“…for many Orthodox Christians from ‘traditional’ Orthodox countries…the parishes are simply places for services and blessings, and the community is the village, where the customs of Orthodoxy are reinforced almost unilaterally. Such is not the case in America – and the parish becomes that circle of affirmation for the individual and families to serve as a source of teaching, fellowship, friendship, counsel, moral correction and spiritual reinforcement.”
(Fr. Robert Holet, St. Nicholas Orthodox in Virginia)

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