Christ the Savior Orthodox Church in Southbury recently presented scholarship awards to two of their college students for the coming school year.

Pictured from right to left is Father Moses Locke, Pastor presenting a scholarship to Mark Yuschak. Mark will be entering his fourth year as an Architecture student, at Marywood University in Scranton, PA.  Also receiving a scholarship, but not pictured, is Alban Stamper.  Alban will be entering his second and final year at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, CT.  There he will be earning an associate degree in fine art with a concentration in photography.

Sunday was also a day to give special recognition to the hard working teachers in the “Live Wires” church school program at Christ the Savior Church in Southbury.  A beautiful potted plant was presented to each teacher in appreciation of their dedicated service at Christ the Savior Church. Pictured from left to right are Sarah Cole, Sandra DiResta, Daniela Polonyova, Father Vladimir Aleandro, and Liana Berry.  Missing from the photo are Rebekah Lee and Ron Sullivan.

With sadness but gratitude for their 23 years of friendship, love and service to our church and its’ family, we wished God’s speed to Chuck and Melanie Ringa as they started their new chapter in South Carolina.

Congratulations to newly Chrimated parishoner Richard Frankonis and his wife Nina.

Congratulations to Amanda and David Dubail on the christening of their son Waylon Michael Dubail!

We welcome Ben, Vesper, Alban, and Arden Stamper to Christ The Savior

The 58th New England Diocesan Assembly hosted by Christ the Savior was a resounding success. In the words of one priest, "Christ the Savior provided the template for hosting this event." A massive thank you to all the volunteers, from planning to cleaning, everything was done with care and attention to detail. Many of the guests remarked about how warm and welcoming the people of Christ the Savior are. In the words of another priest, "I don't want to leave this place, the Holy Spirit is here." May God bless us all, and may His Grace rest upon us. 

Three Saints Church in Ansonia held its "Vacation Church School" this summer from July 12th - 16th, 2021. Thank you to Fr. Patrick Burns for sharing these glorious pictures of our youth enjoying summer camp. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to the priests and volunteers who made this happen.

We were heartened to be invited to share in Great Vespers for the Patronal Feast of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Waterbury, CT on Saturday evening, June 19th. Rev. Moses Locke and V. Rev Vladimir Aleandro served alongside Rev. George Zugravu, along with Deacon W. Demetri Belsito and Deacon Gregory Curran. Fr. Peter Orfankos served as the lead chanter. Glory to God! 

This year’s Scholarship Program was held on Sunday, June 13, 2021. Each year, thanks to the generous donors to our scholarship fund, we are blessed to be able to give awards to graduates from 8th grade and scholarships to new high school graduates and students continuing in college. We congratulate each student and applaud their achievements. We are reminded that we have a group of very talented youth at our church! May God grant many years to all of our students!

Today we welcomed new Catechumen Ricard Frankonis and his wife Nina.

On Sunday June 6th we celebrated the “new birth by water and the Holy Spirit” into the Kingdom of God (Jn 3.5) with the baptism of Vivian Katherine, daughter of Jason and Athena Lavoie along with godparents Mikayla Collins and Mark Yaschak. The family and our church was graced with the visit of family friend and priest Joseph Collins who serves Holy Apostles Orthodox Church of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Raising of Lazarus (Lazarus Saturday)

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion,
Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, 0 Christ God!
Like the children with the palms of victory,
we cry out to Thee, 0 Vanquisher of Death:
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!
(Troparion of the Feast, sung on both Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday)

Dear Fr Moses,

We pray this finds you well.

On April 14, just six days from today, we will finally deploy to Albania!

Years of prayer and preparation have culminated in this moment! In less than a week we will board our plane and arrive in a totally new country in which to live and work. Predictably, we are really excited. We also feel a bit nervous as you can probably imagine. Most of all, we have a strong sense of reassurance that we are where we are meant to be: following our Lord’s call to serve His people in the mission field, to open a new chapter with all the joys and struggles it will bring.

“If I rise on the wings of the morning, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me.” Psalm 139:9-10

Not only are we travelling with the Lord, but we know we have each of you with us in spirit and in our hearts; we couldn’t feel more taken care of! Each step we take as individuals is really a collective step since we represent all of you in Albania. And after all, you have made our work possible with your support.

For communication, we will continue to use email and Zoom to connect with you all; we look forward to remaining in contact while abroad. Please stay tuned for our next update after Pascha.

Further, we encourage you to follow us on social media if you haven’t already:

Instagram: @withlovesarigianis

Facebook: @sarigianisOCMC

Website: withlovesarigianis. com

Please know we have each of you in our prayers, and we are continually grateful for your support and love. We ask for prayers for our safe travel, and a smooth transition into our new apartment and roles.

Blessed journey through the end of Great Lent and through Holy Week!

With love and gratitude in Jesus Christ,

- Steve & Theophani

To make a donation, visit our official OCMC page HERE or click the link below: Support for Sarigianis Mission

On July 7th, 2019, we celebrated the transition of Pastoral Authority from Fr. Vladimir Aleandro (pastor for 24 years) to Fr. Moses Locke. After the reading of the Akathist “Glory to God for All Things”, Fr. Moses was presented with the parish metrical book (a record of church activities) and a Shepherd’s Crook (which Fr. Vladimir had received during his mission to Turkana). Joining the parish were many visiting clergy (both Orthodox and non-Orthodox) and guests who came to wish Fr. Vladimir well on his retirement and Fr. Moses well on his appointment. Close to 200 people were in attendance, showing the love that is felt for not only both men, but our parish as well.

On June 30th, we celebrated Divine Liturgy. It was an especially meaningful service as it was the last liturgy with Fr. Vladimir as Pastor of Christ the Savior. Fr. Vladimir did a special homily, using the time to help educate us on the preparation of the Gifts. Anne Wilkinson, representing the stewards and parishioners, presented Batushka and Matushka with their official retirement Hawaiian shirts and a gift for their dedicated and tireless service. Fr. Claudio Petrescu, visiting from Romania, also served.

On Sunday, June 9th, we celebrated 20 years of our parish Scholarship Program. This program recognizes our the education of our youth, both in and outside of our teaching ministry. Thank you to Matushka Suzanne, Father Sergius Halvorsen, Sarah Cole, and Don Cole for their tireless work in support of the future of Orthodoxy! And, congratulations to those young members of our parish who have achieved so much in their studies!

The celebration of His Resurrection continues. Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

The placing of the epitaphios (plashchanitsa) on the tomb of Christ.

The washing of the feet of the Apostles by Christ, performed by Fr. Vladimir on the feet of men of our parish.

Pictures from our celebration of the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. (April 20, 2019). Included is our children’s choir and Great Entrance procession.