Not so long ago, we offered congratulations to our good friend, and PI member and contributor, Barnabas Powell, on his ordination to the Diaconate. (In case you missed it, that article can be found here.)

The newly ordained priest Barnabas

Today, at the Annunciation Cathedral in Atlanta, Fr. Dcn. Barnabas is being elevated to the Holy Priesthood. Axios!

Fr. Barnabas is a gifted (and well formed) preacher, and we will be seeing and hearing more from him once he recovers somewhat from his oppressive schedule. Fr. Barnabas is not only a friend, he is one of us – a member of the Preachers Institute, and student at Holy Cross Theological School in Brookline, MA. At the recent Art of Speaking Workshop (you can see the Review here), he was one of the four presenters.

To the entire Powell family – congratulations and many, blessed years to you all! Read more

Merry Christmas

to all our faithful readers, members, lurkers and writers!

On this day, the day of our Lord’s birth, we here at the Preachers Institute want to wish you all a very merry, safe, and spiritually fruitful Nativity celebration, and to assure you all of our prayers, particularly on this festive Holy day. This is a great feast, the feast of the Incarnation – the central theological doctrine of the Christian faith.

If the Eternal, unseen, invisible God can become today a little child, then, indeed, anything is possible! Spread the Word! Let no man or creature suffer ignorance of this joy!

Speak to all with joy and love and keep the feast with gladness.

God is with us!

On this Christmas day, we wish you and your loved ones every good thing, every perfect gift from above. May God grant you your heart’s desire.

Preachers Institute will be celebrating the “12 Days of Christmas” by offering daily patristic sermons on Theophany/Epiphany until Jan. 6th. In the meantime, be safe, and have a blessed Nativity!

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

– Fr. John

and your friends at Preachers Institute

Archbishop Job was an honest homilist, and this was the source of his preaching power. Like the late Bishop Innocent of Anchorage, Archbishop Job honestly and directly addressed the problems he faced in the Church.He spoke with love and passion for the Gospel of Christ, and with love for his beloved flock. This is one of his most inspiring sermons, given on Holy Monday, April 17, 2006.

His Eminence JOB, Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest

Delivered at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois

1. The Completion of Great Lent

Great Lent is now over.  The school of repentance is closed but the ‘text book’, the Lenten Triodion, remains open and opportunities for repentance are still available to us – even for “those who have delayed until the eleventh hour’ (St. John Chrysostom). Read more

Archbishop Job wrote his ‘Joyful Epistle’ on Dec. 3, 2008, and it reflects his deep understanding and pastoral concern for the Church of Christ, and particularly for those who served the Church.

The Orthodox Church in America turned an important corner, with its face to the future, largely in part to the actions and prayers of Archbishop Job himself.

A JOYFUL EPISTLE

to the venerable Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Diocese of the Midwest

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2)

My Beloved in the Lord,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

It is the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, and after a joyful and peaceful Divine Liturgy my thoughts, in a stress-free, joyous sense of calm, run to pondering on the drama of the last few weeks emanating from an extraordinary 15th All American Council. In what I have termed “a joyful epistle,” in contrast to others of a sorrowful nature that I have written, I will attempt to share with you my newly-found “joyous sense of calm,” as well as my own experience and observations of that remarkable week in Pittsburgh. Read more

Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice. (Psalm 129:1)

To the Reverend and Esteemed Clergy of the Diocese of the Midwest

My Beloved in the Lord,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I address this letter to you my co-workers in the Vineyard of the lord – The Diocese of the Midwest – and my friends and brothers in Christ, during this Feast of Pentecost, when we most especially and fervently pray that the Holy Spirit will “come and abide in us and cleanse us from every impurity…”

Using the words of the holy Apostle Paul, Read more

Archbishop Job Osacky

Funeral Arrangements for Archbishop Job

Monday, December 21

Place: Christ the Savior Church, 927 N LaSalle Blvd, Chicago, IL 60610

1- 4 PM Viewing. Body then transported to Holy Trinity Cathedral

Place: Holy Trinity Cathedral, 1121 N Leavitt St, Chicago, IL 60622

6-11 PM Viewing. Panikhida at 7 PM

Tuesday, December 22

Place: Holy Trinity Cathedral

11 Am to 11 PM. Funeral Vigil at 7 PM

Wednesday, December 23

Place: Holy Trinity Cathedral

Funeral Liturgy at 9 AM

After Liturgy body is transported to St. Theodosius Cathedral, Cleveland.

Place: St. Theodosius Cathedral, 733 Starkweather Ave, Cleveland, OH 44113

7:30 – 10 PM. Panikhida with viewing at 8 PM

Saturday, December 26

Place: St. John the Baptist Church, 785 Blaire Rd, Blairsville, PA 15717(Black Lick, PA)

Funeral Liturgy with internment at 10 AM

It is with great sadness that I post the news that my father in Christ, Archbishop Job, Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest, has fallen asleep in the Lord.

Memory Eternal, Archbishop Job!

photo courtesy of Eighth Day Photography

Apart from being an accomplished preacher, teacher, hymnographer and iconographer, Archbishop Job was a gifted pastor. He drove himself, by car, to each of the parishes in his immense diocese. He answered his own phone regularly. He laughed easily, smiled like a child, and always, even in days of deep sorrow, had a twinkle in his eye – never losing his sense of humor for his fellow man, or his sense of awe before the altar of God.

