Byzantine, Texas

( SVOTS ) - Dr George Kordis, renowned iconographer and former artist-in-residence at the Institute of Sacred Arts (ISA) at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS), is launching a unique two-year program in iconography as part of his Writing the Light School of Iconography . This program will feature an annual residency at St Vladimir’s Seminary, as part of its relationship with the Institute of Sacred Arts. Students of St Vladimir’s Seminary are invited to participate in this program concurrently with their studies and will receive a 20% discount on their tuition in the iconography program. Through a hybrid of online learning and individualized residencies in the United States and Greece that emphasize the intersection of artistic process and critical understanding, students will immerse themselves in creating icons in the Byzantine tradition. The first studio program of its kind in the United States, this new two-year course is designed as a creative international learnin...

I saw some of Lyuba Yatskiv's art online and did an image search to find out if I could buy them instead of just using them as laptop wallpaper. You've probably seen her art too as people use them all over the place. Blessedly, I was able to find the Icon Art ICONART Sacred Art Gallery  website , which sells her work and that of other artists in Ukraine.  Go take a look. The art speaks for itself, but I can speak to the order process. If you email them and request framing, they'll give you a very reasonable price and the item ships quickly. The war may affect delivery time, but I received my order surprisingly fast.  And do look around a bit. This image by Kostko Markovych of Jacob's Ladder is quite attractive.

My take: Existing clergy brotherhoods will see no reason to jump through additional hoops to just keep doing what they are doing. New groups are going to have a hard time convincing the local ROCOR parish to consider it. And this is really more of an organic process that usually starts with two priests who start inviting each other and their communities to food events, patronal feast days, and the like. Or sometimes parishioners will start these cooperations up. My parish was contacted to invite my parishioners to a local OCF event sponsored by the other parish. We came, we enjoyed the speaker, and we'll cooperate more. Paperwork rarely facilitates anything. Maybe a "quick guide to bringing parishes together in your community" would be a more direct first step that doesn't involve forms, the assembly, or an official-ness to a fledgling idea. ( EA ) - WHAT IS AN INTER-PARISH ASSOCIATION? Inter-Parish Associations promote communication, camaraderie, and cooperation acro...

( Coptic-LA ) - The annual North American clergy conference is being held at Holy Theotokos Retreat Center in Charlton, MA. The conference is hosted by His Grace Bishop David, Bishop of New York and New England from June 19-22, 2023. During the conference the covering topics are on spirituality, pastoral care, dogmatic theology and other practical issues. May God bless every work for the glory of his holy name. This photo reminded me of the presentation of the lamb in the Coptic Church; something that used to be present in many traditions (including our own), but has fallen out of usage. Here's a treatment on the topic from the New Liturgical Movement . Choosing the Lamb The Bread: The bread is round, in the shape of a circle, having no beginning and no end to symbolize the eternity of our Lord. It is stamped in the center with a large cross representing Jesus surrounded by twelve small crosses representing the 12 disciples. Around the crosses appears the stamp of the Trisagion...

( OCA-NE ) - Dear Reverend Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ of the Diocese of New England The blessing of the Lord be upon you! With gratitude to Almighty God, I am writing to you today to inform you of the progress made in identifying a possible candidate for the office of Bishop of New England. As you know, the Diocese of New England has been widowed since the passing from this life to life eternal of the Ever-Memorable Archbishop Nikon in September of 2019. In July of 2020, in my capacity as Locum Tenens of the Diocese of New England, I informed the Diocese of the step-by-step procedures we would take in finding a Bishop for New England. (I have attached that letter here with this email for your review). I am pleased to announce that the first eight steps of this procedure have been completed. The search committee first met (via zoom) with Fr. Benedict Churchill for several hours to discern if he might be a good candidate for Bishop of our Diocese. This meeting proved most fa...

( Washington Times ) - The Supreme Court on Monday rejected two cases involving the ouster of religious leaders, one brought by a church and the other by a private school. The religious institutions had argued that the First Amendment’s jurisprudence and ministerial exemption, which bars legal claims brought by religious employees against a church, require courts to dismiss the lawsuits, leaving the internal dispute to the church. One case was brought by Alexander Belya against the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He claimed the church defamed him after he was removed from an elected leadership role over allegedly breaching the seal of confession, controlling parishioners and not accounting for church property. Lower courts allowed his defamation suit against the church to proceed, opening up the discovery process to include aspects of the church’s internal work. The other case was brought by Gregory Tucker against Faith Bible Chapel International. He ...

Amusingly, Catholic resources say : "Antimensium: Consecrated corporal of a kind used only in the Greek Rite." While the official standard is to replace the antimens when a new bishop is installed, this is not always done. Some jurisdictions are very particular on the matter and will replace them uniformly and quickly. Some churches in the US have antimensia from three bishops or more back. Historically, there are some ties to this item and the crusades, for those that are interested. Also, for those that are interested, the words on the antimens itself is also said when the gifts are placed at the Great Entrance. Some recensions use this entire prayer and some use a smaller version: (The Priest enters the Sanctuary while the Choir sings the remainder of the Cherubic Hymn; he places the Holy Gifts on the Altar, saying quietly:)  PRIEST:    The noble Joseph, when he had taken down thy spotless body from the tree, wrapped it in fine linen and spices, and sorrowing placed it...

