St. John Chrysostom Academy
Reverend Father Fouad Saba, Director

The St. John Chrysostom Academy is an Adult Lay Educational Ministry of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine at St. George Church, Cicero, IL

The Book of Genesis
April 16-June 4, 2010

This course will explore The Book of Genesis within the overall structure of the Pentateuch (Torah) and the Bible as a whole. The Book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, in which the story of the relationship of God and man begins, defines the rest of scripture through vocabulary, narrative and structure.

Faculty: Fr. Fouad Saba

Tuition is $30.00 per semester course.

Spring 2010 Registration Form (PDF)

Please complete form and submit with payment to Registrar at St. George Church.

The Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood of Greater Toledo and the Orthodox Christian Council of Greater Toledo invite you to join them for a very special evening event:

Benefit Dinner and Concert
Saturday, 5 pm, May 1st, 2010
St. Elias Church, Sylvania, OH

Concert performance of musical compositions influenced by the Orthodox Christian Church's spirituality and traditions
Featuring Dr. Gregory Kostraba, Iona Galu, M.M., Jessica Precop and Corey Pappas

The evening begins with Vespers at 5pm (combined clergy with His Grace Bishop MARK of Toledo), followed by a sumptuous meal of appetizers, entrees and desserts representing our diverse cultural cuisines.

$40.00 per person: All proceeds to benefit Orthodox Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Rives Junction, MI building project for their new church.

See your local parish priest or council member for tickets. For more information, please contact St. Elias Church.

Download event flyer (PDF)

His Grace Bishop MARK of the Diocese of Toledo visited Houston for the first weekend of Great Lent. Fr. Joseph Huneycutt posts here about the visit, and includes links to the following audio:

Bishop MARK's Sunday of Orthodoxy Sermon at St. George Antiochian Church of Houston

Bishop MARK's Pan-Orthodox Vespers Remarks

The faithful of St. John Chrysostom Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana invite all to attend their opening weekend celebration as they move into a new facility. The opening weekend will take place March 13-14, 2010. His Grace Bishop MARK will attend and celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. For more information, please contact St. John Chrysostom Church.

Download event flyer (PDF)

April 10, 2010

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry Presents

Jail & Prison Ministry 101 Training
Training for any Orthodox Christians who are Interested in Jail and Prison Ministry

When:    Saturday, April 10, 2010
Time:     9:00 AM - 7:30 PM
Where:   St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
              4020 N. Sherman Dr.
              Indianapolis, IN 46226-4464

Special Guests include:

His Grace, the Right Reverend Bishop MARK of Toledo and the Mid-West, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Stephen Hall, D.MIN, Director of Religious Services, Indiana Department of Corrections.

More information will be forthcoming. Please check the OCPM web site for future updates.

An appeal from Metropolitan PHILIP

January 14, 2010

IOCC URGENT ACTION APPEAL: Relief for the Beleaguered People of Haiti

For the people of Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, life was difficult enough before the massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.

Since news of the earthquake came to light, IOCC staff have been contacting partners active in Haiti and attempting to reach Orthodox parishes on the island to coordinate our response to the growing need.  Like many Haitians who have been struggling to reach their loved ones, IOCC is finding direct communication difficult – symptomatic of the widespread destruction and ruined infrastructure that is now beginning to be revealed.

Given the magnitude of the quake and the poverty that already existed before the disaster, IOCC has mobilized its disaster response team and is preparing to respond to the tremendous needs in close coordination with our Orthodox and ecumenical partners. Listen to Ancient Faith Radio's interview with IOCC Executive Director Constantine Triantafilou here.

Please help the people of Haiti!

• Make an online gift to assist the victims of disasters around the world, like the Haiti Earthquake, by giving to the IOCC International Emergency Response Fund, at www.iocc.org. 
• Assemble hygiene kits and emergency clean-up buckets to be shipped to places like Haiti – or wherever disasters strike. For information on hygiene kits, go to www.iocc.org/kits.
• Pray for the people of Haiti and those who have lost loved ones in this disaster and for the safety of those who are working to assist them.  See: http://www.iocc.org/prayers

The Diocese of Toledo is in the process of starting a new mission in Evansville, Indiana. Fr. Daniel Hackney and his family have moved to the area, and a regular schedule of services is beginning. For information, go to: evansvilleorthodox.org. 

Fr. Daniel Hackney writes:

My wife Carole, our three boys, and I are privileged to come to Evansville in order to share in the founding of a Mission in the largest city in the United States without an Orthodox Church. This effort is actually a fruit of the many years that Fr. Nabil Hanna and others labored for in the late nineties and early years of this decade, as they did Liturgies when they could for those in this area. Many seeds were planted during that era.

