The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, Given on Pascha

News, Photos and Videos

Each photo and link below will take you to a new page with many photographs.

News, Photos and Videos From 2024

Aerial Photos of our Church

Consecration of Our Church!

On September 21, 2024, His Grace, Bishop Gerasim, with many priests and other clergy participating, came to Holy Cross to consecrate our church building!

Aerial Photos of our Church

Our Choros is Installed!

Andrew Gould custom-designed and crafted our choros, and installed it shortly before our church building was consecrated. The words beautifully shaped and cut into the steel are from the Matins service of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, our parish feast.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Marjorie's (Ruth's) Baptism!

Marjorie (Ruth) was baptized and chrismated before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, August 4, 2024!

Aerial Photos of our Church

Church School Celebration!

At the end of Church School this year, there was an exciting Church School celebration the kids enjoyed!

Aerial Photos of our Church

HOLY PASCHA 2024

Despite a rainy night, our celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was joyful, our first Pascha in our new permanent home! After the Midnight Office, in the darkness of midnight, the light of Christ was seen again, and we sang with the angels and processed around the church three times. In Paschal Matins, Father Christopher and Father Deacon Daniel shouted "Christ is risen!" in many languages, and the faithful shouted back "Indeed He is risen!" The services joyfully continued into the early hours, followed by feasting together!

Aerial Photos of our Church

Great and Holy Friday 2024

On the evening of Holy Friday, we sang the Lamentations in the Matins of Holy Saturday, and carried the Epitaphion/Plashchanitsa (icon of Christ's body) in procession.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Great and Holy Thursday 2024

In the evening of Great and Holy Thursday, the faithful gathered for the Matins of Holy Friday, with the 12 Passion Gospel readings.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Palm Sunday 2024

We celebrated the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem with a festal procession on a beautiful sunny Sunday, waving palms and branches (pussy willows), and took our annual photograph of children on Palm Sunday.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Chrismations on Lazarus Saturday

We have photos from the chrismations on Lazarus Saturday.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas

We have photos from the second Sunday of Lent, commemorating St. Gregory Palamas.

Aerial Photos of our Church

Myron's Baptism

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Myron was baptized!

Aerial Photos of our Church

The Sunday of Orthodoxy

We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy!

Aerial Photos of our Church

Sunrise and Sunset at Holy Cross.

We have aerial video of Sunrise and Sunset at our new church building!

Aerial Photos of our Church

Sunday of Forgiveness!

We have photographs from Forgiveness Vespers!

Aerial Photos of our Church

New Aerial Photos of Our Church at Sunset!

Sergey shared lovely new aerial photos of our church at sunset!

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

Marjorie was Baptized!

She is the first person baptized in our new church building!

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

New Aerial Photographs of Our Church!

Many thanks to Andrey (Sergey's son) and Sergey for sharing these beautiful aerial views of our church!

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

Bishop Gerasim Visits Holy Cross!

Bishop Gerasim visited Holy Cross, presided over a Moleben of Thanksgiving, spoke movingly to the faithful, and answered questions on many topics.

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

Honoring Our Parish Building Committee

As we joyfully and gratefully put our new church and our new parish hall to good use, we honored the members of the Building Committee for all that they did in helping to make this project come to completion. Tony Woodlief spoke movingly of not only long hours and hard work, but of patience, forgiveness, and love during the long and often difficult process. The entire parish gratefully toasted and applauded them -- Many Years!

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

Our First Sunday Divine Liturgy in Our New Church

On the Sunday after Theophany, a beautiful day, we served our first Sunday Divine Liturgy in our new church, and it was joyful and glorious! At the end, we processed around our new church and parish hall and to a small pond across the street, and served the Outdoor Great Blessing of the Waters.

Holy Theophany in Our New Church

Theophany: Our First Service in Our New Church!

We celebrated the Vesperal Liturgy of Theophany in our new church, and it was a joyous service! The reverberations of the high ceiling were glorious to hear. At the end of the liturgy was the Great Blessing of the Waters, and Father sprinkled the entire new church and all present with the holy water. After the service, we gathered in our new parish hall for a pizza party. It was joyful and memorable!

Holy Tuesday

New Year's Day was Moving Day into Our New Church!

New Year's Day was Moving Day for our church, many hands coming together to share the work. Many thanks to Anne for sharing these lovely photographs!

News, Photos and Videos From 2023

Holy Tuesday

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross, and spoke to the children and all present, and left some gifts for the children in shoes they had laid out by the fireplace! Children, some not so very young :), posed with St. Nicholas for pictures.

