JOHNSTOWN, PA - The Chancery been advised that +PETER HOLUBZ, Jr, the father of Pani Deborah Zak, fell asleep in the Lord on Wednesday night, March 5. The funeral arrangements are as follows: Viewing is at the Moskal-Kennedy Funeral Home, Corner of Ohio Street and Highland Avenue, in the Moxham section of Johnstown, on Friday, March 7, 2014 from 2-4 PM and 6-9 PM. The Funeral Service will be served at 7 PM by Fr. R. Michael Zak. Funeral Divine Liturgy will be celebrated on Saturday March 8, 2014 at 10 AM in SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church on St.Clair Road in Johnstown with Father Mark Phillips (Pastor), celebrant. Read more...

My beloved Faithful Clergy and Laity of our God-protected Diocese: As we begin Great Lent on March 3rd, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts so that we may journey through the season and approach Pascha with the proper frame of mind. Great Lent is a period of increased activity for the active Orthodox Christian. Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving must increase. Attendance at Church services (of which there are many) and spiritual reading must increase. We must increase our self-examination, reflection and confession. Great Lent is also a period of decreased activity for the active Orthodox Christian. We should show restraint in our normal “outside of Lent” lifestyle. We should reduce our watching television, listening to the radio, surfing the internet, going to concerts and movies. Great Lent is not just about what we eat, but more importantly how we live. In our prayer life the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is read each week day during Great Lent. O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen. Jesus Christ’s instructions on fasting are found in Matthew 6:16-18. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly When we fall away from God, we have removed ourselves from His communion. We have excommunicated ourselves. To re-enter communion with God is the on-going activity of all Christians. We fall away daily in some way or another. No one is exempt. Read more...

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, Our Orthodox Church recommends that, during this period of Great Lent, we focus our attention toward sincere repentance, “the melting pot of sin,” according to St. John Chrysostom. Repentance is the first topic of our Lord Jesus Christ’s preaching and the very essence of the Christian teaching. It is the Church’s daily invitation to us all. Despite this, many of us have not truly experienced repentance. We sometimes feel that it does not concern us personally because we have not “come to ourselves” in order to comprehend and contemplate how we may have committed any sin. However, as we are taught by the wise teacher of the spiritual life, Abba Isaac the Syrian, and as most of the Church Fathers proclaim through experience, repentance is necessary even for the perfect. Read more...

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- With the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Gregory, the National Junior ACRY, as in previous years, has taken it upon itself to aid the Diocesan ministry of Saint John the Compassionate, located in the inner city of Toronto, Ontario. The National Junior ACRY has renewed its ongoing effort to assist in the work of Saint John the Compassionate. This renewed commitment was affirmed at the National Convention in Chicago this past summer. One again members of the Junior ACRY had the opportunity to visit the Mission this past summer and experience the labors of love that take place there each and everyday. Read more...