Year: 2023

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Orthodox Mission Success at St. Andrews in Eustis, Florida!

Since we last shared our parish life with you, we have been blessed with some delightful changes. We have painted our front doors red and also survived Hurricane Ian with no real damage (one tree down in the garden).

We have had 11 chrismations, a baptism, and a multitude of catechism classes, including a new class starting soon with 8 inquirers. Future baptisms and chrismations are planned for the near future. Folks who are curious have corresponded regularly through Facebook posts and other social media posts and it seems most Sundays we have 2 or more visitors. Word is getting out!

Fr. Cassian has had some recent health issues that unfortunately lead to a hospital visit Good Friday through Easter. We thank God for our parishioners, including Subdeacon Joseph Hodge, who rallied to make the weekend a holy and beautiful Paschal celebration. Fr. Cassian was able to return to serve again a week later.

As the parish has begun to grow, so have contributions. We are still unable to meet our budget but we have been able to pay Fr Cassian a small and growing stipend in addition to what is contributed by Share the Faith Ministry. God bless you all for helping us as we look forward to continued growth.

– Kh Phyllis Dunlop

Pictures from St. Andrews below. Would you like to help needy Orthodox parishes like St. Andrews? Many Orthodox priests work long hours for little or no compensation. To support Share the Faith and Orthodox missions in general or missions in a specific Orthodox jurisdiction, click here. To donate specifically to help Fr. Cassian and St. Andrews, scroll down to donate.

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Orthodox Missionary Success in Culpepper Virginia

Fr. Adam Sexton is a father of 11 and the rector for St. Andrew’s parish in Ashland, VA. Not being content to only run one parish, Fr. Adam also has a mission parish in Culpepper. He drives over 1 1/2 hours each way to spread the message of Christ. Since last year, our Share the Faith Donor’s have been assisting Fr. Adam with the considerable expenses of being a mission priest.

We are pleased to report that, by the Grace of God and after much hard work in Culpepper, this past Saturday of Lazarus (April 8th, 2023) Fr. Adam welcomed 6 new Orthodox Christians into the Kingdom!  Fr. Adam performed 4 Baptisms and 2 Chrismations at the mission. The pictures below are testimony to the kindness of Our Lord towards the efforts of his faithful servant.

Share the Faith is using the donations of faithful Orthodox Christians to support the work of Fr. Adam. Please consider a donation of any amount, no matter how small (monthly is particularly helpful) to assist either this parish or our other missionary work. Even small donations greatly assist in the evangelization and transformation of our nation. To find out more about Fr. Adam and his missionary efforts, please click here. 

To give a general donation to support Orthodox Missions through Share the Faith:

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Life is Short, Even for the Powerful

Dear Friend, Glory to our Jesus Christ! 

Here is yet another reason to learn, LIVE and Share The Faith:

‘No matter how long it lives, the Greatest Lion will eventually die miserably. That’s the world.

At their peak, they rule, chase other animals, catch, devour, gulp, and leave their crumbs for hyenas. But age comes fast.

The old Lion can’t hunt, can’t kill or defend itself. It roams and roars until it runs out of luck. It will be cornered by the hyenas, nibbled at and eaten alive by them. They won’t even let it die before it is dismembered.

Life is short. Power is ephemeral. Physical beauty is short-lived, I have seen it in lions. I have seen it in old people. Everyone who lives long enough will become weak and very vulnerable at some point.

Therefore, let us be humble. Help the sick, the weak, the vulnerable, and most importantly, never forget that we will leave the stage one day.’

⁃ Copied and shared by Moses Myers of the Jamaican Orthodox Mission

Are you concerned with helping people prepare for eternity per our Lord? A good start is providing them with the presence (Mt 25:31-46, Luke 10:25-37) of a caring Orthodox mission priest by supporting Share The Faith Ministries.

To learn more of how you can Help Us Transfigure America, here are three very helpful links to learn from and share with others:

We are all a work in progress. But we can each take small steps to prepare for eternity. Caring that our fellow man is able to enjoy our Savior’s Heaven on Earth, the Holy Liturgy, and learn the way of His Saints is  one of the most important. Glory to our Jesus Christ!

