Father Simon Menya is on the move in Northern Uganda, translating books into the local Luo language, spearheading agricultural projects to promote self-sufficiency, distributing supplies to those in need, and, of course, catechizing the faithful.

The first Ugandan to graduate from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS), Fr. Simon (’18) was ordained to the holy priesthood in 2019 by the hand of His Grace, Silvester Kisitu Maximos, bishop of the Ugandan Orthodox Church’s Diocese of Gulu and Eastern Uganda.

The pandemic has hit Uganda hard, with its people never before experiencing lockdown. But Fr. Simon is using it as an opportunity to minister to his flock in Acholi-Nyek village, where he is planting a church community.

“When the Covid-19 outbreak occurred I continued visiting and encouraging them by telling them to keep calm and carry on,” said Fr. Simon. “This gave us time to meet and also talk about farming activities.”

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Father Simon hired local laborers to uproot trees and plow approximately eight acres of land to grow crops, which will benefit the church community. He also gave community members about thirty acres of land so that they could have their own plots to farm in order to support their families.

The work in Acholi-Nyek is part of The Northern Uganda Self-Sufficiency Project (NUSSP), which was initiated under His Eminence, Metropolitan Jonah of Kampala and All Uganda. NUSSP was formed out of a desire to see a thriving Orthodox community in Northern Uganda no longer dependent on financial assistance from the Church in Greece, which reduced its support during Greece’s financial crisis.

Extreme poverty is widespread in Uganda and Orthodox priests must work multiple jobs to provide what little they can for their families and parishes. The country has also been ravaged by years of civil war. Father Simon’s brothers were killed by the rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during the conflict.

“I hope to restore the lost faith and hopes of the people due to the twenty-four years of war,” he said, “and to encourage self-supportive life skills in them through our churches.”

Besides the agricultural program, NUSSP initiatives include developing forty hectares of land recently acquired to support a church, school, and small businesses; establishing a health center; and implementing Orthodox youth and adult education programs.

Father Simon is also taking advantage of the many hours in lockdown to translate materials from English into Luo so that people can understand church services. Four young men who are active members of the Church are assisting him in this process. They have just finished translating the service of Orthros as well as a booklet on the Jesus Prayer, an Orthodox prayer book, and a book on catechism.

These and many others books were donated by SVOTS when Fr. Simon was a seminarian. In 2019, SVOTS tithed 10% of its funds from Giving Tuesday and used the monies to ship the books to Uganda and to support NUSSP.

The NUSSP has also received support during the COVID-19 pandemic from Dr. Ioana Popa and Sébastien Falardeau of the organization Along The Journey, Coaching, Consulting & Spiritual Care. With that help, Fr. Simon and his team purchased food items and face masks and distributed food to orphans and widows in the village. They also handed out masks to those who couldn’t afford one, following a government directive making masks mandatory in public.

Along with his work in Acholi-Nyek, Fr. Simon is an assistant priest in three parishes. To sustain himself during his many long days of ministry, he tries to remember wise words once shared with him.

“We all know that ‘life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, but it’s about learning how to dance in the rain,’” said Fr. Simon. “One time an old man told me a word of wisdom, that ‘My son, during low points in your life it’s better to be busier than to be busy worrying, because when the world is running down, you can make the best of what's still around.’ This is what inspired me and NUSSP to engage this community during COVID-19.”

If you want to support the work and progress of Fr. Simon/NUSSP in Uganda, you can donate through Lift Up Uganda, a nonprofit that was started by American supporters of NUSSP. You may also donate through PaPpal on the NUSSP website. Father Simon can be reached by email at menyasimon@gmail.com.

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A homily delivered in Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary on Sunday, November 15, 2015.

We have all seen and heard about this barbaric, horrific, and frightening terrorist action that took place in Paris on Friday. Three teams of men, disciplined in dealing death, planned this attack with the help of others and managed to evade an enormous security apparatus that blankets most of the Western world. Notably, at least one of them deviously managed to slip into Europe under the guise of a refugee. Perhaps in the coming days, we will find out more about how this crime came about: who else was involved? Who financed it? Where did they train? But at the same time, the part of story that concerns those who were out on a cold November night for dinner, a concert, a stroll, or a soccer game must also be told. The victims are worthy of our remembrance and our consideration today, and not those who appear strong with weapons that bring death or those who appear mighty and sow fear, confusion, and further enmity.

