Father's Corner

It is a great joy to introduce to you Ioan Gheorghiu, who will, by God’s grace, become our Director of Youth & Family Ministries. Our loving Lord has responded to our prayers of entreaty—prayers we offered to Him, to His Mother, to His beloved kinsman St. John the Baptist, and to that friend of Christ is recent times, St. John Maximovich. It is fitting that his name is Ioan, which is “John” in Romanian. (His patron saint is St. John Chrysostom.) Ioan is completing his final year in the ... [Read more]

We have begun the spiritual journey to Bethlehem, to the cave where our Lord Jesus Christ was born. The Virgin patiently waits for the God-child to reach maturity in her womb, so that His birth beyond description can take place. Yet our humble Lord was born without a home or even a room at an inn: Mankind gave no home to its Creator! As Orthodox Christians, those who have been baptized into Christ, we too have Christ within us, just like Panagia. Jesus has been implanted into our members ... [Read more]

What will the community of St. John look like in 25 years? It’s hard to imagine—just as it would have been hard for those first six families of St. John back in 1997 to imagine how our community today would look. However there are some things we can envision as we look with anticipation toward our shared future… Our beloved bookstore, that bastion of Orthodoxy, will continue to be a magnet for seekers and inquirers, offering the eternal wisdom which this present age painfully lacks. Visitors ... [Read more]

I write to you today—at the beginning of the Dormition Fast, when we pray the Paraklesis service almost every night—to teach about the commemoration of names within the services of the Church. Communal prayer (prayer in church) is a sacramental and ecclesial act that belongs to the Church. It manifests the united Body of Christ, that is the Church. And the Church’s united mind and heart of prayer then extends to the ends of the world and “holds the universe.” Communal prayer confirms the unity ... [Read more]

This year marks the 25th anniversary of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. In spring 1997, families from Holy Trinity Cathedral in Portland meet with the Metropolis of San Francisco missions board to discuss the founding of a new parish west of Portland. Metropolitan Anthony (predecessor of Metropolitan Gerasimos) granted a priest to the newly established mission parish: Fr. Theodore Dorrance, who arrived with his family and celebrated the first service on August 1, 1997, at Barry and ... [Read more]

Saints—our extended family in Christ—are a great blessing in so many ways: their lives and examples, their intercessions, their miraculous interventions. Some saints have a particular “resonance” with people, such as St. Nektarios of Pentapolis, who was rightly called “The Saint for our Century,” because so many people have been drawn to the story of his life (even more so after the recent film) and through that to a closer relationship with him. Another saint who resonates with our modern ... [Read more]

We have now passed the midpoint of Great Lent, the Sunday of the Holy Cross, and we can feel the anticipation growing as we approach our Lord’s victorious third-day resurrection on Pascha. Starting this week, the Presanctified Liturgy has an added litany and prayer for those who are preparing to receive Holy Baptism before Pascha. Also during this time we transition from greeting each other with, “Kali Sarakosti!” (“Blessed 40 Days!”) and instead begin to say, “Kalo Páscha!” (“Blessed ... [Read more]

As many of you know, Pres. Annie and I were pretty sick with COVID last month. While we are thankful to God that we had no major respiratory issues or hospital visits, it was nonetheless a miserable ordeal. And it seems to have a lingering effect on our energy. One of the more unusual symptoms that we faced was the sudden return of latent areas of inflammation throughout our bodies. For instance, my right knee gives me pain once or twice a year for about a week. Suddenly my knee was hurting ... [Read more]

On Sunday, February 27, the Church will celebrate one of its newest saints: St. Ephraim of Katounakia. This is just the second year since his official canonization; however the faithful have called him a saint ever since his repose in 1998. St. Ephraim lived in the harsh “desert” of Mount Athos, a region called Katounakia, known for its imposing cliffs and inaccessible monastic cells. He lived under obedience to certain austere elders who were harsh and demanding. But he also became ... [Read more]

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) “Who will God send through our doors today?”—I sometimes ask myself. These days it seems that God is drawing more and more people to His Holy Church. Almost every Sunday I see a brand-new face or two: wide-eyed, curious, and awe-stricken. (Many of you can remember the experience of your own first visit.) They just keep streaming in, feeling battered by the struggles of life; abandoned or alienated by ... [Read more]