( Southern Orthodox ) -   What is the Philip Ludwell III Orthodox Fellowship? The Philip Ludwell III Orthodox Fellowship is an association of Orthodox Christian believers from diverse jurisdictions who seek to serve the Church’s evangelistic mission in the South by promoting the enculturation of the Orthodox Faith into the South’s unique ethos and “older religiousness.” Our First Conference! The purpose of our inaugural conference is to bring together like-minded Orthodox Christians from across the South to discuss the Orthodox evangelization of the South and the enculturation of Orthodoxy into the distinctive Southern ethos. Are Southerners a distinct people? Do we have a distinct culture? If so, can this culture be “baptized” into Orthodoxy (or are we just irredeemably evil)? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yelena Popovic, the writer, director, and producer of the film “Man of God” will be at St. Joseph's Orthodox Church  in Houston, TX this Sunday! Make a visit! 

There are two visions here. One will always say, "Progress is inevitable. You are just slowing down something that is going to happen." The other side says, "This cannot happen. Stop the insanity." The problem is, as this story highlights, offense can take a thousand shots on goal. Defense only needs to let one ball in to set a precedent. And from the inside, always pointing to the precedent you just keep kicking until there is no defense left. This is the danger of economia as a Trojan horse. If it can be done once, in that thinking, it can be done a thousand times and without regard for the special circumstances involved. Do not give into the idea that some progressive ideas are "inevitable." It's a false proposition that leads you to believe you must always be defensive and never be proactive. Do not let the lexicon get changed to allow terminology from the secular world to hold meaning here. If the pitchforks-and-torches folks are at the gates yell...

  BOSTON ( TNH ) – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has apologized for mishandling the issues pertaining to the Archdiocese of America and the Greek-American Community. The issues have arisen from the decisions of Thursday, October 8, 2020, regarding the abrogation of the Charter of the Archdiocese, the dethronement of Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey, and the imposition of a suspension upon Metropolitan Methodios of Boston. This revelation was made during the recent two-day meeting of the Holy Synod at  the Phanar, on May 29 and 30, 2023, during the reading of the minutes of the meeting of member hierarchs of the Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America with the Patriarch regarding the revision of the Charter of the Archdiocese of America. It must be clarified that the Patriarch’s apology was expressed during the meeting that took place on April 5, 2023 at the Phanar with hierarchs who are members of the Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America when he was asked...

( SOC ) - On May 29, 2023, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America sent a letter to the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden, Mr. Jacob Sullivan, regarding the violence in the north of Kosovo and Metohija. Bishop Irinej, motivated by deep concern and great indignation due to the violence against the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, which intensified in the past few days, and turned into an open armed conflict on Monday. In his letter, Bishop Irinej noted that in the conflict between the Kosovo Albanian Police Force and the Serbs, KFOR had sided with the aggressor - the Kosovo Albanian authorities in Kosovo and Metohija. Also, it is indicative that the violence occurred the day after Secretary Blinken tried to calm tensions by unequivocally condemning the violence committed by the Kosovo Albanian authorities against the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Bishop Irinej expressed satisfaction with the hi...

( OCL ) - Why am i so concerned about the new charter for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA)? Recent History of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Decisions Related to the GOA The recent record of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s “governance” of the GOA: The forced retirement of Archbishop Iakovos (1996); Rejection of the gathering of the Orthodox Bishops in America at Ligonier, Pennsylvania (1995); Election of Archbishop Spyridon (1997); Imposition of the current Charter against the wishes of the Los Angeles Clergy-Laity Congress (2003); Imposition of a new Archbishop from Turkey who has not served in the US, without any input or participation of the clergy or laity of the Archdiocese as required by previous Charters (2019); Unilateral “suspension” (2020) followed by “reinstatement” (2022) of the 2003 Charter; Creation of a Charter committee and then ignoring its attempt to provide input (2022). These actions and their consequences display the disconnectedness of the Ecumenical P...

( Jerusalem Patriarchate ) - On Monday the 16th/29th of May 2023 the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem met under the Presidency of H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and considered various issues of the Patriarchate, among which the following: The feasts of Holy Easter and the ceremony of the Holy Light of Holy Saturday.  The departure to the Lord of the blessed memory Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra.  His Beatitude’s recent trip to Brussels and His participation as a guest in the coronation of the King of the United Kingdom Charles III.  The report of the deeds of the exarchate of Cyprus under the exarch Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra.  The presentation of the Managing Director of the Patriarchal School of Zion Archimandrite Mattheos on the operation of the School.  Decided to depose from the Priesthood the currently banned from officiating the sacraments Archimandrite Damianos, former Exarch of Athens , and to excomm...

( Antiochian ) - The provisional committee related to clerical affairs We, Saba (Esber), Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America, hereby decide: • To establish a Provisional Committee to address urgent matters related to the clergy of the Archdiocese. • This committee will operate under the supervision of the Metropolitan and will be composed of the following members: V. Rev. Fr. George H. Shalhoub, Spiritual Advisor ​V. Rev. Fr. John Salem, member ​V. Rev. Fr. Gabriel Karam, alternate member ​V. Rev. Fr. George M. Ajalat, member ​V. Rev. Fr. David Hovik, alternate member ​V. Rev. Fr. Joshua Makoul, member ​V. Rev. Fr. James Shadid, alternate member ​V. Rev. Fr. Maximos Saikali, member ​V. Rev. Fr. Kamal Alrahil, alternate member ​V. Rev. Fr. Mark A. Wyatt, member ​V. Rev. Fr. Don Hock, alternate member ​Rev. Fr. Nektarios Najjar, member ​Rev. Fr. Justin Havens, alternate member • The Metropolitan will assign specific tasks to the committee and may appo...