The victims of this tragedy once again compel us to think on Christ, on His Gospel, and to turn our gaze to Him. Only then can we also bear to look on the dead and the wounded of this November night, and also the dead and the wounded, the marginalized, the outcasts of every age, all those along the side of the road—sick, wounded, destitute, ill-afflicted, dead, and dying—that we would prefer to pass by. Only with Christ can we see them, as the Gospel tells us today, as our neighbor, those whom we must love with the same ferocity, the same devotion, the same ardor that we love God. Consequently, we mourn at the death of our neighbors. We anguish over the wounded. We pray that God receive the dead into His kingdom and that He restore the injured to health. To those who appear strong in their might on Friday, we call out their brutality as senseless and weak.

Christ’s own death provides us with the fundamental way of understanding the world according to the Gospel. It is what the Apostle says: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (I Cor. 1.27-29).” Only with Christ, in our love for Him and our love for our newly defined neighbor, will we truly live. Seeing things in this manner allows us to see past the veil of this world, past the wisdom of this world, and perceive exactly the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ, active in this world.

In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist acts, social media was abuzz with messages of hope, solidarity, and prayers for the people of Paris. One notorious statement emerged and rejected prayers from the different corners of the globe:

“Please don’t pray for Paris. We’ve had enough religion for one night.”

I counter this to the greatest degree I can personally muster: we do not need less religion, we need more. We need Christianity and authentic faith. We need Jesus Christ, because we need to love Him, because He our God. We need to love those around us, those who are far from us, because they are our neighbor. Neither enmity or hatred, but Christ and the peace spoken of in the Epistle today are what we, the entire world, needs.

In other words, what abides, what remains, is exactly that person spoken of in days of old: “The Prince of peace (Is. 9.6),” He “who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy.” Eternal and holy, He remains. He endures. He revives, restores, comforts, and heals us when we turn to him. Christ is our peace (Eph. 2.14), the peace proclaimed far and wide. In all our struggles, in all our affliction, in all our angst, anxiety, and uncertainty about what happens in the present and what the future might bring, Christ is our peace. When we are most vulnerable and feel we are in danger of losing everything, our Lord remains with us.

Now when Paul speaks about Christ as our peace today, he is not speaking of peace as a state of quiet, personal contentment. Rather he speaks here of reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles in Christ. The resolution to their separation, alienation, and estrangement is faith in God. How are they reconciled? By faith in Christ, who “abolish[ed] in his flesh” what had separated them. He brought forward a new man, reconciling us to God through His blood and His cross. This is not merely a historical fact, or a description of a theological controversy, but exposes for us who we are in reality. We are not strangers or sojourners to the heavenly realms, and citizens of this world. No! We have access to and can be rich in the spiritual treasures, because we are “fellow citizens with the saints…members with of the household of God,” and neighbors one to another. We have been knitted and joined together as the Temple of the Living God, as the dwelling place for the God in the Spirit.

I began today speaking of tragedy. I end today speaking of reassurance, comfort, support, encouragement, hope, and faith, because we are “not like those who have no hope.” We have Christ. We have faith in Christ. We have Peace. He alone is our answer to what ails us and afflicts the world.

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Archpriest Alexander Rentel, a 1995 M.Div. graduate of St. Vladimir’s, finished his doctoral dissertation under the direction of Fr. Robert Taft, SJ, at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in January 2004. Prior to coming to St. Vladimir’s as a professor, Fr. Alexander was a 2000-2001 Junior Fellow in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. He has taken numerous research trips to Greece, Italy, and France. He was ordained to the priesthood in July 2001. He and his wife, Nancy (née Homyak, M.Div. 1995) are the proud parents of three children, Dimitrios, Maria, and Daniel.

What should you say to someone whose world is seemingly crumbling around them? How do you navigate between a difficult reality and the expectation of hope?