The ladies of Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church, and their pastor, Reverend Tang, who have so graciously hosted us in our temporary home in their building, visited us for the service, and for St. Nicholas' visit. We thanked them for all that they have done for us, for their kindness and generosity.

Holy Tuesday

We gathered for a group photograph at our new church building, and at the Sprinkle's in the evening for the singing of the Akathist of Thanksgiving (Glory to God For All Things)!

Holy Tuesday

We have photographs from our annual Holy Cross Picnic!

Holy Tuesday

We have photographs from Dmitri's baptism!

Holy Tuesday

Ken and Theresa and their children were chrismated on Pentecost!

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated the mothers of the parish on this Mothers' Day Sunday.

Holy Tuesday

It has been especially joyful praying for our new church as it is finally being built!

Holy Tuesday

Our page of photos from Pascha now also has a video of highlights from the streaming video.

Holy Tuesday

We have photos from our joyous celebration of Holy Pascha!

Holy Tuesday
Holy Tuesday

We have photos from the service of the Lamentations / Praises from the evening of Holy Friday!

Holy Tuesday

We have photos from the Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Thursday!

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated the wonderful Bridegroom Matins in the early evenings of Holy Week.

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated Palm Sunday with a procession waving palms and pussy willows.

Holy Tuesday

On the first Sunday of Lent we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm with a procession with icons on a beautiful, Spring-like day.

Holy Tuesday

We held our Annual Parish Meeting and reviewed very positive parish and financial growth and strength.

Holy Tuesday

Sergey shared some photos of the Prayers at the Property in Kernersville where our new church will be built!

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Holy Tuesday

We celebrated the Outdor Blessing of the Waters.

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated Theophany and the Great Blessing of the Water.

News, Photos and Videos From 2022

Holy Tuesday

We had the joy of the chrismations of Tristan, Emily, Zach, and Rebecca at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, on the Eve of Nativity.

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated Holy Nativity!

Holy Tuesday

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross again this year and spoke to all of the children!

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated our Parish Picnic together in Triad Park in Kernersville, and it was a joy to gather together and relax and enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs and a lovely meal.

Holy Tuesday

We had the joy of celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of Keith and Tambrey Owens on Sunday, August 28. May the Lord grant them many years of health and happiness!

Holy Tuesday

Michael, Theodora and Olga were chrismated!

Holy Tuesday

We have photographs of our celebration of Holy Pentecost!

Holy Tuesday

Our yard sale was a great success, thanks to hard-working volunteers!

Holy Tuesday

We have many photographs from our celebration of Pascha!

Holy Tuesday

We now have a photograph of the services, the procession, and the children with palm branches on Palm Sunday!

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy with a procession with icons!

Holy Tuesday

We celebrated Theophany, and the Great Blessing of the Waters, and then on the Sunday after Theophany, we celebrated the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters!

Holy Tuesday

On the Sunday before Theophany, Michael, Sheila, and Jenelle were received and blessed as Catechumens!

News, Photos and Videos From 2021

Holy Tuesday

On Sunday after Holy Nativity, there was a Typika service with Communion.

Holy Tuesday

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross! And we celebrated those who were most recently baptized and chrismated, and catechumens and inquirers.

Holy Tuesday

Jaxon was baptized!

Holy Tuesday

We have aerial video of curbs and gutters being poured on our building site!

Holy Tuesday

We have some video clips Father Christopher has shot over the past few weeks on the ongoing construction work preparing our building site!

Holy Tuesday

More Progress on our Building Site!

Holy Tuesday

Progress continues on our Building Site!

Holy Tuesday

We have two new color renderings of the church to be built on our Building Site!

Holy Tuesday

Photos from Week 3 of work on our building site!

Holy Tuesday
Holy Tuesday

Construction continues on our Kernersville property. We have a few new photos!

Holy Tuesday

On the feast of Saint Innocent of Alaska, Father Christopher was elevated to the rank of Archpriest for his faithful years of service.

Holy Tuesday

A few weeks after our Groundbreaking Service, the work on the site of our new church in Kernersville began, preparing the site for construction!

Holy Tuesday

We have broken ground for our construction!

Archbishop Alexander presided over our Groundbreaking Service celebrating the beginning of the construction process for our new church!

Baptisms and Chrismations

We have photos of the baptisms and chrismations on the Feast of the Dormition!

Easter Egg Hunt

We have photos of the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost!

