| The Russian Orthodox Christian Student Association (ROCSA) is a new student organization established with the goal of providing Eastern Orthodox Christians at Texas A&M with opportunities for: (1) regular on-campus or near campus liturgical services according to the Church (Julian) Calendar; (2) Orthodox Christian education, instruction, and sound spiritual formation; (3) fellowship with other Orthodox students;
(4) pastoral counseling and university advocacy; and (5) opportunities for social service.
In spite of our name, our group is not just for Russians, as its membership currently includes Serbians, Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Belorussians, and American converts to Orthodoxy. The organization was intended to be a complementary organization to the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) already existing on the Texas A&M campus, but providing a more traditional Orthodox emphasis, and ensuring that there be some liturgical services offered according to the Julian calendar, as required by Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and many other Orthodox jurisdictions - in short, to provide an Orthodox student organization in which Slavic Orthodox students would feel particularly comfortable. Nonetheless, ROCSA welcomes all Orthodox students, as well as inquirers[1].
1. Liturgical Services
Affiliated with our student organization is an ordained Russian Orthodox Chaplain, who is available to serve the regular cycle of divine services, festal liturgies, and other incidental services (such as slavas, moliebens, house-blessings, baptisms, marriages, funerals, etc.) Fr. Cassian serves Great Vespers and the Divine Liturgy every Saturday and Sunday at the Theotokos of the Life-Giving Spring Russian Orthodox Mission, which meets at Canterbury House, within easy walking distance from the Campus (for location and service times, see below).
Although services are conducted according to the Julian calendar, and follow the Russian (as opposed to the Great Church, or Greek) typica, every effort is made to use musical settings from both the Slavic and Byzantine tradition, so as to make students and parishioners from diverse jurisdictional backgrounds feel comfortable and at home. Services are principally conducted in English, and communion is open to all Orthodox Christians who have confessed and prepared for communion.
The Parish associated with our student organization is the Theotokos of the Life-Giving Spring Russian Orthodox Church, which meets at
101 E Villa Maria Rd., Bryan, TX (at the intersection of Villa Maria Rd. and
South College Av.) Parking is off of South College. Service times are are as follows:
Vespers: Saturday Evening at 6:00 pm
Divine Liturgy: Sunday Morning at 10:30 am
Trapeza, or a common meal, is served after every Sunday liturgy, and hungry students are welcome. The parish website is http://www.theotokos-lifegiving-spring.org
Also located in town is a new-calendarist Antiochian Mission, St. Silouan the Athonite, which offers weekly Orthros and Typica services, as well as monthly Liturgies. Their website is http://homepage.mac.com/bcsorthodox/home.html
2. Orthodox Christian Education
Each week, ROCSA will sponsor a meeting in which some aspect of the Orthodox faith will be explained, discussed, or debated. The purpose of these meetings is to deepen and enrich the faith of the students participating, enabling them to become more aware of the richness and profundity of Orthodox Christian tradition (paradosis), and of the deep joy and fulfillment to be found in embracing this tradition fully as a responsible and accountable adult representative, with the goal of gradual divinization, “becoming,” as St. Athanasius once said “by adoption, what Christ is by nature.”
ROCSA meetings are open to all students, both Orthodox and inquirers. We ask only that visitors be courteous and respectful of our beliefs and practices.
3. Orthodox Fellowship
The Russian Orthodox Christian Student Association was founded, at least in part, to allow Orthodox students to get to know one another better, and to help us to find one another on a large and impersonal campus such as Texas A&M. This we seek to achieve by holding regular services and meetings, by widely publicizing activities on campus, and by sponsoring occasional activities of a purely social nature, such as attending movies, holding parties/picnics, and organized group outings. The student organization also maintains a website, and a database of Orthodox Aggie students with contact information, so that newly arriving Orthodox students are immediately aware of us, their co-religionists on campus, and so that we can easily contact other Orthodox students about matters of significance in our lives.
In keeping with this goal, and insofar as it is up to us, we will endeavor to jointly sponsor social and social service events with other Orthodox student bodies on campus, thereby ensuring a unified campus witness to the Orthodox faith. In this way we also seek to acknowledge the diversity of Orthodoxy here in America, bearing witness to our belief that the underlying unity of the Orthodox Church transcends whatever temporary conflicts and divisions that may exist between various jurisdictions at the current time.
4. Pastoral Counseling
ROCSA is committed to ensuring that Orthodox students have professional pastoral counseling. The organization has arranged for a Russian Orthodox priest, Fr. Cassian Sibley[2] to serve as our University Chaplain. In this role, Fr. Cassian keeps regular weekly office hours at the University Chaplain’s office
in All Faiths' Chapel (in Fall 2006 these hours are on Tuesdays from 5:00-6:30pm) and is on call as needed, at 979-739-1157. As ROCSA’s chaplain, Fr. Cassian is available to hear confessions, and to provide a friendly ear and a word of advice for students who need to discuss problems related to their faith, families, academic situation, or just the day to day frustrations and difficulties of campus life. As a member of the Texas A&M Campus Ministerial Association, our Chaplain can also provide referrals to professional counseling services as necessary, and provide students with additional advocacy with the University in situations in which students feel that a pressing situation is being poorly handled or misunderstood by University representatives[3].
5. Social Services
Then the
Righteous shall answer
him, saying, “Lord, when saw we Thee hungering and fed Thee, or thirsty
and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in, or
naked and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, “Verily I
say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” - Matthew 25:37-40 (TMB)
Holy Scripture leaves us in no doubt that our faith must be lived out in deeds of love and charity to others, beginning within the household of faith, but extending out to embrace everyone with whom we come in contact. With this in mind, the Russian Orthodox Christian Student Organization will select at least one worthy cause, charity, or activity in which to participate, either by fund raising, group volunteerism, or coordinated individual volunteerism, every semester. We will also encourage ROCSA students to develop the virtue of charitableness, encouraging one another to give to charitable causes and to volunteer our time and talents to benefit others. (And, needless to say, if one of us is in need, we will have our fellow ROCSA members to turn to for help and support.)
Conclusion
That’s who ROCSA is. Now we want to know who you are. If you are Orthodox, and wish to attend services, or learn more about your faith, or just socialize with Orthodox students, please contact us. And if you are not Orthodox, but are interested in learning more about Eastern Orthodoxy, or in attending one of our ROCSA activities, we’d love to hear from you too.
|
