It is Byzantine Mardi Gras, the Sunday of Meat Faire and we look forward to the feast of the encounter of Our Lord in the temple with Simeon.

With the growing awareness and appreciation of Byzantine iconography has come certain questions tha we will begin to answer such as, "Are icons 'painted' or are they 'written'"? And, can ANYONE paint an icon?

The Eastern Christian Churches, Catholic and Orthodox face similar challenges of both growth and survival. These challenges are best met by taking an honest look at the gifts of these Churches.

A new year in both the civil calendar and the liturgical calendar has us looking back in gratitude yet forward in the spirit of manifestation, illumination and renewal.

With the help of our special guest, we will look back on what has been accomplished in the area of ecumenism between the two lunges of the Church, East and West and where this new year might take us.

God is with us. But what does that mean for us personally? To help us answer that question the Byzantine Church puts three special people before our eyes on the Sunday after the Nativity.

All families have their story, from sinners to saints. So it is with the family of Jesus Christ. But God still works out His divine plan, which is the miracle of this season.

During this season of love and mercy, in this jubilee year of mercy, we will hear the merciful words of a Pope and prisoner and learn how we are indeed performing a corporal act of mercy.

Whether he is Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, the liturgical celebration of the Feast of St. Nicholas is a witness to how Eastern Churches evangelize and live in the both-and.

Mysticism is what keeps men sane. This is something the Eastern Churches have known for many centuries. The sense of the mystical is not the only gift of the Eastern Church.