Consecration of the New Temple of St. James the Apostle Orthodox Church
July 30, 2011
TO: All Reverend Pastors and Parish Members
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
By the grace of God and after lots of praying, planning and hard work our new temple will be consecrated on Saturday, September 10, 2011. We would like to have as many of you that can attend this joyous occasion to come, pray and celebrate this most important milestone in our parish life and growth.
Please RSVP by Friday, August 5th, how many of you will come and be with us. The Banquet tickets will be $35.00 for adults and $15.00 for youth 14 years old and under. All tickets must be paid for by Friday, August 26th.
Consecration Schedule
Greeting of Metropolitan – 9:30 AM
Hierarchal Divine Liturgy – 10:00 AM
Banquet at Elks Club, 440 NW Peacock Ave., St Lucie West, FL
Across from Dominion Field (Old Mets Stadium) – 1:00 PM
You many make your reservations by e-mail to frernie@earthlink.net or call 772-878-0338 and leave a message on the voicemail. Information on lodging will be forthcoming.
Your brother in Christ,
Fr. Ernesto
Alpine Mission-Station News
July 26, 2011
The Alpine Mission-Station, St. Jonah the Wonderworker of Moscow is in its new building. We had our first service in the building at the beginning of December 2010. While there are still projects to be done, the Temple is coming together rather nicely. As a community, we are making a very conscious effort to make the building ‘look’ Orthodox yet ‘speak the language’ of Southwest Texas.
In order to bring Orthodoxy to members of the Alpine community, we have recently hosted Dr Herman Engelhardt. He gave a brilliant lecture, and we had about 25 non-Orthodox in attendance. We are looking forward to hosting additional guest speakers to provided avenues to others in the area to hear about Orthodoxy. We also have plans to begin a Catechism/Inquirer’s Class and a Book Club in the fall.
As a new community, there are still many liturgical items that we need, including but not limited to, an Iconostasis, censer, chalice set, and a Gospel Book. If your parish has any of these items, please contact Fr John Filipovich at johnf@bigbend.net to see if what you have might meet their needs.
We have included pictures of our new sign and facility, which recently received a new roof and fresh paint. Please continue to pray for us, and all who live in this area of TX, as we have not had measurable rain in over a year.
Prayers for Archbishop Dmitri
July 12, 2011
There have been several reports in the last day or so of His Eminence, Archbishop Dmitri’s, deteriorating health. I have spoken with both Fr John Anderson and Milos Konjevich who are close to the situation in Dallas. Vladyka Dmitri has been seen by a doctor, he is receiving more intensive and attentive in-house care, and he is eating better. While he continues to be weak, he actually seems to be improving. While none of us clearly sees the future, it does seem that these changes in the Archbishop’s health are more incremental in nature, and part of the what the Psalmist expresses in Psalm 90.10: ‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.’
Please pray for the Archbishop, asking that God will grant him strength and healing. We will try to keep the diocese updated on any significant changes with postings on this website.
In Christ,
Fr. Marcus Burch
Chancellor of the Diocese of The South