Hospital chaplain and St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumna Clio Pavlantos speaks about ministering to cancer & COVID-19 patients in a recent interview with the Seminary’s Ginny Nieuwsma. Pavlantos also talks about her journey from St. Vladimir’s Seminary into chaplaincy and how her seminary training and formation prepared her for ministry. 

During Holy Week and Bright Week, 2015, St. Vladimir’s seminarians Edward Hunter, Lijin Raju, and I had the unbelievable opportunity to travel to Kenya as part of a mission trip sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), and led by Executive Director Fr. Martin Ritsi. As the result of a generous grant, the three of us were able to travel to Kenya without any expenses of our own. The trip was one that we will never forget, as it has left an imprint on all three of our hearts.

Our first week in Kenya was spent in Nairobi at the Orthodox seminary, which is run by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Kenya. The entire time we were there, the staff and students were exceptionally hospitable and His Eminence always went out of his way to ensure that we were taken care of. One of the days, Archimandrite Philip Mugadizi (SVOTS ‘03), told us about the work Archbishop Makarios has done as well as what he hopes to accomplish in the future.

We participated with our brother seminarians in the Holy Week services, which the priests served using a mix of English, Greek, and Swahili. On Great and Holy Friday, after we processed with the tomb of Christ through the impoverished neighborhood of Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world, Archbishop Makarios professed, “Jesus has been crucified. But He will rise on the third day. Even if you are in the poorest place, Jesus will rise here also.”

My time at Makarios III Patriarchal Orthodox Seminary worshipping the same Lord and celebrating the same Pascha showed me that the God we all worship is the same one—the same Christ that we all need in order for salvation, the same Christ who has called each of us, as seminarians, to serve in His One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.

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Shawn Thomas is a third-year seminarian in the Master of Divinity program. He is from Chicago, IL, and his home parish is St. Peter’s Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church.

Take a look “behind” the icons at St. John of the Ladder Orthodox Church in Greenville, SC. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumnus Seraphim O'Keefe is giving readers insight into the iconography he has been commissioned to design and paint there.

O’Keefe has penned a marvelously detailed article for the Orthodox Arts Journal, entitled, “Murals for the Burning Bush Chapel and Prothesis at St John of the Ladder in Greenville, South Carolina.” In it, he walks readers through the iconography program of those sections of the church building, describes the theology behind the icons, and even discusses the type of paint he chose to complete the murals.

In one section of the article, O’Keefe explains the guiding theme the program of St. John of the Ladder’s side-chapel, the prophet Moses and the Burning Bush icon of the Theotokos.

“In our chapel, this imagery is directly above the altar, which gives it a particular liturgical meaning,” he writes. “This is the classic image of God revealing himself to man. With her arms in the ‘orans’ position of prayer, the Theotokos’ form resembles a chalice, in which Christ takes flesh and blood. Our hymns frequently relate the Eucharist to fire, as in the prayer before Communion: ‘Rejoicing and trembling at once, I partake of Fire, I that am grass. And, strange wonder! I am bedewed without being consumed, as the bush of old burned without being consumed.’”

• Read the full article here. 

Seraphim O’Keefe graduated from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2018. He had already begun developing his skills in iconography before enrolling at St. Vladimir’s. He was given commissions in parishes, which eventually led him to painting the icons for St. Cyprian of Carthage Orthodox Church in Midlothian, VA in the summer of 2015. Immediately following the work on the icons at St. Cyprian, Seraphim and his family packed their belongings and drove to St. Vladimir's Seminary, where he began his three-year course of study in the Master of Divinity degree program.

A homily delivered in the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary on the Feast of St. Demetrios (Monday, October 26, 2015).

Some excuses never get old.

When I was little, if my brother did something to me, I’d do the same back to him. I’d launch a proportionate retaliatory strike. If he pulled my hair, I’d pull his hair. If he punched me in the arm, I’d punch him in the arm. And whenever I got caught, what do you think I said?

“He did it to me first!”

Somehow, without ever having been taught, my kids know the exact same excuse.

“Why did you do that to your brother?”

