Welcome
The Church’s doors are open to everyone. Anyone may come and pray with us, celebrate with us, and participate in our parish family’s events and activities.
First-time visitors are welcome to come for any of the services listed on the church calendar and are invited to contact Fr. Christopher if they have any questions before or after services.
Sunday Of St. Mary Of Egypt
Abstain from meat, fish, dairy, eggs
Saints
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5th Sunday of Great Lent: St Mary of Egypt
Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and…
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Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, who suffered under Julian the Apostate
Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). By order of the emperor Constantine (May 21), Saint Mark had once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian church. When Julian came to the throne, he persecuted Christians…
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Martyr Cyril the Deacon of Heliopolis, and those with him, who suffered under Julian the Apostate
The historian Theodoritus relates that during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, Saint Cyril destroyed many idols and pagan temples in Heliopolis, Phoenicia. He was put to death for this during the reign of Julian the Apostate. Pagans cut open his stomach and, like wild beasts, they ate his…
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Venerable John the Anchorite of Egypt
Saint John the Anchorite: During a persecution against Christians, the devout widow Juliania of Armenia hid from pursuers together with her two young children John and Themistea. She taught her children to pray and to read the Holy Scriptures. From time to time John secretly visited a nearby…
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Saint Eustathius (Eustace) the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia
Saint Eustathius the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia, was already at the beginning of his spiritual struggle a pious monk, meek and wise, filled with great faith and love for his neighbor. For his virtuous life he was made bishop of the city of Bithynia (a Roman province in northwest Asia Minor) and…
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Venerable Mark, Jonah, and Bassa of the Pskov Caves
Saints Mark, Jonah and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the Pskov Caves monastery. It is not known exactly when the first hermit monks settled by the Kamenets stream in the natural caves of the hill, which the local inhabitants called “the holy hill.” The monastery Chronicle…
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Saint Nikḗtas of the Roslavl Forests
The holy Schema-monk Nikḗtas was born in the city of Orel in 1695. From childhood, he loved to go on pilgrimages to the holy places. As a youth, he left his parents and lived about a mile or so from the White Bluff (Beloberezhsk) Hermitage. It is not known when he received the monastic tonsure,…
Readings
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ST. PAUL'S LETTER TO THE HEBREWS 9:11-14
BRETHREN, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. -
MARK 10:32-45
At that time, Jesus took his twelve disciples, and he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise." And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant of James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church (often called The Eastern Orthodox Church) is the earliest Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles. For twenty centuries, she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship and structure remain intact.
Read the "Discover Orthodox Christianity" section on the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese webpage, and the Nicene Creed, to learn more about Orthodoxy.
Address & Services
We are located at 96 Dunbar Rd S, Waterloo, ON N2L 2E5
What To Expect
Visitors will notice that the congregation actively participates in services by crossing themselves, standing, bowing, kneeling, reciting traditional prayers together, and singing. Don’t be intimidated – no one expects you to know what these acts and symbols mean or when you should do them. There are spiral-bound service books in the hallway (the narthex) leading into the main part of the church (the nave) that will guide you through the service.
Regular Services
Sunday
Orthros 9 a.m.
Divine Liturgy 10 a.m.
Saturday
Great Vespers 5 p.m.
Get In Touch
Send us a message or reach out to us directly.
Contact
Father Christopher Rigden-Briscall, Pastor
96 Dunbar Rd S, Waterloo, ON
Phone: 519-807-2986
"This, then, is the aim of the Liturgy: that we should return to the world with the doors of our perceptions cleansed. We should return to the world after the Liturgy, seeing Christ in every human person, especially in those who suffer. In the words of Father Alexander Schmemann, the Christian is the one who wherever he or she looks, everywhere sees Christ and rejoices in Him. We are to go out, then, from the Liturgy and see Christ everywhere."