Serve

Published by the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, July 29, 2005

New OCMC Missionaries Preparing to Serve

The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), St. Augustine, FL - Hector and Katerina Firoglanis are OCMC Missionaries preparing to serve in the mission field in 2005. From a young age, Hector and Katerina were influenced by a variety of missionaries and indigenous church leaders who came from all over the world to their home parish in Lancaster, PA to speak about Orthodox missions.

They both grew up in the Annunciation Greek Orthodox parish with Fr. Alexander Veronis as their parish priest. Fr. Alexander is one of the founders of OCMC and the father of long-time OCMC Missionary, Fr. Luke Veronis. Hector and Katerina both attended Penn State University and were very active in the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) there.

Participation in shorter mission trips also helped form Hector and Katerina's personal zeal for missions. During the summer of 1998, with the blessing of His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, OCMC Missionary Fr. Luke Veronis invited Hector to join him in Albania for six weeks. After graduation in December 1999, Hector returned to Albania for six months as an OCMC Missionary, where he taught English at the seminary and assisted Fr. Luke with campus ministry at the University of Tirana. In the fall of 2000, Hector enrolled at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA.

Katerina’s first overseas mission experience was on an OCMC Mission Team to Guatemala in the summer of 2000. While at the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage, Katerina witnessed the mercy and love of God acting through the nuns and missionaries. Inspired by her moving experience in Guatemala, Katerina decided to join another OCMC Mission Team in 2002, which was a building/catechism team to Kenya. This particular OCMC Mission Team, which Hector had helped organize as Missions Committee president at Holy Cross, was comprised of seminarians, teachers, and medical personnel.

Not long after returning from that mission trip, Hector and Katerina decided to get married. After Hector completed his studies at seminary they moved to Greece, where Katerina studied iconography and Hector worked on a Master’s degree in Sociology of Religion.

They have now returned to United States and are preparing to enter the mission field. Hector will be ordained to the diaconate in late August, and they hope to depart for Albania by mid-September. Hector will teach at the seminary and be involved with other outreach ministries. Katerina will offer her iconography skills in service to the Church in Albania.

We ask for your prayers that God gives them the strength to prepare properly and to raise the necessary funds for their ministry. Funds to help support and encourage Hector and Katerina can be sent to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center designated for “Firoglanis” in the memo line at PO Box 4319, St. Augustine, FL, 32085. To find out more about Hector and Katerina Firoglanis please visit www.ocmc.org. Thank you for your prayers, love, and support!

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The Orthodox Christian Mission Center: Helping Orthodox Christians respond to Christ's call to preach, teach, baptize, minister to the poor and make disciples of all nations as the official international mission agency of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA).



Volume 7 Number 31 - Tuesday, August 2nd, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY