2019 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival Topics
Department of Religious Education (DRE)
September 4, 2018
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Captain America's Portrayal in Cinema: What's Wrong with Being a Boy Scout?
Department of Religious Education (DRE)
January 24, 2018
Role models are hugely imprtant. Even in our Church, we place a strong emphasis on the spiritual father relationship, mentioned in St. Paul’s letters and cultivated heavily in the Orthodox monastic tradition, because we believe that there should be someone in our lives whom we can look up to as a mentor. Read More
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Identifying Love with Christ: Holy Friday GOYA Retreat
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
April 8, 2017
The following are lesson plans for a Holy Friday Retreat entitled "Identifying Love with Christ" geared towards GOYA age (Grades 7-12) children. Goals for the participants are two-fold: to learn that death is the enemy and the end of love, and the Cross is the defeat of Love's enemy; and to learn how to die to ourselves through admitting the truth of our realities. Read More
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Identifying Love with Christ: Holy Friday JOY Retreat
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
April 8, 2017
The following are lesson plans for a Holy Friday Retreat entitled "Identifying Love with Christ" geared towards JOY age (Grades 3-6) children. Goals for the participants are two-fold: to learn that God loves each of us; and to learn how to ask God for help. Read More
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You are a Royal Priesthood (feat. Fr. Stephen Freeman)
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
January 26, 2017
As Christians, we're all priests of creation. We're all called to live liturgically: to offer ourselves, each other, and all our lives to Christ our God. Read More
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What Vestments Reveal About our Relationship with God
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
January 19, 2017
Vestments are more than decorations: they reveal something important about our relationship with God and the role of our clergy. Read More
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Our Sacred Order
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
January 12, 2017
Hierarchy isn't about status or being important. In the Church, hierarchy is our sacred order, the way we fit together as One Body. Read More
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New Year, New Focus
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
December 29, 2016
The ways we spend our time and money say a lot about what we actually love. And our actions may reveal we don't love God as much as we'd like to think. Let's take an honest look at our lives so we can make some much-needed changes in the year ahead. Read More
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What We Love Matters
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
December 19, 2016
In the final episode of The Trench, Christian explores how what we love orients our way of being in the world and how what we love is shaped by what we do. Join Christian as he says goodbye to the series by asking, "What do we truly love?" Read More
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From the Director: Experiencing God at the Archdiocese Summer Camps
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
July 1, 2016
For many of us, summer is the high point of the year. Our youth, young (and not so young) adults, and clergy, are (and have been, for the last several weeks) attending our Archdiocesan summer camps around the country, and as far away as Greece. It’s a yearly program that lifts the spirits of countless people across the Church. Our camps offer something increasingly rare: an experience with God, and with the Church, for all in attendance. Read More
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Be the Bee #101 | The Holy and Great Council (featuring Dn. John Chryssavgis)
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
June 17, 2016
Dn John Chryssavgis, theological advisor to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, joins Steve to explain The Holy and Great Council. They discuss the mission of the Church in the world, and our mission as Christians. Read More
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Hold On to Hope
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
May 12, 2016
Life is full of ups and downs. Even though things are going well, it can suddenly feel like your spiritual life is crashing to the ground. Whatever the reason, here are three tips to help you hold onto hope. God bless you! Read More
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Why Do We Die?
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
May 5, 2016
Christ is Risen! Yet, if Christ really has conquered death, why do we still die? With a little help from St. Paul the Apostle and Fr. John Behr, we'll take a closer look at our relationship with God and explore how we perfect our union with Christ. Read More
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The Key to Prayer
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
March 31, 2016
It's one thing to talk about why Church services and prayer are important, and another to do them. How do we start? The key is something simple, and something very easy to overlook: silence. Read More
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Having a Spiritual Father
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
March 28, 2016
A relationship with a spiritual father is one of the most important relationships in an Orthodox Christian's life. Join Christian and his pastor, Fr. James Coles, this week as they explore the role and the reason for the spiritual father, particularly in the mystery of confession. Read More
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Why Prayer Matters
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
March 24, 2016
If we attend Church services, do we need to pray on our own? If we pray on our own, do we need to attend the services? Prayer matters, and goes hand in hand with the services. Without the Liturgy, prayer is just talking to ourselves. And without prayer, Liturgy is just empty ritual. Read More
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Why Church Matters
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
March 17, 2016
We all know we're invited to pray and fast more during Great Lent, but what about attending more Church services? We often ignore that because we see the services as boring obligations. So let's look at them with the eyes of a bee and see why the Church services are so amazing, uplifting, and transformative. Read More
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How to Prepare for Pascha
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
March 11, 2016
Great Lent is the time we prepare for Pascha, and the first weeks of the Triodion Period prepare us for Lent. These weeks help us understand how we should prepare for Pascha: that our main goal is not to individually "become better," but to to re-establish our relationships with God and neighbor. Read More
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Sharing Christ With Others
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
February 8, 2016
After the disciples encounter Christ, they run through the dark night back to Jerusalem to share the good news with the other disciples. Join Christian this week as he explores what sharing Christ with others looks like for Orthodox Christians. Read More
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Be Not Afraid
Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (Y2AM)
February 5, 2016
Hell isn't invading the Church; instead, the Church is invading Hell. Christ has broken down the gates of Hell, and our job as Christians is to join Him in bringing light to even the darkest corners of existence. Read More
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