Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania

Fr. Jason Franchak newly installed at Pottstown

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Presanctified Liturgy, Minersville

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Sunday of the Cross: Frackville Deanery Mission Vespers‏

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Lenten Retreat with OCMC Missionary Nathan Hoppe

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Iconography complete at All Saints

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Mission Vespers, Holy Trinity

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Sunday of the Holy Cross, Jermyn

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Wilkes Barre Deanery Mission Service

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Frackville Deanery Mission Service

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Lenten Pastoral visit to Shillington

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Presanctified Liturgy in Edwardsville

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

STS Mission Choir visits Harrisburg

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Christ the Saviour assembles IOCC Health Kits

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Scout Sunday and Haiti Relief in Mechanicsburg

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

OYAA Winter Retreat

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

FOCA Youth Retreat

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

His Grace invited to serve at Georgian Orthodox Church

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Ordination at St. Stephen's Cathedral

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

His Grace makes pastoral visit to St. Nicholas Philadelphia

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

March for Life and other events in Washington D.C.

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Installation of the 16th Abbot of St. Tikhon's Monastery

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Guest Speaker coming to Christ the Saviour‏

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

"What's Faith got to do with it?” On Sunday, April 25th at 5pm, Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church (5501 Old Locust Lane, Harrisburg, PA) will be welcoming guest speaker Fr. Victor Gorodenchuk (Dean of St. Stephen Cathedral in Philadelphia, PA and Soviet educated physicist). He will be offering an Orthodox response to Atheistic and Religious world-views, as well as speak about evolution, the big-bang theory, and biblical criticism. The talk is open to the public and FREE of charge. This is an excellent opportunity for us to invite family members and friends who may be struggling with issues of religion and science, as well as faith and atheism.

Orthodox Spiritual Life and the Environment Symposium

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

St. Tikhon's Seminary, the OCA Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, and the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration will present a two-day dialogue on "Orthodox Spiritual Life and the Environment" on April 16-17.

All are welcome, participation can be for one day or two, and limited accommodations are available in Seminary dormitory space.

Featured speakers/facilitators include:

--Igumen Sergius Bowyer, abbot of St. Tikhon's Monastery and music instructor at St. Tikhon's Seminary.

--Dr. Bruce (Seraphim) Foltz, philosophy professor at Eckerd College, a founder of SOPHIA, the Orthodox philosophical association; author of "Inhabiting the Earth: Heidegger, Environmental Ethics, and the Metaphysics of Nature," and co-editor of "Rethinking Nature: Essays in Environmental Philosophy"

--Father Andrew Damick, pastor of St. Paul's Antichian Church in Emmaus, PA, and author of the "Roads from Emmaus" and "Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio, as well as of the blog "Roads from Emmaus."

--Protodeacon Sergei Kapral of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre, PA, a member of the National Council of Churches Commmittee on Eco-Justice.

--Fred Krueger, executive director of the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration, environmental activist and leader in the ecumenical "creation care" movement in the U.S.

--Dr. Alfred (Kentigern Pavlos) Siewers, associate professor of English, and Nature and Human Communities coordinator, at Bucknell University's Environmental Center; author of "Strange Beauty: Ecocritical Approaches to Early Medieval Landscape," co-editor of "Tolkien's Modern Middle Ages"

--Dr. Elizabeth Theokritoff, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge; author of "Living in God's Creation: Orthodox Perspectives on Ecology," co-editor of "The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology"

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Friday April 16

8:45-9:15 Registration (posters/exhibits throughout the day, staffed during
breaks as possible)
9:15-9:35 Welcome, Bishop Tikhon

9:35-10:55 Session 1: Theology, Philosophy and Liturgy
Dr. Foltz, “Nature and Other Modern Idolatries: Kosmos, Ktisis, and Chaos in Environmntal Metaphysics”
Fr. Andrew Damick, “The Cosmic Cathedral: Orthodox Liturgy and Ecological Vision”

