Through the grace of God much inter-Orthodox work was done with God blessing the work of the trustees and their teams; both in terms of success in achieving the goals of the ministries but also particularly in helping the Orthodox Christian community ultimately work together.
Some of the Work in Social Action
IOCC ( www.iocc.org) Initiated in 1991 by Mr. Ajalat and since 1992, distributed over $650 million in worldwide relief and development programs in 60 countries with 92% of funds directly helping those in need and leveraging donations seven times, serving millions of people.
FOCUS North America (https://focusnorthamerica.org/) Initiated FOCUS in 2009. FOCUS is an acronym for both the work it engages in domestically: Food, Occupation, Clothing, Understanding & Shelter; and for the inspiration behind the organization: Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve. Distributed over $30 million of domestic aid in the last 9 years in over 30 cities, including hundreds of thousands of meals and clothing, two hundred thousand pairs of shoes to homeless children, and thousands of teens taken into the inner cities under close supervision learning about and seeing poverty and homelessness.
Kidnapped Syrian Archbishops: Initiated and spear-headed Congressional Campaign through Congressman Brad Sherman to Prioritize Release of Kidnapped Syrian Archbishops, 72 members of the House of Representatives signing the Petition to the Secretary of State. See attached Congressional Letter.
Some of the Work in Spiritual Outreach
Becoming Truly Human www.becomingtrulyhuman.com Since 2014, initiated a national pan-Orthodox spiritual outreach program to the non-religiously affiliated (“nones”),dozens of churches participating, and a new, first of its kind in Orthodoxy, professional feature-length film, focused on the (“nones”) produced for 2016 and available on Amazon prime.
Orthodox Study Bible Went with Fr. Gillquist to the meeting with Sam Moore of Thomas Nelson Bible Publishers to achieve his critical financial support for realizing the project. Also member of the Overview Committee, p. v. and ix.
OCMC www.ocmc.org Initiated the transition from Greek Orthodox Mission Board to Orthodox Christian mission Center, Archbishop Spyridon attempted later unsuccessfully to pull the agency back into just the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. 21 current missionary families in Albania, Guatemala, Kenya, Mongolia, New Zealand, Romania, and the United States in 2016. Had 7 short-term missionary teams (teaching, healthcare, and youth work) in 2016. Projects include aid to indigenous priests, philanthropic ministries, construction of churches, water wells & housing.
Prayer Fellowship of St. Philip the Evangelist Together with Fr. Pulcini and others produced a daily prayer book used by thousands of Orthodox Christians, including praying 5 or 10 at a time each day for a portion of hundreds of Orthodox Churches, and repeated monthly.
SCOBA Common English Transl. Liturgical Comm SCOBA granted the request to form and Mr. Ajalat Chaired a Committee of the top inter-jurisdictional Orthodox liturgical scholars to produce a Common English Translation of the Divine Liturgy, sent to all Orthodox priests and revised for their comments. Although the Commission reached consensus, the SCOBA hierarchs did not.
The Cloud of Witness Chapel http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/17675; 31 life-size icons of Christ and the Saints all in a small domed area; plus booklets, audio, and touch-screen computer, next to the Chapel, which allows the faithful to touch the icon of the Saint, see the icon and hear a short description of the Saint’s Life. Los Angeles Times, California Section, March 5, 2006, lead article.
Some of the Work in Church Governance
The International Conference on Freedom of Religion in a Modern World in Moscow, March 21-23, 1993. Delegate & Speaker at the Conference, proposing a 5 year moratorium on expanding religious freedom rights, to give the Russian Orthodox Church time to start recovering from the incredible persecution under the Soviet predecessor governments which may have killed as many as 10 million martyrs. Impact: Strengthening the Church in the Society.
The Task Force on the Church in the 21st Century, many of whose recommendations were implemented.
The Self-Rule of the Antiochian Archdiocese. A leader of the proposal for self-rule of the Archdiocese and its granting irrevocably pursuant to the proposed resolution of the Archdiocesan General Assembly.
