St Thomas Sunday
Every year on St. Thomas Sunday, the Sunday after Pascha, we bless
graves. This is a century-old tradition in the Orthodox Church.
We started with the Divine Liturgy. It was windy, so we had to
pin down the Altar covers and cover the Chalice. The candles
did not stay lit for more than a second or so.
At the end of the Liturgy we had a procession with a Gospel
reading. This is something that most people in the parish
usually enjoy.
Then we had a wonderful lunch. As usually, Albert and his crew
did a fantastic job of cooking. Dr. Pat had games for the
children. When I saw her taking down after the game, I asked
her if she had a "game plan change." She informed me that the
games were played before we ate. She wanted to do them before
it starts to rain. Thank God it did not rain until after we
were home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

In this game Dr. Pat had children throw freebies through hoops with
icons on them. They had to identify the Gospel story in the
icon. |

I thought that Dr. Pat had a game plan change. |

Easter egg hunt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Blessing of graves. I made sure that we got Tekla Virvan's
grave. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

I love photograhing scenery. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Cutting up the the artos after Liturgy and procession |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|