Source: Ancient Faith Ministries If you are interested in how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected American Orthodox Churches, please take part in the live call-in show, “Coronavirus and Orthodox Parish Life,” on Ancient Faith Radio, Tuesday, April 28, 9 pm EST / 6 pm PST. To access the show, go to www.ancientfaith.com/live. Hosted by Fr. Thomas Soroka (St. Nicholas OCA Church, McKees Rocks, PA), Fr. Steven Tsichlis (St. Paul GOA Church, Irvine, CA) and I will discuss the recently released report “On the Eve of Easter 2020: Coronavirus and US Orthodox Christian Parishes.” How have parishes adjusted their liturgical services and small…
Browsing: America
Source: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly The Unity of the Orthodox Church in America Originally published in 1961 in St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, Volume V, Number 1-2. CLICK HERE to read the article in PDF format. Subscribe to St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly HERE.
Source: The Wall Street Journal As thousands close across the U.S., lively new congregations are taking their place. By Ericka Andersen As thousands of churches close across the U.S., many fret about the inevitable decline of faith in American life. Congregational demise is troubling, but underreported data suggest that fear of a secularizing America may be overwrought. A religious renewal could be on the horizon. It’s true that denomination-based churches—Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Catholic—have been on a downward slope for years. But nondenominational evangelical churches are growing in number, from 54,000 in 1998 to 84,000 in 2012, according to the Journal for…
Orthodox Christian Saints of North America
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Orthodox Christian Laity starts off the New Year by introducing a new feature on the OCL web site: Getting to Know our Orthodox Christian Saints who Lived, Labored and Served in America. This feature is dedicated to celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the granting of the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) in 1970. It is time for the clergy and laity to come to realize that the American Orthodox Experience is unique. Our unique new world geography has helped us create a multi-cultural Orthodox presence here. Even before there was structured church life here…
Source: The National Herald By Nicholas Karakas In the real world, mergers are formed almost daily among small, large and even billion-dollar firms, where details, objections, and culture have to be encountered, addressed and successfully overcome. These commercial er read mergers, secular pooling of interests, to flourish, have to overcome the differences of personalities, culture, styles, and in many cases, language. I am addressing the failure of the ethnic jurisdictions to unite in America. Any faithful can see through this shameful charade. No ethnic bishop wants to change his current style of living, his comforts, authority, and power. Ditto the…
Source: Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael Complacency is a subtle demon. It is the death of spiritual growth, the atrophy of inner vision and a vicious defender of falsity. Its foe is repentance — the life of children of the Resurrection. Most faithful Orthodox in America see no problem with multiple jurisdictions. Being Americans, we are multi-ethnic, multi-religion, multi-gender and multi-political, so our multi-jurisdictional mentality dances in step with our unrepentant secular mindset. We have fallen from an ecclesial mind and compromised our integrity in the quagmire of jurisdictionalism. Let us be ruthlessly honest with ourselves. Having more than…
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity Will YOU Play a Part? Have you considered including OCL in your long-term financial plans? Dear OCL Supporters and Friends, The Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) movement is the remnant of the optimism of the CEOYLA and GOYA movements which fostered and personified Orthodox Christian Unity. These groups peaked in the mid-20th Century and then were marginalized by the hierarchy in the 1970’s. OCL picked up where they left off and was formed in 1987. OCL is keeping its eye on the prize: Orthodox Christian Unity as The Way Forward. Otherwise, Orthodox Christianity in the USA will…
Source: St. Sebastian Orthodox Press THE SERBIAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE OF AMERICA: The Historical, Spiritual and Cultural Presence of the Serbian Diaspora in North America (1815-2019) A monumental book of the spiritual and cultural presence of the Serbian Diaspora in North America, published in celebration of the jubilee year and the 800th anniversary of the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church! The Serbian Christian heritage of America book consists of 1004 pages, in a hardbound, with over 1000 photos of the most important historical figures, churches, parishes, monasteries, frescoes, icons and other art objects. It contains professional texts of prominent historians,…
Jacopo Bassano, Lazarus and the Rich Man, c. 1550 (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds)
Source: Commonweal By John Chryssavgis At the latest G7 summit in Biarritz, U.S. President Donald Trump reassured the world that “our economy is creating jobs and helping the poor.” A similar confidence was expressed in a recent op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal. It was titled “Making Money is a Patriotic Act” (August 13, 2019). Signed by Bernie Marcus, a cofounder of Home Depot, and the New York City supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis, the op-ed opened with a striking, quasi-religious claim: “The two of us are quite rich. We have earned more money than we could have imagined and more…
The meeting included from Left to right: George Matsoukas, OCL Board Members Argo Pyle (President), Peter J. Petkas and George Karcazes (Vice Presidents) and Dr William Tenet, Advisory Board Member.
Source: Orthodox Christian Laity August 14, 2019 Eve of the Dormition of the Theotokos His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America 8-10 East 79th Street New York, New York 10075-0106 Your Eminence: We greatly appreciate the privilege of meeting with you on July 31st, so early in your ministry to the Church and its people here in America. We all felt that this was a most collegial and constructive meeting. We appreciated your openness and desire for us to be candid with you in return. We thank you for your hospitality. We thank you for…
The electrifying appearance of AB Elpidophoros upon the American scene, the waves of hallelujah, axios, the expensive dinners (no poor Orthodox allowed), as the non-stop gracious addresses have now subsided somewhat. Please remember that Christ came to us as a “suffering servant,” not groomed in pomp and perfection. Now begins the hard work of bringing the Greek Orthodox Church up to not where it was 25 years ago, but up to several levels above. If you had perused my article on the new AB, with the title of Axios Or?, You may understand where my position is. I am praying…
Source: The National Herald Our Greek Orthodox bishops who stumbled through incident after incident in their handling of sex abuse occurrences should come together, and along with the newly installed AB Elpidophoros, strengthen the sex protocol already previously established. Would they dare not to invite strong-voiced faithful, women and men, to such a meeting? Would not the meeting and the resulting document be immeasurably improved? This thought is highly unlikely to be considered, as it would be affront to the “God”-given power of the Bishops. Orthodox Christian women are orphans. They have no allies. Oh sure, there is the successful…