"For just as in our individual bodies we have many limbs – and all the limbs do not have the same function, so also we, who are many persons, are One Body in Christ, and each are members of one another." (Romans 12:4-5)

My dear fellow Orthodox Christians,

Χριστός Ανέστη!

The theme of our upcoming Clergy Laity Congress is “In Christ We Are One” – a reminder of our interdependency as Christians. There is an old saying from the first centuries of the Church: “One Christian is no Christian.” Even the hermits of our blessed Mount Athos maintain a sense of communion and involvement with the fullness of the Church. How much more should we, who experience our sisters and brothers in Christ on a regular basis!

Too often, Christians feel that their faith is only a personal and private relationship with God. But our Lord and the Saints teach us that we are always part of something greater than ourselves. We are all limbs of the One Body of Christ, and when we are working in harmony with one another, then the Body of the Church is at its best. 

Imagine if one leg tried to go east while the other went west! We would be at a painful standstill. And yet this is precisely what happens when we are not aligned properly to the head of the Body, Who is our Lord Himself, and not aligned with one another.

Therefore, I invite you to become part of this year’s Clergy Laity Congress and encounter your faith in a new way, and find yourselves in the marvelous arrangement that God has ordained for His Church. We all count. We all matter. We are all members of the Body of Christ, and we all
have something to offer. 

May God bless you all! Χριστός Ανέστη!

Clergy Laity Congress
San Diego, California
Sunday, June 30th through Thursday, July 4 2024
Register Today! https://www.clergylaity.org/delegates