Dear Diocesan Parents and Children, This summer, our Diocese is pleased to offer a new event specifically for our young women. The First Annual Young Women’s Retreat will provide an opportunity for the young women of our Diocese to spend time in each other’s company, have fun, pray together, and learn about how God calls each woman to serve His church with her talents and abilities. This Retreat will take place concurrently with the Diocesan Altar Boy’s Retreat. In many ways, these separate experiences are meant to parallel each other, with each focusing on the experience, vocations, and unique gifts bestowed upon the young men and women of our Church.

Dear Diocesan Parents and Children, This summer, our Diocese is pleased to offer a new event specifically for our young women. The First Annual Young Women’s Retreat will provide an opportunity for the young women of our Diocese to spend time in each other’s company, have fun, pray together, and learn about how God calls each woman to serve His church with her talents and abilities. This Retreat will take place concurrently with the Diocesan Altar Boy’s Retreat. In many ways, these separate experiences are meant to parallel each other, with each focusing on the experience, vocations, and unique gifts bestowed upon the young men and women of our Church.

On this great and glorious feast of Pascha—the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with tremendous joy, our souls are transformed and we bask in the Light of Truth. I wish to share with you the inspiring, uplifting and brilliant homily of our Father among the Saints, Athanasius the Great. Brethren, how fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day. The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed. We feed as on the food of life, we constantly refresh our souls with His precious blood, as from a fountain.

My beloved Faithful Clergy and Laity of our God-protected Diocese: As we begin Great Lent on March 3rd, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts so that we may journey through the season and approach Pascha with the proper frame of mind.

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, Our Orthodox Church recommends that, during this period of Great Lent, we focus our attention toward sincere repentance, “the melting pot of sin,” according to St. John Chrysostom. Repentance is the first topic of our Lord Jesus Christ’s preaching and the very essence of the Christian teaching. It is the Church’s daily invitation to us all. Despite this, many of us have not truly experienced repentance. We sometimes feel that it does not concern us personally because we have not “come to ourselves” in order to comprehend and contemplate how we may have committed any sin. However, as we are taught by the wise teacher of the spiritual life, Abba Isaac the Syrian, and as most of the Church Fathers proclaim through experience, repentance is necessary even for the perfect.

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPE --His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople, released the following message today to the Ukrainian Nation and the members of the Ukrainian community abroad in response to the escalating crisis in the Ukraine. Beloved children and friends in Ukraine and abroad,It is with heavy heart that we have been following the ongoing and, indeed, only escalating tragic circumstances in Ukraine over the last weeks. We feel that our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are our own flesh and blood. We endure the same sufferings that you suffer and we work with you for your joy, as St. Paul says. In our high responsibility as Ecumenical Patriarch, we are obliged to call for peace from the authorities in a democratic and independent nation, where its elected leaders – both in government and opposition – have the ultimate responsibility to protect the dignity of human life among its citizens.

I greet you with joy and love in the Name of our Incarnate Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us give thanks to Almighty God, by whose grace we have been given the opportunity to celebrate the Birth of His Son. If we look around, we find hatred, mistrust, suffering, and the absence of peace and love in our neighborhood, city, country, and in fact the whole world. This reality in life makes us cry out for God’s help, assistance, and intervention.

Your Grace, Bishop Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in the United States of America, our beloved brother and concelebrant in Christ, and to the bereaved family and Parish of St. John The Baptist in Perth Amboy, NJ: Grace, peace and comfort to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. With deep sadness we have learned of the falling asleep in the Lord of the ever memorable Protopresbyter Michael Rosco.

Very Reverend Protopresbyters, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, and the Faithful of our God-Protected Diocese: CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED, HE IS RISEN! On this great and glorious feast of Pascha—the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with tremendous joy, our souls are transformed and we bask in the Light of Truth. I wish to share with you the inspiring, uplifting and brilliant homily of our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom.

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- Dear faithful of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the USA and friends, we offer our prayers and condolences for all those who were injured and lost their lives in the aftermath of yesterday's terrorist attack in Boston. We share with you the following statement issued yesterday by His Eminence, Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston:

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- His Grace, Bishop Gregory has issued an appeal to diocesan parishes to assist the National ACRY in submitting nominations for their Annual Church School Teacher of the Year Award. The following is the text of His Grace's communique: During a recent meeting with the officers of the National Senior ACRY, I was pleased to learn that each year the ACRY recognizes an exemplary Church School Teacher

My beloved Faithful of the Diocese: As we begin the Great Lenten Season, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts so that we may journey through the season and approach Pascha with the proper frame of mind. In the hymn of Cheese Fare Vespers we hear, Let us set out with joy upon the season of the fast preparing ourselves for spiritual combat. Let us purify our souls and cleanse our bodies. As we fast from food let us also fast from every evil, rejoicing in the virtues of the spirit. Let us persevere with love and so be deemed worthy to venerate the passion of Christ our God and with great spiritual gladness to behold His Holy Resurrection.

Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord, The holy fathers, who arranged everything in an orderly manner, instituted a period of ascetic discipline and spiritual purification for forty days prior to the great feast of the Lord’s resurrection. This ascetic rule assumes the form of a limitation on foods through fasting, but especially an abstinence from evil. The saintly hymnographer characteristically emphasizes that a genuine and favorable form of fasting for God is the estrangement from wrongdoing, control of the tongue, alienation from anger, separation from evil desires, including gossip, deceit and swearing,

As we celebrated this joyous Feast of the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, I wish to share with you the brillant homily of our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom. The theology of the Incarnation can be said in no better way by no one. I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but loudly chanting a heavenly hymn! The angels sing! The archangels blend their voices in harmony! The cherubim resound their joyful praise!

As we gather to celebrate this great Feasts of Feasts, and together we experience the supreme joy of Holy Pascha, we offer our praise to God for His abundant grace and for the triumph of our Savior Jesus Christ over the power of sin and death. In a magnificent revelation of His invincible might, our Risen Lord has defeated all that corrupts and destroys our human existence.

Beloved children in the Lord, If Christ’s Resurrection referred to Himself, then its significance for us would be negligible. The Church proclaims, however, that, the Lord did not arise alone. Together with Himself, He also resurrected all people. This is how our predecessor, St. John Chrysostom, proclaims this great truth in thunderous language: “Christ is risen, and none are left dead in the grave; for in being raised from the dead, he became the first-fruits of all who were asleep.”

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- The Diocesan Chancery has received the following gracious greeting from His Eminence, Metropolitan Alexios, ruling hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, on the ocassion of the first Anniversary of the Repose of His Eminence, +Metropolitan Nicholas.

As we begin this season of Holy and Great Lent, we do so in anticipation of the blessings we will receive as we commune with Christ through the special services, observances, and disciplines of our Orthodox Christian faith. We embark on a journey of faith, with the destination of the joy of Pascha before us, knowing that abundant spiritual treasure awaits if we are committed to intensifying prayer and fasting and service to others in charity.

As we spiritually draw near to Bethlehem and the cave where God deigned to be born in the flesh, I greet each and everyone of the blessed Carpatho-Russian Flock in the United States and Canada with paternal love and best wishes on the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. This Christmas whether on the New Calendar or Old, we cannot help but remember the late and beloved Metropolitan Nicholas

NEW YORK, NY -- His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America issued the following Archpastoral Encyclical for Thanksgiving: Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, On this blessed day of Thanksgiving, we are encouraged in the tradition of this great national holiday to be thankful to God for His presence in our lives and His abundant gifts to us. As Orthodox Christians this gratefulness to God is something we share with all who celebrate this day. It is also an attitude and manner of life that is presented in our worship and in our relationships with others.

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- On Sunday September 11, 2011 Diocesan parishes throughout the U.S.A. will remember offer special prayers during Divine Liturgy in remembrance of the 10th Anniversary of the 911 tragedy. For those parishes observing the Julian Calendar, the solemnity and sorrow of this day will be placed within the context of the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which is traditionally observed in fasting and intensified prayer.

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- The Diocesan Chancellor, Very Rev. Protopresbyter Frank P. Miloro in behalf of the Diocesan Consistory, with the Blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America, Locum Tenens, issued the following update and appeal for assistance for the Parish communities of Manville and Rahway, NJ who experienced severe flooding and property damage: Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers and Faithful: None of us need to be reminded of the devastation that Hurricane Irene brought as the storm moved up the east coast last weekend. Thank God we have received no reports of the loss of life in any of our churches.

I greet all of you on the bright and joyous Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lent, which was made all the more heavy by the passing of our beloved brother, and your dear father in Christ, the late Metropolitan Nicholas, now is filled with hope, the hope of the Resurrection.

Once again we are about to embark on an amazing spiritual journey, for at sundown this evening we will begin the sacred season of the Great Fast. But our Holy Mother Church has already begun to prepare us for it well in advance. Even before the Triodion itself began three weeks ago,

Last year, at this festive time, I received a Christmas card which many people, I'm sure, would have found quite unusual, and yet for us Orthodox Christians, it was very appropriate. It did not depict the Christ Child in the cave surrounded by the Theotokos and Joseph, nor the adoration of the shepherds or the Magi

The years of life seem to pass so quickly, the pace of time quickening as the years advance, and no person can escape the relentless currents that carry each of us to life’s twilight and to the inevitable encounter with the specter of our own mortality.

On the Christian Feast of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Mother of God and the Apostles who were gathered together in the Upper Room. John the Baptist once predicted that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Luke 3.16): at Pentecost, at nine o'clock in the morning, the prophecy of the Forerunner came true in the fullness of divine power and joy.

Once again, in a matter only of a few years, the eyes of the world are turned with suspense toward the Gulf Coast. Sadly, the oil spill is following a path similar to Hurricane Katrina and threatening the coast of Louisiana as well as neighboring states. As citizens of God's creation, we perceive this monumental spill of crude oil in the oceans

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear children in the Lord, Christ is Risen! Once again, the sacred day of Pascha has dawned in full delight and splendor, dispersing joy, comfort, gladness and assurance of life to all faithful, despite the heavy atmosphere that prevails in our world on account of the multidimensional crisis

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" - These glorious words of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John , which are read on this Great Day, the Day of the Resurrection, reveal to us one of the most marvelous and awesome aspects of this most festive celebration.

