Holy Cross Chaplaincy at UBC

Welcome Back!

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:43:35 +1200

And another new school year has begun… Welcome back!

My intent is to continue the chaplaincy services this year if there are enough people interested in finding a time and place where we can all pray together. Thoughts, ideas, and schedules should be sent to discussion {at} holycrosschaplaincy.org so we can begin to coordinate, if possible!

Looking forward to seeing you again!

Love in Christ,

Fr. Justin,
UBC Orthodox Christian Chaplain.

Thanks for a Great Year!

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 06:08:01 +1200

It’s hard to believe that the school year is already drawing to a close. It was a great blessing to see the chaplaincy grow this year not so much in numbers, but very much in diversity! The move to the Regent College prayer room was also a blessing - while not as splendid as St. Mark’s, it was a good match for this year’s less formal (and less numerous) prayers and discussions.

The greatest blessing for me, personally, was connecting with all of you who came. I look forward to further building up our connections with one another next year - and the interconnections between our respective Orthodox communities!

Many thanks are due, in particular, to our faithful chaplaincy president, Stephen, who did so much to keep the chaplaincy going this year - and undertook the first steps towards forming an Orthodox Christian Fellowship. Sadly, this is his last year with us, as he - like most people who come to university to study - is moving on with his life and career. We will miss him! And thank you, Stephen! Please continue to remember him - and the chaplaincy - in your prayers.

As usual, formal chaplaincy activities will be suspended for the summer months - but I’ll be looking forward to resuming our prayers and discussions together next September. May God bless you and keep you!

Love in Christ,

Fr. Justin.

The Chaplaincy, Re-imagined

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 17:39:13 +1200

Many thanks to all who contributed to the discussion of what the chaplaincy should look like this year - and to those who have worked to bring the new vision to pass, either by arranging things or just by showing up at the new time and place!

We are now meeting regularly in the Regent College Prayer Room at 3pm on Fridays for a brief time of prayer (the Ninth Hour) and for fellowship. Feel free to bring a snack to share if you come - or, if you can’t bring a snack, just to come! I (Fr. Justin) won’t always be able to be there, but I will do my best to ensure that at least one of the local clergy will be there to pray and to chat with you all whenever I am unable to come.

Location

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:39:00 +1200

We meet regularly for prayer and fellowship in the Regent College Prayer Room. The Regent College Prayer Room can be found (of course) in Regent College (5800 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 2E4). The Prayer Room is located just off the west side of the atrium, directly opposite the Regent College Bookstore.

View Regent College Prayer Room in a larger map

Re-imagining the chaplaincy

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:18:19 +1200

Those who have visited the Holy Cross Chaplaincy site of late will have noticed that it’s been quite a while since anything new was posted here. The hiatus has been due to two factors… (1) an over-busy chaplain, and (2) the natural cycle of graduation and departure.

Fortunately, there is a third factor at play here: the natural cycle of new students starting their post-secondary schooling! I have been contacted by a number of new students now, so it seems to be time to start thinking about the chaplaincy at UBC again. Factor #1 still hasn’t changed, but as long as there is a need for and an interest in an Orthodox Christian chaplaincy and fellowship at UBC, I will “make time” to make sure that it happens!

To further that end, I have established an e-mail discussion group. It is time to re-imagine what the Holy Cross Chaplaincy at UBC looks like so that it can meet the present needs of the Orthodox Christian students there and so that it can work within the limits of the chaplain’s available time. I have put all those who have contacted me with expressions of interest in the chaplaincy at UBC on the list, but if anyone else out there is interested in the chaplaincy, please feel free to e-mail me at frjustin{at}holycrosschaplaincy.org (replace “{at}” with “@”, of course) and I will be happy to add you to the ongoing discussion!

Love in Christ,

Fr. Justin Hewlett,
Orthodox Christian Chaplain at UBC.

Services suspended for Great Lent

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:39:38 +1200

All Holy Cross Chaplaincy services are suspended for the duration of Great Lent. Please check back here for service details after Pascha!

Please note also that Fr. Justin is still available for on-campus pastoral services by appointment, as always.

Compline is cancelled this Tuesday as it is the Feast of the...

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:29:46 +1200

Compline is cancelled this Tuesday as it is the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple. We will instead be at St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Church near Commercial Drive to celebrate vespers and a litya. Service is at 7 pm. Come join us there.

St. Aphrahat the Persian on prayer: Why, my beloved, did our...

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:55:38 +1200

St. Aphrahat the Persian on prayer:

Why, my beloved, did our Saviour teach us saying: ‘Pray to your Father in secret, with the door shut’? I will show you, as far as I am capable. He said ‘Pray to your Father with the door closed’. Our Lord’s words thus tell us ‘pray in secret in your heart, and shut the door’. What is the door He says we must shut, if not your mouth? For here is the temple in which Christ dwells, just as the Apostle said: You are the temple of the Lord for Him to enter into your inner person, into this house, to cleanse it from everything that is unclean, while the door—that is to say, your mouth—is closed. If this were not the case, how would you understand the passage? Suppose you happened to be in the desert where there was no house and no door, would you be able to pray in secret? Or if you happened to be on top of a mountain, would you not be able to pray?

Source: Aaron Taylor at Logismoi. The icon is by Lasha Kintsurashvili, and left to right it is mostly likely Ss. Ephraim and Isaac the Syrians and St. Aphrahat the Persian.