“He did it to me first!”

This excuse is as old as time, yet every generation picks it up and uses it. And it’s not just kids that use the excuse. Husbands and wives use it to excuse insults and infidelities. Neighbors use this excuse to justify snubs and petty treachery. Nations and regions are torn apart by brutal retaliation and blood feuds. And in every case, it is all based on that age old excuse:

“They did it to us first.”

“Someone hurt me, so I have the RIGHT to hurt them back.”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A proportionate, retaliatory strike.

But does it bring life?

There is a famous line from a play, where villagers are being unjustly driven from their homes, and they say, “We should stand our ground, we should fight. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” And the main character replies, “Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.” And it’s true.

Blinded by a quest for justice on our terms we cannot see our neighbor as a human person, created in the image and likeness of God. All we see are dark fearful shadows. And having been rendered toothless, we starve, unable to eat at the table of God’s mercy. Instead we choke on the smoke of our smoldering anger. We dwell on old wounds and grievances as if they could do anything more than poison our souls.

Today Jesus says to us, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” So, according to the age-old excuse, Jesus had every right to hate the world. Of all the people who have ever lived, Jesus had the most reasons to hate the world back. He was innocent. He had done nothing wrong. He had committed no crime. He healed the sick, he gave sight back to the blind, he cast out demons, he fed the multitudes. But yet, he was convicted by the religious authorities of being a blasphemer, and he was convicted by the governor of being a political trouble-maker. So they stripped him naked, and whipped him, and marched him through the city, and nailed him to a cross, and let him hang there until he died.

If anyone had the right to hate the world it was Jesus.

But he knew better.

Yes, the world hated Jesus, but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God acted first, out of love and mercy and compassion. He came into the world and facing the horrors of the Crucifixion, as the world went mad with hatred, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Instead of making excuses, Jesus makes the perfect sacrifice. He offers himself. And today we see that same sacrificial love in the life and death of St. Demetrios.

St. Demetrios was born and raised in a Christian family in the late third century, before Christianity was legal. His father was a high-ranking imperial official in Thessalonica who maintained a secret Church in his home. When Demetrios’ father died, the emperor appointed Demetrios to succeed his father as proconsul.

But in addition to the normal imperial duties of managing and protecting the city, the emperor commanded Demetrios to eradicate Christianity in the city and execute anyone who called on the name of Christ. Demetrios accepted the appointment as proconsul, but instead of carrying out the emperor’s command, he returned to Thessalonica and publicly confessed his Christian faith, proclaiming the Gospel to all that would listen. Upon learning that Demetrios was a Christian and that he had converted many to the faith, the emperor ordered his arrest.

At dawn on October 26, 306, soldiers came to his cell and ran him through with spears. Instead of making an excuse, St. Demetrios made the perfect sacrifice of his own life.

Martyrdom breaks the cycle of violent retribution. The Christian martyr does not go down in ball of flaming rage, but rather makes a simple statement:

I would prefer to die than to renounce my faith in Christ, so that you may know the power of the love of God.

Since his death and burial, the relics of St. Demetrios have been a source of consolation and inspiration to generations of believers. Multiple empires and hundreds of wars have come and gone since the death of St. Demetrios, but his witness to the love of Jesus Christ remains. The martyr does not die in spite of his persecutors, any more than Jesus died in spite of the world. Rather, the martyr dies for the salvation of the very ones who persecute him.

This is the love of Christ.

This is the power of God.

So today is not a day for excuses. It is a day to bring the love of Christ into the world. Smell the air, right here in the chapel. Do you smell the sweet aroma of myrrh? It is not unlike the myrrh that streams from the tomb of St. Demetrius. It is the wonderful aromatic reminder we have on our clothes every time we return home from Church.

So today, the moment you feel the slightest hint of anger or resentment, think of this smell right now, and remember the love of Christ that fills our hearts this morning. In some small way, perhaps known only to God, sacrifice part of your life for the sake of your neighbor. Respond to an insult with a kind word. Repay an offense with an act of kindness. React to anger with the love of Christ. Offer yourself for the sake of your neighbor, and glorify Jesus Christ.

