Church Tours
You've tasted our food! You've seen our dances! Now learn about our Faith!
We take pride in the ethnic heritage of our community, and it is an honor to be able to share our many traditions. Yet as meaningful as these traditions are to us, our church is built upon something infinitely more important than food or dance. What ultimately binds us together is not our ethnic identity, but the unity we share in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As Saint Paul writes: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Thus, there is no need for one to be ethnically Greek to be a member of our Greek Orthodox Church. In fact, our community has members from many ethnic backgrounds, as well as many former Catholics and Protestants who have been attracted by the ancient Christian faith that has been preserved for 2000 years in the Orthodox Church.
We invite you to take a tour of our Church and learn more about the Orthodox Faith. The church will be open according to the schedule below for both self-guided and guided tours. There will also be special programs throughout each day which will highlight the musical tradition of the Greek Orthodox worship. Finally, we would also like to invite you to join us for one of our worship services either during the festival or on in the future!
Church Visitation
Open during the hours of the festival
Etiquette: Enter reverently, remove hats, and no food or drink in the church.
Church Tours
Times for self-guided tours will be posted inside the church.
Byzantine Music Seminars (Sanctuary)
| Friday | 6:00 pm |
| Saturday | 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm & 6:30 pm |
| Sunday | 1:00 pm |
Festival Weekend Service Schedule
| Saturday Vespers | 5:00 pm |
| Sunday Matins | 7:45 am |
| Sunday Divine Liturgy | 9:00 am |
The Eastern Orthodox Church
Introducing the Eastern Orthodox Church
Though the average North American is familiar with Roman Catholicism and the various Protestant Churches existing today, many have never heard of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. Others may have encountered Orthodoxy, but only as a seemingly foreign institution, existing primarily to serve the needs of Slavic, Greek, or Middle Eastern immigrants.
In actuality, the Orthodox Church is both universal—not circumscribed by any national or political boundary—and very ancient. Since the birth of the Church at Pentecost, Orthodoxy has existed as an unbroken chain linking past to present and uniting believers to the faith of the Apostles. Indeed, many of the churches founded in the Books of Acts — in Greece, in Palestine, in Asia Minor – are alive and well in the twenty-first century, continuing to preserve the true teachings of the Apostles within the Eastern Orthodox Church.
What Happened to the New Testament Church?
For about the first one thousand years of her history, Christendom was largely united. There was no division between Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox as we find today. Under the prayerful guidance of the Holy Spirit, Christian leaders, theologians and scholars from east and west came together frequently in council, where they met to discuss and to discern the mind of Christ regarding the interpretation of the Scriptures and teachings of the Apostles.
Virtually all of the central doctrines of the Church concerning the Person and work of Christ, the Holy Trinity, and the nature of our redemption were defined during this period. Even the canon of Scripture was determined by the Church hundreds of years after the Apostles lived, through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Many great champions of the faith lived, worshipped, and bore witness to the risen Christ during those first one thousand years. These men and women stood firm against pagan persecution, labored to set forth a proper understanding of the Scriptures and the Apostles' doctrine, fought to protect the Church against heresy and error, and struggled to live godly lives in the face of great opposition.
Where is the Church Today?
Outwardly, Christianity in the twenty-first century seems to bear little resemblance to the Christianity of the first one thousand years. Gone are the days of the great Ecumenical Councils and the bond of unity between Christian East and West. As a final manifestation of a growing schism between Christian East and West, the Roman Church separated itself from Eastern Orthodox Churches in the year A.D. 1054. Further fragmentation occurred in the sixteenth century, when the Protestant Church split away from Rome in reaction to various moral and theological deviations of the day. Tragically, the fruit of the Protestant Reformation has been continuing division among Christian brethren, and there are now thousands of separate Protestant denominations. From outward appearances, ours is an era of retreat, of compromise, and of decay.
Centuries of oppression and persecution have taken their toll on the Orthodox Church as well. Invasions and occupation of Orthodox lands by non-Christians as well as the oppression of religious freedom during communist periods have caused great hardship to the Orthodox Church—centering in the very countries which have been traditional Orthodox strongholds. Many more Christians have died as martyrs for their faith in the past 100 years of the Church's existence than in the whole of the three hundred years following the Crucifixion of Christ.
Yet through all of this, Orthodoxy has not only managed to survive, it has marched resolutely forward, against the very gates of hell itself, as our Lord prophesied. Today, the Orthodox Churches in North America are being discovered by people from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds, as they hunger and search for a Church which has maintained the tradition, worship, and theology of the early Church.
Join Us for Service!
We are so thankful that you took time to not only visit the Greek Festival but to also learn about our Orthodox Christian Faith. Our community is very excited to welcome new members, and we would love for you to join us during our worship services. Our weekly service schedule is as follows:
| Wednesdays | Supplicatory Canon (Paraklesis) at 6 pm |
| Saturdays | Evening Prayers (Vespers) at 5:00 pm |
| Sundays | Matins at 8am, Divine Liturgy at 9:15 am |
For more information, please contact , , or .
