Thanks to the work of Orthodox 360 video services, a new welcome video for St. Paul’s has been filmed, produced and released for sharing on social media. Watch below!
Memory eternal to Fr. Theodore Mikovich! (UPDATED)
- Monday, May 9: 5:30pm Funeral of a Priest, followed by Viewing
- Tuesday, May 10: 9am Divine Liturgy, followed by Funeral Service (approx. 10:15am), with Interment at Skyview Memorial Park in Hometown, PA. A mercy meal will follow the interment in the vicinity of the cemetery.
All services will be held at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church (directions) and will be presided over by His Grace, the Right Reverend Bishop THOMAS.
Read Fr. Theodore’s obituary.
The Very Rev. Archpriest Theodore J. Mikovich (affectionately known as “Fr. Ted”) was born on September 18, 1945, to Orthodox parents, John and Anna (Goida) Mikovich in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, with two sisters, Helen (Berezniak) and Dorothy (Macenka). He was baptized by the Rev. John Zeliniak in St. John’s American Russian Orthodox Church (American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese) in Nesquehoning. It was in this church that as a young boy he served as an acolyte. It was also at St. John’s that he began a life long career in teaching when he became a student religious education teacher. There he received the Boy Scouts of America “God and Country” Award, known in the Orthodox Church as the Alpha Omega Award.
Fr. Theodore was a graduate of Nesquehoning High School and East Stroudsburg University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. He also earned a Master of Education degree from East Stroudsburg University. He was certified to teach kindergarten through eighth grade in the state of Pennsylvania. In 1967 he began his professional teaching career in the Salisbury school district.
On July 5, 1969, Fr. Theodore and Kh. Joanne were married in St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They have two sons, Gregory, married to the former Catherine Reese, and Christopher, married to the former Jillian Jordan, as well as grandchildren.
Under the spiritual guidance of the Very Rev. Dimitri Voytilla, Fr. Theodore continued active church service as an acolyte, reader and adult education teacher at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church (OCA) in Bethlehem. He became a member of the Department of Education at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and in 1983 he was accepted into the seminary as an extension student.
On February 27, 1991, Fr. Theodore was tonsured a reader and ordained a subdeacon by His Grace Bishop NICHOLAS of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. Under the spiritual direction of the Very Rev. Robert Rebeck, he entered the Deacon Program at the Annunciation Retreat Center in Tuxedo Park, New York. On July 18, 2002, he received a Master of Arts degree in Applied Orthodox Theology from the University of Balamand in El-Koura, Lebanon, via the Antiochian House of Studies.
In November 1993, Fr. Theodore became a member of St. Paul’s in Emmaus with the Very Rev. John Kahle as his priest and father confessor. On September 28, 1997, he was ordained to the diaconate at St. Paul’s by His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN. On May 16, 1999, Bishop ANTOUN ordained Fr. Theodore to the holy priesthood, and he was appointed pastor of St. Paul’s upon the retirement of Fr. John.
Fr. Theodore served as pastor through June 2009, when he retired from active ministry. On October 18, 2009, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest by His Grace, Bishop THOMAS. In retirement, he continued to serve in various parishes, including as interim pastor for a number of months at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, following the untimely death of its pastor.
On May 5, 2016, after many battles with stroke-related illnesses over a two-year period, Fr. Theodore reposed in the Lord.
Looking for an Orthodox Church in the Lehigh Valley?
Welcome home to St. Paul’s!
Address: 156 E. Main St., Emmaus, PA 18049
Telephone: 610-965-2298
Weekly Schedule:
– Sunday: 8am Matins, 9am Divine Liturgy, followed by Coffee Hour (all year) and Church School (September to May)
– Wed, Fri: 8:30am Matins
– Wed: 6:30pm Vespers, followed by Adult Education (September to May)
– Saturday: 5pm Great Vespers & Confessions
Whether you are new to Orthodox Christianity or are visiting from another Orthodox parish, we’re glad that you’ve stopped by our website and hope that you’ll come and visit us in person if you haven’t done so already.
A few quick notes for first-time visitors:
- You are welcome! We love having visitors join us to worship the Holy Trinity in prayer and song.
- We won’t make a public spectacle of you or ask you to do anything uncomfortable.
