Beloved Orthodox Christians,
With God’s help, with the blessing of our Eparchial Synod, and through the
generosity of our donors, the St. John of Damascus Orthodox Educational
Initiative is entering its seventh year dedicated to the critically important work of
educating the youth of our Church.
We once again express, on behalf of our students, our profound gratitude to our
past and present donors for their generosity and commitment to our shared goal
of safeguarding our children from the harmful spirit of our times by providing
them with essential knowledge, grounded in the truth of Orthodoxy. As a result of
this generosity, we have been able to steadily increase enrollment in our
programs since our inception without any increases in tuition; and, we have
continued, without layoffs, to employ qualified Orthodox Christian teachers in our
programs.
We are pleased and grateful to be able to announce that our Eparchial Synod has
designated the property of the former Holy Ascension Monastery in Bearsville,
New York, as the physical headquarters of the Initiative. This property will serve as
the base of operations for the Initiative and a venue for in-person educational and
fellowship events for youth and young adults, beginning with a planned Byzantine
Chant conference in the fall of this year. This move marks a significant milestone
for our Initiative, positioning us to expand and enhance our offerings in the years
ahead.
As we begin the next school year, we are once again asking the faithful to give
generously to support our scholarship fund. This year, we are also asking for
donations to help us perform renovations and improvements to our Bearsville
property that will allow us to make the best possible use of this property to
support our mission. Our goal is to raise $100,000 for these combined purposes.
We are committed to ensuring that ideologically sound education following the
classical model, taught by qualified and experienced Orthodox educators, is
available to all interested families of our eparchy and other likeminded Orthodox
Christians regardless of their financial circumstances. While many of our families
pay full price for their classes and all our families make great sacrifices to
contribute as much as possible to their children’s education, we still have
deserving students with financial needs. Many of these students are the children of
clergy, many of whom receive compensation insufficient to support their families.
Based on currently projected enrollment, we will need to provide approximately
$55,000 in scholarships for students whose families cannot afford the full tuition
for Initiative classes.
In addition, we have plans to make the following improvements to our Bearsville
property:
 Complete the first phase of a multi-year renovation effort, which includes
converting several rooms formerly used as lodging for tenants into office
and workspace for initiative staff and making necessary repairs
 Upgrade Internet service and install a generator to ensure reliable
connections and minimize the possibility of interruptions in instruction for
our students
A portion of funds may also be used to offset costs associated with upgrading our
website to make it easier for parents to review information about and register
their children for classes.
Your support is essential to our success, and we need your help!
When you contribute financially to the Initiative, you are helping to educate new
generations of Orthodox Christians who will be future priests, presbyteras,
catechists, chanters, readers and pious stewards of our parishes. The future of
our Church depends on properly preparing children for these roles from their
earliest years. And, the salvation of each of these littles ones depends on
providing them with the proper spiritual formation to establish the right
foundations for a life of piety.
Please give as generously as you are able, according to the instructions below
my signature.
It is my prayer that the Lord, who sees every act of faithfulness, will reward you
abundantly and supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

In Christ’s love,

Metropolitan Moses, Hierarchical Overseer

Instructions for donations:

For donations over $15,000 to the students of the Metropolis of America, please
make checks payable to: GOC Missions 151 Heron Rd Cobleskill, NY 12043
memo: OEI Scholarship

For all donations *under $15,000*, please make checks payable to St John of
Damascus and send them to: Saint John of Damascus, 521 Cold Brook Road,
Bearsville, NY 12409.

Using PayPal: To make a donation by PayPal, you may go to our donate page:
https://orthodoxlearninggoc.com/donate/