Holy Trinity Cathedral
New Orleans, LA
May 11, 2019

Introduced in 1983, the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival provides Greek Orthodox teenagers the opportunity to write and talk about their faith. The Oratorical Festival Program begins at the parish level and is divided into two divisions:

• Junior Division for students in grades 7–9
• Senior Division for student in grades 10–12

The top speakers in the Junior and Senior Divisions advance to the district level. Two finalists in each district division represent the district at the Metropolis Oratorical Festival. The top speaker in each metropolis division is then selected to participate in the Archdiocese Finals, which is hosted by a different metropolis each year. The 37th National Oratorical Festival will be hosted by the Metropolis of Denver and St. Spyridon Orthodox Church in Loveland, CO in June 2021.

~Save the Date~
Metropolis Level Festival - May 15, 2021
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church - Clearwater, FL 

Junior Division (Grades 7 - 9)

1. Discuss the challenges and opportunities of watching a church service that is live streamed. 
2. Prayer is called a “conversation with God.” Discuss the meaning of prayer in your life. 
3. During the pandemic, people noticed that our natural environment became cleaner. What can this teach us about our care for the natural world? 
4. Why is the Church still relevant, especially for young people, in our increasingly secular, post-COVID world? 
5. Choose one parable from the Gospel of Luke chapters 15 or 16 that is particularly meaningful to you and explain what we can learn from it.

1. During the stay at home period of the pandemic, Orthodox Christians had to find ways to practice their faith without attending church in person or participating in parish activities. Discuss what you learned during those days.
2. In July 2020, a Turkish court gave permission for Hagia Sophia to be converted from a museum into a mosque. Discuss the significance of Hagia Sophia in the history of Christianity and the power of monuments like it to inspire religious identity.
3. We live in a highly polarized society – left vs. right, personal liberty vs. common good, and other issues where it seems everything is politicized. How are we as Orthodox Christians called to navigate this environment?
4. St. Peter writes, “Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2:16). What is freedom and how does it become a basis for being a servant?
5. In the Psalms we read, “If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you.” (Psalm 130:3-4, NRSV). Discuss how an Orthodox Christian understands sin, forgiveness, mercy, and repentance.