Easter Egg Hunt

We have photos of the Easter Egg Hunt that was held after the Paschal Agape Vespers!

Leo's Baptism

We celebrated Holy Pascha in our new home!

Leo's Baptism

Palm Sunday was a glorious celebration!

Leo's Baptism

We had our first Divine Liturgy in our new parish home!

Leo's Baptism

We had our first divine service in our new parish home!

Leo's Baptism

We have some photos from our last Divine Liturgy at High Point!

Leo's Baptism

We have some photos from the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross!

Leo's Baptism

Prayers at the Property have continued throughout the pandemic. Sergey took photographs on a lovely Spring day!

News, Photos and Videos From 2020

Leo's Baptism
Leo's Baptism

We have photos of Anthony and Nikolai's Baptisms!

Leo's Baptism

We have photos of Leo's Baptism!

John's Chrismation

We have photos of John's Christmation!

Elija's Baptism

We have photos of Elijah's baptism!

Pascha

Despite the "Stay at Home" order, the Joy of Pascha was shared by the Faithful through a streaming service of the Paschal Hours and the Divine Liturgy of Pascha!

Holy Tuesday

The Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday was streamed to the Faithful.

Holy Tuesday

On Holy Friday, the Vespers service in which Christ's crucified Body (the Plashchanitsa or Epitaphion) is carried to the Tomb was streamed to the Faithful.

Holy Tuesday

The Bridegroom Matins of Holy Wednesday was streamed to the faithful on the Evening of Holy Tuesday. The video is available.

Theophany

The Divine Liturgy of Palm Sunday was streamed to the Faithful.

Theophany

We now have a video of Father's Homily on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

Theophany

We are streaming services live for the faithful at home, and for all the world. We have a few screen captures from the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

Theophany

We have some photos of the procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

Theophany

We have some photos from the Sunday of Forgiveness.

Theophany

We have some photos of Jonah's Baptism.

Theophany

We have some video and photos from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters on the Sunday after Theophany.

Theophany

We have a few photos from the Great Blessing of the Waters on Theophany.

News, Photos and Videos From 2019

St. Nicholas' Visit

We had many baptisms before and on the Eve of Nativity!

St. Nicholas' Visit

St. Nicholas Comes to Holy Cross!

St. Nicholas' Visit
St. Nicholas' Visit

Tyler and Holly and their children became Catechumens!

St. Nicholas' Visit

We have some photos from our annual Parish Picnic!

St. Nicholas' Visit

We have some photos from our parish feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross!

St. Nicholas' Visit
Holy Saturday
Holy Friday
St. Nicholas' Visit

We have photos and video from our celebrations of Palm Sunday!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have photos from the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

Forgiveness Sunday

We have photos from the Sunday of Forgiveness.

Nikolai's Baptism

We have photos from Nikolai's Baptism!

Theophany

We celebrated Holy Theophany, and afterward, the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.

News, Photos and Videos From 2018

St. Nicholas' Visit

Children & adults sang Christmas carols a few days before Nativity.

St. Nicholas' Visit

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have photographs from Pentecost and Chrismations!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have some photographs from the services on Holy Friday!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have some photographs from the services of Pascha!

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday was a festive celebration, with our yearly photograph of parish children after the procession.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

On Soul Saturday, Father Christopher celebrated a teaching liturgy, teaching during the Proskomedia and the Divine Liturgy.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we had a procession with icons, and took a photo of the parish children.

Great Canon of St. Andrew

In the first week of Lent, parishioners gathered to pray the penitential Canon of St. Andrew.

Rite of Forgiveness

On the last Sunday before Lent, the Sunday of Forgiveness, the faithful gathered for Vespers after the meal and fellowship, and going in a circle, one by one, bowed to each other asking forgiveness, and giving forgiveness. There were some tears, and broad smiles of joy, and we began the Great Lent in peace.

Outdoor Blessing of the Water 2018

Thanks to Whitney for wonderful photos from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters on the Sunday following Theophany.

News, Photos and Videos From 2017

First Meeting with Builder

Thanks to Sergey for wonderful photos from John Luke's Baptism.

First Meeting with Builder

We have some photos from the children's Nativity Play.

First Meeting with Builder

Our celebration of the Nativity of Christ began with a beautiful and joyous Vigil service.

First Meeting with Builder

We celebrated 5 baptisms and 11 chrismations on the Sunday before Nativity!

First Meeting with Builder

The first of 2017's Nativity Prefeast services began the final stage of prayerful preparation for Holy Nativity.

