Article courtesy of Mr. Renin Cherian, Houston/San Antonio/Austin Council Member

The St. Thomas, Houston MGOCSM hosted its annual New Year’s Retreat from December 29, 2011 - December 31, 2011 and concluded with Holy Qurbana on January 1, 2012, celebrated by the main speaker who led this year’s retreat, Rev. Fr. Zachariah (Diju) Skariah, and was based on the book of Revelation. This year's theme was taken from the Revelation 2:10, ""Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." The retreat was also blessed to have the presence of Diocesan Metropolitan, H.G. Alexios Mar Eusebius, the General Secretary of the MGOCSM of North America, Rev. Dn. Vijay Thomas, as well as many other priests and deacons across the diocese.

his year’s retreat topic (the Book of Revelation) was chosen due to an earnest desire by the retreat committee to learn more about this mysterious book of the Bible as well as to combat the current trend of the media and the world as a whole to predict the end of the world. The youth that attended the camp learned about the basics surrounding the book of Revelation, the Letters to the Seven Churches, how to deal with the "predictions" of the end of the world, as well as the Orthodox perspective on the Second Coming of Christ.

This year’s retreat served as a true testament to the growth of the MGOCSM both within the Houston/San Antonio/Austin area as well as throughout the country as a whole. Nearly 150 youth from across the state of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Chicago, and Philadelphia attended the 3 day retreat. 

In an effort to engage the retreat attendees this year, the retreat structure was altered in order to ensure that the information obtained was truly learned. By focusing on actually applying the information learned the youth were able to understand the structure St. John used within the book of Revelation. The attendees were also able to spend time in fellowship as well and took part in the annual New Year’s Retreat Song Game, as well as a photo scavenger hunt, and laser tag. 

Overall, the youth that attended the retreat were able to re-examine their lives as they went into the new year in order to make sure they were living a life that would be pleasing to God.