Feast of St. Philaret 2020

Details
Created on Monday, 16 November 2020 21:43

On Tuesday, October 28/November 10, His Eminence Metropolitan Demetrius of America visited the parish of Saint Philaret the New Confessor in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

The Metropolitan arrived Monday evening for Vespers, after which a light trapeza was served with some time for spiritual talk.

On Tuesday morning the Metropolitan served Matins and a hierarchical Liturgy along with Fr. Michael Marcinowski, Hieromonk Benedict, and Fr. Jacob Wojcik along with an encouraging sermon, with instruction concerning our complete attention during church services, about the importance of confessing our sins and how a person is totally changed by confessing. He quoted examples of the faithful coming to confession in one state and leaving totally transformed into another.

After the liturgy, a festive meal was served and the faithful had time to interact with their hierarch. Metropolitan Demetrius also received an update from Fr. Michael and Fr. Jacob on their church building fund and the progress, problems, and obstacles to be overcome for the future of our community as we move forward. By  God’s help and the prayers of our beloved Metropolitan, and our Holy Hierarch and Confessor Saint Philaret and of all the Saints, we will be able to a more suitable location to be a witness of true traditional Orthodox Christian worship.

Many thanks to our beloved Metropolitan Demetrius for praying with us, and for us, on the holy feast of our Patron Saint, Saint Philaret the New Confessor! O Holy Saint Philaret, pray unto God for us!

2020stphilaret001
2020stphilaret001
2020stphilaret001
2020stphilaret002
2020stphilaret002
2020stphilaret002
2020stphilaret003
2020stphilaret003
2020stphilaret003
2020stphilaret004
2020stphilaret004
2020stphilaret004

Orthodox Awareness

A Miracle of Saint Spyridon

This miracle of Saint Spyridon took place in Mandra, Greece in 1926.

It was 12/25 December, 1926. The state Church of Greece adopted the Papal calendar and with the help of the Greek government persecuted all those who did not accept the Papal calendar. The faithful Orthodox Christians of Mandra woke up and headed to their Church to celebrate the Feast of Saint Spyridon. When they reached the Church they saw that the door to the Church had been secured with chains and the faithful could not enter. Before leaving the Church to return to their homes they stuck their candles on the door. As soon as the last person placed his candles on the door

the chains broke and fell. The faithful, confirmed in their Faith, entered the Church and celebrated the Feast of Saint Spyridon.

The miracle was reported the next day by the newspaper Skrip.

Missions

Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Mission, Tucson, Arizona

Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church is a beautiful mission parish near downtown Tucson, a city in southern Arizona. It was started in 1997 by Father John Bockman, who was a missionary Priest formerly serving missions in Tennessee and Massachusetts since 1990. Father John served the faithful in Tucson and the surrounding area in his home Chapel until his repose in November of 2000. His wife, Presbytera Valerie, continued to make her home Chapel available for the mission, with clergy from Saint Nectarios Orthodox Church in Seattle and His Eminence, Metropolitan Moses of Toronto (then of Portland), visiting to provide the Divine Services.

Read more...
Youth

2025 Youth Conference

Please join us for the 2025 youth conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! To learn more, visit the conference website.

Ask A Priest

Fasting

Q. There seems to be a lot of variation in how people observe fasting, but my confessor told me to fast from oil on Wednesday and Friday. Oil is a pretty vague category, though, and I was wondering if I could get a more explicit description of what kinds of food and drink are excluded on strict fast days. Read more...