Annual St. Thekla Pilgrimage Focuses on Everyday Life

Ascending the Mountain: It’s a Family Road Trip

The annual St. Thekla Pilgrimage was held on September 24-26 at the Antiochian Village. Bishop Thomas was the presiding hierarch, and Mother Alexandra of the Convent of St. Thekla was the main speaker of the weekend. Both of them talked on the theme of “Ascending the Mountain: It’s a Family Road Trip."

The main emphasis of the pilgrimage’s theme was in learning how to live an average, workaday life in a holy, Orthodox manner. Along with the talks by His Grace and Mother Alexandra, four small group discussions were led by clergy from the area. The topics included “Confession: Setting and Resetting the Course," “The Eucharist: What’s In Your Lunchbox?," “Holy Unction: First Aid and Urgent Care” and “The Walk: A discussion of the New York Times Best-Seller by Richard Paul Evans."

The pilgrimage also included two hierarchical liturgies, a supplication service to Saint Thekla, a service of the sacrament of holy unction, a movie night where the movie “The Blind Side” was shown and discussed, and a panel discussion was held. The food was excellent as always. Paul Finley and the staff of the Village Conference Center went all out to make the stay of the guests as enjoyable as possible.

The Saint Thekla Pilgrimage has been a highlight of the Fall Schedule of the Antiochian Village. With the guidance of His Grace Bishop THOMAS, Mother Alexandra, Fr. Anthony Yazge and Paul Finley, this year’s pilgrimage provided a great opportunity to invigorate the heart and soul. We already look forward to see what next year’s Pilgrimage brings. 

View the Pilgrimage photo gallery HERE.