His Grace Bishop MARK has recently provided a collection of articles and resources pertaining to proper governance and financial procedures in Orthodox parishes. These PDF, Word and Excel files are available for download at www.antiochian.org/toledo/parish_council_guidelines.

Discovering Early Christianity

Father Peter Gillquist

author of The Physical Side of Being Spiritual, Designed for Holiness, and Becoming Orthodox

November 9 + 7:00 P.M.
Bettendorf Public Library
2950 Learning Campus Drive
at 18th Street, Bettendorf, Iowa

Hear Fr. Peter recount how he and 2,000 evangelical Protestant Christians discovered early Christianity in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Fr. Peter is an internationally sought after speaker on the Orthodox Christian Faith. Engagements have included an address before the World Council of Churches in Ethiopia and an evangelistic tour of Romania, during which Fr. Peter spoke to crowds numbering in the tens of thousands.

For more information, call 563-514-1931 or e-mail thehost55@hotmail.com.

Download a poster for this event (PDF)

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 & Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009
All Saints of North America Orthodox Church
2550 Schuetz Road
Maryland Heights, MO 63043
(314) 994-0220 • www.allsaints-stl.org

Using an informal and informative format, Fr. John Winfrey and Fr. John Fenton will lead four structured discussions on how the Christian Faith is lived in the Orthodox Western Tradition.

On Saturday, October 17, the Chicago area Orthodox organization SYNERGY is hosting a seminar entitled, “The Future of Orthodoxy in America.” Speakers include the Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas, Professor Emeritus and renowned author, and the Rev. Dn. Nicholas Belcher, Dean of Students at Holy Cross Seminary.

SYNERGY consists of lay and clergy members from Chicago-area parishes who seek to make Orthodoxy known to the broader community. Working together with its parent organization, the Orthodox Christian Clergy Association of Greater Chicago, SYNERGY operates with the blessings of the Chicago hierarchs.

The conference is going to be held at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 1220 S. 60th Court in Cicero. Prior to October 9, 2009, individuals may register for $35.00, and married couples for $50.00; afterwards, the fee is $40.00. High school and college students are discounted at $20.00. Registration includes coffee service and lunch, and attendees may register at the door.

For more information go to: chicagosynergy.org/symposium.html or call: (847) 647-8889 or (630) 230-0079.

Open House in Newly Renovated Historic Building

Iowa City, IA – August 11, 2009 – On Saturday, August 22, at  St. Raphael of Brooklyn Orthodox Mission is hosting an open house in their new location at 722 East College Street, Iowa City. Since purchasing the historic building, St. Raphael Orthodox Mission has been working diligently to renovate this historic building and convert it into and Orthodox Christian house of worship. The open house is an event for the whole community, including food, a bouncy castle for the kids, and short choral performances of exquisite Byzantine, Russian and Georgian sacred melodies from the St. Raphael Choir and other local musicians. All attending are invited to attend Vespers, an Orthodox evening prayer service, beginning at 6 PM.

St. Luke the Evangelist Mission began in 2002 under the guidance of Archpriest Elias Meena to provide an Orthodox Christian witness to the East side of the greater Cleveland metropolitan area. There are over two dozen Orthodox parishes in the region, but most of them are located either in central Cleveland or on the West side. The mission’s initial efforts under Fr. Meena included founding a community in the greater Solon area, the purchase of property for a permanent location, and the preparation of architectural plans for a church temple and hall.

Sadly, Fr. Meena’s untimely death in the summer of 2005 significantly curtailed the momentum of St. Luke’s. After Fr. Meena’s repose, the mission was served by two more priests on a part-time basis.

In 1993 a group of Episcopalians lead by Reverend Father Antony Bell were chrismated in Toledo and soon formed St. Mary’s of the Dormition in Goshen, Indiana. For years the young group of Orthodox converts met in various places, including homes, the upper room of a local funeral home, and store-front rental facilities. The parish grew with their beloved priest Father Antony. Eventually they were able to purchase property in Topeka, Indiana, where they stayed for several years. Many of the faithful drove many miles to attend services out in the country area surrounding the small town of Topeka. The beloved people remained faithful and believed.
 
Unfortunately, their beloved leader and priest became ill with an aggressive form of cancer. After a long but gracious battle with cancer, the beloved Father Antony reposed in June of 2006. His wife Kh. Melanie moved on to Pennsylvania and settled there with family. Soon after, Father George Smith and his wife Kh. Anna (Charlotte) faithfully pastored the church until His Grace Bishop MARK would appoint another priest.

