Each photo and link below will take you to a new page with many photographs.
On September 21, 2024, His Grace, Bishop Gerasim, with many priests and other clergy participating, came to Holy Cross to consecrate our church building!
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.
Marjorie (Ruth) was baptized and chrismated before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, August 4, 2024!
At the end of Church School this year, there was an exciting Church School celebration the kids enjoyed!
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!
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.
In the evening of Great and Holy Thursday, the faithful gathered for the Matins of Holy Friday, with the 12 Passion Gospel readings.
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.
We have photos from the chrismations on Lazarus Saturday.
We have photos from the second Sunday of Lent, commemorating St. Gregory Palamas.
On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Myron was baptized!
We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy!
We have aerial video of Sunrise and Sunset at our new church building!
We have photographs from Forgiveness Vespers!
Sergey shared lovely new aerial photos of our church at sunset!
She is the first person baptized in our new church building!
Many thanks to Andrey (Sergey's son) and Sergey for sharing these beautiful aerial views of our church!
Bishop Gerasim visited Holy Cross, presided over a Moleben of Thanksgiving, spoke movingly to the faithful, and answered questions on many topics.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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)!
We have photographs from our annual Holy Cross Picnic!
We have photographs from Dmitri's baptism!
Ken and Theresa and their children were chrismated on Pentecost!
We celebrated the mothers of the parish on this Mothers' Day Sunday.
It has been especially joyful praying for our new church as it is finally being built!
Our page of photos from Pascha now also has a video of highlights from the streaming video.
We have photos from our joyous celebration of Holy Pascha!
We have photos from the Chrismation and Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Saturday!
We have photos from the service of the Lamentations / Praises from the evening of Holy Friday!
We have photos from the Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Thursday!
We celebrated the wonderful Bridegroom Matins in the early evenings of Holy Week.
We celebrated Palm Sunday with a procession waving palms and pussy willows.
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.
We held our Annual Parish Meeting and reviewed very positive parish and financial growth and strength.
Sergey shared some photos of the Prayers at the Property in Kernersville where our new church will be built!
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We celebrated the Outdor Blessing of the Waters.
We celebrated Theophany and the Great Blessing of the Water.
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.
We celebrated Holy Nativity!
St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross again this year and spoke to all of the children!
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.
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!
Michael, Theodora and Olga were chrismated!
We have photographs of our celebration of Holy Pentecost!
Our yard sale was a great success, thanks to hard-working volunteers!
We have many photographs from our celebration of Pascha!
We now have a photograph of the services, the procession, and the children with palm branches on Palm Sunday!
We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy with a procession with icons!
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!
On the Sunday before Theophany, Michael, Sheila, and Jenelle were received and blessed as Catechumens!
On Sunday after Holy Nativity, there was a Typika service with Communion.
St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross! And we celebrated those who were most recently baptized and chrismated, and catechumens and inquirers.
Jaxon was baptized!
We have aerial video of curbs and gutters being poured on our building site!
We have some video clips Father Christopher has shot over the past few weeks on the ongoing construction work preparing our building site!
More Progress on our Building Site!
Progress continues on our Building Site!
We have two new color renderings of the church to be built on our Building Site!
Photos from Week 3 of work on our building site!
We have some video of the construction work!
Construction continues on our Kernersville property. We have a few new photos!
On the feast of Saint Innocent of Alaska, Father Christopher was elevated to the rank of Archpriest for his faithful years of service.
A few weeks after our Groundbreaking Service, the work on the site of our new church in Kernersville began, preparing the site for construction!
Archbishop Alexander presided over our Groundbreaking Service celebrating the beginning of the construction process for our new church!
We have photos of the baptisms and chrismations on the Feast of the Dormition!
We have photos of the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost!
We have photos of the Easter Egg Hunt that was held after the Paschal Agape Vespers!
We celebrated Holy Pascha in our new home!
Palm Sunday was a glorious celebration!
