Students of the GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy have been advancing. Early on, hierarchs from many jurisdictions have noticed and appreciated the work it takes going into our program, and began ordaining our students before they graduated the program. 

– – – 2022 – – –

Deacon Joseph MacPherson
Deacon of the Western American Diocese 
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Deacon Joseph MacPherson was ordained on August 21st, 2022 by His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. 

Axios!

 

Priest Sebastian Craffey
Priest of the Western American Diocese 
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Priest Sebastian Crafey was ordained on July 3rd, 2022 by His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. 

Axios!

 

Priest Michael Vallecillo
Priest of the Western American Diocese 
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Priest Michael Vallecillo was ordained on February 20, 2022 by His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California.

Axios!

 

– – – 2021 – – –

Deacon Sebastian Craffey
Deacon of the Western American Diocese
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Deacon Sebastian Crafey was ordained on November 6th, 2021 by His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. 

Axios!

 

Deacon Daniel August
Deacon of the Diocese of Eastern America
PATRIARCHATE OF SERBIA

Deacon Daniel August, was ordained on April 24th, 2021 by His Grace Bishop Irinej in the church of Saint Elijah the Prophet in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. 

Axios!

 

Deacon Michael Vallecillo
Deacon of the Western American Diocese 
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Deacon Michael Vallecillo was ordained on February 21, 2021 by His Grace Bishop James of Sonora at the Old Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, California. 

Axios!

 

Deacon Joseph Peck
Deacon of the Western American Diocese 
PATRIARCHATE OF RUSSIA

Deacon Joseph Peck was ordained on February 20, 2021 by His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco, California. 

Axios!

– – – 2020 – – –

Deacon Sophronios Hanna
Deacon of the Metropolitan of Jordan
PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM

Deacon Sophronius Hanna, was ordained on January 6th, 2020 by Archbishop Christopher of Jordan.

Axios!

 

– – – 2019 – – –

Archdeacon Parthenios El-Naggar
Archdeacon of the Patriarch of Alexandria
PATRIARCHATE OF ALEXANDRIA

Archdeacon Parthenios El-Naggar, was ordained in October 9th, 2019 by His Beatitude Theodoros II of Alexandria in Alexandria.

Axios!

– – – 2018 – – –

Hierodeacon Eleftherios Haddad
Deacon in Northern Greece
CHURCH OF GREECE

Hierodeacon Eleftherios (Faris) Haddad, was ordained on Sept. 8, 2018 by His Eminence Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteichon, Orestias, and Souflion at the the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Monastery in Dadia-Evros in Northern Greece.

Axios!

 

Archdeacon Ephraim Barboura
Archdeacon of the Metropolitan of Germany
PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH

Archdeacon Ephraim Barboura , was ordained in June 2018 by His Eminence Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteichon Orestias and Souflion at the the City of Didymoteicho in northern Greece. 

Axios!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has begun! 

Enrollment for Spring Semester 2021 is open and going on right now. Now is the time to register 2021 classes!

YOU are the New Crew of the Church, so let’s get prepared for it.

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” – Matt. 16:3

Times are changing, and a new age calls for new people! That means you! Journey to Orthodoxy has worked hard these past many years to bring you the good news of the mission of Orthodoxy around the world – but this is a new time, a new age.

The Lord is preparing his Church with a new crew – and that means YOU. Regardless of the state of lockdowns, I want you to learn more about your Orthodox faith NOW.

Remember, classes start on Friday, January 28th. If you haven’t submitted an application, or your application is incomplete – now is your chance. Payment plans make it possible for almost everyone – EVERYONE – to take classes with us.

It’s going to be an exciting year at the GME Academy. You won’t want to miss it. 

And frankly, why let another year go by without advancing your spiritual knowledge? 

