Antiochian Village

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The Antiochian Village is a center for Orthodox activities located in Bolivar, Pennsylvania. It is under the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and consists of a conference center and a camp. It was the site of the Ligonier Meeting in 1994.

"The Village" hosts Orthodox as well as external events and retreats. The Orthodox Christian Fellowship East Coast College Conference takes place at the conference center each December. There is an annual Sts. Thekla and Raphael Pilgrimage every fall. St. Thekla is the patron saint of an outdoor chapel on the camp grounds, and St. Raphael is buried just next to the outdoor chapel. The Antiochian Archdiocese has many of its national delegate's meetings at the conference center, due to the central location and facilities that are conducive to host such meetings.

The Antiochian Village Camp program holds both a summer and winter camp each year. The summer camp consists of four 2-week sessions from June to August each year. Approximately nine hundred campers between the ages of 9 and 17 attend the camp in one summer. Some main parts of the summer camp program are daily services in the St. Ignatius chapel, Christian education classes, a challenge course, an overnight camping program, and afternoon sports and activities. There are two 4-day winter camp sessions for older campers (12 to 17 years old) over long weekend breaks from school in the winter. Winter camp includes a day trip to go snow tubing and various outdoor winter activities. The camp also has a family camp for families to attend together, and in 2005 started the Villedge Adventures program for 16 to 18 year old campers. In the summer of 2006, there will be "Sacred Arts Camps" for Byzantine Chanting and Iconography.

In addition to St. Thekla and St. Raphael, the camp's patron saints are the child saint Artemius, St. Herman of Alaska and St. Ignatius of Antioch. The reliquary at the St. Ignatius Chapel includes relics

The camp's five patron saints are St. Thekla, St. St. Artemius, St. St. Herman of Alaska, St. Raphael, and St. Ignatius. St. Raphael is buried on the grounds of the Village, and a portion of St. Herman's relics are enshrined in St. Ignatius Chapel at the Antiochian Village, along with relics of St. Moses the Ethiopian and others, which exude a sweet fragrance.

History

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