St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral

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

03/24/2026

The Great Feast of the Annunciation Explained

Beloved in Christ, exactly nine months before Christmas we join a celebration that once began in the middle of the 5th Century. At that time a certain heresy was going around and the chief proponent of that heresy was a man named Nestorius. He taught that Mary should not be called Theotokos (birthgiver of God) but instead Christotokos (birthgiver of Christ).



He made the distinction that Mary could not have possibly given birth to God. Nestorius separated out Christ’s natures too much (almost as if two separate persons existed in one body).



The Church responded by gathering in council and condemning this heresy. This is why we almost always use "Theotokos" when referring to Mary (to proclaim that she gives birth to God). This is also what leads to a flowering of feasts and celebrations commemorating Mary as the Birthgiver of God!



Today we continue in this tradition and celebrate what the world had been waiting for since the fall of Adam and Eve. This feast is the culmination of all the Old Testament stories, prophets, and traditions.



The Archangel begins his announcement by telling the Theotokos that all the Old Testament leads to her in this moment. "Your Son will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be no end."



In other words, the defining moment in the cosmos had come. The one Israel had been waiting for had finally arrived. The time of fulfillment and salvation has begun! We share in this joy of the whole cosmos with saint and sinner, departed and living by rejoicing together with the Archangel who cries out to Mary, "Rejoice"!



Rejoice for Adam’s sin will not define humanity!

Rejoice for death will not decide humanities fate!

Rejoice for separation with God will no longer leave you without direction and longing and hope!

Rejoice for the things that defined you, do not define God. And God has come to define that which he created in the beginning!

Rejoice for God has come to crush all that stands in the way of salvation! He has come to demolish the gates of death, obliterate the power of the devil, and raise up humankind to their original calling!

Rejoice for He has come to right the wrongs of old and make clear the destiny of men!

Rejoice for He has come to reveal who it is that defines life and what this life is all about!



Rejoice for what humanity feared most, what humanity thought defined their lives, and determined their fate (sin, death, enslavement to passion) has come to an end!



We will enter into this celebration tonight at 5 PM with Vespers, Orthros, and Liturgy followed by a fish feast!



With love in Christ,

Fr. Alex

02/23/2026

Clean Week Schedule

Monday- Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at 7 PM

Tuesday- Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at 7 PM

Wednesday- After School Program at 3 PM, Presanctified Liturgy and Potluck at 6:30 PM, Teen Bible Study 8 PM

Thursday- Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at 7 PM

Friday- Spinach Pie Making at 10 AM, Little Compline with the Akathist Hymn at 7 PM

Saturday- Divine Liturgy for the Miracle of the Koliva at 10:30 AM, Spinach Pie Making at 12 PM, Great Vespers at 5 PM

Sunday- Orthros at 9:30 AM, Divine Liturgy at 10:30 AM with the Icon Procession, Pan Orthodox Vespers at 5 PM, Potluck at 6 PM

02/20/2026

Forgiveness Sunday

It is a Sunday where all the barriers that separate us are broken down and destroyed. Nothing stands between us as we stand beside one another and ask forgiveness. We stand open and vulnerable, with no fronts or defense mechanism or facades, but rather with outstretched arms, ready to embrace one another (the whole person) in a spirit of resurrection, new life, and new hope.

This gives us a jump start into Great Lent. We begin like angels, feeling light as a feather, free of worry, free of judgement, fully ourselves, and one with everyone. We begin where Adam and Eve fell. In fact the hymns of the Church places us back in the garden, where Adam and Eve failed to ask forgiveness and forgive. We are placed in their shoes again (with the same choice).

This time we ask forgiveness, forgive, and we make our way back into paradise through participation in the mercy and love of God. This sets the tone for all of Great Lent- a movement back to paradise!

09/02/2025

Blessed New Year!

The 1st of September is New Year's Day. How? What's with the Church calendar? We take a look at the Orthodox Church's idea of the Ecclesiastical New Year and...

08/20/2025

“The first, main source of everything is ‘My soul rejoices in the Lord’. One cannot know that God exists and not rejoice.

Only in relation to joy are the fear of God and humility correct, genuine, fruitful. Outside of joy, they become demonic, the deepest distortion of any religious experience. A religion of fear. Religion of pseudo-humility. Religion of guilt.

Where, how and when has this tonality of Christianity become distorted, dull- or rather, where, how, why have Christians become deaf to joy?” - Fr Alexander Schmemann

08/13/2025

The Summer Pascha Begins Tomorrow Night!!!

“This festival is about everyone and everything.

It’s about the whole of reality.

It’s a celebration of the proof that the Gospel is real and true.

It’s a celebration of the victory of God in Christ for the sake of us mere mortal human beings.

And this is given to us on the 15th of August when we celebrate the Dormition, the falling asleep in Christ, and her glorification in Christ, held in His arms in the presence of God of His own mother…” - Fr Thomas Hopko

This is the only hymn that uses all 8 tones!

https://youtu.be/zVnTqe2B7QM?si=Syn8xZYB3dTK3oIm
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A live recording of the 8-tone Dormition Doxasticon chanted by the Byzantine Choir of St. George Orthodox Cathedral, Pittsburgh, PA, at the Sacred Music Inst...

07/17/2025

The Church School teachers and volunteers are very excited to see all of our children tomorrow and Friday for Vacation Church School.

We will begin at 10 both days (9:30 for breakfast and sign in) and end at five

Please join us for the whole two days, or any part of the time you can.

On Thursday, please bring a towel and a change of clothes, weather permitting we can go to the splash pad in Slack Park over lunch.



See you tomorrow!