Concept mockup — photo panels show where Greg's photographs from Guatemala will go.

Guatemala.
The new Orthodox frontier.

A Catholic bishop embraced Orthodoxy, and his people followed him. Today 134 parishes and half a million faithful are served by six clergy, in churches that have a table, some chairs, and nothing else.

Furnish a church Read the story
PhotoCongregation gathered outside a parish, waiting for the bishop to arrive
134

parishes that entered the Orthodox Church together

500,000

faithful, most of them never catechized in the Orthodox faith

6

clergy to serve them all: one bishop, two priests, three deacons

The Church has met new peoples before. This is the newest chapter.

PhotoBishop Osios vested for liturgy, or an exterior of a converted parish church

The conversion

A few years ago Bishop Andrés Girón, beloved across his region for defending the poor, entered the Greek Orthodox Church. His people did not want to be separated from their shepherd. One hundred thirty-four parishes came with him.

PhotoClergy on the road, or the pickup trucks that carry parishioners in from the villages

The shepherds

Bishop Osios, two priests, and three deacons now carry the whole diocese. They leave at five in the morning, drive two to four hours, serve the nine o'clock liturgy, eat in the truck, and do it again the next day.

PhotoInterior of a church: the single table used as the Holy Table, bare walls, plastic chairs

The empty churches

The buildings are still furnished for a Catholic Mass. There is no iconostasis, no icons, no vestments, no candles. One Gospel book travels from parish to parish with the priest who carries it.

"In my first stop I witnessed the baptism of eight infants and thirty-two adults. In the next parish, two days later, the same miracle took place." From a pilgrim of Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, Florence, Arizona

What a parish has. What a parish needs.

Every church in the diocese is missing the same things. Twenty churches will be furnished first, so that each can become a regional parish serving four to six surrounding villages.

PhotoBare Guatemalan sanctuary as it is today
TodayA table, a cloth, and the faithful.
PhotoA furnished Orthodox sanctuary, iconostasis and altar (Saint Anthony's, with permission)
With your helpIconostasis, icons, Gospel, chalice, vestments, candles.

Furnish a church

Give a single item or a whole sanctuary. Every gift goes to a specific church, and your name can be inscribed on what you give.

Sponsor a whole church

$14,650

Everything one parish needs to celebrate the Divine Liturgy as an Orthodox church, from the iconostasis to the deacon's vestments. Your family's name is inscribed in the sanctuary.

  • Iconostasis $5,000
  • Icons for iconostasis and walls $3,000
  • Hanging candles $1,000
  • Priest and deacon vestments $2,500
  • Chalice set, Gospel, crucifix, basin, stand, linen, books $2,150
  • Clothing for four altar servers $400
Sponsor a church
3 of 20 churches sponsored

Furnish the altar

from $200

The things that go on and around the Holy Table.

  • Altar crucifix $500
  • Chalice and diskos $750
  • Gospel book $200
  • Holy Table linen $300
  • Baptismal font $200
Give an item

Clothe the clergy

from $100

Vestments for the priests and deacons who serve, and for the altar servers who assist them.

  • Priest's vestments $1,500
  • Deacon's vestments $1,000
  • Altar server clothing $100
  • Saint's icon for the wall $50
  • Liturgy book for the people $10
Give an item

Give what you can, every month

$1$5$10$20$50$100
Even the poor can give a dollar a month. Gifts should be given wholeheartedly, never under pressure.
PhotoBishop Osios with the two priests and three deacons

Sustain a shepherd

Twenty priests and twenty deacons are needed so that each regional parish has weekly liturgy, confession, baptism, and a spiritual father who is actually there.

A sponsor covers a deacon at $550 a month or a priest at $750 a month. Salaries are not permanent: as parishes become stable they take on this responsibility themselves, within five years.

Chanters, catechists, and pilgrims are needed too. If you can teach Byzantine chant or spend a week in Guatemala, there is a place for you.

Sponsor a priest or deacon