Dear Friends in Christ,

Greetings!
I want to tell you how delighted I have been and thankful for all of you who have been faithfully attending on Saturdays and Sundays in spite of the unfinished state of the new church. It is truly a testimony to your faithfulness and love for the Church!

However, I remain sad that we cannot go forward with a normal sort of Holy Week schedule. Due to the uncertainty of the construction schedule, as well as the potential hazards in the evening hours at church, it is impractical to try to hold the typical services. In addition, it would require the repeated set-up and take-down each day of our equipment, which is both time-consuming and laborious.
 
We will therefore hold the following services:
 
Saturday, April 24 -- Vespers with Blessing of Palms at 5:00 PM, confessions following.
Sunday, April 25 -- Divine Liturgy of Palm Sunday/Entry of the Lord in Jerusalem at 9:30 AM
 
Great and Holy Saturday, May 1 -- 3:00 PM: Baptism and Chrismation of Elias Eby and Margaret Johnson
PLEASE NOTE THE TIME: Sunday of Holy Pascha, May 2 -- Paschal Divine Liturgy at 9:30 AM, followed by Blessing of Baskets and paschal feast
 
As you can see, we are NOT holding the typical midnight services for Pascha this year. I realize this is not what we normally hope for and expect but it would be imprudent to try to hold such services under the circumstances. With God's help, next year we will be "fully functional" in our beautiful new church.
 
I encourage all of you, if you wish, to go to one of the other Orthodox parishes in San Antonio, Lockhart, or Austin for the weekday services--but please do join us for our Saturday and Sunday services.
 
Building Update
 We are finally at the stage of the final review for the issuance of the complete building permit. Everything up until this point has been piecemeal. The final mechanical inspection (i.e., largely the HVAC system) was passed (with minor corrections required) on Tuesday. The corrections have been made, and the inspector has approved beginning to fill the insulation prior to covering the interior walls. We can reasonably expect a final construction push to begin--during Holy Week!
 
Other notes
Thanks to the efforts of some of our members, we will have generator power available until the building is fully electrified. That means that this week and next week, if you want to bring any sort of hot dish for trapeza/fellowship, power to keep your device hot will be available.
 
Thank you all again for your generosity and perseverance!
 
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Christopher

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