Join myOCN Interactive Virtual Community for a special edition this Thursday, 3rd, at 7:00 pm EST with guest Alexei D. Krindatch. Register Here. The report, “US Religion Census 2020: A Decade of Dramatic Changes in American Orthodox Churches,” presents detailed information on parishes, membership, and rates of worship attendance for Read more…
Watch Now. Metropolitan of Atlanta, Alexios, explains what Orthodoxy has to offer in a western society. Source: pemptousia.com ABOUT THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN NETWORK The Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) is an official agency of the Assembly of Canonical Bishops of the United States of America originally commissioned by SCOBA to create a national, sustainable, and Read more…
Sometimes there seems to be a saint who doesn’t really stand out, believe it or not. They are laborers in God’s vineyard, and their ‘claim to fame’ is for something other than what they’ve done. They just seem to have been in the right place at the right time. At Read more…
A couple of summers ago, I was participating in a regional choir federation’s convention. I was there to teach a workshop on Byzantine chant, but I was also singing in the convention choir. The Sunday of the convention, I helped to chant Orthros; as soon as the final “Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, Read more…
How does one define “Americana?” Anything that represents American culture? Baseball, apple pie, and the Fourth of July? Whatever’s decorating the walls at Applebee’s? No doubt, there are images, music, and movies that everyone would agree are considered “Americana.” Elvis Presley. Norman Rockwell. Gone with the Wind. That famous black-and-white Read more…
Several years ago, Orthodox peoples in America were happy to see coverage of our faith on broadcast television when CBS aired a documentary about life on Mt. Athos. Although such mainstream coverage is rare, it is not entirely without precedent. Decades earlier, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, the long-time dean of St. Read more…
The late great scholar Jaroslav Pelikan once observed: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” In Orthodox Christianity, to which the former Lutheran scholar Pelikan Read more…
In this episode, Chris Vlahonasios takes on the topic of the persecution of Christians around the world, but especially in the Middle East. He discusses the issue by way of his review, first, of the 2009 indie file, “Amreeka,” which tells the story of Palestinian Christians as they leave their Read more…
I sat crunched between the arm rest and the side of our small MD-80 aircraft as we made our final descent into Albuquerque New Mexico. It was late Sunday night after a long liturgy and even longer flight; my feet ached, my head pounded, and I was in a rather Read more…
An OCN staff member discovered a wonderful article (with photographs!) about Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco on the website of a church in Kennewick, WA, of which this saint is the patron. Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco Orthodox Church is a mission, but it already has Read more…