Do you not think it amazing how that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes into contact with a person, He touches his HEART and SOUL AND TRANSFORMS HIS LIFE? This mystery happened so many times during His earthly ministry of three years.

"Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He STEADFASTLY set His face to go to Jerusalem..." The Gospel portions that are read on Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are from the Gospel of St. John. But today I turn to a scene in the Gospel according to St. Luke

Our most holy Orthodox Church today commemorates its own feast day, and – from this historical and martyric See of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – the Mother Church of Constantinople directs its blessing, love and concern to all of its faithful and dedicated spiritual children throughout the world, inviting them to concelebrate in prayer. Blessed be the name of the Lord! Those who endeavored over the ages to suppress the Church through various visible and invisible persecutions;

Again we stand at the threshold of the Great Fast! Ten weeks before the Glorious feast of Pascha, we began our preparation for the glorious and awesome mystery of the Passion and Death of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ! It was for this reason that He, the very Son of God Himself, came into the world: to die for us and our salvation!

It is my great hope and prayer that this humble request of the great Israelite King and Prophet Solomon be also on the lips and in the hearts of the several young men who will enter the doors of our Christ the Saviour Seminary for the first time or as returning students this fall as we initiate its 70th anniversary.

"And He said to them: ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Mark 6:31 Every year during the summer, after the long cold winter months, the spiritual experience of the Great Fast, and the glorious celebration of the Lord's Resurrection

Protocol N. 192 - June 7, 2009 To the Reverend Clergy and Beloved Faithful of this Diocese: Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever! I greet you in the spiritual joy of the Feast of Pentecost, for on this Day, we celebrate the outflowing of the Holy Spirit from God the Father, through Jesus Christ and His Church, and to the entire world.

This is the Morning after the long night and the long journey. For the past forty days and Holy Week, we have journeyed after Jesus in fasting, in confession, in the Liturgies of St. Basil and the Pre-Sanctified Gifts. We have prayed longer prayers and we have sought forgiveness. We have listened to the sweet Gospel words of our Saviour, and faithful songs of the Theotokos at the Cross.

As we began our journey into the Triodion a few weeks ago, we were reminded once again of the lessons that several parables had to teach us, especially the two parables of the Publican and the Pharisee and the Prodigal Son; these messages are repeated in the hymns of the Church during the third and the fourth weeks of the Great Fast.

When we were little children, our parents and our Church School teachers were the first ones to instruct us in the mysteries of our Holy Faith. One of the initial words that we learned was "BoŽe," which, of course, means "GOD." Next we were taught where God lived. And if you ask almost any child today, hopefully his or her response will be, as was ours, "in heaven."

On the Christian Feast of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Mother of God and the Apostles who were gathered together in the Upper Room. John the Baptist once predicted that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Luke 3.16): at Pentecost, at nine o'clock in the morning, the prophecy of the Forerunner came true in the fullness of divine power and joy.

We rejoice because we have entered into that bright joy of the Resurrection Day. The Lord Jesus Christ was adored by the crowds on Palm Sunday and crucified on Good Friday. This same Lord cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind, bestowed hearing to the deaf, and strengthened the lame and weary. This same Lord opened the Scripture and revealed the majestic Wisdom of the Holy Trinity. This same Lord brought life to the dying and hopeless, was the same Lord Who was taken down from the Holy Cross, and was received into the heartbroken arms of His Mother, the Theotokos. This same Lord Who created the stars, the sun, the wind and the sea and the solid earth was sealed into a tomb of heavy, gray and lifeless stone.

I rejoice that His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW, designated 2008 as a year-long commemoration of St. Paul the Apostle. Along with the Church of Rome, the Orthodox Church is celebrating the life, the leadership, and the legacy of this Great Apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul.

We are about to enter into the Season of the year when the Lord draws our hearts close to Him and His Church. We are about to refrain from certain foods and entertainments for a time. We are about to attend Divine Services more often. We are about to give more charity to the poor, to be kinder to our neighbors, to care for the sad and the grieving around us.

I greet all of you with the words of the Archangel: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). And I invite you to sing with the Angelic Choir: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).

JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas has issued a letter calling upon all diocesan clergy and the faithful to support efforts by the Greek Archdiocese of America to provide relief to the victims of the recent fires in Greece. A special collection in each diocesan parish has been requested for Sunday September 23, 2007.

In the act of CREATION, we see the Triune God at work; all things are made new out of nothing. In the act of REDEMPTION, again we see the Triune God at work, recreating and renewing what had been corrupted by man's fall.

BOSTON, MA - In a confidential letter to Recep Tayyip Erdogan dated August 28, 2003 (Protocol Number 801), just a few months after Mr. Erdogan was elected prime minister of Turkey, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople importunes the Turkish Government to change its policies and political stance towards the Patriarchate. In his letter, the Patriarch noted that, "in the year 1927, 100 thousand Greeks lived in Constantinople. Today, that number has been shrunk to 2,000 and even less," and refers to the "extermination" of the Greek Orthodox population in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).

