tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10916550728235765072023-11-16T04:57:36.825-08:00St. George Middle School Sunday School Stacy K. http://www.blogger.com/profile/06853574441003653244noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1091655072823576507.post-78907644823191418222015-06-19T18:48:00.002-07:002015-06-27T15:26:27.185-07:00How I Became Orthodox. . .In a Tiny Nutshell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIR5HlEBbq86mJ2NSDVpraxRRSVgt20TBEzrV2USEAdiL5hXq29ERp-EYDcTmbgiT5z8jntnyeb5FyEIDS-uidXsp0CeXGz2ON4FiP9wceJU47fmZMDy-QL3_EKm-KpsGTGSy8JAiDiM/s1600/Stgeorgerainbowmar2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIR5HlEBbq86mJ2NSDVpraxRRSVgt20TBEzrV2USEAdiL5hXq29ERp-EYDcTmbgiT5z8jntnyeb5FyEIDS-uidXsp0CeXGz2ON4FiP9wceJU47fmZMDy-QL3_EKm-KpsGTGSy8JAiDiM/s320/Stgeorgerainbowmar2014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I
have been Orthodox since March 3, 2013 although my path to Orthodoxy
started way before that. I was first introduced to the Church by
studying Historical Theology at Multnomah University. One of my favorite
classes was Patristic and Medieval Theology, which gave me a really
amazing overview of what the Church has been up against for its entire
history, and how God has continued to guide it through the Holy Spirit,
just as he promised (Matthew 16:16-19; I Timothy 3:15).<br />
<br />
I
had been involved in many different Protestant denominations, from
Baptist and Pentecostal to Messianic Judaism and Islam in a quest to
find out what the original Church looked like. I wasn't completely
satisfied at any point, as all these groups just told me to read the
Bible, pray and continue to learn how to interpret the Bible so that the
Holy Spirit could lead me effectively. In the end, it felt like a lot
of stress, because there was no one source I could trust and no
consistent way of interpreting Scripture. Beyond this, every church and
group I had been a part of had different practices and traditions of
worship. <br />
<br />
During my first historical theology course,
Reformation Post-Reformation Theology our professor, Dr. Jon Robertson,
had us recite the <a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicene-Constantinopolitan_Creed" target="_blank">Nicene Creed</a>
as a prayer at the start of class. At first I thought it was an odd and
somewhat quaint tradition, and it took some time for me to value its
significance. In this class, we learned about the history of the Church
from the Great Schism until today's ever-expanding number of Protestant
denominations, and I began to consider the idea that there could still
be a Church that had been preserved since Christ's ascension without
blemish (Ephesians 5:27).<br />
<br />
In my second historical
theology class, I stopped believing that the visible Church had become
corrupt in the first couple centuries of its existence, and the only
logical answer was that the ancient Church still existed in the form of
Orthodoxy, down to its creeds, hymnography, and theology. Dr. Robertson
mentioned St. George as an interesting church for students to visit,
calling it "a dinosaur in our midst." We arranged for a group to visit
at Vespers in July of 2011, and I fell in love immediately. The liturgy
with its rich theology in the hymns kept getting stuck in my head, I was
blown away by the depth of theology in the icons, and felt connected to
the Middle Eastern background of the parish.<br />
<br />
It took
my husband a little longer than me to come around to the idea, but we
were chrismated as a family with our they 5 year old daughter and then 6
week old son. I still love theology, and languages, and am studying to
teacher English as a second language, hopefully in a public elementary
school. I love teaching Sunday School, because I'm always learning new
things about our beautiful faith and community here at St. George!<br />
<br />
Here is the link to video #1 of our Baptism/Christmation service: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iiz1GpE5T0s/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iiz1GpE5T0s?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />Stacy K. http://www.blogger.com/profile/06853574441003653244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1091655072823576507.post-16201562419414400972015-06-09T18:51:00.000-07:002015-06-09T18:51:12.545-07:00History of our ChurchAlthough our community today is made up from people of many backgrounds, our parish was founded by mostly Syrian Orthodox families in the 1930's. The first Syrian Orthodox people came to Portland in the 1880's, but they attended a small Russian Orthodox chapel before starting their own parish.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9AziLNbdz16bJtRPwhyphenhyphenNbyoORJBmT9LQdBonohnyrjU0PjLyRGt6SqkmH28npX76VjdvbJGNvvUymWeBM_1pTjK34RZPoOya_86yeSes_HaYz51qS2R6Fk26OH5SRm3btlhMRBcO5eg/s1600/stgeorge1930s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9AziLNbdz16bJtRPwhyphenhyphenNbyoORJBmT9LQdBonohnyrjU0PjLyRGt6SqkmH28npX76VjdvbJGNvvUymWeBM_1pTjK34RZPoOya_86yeSes_HaYz51qS2R6Fk26OH5SRm3btlhMRBcO5eg/s1600/stgeorge1930s.jpg" /></a></div>
The current parish started officially in the 1930's . The first building owned by St. George was on SE 62nd ave between Powell and Foster Rd. After that, the community was able to purchase a building off 115th and Holgate. The church was in that building until 2004, and the Syrian-Lebanese club still meets in the building next to the old church. <br />
<br />
Our current building was built on land that the community bought in 1992, but the current building wasn't finished and consecrated until 2004.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpS3IPifS5HCFkfyuSQRa0UUEu5i_O5Vvf1qJIYtI028_H4kX7roA9KQIoDQHOEgXZkxtqEKzI5MX5cJUQGZL_ctjMTmpPfJ5JhWagXy6M-eYBsg28GR_c-rPsumMhOdTiDh2Kw4rZws/s1600/stgeorge2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpS3IPifS5HCFkfyuSQRa0UUEu5i_O5Vvf1qJIYtI028_H4kX7roA9KQIoDQHOEgXZkxtqEKzI5MX5cJUQGZL_ctjMTmpPfJ5JhWagXy6M-eYBsg28GR_c-rPsumMhOdTiDh2Kw4rZws/s320/stgeorge2004.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
This picture shows our Sunday School kids and clergy when Metropolitan Philip and then Bishop Joseph visited Portland for the consecration. <br />
<br />
If you'd like to learn more about the history of our church and see more pictures from when our building was consecrated visit the <a href="http://www.antiochian.org/1464" target="_blank">Antiochian Archdiocese page I've linked to here! </a>Stacy K. http://www.blogger.com/profile/06853574441003653244noreply@blogger.com0