The Reverend Father Alex Shuter, Pastor

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Divine Liturgy is being streamed live, via YouTube.
Visit our YouTube Channel

11 AM Sunday mornings and on
Tuesday, Wednessday and Thursday at 8:30am.
Please join us from the safety of your home

In church we are Limiting to between 22 and 44 people in attendance at any one time.

We are able to accommodate more people in the community hall where Divine Liturgy
will be streamed live to the TV.

Please practice safe hygiene and
separation of at least 6 feet between people.

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How To Make A Spiritual Communion (pdf)

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Please remember to support our parish during these difficult times. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus will not stop the bills from coming in to the church. There are several ways to support your parish.

Checks can be mailed to:
Ascension of Our Lord
PO Box 5096
Williamsburg, VA 23188

You can also support the parish through this website, using the "Donate" button below. Using this method, you can either use a credit card or you can use PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account in order to make a donation through this link.

THANK YOU

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The Great Fast

The original purpose of the pre-Pascha fast (now known as The Great Fast, or Lent) was the fasting of catechumens who were being prepared for baptism and entry into the Church. However, it quickly became a time for those who were already Christian to prepare for the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. It is the living symbol of man's entire life which is to be fulfilled in his own resurrection from the dead with Christ. It is a time of renewed devotion: of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a time of repentance, a real renewal of minds, hearts and deeds in conformity with Christ and his teachings. It is the time, most of all, of return to the great commandments of loving God and neighbors.

it is important not to overlook the physical requirements of fasting, it is even more important not to overlook its inward significance. Fasting is not a mere matter of diet. It is moral as well as physical. True fasting is to be converted in heart and will; it is to return to God, to come home like the Prodigal to our Father's house. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, it means 'abstinence not only from food but from sins'. 'The fast', he insists, 'should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the members of the body': the eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip, the hands from acts of injustice. It is useless to fast from food, protests St. Basil, and yet to indulge in cruel criticism and slander: 'You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother'.

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Liturgy of the Presactified Gifts
Fridays at 5:30pm

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March 7, 2021
3rd Sunday of
the Great Fast
Veneration of the Cross

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The Sign of the Cross (audio)

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This Week's Liturgical Scripture Readings

Beginning March 7, 2021

	Readings
3rd Sunday of the Great Fast 11am Divine Liturgy	Heb 4:14-5:6	Mk 8:34-9:1
4th week of the Great Fast
Monday	Gen 8:21-9:7	Prov 11:19-12:6
Tuesday 8:30am Divne Lirurgy	Gen 9:8-17	Prov 12:8-22
Wednesday MID-LENT 8:30am Divine Liturgy	Gen 9:18-10:1	Prov 12:23-13:9
Thursday 8:30am Divine Liturgy	Gen 10:32-11:9	Prov 13:19-14:6
Friday 5:30pm Presantified Gifts	Gen 12:1-7	Prov 14:14-26
Saturday	Heb 6:9-12	Mk 7:31-37

Lectionary of the Byzantine Church for the entire year

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Many people have requested additioinal copies of the 25th Anniversary Divine Liturgy Booklet. A link is provided below, to a PDF edition.

25th Anniversary Divine Liturgy Book (pdf)

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Check out this Panaramic view of church interior.
This link will open a new window

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About Us

Ascension of Our Lord is a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. The church's ancestral origins are from Eastern (Slavic) Europe. The Byzantine Catholic Church follows the Holy Traditions of the Byzantine East, with roots in Constantinople, while maintaining union with the Catholic church of Rome. All services are conducted in English. Roman Catholics in good standing with the Church are free to receive the Holy Sacraments.

A Brief History

As the first Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church in Southeastern Virginia, the parish family first came together with a Divine Liturgy celebrated at St. Mary Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia on November 4, 1984, when Father John Lazarek began his missionary work. For four years, Fr. Lazarek travelled from Annandale, Virginia, to the Tidewater area to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.

In September of 1987, the mission purchased Greensprings Community Chapel. On February 4, 1988, Bishop Michael J. Dudick, D.D., The Eparchy of Pasasaic, granted canonical status to the newly-named Ascension of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church. On October 25, 1988, Father Edward G. Cimbala was assigned as the parish's first resident pastor.

In October of 1989, Father Edward Cimbala began his missionary work in Virginia Beach by founding Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church while continuing to serve the Williamsburg parish.

Today

Ascension parish has grown from a parish formed to meet the needs of the ethnic Byzantine Catholics of the area into a parish home for many residents who have come to love the Catholic traditions of the Christian East. God has blessed our parish over the years and we look forward to all that He has in store for us in the years to come!

To read more about Byzantine Catholics follow this link.

 

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!