Orthodoxy on Tap by Spyridoula Fotinis
I
am 22 years old, and I am told there are not At another event, called “Orthodoxy off the Vine,” many people like me. I care about my faith, and I we pressed grapes with our feet to make wine for try, however imperfectly, to have it permeate every Holy Communion. (Don’t worry — we washed our part of my life. Many of my childhood friends are feet and wore single-use gloves!) We gifted our first no longer part of the Church and many of my peers bottle to His Eminence, Archbishop Michael, as a finding meaning in activities and ideas outside of thank-you for his talk at our last OOT in May before churches and other places of worship. However, the summer break. We also held “Orthodoxy on the with the growth of Orthodoxy on Tap in New York Rise,” where the women’s group from Saint Spyridon City over the last two years, I’ve met numerous Greek Orthodox Church, in Washington Heights, people my age who share my love for the Church taught us how to make the offering bread (prosand the desire to be part of a community. phora). And during Great Lent this year, we held I grew up in a Greek Orthodox parish in New “Orthodoxy on the Mind,” where one of our clergy Jersey, where my grandfather was the priest. After members hosted a trivia night with his Pani, ending high school, I attended the local community college, in an Easter egg hunt in anticipation of Pascha. where my experience in the Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy on Tap is entirely grassroots. It’s not Fellowship chapter strengthened my faith. I joined attached to any specific jurisdiction, so everyone the Student Leadership Board, and I felt empowered feels welcome, whether they’re Eastern Orthodox to serve the Church as a young woman, in a way I or Oriental Orthodox. Now when I church-hop, I never had before. After two years, I transferred to always run into someone I met at one of the events. the City University of New York in Manhattan, a It’s evolved into a beautiful community. We invite school without an OCF chapter, but slowly grew to one another to our parishes and to Bible studies. love the many Orthodox parishes around the city. For many of us, including me personally, it provides I attended church close to school, and the parish critical support during this period between college priest and I spoke about growing an OCF presence graduation and possible marriage or aging out of on campus. But this idea evolved into a larger idea young adult groups. It is only one ministry, but it has for fellowship. We added another priest I knew well, begun to spark interest and motivation for young who had previously tried to begin Orthodoxy on adults to begin their own grassroots ministries to Tap in NYC, and we slowly began to discuss the create spaces to be together and continue to grow possibility of trying once more. as Orthodox Christian young adults. A model for this already existed: Orthodoxy on The organization is supported by prayers, parish Tap, which started in Boston and later spread to donations, and contributions from our members. Philadelphia and California. Once a month, each All donations support the renting of the restaurant chapter meets at a restaurant and has a guest speaker space and light appetizers or funding for food and give a presentation about some aspect of the Ortho- supplies for the unique events during fasting seasons. dox faith, followed by informal fellowship. For questions, or to lend us a hand, please contact We planned our first event for January 2018 at us at orthodoxyontapnyc@gmail.com. the Olive Garden in Times Square. We invited Dr. Christos Durante to give a presentation on “OrthoSpyridoula Fotinis works for the Greek Orthodoxy and Multiculturalism,” and we advertised it on dox Archdiocese in the Department of Inter-OrthoFacebook and by word of mouth. To our amazement, dox, Ecumenical, and Interfaith Relations. She is more than 50 young adults showed up. Since then, a YES (Youth Equipped to Serve) Leader through we’ve expanded our leadership team and our online FOCUS North America and a member of the board presence. We’ve held most of our events at Pier A of Axia, an Orthodox women’s ministry. She is a Harbor House, a wonderful seafood restaurant in parishioner at Saint Spyridon Orthodox Church in Battery Park. Washington Heights, New York City. Some of our events have distinct themes. Our first event during last year’s Nativity fast was called “Orthodoxy in a Pinch,” and we learned how to pinch pierogies and then enjoyed them as a group. 11
jacob's well