As you are aware, His All-Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, has proclaimed this 2007 calendar year as the "Year of St. John Chrysostom." As a Diocese we join the Orthodox world in remembering this great Saint of the Holy Church on the 1600th anniversary of his falling asleep in the Lord. In reflecting upon the life, witness and influence of St. John, it is clear why he is ranked among the greatest of Saints and heralded as the "golden-mouthed" preacher of the ages. His words were truly inspired by the Spirit, flowing from the wellspring of Divine wisdom. They continue to invite all to the true knowledge of God and offer practical advice for the life of piety and holiness.

Tragedy comes in many forms and faces. It is not new to us. It has visited our nation once again, this time in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virginia Tech University. Its form is senseless. Its face is brutal. Thirty-two lives - the majority of them aspiring students, the others, distinguished educators - were snuffed out without warning on the morning of April 16 by a lone gunman in a senseless shooting spree. Although we do not understand this tragedy, nor did the victims do anything to precipitate it, nevertheless it happened.

JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas has issued the following statement regarding the Catastrophic Flood Affecting the New Jersey Deanery

On that Resurrection morning, while it was still dark, this was the question and the problem that perplexed those myrrh-bearing women disciples of the Lord. We know that the stone was "very large" and cumbersome according to the Gospel account. From historical and cultural knowledge of the times, we know that it was a massive stone disk that was rolled into a groove in the ground before the entrance of the tomb. Once it was set in place, it was not meant to be moved. It certainly could not be rolled up and out of that groove easily. It would take several strong men to accomplish the task. How then could this small group of fragile, tired, and aging women do it? They were worn out from the tragic events of the past few days and were still in the throes of grief at the death of their Master and their Friend. And now they were even more troubled and plagued by the thought that they might not be able to complete the traditional burial ritual of their people upon their beloved Lord. The stone barred their way! You can imagine, then, what joy and excitement filled their hearts and minds as they approached the tomb, looked up, and found the stone ALREADY rolled back. And then news rang out in their ears, "He is not here; He is risen as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay!" (Matthew 28:6)

I am pleased to announce the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of the Life-Giving Font on Friday, April 13th. Resurrection Matins will be served at 9 am at the Sts. Cyril and Methodios Camp Church, with the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at 10 am, with a procession around the church. A paschal meal will be served in the Dining Hall afterwards. I heartily encourage clergy and faithful to attend, especially those who are in the vicinity of Camp Nazareth. I mean this celebration of Bright Friday at Camp Nazareth to be an annual event, so I expect your best effort to attend, and to encourage your parishioners to participate as well.

On March 9, the Discovery Channel will air a program entitled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus." The program was produced by Simcha Jacobovici and "Titanic" director James Cameron. Mr. Cameron, you might remember, was the one who shouted "I'm the King of the World" when he received an Academy Award for his production about the sinking of the White Star liner.

I write to you on the threshold of the Great Fast, our annual forty-day journey to the great and happy Day of the Paschal Victory of Jesus Christ. I write to you out of my profound desire that you and I, in the Paschal Celebration, may enter into the joy of the Angels on that day. And so I take this opportunity to meditate on the way of joy, and the path to the Paschal sunshine. I offer you my dearest invitation to walk with me in the only narrow way through the wilderness and the mountains, through the valley of shadows, and finally to the Rising of the Sun.

JOHNSTOWN, PA - The National Junior ACRY has announced plans for a special Lenten Youth Project to benefit our Diocesan St. John the Compassionate Mission in Toronto Ontario. While sponsored by the JR. ACRY all diocesan youth are encouraged to participate. The following is the text of a letter from Very Rev. Miles Zdinak, National Jr. ACRY Spiritual Advisor, which is being sent to all JR.ACRY chapters and all diocesan parishes regarding the project.

Your holy Eminence of Amissos, spiritual brother in the Holy Spirit and concelebrant NICHOLAS, grace to Your holy sacredness and peace from God. It is with great interest and anticipation that we received the reports of the proceedings conducted at the recent Clergy-Laity Sobor of the beloved Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of America which was held in Greenwich, Connecticut. We carefully reviewed the reports and essays as submitted by the official representative of the Mother Church and Exarch, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America.

In the day of the Prophet Amos, the Vision of God's Will was met with ridicule and dismissal. No one in society wanted to hear that God's Law was being broken and that His Justice was being ignored. The poor were being abused and taken advantage of. The powerless and the weak were trampled on for the sake of a materialistic society.

We greet each other today with the greatest and deepest of words: "Christ is Born!". And we respond with "Glorify Him!". It is the only possible response that wells up from the hearts of those who can hear the glory of the angels and the peace that God has given to earth. It is meet and right, today, on this bright morning, to be overwhelmed by the light of the Bethlehem Star. That light is the joy of hearing the news that should always surprise, that should always be new and unexpected. We should never grow over-familiar with the Gospel of the Nativity. It should always come as news almost too good to be true. We should always rub our eyes and wonder if it's all a dream when we hear that God has become flesh and has made His dwelling with us on the earth of His Own making.

