The Diocese of the South
Orthodox Church in America
Opening of the Miami Deaconal Program

February 28, 2012
Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Miami Lakes announces the opening of the Miami Diaconal Program, a fully-accredited satellite campus of St Tikhon's Seminary.  Enrollment for the first semester (September 2012) is now open.  Visit http://www.orthodoxmiami.org/diaconalprogram.html for more information.
New Iconography Installed at St Anthony Church, San Antonio, TX

February 16, 2012
In January, a 10' x 8' icon of the Ascension of the Lord was installed at Saint Anthony Church.  This completes the set of icons - Scenes from the Life of Christ - adorning the upper walls of  the nave.  Additionally, icons of the Soldier Saints George and Demetrius were hung to begin the beautification of the lower wall panels.  In 2008, the Pantocrator and Platytera icons were hung on the ceiling.  The iconographer is Cveta Marinova of Sofia, Bulgaria, who is completing the work of her first husband, +George Goutsev, who fell asleep in the Lord in May 2011.  The icons are executed in the traditional Byzantine style as found in the ancient churches in the Balkans.
DOS Pastoral Conference

DOS Pastoral Conference - 02/07/12

On Tuesday, February 7th, the Diocese of the South held is annual Pastoral Conference at Holy Ascension Church in Mt Pleasant, SC. The leadership of the diocese would like to thank the community at Holy Ascension for their labors in putting on a spectacular conference. We are also grateful that His Grace, Mark, Bishop of Baltimore was able to attend, as was Fr John Jillions, Chancellor of the OCA.

 

Events centered on a series of lectures on sexuality and purity as they relate to our life, youth, family, and parish. Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, began the series with a talk on “The Role of Gender and Sexuality in the Christian Life.”  Dr. Albert Rossi, who teaches courses on pastoral theology, discussed “Purity: Youth, Family, Parish.” Fr. Thomas delivered a talk titled “The Power of Weakness: Reflections on Salvation, the Meaning of the Cross, and the Necessity of the Crucifixion” at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion. You many listen to these talks here. 

 

Other events include a meeting of the Diocesan Council; the minutes of the minutes of which will be forthcoming. Dn James Bozeman was ordained a priest at the hand of His Grace, Bishop Mark. Fr James is a student at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and will be graduating at the end of this semester. There was a walking tour of downtown Charleston for the Matushki and a tour to Ft Sumter for those who wished to attend.

 

Please see the gallery for images from this rejuvenating event.

(25 images)

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Formation of St Nektarios Orthodox Christian Mission

February 6, 2012
Announcing the formation of St. Nektarios Orthodox Christian Mission serving the Ellis county, South East Tarrant, and South Dallas county area. As an outreach from St. Seraphim Cathedral, a small effort was organized in late 2010 to gauge the interest for starting a new mission south of Dallas. Currently parishioners meet in homes on a rotating basis for weekday Vespers followed by instruction by visiting clergy as well as on the weekends for fellowship and discussion. The mission has a website (www.stnektariosdfw.org) with service times and contact information.

On Tuesday February 7th at 6:30pm, Fr. Gregory Jensen, from St. Ignatius Mission in Madison WI, will be visiting Waxahachie and speaking on the topic of planting an Orthodox mission as well as ways to reach out to the local community. Please contact us if you would like to attend.
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February 6, 2012
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Many of you know that Dn Mark and Mat Elizabeth Barna wrote a book about the traditional Christian burial.  They recently had an informative article about the same topic published on the OCA website.  Please read this article which can be found here.