We had our first Divine Liturgy in our new parish home!
We had our first divine service in our new parish home!
We have some photos from our last Divine Liturgy at High Point!
We have some photos from the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross!
Prayers at the Property have continued throughout the pandemic. Sergey took photographs on a lovely Spring day!
We have photos of Anthony and Nikolai's Baptisms!
We have photos of Leo's Baptism!
We have photos of John's Christmation!
We have photos of Elijah's baptism!
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!
The Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday was streamed to the Faithful.
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.
The Bridegroom Matins of Holy Wednesday was streamed to the faithful on the Evening of Holy Tuesday. The video is available.
The Divine Liturgy of Palm Sunday was streamed to the Faithful.
We now have a video of Father's Homily on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.
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.
We have some photos of the procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
We have some photos from the Sunday of Forgiveness.
We have some photos of Jonah's Baptism.
We have some video and photos from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters on the Sunday after Theophany.
We have a few photos from the Great Blessing of the Waters on Theophany.
We had many baptisms before and on the Eve of Nativity!
St. Nicholas Comes to Holy Cross!
Deacon George and Matushka Elizabeth Hattle Say Farewell.
Tyler and Holly and their children became Catechumens!
We have some photos from our annual Parish Picnic!
We have some photos from our parish feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross!
We have some video and photos from Pascha!
We have photos from Holy Saturday!
We have photos from Holy Friday!
We have photos and video from our celebrations of Palm Sunday!
We have photos from the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
We have photos from the Sunday of Forgiveness.
We have photos from Nikolai's Baptism!
We celebrated Holy Theophany, and afterward, the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.
Children & adults sang Christmas carols a few days before Nativity.
St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross!
We have photographs from Pentecost and Chrismations!
We have some photographs from the services on Holy Friday!
We have some photographs from the services of Pascha!
Palm Sunday was a festive celebration, with our yearly photograph of parish children after the procession.
On Soul Saturday, Father Christopher celebrated a teaching liturgy, teaching during the Proskomedia and the Divine Liturgy.
On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we had a procession with icons, and took a photo of the parish children.
In the first week of Lent, parishioners gathered to pray the penitential Canon of St. Andrew.
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.
Thanks to Whitney for wonderful photos from the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters on the Sunday following Theophany.
Thanks to Sergey for wonderful photos from John Luke's Baptism.
We have some photos from the children's Nativity Play.
Our celebration of the Nativity of Christ began with a beautiful and joyous Vigil service.
We celebrated 5 baptisms and 11 chrismations on the Sunday before Nativity!
The first of 2017's Nativity Prefeast services began the final stage of prayerful preparation for Holy Nativity.
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.
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!.
Father Christopher gathered together the parish children who are approaching the age to begin confession and offered them some teaching.
John and Alexander were baptized.
We have some photos from Pascha!
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...
Adults and children danced and played folk games to celebrate Maslenitsa.
We gathered to celebrate the Outdoor Great Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park.
The funeral for our dear brother George Fesenko was on Tuesday, January 10. We have some photos, and thoughts offered by Father Christopher.
We have some photos from the Theophany service and the blessing of the water.
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!
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.
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 photos from baptisms and chrismations on Holy Saturday.
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.
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 celebrated the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple.
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.
On August 28, Elizabeth was welcomed as a Catechumen!
We have some photos from Elena's baptism a few weeks ago!
We have some photos from the services of Holy Transfiguration.
We now have some wonderful photos of Tom and Yana's daughter Nina's baptism.
We have many wonderful photographs from Pascha!
We have a video of the Procession on Pascha!
We have a video of excerpts from the services of Pascha!
Holy Saturday began with the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil, and Elizabeth was chrismated, and Monica and Brigid were baptized!
We have many wonderful photographs from Holy Friday!
We now have two videos of the processions in the Vespers Rite of Entombment, and in the Lamentations service of Great and Holy Friday.
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.
