Saint Andrew's Orthodox Church

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion, Thou didst confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!

With sadness, we announced on Sunday that our brother +Robert (Bob) Skirkanich has fallen asleep in Our Lord, on Friday, March 29. Bob was a beloved member of our community for many decades, and will be dearly missed by all of us. For a prolonged period, he suffered with severe illness which he bore with grace. May he be an example to us, and may his memory be eternal!

We will gather as a community to bear him onwards with prayer on Thursday, April 4, with a memorial service (panikhida) at 6:00 PM, here at St. Andrew’s.

At Bob’s family’s request, his funeral will be held on Saturday, April 6, at St. John the Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut at 10:00 AM. Additional funeral details can be found in the below PDF provided by Bob’s family:

The lenten spring has come – the light of repentance! O brothers, let us cleanse ourselves from all evil, crying out to the Giver of Light: Glory to Thee, O Lover of man.

Let us begin the fast with joy!
Let us prepare ourselves for spiritual effort!
Let us purify our souls and cleanse our flesh.
Let us abstain from passion as we abstain from food,
Let us rejoice in the spirit and persevere with love,
That we may all see the Holy Passion of Christ, Our God
And rejoice in spirit at the Holy Pascha!

Included below is the 2024 archpastoral message of His Eminence, Archbishop Michael, on this, the beginning of Great Lent:

On January 19 – the feast of the Theophany of Christ according to the Julian calendar – our devoted brother in Christ, Reader Moses (Timothy) Traver, was blessed to begin his life as a novice at the monastery of the Holy Cross in Wayne, West Virginia. He will now labor there for a period of years before, if God wills it, being tonsured into the first rank of the monastic life, that of the ‘riassophore’.

Reader Moses was an integral part of our community, and he will be sorely missed. At the same time, we are reassured that: from within our parish family, God is working to call up monastic vocations; that Reader Moses is now fulfilling the plan God has set for him; and that he will now be praying constantly for us and for the whole world.

Prior to his departure, he spoke with Fr. John about his time in our parish community. This interview is included below.