It has been some time since our joy-filled moments together at our Youth Congress in Ontario, Canada. We dearly miss you all, our engaged Hierarchs IPS Nicolae and PS Ioan Casian and our amazing speaker, Fr. Nikolai Sakharov. We would like to take some time to reflect on our time there, what it means to us as Orthodox youth and what we can all look forward to in the upcoming months.

Fr. Nikolai touched upon numerous vital topics to our development. We recall learning to develop relationships through a heart open to Christ that seeks to renounce one’s will and carry out the others’ and to the need for setting aside time to meet face-to-face as we grow alongside each other. To accomplish this we were advised that anything we do we must do with repentance in mind, seeking the presence of Christ which our sins have pushed aside. Fr. Nikolai also conveyed the idea that true love in a relationship is seeing the divine and beautiful in the other person, as Christ saw in the harlot, thief and tax collectors He engaged with.

It is in this spirit that we offer our ROYA members some advice for keeping in touch and growing your local ROYA Youth Chapters:

• Get involved in your local community: Take time away from the screen and make use of the moments you have to engage in your communities (Church or otherwise) and to seek to fulfill the immediate needs of your community through your presence.
• Stay for the Agape meal after Church or invite your friends to join you for coffee or a meal after Church: “Agape” is one of the many Greek words for love and particularly refers to the love of God for man and of man for God. It is this word that is often used to represent the meals we share together prepared simply to embrace the presence of each other after Christ has embraced us in the Divine Liturgy. One should not overlook the bonding that occurs even over a simple coffee and the recounting of the moments over the week that have touched us in some way and can touch others to either “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).
• Pray for the Orthodox youth that you come into contact with at Church, school or in your community: Our love calls us to remember each other in our prayers. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of our ROYA prayer list ( ) and would like to encourage you to use it to pray for one another. 

Upcoming Events

Winter Camp 2019/2020

We eagerly await the opportunity to engage each other face-to-face at the upcoming Winter Camp, which will be held on December 26th to January 1st at the Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Allegan, Michigan. Our local ROYA Chapters held a bake sale on November 16th to raise money that will be used to assist those who require financial aid for attending the Winter Camp.

ROYA Week November 2019

We will also be holding a “ROYA Week” from November 24th to 30th to raise awareness about our organization in our local parishes. To open up this week, we entreat our members to come together in person, and if it is not possible in person then through social media. Last Sunday, November 24th, we offered an Akhatist service of Thanksgiving to the patron Saint of our organization, Saint Ecaterina. 

St. Ecaterina was of noble heritage and of great learning. From the young age of 14 years old she confessed the Christian faith. She took on some of the greatest philosophers and orators of her time and region and helped convert numerous people to the faith before her martyrdom at the hands of Emperor Maxentius, whom she courageously rebuked for the persecutions in her time. It is this youthful exuberance for the Faith that we try to embody and ask her supplicatory prayers for support.

As the days grow shorter, and for some the snow heftier in the shovel, we look forward to the warm embrace of each of your smiling faces at our next retreat this coming Christmas Season. Until then, keep us in your prayers!

God bless,

ROYA Team