Seventeen faithful joined Fr. Terry for liturgy on Sept. 21, 2024 and a beautiful one it was!  Stella Miller graciously took the reins to direct congregational singing and will continue to work along with Jenni Foutch to encourage everyone to be lifting their voices in song at each service.  Br. David, from St. Nicholas,’ was there to offer support if needed and Stella was able to give the tones and guide us in singing the responses without any assistance.  Next month Br. David will not come to our liturgy and we will continue under Stella and Jenni’s direction.

After a tasty fellowship meal, we discussed the storage of necessary items for liturgy.  Everyone assured Fr. Terry that the mission is very committed to securely store whatever items are necessary for our Divine Liturgies.  We also discussed the immediate need for banners or large icons to act as an iconostasis and it was decided that the mission has the resources available and is committed to providing whatever is necessary for our current priest to serve liturgy.  We will wait to see what another priest may suggest or desire and provide and store whatever he requests.  We agreed that, although a portable iconostasis is a nice idea, perhaps that too is something that is not an immediate need.  If we had a permanent temporary place that was ours alone, then we would be in a position to need that.  The question was asked how large the portable iconostas is and what it looks like, is made from, etc. Fr. Terry will check into this so that we have this information for consideration.

Those who have attended the monthly Reader’s Services have enjoyed them and are finding them to be edifying in many ways.  David Jones III and Charlie Foutch have been an excellent leader and reader for our Typica services.  Our fellowship time that follows has been beneficial in developing a cohesive core group.  Jenni Foutch has been very proactive in sending out the melody for the first and second Antiphons in several octaves, as well as that for Tone 4, so when we meet, we are familiar with the music and are comfortable singing it.  This has been of great help to many!

The St. Olga’s Mission Station took a collection for St. Olympia’s renovation fund and David Jones III took it to them that evening.  We collected $260 for them and hope that not only will this help in some small way, but that we may become sister missions.  We all were happy for them with the installment of Fr. Gregory Fedorchak and hope that he and Presbytera will come and visit us in the future.

Fr. Terry purchased beautiful icon cards of St. Olga of Alaska and handed them out to everyone to take home to pray to her daily for her intercession for the growth of our mission.  We will mail others to our shut-ins and give them out to visitors who come.

Nadia Christy relayed to the group that Colin Supernaw, a freshman at SUNY Albany, has been attending various Orthodox churches in the Albany area and that he is doing well.  She reminded everyone that it is important that we pray for him as he continues to grow in his journey in the Faith.

We discussed our desire for another visit from Bp. Michael, if his schedule allows it.  Our next Reader’s Services are Oct. 5, Nov, 9, and Dec. 7.  Our next liturgies are Oct. 26, Nov. 23, and Dec. 21.

St. Olga of Alaska Mission Station Liturgy

August 24, 2024

Sixteen faithful, representing nine families, celebrated a beautiful divine liturgy with Fr. Terry and Br. David. Some of our regulars were absent due to work commitments and illness. We warmly welcomed a SUNY Plattsburgh student from Brooklyn as well as an inquirer from Lewis.  George and Nathaniel Foutch did a great job as altar boys under the guidance of Andrew Christy.

A delicious fellowship meal was enjoyed by all and a lively discussion of the next steps needed to take by the core group of the mission station ensued. Everyone assured Fr. Terry that storage of necessary materials will be divided among the core group, people are committed to set up and take down icons, etc. for each liturgy, and that congregational singing will continue to be worked on not only for liturgy, but also at the monthly Reader’s Services. There may be other families interested in hosting the Reader’s Service every so often. More discussion will be had on this at the next liturgy. Fr. Terry brought 25 8x11” posters for everyone to take and display in prominent places in the surrounding communities.

We scheduled the fifth Reader’s Service for September 7 and the sixth one is scheduled for October 5. The next Divine Liturgy is scheduled for September 21 and the October liturgy will be on the 26^th.

Fr. Terry was asked to please assure Bp. Michael that we are able to do all that he’s asking us to do. The commitment is there for this mission station to grow and flourish and the communicants will continue to do all that they can to encourage other people to “come and see.”

Today was the first reader service that took place in Lewis, New York.  As you can see there were several attendees.  It was reported that the services went well and there was a great conversation and great food afterwards.  We will be doing these readers services in Lewis monthly.

Today, July 13th a small group of us gathered to begin to have regular reader services in conjunction with a monthly Divine Liturgy. The Fouche's were gracious to open their home to us to have the service and a delicious meal afterwards. The logistics will have to be worked out for future sessions, but we were ethusiastic about adding another group meeting. May God bless us to continue his mission here in the North Country! Our next meeting will be the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on the 27th of July at the Plattsburgh Methodist Church. All are welcomed!

On Lazarus Saturday, Archbishop Michael came to serve the liturgy for our community.  19 people from the Plattsburgh environs came.  We blessed Palm crosses and had a great fellowship afterwards.  Next gathering will be Saturday May 18th.

Twenty people gathered at our monthly Divine Liturgy at the Plattsburgh United Methodist Church Saturday December 16th to enjoy the Divine Liturgy and to receive David Jones III into the Orthodox Church.  We are very happy that we have a strong loving community that is welcoming for all to worship Christ and His Church. 

On November 25, our Mission gathered to celebrate the liturgy at the Plattsburgh United Methodist Church.  15 people enjoyed a great coffee hour afterwards and we discussed certain topics as website statistics, results of the survey regarding a name of a saint or feast for the mission, and finances especially title.ly that is now operational.  The group decided to resurvey the group with the top two contenders. Once we all have agreed upon a name we will present the name to the bishop for his approval.

On Saturday, September 23, the conception of Saint John the Baptist peace day, 20 people from Plattsburgh and the environs came together to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.  We enjoyed the fellowship afterwards and discussed placing posters around town, our website statistics and the naming of the mission.  The next divine liturgy will be October 28.

On Saturday, August 19, 2023, Archbishop Michael came to serve the first ever Hierarchal Divine Liturgy for Plattsburgh ... 30 people attended--some from Saint Nicholas in Cohoes.  There was a question and answer period with the bishop while we ate an enjoyable meal with great fellowship.

On April 30, 2022 we celebrated the first Divine Liturgy in Plattsburgh at the former Air Force base chapel.  10 people came together and following the service we went to a diner and discussed future plans for establishing a mission.