Near a village in Pennsylvania called Paradise, there is now an empty parcel of land. Next spring it will be carpeted with green alfalfa as pasture for the flocks. Formerly it held a simple, white wooden schoolhouse. That parcel was the West Nickel Mines Amish Schoolhouse. On Thursday, October 12 the schoolhouse was razed. Undoubtedly you understand why this had to be. On a horrible morning on October 2, a young man crazed with anger and shame invaded a defenseless group of children and teachers. By the time the shooting and the screams were over, ten little girls had been shot. Of these, five perished, mainly because a demonized young man wanted to add homicide to his suicide.

June floods in the Southern Tier region brought extensive damage to properties of hundreds and hundreds of homeowners. Losses are now estimated to exceed $250 million dollars. At least 10 families of St. Michael's Church in Binghamton have suffered different degrees of loss, varying from extensive basement flooding to total loss of homes and possessions. Under the direction of Father James Dutko and the Parish Board of Officers, immediate action was taken to support those suffering losses. Some relief has come, but more is needed.

Global news coverage of the recent, unfathomable rampage of a gunman that was dealt to Amish schoolchildren in the Lancaster County Pennsylvania town of Nickel Mines has reached everyone everywhere. Of significance to us as a Christian community is how the Amish are dealing with this horrific act of violence. Not only is their community taking care of their own and supporting the families of the victims, but they have displayed love and heartfelt forgiveness towards the family of the gunman! What may at first appear to be strange is actually the command of our Lord to forgive our enemies seventy times seven and without end.

CHICAGO, IL - The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas concluded a four-day conference today by issuing an official communiqué reaffirming the statement of 2001 of the need to bear public witness together on matters of spiritual and moral concerns.

Pentecost is not really the birthday of the Church, for the Church began with Creation, the bodiless powers, and Adam. Pentecost is, however, the celebration of something new and radically different, as Peter quoted the Prophet Joel in his homily: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. For upon My servants and upon my handmaids in those days will I pour out of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

I greet you in the joy and brightness of this Feast of Feasts! I welcome you to this celebration that is the wellspring of all gladness and delight! I invite you to enter, with faith and with love, into the beauty and peace of this Eternal Dawn! I bid you to rejoice, sing and exult, for Jesus Christ Who was Crucified, is now Risen from the Dead! Jesus Christ Who bore the weight of sorrows and shame, Who took away the sins of the world, Who was slain in darkness on Friday's Cross ... this same Jesus Who was beaten and pierced in shame is now the Risen Christ, Who shines in splendor, Who reigns in power, Who rejoices in triumph, Who has thrown down the Enemy in defeat forever, Who shouts the exultation of victory and majesty unto the ages of ages!

Truly, as the Apostle Paul says, "the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!" As we commence upon this season of the Fast, we push ourselves to a stricter discipline of fasting. We struggle to maintain a more intense observance of the various Lenten Services. But all of our observances are designed by the Church and the Holy Fathers to achieve one end - to bring us to a heightened awareness of our faith, or as we say in the Divine Liturgy, "progress in life, faith and spiritual consciousness" (second prayer of the Faithful).

The National Right to Life March will be held on Monday, January 23, 2006 in our nation's capital. It will be the 33rd March, since the Supreme Court legislated a new law in the land in 1973, legalizing abortion on demand. Once again, I urge you to fervently support the Pro-Life cause in prayer, in service and in donations to local Pro-Life offices. I especially urge you to participate in the March for Life. Plan to ride one of the many hundreds of buses that are traveling there. Or come yourself. The cause is worth all the toil and sacrifice. It is worth participating in the March in the snow and the cold. It is worth walking with thousands of other marchers.

Today, we have followed the Shepherds under the wings of Angels. Today, we have seen the Star, and we have traveled with the Wise Men. Today, we have searched in the habitations of the City, and we have found the Family of God in a Cave. The Prince of Heaven, the Son of God, has embraced human nature in the roots of the earth, amidst the common beasts of the field. Born of God the Father to the young Virgin Mary, and fostered by the elderly and righteous Joseph, Jesus Christ shines with royal majesty - not from a palace, but from a place occupied by the likes of you and me.

CONSTANTINOPLE - After a long, three year absence, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas was finally able to make a much desired pilgrimage to the Holy Mother and Great Church of Christ, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Accompanied by the present writer, His Eminence journeyed over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to the Queen of Cities, Constantinople, in order to participate in the celebrations attending the Patronal Feastday of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the feast of the Holy First-Called Apostle Saint Andrew, the founder and protector of See of Constantinople.

JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas announced his plans for the institution of the Diocesan Apostolate for Youth Ministry. In a letter sent to all diocesan parishes, dated October 5, 2005, His Eminence, as promised in his address at last month's National ACRY Convention, further outlined his vision and goals of the apostolate. Underscoring His conviction that such a youth ministry be a major diocesan priority, His Eminence has announced his appointment of several diocesan priests to assist him with this important new diocesan ministry and the commencement of their work in early November.

Once again, we experience a disaster that has affected hundreds of thousands of people in our country. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, our thoughts and prayers are directed to all those who have and are suffering because of natural disaster. We join all the Orthodox jurisdictions in America in appealing to our good people for immediate help. I am calling on all pastors to announce a collection to be taken up either this Sunday, September 4 or the following Sunday, September 11. Please direct your parish treasurer to forward your donations to the Chancery immediately following its collection. Urgency is imperative.

