Come and See!
Like visiting any new culture for the first time, the best way to learn about the Orthodox Church is to simply come and see. Experience it firsthand! Endure the awkward stumbling through that many of us have also experienced. Engage the community during the meal after the service and ask questions. We’re happy to have you! The best advice we can offer is to go all in for at least a month. One Sunday is nice, but it isn’t enough to receive the full picture.
If it’s truly your very first time, we recommend first coming to a service called Great Vespers at 6:00PM on Saturdays. It serves as a preparation for the next day’s Divine Liturgy. It’s about 45 minutes long and it’s simple, subdued, and quite prayerful. A great introduction!
Then on Sundays we celebrate the greatest event in the cosmos, the Divine Liturgy! It begins at 10:00AM, and it is the pinnacle and climax of our entire spiritual life! Everything we do is connected to the Divine Liturgy. There is no Christian life without it. For this reason, it is our most vibrant, lively, and active service, lasting usually between an hour and a half to two hours. Many report that it doesn’t feel so long when it’s over.
Another service precedes the Liturgy beginning at 9:00AM called Orthros. It is another precursor and preparation for the Liturgy. So, depending on when you arrive, it may feel like you’ve missed the beginning and you’re late. Rest assured, you’re not!
- December 12, 2024
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Take A Tour Of Our Church!
What is God’s Revelation to the Human Heart?
“How can a religious seeker avoid the traps and deceptions which he encounters in his search?…
…There is only one answer to this question: a person must be in the religious search, not for the sake of religious experiences, which can deceive, but for the sake of truth. Anyone who studies religion seriously comes up against this question: it is a question literally of life and death.
Our Orthodox Christian faith, as contrasted with the western confessions, is often called “mystical”: it is in contact with a spiritual reality that produces results which are usually called “supernatural” – which are beyond any kind of earthly logic or experience. One does not need to search in ancient literature to find examples, for the life of a miracle – worker in our own days is full of mystical elements. Archbishop John Maximovitch… was seen in glowing light, levitated during prayer, was clairvoyant, worked miracles of healing… None of this, however, is remarkable in itself; it can easily be imitated by false miracle workers. How do we know that he was in contact with the truth?”
Why Are We Here?
“Many assume that the purpose of our life is, at best, simply moral improvement to become better men…
…when we are told by the Gospel, by the Tradition of the Church, and by the holy Fathers, that the purpose of our life is not just that man should become better than he is, more moral, more just, more self-controlled, more mindful; all these must happen, but none of them are the great purpose, the ultimate purpose for which our Maker and Creator moulded man.
What is this purpose? Theosis – for man to be united with God, not in an external or a sentimental manner but ontologically, in a real way. Man is placed so high in Orthodox anthropology that if we compare that with the anthropologies of all the philosophies or social and psychological systems we will very easily find out how poor these are, how little they correspond to man’s great yearning for something very great and true in his life.”
— The Abbot of the Holy Monastery of St. Gregorios of the Holy Mountain Athos † Archimandrite George
How Are We Saved?
“Each of us is an image of God, and God is our prototype. The image seeks the prototype, and only when it finds it does it find rest.”
“…moral perfection is not enough for man. It is not enough for us simply to become better than before, simply to perform moral deeds. We have as our final aim to unite with holy God Himself. This is the purpose of the creation of the universe. This is what we desire. This is our joy, our happiness, and our fulfillment.
The psyche of man, who is created in the image and likeness of God, yearns for God and desires union with Him. No matter how moral, how good man may be, no matter how many good deeds he may perform, if he does not find God, if he does not unite with Him, he finds no rest. For holy God placed within him this holy thirst, the divine eros, the desire for union with Him, for Theosis, so he has in himself the erotic power, which he receives from his Creator, in order to love truly, strongly, selflessly… just as his holy Creator falls in love with His world, with His creatures. This is so that with this holy erotic impetus and loving power, he falls in love with God. If man did not have the image of God in himself, he would not be able to seek its prototype. Each of us is an image of God, and God is our prototype. The image seeks the prototype, and only when it finds it does it find rest.”
— The Abbot of the Holy Monastery of St. Gregorios of the Holy Mountain Athos † Archimandrite George
“It is good to have the intellectual powers that take man to the moon costing billions of dollars in fuel expenses and so on, but it is better to have the spiritual powers that raise man to God, his ultimate destination, with only a bit of fuel, a mere dried piece of bread.”
-Saint Paisios the Athonite
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