Glory to God for a wonderful weekend!

Location:

This year, we will be gathering at Antiochian Village Camp (Bolivar, PA) and staying in the camp cabins. Each cabin has two sides with private bathrooms and a shared common room. Families will stay in one side of the cabin and share the common room with another family. If you would like to share with a particular family, or if you have more than 10 people in your family, please let us know at programs@saintemmelia.com.

If you have any questions about lodging, food, or other facilities, please email us, NOT AV Camp.

Workshops & Speakers

Keynote Speaker: His Grace, Bishop ANTHONY was born on January 17, 1956 Richard Anthony Michaels on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great to parents Anthony and Gertrude Michaels and was baptized at St. Symeon the Stylite Antiochian Orthodox Church in Ironwood, Michigan. His father is Lebanese and his mother is Serbian, and he has two siblings, Joanne and Craig.

As a teenager in school, he was active in all varsity athletics, including his role as the starting quarterback of his football team. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan, with a double major in History and English Literature. He then attended St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree and graduated as a valedictorian.

His Grace and fellow seminarians Fr. Patrick Kinder of blessed memory and Fr. Michael (Alan) Shanbour were the singing group KERYGMA in the 1980’s-90’s. His Grace was ordained to the diaconate on September 18, 2004, and to the priesthood on September 19, 2004 at St. George Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota. On September 19, 2010, the sixth anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood, his Grace was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite by Metropolitan PHILIP for blessed memory.

On December 11, 2011, Bishop ANTHONY was consecrated as Auxiliary to Metropolitan Philip of the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest. His name day is January 17 (St. Anthony the Great).

Lectures:

“Today’s World – The Eternal World (Parts 1 & 2):” How do we face the secular demands of society when our minds and hearts are set on our heavenly destiny?

Dr. David C. Ford was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, in a nominally Presbyterian home. He went to college at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, where he majored in History. Immediately after graduation he went to Liberia, West Africa, as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps; he served there for three years in the field of education. While there he became involved with Evangelical and then Pentecostal Christianity through the influence of various missionaries.

In 1977 he entered the M.Div. program at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here he learned about the Early Church, and through his continuing study of the facts of Church History, he realized that only Holy Orthodoxy has preserved the fullness of the Christian Faith. He was received into the Orthodox Church in January of 1980, at St. Anthony’s Antiochian Church in Tulsa.

Having graduated with the M.Div. degree in May of 1980, he stayed in Tulsa for four years, serving in various ways in the parish there. Then in 1984 he began the Ph.D. program in Church History and Historical Theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. In May of 1988 he married Dr. Mary Sanford, who had previously converted to Orthodoxy in England.

Upon graduation from Drew in May of 1989, Dr. David was hired at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, where he is now Professor of Church History.

Dr. Ford, along with his wife Mary, is the author of Marriage as a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints; he is also the author of Women and Men in the Early Church: The Full Views of St. John Chrysostom.

Dr. Mary Ford was born and raised in Nashville, TN, and went to college at Hollins College, Roanoke, VA, where she earned a B.A. in English Literature. She attended graduate school in Great Britain, and converted to Orthodoxy there in 1977. She received her Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, having also studied at St. Andrews, Scotland, and in Oxford, England.

In 1988 she married David Ford, and the following year they both began teaching at St. Tikhon’s Seminary where she served as Associate Professor of New Testament for 33 years, retiring in May of 2022. She taught a course on the writings of St. John the Theologian, including his Revelation, for 32 of those years; Hermeneutics for almost 20 years; Introduction to Orthodox Spiritual Life for 10 years; and an assortment of other courses.

In 1994 St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press published Marriage as a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints; also in that year, they adopted their only child, a daughter, Emmelia Svetlana, as a baby, from Russia.

In 2015, her very important book, The Soul’s Longing: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Biblical Interpretation, was published by St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press. This book gives a basic history of Biblical interpretation over the last thousand years, detailing the great differences between Eastern and Western Christianity.

She co-edited and contributed to The Glory and Honor of Marriage: Orthodox Christian Resources, along with Dr. David Ford and Dr. Alf Kentigern Siewers (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2016).

Dr. Mary has also written numerous articles appearing in various Orthodox books and journals. Currently, she has almost finished working on a book tentatively entitled The Gate of Heaven: Entering Again Into Paradise, about the Temple theme in the Gospel of John and in the Apocalypse. This book will be published by St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press as well.