I welcome you, beloved, into the courts of Pentecost! I welcome you, this day, to the heights of the Church, the Body of Christ! I welcome you to this fiftieth day after the Resurrection, when Christ fulfilled His promise to send the Holy Spirit, the day which we celebrate at every Chrismation, every reception of the Eucharist, every ordination and consecration to the Episcopacy and all the sacraments I welcome you to the harmonious and unified song of praise - a song that began in the Upper Room after the Resurrection ... a song that continues even until this very day! Today, I bid you enter the "cloud of dew and flame of rain" on this Feast of Pentecost. Enter now into the courts of the Resurrected Christ, and the Body of His Church.

Today is the Feast of Feasts, the Great Day of Gladness from which flows the heavenly light and joy in every Christian feast. Today is the Morning of the Eighth Day, the Day that rises above all night, and transcends all time. Today, eternity has broken into yesterday, and has made tomorrow new. This, truly, is the Day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I greet you in the Meekness of the Bridegroom Christ, Who calls us, in the depth of our hearts, to follow Him during this Great Fast, and to not betray Him. In this annual season, we closely follow the events of the Passion of Our Lord, and we are frequently met by the disturbing picture of Judas the Betrayer. We are told, in the Gospel of St. Matthew (26.15), that he received thirty pieces of silver - about a half year's wages, almost $15,000 in today's funds - as payment for delivering his Lord into the hands of the enemy. When we hear this, we quickly protest, and we say "We would have done much better."

In this season of the Nativity of Our Lord, we should think carefully about the fact that the Son of God was once a baby, a little child. This one fact is the most important determination of our opposition to abortion. He was an unborn Child, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary on the Day of the Annunciation. From the moment of that mysterious conception, that unborn Child was never less than a Person, never less than fully God and fully Man. When He was born, He did not become a Person at that point, because He already was.In the entirely of His mission in the Incarnation, the Son of God sanctified, and gave supreme legitimacy, to the whole range of human life. His work, proceeding out of the eternal Counsels of God the Father, and empowered by the dynamism of God the Spirit, renewed human nature. He entered humanity, and became the head of humanity, thus establishing a single, united human nature.

Please be aware that the jurisdictions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have been advised of the need for us, as the people of God, to act with mercy in alleviating the suffering of so many who have been affected by the recent earthquake and tidal waves in Asia. Please continue to pray for them in your parish.

There is a reason why the Church calls our thoughts to the story of the Wise Men, every year at this season. The story is an icon of the journey we must all make - a journey out of the darkness, through the winter, following a mysterious star to the radiance of the New-Born King.

In the last two months, several disastrous hurricanes have ravaged the Florida area and the Gulf coast. Recently, Hurricane Ivan proceeded from the Gulf and badgered the Pittsburgh area with massive flooding. Many thousands of people have been affected by these grievous storms. Some have perished, many more have been injured. Still more have suffered the loss of their homes and livelihood.

By the authority invested in me by the Holy Synod of Constantinople, I solemnly proclaim the opening of the sixty-fifth academic year of Christ the Saviour Seminary. I attend to this event with great devotion, as should we all. The Lord has given this Diocese many gifts, of whose worth it is impossible to measure. But some from these many rise to prominence, even amidst such a rich array. And one such prominent gift is Christ the Saviour Seminary.

PRIEST: Furthermore, we pray to You, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, Whose grace is everywhere within and without all of Creation, Who determined each creature in the counsels of Your Holy Will before time began, Who created all things by the Son in the Holy Spirit, Who made all things exist in each other, holding together in the power of Christ : look down with mercy upon Your handiwork in the world that You love.

On September 1st, we witness another beginning of our Church's year. In the Church of Constantinople, this new year has been observed on September 1st for well over sixteen hundred years. We celebrate this beginning in September, for this month has long been known as a sweet time of harvest, bright days and cool evenings. After the work in the fields is now done, it is time, in September, to begin the work of learning and reflection, and preparation for the years to come.

Our days of feasting and celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ have come to their forty-day closure, when we take leave of the Feast and behold Christ ascended in glory. But ten days later, on the Fiftieth day, the Day of Pentecost, we receive the fullness of the Promise that was sounded on the Eve of the First Day of Eternity.

Let us arise and enter into the Resurrection Joy of our Lord! The Banquet Chamber is prepared! Even as the Lord commanded His Disciples to prepare the Upper Room for His Mystical Supper (St. Mark 14:12-16), so He has commanded us to celebrate this Queen of Feasts with great rejoicing. For He greets each one of us as He greeted the Holy Women coming to His empty- Tomb: "Rejoice!"

Now we arise! Now we commence the season of the Great and Holy Fast, a time of repentance and sanctification, a time of testing and purification. The days and weeks that have come before, the period that the Church calls "Triodion", have prepared us well for our Lenten Pilgrimage. For we have heard what I believe to be the greatest of all the parables of our Lord, the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Once again, we are compelled to remember, at this time of year, the tragic reality of abortion. It is now 31 years since that infamous day when the Supreme Court executed the legality of expedient infanticide, for that is really what abortion is. But in the minds of most people today, abortion does not appear so ugly. It has been dressed up and masked. It is regarded as a political issue, a litmus test, a mere survey question.