First Meeting with Builder

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross this year again, and later, many parishioners and their children sang Christmas carols at Adams Farm Living and Rehabilitation, where our brother George of blessed memory used to live.

First Meeting with Builder

After so many years of hoping, researching, planning, preparing and praying, at last we had our first meeting with the builders, initiating the actual path toward building our new church!.

Teaching About Confession

Father Christopher gathered together the parish children who are approaching the age to begin confession and offered them some teaching.

Twins' Baptism

John and Alexander were baptized.

Pascha

We have some photos from Pascha!

Palm Sunday

With the celebration of the Feast of the Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, with a procession with palms and pussy willows, and our annual Palm Sunday photo of the parish children, we also celebrated chrismations and a baptism, and the entry into the catechuminate. After the procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the children gathered for a photograph. More photos...

Maslenitsa

Adults and children danced and played folk games to celebrate Maslenitsa.

Theophany

We gathered to celebrate the Outdoor Great Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park.

Twins' Baptism

The funeral for our dear brother George Fesenko was on Tuesday, January 10. We have some photos, and thoughts offered by Father Christopher.

Theophany

We have some photos from the Theophany service and the blessing of the water.

News, Photos and Videos From 2016

We have a few photos from the Nativity Vigil.

We have some photos of parishioners singing Christmas carols at Adams Farm.

We have some photos from the Children's Christmas Pageant.

Parishioners are gathering with Father Christopher on Friday mornings at 10AM to pray for God's blessing on our building project.

We have photos of our annual Parish Picnic!

We have photos of Stella's Baptism!

We have some video and many photos from the Divine Liturgy and celebrations during the visit of Bishop Alexander.

We have some more photos from the visit of Bishop Alexander from the Banquet!

His Grace, Bishop Alexander blessed our parish in our 10th Anniversary celebration of parish life. We have a few photos from Vespers.

We celebrated our parish feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and we have some video excerpts from the Vigil service.

We have some photos from the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos.

Emily became a catechumen.

We have some photos from Susan's Chrismation!

We have some photos from the Divine Liturgy of Pentecost!

We have some Video and photos from Pascha!

We have video from Holy Saturday: Lamentations and Procession.

We have video from Holy Friday: the procession carrying Christ's Body to the tomb.

We have a couple of photos from the Matins of Holy Friday, the 12 Passion Gospels.

We have some photos from of the children and the procession on Palm Sunday.

A video of Father Christopher's presentation on Orthodox Architecture is available, and his slides also are available on the same page.

We have some photos from the Sunday of Orthodoxy!

We have a many wonderful photos and a brief video of highlights from the visit of the Kursk Root icon.

The Parish Council for 2016 was inducted.

We have some wonderful photographs from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.

We have some photos of baptisms and chrismations!

News, Photos and Videos From 2015

We have photos from this year's Nativity Holy Supper!

Children sang carols at Adams Farm Assisted Living Center, an annual tradition!

Father Christopher gave a homily for the children on St. Herman's Day.

We have some photos from the annual Parish Picnic.

We have some photos of Timothy's Chrismation.

We now have some photos from Porphyria and John's Chrismation.

We have some video and photos from this year's celebration of our Parish Feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

We have photos from Seraphima's baptism!

We have photos from Ella's baptism!

We have some video and wonderful photos from the bright joy of Holy Pascha!

On a beautiful Holy Saturday, Innocent (John) was chrismated. We have a few pictures.

We have a brief video from the Lamentations service.

We have a short video excerpt of the procession with the Epitaphion / Plashchanitsa in the evening of Holy Friday.

We have a brief video of Christ's crucified Body being carried and placed in the Tomb on the afternoon of Holy Friday.

We have our annual group photo of parish children taken on Palm Sunday.

We have been struggling with "overflow" during services for some time. We now have expanded our nave space to try to help!

We have some wonderful photos from Daniel's baptism!

We now have photos from Theophany and the Great Blessing of the Waters, as well as video and photos from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.

News, Photos and Videos From 2014

Church School students and families sang Christmas carols at Adams Farm Assisted Living. They were enthusiastically received and did a great job of spreading holiday cheer!

We have a few photos from the celebration of the Entry of the Theotokos.

On November 9, Holy Cross parishioners, choir members and Father Christopher served vespers at the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC, at the request of many who are interested in starting an Orthodox Christian mission there.

We now have some additional photos from our annual parish Fall Picnic at City Lake Park!

The celebration of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was joyous and beautiful. We have some video excerpts and photos.

