Orthodox Bishops Designate Observance for College Students
A body of Orthodox bishops has declared Sunday, Sept. 20 as College Student Sunday in support of their campus outreach Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF).
The new student-focused event was designated in a statement issued yesterday by the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) in which they urged their clergy to, "call to mind and prayer our beloved college students."
"Faced with a secular and morally threatening society, our college students are continually assaulted by influences that attempt to sway them from their Orthodox Christian faith," the statement read. "Holding the hope that they might safely navigate the crucially important years of college and mature into pious and faithful adults, we are committed to provide them any and all ministries for the challenging transition from adolescence to adulthood."
The statement was headed by the scripture in Proverbs 9:9, "Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser; teach the righteous, and they will increase in learning," and signed by the Hierarchs of the Standing Conference, including Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Developed in the late 1990's, Orthodox Christian Fellowship has over 270 local university chapters across the United States and Canada. National programs for the fellowship include a quarterly magazine entitled Concern as well as annual retreats and conferences.
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