For more information, please visit www.allsaintsbloomington.org.

In the summer of 2003, due to the large number of faithful living in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, Metropolitan PHILIP blessed the faithful in this area to move forward and establish the mission of the Church of the Virgin Mary. In December 2004, we purchased the property where we currently worship, in Alsip, Ilinois. In the spring of 2007, His Grace Bishop MARK assigned Fr. Mousa Haddad as the first full-time pastor of the Church of the Virgin Mary in May.

At the Church of the Virgin Mary, our mission is to serve God in all that we do, and to make Jesus Christ a real presence in the hearts of the faithful in Chicago’s Southwest Suburbs. The Virgin Mary is our protector, and she intercedes on our behalf to her Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She stands as our example of faith and commitment to serve the Lord. As she received the calling of the angel Gabriel to bear the Son of God, and to commit her life to the Lord, so we too must receive the word of God, accept His Will, and serve Him to the best of our ability. As we pray in the Divine Liturgy, “Through the intercessions of the Theotokos, Savior, save us!”

Anthony J. "Tony" Thomas Sr. THOMAS, ANTHONY J. "TONY" SR., 92, passed away Thursday, April 9, 2009. He was born in Hamat, Lebanon and immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1923. He and his wife, Jean, founded A. Thomas Meat Market on the Haymarket. He was a charter member of St. Michael Orthodox Church where he served on its parish council as president for many years. He also served as a member of the Archdiocese board of trustees and was a member of the Order of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. He was a founding member of the Lebanese American Country Club and also served on its board as president. For decades Tony greeted his customers at the Haymarket with a smile, a joke or a song and children sought him out because they knew he had a piece of candy for them. You knew he was the kind of person we all strive to become when you heard countless stories from people telling you what he had done to help them or what he meant to them. Tony was preceded in death by his loving wife of 61 years, Jean George Thomas; his parents, John and Mary Thomas; brothers, Nicholas and Louis Thomas; sisters, Henrietta Thomas, Carrie George, Sue Gabriel and Emerald Coleman. Left behind to cherish his memory are his children, Phyllis Miller, A.J. Thomas Jr. (Sarah), Dennis Thomas (Kim) and Gayle Hobbs (Ken); 11 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and sisters, Martha Asseff (Jim) and Nancy Owen (John), of Nashville, TN. Expressions of sympathy may be made to either St. Michael Orthodox Church, 3701 Saint Michael Church Dr., Louisville, KY 40220 or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Pl., Memphis, TN 38105.

“Oh Lord, save thy people ….”

In July 2005, thirty three people made a life-changing pilgrimage from Wittenberg (birthplace of Lutheranism) to Antioch. We spent our first year at St. Nicholas in Grand Rapids, Michigan under the tutelage of Fr. Daniel Daly, aided by Fr. John Winfrey from St. George. Our priest, Fr. Gregory Hogg, was ordained to the holy priesthood in March, 2006 at St. James/Williamston (see picture at left) and a few months later we began services as Holy Cross Mission in Dorr, Michigan.

By the blessing of God and the prayers of his people, we purchased our first building in the summer of 2007. Several months’ hard work, guided by the wise counsel of Bishop MARK, has given us a home of our own in which to worship God, love each other, and serve our community. We want to be an active and living witness for Orthodoxy in a region of West Michigan that is presently not served by an Orthodox church: to bring the fullness of the faith to people who need to know the life-changing power of the cross of Christ.

Holy Cross is served by Fr. Gregory Hogg, who works as an Affiliate Professor in the Philosophy department of Grand Valley State University. In addition, Fr. Steven Van Bronkhorst is attached to our mission as a priest. Fr. Steven works with the Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority. Both Frs. Gregory and Steven are active in campus ministry, having founded chapters of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship on the campuses of Grand Valley State, Hope College in Holland, and Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

by Fr. James Ellison

St. Nicholas Church in Urbana, Illinois began in 1995 with the chrismation of two families who wanted to be Orthodox Christians, share the faith with others, worship in English, and not have to uproot their families to do it. We began meeting in a living room with priests visiting us, initially for catechism and later for Sunday evening liturgies. We moved first to a rented chapel on the University of Illinois campus, and three years later to our present location, a remodeled existing church building.

