Friday, May 21, 2010
Egeria Founder Promises All-Butter Shortbread and a Good Chat at the 2010 Canadian Assembly in July!
Sparkling water, misty blue mountains, architectural charm and a vibrant downtown nestled against a beautiful harbour! And very, very yummy cookies. Very.
Summer 2010 sees the beautiful and shortbread-riddled city of Victoria hosting the Canadian Assembly of the OCA (Orthodox Church in America). Anticipation is building toward what will be a truly exciting and lively assembly. Guest speakers will include his Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah, Fr Justin Matthews of FOCUS North America, and his Eminence Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada. Ancient Faith Radio's John Maddex is expected to be in attendance to record the talks and sessions. For more information see the Assembly website here:
The theme of this assembly is 'When Did We See You' (Orthodox Christian Outreach). This line from Matthew captures the essence of what the assembly aims to highlight this year - the growing desperate need of the most vulnerable men, women and children in our streets and neighbourhoods, and the awakening conscience of Orthodox Christians young and old to the Lord's command to feed, clothe, visit and love our fellow human beings.
A unique aspect of this assembly is that attendees will be able to visit the new St Maria of Paris Center in downtown Victoria! A beautiful, natural-light flooded space in a historic (if slightly weird) Victorian horse stable building, the St Maria Center was lovingly brought into existence in 2009 by talented young carpenter/entrepreneur Spiro Spanos, journeyman Deacon Kevin Miller, awesome guy Charles Walker, and a team of less able but very excited volunteers! The build featured an array of reclaimed materials - granite tiles, hardwood flooring, brick, glass, lighting fixtures, and an entire kitchen. There is a bookstore in the center with hundreds of Orthodox titles in English, Greek, and French, as well as icons, cds and gift items. There is a small and lovely chapel (The Chapel of the Protection of the Mother of God) in which we are soon to install and unveil a floor mosaic created especially for the center, which is a replica of a 4th c mosaic of the Loaves and Fishes. 
The St Maria Center under construction; this view shows the office space on the left and the chapel on the right. No kidding, right? As if you were going to get them mixed up. Anyway, this is all finished now and looks amazing. You have to come visit. Bring a checkbook if you are American, and a chequebook if you are Canadian. International money order if you are from somewhere else.
Currently the St Maria Center is open Tuesdays and Thursdays for Matins and clergy office/ drop in hours and Friday nights for making sack lunches for distribution to Victoria's homeless and hungry on Saturdays. Many other events are held here periodically, such as meetings, lectures, classes and coffee house nights. Catechumen lessons for members of Presentation Greek Orthodox Church catechumens and enquirers are held every other Thursday evening.
The Center is dedicated to a spirit of pan-Orthodox unity and brotherhood in the city of Victoria, and the Board is made up of members of all three canonical Orthodox parishes in the area. We are keenly pursuing the expansion of operations on behalf of the homeless and needy from the center via networking, fundraising and volunteer recruitment and organisation. By the way: the same funky building houses two Orthodox businesses: the Traellos Recording Studio (where we are currently working on the debut CD of five-person liturgical music ensemble Eirene) and Isl-Rok Systema (Russian Martial Arts). How cool is that.
Finally, I would just like to mention that Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange (based in Victoria, Canada but serving Orthodox Christians of all nations and jurisdictions!) will have a physical presence at the Assembly in the form of a table in the marketplace! If you are coming to the assembly, please stop by the Egeria table and say hello and chat with founder and proprietor (me, Jenny Hainsworth) about any questions or ideas you have about Egeria, about Victoria, about Canada, or about Orthodox travel in general, or about your dog, your lazy eye or whatever is on your mind! I will have the coffee and shortbread on. . .see you soon!
As always, happy travels, God bless and don't forget to visit egeriaexchange.com today and see what's new!
Jenny Hainsworth
Egeria Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange
250 885 7990
egeriaexchange.com
Posted by Jenny at 9:57 AM 14 Comments