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The Rev. Dr. J. Sergius Halvorsen (SVOTS ’96) received his M.Div. from St. Vladimir’s Seminary and completed his doctoral dissertation at Drew University in 2002. From 2000 to 2011 he taught at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell Connecticut, where he also served as Director of Distance Learning. He was ordained to the priesthood in February 2004, and currently serves on the faculty of SVOTS as Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric and Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program.

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) have elevated His Grace Bishop Paul of Chicago to the rank and dignity of archbishop.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and the Hierarchs of the Holy Synod made the decision Wednesday, May 27, 2020 during their regular Spring Session (via teleconference), in recognition of Archbishop Paul’s five years of outstanding service as a bishop, leading the Diocese of the Midwest.

“Congratulations to the newly elevated Archbishop Paul of Chicago,” wrote His Beatitude on Twitter. “His yeoman’s work in shepherding the vast Diocese of the Midwest make him most worthy of this elevation. I wish His Eminence inexhaustible energy, peace, and joy. Axios!”

Archbishop Paul began theological studies in September 1991 at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, from which he received his Master of Divinity degree summa cum laude and served as valedictorian in 1994. He was ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence, the late Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest, on June 25, 1994. On October 20, 2014, he was tonsured to monastic rank with the name Paul, in honor of Saint Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople. On October 21, 2014, the Holy Synod elected him to fill the vacant Episcopal See of Chicago and the Diocese of the Midwest. Archimandrite Paul was consecrated to the Episcopacy and enthroned as Bishop of Chicago and the Midwest at Chicago’s historic Holy Trinity Cathedral on Saturday, December 27, 2014.

• Read Archbishop Paul’s full biography at OCA.org

May God grant His Eminence, Archbishop Paul many years!

A homily delivered in Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary on Sunday, October 25, 2015.

We are so familiar with most of the readings that we hear in Church on Sunday mornings, especially those that recount a memorable parable, that we rarely pay attention to what it might say to us—we think we already know.

So, we heard today the parable of the rich man and Lazarus; and as soon as we hear the first words “There was a rich man”, we think we already know what the parable is going to be about: that the rich are going to have a hard time getting into heaven, while the poor, having had a hard time of it in this life, will get in much more easily.

And then we are tempted to identify ourselves with the poor; after all, even if we are not as poor as some, we certainly are not as rich as others! There are many others who are much richer than we are, and they are certainly going to have a hard time of it. Even if we are not as destitute as Lazarus, we still find ourselves in more hardship than we would prefer—we are not as rich as we would like to be.

But if we pay closer attention, we will see that it is not simply about objective riches/poverty, but about attachment.

It is striking that in the parable, the rich man is not named—he is simply known as one who is clothed in purple (a royal color), fine linen and who ate well. He is not named; as it says in the Psalms, about those who do not fear God: “I will not make mention of their names with my lips” (15.4). The rich man is not known by name, but is known rather by his possessions. And they are possessions which he has not used for the benefit of others, in a philanthropy, extending God’s own philanthropy—love of mankind; rather they are used for his own adornment and luxurious living.

Known by his possessions, the rich man is in fact possessed by his possessions.

And this is the reason he will have a hard time when he passes on from this life: it is not simply that he has had great possessions, but that he is their possession—they own him. He has not used his wealth for the benefit of others, but been too attached to what he has.

On the other hand, the poor man is named—Lazarus. Yet it is not simply his poverty which grants him a place in the kingdom, but that he has endured the situation into which he was born without complaint. He did not spend his life moaning about it, but rather takes an attitude like Job.

For him to have complained about it, would be like the rich man’s attachment to his possessions: as paradoxical as it might seem, the poor man would have become attached to his poverty—and this in turn would have kept his heart back in this world, and caused him great torment.

What the contrast between the rich man and Lazarus sets before us, as with Christ’s others words about material wealth, mamon, and our heart being where our treasure is, what all this presents to us is the challenge to be detached from the things of the world and to place all our hope, trust and love in God.