 

By Hank Berrien

An NYU professor of business surmises that because of the effects of the coronavirus, anywhere from one-quarter to almost one-half of universities in the nation may go out of business in the next five to ten years. NYU professor Scott Galloway also admitted that foreign students paying full tuition are the “cash cow” for universities and “might decide not to show up.” He commented,

“What department stores were to retail, tier-two higher tuition universities are about to become to education and that is they are soon going to become the walking dead.”

Speaking with Hari Sreenivasanon on PBS’ “Amanpour and Co.,” Galloway spoke of the impact of the coronavirus on colleges and universities, forcing them to hold their classes over the internet, and how that may catalyze flight from the universities and the universities’ subsequent downfall. Galloway stated,

“Students I think across America along with their families listening in on these Zoom classes are all beginning to wonder what kind of value, or lack thereof, they’re getting for their tuition dollars … There’s generally a recognition or disappointment across America, and I would argue that it’s not that they’re disappointed in the Zoom classes, it’s more the recognition that Zoom has uncovered how disappointing college education is. I think there’s a lot of households saying, ‘This is what we’re paying for?’”

Sreenivasan asked,

“What happens when some of these students decide, ‘You know what? This doesn’t really make sense for me to pay this much; I think I’m going to drop out?’ And let’s say they decrease revenues, or they’re decreasing revenues from the dorm fees they’re not getting or the sports teams that might not be having nice lucrative contracts?” 

[Read more…]

On October 9, 2019, the first ordination of a student of the GM Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy was celebrated during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrating the 15th anniversary of Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria and all Africa’s ascension to the primatial throne of the Apostle Mark.

During the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude ordained the Arabic-speaking Monk Parthenius Elnagar to the Holy Diaconate, while the homily of the day was delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Nikphimos, Patriarchal Patriarch. The Patriarchal and Synodical Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Savva of the Holy See in Alexandria, with the participation of all the African Hierarchs.

Deacon Parthenius was a student in the Arabic language program of the GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy. 

Congratulations to the newly ordained Deacon Parthenius!

Axios!

The St. John of Kronstadt House in Felton, CA which provides spiritual formation, training, and residency for GM Euphemia Academy students held an Open House on Sunday, August 11th. 

Visitors had the chance to meet the staff, instructors at the GM Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy, talk about the program, the courses, and the vision for training for service at the House.

Don’t worry if you missed this awesome opportunity. You can still apply to the Kronstadt House for residency, check out the website: KronstadtHouse.org.

Questions, but can’t make it? Call (541) 480-1586

by  Fr. Lawrence Farley

A large part of the problem with some Orthodox parishes (at least of my acquaintance) is not lack of money or lack of a nice building (nice as money and good buildings are), but the fact that they have not been built upon a proper foundation. The Scriptures have lots to say about the value of a good foundation, and the Lord teaches us that if the foundation has not been properly laid, the whole edifice built upon it is in danger of being swept away (Matthew 7:24-27), if not literally, then certainly spiritually.

I know of a number of parishes which have been thus swept away—not that they no longer exist as parishes, but that they no longer exist as true temples of God. Some have become spiritually toxic, and are more accurately described as synagogues of Satan (compare Revelation 2:9). To be a truly Orthodox temple of God, the community must first have in place a solid foundation. And as St. Paul reminds us, “no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). One can try to lay other foundations, setting in place the wood, hay, and straw foundations of ego and the cult of personality. But Jesus Christ is the only real and lasting foundation, either for a parish or an individual’s life. How can a one build on this foundation to become a truly Orthodox community? I suggest five ways.

First of all, the priest of the parish must dedicate himself to his people and to washing their feet, as the Lord Himself gave both example and command (John 13:1f). Too often young priests assume they are entitled to respect simply because they wear a cassock. It is true that all persons should be treated with respect and courtesy, but it is also true that respect must be earned. The priest’s ordination does not entitle him to respect so much as it gives him the opportunity among his people to earn it. And he earns it by selflessly serving them, counselling them, loving them, weeping with them, sharing their burdens, and being accessible to them at all times. By doing so he earns credibility, so that he will be cut some slack when he errs or makes unpopular decisions. But it takes time to earn such credibility, as some young clergy have learned to their cost.