An astute observer of church growth once noted that planting a church is a lot like life as a pioneer in the American West. First the explorers come, the individuals who are venturing out into areas where no one has been before. Then the pioneers who move into unsettled territory and have to establish the initial structures that support those who will hopefully follow. And then the settlers come, the ones who turn a wide place in the road into a place to live and work for generations to come. Our experience was not unlike this. Two families who wanted to be Orthodox because they believed it to be the fullness of the faith but really didn’t know what they were getting into came first. Then a few others joined them who could see the outline of liturgical life because of the priests that traveled through and who could tolerate the conditions of inconsistent pastoral care, no choir music, no one to teach church school, or bake the bread except them. They did the work of setting up and tearing down while we met in temporary space. They dealt with dance music blaring in the next room while we sat in the dark, hoping the secular party would end, so we could start the Paschal Nocturnes. And now those who are more like settlers, with the gift of a place to meet, teach, and worship are being added to our number. There are those who are drawn by the ancient worship and centuries-old doctrine, who are working to establish a more complete witness to the kingdom of God. There are those who come from traditionally Orthodox lands, yet because of conditions there have had little opportunity to know why they believe and worship the way they do. God-willing these will become our teachers and singers and servants as God entrusts with even more good work which He has prepared for us.

Come Spend the 4th of July weekend with us in the Greater Cincinnati area for the 2009 Midwest Parish Life Conference.  Activities include  Fellowship, Christian Education, workshops, and many fun activities for everyone to bond with family, friends, and loved ones.

For complete details, please visit St. James' Parish Life Conference web site by clicking on the links below:

Area Attractions

Enjoy your stay at Sheraton Cincinnati North ($99 per night including free parking).  Sheraton Hotel has one of the newest indoor water resorts in Ohio: CocCo Key Indoor Water Resort (Resort rates: $15 per day conference guest special).

Spend fun times at  Paramount Kings Island, The Beach Water Park, Newport aquarium (Sharks), Cincinnati Zoo, OmniMax, Museums (Creation, Natural, Children's, Art),  and Theaters.  Restaurants, shopping centers are within walking distance.

Please offer prayers and help for the Aramouni family in their present crisis. Their 16-year-old son Andrew recently suffered severe brain damage in an accident, and the family is in great financial need.

Donations of any size would be greatly appreciated.

Read more...

Update from fr. Andrew Harmon (Dec. 6th, 2008):

Andrew continues to improve, thanks to everyone’s prayers.  He is now home and is 100% physically recovered.  He will have to be readmitted to the hospital in January for a follow-up surgery to insert a steel plate in his head.  He is continuing to go back to the hospital very frequently for speech therapy.  The doctors have said full speech recovery may be as long as 6 months to two years, but we hope it will be quicker as there is good progress.  He is now beginning to use some simple sentences and it seems to be continually improving.

The doctors have recently told Andrew’s parents, Roger and Lisa, that no one thought Andrew would survive and that it is nothing short of a miracle.  Thanks be to God for his miraculous healing power.  Please keep praying for a full and quick recovery of his speech.  And it looks like Andrew won’t be able to play in the Diocese basketball tournament in Canton this winter, but he plans being back on the St. Matthew team in 2010---he’s eager for another trophy!

----Father Andrew Harmon

The Cape Girardeau Orthodox Mission is a new eastern-rite mission of the North American Antiochian Archdiocese, under the direction of Bishop MARK in the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest. The endeavor to establish a mission in southern Missouri began in the spring of 2008 when Father Steven Salaris of All Saint of North America began developing contacts.

The effort took a big step forward in June 2008 when Jim Mackoul (now Deacon) began traveling to Cape Girardeau to investigate the possibility. Contacts were made with several Orthodox Christians living in the surrounding area. It was easy to see that there was high level of interest among the faithful. We hit the ground running. By early July 2008 we offered daily Vespers on Wednesday evenings. By late July, we had found a location in which we could hold services and began scheduling Great Vespers, Orthros, and Divine Liturgy. The mission consists of American, Syrian, Greek, and Bulgarian Orthodox. Everyone is welcome, inquirers and non-Orthodox alike. We’re here to serve. With God’s help we’ve planted our little mission. By the grace of God, we’ll nurture it and make it grow. By spring of 2009, we hope to make the next step and move into a semi-permanent location near the downtown in Cape Girardeau, somewhere close to the university.

Bishop MARK writes:

As an honored guest of the OCA Hierarchs I was blessed to be with my brother Hierarchs of the OCA and witness the Lord moving in their midst!  Thank God our brother and sisters in Christ have remained unified through their struggles and emerged, strong, steadfast and full of hope.  May our Lord grant unto His Beatitude JONAH, Many, Many, Many Years.  May He also grant unto each of their beloved Hierarchs many years! 

