JACOBS CREEK, PA - Members of all parishes and all clergy are invited to join the parish family of St. Nicholas in Jacobs Creek, PA to celebrate the restoration of their church after a fire in January 2001. His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas and pastor Rev. Father Daniel Montville have announced the following information for Saturday, May 10, 2003: Services begin at the church at 10 AM and include blessing of the church interior and icons and a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. Immediately following, approximately 12:30 to 1 PM, a brunch will be served at the Holiday Inn in Belle Vernon, located on PA Route 51. Read more...

Truly, what is so good or what is so joyous as the unity that springs from the bond of love? For it is love that poured forth from the Tomb -a love that cannot be conquered by sin, by fear , or even by death. And that love -the love of the Risen Christ -abides forever. It remains with us through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which began on the Holy Day of Pentecost, and continues until the present through the Mysteries of the Church. Read more...

Truly, He is not there! He is risen from the dead, just as He foretold! Such were the words of the angelic herald to the Myrrh-bearing Women, as they came at the first light of dawn to the Tomb of the Sun of Righteousness. But they did not find Him. He was not there! He is risen from the dead, having trampled down death by death! He is not here! He is risen from the dead, granting everlasting life to those in the tombs! Read more...

Before one can take rest, one must first labor. Before the reward comes the sacrifice; before the feast, the fast. My beloved faithful: the Holy and great Fast draws near to us, and it is time for us to draw near to it. It is a season that the world cannot accept, because the world sees only the visible need and not the invisible promise. The world looks at our fasting, our intensified prayer life, our self-restraint, and says: "Why this waste?". Read more...

We must realize that without fasting, there is no Lent! To that end, the Fathers of the Church established in ancient times through their collective experience the guidelines for Lenten Fasting. Essentially, the rule of the Church for Lent is to "Strict Fast" -abstaining from meat and dairy products from the First Monday of Lent until Pascha. This time includes both Saturdays and Sundays, which in the Orthodox reckoning are considered apart of Lent, unlike the reckoning of the Western Churches. To those who are able, we wholeheartedly recommend that they partake of this practice as much as they are able. Read more...