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Orthodox News Top Stories
Source: Orthodox Christian Missions Center Celebrating 40 Years, Fr. Martin Ritsi, and Incoming Director Dr. Nathan Hoppe The Board of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center convened on Nov 18-19, 2025 at its headquarters in St. Augustine, FL for a very special semi-annual meeting. Highlights included recognizing our 40th year of service and celebrating the upcoming completion of Father Martin Ritsis’ 27-year tenure as Executive Director. The Board also welcomed the incoming Executive Director, Dr. Nathan Hoppe. In his report, Fr. Martin reflected on his ten years as a missionary in East Africa and Albania and his nearly three decades of service as Executive Director: “In the first years of OCMC’s history, the annual budget was only $100,000. There were just two missionaries and only a few staff members,” he said. “Today we have…
Source: Orthodox Volunteer Corps (OVC) Blessed Fast of the Nativity. As you begin your journey to Bethlehem, we invite you to walk a piece with OVC as well. Over the next forty days, we will share highlights from our first four years and glimpse into the next four. An early milestone on our path was October 2021. We traveled to Potomac, Maryland, to present a new idea to forty hierarchs at the annual meeting of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. We outlined a program of service: selective recruitment, matching process with service placements, weekly seminars on…
Source: Orthodox Church in America SOUTH CANAAN, PA [STOTS] St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary received a grant of $920,107.00 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Sowing for Plentiful Harvests program. The program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is intended to help theological schools across the United States and Canada strengthen their educational and financial capacities/programs and enhance their financial viability so they are better able to prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. The program,…
Source: Logos Cinema Phoenix, AZ — November 2025 — Logos Cinema, a newly launched Orthodox Christian media platform dedicated to producing and distributing high-quality films rooted in beauty, truth, and spiritual depth, proudly announces the addition of American Orthodox as one of its inaugural feature presentations. Produced and directed by author and filmmaker Robert John Hammond, American Orthodox explores the rediscovery of the ancient Christian faith within the modern world. The film follows Hammond’s journey across America—through monasteries, cathedrals, and wilderness hermitages—capturing the stories of converts, seekers, and saints who embody a living tradition of holiness and transformation. With stunning…
Source: Orthodox Observer Corinna Robinson From Nov. 4-6, the Huffington Ecumenical Institute (HEI) of Hellenic College Holy Cross (HCHC) hosted a conference entitled “Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches: Moving the Dialogue Forward.” Gathering leading scholars, hierarchs, educators, and students, the conference addressed past statements, current research and modes of co-operation, and outstanding obstacles. Conversation included theological, liturgical, and pastoral approaches. “The second half of the twentieth century saw many unofficial consultations and official meetings between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox church families. Their resulting documents—full of promise—were formally received by only a small number of churches from either side, while…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity On October 10-11, 2025, the Saints Constantine & Elena Orthodox Christian Parish in Indianapolis, Indiana, generously hosted Orthodox Christian Laity’s 38th Annual Meeting and Conference, themed “Orthodox Christian Unity in Action,” attracting over 50 participants. Click Here to view the event Program. Special thanks to OCL Board member William Caras for producing the video recordings and photos. Recordings of the Presentations are available below. Click Here to view the slides from Alexei Krindatch’s Presentation Gallery of the photos from the annual meeting and conference
Source: Orthodox Youth and Young Adult Ministries OYM recently had the opportunity to sit down with Jacob Sparks, a campus missionary with Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) serving the colleges of downtown Atlanta. Through Bible studies, reader services, one-on-one mentorship, and even creative solutions like an Uber fund to help students get to church, Jacob is working to bridge the gap between campus life and parish life. In this conversation, he shares how his own journey through OCF shaped his calling to ministry, the challenges of witnessing to Christ in an intense academic culture, and why the most meaningful evangelism often…
Source: Orthodox Observer The first panel of the Orthodox Observer’s conference “Do the Divine and Digital Intersect?” was entitled “Theological Responses to the Socioeconomic Implications of AI.” In it, Dr. Taylor Nutter and Dr. Mark Graves give presentations and participate in a Q&A with the audience.
Source: The National Herald By Ambassador Patrick N. Theros Notes and Comments on the Land Where Christ Lived, Died, and Was Resurrected Most Americans, even within our community, know little about the once-vast Christian populations of the Near and Middle East – communities that once outnumbered the Christians of Europe. Today, they survive only as scattered remnants, mostly single-digit minorities east of the Mediterranean except in Lebanon; even there, the numbers dwindle. Among the most endangered are the indigenous Palestinian Christians, whose extinction now seems possible. I recently spoke with Mother Agapia, a Russian Orthodox nun – an American who has…
Source: St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary Have you ever enjoyed a book published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press? Have you or has someone you know—perhaps your own parish priest—lived or spent time on campus, worshiped in Three Hierarchs Chapel, or listened to a lecture at the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium from some of the most renowned Orthodox theologians of our times? However you might have interacted with the Seminary, whatever building you stepped into, or whatever good things you might have seen come out of the Seminary over the past half-century—more than likely Theodore (Ted) Bazil played an instrumental role in making it…
Source: Orthodox Christian Attorney Network (OCAN) Washington state agrees to restore First Amendment rights of Orthodox priests Washington state recently entered a settlement ending a provision of its mandatory child abuse reporting law that would have criminalized priests upholding the sacred seal of confession. In May of this year, the state of Washington passed a law removing the clergy-penitent privilege under the state’s mandatory child abuse reporting law. The law would have required priests to breach the sacredness and confidentiality of confession or face criminal penalties including up to 364 days of jail time, a $5,000 fine, and civil liability. In…