Holy Incarnation is a Western Rite mission serving metropolitan Detroit, Michigan under the leadership of Fr. John Fenton. Prior to the spring of 2008, Holy Incarnation had been leasing space from a local Episcopal church, but in February the mission concluded the purchase of a building to serve as its permanent home.

The new church building is an important step in the re-establishment of a Western Rite Orthodox parish in metropolitan Detroit. From 1975-2001, Incarnation Orthodox Church in Detroit served the liturgical needs of Western Rite Orthodox Christians in and around Detroit, and was the cornerstone of the Western Orthodoxy in the Midwest. Fr Fenton explained that Holy Incarnation Orthodox Church builds on the legacy of the former Incarnation parish. “We are the beneficiaries of years of sacrificial giving,” said Fr. Fenton, “because the funds held in trust after the closing of Incarnation have helped finance the new facility for Holy Incarnation.” Fr. Fenton stated the new building will further the permanent re-establishment of a Western Rite presence in Detroit.

On Saturday, Nov. 15, Fr. Alexander Atty will conduct a workshop at St. George Church, Indianapolis, IN. All are encouraged to attend and learn about the work that Christ gave His Church to do and about the role of clergy and laity in this work. Note that attendance in at least one parish council workshop is a prerequisite for nomination for parish council. However, attendance is encouraged regardless of whether participants intend to seek to serve on the council. As we learn more about the work Christ calls us to do and role each is to play, we have the potential to work together in peace and harmony for the building up of the Body of Christ.  The workshop will start at 10 a.m. and will finish by 3 p.m.

Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission

Bowling Green, KY

Holy Apostles Mission is a new mission of the North American Antiochian Archdiocese, in the Midwest Diocese under Bishop MARK of Toledo, and under the immediate direction of the Very Rev. Dr. Alexander Atty of St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church in Louisville, KY.  The mission's congregation, which currently consists of Americans, Greeks, Serbians, Egyptians, and a growing compilation of other ethnicities, first began working toward a mission in the spring of 2008, with a small group of diverse and dedicated Orthodox Christians who long to see Holy Orthodoxy brought to southern Kentucky. Holy Apostles held its first Vespers service in April 2008, and celebrated its first Liturgy in June, the first Divine Liturgy ever to be held in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It received the name Holy Apostles from Bishop MARK in July.

Antiochian Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest

Orthodox Christian Fellowship

Clergy and Laity Fall Meeting

Indianapolis, Indiana + October 16-19, 2008

Special guests include:

• Metropolitan ISAIAH of Denver SCOBA Overseer of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship
  
• Fr. Kevin Scherer, Executive Director of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship
  
• and special Teen SOYO Speaker, NFL quarterback Jeff George

The meeting will be hosted by St. George Church in Indianapolis. Accommodations are available at the Best Western Castleton Inn.

Scheduled highlights of the meeting include the dedication of new OCF offices, Teen SOYO activities and meeting, meetings of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine and the Antiochian Women, music, multi-ethnic dance, and a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on Sunday.

On Saturday, August 30, 2008, group of 20 pilgrims, led by His Grace, Bishop MARK of Toledo and the Midwest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America visited St. Catherine the Great Martyr Church – the Moscow Representation of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

Read the entire article and see more pictures at St. Catherine the Great Martyr Church's web site.

View more photos of Bishop MARK at St. Catherine's.

The Fall Gathering of the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest will focus on ministering to our teens and college students. His Eminence Metropolitan ISAIAH, SCOBA Overseer of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, and Fr. Kevin Scherer, Executive Director of OCF, will be present for the dedication of the new OCF offices in Indianapolis.

For more information please see the attached flyer.

On June 30, His Grace writes:

First of all I want to thank the V Rev John Winfrey for the wonderful job St George of Grand Rapids, MI did in hosting this year’s Parish Life Conference. I trust we all had an enjoyable time of fellowship, enlightenment and spiritual renewal.

Second, let us offer our prayers for the newly departed servant of God, the V Rev Fr David Lynch. MEMORY ETERNAL. More information is available here.

Please join me in praying a rope for our brother and concelebrant, The Archpriest David, saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ, grant rest to the soul of Thy departed servant." May his memory be eternal and may you be granted long life.

Your unworthy father in Christ,

+MARK

The 61st Annual Midwest Parish Life Conference, hosted by St. George, Grand Rapids, will be held June 25 to June 29, 2008 at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Download Registration

Download Adult Schedule

Download Teens' Schedule

Download Youth Schedule

Download High School Graduates Invitation

Download Souvenir Journal Information

Hosted by St. George Cathedral in Toledo, the 2007 Fall Gathering will focus on the vision of our North American Saints.

All required forms are available below.