Secondly, the priest must preach Jesus Christ, and nothing else. What else, you may ask, would a priest preach? Alas, there is a long list of possible alternatives. He might preach simple moralism (“Let us be loving and nice”); he might preach the glories of his ethnic heritage. I remember a very nice Greek bishop enthusing at a church’s dedication about “our beautiful religion”, by which he almost certainly meant his beautiful Greek religion. Better to enthuse about our beautiful Saviour, for to enthuse about our religion is another way of enthusing about ourselves.

And one might preach Orthodoxy—the subtlest of all snares. That is, one might describe the glories of the Orthodox Faith, its sound doctrines, its wonderful sacraments, its glorious icons—and how Orthodoxy is a superior faith to all the other faiths on the market. In other words, one might preach about our beautiful religion, shorn of its ethnic components, which is still a way of preaching ourselves. The apostles preached Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Saviour, and how one could live in obedience to Him and become transformed. Orthodoxy is not the content of our Faith, but the mode of its reception. We serve the Christ preached by the Orthodox Church, not the Christ preached by (say) the Mormons. But Christ remains the content of our preaching.

Thirdly, the parish council must be united in standing behind and supporting their priest. Too often parish councils become the sites of a tug of war, a struggle for power, with the priest pulling in one direction and his council pulling in the other. In this struggle, no one wins, especially not the supposed winner. The council must have the same goal as the priest—i.e. not to collect and retain power, but to serve Christ and His flock, and they must support their priest because he is in the forefront of fulfilling this common goal. He is not their employee, but their papa, and should be treated as such.

Fourthly, the community must make love their aim—that is, the creation of genuine community. This is impossible to do without eating together and working together, and to this end all Sunday Liturgies must have a time of eating appended to it so that the people can eat, talk, and share together. All the Pauline epistles presuppose the presence of a close community, and without it Christianity remains a mere cultic experience, lacking its crucial social component.

One church I knew of always had a meal afterward, but they charged for the food, so that the social time functioned as a fundraiser. Not surprisingly many skipped this meal and left right after the Liturgy, especially those with large families who could not afford to pay $10 a head for perogies and borscht. When I suggested that they have a free pot-luck meal instead, they were aghast at the possible loss to their budget. They valued income over the creation of community—and over church growth. They have their reward.

Finally, the community must be eschatologically oriented. That is, they must regard themselves not primarily as citizens of this world or as Americans or Canadians or as citizens of any other country, but as citizens of the Kingdom. Patriotism is wonderful, but the good must not be allowed to become the enemy of the best, and the Church stands under the Cross, not under any national flag. To make the flag paramount is idolatry. Through his preaching the priest must encourage his flock to see themselves as sojourners in this age, with their eyes fixed on the horizon to behold the blessed hope of the Second Coming with the cry of “Maranatha!” in their hearts.

Living this out consistently will mean that the society around them will increasingly regard them as aliens, as unwelcome intruders, and as disturbers of the secular status quo. We all know where the front line of this battle is being drawn, and we must not flinch or compromise. Our Lord’s words to the apostles, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19) have lost none of their relevance. The priest must preach and the people must accept that to become an Orthodox Christian is to leave one moral universe and to enter a different one. And they must read the fine print before making this decision—that of inevitable conflict with the world and of possible persecution.

These are the principles and the foundation upon which new missions should be built and already established churches should conform. Conforming to them does not require changes in the congregation’s constitution and bylaws, but only humility of heart and a desire to grow. In the end it comes down to vision: does one have a vision of one’s church as a place of counter-cultural transforming truth and a laboratory of love, or simply as a place to go to in order to fulfil one’s spiritual needs? If the latter, then you should know that God cares less than nothing about your spiritual needs. He cares about you and your transformation. And that transformation is only possible if you catch the vision of your church as a place of uncomfortable truth, and of healing love.

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