Elizabeth and Nicholas were married on Sunday, August 17, in a joyous and beautiful ceremony. We now have a brief video!

We have a few photos from the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

We have a few photos from the Vespers and Divine Liturgy on Holy Transfiguration.

We now have many wonderful photos from Pascha!

We now have many more photos from the baptism, chrismations, and Palm Sunday!

We have 4 videos from Pascha, including the procession, Matins, and the blessing of the Pascha baskets. of the blessing of the baskets on Pascha.

We have some video excerpts from the Lamentations, including the procession of the faithful around the church following the Epitaphion/Plaschanitsa.

We have a video clip of the Procession of the Epitaphion/Plaschanitsa, laying Christ's Body in the Tomb.

We have some video and a few photos from the Service of the 12 Passion Gospels.

We now have some photos of the baptism and chrismations from Palm Sunday!

We have a brief excerpt from the service on the evening of Holy Wednesday.

We have a few snapshots from Vespers of Palm Sunday, and a short video clip of the procession. We hope to have more photos of Palm Sunday, including the Baptism and Chrismations soon.

We have some photos from the service of Annunciation.

We have some photos from our celebration of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy with a procession of icons.

We celebrated together the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the first week of Lent, which will continue through Lent.

In the first week of Great Lent we gathered to celebrate the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.

We have a video and many wonderful photos from our Outdoor Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park, on the Sunday following Theophany.

We have a few photos from the services of Holy Theophany.

News, Photos and Videos From 2013

We have a few photos from Holy Nativity.

Nativity prefeast services offered spiritual refuge from the stresses of the secular season, preparing us to celebrate Holy Nativity.

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross, spoke, and gave gifts to all of the children!

We have many wonderful photographs and a video of Betsey and Charles' wedding!

We have some photos of Betsey's (Mary's) chrismation!

We now have many wonderful photos of Archbishop Nikon's visit and his blessing of our land!

We have a number of videos from Archbishop Nikon's visit, his blessing of our land, and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Many parishioners worked together to clear the land for blessing by Archbishop Nikon.

Our celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos included welcoming six new Catechumens, and the Chrismation of 4 new members of the Faithful!

We have a few photos from the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

We have some photos from Elena's baptism a few weeks ago!

Holy Transfiguration

We have some photos from the services of Holy Transfiguration.

Nina's Baptism

We now have some wonderful photos of Tom and Yana's daughter Nina's baptism.

Holy Pascha

We have many wonderful photographs from Pascha!

Paschal Procession

We have a video of the Procession on Pascha!

Paschal Services

We have a video of excerpts from the services of Pascha!

Baptisms and Chrismation on Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday began with the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil, and Elizabeth was chrismated, and Monica and Brigid were baptized!

Holy Friday

We have many wonderful photographs from Holy Friday!

Holy Friday Procession

We now have two videos of the processions in the Vespers Rite of Entombment, and in the Lamentations service of Great and Holy Friday.

Vigil for Palm Sunday

We have photos from the Vigil for Palm Sunday and a short video of the procession with "the children with palms (and pussy willows) of victory...," that was held inside because of the rain.

Peter's Baptism

Edward and Amelia brought their son Peter back to Holy Cross to be baptized. Reader Daniel and Nora are Godparents.

Outdoor Blessing of the Waters

After Liturgy on Theophany we continued our tradition of the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park in Jamestown.

Theophany

We celebrated the Great Blessing of the Waters on Saturday evening of Theophany, and after the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, and the faithful were blessed with Holy Water.

News, Photos and Videos From 2012

Annual Picnic

We celebrated our annual Parish Picnic on the Sunday following our Parish Feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Nativity of the Theotokos

The Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos was joyous!

Holy Dormition

We have photos from the Divine Liturgy on the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Transfiguration

We have photos from the joyous celebration of the Transfiguration of our Lord!

Jim and Sons Chrismation

We have photos of the Chrismation of Jim and his sons on Sunday!

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

We have some photos of the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul.

Fr. Gerasim's Visit

We had the opportunity to meet with and get to know Fr. Gerasim Eliel who is one of the candidates being considered for Bishop for the Diocese of the South.

Pascha

We have some photos from Pascha!

Holy Saturday Baptism and Chrismations

We have photos from the baptism and chrismations on Holy Saturday!

Procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have a video of the Procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy

Theophany

We have photos and video from the services of Theophany, thanks to several photographers!

Shoemaker Family Chrismation

We have some photos of the Shoemaker family chrismation.