For myself, I can say that Archbishop Job was a man of love.  He listened when you talked.

He brought the clergy of the Diocese of the Midwest together annually to meet, greet and pray with one another. Open, honest and frank discussion was the norm at these convocations, and he also instituted a Presbyters Council for discussion of topics important to the clergy, the diocese and the Church at large.

Archbishop Job Osacky of Chicago (1946-2009), a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Truly, a light in the present darkness.

He spoke up when questions had to be asked, confronted the corrupt, endured the slings and arrows of his own brother clergy for speaking the truth to power, and he inspired a multitude with faith, hope and confidence that God has indeed prepared leadership for His Church which could endure such personal hardship and attack.

His prophetic witness was noted and hailed by a multitude of laymen as they rallied behind him, even as some clergy labored vigorously to persuade him to let sleeping dogs lie.

In one of my last conversations with him, I suggested that we should arrange to take a trip to Mt. Athos together. He liked the idea, and remarked that one of the first things he did as a bishop was to journey to Mt. Athos, and that perhaps such a trip would appropriately round out his episcopacy. I’m truly sorry we never got the chance to make that happen.

CLICK HERE to read Archbishop Job’s “Sorrowful Epistle.”

CLICK HERE to read Archbishop Job’s “Joyful Epistle.”

His Life

His Eminence, Archbishop Job was born Richard John Osacky in Chicago on March 18, 1946. He completed university studies at Northern Illinois University and, after graduating from Saint Tikhon Seminary, South Canaan, PA, in 1970, he served as cantor and youth director at Saint John the Baptist Church in Black Lick, Pennsylvania. He assumed responsibilities in leading Divine Services in the prescribed manner for readers, conducting religious education and youth work, and painting icons. It was his extraordinary affinity with Orthodox youth that gained him the recognition of the Church at large.

In 1973 Reader John was ordained to the holy diaconate and consequently to the holy priesthood by Bishop Theodosius of Pittsburgh [later Metropolitan Theodosius of All American and Canada]. He was assigned to the parish in Black Lick, where he also served as spiritual director for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at nearby Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

As a celibate priest, he maintained a zeal for the monastic life in all his endeavors. In 1975 he was made a riasaphor monk, and later was tonsured a monk in the Lesser Schema by [then] Bishop Herman in August of 1982. In November of that year he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Recognizing that zeal and spirit of dedication to Church service in Father Job, the Diocese of New England nominated hieromonk Job as their diocesan bishop. The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America ratified the nomination and elected him Bishop of Hartford and the Diocese of New England. He was consecrated to the episcopacy on January 29, 1983, at All Saints Church in Hartford, Connecticut.

At its session of November 5, 1992, the Holy Synod of Bishops elected Bishop Job as Bishop of Chicago and Diocese of the Midwest. He was enthroned as Bishop of his native city at Holy Trinity Cathedral on February 6, 1993.

In his years in the See of Chicago, the Diocese of the Midwest experienced tremendous growth. This was witnessed in–but certainly not limited to–the establishment of numerous new mission parishes in the diocese.

In addition to his regular duties as the ruling hierarch of the Diocese of the Midwest, His Eminence enjoyed his long-standing and excellent reputation as an iconographer and iconologist. He was often called upon to offer lectures on this subject, and he was willing to assist and encourage other iconographers.

In recognition of his more than twenty years of “good and faithful” service as archpastor, at the March 2004 Session of the Holy Synod, Bishop Job was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

May his memory be eternal!

We have now completed 30 Days of our 30 (40) Days of Blogging, and offer our congratulations to all our bloggers who took up the challenge.

For those going on to the full 40 Days of Blogging, you have only ten days to go.

For those who are stopping here, we salute you on a job well done.

For those of you who would like to see what our bloggers have been up to, go to our online Forum, and see what the bloggers have been blogging about.

With only ten days before Nativity, it’s clutch time. If you have not regularly blogged before, you’re in the home stretch. Blog and blog well, and know that we are in your corner.

From all of us at Preachers Institute, good blogging!

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009—Today a group of prominent Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars released the Manhattan Declaration, which addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty.  The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not – under any circumstance – abandon their Christian consciences. Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George, and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, the Manhattan Declaration is available at DeMossNews.com/ManhattanDeclaration. Read more

Here at the Preachers Institute, we wish to offer our congratulations to our brother in the Lord, Barnabas Powell, who today received the laying on of hands to the Holy Diaconate!

Fr. Dcn. Barnabas is not only a friend, he is one of us – a member of the Preachers Institute, and student at Holy Cross Theological School in Brookline, MA. At the recent Art of Speaking Workshop (you can see the Review here), he was one of the four presenters.

Fr. Dcn. Barnabas Powell

Fr. Dcn. Barnabas (Charles) Powell is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. Having been raised in a small Pentecostal church as a boy, Fr. Dcn. Barnabas grew to love the church, enjoy the music, and eventually came to be the youth pastor of his home church.

Fr. Dcn. Barnabas attended Toccoa Falls College, an Evangelical Protestant school in North East Georgia, and received his theology degree there in 1988. He then went on to establish a new church in the Atlanta area that was an Evangelical congregation with Charismatic distinctives. While pastoring, Barnabas also was heavily involved with Evangelical Christian media. Read more