Edward and Amelia brought their son Peter back to Holy Cross to be baptized. Reader Daniel and Nora are Godparents.
After Liturgy on Theophany we continued our tradition of the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters at City Lake Park in Jamestown.
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.
We celebrated our annual Parish Picnic on the Sunday following our Parish Feast, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
The Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos was joyous!
We have photos from the Divine Liturgy on the Dormition of the Theotokos.
We have photos from the joyous celebration of the Transfiguration of our Lord!
We have photos of the Chrismation of Jim and his sons on Sunday!
We have some photos of the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul.
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.
We have some photos from Pascha!
We have photos from the baptism and chrismations on Holy Saturday!
We have a video of the Procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy
We have photos and video from the services of Theophany, thanks to several photographers!
We have some photos of the Shoemaker family 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.
We have some photos and video from our festal celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
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.
Several Holy Cross parishioners shared in the celebration at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Mebane, NC, when Metropolitan Hilarion came to 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.
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!
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!
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.
We celebrated joyously the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.
Lynn Elizabeth was received into the Orthodox Church in the Mystery of Chrismation, with the parish joyously celebrating with her.
We joyfully welcomed Naomi into the parish family as she was churched and baptized! We have some photos to share!
Holy Pentecost was a joyful Feast as we celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, and prayed the Kneeling Prayers.
At last, in addition to the videos, we have many photos from the joyous celebration of Pascha!
Fr. Christopher shared photos of the Artos, dwelling in Church like Christ, the Bread of Life, dwelt with His Apostles.
We now have a video of parishioners reading the Gospel on Pascha in 15 languages, plus Father proclaiming it in English!
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!
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!
On Palm Sunday, we processed with palms, and took some group photos of the parish youth and children.
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!
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.
We now have even more photos from the baptism of Reader Daniel's and Nora's beautiful little girl Alexandra.
We have a brief video of the Great Blessing of the Waters from the services of Holy Theophany this year.
Steve (Stephen) and Pam (Photina) were joyously received by Chrismation into the Holy Orthodox Church! Photos here!
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.
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!
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
We celebrated our 2nd Annual Holy Cross Parish Picnic, commencing with an outdoor celebration of the Divine Liturgy followed by joyous feasting and fellowship.
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!
Caleb, Emily, and Their Daughter Become Catechumens.
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...
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.
Holy Pentecost was celebrated with joy and awe, and with the joyful reception of two catechumens into our parish family!
The Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser was a joyful and successful event -- many thanks to all who worked so hard to make it so!
The Parish Council, including newly-elected members, were sworn in.
A newly-commissioned icon of a Saint of America, Vasily Martysz, was blessed.
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.)
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!
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!
We have some photos from Mick's Chrismation and the liturgy of 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.
We have video of Placing Christ's Body (the Plashchanitsa / Epitaphion) in the Tomb from Vespers on Holy Friday.
We have video and photos from the Divine Liturgy with 3 priests on Palm Sunday and the festive Palm Sunday Procession.
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.
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).
We have photographs from the Procession celebrating the victory of Orthodoxy of the heresies on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
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.
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!
We have photos and a brief video from Nativity, including photos from the fasting Holy Supper prior to Nativity, and of Faith's chrismation.
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 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!
We have a few photographs of Rickford/Nicholas' Chrismation.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
We have some photos from Holy Transfiguration, and from a pannykhida.
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 was a glorious celebration of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem, carrying palms and branches, and singing, "Hosanna!"
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.
Fr. Christopher's son, Alexander Malcolm, was received into the Church though the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation on January 25, 2009.
We have some photos from Holy Theophany, with many thanks to Ray Zawertany.
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!
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.
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!
Photographs from Holy Pascha, 2007.
Photographs from Holy Theophany 2007.
Our First Liturgy, 3/12/2006.
Photographs of our Our first Divine Liturgy with our priest, Father Christopher Foley.
Miguel becomes a catechumen.
