fall 2026 and we hope to have a full opening of the school beginning September 2027.