Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece

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OrthodoxyOrDeath

Post by OrthodoxyOrDeath »

Nektarios,

When I was there I shared Sunday breakfast with 22 Greek Air Force Pilots - they may be able to give you air cover. ;)

Justin,

I have noticed a bit of what Anastasios said, but I am always skeptical of numbers too. One Sunday I decided to count how many people were at our church, and it came to 156 (I was quite surprised). That was a feastday so there were more people than normal. On the Nativity and Pascha, it really gets packed, and I mean packed. Standing room if you are fortunate and for the many unfortunate, stand downstairs. I would guess there might easily be 250 - 300 people, but at the same time I doubt very many more than the original number actually commune. ?? So whatever that means.

Now I tend to think there is truth in both of what you and Anastasios are saying, I tend to side with the lower numbers myself.

Katina
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Post by Katina »

Justin Kissel wrote:

Anastasios,

I have said before that, if I ever were to leave ROCOR, I would join the Chrysostom II GOC, and I still mean that. I just want to stress that so this post doesn't sound like an attack--I have a sincere respect for them. The thing that bums me out, I guess, is that Archbp. Chrysostomos II said that they only have 180 parishes. If they had 500,000 people, they would be averaging 2778 people per church. Even at 200,000, they would be averaging 1,111 people per church. Now how many GOC Churches (total) have a thousand people attending on Sunday morning? I guess, I just want to see our evangelical faith spread... I know it's dumb to get caught on numbers.

I've been to St. Mark of Ephesus (which is under Chrysostom II) in Montreal a number of times I will tell you that it is absolutely packed on Sundays and the parish is continually growing. St. Markella's in Astoria is huge and I think that they are packed as well. Here in Boston, the handful of Orthodox in the GOC attend the ROAC parish in Ipswich.

Anastasios
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Post by Anastasios »

I can attest that St Markella's is one great parish/Cathedral! I am there quite often now.

Anastasios

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TomS
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Post by TomS »

anastasios wrote:

I can attest that St Markella's is one great parish/Cathedral! I am there quite often now.

Anastasios

They have a parish in Richmond, VA that conducts all services in English.
I wish I was closer to Richmond!

----------------------------------------------------
They say that I am bad news. They say "Stay Away."

Anastasios
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Post by Anastasios »

TomS wrote:
anastasios wrote:

I can attest that St Markella's is one great parish/Cathedral! I am there quite often now.

Anastasios

They have a parish in Richmond, VA that conducts all services in English.
I wish I was closer to Richmond!

Fr Paul K. seems like a great priest. I spoke with him via telephone for like 25 minutes a month ago and it's so interesting to hear a Greek Old Calendar priest speaking with a Richmond Southern accent! :)

He said he went to a rural area of Virginia (in cassock) and went into a diner. The lady behind the counter saw him, and ran off--literally. 10 minutes later she came back and said, "Sorry, Father, I'm Greek Orthodox and it's been over 10 years since I went to Church. Seeing a priest in priestly robes really shamed me!" He proceeded to minister to her, and she promised to return to the Church, if I remember the story correctly.

Anastasios

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Post by Anastasios »

TomS wrote:
anastasios wrote:

I can attest that St Markella's is one great parish/Cathedral! I am there quite often now.

Anastasios

They have a parish in Richmond, VA that conducts all services in English.
I wish I was closer to Richmond!

Don't worry, Tom, there might be a GOC mission in DC sometime soon ;)

Anastasios

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Schultz
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Post by Schultz »

anastasios wrote:

He said he went to a rural area of Virginia (in cassock) and went into a diner. The lady behind the counter saw him, and ran off--literally. 10 minutes later she came back and said, "Sorry, Father, I'm Greek Orthodox and it's been over 10 years since I went to Church. Seeing a priest in priestly robes really shamed me!" He proceeded to minister to her, and she promised to return to the Church, if I remember the story correctly.

Anastasios

What a great story! This is definitely one of the reasons why I think priests should wear clerical garb more often, if not all the time.

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