Robert's Chrismation

Faith and Subdeacon Jim's grandson Robert was chrismated, who was joyful to join the holy Orthodox Church and at last take communion for the first time. Nicholas is his sponsor.

News, Photos and Videos From 2011

Nativity

We have some photos and video from our festal celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Concelebration with Metropolitan Hilarion

Fr. Christopher concelebrated Vigil and the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Hilarion, Bishop George and many other clergy for the Feast Day of St. Nicholas at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Fletcher, NC.

Metropolitan Hilarion at Mebane

Several Holy Cross parishioners shared in the celebration at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Mebane, NC, when Metropolitan Hilarion came to visit.

St. Nicholas' Visit

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross, spoke to children and all present, distributed gifts, and was a joyful blessing in this season of preparing for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ.

All American Council

Father Christopher and Subdeacon Jim represented our parish at the 16th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America. Reader Daniel attended as an observer, and shared some photographs with us!

Annual Parish Picnic

On the weekend following our Parish Feast, we celebrated our annual parish picnic following the Divine Liturgy, which was, as always, a time of joy. We have some photos of the divine services, and a parish "greeting" video!

Holy Dormition

We celebrated our Patronal Feast of the Exaltation of the Universal and Life-Giving Cross with reverence and gratitude. Joining us and concelebrating with Father Christopher was Father Thomas Guery of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in High Point. We have some photos from the festal services.

Holy Dormition

We celebrated joyously the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Elizabeth's Chrismation

Lynn Elizabeth was received into the Orthodox Church in the Mystery of Chrismation, with the parish joyously celebrating with her.

Naomi's Baptism

We joyfully welcomed Naomi into the parish family as she was churched and baptized! We have some photos to share!

Kneeling Vespers on Holy Pentecost

Holy Pentecost was a joyful Feast as we celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, and prayed the Kneeling Prayers.

Pascha Photos

At last, in addition to the videos, we have many photos from the joyous celebration of Pascha!

Artos

Fr. Christopher shared photos of the Artos, dwelling in Church like Christ, the Bread of Life, dwelt with His Apostles.

Reading the Gospel on Pascha

We now have a video of parishioners reading the Gospel on Pascha in 15 languages, plus Father proclaiming it in English!

Pacha!

We now have three videos from the joyous services of Pascha! We hope to offer many photos from the Festal services and joyous meal following. Please check back for more!

Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday

On Holy Saturday, we shared reading 15 Old Testament readings foreshadowing Christ and the Resurrection. Father Christopher spoke movingly about Holy Communion before Christ's Tomb and its meaning throughout the entire year.

On Holy Friday, Christ was carried in procession to the Tomb. We have video and photos!

We celebrated the Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Thursday, and Matins of Holy Friday with the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels. We have photos and video!

Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday, we processed with palms, and took some group photos of the parish youth and children.

Bishop Mark's Visit

Bishop Mark graciously visited Holy Cross, gave wonderful talks, and celebrated a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy, ordaining Father Deacon George and Subdeacon James. The entire weekend was filled with joy! Eis polla eti, Despota!

Holy Cross Choir

We now have a video of the Holy Cross Choir singing three hymns in anticipation of Great Lent and Pascha as an introduction to Bishop Mark's wonderful talk.

We now have some wonderful photos as well as a brief video of the Great Blessing of the Waters performed on the Sunday following Theophany at City Lake Park in High Point.

Alexandra's Baptism

We now have even more photos from the baptism of Reader Daniel's and Nora's beautiful little girl Alexandra.

Holy Theophany

We have a brief video of the Great Blessing of the Waters from the services of Holy Theophany this year.

Steve & Pam's Chrismation

Steve (Stephen) and Pam (Photina) were joyously received by Chrismation into the Holy Orthodox Church! Photos here!

News, Photos and Videos From 2010

We now have many MORE photos from our joyous celebration of the traditional Nativity Holy Supper on the Eve of Nativity, with Christ's place set at the table, and of the nave and the Altar on Holy Nativity.

2nd Annual Fall Festival

Our Second Annual Fall Festival Yard Sale and Chili Cookoff was a joyous occasion: a perfect, glorious Fall day, wonderful chili, burgers, hot dogs, Greek foods, Serbian Dancers, bargains galore, and more!