New Location

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:28:08 +1200

We are having compline tomorrow night (Tuesday), at 7 pm. I at least will also be at Regent for supper beforehand, at about 5:30 pm, so join us for that too.

However, our location is changing. We are not in the chapel anymore, but will be meeting in the Community Room, which is on the third floor of the main St. Mark’s College building. If you get lost, just give a shout, and we’ll come find you.

See you there.

St. Maximus the Confessor was a learned man who was exiled and...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:01:08 +1200

St. Maximus the Confessor was a learned man who was exiled and tortured for cleaving to the Truth against heresy. St. Maximus, pray to Christ our God for us!

Services are starting again tomorrow for this semester at UBC. Except with the loss of our choir...

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:35:01 +1200

Services are starting again tomorrow for this semester at UBC. Except with the loss of our choir director we will be serving Little Compline instead of Vespers.

So, same time, same place. See you there.

The Christmas feast is ending, and with it comes the Feast of...

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:31:26 +1200

The Christmas feast is ending, and with it comes the Feast of Theophany, the great blessing of the waters, and the start of another term. What a wonderful way to start.

We will not be meeting this week (Tuesday, Jan. 5) for prayer due to the vesperal liturgy for Theophany at our church, but services should be starting again next week. News will be posted here.

Video

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:03:48 +1200

Last Vespers

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:12:00 +1200

This coming Tuesday will be the last vespers of the semester as we will be breaking for exams and the Christmas holiday. Fr. Michael Fourik will be serving with us, and will finish his talk on Russian Orthodoxy in Vancouver. As always, we will be meeting first for supper in Regent College at 5 pm.

Update

Fr. Michael is not able to join us tonight after all, but will be coming sometime next semester instead. Instead, tonight we will have a reader’s vespers. Please do come and pray with us.

Elder Cleopa of Romania on prayer (For a biography of Elder...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:03:05 +1200

Elder Cleopa of Romania on prayer

(For a biography of Elder Cleopa, click here and scroll to the bottom)

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) on Elder Amphilochios of...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:11:00 +1200

Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) on Elder Amphilochios of Patmos:

“What most distinguished his character was his gentleness, his humor, the warmth of his affection, and his sense of tranquil yet triumphant joy. His smile was full of love, but devoid of all sentimentality. Life in Christ, as he understood it, is not a heavy yoke, a burden to be carried with sullen resignation, but a personal relationship to be pursued with eagerness of heart. He was firmly opposed to all spiritual violence and cruelty. It was typical that, as he lay dying and took leave of the nuns under his care, he should urge the abbess not to be too severe on them: ‘They have left everything to come here, they must not be unhappy.’

Two things in particular I recall about him. The first was his love of nature and, more specifically, of trees….A second thing that stands out in my memory is the counsel which he gave me when, as a newly-ordained priest, the time had come for me to return from Patmos to Oxford, where I was to begin teaching at the university. He himself had never visited the West, but he had a shrewd perception of the situation of Orthodoxy in the Diaspora. ’Do not be afraid,’ he insisted. Do not be afraid because of your Orthodoxy, he told me; do not be afraid because, as an Orthodox in the West, you will be often isolated and always in a small minority. Do not make compromises but do not attack other Christians; do not be either defensive or agressive; simply be yourself.”

A big thank you to everyone who came out to hear James Hargrave speak. We had a good evening of...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +1200

A big thank you to everyone who came out to hear James Hargrave speak. We had a good evening of very thoughtful discussion and conversation on Orthodox missions.

Next up, this Tuesday, November 17, Fr. Lawrence Farley of St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Langley will be serving vespers with us and speaking afterwards on English-speaking Orthodoxy in the Lower Mainland.

Come and pray with us.

To re-iterate the details: James Hargrave on Orthodox missiology...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:17:45 +1200

To re-iterate the details:

James Hargrave on Orthodox missiology and history of missions

Friday Nov. 13

7:00 pm-9:00pm

Community Room (Third Floor) St. Mark’s College (Wesbrook Mall and Iona Drive)

If you can’t make it right at 7 pm, please do come later if you can. We’ll still be around to answer questions and discuss even after James has finished his talk.

More information on James found here.

More information on Orthodoxy in Tanzania found here.

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania on missions: “Missions is not...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:21:12 +1200

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania on missions:

“Missions is not an appendix of our faith, of our own Church life, it belongs in the essence of our own identity.”

“Missions is an essential expression of Orthodox self-conscience, a crying out to action for the fulfillment of God’s will ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ Ultimately, indifference to missions is a denial of Orthodoxy.”

“Orthodox mission consists in giving the treasure we have, and leaving the other to decide whether he will take it or not. If the other wants to join the Orthodox Church, you will never say “No.” Our aim is to transmit the tradition of the Gospel in all its fullness, remaining free from any anxiety to convert anyone. You cannot impose on anyone’s freedom. You are there, you give your witness; you are a candle, lighted by paschal joy, and if the other wishes to take from your flame, then of course, you will not refuse him.”

More found here.

Russian Orthodoxy in Vancouver

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:37:40 +1200

This Tuesday, Fr. Mikhail Fourik, of Holy Resurrection Cathedral, will be serving Vespers with us at 7:00 pm, and speaking afterwards on Russian Orthodoxy in Vancouver.

Come on out and pray with us, fellowship, and learn about Russian Orthodoxy!