– Fr Evangelos (Angelo) Pepps, Director, ShareTheFaith Ministries

fre@sharethefaith.net

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Humility is Essential for True Faith

Posted by Fr. Evangelos, Share the Faith Director

Glory to our Jesus Christ!

To Share the Faith we must Live The Faith. Living The Faith presupposes that we know, or at least are continually learning, The Faith. We can learn about The Faith from this recent FB post from famous CCM recording artist of old, Ron Ephrem Moore, who served a year on our STF Board. Ron shares the following good counsel from the contemporary Man of God, Holy Paisios (+1994) of Mt Athos, showing how we should act when forgiving those of us who have not lived up to how we should be:

St Paisios once said, “A Christian must not be fanatic but have love for and be sensitive towards ALL. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true ones, can cause harm. I once met a theologian who was extremely pious, but had the habit of speaking to the people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated so deeply that it shook them very severely. He told me once: “During a gathering, I said such and such to a lady.” But the way that he said it, crushed her. “Look”, I said to him, “you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way you throw them can smash heads and not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also.”

Let’s not stone our fellow-man in a so-called “Christian manner.” A true Christian:
• never behaves like a teacher;
• will LISTEN, and,
• whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he replies like a student!!!

A person who begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point, lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior. He is unaware of it, because he does not KNOW Himself that well, which is why he goes to…extremes.

To which I can only add that I once spent spent 17 mins alone on Athos (April, ‘88) with Holy Paisios and was inspired by his humility. Holy Paisios and all the Fathers teach that repenting leads to knowing oneself. Knowing oneself leads to being truly humble. Being truly humble leads to one being able to effectively reach a soul for Christ and His Church. And such is the way of a true believer.

Get Your heart clean. Live The faith. Pray. Be of few words but much example. For just as it is in LIFE, in missions, “Example is everything”.

Glory to our Jesus Christ!

To learn more about Share The Faith visit ShareTheFaith.net. To assist married clergy, who in cases, struggle to provide basic necessities for their families but would like to offer more full-time missionary work here in America, consider donating today

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Share the Faith Announces 2023 Grants Available for Orthodox Priests

Greetings in Christ!

Share the Faith Director Fr. Evangelos Pepps, on behalf of the Board of Directors, is pleased to announce that applications are open for canonical Orthodox clergy in need of financial help for their ministries. Share the Faith is a pan Orthodox ministry dedicated to providing assistance to priests who are:

  • Serving mission parishes with limited financial means
  • Serving smaller parishes with growth opportunities, but which are unable to fully support a full-time priest
  • Serving parishes at risk of closing due to economic and demographic shifts, but with potential to evangelize their local areas
  • Serving part-time mission parishes, Orthodox outreaches, and other ministries. Frequently at their own expense.
  • Priests forced to work full time in secular jobs, for any combination of the above or other circumstances, whose ministries could benefit from more availability
  • Working with parishes that could use assistance in learning effective evangelization techniques

The above are examples. The Share the Faith board would be willing to consider other situations as well for support.

Over the course of 2022, Share the Faith supported three priests from the Antiochian, OCA, and ROCOR jurisdictions. You can see our supported missions here. The results have been nothing short of amazing, thanks be to God and the generosity of our donors. Dozens of new catechumens have been baptized and chrismated. One supported parish has doubled attendance at Divine Liturgy. With God, truly all things are possible.

For 2023, Share the Faith would like to increase the number of supported priests to at least 20. Do you know of a priest whose ministry would qualify for Share the Faith support? If so, please direct him to our online application page or please download and send him a copy of our informational flyer.

If you would like to support Share the Faith, become a donor to support the transformation of America!

To send a donation via check, please click here for our mailing address

We need everyone’s help if we are to live up to the Great Commission of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Fr. Evangelos Pepps with the Board of Share the Faith