“Spread the joy of Christ to everyone around you.” On Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 20, His Eminence Metropolitan Saba began his series of archpastoral visits to Central and Southern California, starting with the Typica Service at our parish. He was warmly greeted by the pastor, Priest John Valadez, the clergy and the faithful. In his homily, His Eminence spoke about the need for America to see genuine spirituality and the great responsibility we have as Orthodox Christians to give that spirituality. This, he said, cannot be conveyed by ideology or a theoretical approach, but must be lived out in our approach and witness to the world. Sayidna Saba encouraged the faithful…

On Sunday, March 5th, Saint Timothy hosted vespers service for the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. We were joined by priests and their congregations from up and down the central coast. It was a beautiful and prayerful occasion to be together and celebrate the restoration of the holy icons that took place in 843 a.d. This occasion was the triumph of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and confirmed once again the incarnation of the Son of God against those who taught erroneously against it by destroying images of Him and His Saints. Orthodox Christians celebrate this triumph every first Sunday of Great Lent by reading the proclamations of the council…

“In Baptism are fulfilled the pledges of our covenant with God; burial and death, resurrection and life; and these take place all at once. For when we are immersed in the water, the old man is buried as in a tomb below, and wholly sunk forever; then as we are raised again, the new man rises in its stead. As it is easy for us to immerse and to lift out again, so it is easy for God to bury the old man, and to show forth the new.” – St John Chrysostom