Saint
Barbara Church
http://st-barbara-church.org is a missionary parish, founded on October 1st in the year of 2006 by
the blessing of Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco & Western
America. The year of 2006 was a special year for all of us, Orthodox
Christians, because it was the 1700th anniversary of the Great Martyr
Barbara's repose.
The
Russian orthodox Parish in Orange County, California is a long awaited event for
Russian Orthodox people, living in this area. Being taken away from
our Homeland, where we had endless opportunity to visit Orthodox
churches, because we had a lot of them almost in each corner, we
still do not want to be separated from our rich spiritual tradition.
With this hope in our hearts, we put our trust in God and asking
Great Martyr Barbara with all of our New Martyrs and confessors of
Russia and all Russian saints with the Most Holy Theothokos to pray
for the salvation of our souls here in America.
We
live and think in the terms of Old Julian Calendar. The services are
conducted in the Church-Slavonic, but we insert some English, as
well. Our parish doesn't own any specific building, so a place for
our services is a temporary location, but we set up a building fund,
where we accept any possible donations for acquiring our own church
building. We believe, that some day God will provide a permenent
building for our church, through His Divine providence.
Our Mission needs own individual
building, where we can continue growing spiritually and in numbers.
This has been our dream for long time – to build the Church, but
now it has become extraordinary urgent necessity.
Two years ago our sister Coptic Church
of Saint Marina kindly allowed us to use one of their Church facility
rooms for our Mission. We are grateful in so many ways for their
generosity, which gave us an opportunity to assemble each week, and
every Sunday in that room for past 2 years. However, recently St.
Marina Coptic Church discussed with their members possibility of
moving to another spicier location, so we are facing now uncertainty
towards our future perspectives. We would wish to exclude situation,
when we may found ourselves without place of worship in
nearest future. Such unwished situation would be a
devastating event for all Orange County Christians, especially for
those who attend our church!
With
God's help, our parish successfully carries its spiritual mission.
But we need even more active co-workers in Christ for the goal of
raising up of our church building. Please join us in our
efforts! Help our Mission to grow, to buy land and build a
church facility! St. Barbara Parish receives no Diocesan aid, but
operates entirely on donations of quite a small number of
parishioners. Therefore we need your additional help in order
to build traditional Russian-style Church here in Orange County.The
amount of money needed for this project is far beyond our limited
financial capability, - yet we know that: with God all things are
possible (Mat 19:26). And Apostle Paul says: I can do all things
through Christ, Who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:13)
Please DONATE, every dollar will
make a difference. SHARE between your friends, family and Social networking. It's a key to
our campaign and of course Pray. We believe in
prayer. If you do as well please pray for survival and
grows of our church.
If you willing to open your hearts and
consider helping us build the church, you can at your desire include
your names and the names of your loved ones for commemorations: the
names will be read in our weekly prayers, and your names will be
listed on the blocks of our future Shrine, once it will be built.
God bless you all!