Initiator and Funder of the First Conference of Orthodox Bishops of North America, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 1994. See “A New Era Begins” Video of the first conference of Orthodox bishops of North America, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 1994, produced by Charles Ajalat. 1994 Ligonier Video Part 1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBqQt-imq9Q; 1994 Ligonier Video Part 2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu4BZdJJj4w 1994 Ligonier Video Part 3, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVaejIop1Bo&feature=related 1994 Ligonier Video Part 4, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjKK0CA5Pchttp://www.aoiusa.org/ligonier-1994-a-new-era-has-begun/
- Bishops Agree on Administrative Unity
- The Ligonier documents were rejected by the Ecumenical Patriarch but were a positive turning point in the history of the Church here.
Some Church Writings, Speeches & Interviews
- “Are We Living in the Kingdom of God Now?” Speech to St. Barbara’s Monastery, January 29, 2017
- “Ownership by All, Control by None,” Speech to St. Vladimir’s Faculty, January 31, 2016”.
- “Social Action, Spiritual Outreach, and Philanthropy, The Word, December Issue,2014, pp. 27-31.
- An American Orthodox Vision: Charting a Course of Action for the Church in the 21st Century, Task Force on the Church in the 21st Century (1995), Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. (Attached above)
- Polamalu, Troy and Theodora, and Ajalat, Charles, “The Essence of St. Basil’s
- Social Vision,” The Word, March 2012, p.5
- “Toward a Common Future: A Vision for the Future Based on Past Experience,”
- June 20, 2009, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, https://ocanewsorg.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/copy-of-charles-ajalats-speech/
- http://www.freewebs.com/orthodoxdetroit/AJALAT0001.PDF
- “A Vision for North American Orthodoxy” Again Magazine, Issue No. 25-4
- “A New Era for Orthodoxy in North America” Again Magazine Issue 24-4, 2002
- “Primacy & Episcopacy,” Word Magazine, Jan. 1996, pp.7-11;Orthodox Research Institute, http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/canon_law/ajalat_primacy_episcopacy.htm
- “Practice, Church, Life and Society”, in Faith and the Law Symposium, 27 Texas Tech Law Rev. 933-9 (1996).
- Citation: Fitzgerald, The Orthodox Church, Part II, A Biographical Dictionary of Orthodox Leaders, p. 152
- Citation: Williams, G.H., Divinings: Religion at Harvard: From its Origins in New England Vol. 3, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH &Co. KG, Gottingen, 2014, edited by Rodney L. Petersen.
- “Orthodox Unity in North America with Charles Ajalat,”
- http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles8/AFR-Ajalat-Interview.php
- “Toward an American Orthodox Church: questions of unity.” Ancient Faith Radio, January 19, 2008, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/orthodixie/2008/01/ajalat-on-afr-toward-an-american-orthodox-church.html ; Jan. 25, 2008, http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/illuminedheart/ P8; http://www.hprweb.com/2013/09/new-evangelization-and-ecumenism/ fn 7
- “Regarding Orthodox Unity” The Word, Vol. 52, No. 3, March 2008, pp.49; “Orthodox Unity in America,” Vol. 52, No. 4, April 2008, pp. 4-9.
- Podcast on “Becoming Truly Human”, a national AOCA evangelism program www.adamlowellroberts.com/…/podcast-episode-4-interview-with-charles-ajalat/ 2014.
- Ancient Faith Radio, “Charles Ajalat-Sharing Your Own Spiritual Journey,
- Orthodox Conference on Missions & Evangelism 2009 http://www.ancientfaith.com/specials/orthodox_conference_on_missions_and_evangelism_2009/charles_ajalat_-_sharing_your_own_spiritual_journey
- Orthodox Christian Network, regarding Outreach, Nov. 2012 www.antichian.org/content//ocn-interviews-antiochian-charles-ajalat-about-outreach