Lecture:

“Words of Encouragement for our Marriages and Families:” Drs. David and Mary would like to briefly share some insights and stories that have been helpful to them, and which they think will be helpful for other Orthodox couples and parents.  Dr. David will focus on the Writings of St. John Chrysostom on marriage and family life, while Dr. Mary will look more broadly to bring out encouraging words and examples.

Andrew Kern and his wife Karen have raised five children to adulthood and now have nine grandchildren. He is the founder of CiRCE, a research institute for classical educators at home and in schools. He has been researching, speaking, teaching, and consulting in the Christian classical renewal since 1993, during which he has taught in home school co-ops and classrooms, consulted with over 100 schools and co-ops, and helped Karen home school their children. Andrew speaks regularly at home school and classical conferences.

In addition, he is the co-author with Dr. Gene Edward Veith of Classical Education, The Movement Sweeping America and, with Andrea Lipinski, of The CiRCE Guide to Reading. He also led the development of CiRCE’s classical rhetoric program, The Lost Tools of Writing, and he loves Homer, Shakespeare, Anne of Green Gables, and Endeavour. Like Shakespeare, he knows a little Latin and less Greek. Except a lot less than Shakespeare.

Lecture:

“The Logos, the temple, and the Creation of Culture:” Our Lord created a Divine Culture when He made a house for His Name in Genesis one. Since then, He has shown us how the creating, incarnate, crucified, and resurrected Logos blesses us and all of our culture-making efforts, revealing how we can both make and become a House for His Name.

Fr. Chris Shadid is the Camp Director of the Antiochian Village Camp. He is also a licensed social worker specializing in mental health, working with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Workshop:

“Coaching Teens into Adulthood - Q & A with Fr. Chris Shadid:” Parents are invited to submit questions for Fr. Chris to answer either at Conference Registration or via a basket in the Dining Hall. Anonymous questions related to mental health concerns are encouraged.

Alexandra Gonzalez is a homeschool mom and CiRCE certified educator. She is in the process of writing an Orthodox-friendly humanities-based curriculum. Since 2016, Alex has enjoyed her dream job of teaching the humanities to homeschooled high school students. She also directs Shakespeare plays, and has written and directed several of her own plays. Alex and her husband, Roberto, have two teenagers at home, and one in her first year at Hillsdale College.

Workshop:

“A Curriculum that Creates Culture:” What are you looking for in a homeschool curriculum? An all-inclusive curriculum? Strictly Orthodox? A curriculum that creates culture? What might that look like? As with everything nowadays, the options are endless and overwhelming. Join the discussion in this interactive workshop on curriculum needs. Given that our theme is “Creating Culture,” special emphasis will be on the humanities. 

Kh. Elizabeth Bushelli has been homeschooling her ten children for almost twenty years. Her oldest son is now a graduate student! In addition to directing her church choir, she is also lead teacher at her parish's homeschool co-op. One of her favorite pastimes is discussing homeschooling with other parents!

Kh. Morielle Danevicius is the wife of Fr. Isaac Danevicius and the mother of six children (half boys, half girls, ages 3-13). She’s been blessed to be able to homeschool from the get-go and loves the freedom it gives them to live the seasons of the Church more fully and to be able to prioritize everyone’s personal interests. They live on a couple of acres outside of town with a big garden and various animals, and are always dreaming of ways to add to their mini “homestead”. Kh. Morielle also enjoys investing herself in the local homeschool community and serving their parish, St. George.

During the span of 28 years, Kh. Kelleylynn and Fr. Raphael Barberg homeschooled a "quiver full".  Well, 5 children to be exact.  Today, their children are living adult lives of their own: the eldest graduated from Hellenic College, and is now working as an administrator in an inner-city nursing home; their second is an accomplished Sous Chef; their third is a Junior attending St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM (one of the last collegiate institutes where classic "Socratic" methods and Great Books are taught); their fourth is about to graduate from bootcamp into the United States Marine Corp; their fifth child is the last one in the nest.  

Workshop:

“Homeschooling 101:” These veteran moms are here to answer your questions on any topic, from curriculum to schedules to behavior to co-ops and extracurriculars!