A Meeting of the Clergy on the East Coast

On Friday, July 23/August 5, there was a clergy meeting held at the Monastery of the Holy Ascension in Bearsville, New York. Present were Metropolitan Pavlos, Metropolitan Moses, Bishop Christodoulos, Archimandrite Nikodemos, Archpriest George Kochergin, Presbyter Steven Allen, Priestmonk Damian, Priestmonk Maximos Marretta, and Presbyter John Somers. Special mention must be made of Protopresbyter Panagiotes Carras, Presbyter David Belden, and Presbyter Sergius Pellegrini who made the 10 hour drive from Toronto in order to be present also.

Among the items discussed were, the Monastery of the Holy Ascension as a spiritual resource and the plans for a new monastery church building. There was also a presentation on the Distance Learning Seminary and a discussion regarding future clergy and various other topics.

Classes for the seminary will begin September 1/14, 2011. All those who are interested in the seminary should log onto the seminary web site at http://www.3hierarchs.org.

This was the first clergy meeting of the G.O.C. in North America wherein Metropolitan Moses and the three priests from Toronto were present and our time together went quickly. Everyone agrees that we need to meet again to plan further collaboration within our Church.

Orthodox Awareness

A Brief History

In the early 20th century, the idea of promoting the union of Churches (Orthodox and heterodox) began to gain ground among circles in the Eastern Orthodox Church by establishing a "Communion of Churches" modeled on the League of Nations.

The Patriarchal Encyclical of 1920 foresaw a series of steps toward the “union of the Churches,” of which the first was the change of the calendar for the simultaneous celebration of feast days by all the “Churches.” The content of the encyclical was kept secret from the faithful and only after a few years became known. Read more...

Missions

Saint Matthew the Evangelist, Jonesboro, Arkansas

Jonesboro is a town located near the Eastern border of Arkansas, with a population of approximately 60,000. From a human standpoint, it’s not the most likely candidate for a traditional Orthodox mission, but for an Orthodox Christian who orders his priorities around Christ and His Church, it makes perfect sense. Read more...

Youth

2023 Youth Conference

Please join us for the 2023 youth conference in Chicago, IL! To learn more, visit the home page or visit the conference website.

Ask A Priest

Fasting

Q. There seems to be a lot of variation in how people observe fasting, but my confessor told me to fast from oil on Wednesday and Friday. Oil is a pretty vague category, though, and I was wondering if I could get a more explicit description of what kinds of food and drink are excluded on strict fast days. Read more...