To live in such detachment, of course, requires faith. After all, it is not the evidence of our eyes that will persuade us that we can in fact give more generously to the poor than we like to think; the evidence of our eyes will always be to the contrary—I will be visibly poorer if I do so. The evidence of our eyes is not enough, and so the parable concludes with Abraham saying that even if someone should return from the dead—providing visible evidence—it would not be enough to persuade; if they do not already believe Moses and the prophets, no visible proof will suffice.

Moses and the prophets, of course, direct us to Christ, as the eternal and unchanging Word of God. And as we heard in the epistle, it is by faith in him that we are made righteous, not by anything that we can do of ourselves. In fact, as Paul said, in our desire to be righteous in him, we will be found to be sinners—that is, we are found to be living without the law, outside of the law. It is no longer a comprehensive system of regulations that we have to fulfill to appease our deity (however much we might tend to view religion in that manner). Rather if the righteousness of God is revealed in his crucified Son, then what is demanded of us is that we be, as Paul said, crucified with him.

And we have learnt from today’s parable a concrete way in which this is lived out is through our detachment from all worldly things; a detachment, not a despising; a detachment which enables us to see all things as the good gifts of God and frees us to use all things for the benefit of others—so that all things are indeed good gifts from God (not merely in word, but in reality), and so that we are not simply known by our possessions, or our achievements, but are known by a name.

And perhaps even more: as Paul concluded, if we are crucified with Christ in this way, then we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. We are called to be Christ’s own presence in this world; let us pray that we have the strength and courage to respond to this upward call of God in Christ, leaving behind all earthly cares to offer a sacrifice of peace and love.

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Fr. John Behr (SVOTS ’97) is the former Dean of St Vladimir’s Seminary and Professor of Patristics,

In this gripping audio interview, St. Vladimir’s graduate Fr. Geevarghese (Bobby) Varghese (’17) talks about how COVID-19 quickly and devastatingly took over almost all of the New York-area hospital where he serves as chaplain. He talks about how the pandemic changed the way he performs his hospital ministry and about witnessing one patient’s poignant final days. Father Bobby also shares how surviving COVID-19 himself and later seeing his wife test positive for the virus deeply impacted him.

Father Bobby Varghese was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in 2019. He is currently the assistant priest at St. Mary Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Staten Island, NY.

Listen to Fr. Bobby’s interview with the Seminary’s Ginny Nieuwsma below.

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced March 30, 2020 the appointment of Archpriest Thomas Soroka as Project Manager for the Departments of the Orthodox Church in America. With the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, Fr. Thomas will plan, coordinate, and oversee the work of the different ministry departments of the Church.

“The coordination of the work of the ministry departments is crucial as we work to implement the vision set by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon in his work Of What Life Do We Speak,” said Archpriest Alexander Rentel. “Father Thomas is well known throughout the Orthodox Church in America and brings to the job a wealth of real-world experience gained from senior management positions at Accenture, Bank of New York Mellon, and PNC Bank.”

In his appointment, Fr. Thomas will remain the rector of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKees Rocks, PA where he has served since July 2000. Father Thomas is married to Matuska Joni Soroka and they have three daughters.

Father Thomas studied in St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s "Collegiate Division" from 1982 to 1984 and holds two degrees from Duquesne University. He is a member of the Archdiocesan Council of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania and frequently speaks on church growth and parish revitalization. Father Thomas is well known also for his work for Ancient Faith Radio where he hosts a live call-in show, Ancient Faith Today, and two podcasts, The Path and Sermons at Saint Nicholas.

“I’m greatly honored and humbled to be entrusted with this blessed work and very excited to help develop impactful and necessary resources to support our parishes and faithful in their church life,” said Fr. Thomas.  “At every decision, our work will be guided by the question, ‘How can we support parishes so that they can focus on their ministry to thrive and grow?’ I want to hear from parishes and leaders about their needs and how the Departments can best serve them. Our clergy and faithful have so many outstanding ideas to ensure that our parishes and people are equipped to do the work of ministry and I can’t wait to start tapping into that.”

To learn more about the work of the department ministries click here, and to contribute to their work click here.

(This article has been reprinted from OCA.org)