In the beginning, God created the world, the universe, and all that is therein. From the dust of the earth, He formed the body of the first man Adam and breathed life into him. From Adam's side, He extracted a rib and formed with it the body of his helpmate Eve. Together Adam and Eve lived in peace. harmony, purity, and sinlessness But then Satan caused them to sin, and the first couple fell from grace and were cast out of Paradise due to their pride and disobedience. Mankind became brutish and beast like. Disease, corruption, and death entered into the world. But even from that very moment, God had already made His promise of salvation to His children.

We greet you in peace as we begin the season of Great and Holy Lent, the forty-day journey toward the feast of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Along this journey, we are presented with the magnificent task of drawing closer to God, of being filled with His inexhaustible love, and of spiritually renewing ourselves through prayer, through fasing and through acts of charity. As we worship and minister together, may we rejoice in the treasure which is our Orthodox Christian faith. May we progress also in the knowledge that Christ invites us to share this faith with others, so that they too become members of the household of God (Ephesians 2: 19b).

After the creation of the world and the fall of mankir1d from grace, the lord God Almighty began His work with mankind anew. In the Garden of Eden, the progenitors of the race of man, Adam and Eve, walked and talked with God their Father as intimates, as loving and obedient children of a loving Father. Even more, they were friends of God. All of that changed because of their disobedience, however. And from that moment God already set in motion His plan to re-instate human beings to ttlat very same privilege and dignity. But this would take timeJ of course, and God dea:t with His People in increasing degrees by which they would be brought back to their original state.

As we come yet again to the Resurrection of the Lord, to this holiest of seasons, Queen of Feasts, the Feast of Feasts, and the Great Day, the question of the Myrrh-bearing Women challenges all of us: Who will roll the stone away for us from the entrance of the tomb?

NEW YORK, NY - We, the hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas are compelled by our spiritual obligation as peacemakers, to express the anguish in our hearts that, once again, due to the presence of sin and evil in the world, nations and people of faith have been unable to avoid a dreadful confrontation. As heads of Orthodox Christian communities in North America we are compelled to call our pious clergy and faithful to pray for peace and for respect of the sanctity of all human persons.

As Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, we address you in the love of Jesus Christ on the occasion of the Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, a day when we specifically celebrate the restoration of the use of icons in our worship. The significance of this day, however, does not rest solely on icons, but also in the celebration of the fullness of our Orthodox Christian faith and its triumph over forces that have sought to diminish its power and integrity. On this day, in every Orthodox Church throughout our country and our world, the affirmation of this faith as recorded by the Seventh Ecumenical Council is proclaimed triumphantly and With one voice: This is the faith of the Apostles! This is the faith of the Fathers! This is thefaith of the Orthodox! This is the faith which has established the universe!

Even before the Lenten Triodion begins, we already hear echoes in the message of the Theophany season of this major theme of the Great Fast; during this Feast, we hear the words of St. John the Forerunner as recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew 3:2: "...Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." In the very next chapter, our Lord Himself reiterates the exact words of John. It is only then that He begins His public ministry.

This January 22nd marks the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. That means that by this January, over 40 million babies have been killed, legally in this nation. And you should know that this number is probably wrong, as it likely errs very much on the low side.

I greet you in the joyful expectation of the Civil New Year. I look forward to serving the Lord and His Church in the year 2003, and, I pray that we will share in the confident hope, the steadfast faithfulness and the comforting zeal of Christ and His glorious grace.

At this special time of the Christian year, we thrill to hear the story of the birth of Christ. St. Luke's account of the Angel's announcement of this good news to the shepherds closes with these words:" And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of good will" (Luke 2:14) This 'peace' was not a dream of the angels. It was a real message from God to man. It was the embodiment of a divine and providential plan for human life.

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.

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!

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?".

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.

We greet you in the strength and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we begin the Lenten Season, knowing that He will guide you in prayer, fasting, and worship unto Pascha, the great and glorious celebration of salvation and life. In the Gospel of Matthew we read that as Christ traveled through the cities and villages teaching, preaching, and healing, “He saw the crowds, and He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:35-36). He saw the genuine physical and spiritual needs of people who were burdened and struggling in the midst of an altered world. He saw human beings, created in the image of God, who needed love, peace, and truth from above. He saw persons who needed acceptance, assurance, and guidance.

NEW YORK, NY - Every day tens of thousands of people pass through the magnificent Grand Central Station at 42nd Street and Park Ave in New York City- just as tens of thousands of people worked in or visited the World Trade Center every day until September 11, 2001. Today the World Trade Center is no more than a gaping hole in the ground that is now being made deeper and larger by the heavy machinery and huge trucks that continuously dig and remove over a million tons of ruble. The tragedy of the attack on the World Trade Center is now remembered very poignantly by an exhibit at Grand Central Station called "Faces at Ground Zero - A Tribute to America's Heroes" by Joe McNally-prominent Life Magazine photographer .It is presented by Time and sponsored by Morgan Stanley Inc. A few weeks ago, I was among the many people travelling through the station that took notice of this exhibit.