Adult Study Group

This October we began a new adult study group, studying Archimandrite Melitios Webber's book entitled Bread and Water, Wine and Oil: An Orthodox Christian Experience of God. We meet on Wednesdays, with little compline at 6:30PM and the group at 7:00PM

2nd Annual Holy Cross Picnic

We celebrated our 2nd Annual Holy Cross Parish Picnic, commencing with an outdoor celebration of the Divine Liturgy followed by joyous feasting and fellowship.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

We have video and snapshots of services of our Parish Feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, with the concelebration of 6 priests and a deacon from multiple Orthodox jurisdictions.

Anna was chrismated and her daughters Ruth and Esther were baptized!

New Catechumens!

Caleb, Emily, and Their Daughter Become Catechumens.

Jeannete (Anna) Lanier

The newly Chrismated handmaiden of God, Jeanette (Anna) Rouse Lanier, mother of David Lanier, was Chrismated on Sunday June 27, 2010 and fell asleep in the Lord on Friday, July 2, 2010. More...

Consecration of the Serbian Church

Father Christopher, our choir, and many of our parishioners joined with the local Serbian church, St. Basil of Ostrog, as they consecrated their beautiful new church building.

Father Christopher, Reader Daniel and several Holy Cross parishioners served a Vespers service in support of a possible new mission in Hickory.

Pentecost

Holy Pentecost was celebrated with joy and awe, and with the joyful reception of two catechumens into our parish family!

Spaghetti Dinner

The Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser was a joyful and successful event -- many thanks to all who worked so hard to make it so!

Parish Council Swearing-In

The Parish Council, including newly-elected members, were sworn in.

A newly-commissioned icon of a Saint of America, Vasily Martysz, was blessed.

Holy Pascha

We now have photographs from Pascha, including the Blessing of the Baskets. (We also have added some photos to the Holy Saturday page that initially had only the video.)

Paschal Matins

In the early hours of Pascha, the Priests and the faithful cry aloud and sing, "Christ is Risen -- Indeed, He is Risen!" in many languages of the faithful around the world. We have some video of the Canon from Matins on Pascha!

Procession on Pascha 2010

Shortly after midnight on Holy Pascha, the Light of Christ shines in the darkness, and the faithful sing in joy, Christ is Risen! We have some video of the procession!

Mick's Chrismation

We have some photos from Mick's Chrismation and the liturgy of Holy Saturday.

Holy Saturday

We have some video as the faithful process and venerate Christ's holy Passion as Noble Joseph lays Christ's Body in the Tomb at the end of the Lamentations in the evening on Holy Friday (the Matins of Holy Saturday). Included are the words sung by the faithful for Noble Joseph, and Christ's holy Passion.

Holy Friday

We have video of Placing Christ's Body (the Plashchanitsa / Epitaphion) in the Tomb from Vespers on Holy Friday.

Palm Sunday Procession

We have video and photos from the Divine Liturgy with 3 priests on Palm Sunday and the festive Palm Sunday Procession.

Presanctified Liturgy

We have some photos and video from a Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. It is very difficult for many people to attend weekday services even in the evening, but those who have been able to attend all have agreed that these are very beautiful and meaningful services.

Unction Service

We have a video from the healing service of Holy Unction for Matushka Salome / Carrie which was served for Matushka Salome - Carrie Foley, two days before her cardiac surgery on Thursday, February 25, to correct a recently discovered congenital defect in her ascending aorta (the major blood vessel from the heart to the rest of the body).

Sunday of Orthodoxy

We have photographs from the Procession celebrating the victory of Orthodoxy of the heresies on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

Life March

Fr. Christopher joined His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah and hundreds of other Orthodox Christians in the March for Life in Washington, DC this year, on Sanctity of Life Sunday, the Sunday following the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Blessing the Waters

The Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park near our parish church on the Sunday following Holy Theophany was bitterly cold but beautiful and a joyous festal celebration. Even in sunny North Carolina a hole had to be chopped in the ice for the Cross to bless the waters! We also have video of the event!

News, Photos and Videos From 2009

Holy Nativity

We have photos and a brief video from Nativity, including photos from the fasting Holy Supper prior to Nativity, and of Faith's chrismation.

Kursk Root Icon

Fr. Christopher Foley concelebrated with Fr. Sergei Lukianov when the miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God visited the mission parish of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Mebane, NC, on December 23, 2009. Fr. Sergei , who had accompanied the holy icon on its historic visit back to Russia where thousands of the faithful lined the streets for miles and perched on roofs to greet the Mother of God, spoke movingly of his experiences and what he observed.

St. Nicholas' Visit

St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross on his Feast Day, and spoke to children and all present, and gave gifts to the children. We have photographs of this historic visit!

Rickford's Chrismation

We have a few photographs of Rickford/Nicholas' Chrismation.

