As a new civil year will start soon: it is time to be aware of some available resources that the faithful will use throughout the year.
The Western Rite Vicariate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) makes its annual wall calendar available for the 2013 calendar year. It can be downloaded from the following webpage:
www.theorthodoxchurch.org/calendar.html
An important precision: “All of our Western Rite communities in ROCOR are on the old (Julian) calendar for liturgical purposes.”
The Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America has published its Ordo 2013. “This booklet is the official liturgical guide for all Western Rite parishes in the Vicariate. It contains directions for reciting the Divine Office and celebrating the Mass according to the calendar and use of the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. It contains rubrics for both the Rite of St. Gregory with the Monastic Diurnal, and the Rite of St. Tikhon with The English Office.” It is a 124 page long volume. It can be ordered in print ($ 13 + postage) or downloaded in PDF format ($ 4) through Lulu Press:
www.lulu.com/spotlight/frfenton
A daily calendar can be found online on the website of St. Luke’s Priory. And a print 2013 calendar can be ordered from Lancelot Andrewes Press.
In order to become familiar with the lives of the saints of the Orthodox Church, the faithful will also greatly benefit from reading the Synaxarion, i.e. the collections of lives of saints. Especially recommended is The Synaxarion; the Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church, by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra (7 volumes). It can be ordered from Orthodox bookstores (as a set, or as individual volumes), such as St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press and Bookstore in the United States or Alexander Press in Canada (download descriptive brochure).