- We lay no expectation on visitors of financial contribution to our parish’s ministries.
- We love kids! Our children worship together with us—they are not segregated out during our services. If your child gets a bit out of hand, please do not feel embarrassed to make a visit to the narthex or parish hall until the child is ready to rejoin everyone else in worship.
- Our building is fully handicap-accessible and includes handicap parking in the front of the building. If you need any help, let us know!
Located in the friendly and historic borough of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church is a warm, welcoming Orthodox Christian church, believing in and worshiping the Holy Trinity according to the Holy Scripture and the unchanging holy tradition of the Orthodox Church. The parish is pan-Orthodox and multi-ethnic in composition, embracing the customs of Orthodox Christians of varying backgrounds, within the traditions of the Antiochian Archdiocese, using English as the language of worship.
St. Paul’s is a parish of the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic, within the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, part of the ancient Orthodox Christian Patriarchate of Antioch, the place where the disciples of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). Our pastor is the Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick.
St. Paul’s welcomes the people of Emmaus, as well as residents and visitors from throughout the East Penn and Lehigh Valley metropolitan area. The parish community includes members of all ages and varied ancestry. Whatever your background or previous religious affiliation (including none!), you will fit right in at St. Paul’s.
All are welcome to attend any of our worship services, as well as taking advantage of educational opportunities to learn about the ancient, unchanging Orthodox Christian faith, delivered by Jesus Christ to His Apostles and kept for 2000 years without addition, subtraction or alteration.
Worship services, all in English, are held throughout the week.
Again, whether you’re new to Orthodoxy or are a long-time Orthodox Christian, whoever you are, whatever your background or experience, you are welcome at St. Paul’s!
Holy Week & Pascha 2016 Schedule
Friday, Apr. 22:
8:30am Lenten Matins
6:30pm Small Compline with Canon of Lazarus
Lazarus Saturday, Apr. 23:
8:15am Lazarus Saturday Matins
9am Divine Liturgy
5pm Palm Sunday Great Vespers (with Litia & Artoklasia)
Palm Sunday, Apr. 24:
8am Palm Sunday Matins
9am Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for Palm Sunday
6:30pm Bridegroom Matins
Holy Monday, Apr. 25:
8:30am Presanctified Liturgy
6:30pm Bridegroom Matins
Holy Tuesday, Apr. 26:
8:30am Presanctified Liturgy
6:30pm Bridegroom Matins (with the Hymn of Kassiani)
Holy Wednesday, Apr. 27:
8:30am Presanctified Liturgy
6:30pm Holy Unction
Holy Thursday, Apr. 29:
8:30am Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil
6:30pm 12 Gospels Matins
Holy Friday, Apr. 29:
8:30am Royal Hours
4pm Vespers of Unnailing (Lenten potluck follows)
6:30pm Lamentations Matins (Vigil follows)
Holy Saturday, Apr. 30:
10am Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil (The Harrowing of Hell)
10:30pm Rush Service, Matins and Divine Liturgy of Holy Pascha (Easter)
(Following the Divine Liturgy will be the Paschal Feast)
Pascha Sunday, May 1:
11am Agape Vespers (Easter Egg Hunt follows)
Pascha 2016 Message of Bishop Thomas
Beloved brother Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, God-fearing Monastics, and all my Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ our True God:
Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!
Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us— you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our Dignity; let us honor our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.
—St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 1.4
The great sacrifice that Christ our High Priest has made for us on the Cross, the sacrifice which enables our sanctification when we partake of it worthily, has been fulfilled for us in the resurrection of Jesus, the first-born from the dead (Col. 1:18). What has been offered is shown to be a perfect Offering well-pleasing to God, as Jesus Christ is both Offerer and Offering, the One Who both distributes and is distributed in this sacrifice given for us.
In the context of that mystery of sacrifice, St. Gregory the Theologian urges us to offer not gold or silver or other earthly possessions but rather ourselves. When we are also sacrificially offered with Christ on the altar by being crucified with Christ, when our true dignity is revealed of being sanctified as brothers and sisters with the One Who sanctifies (Heb. 2:11), then we know “the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.” He died so that we might rise and be glorified together with Him, that the resurrection He inaugurated may be continued even in us.
Yours in the Risen Christ,
Rt. Rev. Bishop THOMAS (Joseph)
Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic
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