Fall '12 OISM meeting held at St. Tikhon's Seminary

Fr. John Sorochka gave the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM) group a tour of
St. John's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Mayfield, PA followed by Vespers when the group visited on Saturday.

The turnout at last weekend's OISM was quite good; seminarians and students from Holy Cross (GOARCH), St. Tikhon's (OCA), Christ the Saviour (ACROD), Holy Trinity (ROCOR), and St. Sophia's (UOC-USA) were in attendance. Students from those jursdictions and others (Jerusalem, the Antiochian Archdiocese, Western Rite) participated in the event. Glaringly absent was St. Vladimir's who has had rather spotty attendance in recent years.

Two talks were given in addition to the normal general meeting and liturgical offerings of the monastery. Fr. Stephen Vernak, Pastor of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church and founder of Hagia Sophia Orthodox Coffee House in Harrisburg spoke on the importance of pan-Orthodox efforts and the process that brought the idea of a coffee shop to fruition. Also, Fr. Afanasy Keeper of the Wonderworking Myrrh-weeping Icon of St Ann gave a talk on the icon and on spiritual healing.