The Illumined Heart
A Media Ministry of St Barnabas
+ Welcome
Welcome to the website of Saint Barnabas Antiochian Orthodox Church. We are an Orthodox Christian parish community from all walks of life, age groups and imperfections located in Costa Mesa, California, half-way between Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Whether you are a guest, an inquirer, or a visitor from another parish, we are pleased you are here! The purpose of our web site is to introduce you to our parish community, and to provide you with a brief overview of the Orthodox Church and faith. Our priests, Father Wayne Wilson and Father Michael Reagan are also personally available to answer any questions you may have about Orthodox Christianity, or about your spiritual experience, or personal faith journey.
I began my spiritual journey in eastern religion – specifically Hinduism. Colleen was raised a traditional, pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic, and went to Catholic parochial schools from kindergarten to high school. Colleen’s spirituality was formed as a Roman Catholic and she barely knew the word “Hindu” until we met. Our backgrounds could not have been more different. I came from a non-religious home near New York City. When I was around 16, after dropping out of high school and being involved in drugs and street life, my Mother introduced me to Buddhism and then to Vedanta Hinduism. Shortly after, we both began attending a Hindu center in New York City. I became an initiate of the Center’s leader and guru and spent the next two and a half years as a devotee and ashram member. Ironically, it was in the Hindu Center’s ashram in upstate New York where – sitting in Hindu puju – the picture on the wall of Christ on the cross (Vedanta Hinduism teaches all paths lead to God) introduced me to Christ.
Jesus Christ founded His Church through the Apostles. By the grace received from God at Pentecost, the Apostles established the Church throughout the ancient world. St. Paul founded the Church of Antioch; St. Peter and St. James, the Church of Jerusalem; St. Andrew the Church of Constantinople; St. Mark, the Church of Alexandria; St. Peter and St. Paul, the Church of Rome. For one thousand years the Church was one (East and West), unbroken and undivided! After the Great Schism of 1054 A.D., when the Latin or western church tragically separated from eastern Christendom (at Constantinople), the eastern non-Oriental churches became known as the “Eastern Orthodox Church”, to distinguish them from what subsequently became known as the “Roman Catholic Church”.
Yes! Most of our congregation was not born into the Orthodox Church and faith. We began like many of you - with a desire to find out what the real "early Church" was, and what it believed and practiced. Many of us came from Evangelical, Reformed, Anglican, Charismatic and non-denominational Christian backgrounds. Others have come from eastern religions or through new age interests. You will find a wide diversity of faith traditions, races, age groups and ethnic groups represented at our parish.
So don’t be afraid to ask questions about what we do and why (at the appropriate time, of course!)! Our small bookstore also has books and pamphlets that can help answer a variety of questions. Subjects include Christian church history, theology, catechism, Orthodox spirituality, inspiration, prayer, the lives of the Saints, and stories about others who have journeyed to the Orthodox Faith.
Make my tongue to speak plainly, O my Savior; enlarge my mouth and fill it, and give my heart compunction that I may be the first to follow what I say and to do what I teach; for everyone that doeth and teacheth, it saith, the same is great. For if I speak without doing, I am reckoned as sounding brass. Wherefore, grant me to say what is needful and to do what is expedient, O Thou Who alone knowest the secrets of our hearts.From the Orthros of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul
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I began my spiritual journey in eastern religion – specifically Hinduism. Colleen was raised a traditional, pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic, and went to Catholic parochial schools from kindergarten to high school. Colleen’s spirituality was formed as a Roman Catholic and she barely knew the word “Hindu” until we met. Our backgrounds could not have been more different. I came from a non-religious home near New York City. When I was around 16, after dropping out of high school and being involved in drugs and street life, my Mother introduced me to Buddhism and then to Vedanta Hinduism. Shortly after, we both began attending a Hindu center in New York City. I became an initiate of the Center’s leader and guru and spent the next two and a half years as a devotee and ashram member. Ironically, it was in the Hindu Center’s ashram in upstate New York where – sitting in Hindu puju – the picture on the wall of Christ on the cross (Vedanta Hinduism teaches all paths lead to God) introduced me to Christ.
