Let’s Talk Live with Fr. Moses Berry and Fr. Christopher Metropulos 

We are pleased to announce our myOCN Community Online Gathering this coming Thursday, July 2nd, at 7:00 pm EST with special guest Fr. Moses Berry. Fr. Christopher Metropulos, our Executive Director, will be offering a “Let’s Talk” 1 hour interactive video session on Zoom with limited availability for two-way discussion. We will also be live-streamed on OCN Facebook page. Join us and thousands online for prayers and discussion. Families are welcome, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to attend, please register HERE to receive sign-in instructions.

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Fr. Moses Berry

In 1998, Fr. Moses Berry moved with his family from St. Louis, MO to his family’s farm in Ash Grove, about 17 miles from Springfield, MO.  The farm is a Century Farm, having been in the Berry family since 1872, and on the property is a cemetery dedicated to “Slaves, Paupers, and Indians” by the Berry’s, over a century ago.  Fr. Moses felt that the cemetery needed to be maintained respectfully, and so he left a mission in the city to return to his boyhood home in rural Missouri.

A small group of faithful collected around the new mission, Theotokos “Unexpected Joy.”  The first services were held in a tiny cemetery chapel, which we quickly outgrew. We moved to a larger temporary building closer to the rectory, which also served as the church hall.  In 2000 the mission was received into the Orthodox Church in America.

Members come from all over the Ozarks to share their life in Christ.  Springfield, MO is about a half hour’s drive, but some come from localities as far as Harrisonvile, Arkansas. Fr. Moses travels widely to give talks on mission and also on local Afro-American history; folks who have met him elsewhere often stop by to worship when they pass through the area. So, we are vitally connected with the larger Orthodox community while enjoying the quiet and beauty of the Missouri countryside.

Author

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    Shaped by a life of service to Christ’s Church, Fr. Christopher has dedicated himself to using all the tools God has placed at his disposal to spread the light of Orthodoxy across the United States of America and around the world. Speaker, Radio Host, Professor, Founding Father of the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN), Pastor, Leader of 12 Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Author, Father, Grandfather and Defender of the Faith. As founder, host, and executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network he shepherds a dynamic and rapidly expanding ministry bringing joy, hope, and salvation in Jesus Christ to close to 1 million people a month in more than 190 countries. A nationally known radio personality, Fr. Christopher co-hosted the groundbreaking, internationally televised Epiphany Celebration of Tarpon Springs, Florida in January 2006, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and seen on the Hallmark Channel. He was also featured in a 2012 television broadcast on TLC entitled “4 Weddings.” In May 2014, he offered live English commentary from Rome via Radio Vaticana and EWTN for the worldwide televised broadcast of the historic meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem. In November 2014, he returned to Rome to provide the English commentary on a second Radio Vaticana/EWTN worldwide televised broadcast, this time on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in celebration of the Feast Day of St Andrew. He worked alongside a team of professionals from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on these broadcasts. Currently serves as Vice President, International Association of Digital Media Orthodox Pastoral Care. Fr. Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hellenic College of Brookline, Massachusetts, a Master of Divinity Studies Degree from Brookline’s Holy Cross School of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His dedication to the family unit drove Fr. Christopher to be certified as a Family Mediator by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Florida. Fr. Christopher has also studied extensively at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He has served the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for more than 40 years.  He has held many different assignments as: Representative to the United Nations and United States Missions; Assistant Priest St. Demetrios Cathedral, Astoria, NY; Dean of the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, CO; Pastor of the Archangel Michael Church, Roslyn, NY; Pastor of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft Lauderdale Florida, President of Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology,  Dean of Admissions and Registrar of the Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology; member of the Archdiocesan Council; President of the Archdiocesan Presbyter’s Council for two consecutive terms; and council member of the Metropolis of Denver and the Metropolis of Atlanta. He also served as Vicar of the South Florida Conference from 1998-2011. In the summer of 2008, he was elevated by His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios to the rank of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the blessings of the Holy and Sacred Synod, the highest honor bestowed on a married clergyman. Fr. Christopher and his late wife, Presbytera Georgia Mitsos, have six children and four grandchildren. With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco he was appointed as Interim Pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in San Jose, Ca in October 2021.


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Fr. Chris Metropulos

Shaped by a life of service to Christ’s Church, Fr. Christopher has dedicated himself to using all the tools God has placed at his disposal to spread the light of Orthodoxy across the United States of America and around the world. Speaker, Radio Host, Professor, Founding Father of the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN), Pastor, Leader of 12 Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Author, Father, Grandfather and Defender of the Faith. As founder, host, and executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network he shepherds a dynamic and rapidly expanding ministry bringing joy, hope, and salvation in Jesus Christ to close to 1 million people a month in more than 190 countries. A nationally known radio personality, Fr. Christopher co-hosted the groundbreaking, internationally televised Epiphany Celebration of Tarpon Springs, Florida in January 2006, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and seen on the Hallmark Channel. He was also featured in a 2012 television broadcast on TLC entitled “4 Weddings.” In May 2014, he offered live English commentary from Rome via Radio Vaticana and EWTN for the worldwide televised broadcast of the historic meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem. In November 2014, he returned to Rome to provide the English commentary on a second Radio Vaticana/EWTN worldwide televised broadcast, this time on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in celebration of the Feast Day of St Andrew. He worked alongside a team of professionals from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on these broadcasts. Currently serves as Vice President, International Association of Digital Media Orthodox Pastoral Care. Fr. Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hellenic College of Brookline, Massachusetts, a Master of Divinity Studies Degree from Brookline’s Holy Cross School of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His dedication to the family unit drove Fr. Christopher to be certified as a Family Mediator by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Florida. Fr. Christopher has also studied extensively at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He has served the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for more than 40 years.  He has held many different assignments as: Representative to the United Nations and United States Missions; Assistant Priest St. Demetrios Cathedral, Astoria, NY; Dean of the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, CO; Pastor of the Archangel Michael Church, Roslyn, NY; Pastor of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft Lauderdale Florida, President of Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology,  Dean of Admissions and Registrar of the Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology; member of the Archdiocesan Council; President of the Archdiocesan Presbyter’s Council for two consecutive terms; and council member of the Metropolis of Denver and the Metropolis of Atlanta. He also served as Vicar of the South Florida Conference from 1998-2011. In the summer of 2008, he was elevated by His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios to the rank of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the blessings of the Holy and Sacred Synod, the highest honor bestowed on a married clergyman. Fr. Christopher and his late wife, Presbytera Georgia Mitsos, have six children and four grandchildren. With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco he was appointed as Interim Pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in San Jose, Ca in October 2021.

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