Jared Hall
Slava: Holy Saturday 2011; Patron: St Brendan; Family patron: St John Maximovitch, affectionately referred to as Archbishop John; Married with two little boys who have Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS); Co-founder of the Life of the World (look us up on Facebook)
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The Sacrifice of Nicola Yanney
I have always felt that only God truly knows who the saints are until He chooses to reveal them to us, but how does this happen? One way that this happens is through local veneration, which attracts the attention of the regional church. It is my hope that Fr. Nicola Yanney of Nebraska will soon be glorified in this manner. I have a very close relationship with Fr. Nicola. I first heard about him after my godfather had returned from a visit to Fr. Nicola’s church in Kearney, Nebraska. He later took me on a small pilgrimage to Kearney as well. I can still recall the great joy in my…
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An American Saint Faces the Communists
Bishop Barnabas (Varnava Nastich), was born in Gary, Indiana in 1914. In the nine years he lived there, he gained an outstanding appreciation for our love of freedom. Eventually, he moved to Serbia, from where his parents had come. In Serbia, St. Barnabas worked diligently against the Communists regime and was eventually brought to trial in spite of his position in the Orthodox Church. Here is part of the transcript of his interrogation for allegedly spying for the United States. Try to imagine yourself in the courtroom. ‘Q. What do you have to say? A. All your accusations are inventions and false. I tell you, I am not afraid. You may kill me,…
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The Start
I was not raised in the Christian faith. My mother can take an online quiz and it tells her that she is “a believer.” And to this day, I have no idea what my father believes about religion in general. As a child, I read the nativity story on Christmas as we sat around with extended family. This only happened a few times. And other than that, my early childhood was pretty devoid of religion. I recall dabbling in Fellowship of Christian Athletes when my club wrestling coach discovered Christ and became a born again evangelical. Dabbled. That can pretty much describe my late teens to mid-twenties; in and out of…
