The Reverend Father Alex Shuter, Pastor

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11 AM Sunday mornings and on
Tuesday, Wednessday and Thursday at 8:30am.

How To Make A Spiritual Communion (pdf)

Please remember to support our parish during these difficult times. There are several ways to support your parish.

You can put cash or envelopes in the donation bucket at the entrance.

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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August 1, 2021
TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
The procession of the Wood of the venerable and life-creating Cross. This feast was established in the reign of the Greek Emperor Manuel, as a memorial of Greek victory over the Saracens. The procession with the relic of the Precious Cross was made from the imperial palace to the church of Hagia Sophia; there the relic remained for fourteen days, and was then carried back in procession to the church in the palace grounds. The holy seven Maccabees, their mother Solomonia, and the elder Eleazar at Antioch in Syria, under Antiochus Epiphanes the king. For the sake of keeping the law of the Lord with unconquered faith, they were cruelly handed over to death with their mother. She suffered with her sons as they were martyred, one by one, and was crowned with them, as it is written in the second book of the Maccabees [2 Mac. 7]. Likewise is commemorated St. Eleazar, one of the first scribes, a man of advanced age. In that same persecution, refusing to eat forbidden meat on account of his love for the Torah of the Lord, he achieved a most glorious death rather than a shameful life; he voluntarily went to his punishment, leaving an excellent example of virtue.

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This Week's Liturgical Scripture Readings
Beginning August 1, 2021

	Readings
10th Sunay after Pentecost 11am Divine Liturgy	1 Cor 4:9-16	Mt 17:14-23
11th Week after Pentecost
Monday	2 Cor 2:4-15	Mt 23:13-22
Tuesday 8:30am Divine Liturgy followed by Moleben to the Theotokos	2 Cor 2:14-3:3	Mt 23:23-28
Wednesday 8:30am Divine Liturgy followed by Moleben to the Theotokos	2 Cor 3:4-11	Mt 23:29-39
Thursday 8:30am Divine Liturgy followed by Bible Reflection 6pm Rosary	2 Cor 4:1-6	Mt 24:13-28
Friday Transfiguration	2 Peter 1:10-19	Mt 17:1-9
Saturday	1 Cor 1:3-9	Mt 19:3-12

Lectionary of the Byzantine Church for the entire year

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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!