Saint Michael Romanian Orthodox Church
Southbridge, MA
Young Adult Retreat Spring 2023
Reflections on the Conscience
Prayer Rule - Prayer in the Orthodox Church
Young Adult Retreat Mission
Our mission is to create the right environment and foundation for the Pan-Orthodox young adults, where they can rediscover the authentic Orthodox spirit, receive the right teachings, and revive the old ethnic traditions, build a sound fellowship, and support each other during these difficult times.
Young Adult Retreat Vision
The future of the Orthodox Church is not about adapting to the times and being cool; it is about being authentic, living in truth and love, and becoming the temple of the Holy Spirit. Without the right teaching, inspiration, support, and communion with other orthodox Christians our young adults will be confused, weak, and lost. This will impact the whole Orthodox Church in her assembly and jeopardize her future.
Speaker:
Father Josiah Trenham
Father Josiah Trenham was ordained an Orthodox priest in 1993, and has pastored St. Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, Ca. since 1998. Father has a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Durham, England, and taught theology and history at the university level from 2004-2017 after which time he turned his attention to the development of his digital platforms. He has published numerous articles and two books, and lectures widely on many theological topics.
He is the founder and director of Patristic Nectar Publications, has more than 800 homilies on his audio-podcast The Arena and YouTube channel Patristic Nectar Films. He serves as Chaplain both to the national ministry Orthodox Christians for Life, and to the K-12 St. Andrew Academy. Father Josiah has been married for 34 years, and has ten children and four grandchildren.
Host:
Fr. John Downie
Studied Theology at the University of Bucharest
Masters in Biblical Studies, Ph.D. in Theology
Fr. John Downie converted to Orthodoxy after many years of searching out various Orthodox faithful, nuns, monks and priests, meanwhile reading the writings of the ancient and modern Holy Fathers. The unceasing questions during this period of his life were, “what happened to the unity of the Church? And, what happened to the Holy Spirit?”
After several years of regular attendance at various Orthodox Churches in the United States, he spent a year and a half at Koutloumousiou Orthodox Monastery in Mount Athos Greece, to become more familiar with Orthodox Spirituality. The questions he had were resolved there and he was baptized Orthodox in 2001. Then he began his Theological Studies at the University in Bucharest and graduated in 2006.
He finished a master in Biblical Studies in 2008. He received his Ph.D. in Theology - The relation between Father and the Son in the Gospel of St. John - in 2018 at the same institution having Professor Dr. Fr. Constantin Coman as his research coordinator. All of the studies were completed in the Romanian language.
Fr. John and his family lived in Romania for 15 years, eight of which he served as an associate priest at the St. Nicholas University Chapel of Bucharest under the spiritual guidance of Fr. Vasile Gavrila. He moved back un US where he is the Parish Priest for the Holy Archangel Michael Church since 2016.
