A word on the practicalities of establishing and running a parish…

Parishes in ROCOR depend on donations from its members. With no alternative income stream, a parish is solely dependent on the generosity of the parishioners. That’s why we need your help!  A parish generates many expenses including rent/mortgage, maintenance of building/s and liturgical items/books, utilities, salaries, outreach/almsgiving, etc. A parish cannot survive and grow solely off candle and prosphora sales. In order to grow as a mission and establish a proper parish, with land and a building, we need your regular, consistent and generous help.

For many of us, it is hard to find the balance of how much to give and still be able to support our families. As such, we share the following words of guidance that all Orthodox Christians should consider:

“Let us renounce our earthly riches so that we are able to follow our Lord Jesus Christ! Renouncing earthly riches becomes possible only with a correct understanding of them. The Gospel provides us with the correct interpretation of dealing with substantial property. When man accepts this correct interpretation, his reason inevitably realizes its truth. Earthly wealth does not belong to us, as those who have never thought about this erroneously believe. Otherwise it always and forever would remain in our possession. But it changes hands constantly, thereby providing that it is given only for us to watch over temporarily. Wealth belongs to God; man is only the temporary caretaker. A faithful caretaker will follow exactly the wishes of the one who has entrusted the wealth to him. And we, temporarily ruling over the wealth given to us, must rule over it according to the will of God. Let us not use it as a means of indulging our desires and passions, as a resource for eternal perdition. Let us use it for the good of mankind, which lives in need and suffer; let us use it as a means for our salvation. Those who desire Christian perfection give away their wealth outright. Those who wish to be saved must give alms according to their means, and must not indulge in excess.”(The Field: Cultivating Salvation by Ignatius Brianchanivnov pg. 16)

So please, consider supporting the mission in the spirit of the above interpretation and according to your means.

Currently, we are in an optimal position to start saving up for our next step: building a church – be it temporary or permanent – we will see what God allows.  In order to take that next step, we need regular, dependent pledging to support the mission.