Christ is born indeed, but many, many children are not. Since the disastrous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in 1973, literally millions of children are simply not born. Tuesday, January 22nd, will be the 29th anniversary of that tragic ruling. And as is our sad custom, I invite you to walk with me in Washington, D.C. on that day. There we will join thousands and thousands of other concerned participants in the National Right to Life March.

Today, I can greet you with no better words than what the Angel says to the Shepherds, on that wondrous Christmas night: Be not afraid: for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy ... For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2.10). Indeed, let us truly lift up our hearts, for in this year of challenge and tragedy, there has been much to keep them low. We have mourned the loss of thousands in September, and our troops continue to fight in faraway deserts. The Holy Lands where Our Saviour walked has been thrown into a new and more dangerous cycle of violence. And while our nation and the world have been gripped by enormous grief, an even more threatening danger now looms on the horizon, with the advent of stem cell research and human cloning. It has been, needless to say, a hard and difficult year.

The whole question about human stem cell research hinges upon when human life begins. The Church has taught that human life begins at conception. This is when God enters a person into the world - a person who is soul and body. The Church has taught this consistently throughout the ages. This truth has enabled generations of faithful to appreciate human nature as the bearer of the image of God, as the beneficiary of the divine grace of immortality and as the ultimate object of God's creative love and nurturance.

The world went dark on Tuesday. It did not start out that way. Indeed, the day dawned bright and joyful. A number of us celebrated Divine Liturgy to begin the first academic year of the St. Sophia Orthodox Academy (the new Orthodox school established by the Cathedral and other area Orthodox Churches). I remember looking down with happiness upon the shining faces of the pre-school and kindergarten children - children who comprised the very first student body of the Academy.

Truly He is risen from the dead, Beloved! He has become the first-fruits of them that slept. He has burst apart the gates of Hades -the cruel gates of Hell -and from the moment of His glorious Resurrection, they can no longer prevail against us, Who are the Church and the New Israel of God. He is risen from the dead, and He has granted life -eternal life, to those who sleep in the graves. And not only to our beloved family and friends who sleep in the grave under the gentle blanket of earth, He gives life to us who slumber in self-made mausoleums, of misery, vaults of vanity, pits of self-pity, charnel houses of strife, jealousy and hatred.

The season of the Holy and Great Fast is now overtaking us, like a king's herald bringing us the. Good News of victory and freedom. Unlike commonly held first Impressions, the season of the Fast is not a time of constraint and inhibition. It is a time of liberation and release from cares, a time of extraordinary blessing and grace.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ--born as a Child 2000 years ago-was ushered into this world surrounded by the murder of thousands of children by King Herod. This deranged despot was concerned more with his own political survival than the lives of the people who were entrusted to his care. According to the writings of the Evangelist Matthew, as well as the sacred tradition of our Holy Orthodox Church, some 14,000 Holy Innocents were slain by Herod in a diabolical attempt to keep his power and continue with the lifestyle of excess that marked his reign of terror. These senseless slayings stand in stark contrast to the "self-emptying" of the Son of God, Who became Man for the sake of our salvation. As St. Paul reminds us: "The Son of God emptied Himself and took on the form of a ser- vant and humbled Himself, even to the point of death (Philippians 2:7). Herod sacrificed so many children for himself-Christ sacrificed Himself for all mankind.

Beloved concelebrants and blessed children in the Lord, Heaven and earth have united Through the birth of Christ. Today, God has appeared on earth, And man has ascended to heaven. (Christmas Hymn)

I wish to convey to you, my deepest and most heartfelt consolation as well as those of the Holy Eparchial Synod and the clergy and faithful of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

On September 30, 1984, His Excellency Bishop John R. Martin was suddenly called to the Lord after 18 years of service to our God-saved Diocese. As the second ruling bishop of our Diocese, Bishop John accomplished much during his episcopacy of almost two decades

Once again I have the great privilege and honor of greeting you with this traditional salutation of our people as we celebrate this mystical festivity of the Birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

There is an old time song which included this lyric: "Everything old is new again." This is a concept that is witnessed to in our Holy Orthodox Church each and every year. On August 31/September 13, the old year ends, and on September 1/14, a new liturgical year begins! In many ways, the new year is just like the one that has passed, with perhaps a few new additions.

Once again, we prepare to open the doors of study to the students of our Christ the Saviour Seminary to begin its 71st academic year. While the words of wisdom expressed by the authors of the Book of Proverbs apply to each and every man and woman, they are, and ought to be, especially appropriate to those who are leaders of communities,

On this the one year observance of the falling asleep in the Lord of the ever-memorable and thrice-blessed late Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos, I convey to all the beloved faithful of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church my deepest and heartfelt condolences. Even the passing of a full year does little to soothe the feelings of loss and bereavement, yet even as we prepare to mark his passing this coming Sunday, March 18th, we know that the beloved Metropolitan now stands before the throne of God, loosed of the weaknesses and infirmities of the human existence, and replete with the joys and the fruits of the Spirit.