Unbelief and Spriritual Reading

"Several years ago a friend of mine declared himself an atheist, and that was after having been an Orthodox Christian and a teacher of the faith for many years.

My own experience is that often I think that I live like an atheist. If I truly believed the Gospel I would act in a much different way then I do now. The times I live least like an atheist is when I'm regularly reading the Gospels and spiritually nourishing books. The temptation to unbelief is stayed when I am being spiritually nourished."

-Fr. Bernard

Our Church history

In March of 2007 we will have officially been an Orthodox community for twenty (20) years. It will mark the anniversary of when His Grace Bishop Antoun of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America came to Saskatoon and chrismated us, and ordained some of us in order to give leadership to this fledgling group. Much water has gone under the bridge since that time and God has mercifully blessed us with both sorrow and joy. Perhaps we need to think about celebrating this event, or would you prefer to celebrate in a larger way when we reach the twenty-five (25) year mark. Any ideas?

Church Life

I have observed, as have many of you, that many in our community are at the marriage and/or procreative stages. That is, there is the potential for many marriages and babies in our community in the near future. It is of interest and significant concern to me, that our young couples be appropriately equipped to raise their children in such as way, as to, not only, not lose them from the church when they grow older, but that they would become, by choice, active and engaged Orthodox Christians. It is necessary then, of course, to be proactive in teaching and mentoring our young couples in the faith, to the point that they will be able to raise their children to become zealous Christians. We don’t want to lose our kids to other faiths, or worse, to secularism, materialism, minimalism, or God forbid, for them to abandon Christ altogether. Here the God parents, and in fact the whole community can play a significant role, helping the parents in the raising of Godly children. Any ideas?