Saint Innocent Fellowship 2025

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Created on Saturday, 13 September 2025 03:16

Call it Fellowship, not Camp!

“So here is your clip with a mini figurine of a kayaker on it that represents Saint Innocent. If you say ‘camp’ or ‘camper’, then someone can take your clip from you,” Mia explained to a new Fellowship participant.

The year was 2020, and the world was turned upside down. Saint Xenia’s Camp was scheduled, canceled, rescheduled, and then finally cancelled due to COVID restrictions imposed on the host site. Over a hundred Orthodox faithful had planned to participate; they had blocked off work, and cleared their calendars…now, they had no place to go. That’s when the Saint Nicholas parish sprang into action to try to provide a place for the “fellowship” they were craving—and that is how Saint Innocent Fellowship was born.

Immediately, Fr. George went to work creating a Gaga ball pit for the participants. Others helped to build a second fire pit and benches. Local parishioners opened their homes to help house the visitors, and still others labored to make sure everyone was fed. A beautiful week ensued, providing the comradery that people from all over the country needed—and we didn’t use the words “camp” or “camper” all week!

At the end of that week, we thought that the Fellowship had served its purpose and would not be repeated, but over and over we kept hearing from the youth and the children—and even the families who all craved this additional Orthodox fellowship. They needed another chance to see their friends, besides the Family and Youth Conference and Saint Xenia’s Camp. The Conference gave them a chance for Orthodox fellowship in the Fall, and Saint Herman’s Camp was a great winter opportunity, but there was such a long time between December and Saint Xenia’s Camp the following August. This is why we, at Saint Nicholas, decided to try our June Fellowship again: we wanted to create another opportunity for the young adults, families, and the kids to have half a week together exploring their Orthodoxy and strengthening their bonds with each other.

Hence, in 2024, we ran our second Saint Innocent Fellowship. There were such meaningful experiences at the event that we decided to try to make it an annual event.

Saint Innocent Fellowship 2025: “The Church as the Ark of Salvation”

On Wednesday, the eve of the Fellowship, it had been pouring buckets all day, and we weren’t sure where we were going to feed people since we could not even walk to the tent. Fellowship participants who were arriving to register and participate in the Paraklisis were getting soaked just walking from their car into the church. After the Paraklisis, as we were considering what to do, the rain suddenly stopped and out came a gorgeous double rainbow, that spread beautifully over Saint Nicholas Parish! Considering that our theme was Noah’s Ark, this felt like a direct blessing from the Lord on our humble effort to try and serve the 96 participants, ranging from clergy to babies.

In keeping with the theme, campers created crafts relating to Noah’s ark, searched for icons with animals in them, discussed the history of Genesis and the Worldwide Flood in the ancient world, as well as explored how the Ark represents the Church of Christ. In addition, Fellowship participants followed the example of Saint Innocent and learned to make prosphora, artoklasia, and koliva by actually doing it! Children went on to construct personal tryptich icon corners, as well as to make their own prayer books. To keep active, they searched for fossils probably left by the flood, took hikes by the creek, played Gaga ball and games, and played with water hoses and water balloons.

The staff and counselors had an opportunity to join in the activities prepared for the campers; they also had their own young adult spiritual discussions, they watched a movie about a Fool-for-Christ, and they enjoyed their own evening outing to get fasting ice cream, plus a Sunday meet-up at a local restaurant.

Spiritual Guidance at the Fellowship

We thank our hierarchs, especially His Eminence Metropolitan Demetrius, whose blessing and prayers supported this event. Although not able to be present in person, His Eminence’s spiritual presence was felt throughout the fellowship.

The Fellowship was enriched by the participation of several dedicated clergy members who shared their wisdom and spiritual insights throughout the event, at multiple talks and activities. Fr. John Somers from Holy Ascension Orthodox Church (NY), Frs. George and John Psaromatis from Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church (MD), and Fr. Andrew Wales from Saint Seraphim Orthodox Church (VA) all contributed to the spiritual depth of the gathering. In addition, Deacons Fr. Vasili Chatzis from Upstate New York and Fr. Joseph Clatterbuck from Virginia helped support attendees of the Fellowship.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

It takes an Orthodox village; we were so grateful to be able to spend this time with our co-strugglers in Christ! It was so rewarding to work together to provide this opportunity for the young people and children. We watched them strengthen their relationships with each other, and gather strength to go back to the world with the reinforced understanding that they are not alone.

We look forward to our “Orthodox Village” at Saint Innocent Fellowship next year, and hope that we see you there too! Take this as an opportunity to meet up with your Orthodox friends, and to gather in Christ’s name.

We plan to have Saint Innocent Fellowship again next year, June 18-21, 2026 (n.s.). We hope to see you there!

The full photo gallery of the 2025 Fellowship is available here!