Thomas Richter here, holding down the fort at OCN headquarters in Fort Lauderdale as our team arrives in New Rome to meet with the youth of OCF and Fr. Mark and Bishop Savas. I'll be helping out with technical issues, but as a taste of things to come, please enjoy the brief video of the Church of Holy Wisdom below. Please enjoy the stories, audio, pictures and videos over the next week!

And we here at OCN hope that all are experiencing a fruitful Lenten season. Don't forget that we at OCN need your support - click the button on the top bar of the site to give us your help!

-Thomas

Hello everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. Throughout the course of the week Bishop Savas and Fr. Mark Leondis will be offering a daily updates from this ancient capital. Cameron Thorp, the Graphic Designer and Official Photographer for OCN, will be offering some of the finest pictures you have ever seen of the ancient city of Constantinople. The week will be busy for all of us as we seek to restore to beauty a desecrated cemetery of over 300 graves and the Church of St. Kyriakos. I will have the opportunity to share audio files and interviews with you of the many sounds that make up this fascinating city, as well as a special interview with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW and the students that make up this year's Real Break to Constantinople.

I am feeling many emotions right now as I settle into my hotel room which is literally at the footsteps of the Patriarchate. My last trip here was more than 10 years ago. I hope you will join us each day. One of the greatest sites the students will see will be the Great Church of Christ - St. Sophia. For many of those participating this is their first trip to Istanbul and their first visit to the Patriarchate. I am anxious to hear their reactions as I am sure you are. It will be just as if you are here with us working to restore the ancient beauty that once was the glory of Christendom. Don't miss it, and be sure to tell your friends about the collaborative work between OCF and OCN. By all means let me know your thoughts through comments about what you are seeing and hearing .

Good night from Constantinople.

-Fr. Chris

Ft Lauderdale, FL. OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) is pleased to announce another Real Break trip to Constantinople. Real Break Constantinople serves God and other people while participating in the life of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Grace Bishop Savas the newly appointed Director of Church and Society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will lead the group assisted by the Rev. Mark Leondis the National Youth Director for the GOA and Chairman of the Board of Orthodox Christian Fellowship and the Rev. Dr. Christopher T. Metropulos the Executive Director of OCN (The Orthodox Christian Network) and the Pastor of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The Real Break Trip to Istanbul, Turkey, begins on March 14, 2009.