Messages and News

Paoi Selects New Director Metropolitan Tarasios of Rhodopolis, Primate and Exarch of Lazica

Berkeley, California, January 20, 2020 — The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute has announced its appointment of Metropolitan Tarasios of Rhodopolis, Primate and Exarch of Lazica, as its new Director. As Director, Metr. Tarasios will establish and implement a long-term growth strategy in support of the PAOI’s mission to educate, communicate, promote and sustain the traditions, values, teachings and culture of Orthodox Christianity. He will lead fundraising efforts and manage the general administration of the PAOI. The PAOI offers a Master of Arts in Orthodox Christian Studies at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), an ecumenical and interreligious consortium of seminaries and academic centers in Berkeley, California. It also hosts academic lectures and symposia, sponsors the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at the University...

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11 Mar

His Eminence’s Nameday Celebration

To the family and friends of the PAOI at the beginning of the Great Fast, dearly beloved in Christ: may prayer, vigilance and repentance be with you.

The PAOI at Berkeley Today is the beginning of Holy and Great Lent for all Orthodox Christians.  This is a special time for us — or it should be — if it is understood and practiced for the right reasons.  In today’s society Great Lent by and large means very little to most; and it is well known that few of us are able or willing to stay the course on Great Lent’s journey.  We hesitate to enter the arena, therefore, there is no spiritual exercise or fight. We tend to give up before we even begin because we haven’t challenged ourselves. Our goal, however, remains the same: “Pascha, our Lord’s Pascha!”  If we allow it to come and go...