St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral

09/01/2026

Wishing you a blessed and prayerful liturgical new year.

By the way, am I the only one who says "good morning" to fellow parishioners at an evening liturgy? 😀

09/01/2026

Blessed Church New Year!

To understand this feast, we can start with all that was associated with September. In the Roman world, September 1st was the beginning of the tax year and the beginning of the harvest. According to some sources, the Israelites entered the promised land in September. It is said that Constantine defeated his enemies and granted freedom to Christians in September.

To top it all off, according to tradition, Jesus began his ministry on September 1st when He entered the Synagogue and read from the Prophet Isaiah that He was sent to “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”.

It is almost as if the Church is telling us, “I’m not sure if there is anything else we can add here to get your attention, so please take a moment and realize what this month, this new beginning, is all about.”

All these commemorations are celebrated so that first and foremost we remember that time is about salvation! Time is a gift, given to us where we work together with God, who molds and forms us for His kingdom. We are reminded of this as we remember (in September) the Israelites entering the promised land, Constantine granting freedom to Christians, and Christ beginning His ministry. These are all about salvation, reminders that time is about salvation.

You could say that the icing on the cake comes from the ancient practice of commemorating God’s creation of the world on September 1st! The ancients remembered this, not because God literally formed the earth on September 1st (not sure how we could ever know that), but because this new beginning of the year needed to be brought into the bigger picture of what the year was all about, what the world was all about! In the beginning, God created the world to introduce us to Christ, to provide a place where we could learn to live like Him and be molded into His likeness.

Every new beginning of the year brings us back to what “The Beginning” of the world was all about. It was, has been, and will always be about Christ! May this year, full of feast days, liturgies, birthdays, celebrations, struggles, losses, and achievements be filled with the salvation that is bursting out of Christ’s holy Church, overflowing into all of our life, transforming all things into an entrance into His kingdom!

08/06/2026

The morning after a Divine Liturgy always seems extra special, especially after the Transfiguration. Seeing the morning light rise above the skyline surely was a reminder of God's light and brightness. Thank you God for a continual reminder of your presence.

08/05/2026

“The world is a dark, cold and terrifying place- bound by sufferings and loneliness, toward death and annihilation - all is subject to the incomprehensible and merciless law of sin and death.

But then comes the appearance on earth, the entrance into the world, of a man, humble and homeless, who has no authority at all over anyone, who has no earthly power whatsoever. And He tells people that this kingdom of darkness, evil and death is not our true life; that this is not the world God created; that evil and suffering and finally death itself can and must be conquered; and that He is sent by God, his own Father, to save people from this terrible bo***ge to sin and death.

He knows that in the hour of his ultimate sacrifice, ultimate self-giving, everyone will flee in fear and forsake him. But in the Transfiguration he is revealed in all his glory, so that afterwards, when everything is finished, the world would still have some evidence of where He is inviting people to come, what He is offering us as a gift, as life, as the fullness of meaning and joy. Now, therefore, hidden from the world and from the people, He reveals to three of his own disciples that glory, that light, that victorious celebration to which man is called from eternity, permeating the entire world and transfiguring man, in which everything acquires its ultimate and eternal meaning.

Human beings have forgotten their true nature and calling, renounced them. They must come to believe all over again that good is stronger than evil, love stronger than hate, life stronger than death. Christ heals, helps and gives himself to everyone.

“It is good for us to be here,” cried the apostle Peter seeing this light and this glory. And from that time, Christianity, the Church, faith is one continuous, joyful repetition of this “it is good for us to be here.” It is a plea for the everlasting light, a thirst for this illumination and transfiguration. This light continues to shine, through the darkness and evil, through the drab grayness and dull routine of this world. It is recognized by the soul, it comforts the heart, it makes us feel alive, and it transfigures us from within.

If we are filled to the brim with this light, then we ourselves become the place where the victory over evil begins. And if in everything and everyone in the world we see Him, love Him, give ourselves to Him; if in all, we see the light of his presence, his love, and his victory - than nothing can separate us from Him!”

- Excerpts from Fr Alexander Schmeman

08/03/2026

Beloved in Christ, tonight we begin the Paraklesis services that we pray these next two weeks before the Feast of the Dormition (Falling Asleep of the Theotokos).

Paraklesis can be translated to mean "comfort", "supplication", or even "encouragement". The Paraklesis service brings all of this together as the hymns express our struggles and sorrows in the comfort and strength of the Mother of God whose life was full of both.

The service is meant to help us come to a place of vulnerability where we can be real about our problems and pain. At the same time it shifts our focus from a self centered approach to one of surrender to God, falling into the arms of His mother, and surrounding ourselves with the hope and expectation of God’s presence and peace!

With all that is going on around the world, in our city, and in our own lives, this service helps us enter into the struggles of this world open to the presence of heaven, connected to the peace of paradise.

06/22/2026

Due to the weather we will postpone our feast day celebration of St. Alban. We’ll celebrate the feast this Wednesday at the Cathedral at 6 PM with a short service followed by a potluck! We’ll be hosting the Orthodox Youth Mission Team!

06/17/2026

This Monday (6/22) is the Feast of St. Alban (one of the first Martyrs of Britain), so we will gather in his city at Roadside Park (6 PM) to celebrate with a small service and potluck! Bring your family, friends, and pets!!

05/20/2026

“Sin severed earth from heaven and made us earthly and coarse. It fixed our gaze solidly on the ground and made our life exclusively earthbound.

Sin is the betrayal of heaven in the soul.

With self-importance and pride, man announces that he is strictly material, that the whole world is material, and that there is nothing beyond the material. ‘We die, we disappear; so in the meantime, let’s build an earthly paradise and forget about the fantasies of priests.’

The feast of the Ascension is the celebration of heaven now opened to human beings, heaven as the new and eternal home, heaven as our true homeland.

Heaven is the final truth about the earth.

God came down to earth so that we might ascend to heaven! This is what the Ascension celebrates! This is the source of its brightness and unspeakable joy. Heaven is what Christ gives back to us, what we lost through our sin and pride, through our earthly, exclusively earthly sciences and ideologies, and now it is opened, offered, and returned to us by Christ. Heaven is the total spiritual transformation of human life; heaven is the kingdom of God, victory over death, the triumph of love and care.

All of this is revealed to us, all of this is given to us by Christ. And therefore, heaven permeates our life here and now, the earth itself becomes a reflection, a mirror image of heavenly beauty.

If Christ is in heaven, if we believe in him and love him, then we also are there with him, at his banquet, in his Kingdom. If humanity ascends through him, and does not fall, then through him I also have access to ascension and am called to him. And in him, the goal, meaning and ultimate joy of my life is revealed to me.

Everything, everything around us pulls us down. But I look at the divine flesh ascending to heaven, at Christ going up, ‘with the sound of a trumpet,’ and I say to myself and to the world: here is the truth about the world and humanity, here is the life to which God calls us from all eternity!”

- Fr Alexander Schmemann

05/06/2026

Is anyone else excited for Orthros and Divine Liturgy for paralytic week and feast of mid-pentecost? We hope to see everyone tonight.

04/23/2026

Blessed Feast!

George the Great Martyr