11:10-12:30 Session 2: Monasticism, Saints and Asceticism
Igumen Sergius Bowyer, “Monasticism and the Restoration of Creation”
Dr. Alfred Siewers, “The Desert Sea: Early Irish Ascetic Landscapes of Creation”

12:30-1:45 Lunch

1:45-3:30 Session 3: Bearing Witness Today
Dr. Elizabeth Theokritoff, “Environmental Concerns and Orthodox Christian Witness”
Dn. Sergei Kapral, “The Orthodox Church and Non-Orthodox Eco-Justice Movements”

3:30-3:45 Closing remarks

4:00 vespers

Day 2.
8, Liturgy
10-4, Christ in the Wilderness workshop, facilitated by Fred Krueger
4, Vigil

--

A sliding scale pre-registration suggested donation of $18 to $100 for participating in the two-day conference ($20 to $100 at the conference) will help defray travel expenses of speakers, with any additional proceeds being donated to the seminary. In addition there will be a suggested donation of $20 per conference participant for overnight stays at the seminary. For advance registration and accommodation details, please email doepa@socantel.net with the subject heading "Orthodoxy and the Environment conference."

"6 Days of Creation" Icon Workshop in June

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Dates: June 20-26, 2010
Location: St. Tikhon's Seminary in South Canaan, PA
Description: In keeping with its name, HEXAEMERON offers the Six Days of Creation Icon-painting Workshops for the beginner and the more experienced, who desire to learn the ancient technique of icon painting in the egg-tempera medium, according to Orthodox Church tradition and ethos.
Cost: $1150
For More Information: Visit the Hexaemeron Website where you can fill out an application and see the biography of the instructor.

Wilkes Barre Deanery Parish Administrative Conference / Workshop

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The conference will be held Saturday, April 17, from 9:30am to 12:30pm at St. Michael's Church in Jermyn. The conference is designed for parish Clergy, Council Presidents, Parish Treasurers, and others interested or involved in parish administration. The workshop portion will discuss and share existing models for more efficient administration, agenda planning, compliance with governing documents, budget preparations and financial accountability. There is no charge for this conference and lunch is included, thanks to the hosting parish of St. Michael's.

Please register by Sunday, April 11 with your parish priest to attend.

New OCA blog for young adults, college students launched

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Update from missionary Christina Semon

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

LENTEN MESSAGE BY HIS GRACE, BISHOP TIKHON

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Lenten Mission Schedule

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Click here to download the mission schedule.

Missionary Christina Semon makes appeal for clothing

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

OCA Christian Ed department releases new activity book on saints

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] -- The third in a series of activity books for children and parents is now available for downloading free of charge at dce.oca.org/page/activity-books.

Developed and written by several members of the Orthodox Church in America's Department of Christian Education, the book is titled "Saints Commemorated in the Litiya Prayers." Like earlier books in the series, it contains biographical stories and iconographic drawings of 12 saints, maps of their travels or the areas in which they lived, discussion questions, and puzzles and activities relating to each story. Quotations from or about each saint, photographs of those saints who lived in recent times, and a glossary round out the activity book.

Among the 12 saints presented in the new volume are the fourth century Ambrose of Milan and Catherine of Alexandria, the 11th century Anthony of the Caves in Kyiv, the 15th century Jonah of Moscow, and the late 19th/early 20th century Nicholas of Japan.

In the book's informative and engaging introduction, the Litiya is historically defined and described as “a section of Vespers that culminates in the blessing of bread, wheat, wine and oil for the strengthening of the faithful who then continue in worship during a Vigil.” It goes on to read that the selection of saints in this volume was “specifically inspired by a popular composite of names used during Vespers in many American Orthodox communities."

"Saints Commemorated in the Litiya Prayers" is geared to pre-teens and teens, although with parental guidance it also can also be useful for younger children. Like the first two books, it offers a variety of ways for young people, with their different learning styles, to get to know the lives of a very diverse group of saints.