Tom's Blessing

Thomas Lowry received a blessing as he prepared to enter Boot Camp in the US Army. Tom is a specialist in the US Army, and as he was preparing to leave for 12 weeks of Boot Camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he received a blessing at church. He left on November 16th. In February he is going to start his AIT training in Norfolk, Virginia. His destination thereafter is not finalized yet. Please keep him in your prayers.

Fall Festival

Our first annual Fall Festival was a grand success! The yard sale and chili cookoff were enjoyed by all, the children enjoyed activities prepared for them, everyone enjoyed sampling 9 different wonderful chilis, and the proceeds will go to the Building Fund. Thanks to all who organized and participated in it!

1st Annual Parish Picnic

We celebrated our first annual Holy Cross Parish Picnic following an outdoor Divine Liturgy. The forecasted stormy weather held off, and it was a wonderful time of worship and fellowship.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Concelebrating the Vigil for the Exaltation of the Cross with Fr. Christopher, was Fr. Paul Schellbach and newly ordained priest of The Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church in Greensboro, Fr. Thomas Newlin.

After the Saturday evening Vespers service, the clergy and faithful gathered around the icon of the Mother of God, Pantanassa (Queen of All), and prayed the Akathist to the Mother of God - Healer of Cancer. Afterwards the faithful were anointed with Holy Oil.

Adam Keith Kowalcheck

Adam Keith Kowalcheck was received into the Church through the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation on August 23, 2009. Adam’s grandfather, Father Onouphry Keith (St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Fletcher, NC) concelebrated the Baptism service with Father Christopher. And former deacon at Holy Cross, now priest, Father John and Matushka Ginny Hays were the Godparents. Immediately following the baptism, the three priests concelebrated the Divine Liturgy.

Holy Transfiguration

We have some photos from Holy Transfiguration, and from a pannykhida.

Pascha

We have some photos from Holy Friday, Baptisms and Chrismations on Holy Saturday AM, Holy Saturday and Pascha, including our Paschal Procession, the blessing of the Pascha Baskets, and an Egg Hunt that followed Agape Vespers, available, and there are still a few more to come!

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday was a glorious celebration of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem, carrying palms and branches, and singing, "Hosanna!"

Fr. Michael Oleksa

Fr. Michael Oleksa spoke about the history of Orthodoxy's beginnings in North America, with stories of saints and "mountain men" paddling hand-made boats of elk and caribou hide in the wintry seas of the North as Russians moved into lands populated by native peoples. We have photographs from the Akathist to the Saints of North America that was served before his talk.

Alexander Malcolm Foley

Fr. Christopher's son, Alexander Malcolm, was received into the Church though the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation on January 25, 2009.

Theophany

We have some photos from Holy Theophany, with many thanks to Ray Zawertany.

News, Photos and Videos From 2008

15th AAC

Reader Daniel offered some photographs from the 15th All-American Council, where Bishop Jonah was elected Archbishop of Washington and New York and Metropolitan of All America and Canada.

Our dear brother Father Deacon John Hays was ordained to the priesthood on November 1, 2008.

With gratitude to God, and for the gifts and work of His servants Father Christopher, Nicolae Soare, George Fesenko and Reader Daniel Kowalcheck,
we celebrated the blessing of our new church sign on Sunday, October 26,
2008.

A friend of Father Christopher took some beautiful photographs of our church while visiting and generously shared them with us.

What a joyous occasion it was to celebrate Tom and Yana's marriage at Holy Cross! God grant them many Blessed years!

Fr. John's ordination

Photos are now available from the ordination to the Diaconate of Father Deacon John Hays in Charleston, SC, on Saturday, May 24, 2008.

We have some photographs from Holy Week and Pascha:

We also have some videos from Holy Week and Pascha:

Photographs of our first Archpastoral visit from his Eminence, Dmitri, Archbishop of Dallas and the South.

Photographs of the outdoor Blessing of the Waters at Theophany, 2008.

Photographs of Gideon's Baptism.

News, Photos and Videos From 2007

reconstruction of the iconostas

Photographs of the Reconstruction of our Iconostas. We also invite you to read the story of the nearly 2,000 mile journey to retrieve it from Canada, which turned out to be quite an adventure!

Holy Pascha

Photographs from Holy Pascha, 2007.

Outdoor Blessing of the Waters

Photographs from Holy Theophany 2007.

News, Photos and Videos From 2006

Our First Divine Liturgy

Our First Liturgy, 3/12/2006.