Dearly Beloved Members of our Diocesan Family:
Christ is in our midst! – He is and ever shall be!

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 
And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared
to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts of the Apostles 2:1-4).

Protocol No. 01-002/2025
Great and Holy Pascha
Sunday, April 20th, 2025

Dearly Beloved Members of our Diocesan Family:
Christ is Risen! – Indeed He is Risen!

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:57).

Many of those who have seen the pop cultural phenomenon “Jesus Christ Superstar” tell of leaving with a depressed feeling – because it ends with the crucifixion. What can be more depressing than to have a play or a movie end with the crucifixion of its hero? It is not surprising, though, that “Jesus Christ Superstar” ends with the crucifixion, since those who wrote it are non-believers. They tried to express through this rock opera their depressing philosophy about life – namely, that it ends with death for everybody.

“You shall be holy,
for I the Lord your God am holy.”
(Leviticus 19:2; I Peter 1:16)

The purpose of our spiritual lives, according to the teaching of our holy Orthodox Church, is theosis or deification. That means that we are, as the Scripture teaches, to be like God – holy, to become Christ-like, to imitate the Saints before us who have achieved that goal and give us their example to follow.

2023 Diocesan Assembly

Documents and Information

Prot. No. 01-003/2023
Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2023

Beloved Members of our Diocesan Family:
Christ is in our midst! – He is and ever shall be!

“I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I shall take the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh. I shall put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My commandments, and you will keep My judgments
and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Beloved Members of Our Diocesan Family:
Christ is Risen! – Indeed He is Risen!

If we were to visit a grave in any cemetery in the world, we would find beneath the sod the remains of the deceased. And on the gravestone, we would find the name of the person and usually the date of the person’s birth and the date of his or her death.

– With one exception!