Consecration of +Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D. to the Office of Bishop

Today, we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (in place of February 2) through which Bishop Mansell Christian Gilmore Consecrated +Bryan D. Ouellette, Ph.D. to the Episcopacy of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church in the Russian Orthodox Tradition.

Additionally, Bishop Ouellette was elected to and accepted the Patriarchate of the Holy Imperial Russian Orthodox Church operating in exile under the royal line of
Царь Питер Александр Михэйлович Ромэнов (Tsar Peter Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov) and was also named Patriarch of the Holy Nicholean Catholic Church, taking the name Nicholas III under the line of Russian Patriarchs. To represent this healing between eastern and western Christian traditions, Bishop Ouellette wore the western mitre with his eastern vestments. At his Patriarchal elevation ceremony, Bishop Ouellette will wear the mitre of the east which is representative of the Byzantine crown.

Update on Nathaniel

We have excellent news to share about the medical status of little Nathaniel Johnson. Rather than report this ourselves, we feel that only his mother's words will do it justice:

"It is very weird to be able to say, "My son is a cancer survivor" when we never even knew he had cancer until it was gone!

We went to Wilmington today to meet with the oncologist and then the surgeon. I almost couldn't go because I pinched a nerve in my back overnight and could barely walk. I was determined to make it, though, and we got a wheelchair to use at the hospital - I never would have been able to make it around otherwise!! True to form, when we got to the oncologist's office, we were told there was no appointment in the system and that he wasn't even in the clinic today. *sighs*
So we waited until our scheduled appointment with the surgeon and he confirmed that his suspicions had been true - at some point, Nate had neuroblastoma and it matured and became benign. He suspects it was cancerous when Nate was less than a year old. That blows my mind! He says the incision has healed nicely and he's obviously behaving as though he's back to normal. We will have one more follow up with him in June and Nate will probably have another sedated scan at that point to make sure all is well. There is no follow up treatment required.

The other interesting thing is that the GI issues are gone. Dr. Murphy says he can't say that the two issues were linked because the tumor would not have been secreting hormones anymore and it was not pushing against his bowels. I say it was a God thing - we would not have known about the tumor had it not been for his GI problems. His GI doctor, who is SO nice, called us several times after surgery and said that there is no need for follow up with him unless the GI issues come back, but he would like us to stop out to see him.

For as crappy as December 2009-December 2010 was for us, it surely ended VERY well and we are blessed. Thanks so much to each one of you for supporting our family during the last two crazy months. I don't expect to have another update until June and that will hopefully be the last one! "

The Holy Innocents

"In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning,
of bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns her children,
she refuses to be consoled
because her children are no more."

Jeremiah 31:15

Merry Christmas!

May all the blessings and magic of the Christmas season rest upon you all and bring you peace.

Man, Myth & the Occult: A Complete Introduction to Gnosticism Part 5: Valentinianism

Today, Father Bryan Ouellette speaks about the Valentinian School of Gnosticism. Who were the Valentinians and what was their relationship to orthodox Christianity? Find out why history remembers the Christian Gnostics to be the followers of Valentinus and his theology.

Original Air Date: December 17, 2010

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

For Nathaniel

Dear Friends,

Please hold in your prayers the health, healing and resilience of little two and a half year old Nathaniel who will be undergoing surgery this month for an abdominal tumor. His grandmother contacted our community and asked for our prayers. We have given them in abundance and will continue to offer them.

Please go to this website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nathanieljohnson for more information and if God has blessed you with extra material resources, please donate to CaringBridge for the good work they do for our children on Nathaniel's behalf.

All my blessings go out to Nathaniel at this time. Please pray for him and his family.

Fr. Bryan

Advent Sunday

Dear Friends,

Today marks the first day of the Western Liturgical year and also the season of Advent. The prayers and scriptural readings of the Church on this day remind us to keep vigilant for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what exactly are we waiting for? Is it the Parousia? Is it the return of the Historical Jesus? Is it the Eucharistic Christ? Or could it be the mythic Christos?

I contend that any and all of these options apply.

Advent is a time to listen. It's a time to put our noisy prayers aside and just sit in the presence of God, waiting for his voice to speak to us. While Lent is the season for emptying oneself of the unnecessary, Advent is a careful measure of many deliberate moments when we allow God to fill us with perfect Grace. This is achieved by waiting. We look for God in every moment. We embrace silence so as to listen. We allow our reason to accommodate our faith and trust. And most importantly we give ourselves room to accept that when God finds us, the encounter is his and his alone to direct. This may lead us to any given series of unexpected results. Our role in this is to surrender our expectations. When God finds us, the experience is almost never as one would anticipate. This is why the Gospels express the excessively humble origins of the Savior. Messiahs are supposed to be kings, military commanders, and conquerors. How easy it is to miss that which one is not expecting.

Such is the spiritual journey of our lives. Such is Advent.

Blessings to you all in this Holy Season,

Fr. Bryan