[ditty_news_ticker id="27897"] April, 2017 - Orthodox Christian Laity
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Monthly Archives: April, 2017

Source: Stewardship Calling The 7 Big Findings Regarding Youth and Emerging Adults and Religious Engagement, Education and Stewardship and What We Can Do As we celebrate our Lord’s glorious resurrection, it is difficult to think about why our youth and emerging adults may be leaving, and/or becoming disengaged from, traditional Christian churches in America at a record pace. These negative trends of church disengagement in the U.S. are well researched and may be more than just passing fads. If they signal an important shift in the attitudes of youth/emerging adults, the key questions include: “What are the causes?” and “What are…

Source: The National Herald TNH Staff (ANA) – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew spoke about reconciliation and the need to promote Christian unity during his visit to the ecumenical monastic order of Taizé in central France on Tuesday, in a first ever visit by an Ecumenical Patriarch. “To reconcile is above all to heal the evils of history, the scars of time, mutual misunderstandings, conflicts of memory, fratricidal hatreds. In this sense, the division between Christians to which we intend to respond by praying for the unity of the Churches is a spiritual wound, with shared responsibilities—whether accepted or not,” he said…

Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the USA The first ever, national study on evangelization and outreach in Orthodox parishes in the United States has been released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA. Download the report in various formats: Executive Summary (pdf) Full Report (pdf) The report “Go and Make Disciples: Evangelization and Outreach in US Orthodox Parishes” explores the practices and strategies developed by some Orthodox parishes that can be viewed as “exemplary” in their missionary and outreach efforts. Examples of what the readers will find in the report include: The “secrets” of being…

Source: The National Herald by Theodoros Kalmoukos MILWAUKEE, WI – Rev. John Ketchum, priest of the Annunciation Church in Milwaukee, WI, excommunicated Parish Council Treasurer Patricia Galanis at the beginning of Holy Week, on April 8, the Saturday of Lazarus, for reasons, he said, of “disobedience to the Ecclesiastical Authority, the priest of the parish.” Galanis is the wife of former AHEPA Supreme President John Galanis. The parish is upset and nine of the fifteen members of the parish council including the president, Dr. Clemens Stoeckl, have resigned collectively. The situation was more painful for the entire parish because the excommunication…

Source: Orthodox Christian Laity LAS VEGAS, April 21, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ — The Board of Directors of Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) adopted the following Resolution at its recently-concluded Board meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada: “OCL respectfully calls upon Archbishop Demetrios and the Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) to publish the ‘Reports’ of the Archbishop, Metropolitans and Priests of the Archdiocese required by the ‘Archdiocesan Regulations as Amended June 2014’ in Article 3, Section 1, Subsection C; Article 10, Section 2, Subsection B; and the following portion of Article 17, Section 1 [to wit: ‘…Priests are accountable to their…

Source: Christianity Today JAYSON CASPER IN CAIRO Amid ISIS attacks, faithful response inspires Egyptian society. Twelve seconds of silence is an awkward eternity on television. Amr Adeeb, perhaps the most prominent talk show host in Egypt, leaned forward as he searched for a response. “The Copts of Egypt … are made of … steel!” he finally uttered. Moments earlier, Adeeb was watching a colleague in a simple home in Alexandria speak with the widow of Naseem Faheem, the guard at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the seaside Mediterranean city. On Palm Sunday, the guard had redirected a suicide bomber through the…

Source: The Art of Transfiguration “Make no mistake, our little silkworm must die in order to become a butterfly, but the place where it dies is Christ.” – St Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle There is great spiritual hunger in our times. In fact there is far more spiritual hunger than most people realize. This is because our spiritual hunger is often awakened by an encounter with genuine spirituality. And as religion is increasingly forced out of the public sphere, we have to be very intentional to encounter the kind of wise voices that stir something within us. I…

Source: Salvo Magazine Special FREE SUBSCRIPTION offer for High School Seniors and College Students! 1-year (4 issues) FREE A generous donor who believes in the importance of Salvo has funded free subscriptions for students. Claim your subscription today before this offer expires! No catch! *What kind of material does Salvo have to offer students? See for yourself. Also consider giving a subscription to Salvo (4 issues + the Science & Faith issue for only $19.99) for any High School or College students that you know. Give Salvo! From the archives Some back to school reading from Salvo.…

Source: Solia – The Herald by Bishop THOMAS (Joseph) and Peter Schweitzer as presented at the Church of St Patrick, Warrenton, VA There is a common tendency in our Western culture to equate the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Orthodox Church to corporations which are institutional structures that are driven by commerce and production. In so doing, we equate bishops with CEOs and priests and deacons as mid-level managers. Accordingly, parish councils operate as ecclesiastical boards of directors, bishops operate at the pleasure of the parish councils, and priests and deacons implement the directives and goals set forth by the councils.  The adoption of this corporate…

Source: The National Herald By Dennis Menos The emergence of the Russian Church has the largest and most prestigious Church in Eastern Orthodoxy, after seventy years of persecution by a brutal and atheist regime that killed thousands of its clergy and desecrated its places of worship, should be a matter of pride to the entire Orthodox world. This accomplishment of the Russian Church, however,is not without troubling questions concerning its future posture and policies. Could the Russian Church, many skeptics wonder, encouraged by its newly gained power and prestige attempt to compete with Constantinople for influence over the Eastern Christian…

Source: OINOSConsulting.com Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here. by Frank Marangos D.Min., Ed.D. “Happy is that house which is visited by some royal personage. But more happy is the soul that is visited by the Queen of the world, the most holy Mary, who cannot but fill with mercies and graces those blessed souls whom she deigns to visit with her favors.” ~ Saint Alphonsus de’ Liguori In 626, while the Byzantine Emperor Heracleios was on a military expedition, a barbaric horde laid siege upon his territory’s defenseless capital. In desperation, the outnumbered citizens of Constantinople turned to…

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