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My name is Dylan Kardash. I started to attend St. George in January 2021 and by the grace of God was christmated on April 27, 2024, becoming a member of the Orthodox Church and the St. George parish.
For most of my life I have been involved in, and a member of a church - taking the Gospel seriously is another story. My parents were both raised Roman Catholic and as an infant I was baptizes in the Roman Catholic Church. A few years after I was born mt parents converted to the Lutheran Church and I was raised and grew up as a Lutheran. I followed the membership progression of the Lutheran Church and was confirmed around age 13.
Unfortunately, around age 16 I became infected with the disease of nihilism. I fell away from Christ and held a distaste for Christianity and anything church-related in general. Naturally, atheism and a pseudo-religiosity of science accompanied my affliction of nihilism, and I was left in this morbid state of confusion for about five years.
When I was attending post-secondary school, at age 21, I started to watch Jordan Peterson lecture videos (before he was famous) which inspire me to attend the Roman Catholic Church. I attended various Roman Catholic churches for about five years. After convocation in 2018 I moved to Saskatoon for work and was laid off at the end of2019 which led me back to Moose Jaw/Regina. l joined a young adult's group to make some friends and ended up attending a Bible study group (led by our Brendan Olenick) at Victory Church, a non-denominational church in Regina. Attending Bible study led to me attend Victory Church services regularly in which I ended up also briefly playing guitar in the worship group. During one of the sermons at Victory Church, the head pastor encouraged the congregation to read through the entire Bible cover-to -cover. Unfortunately, up until this point I had never read the Bible or any complete book in the Bible - Lord have mercy on me. I took his instruction seriously and read through it, thanks be to God! This was the turning point in my spiritual life. After reading the Bible I was greatly edified and had so many questions which led me to further delve into research of the faith on line.
I learned about the Orthodox faith online a few years prior to attending Victory Church but didn't give it too much thought. However, when I started to do more research in 2020 after my Bible read through, I realized that Orthodoxy had all the answers to my questions and much more. I subsequently found the St. George parish through a quick Google search (being the only English-speaking Orthodox Church in Regina sold me on St. George's), and I reached out to Fr. Cristian in January 2021, and he invited me to Liturgy. I have been attending almost every Sunday since then. Over the course of three years, Fr. Cristian met with me and other inquirers/catechumens after every Sunday Liturgy to answer our questions and give us the occasional lecture on the essentials of Orthodoxy. I am greatly thankful for his time and efforts. Fr. Cristian has been the most patient, knowledgeable, and caring presbyter that I have encountered in any church on my journey.
Coming to Christ through the Orthodox faith has been an incredible adventure. By the grace of God, I have overcome deep struggles with the tools and teachings of the Orthodox faith, and I have met many wonderful people (some of which I now consider my best friends), my fiance Rachel Fan, and my spiritual father at St. George. The sense of community at St. George is excellent, and I greatly enjoy visiting with everyone and participating in the agape groups. Liturgy and matins are the highlight of my week and singing with the congregation in worship to our Lord 1s my favorite activity and brings me an incredible sense of peace and joy.
One chapter of my journey is over, and a new one is beginning. I thank God for everything that has happened and look forward for everything to come! Thanks be to God and God bless everyone!
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Hello everyone, Rachel here! I was given this first name (睿哲, RuìZhé) because my dad treasured deep thinking, foresight, and philosophy, and my last name (范, Fàn) in simplified Chinese means archetype. In 2003, God’s grace led me to repent (Romans 2:4) and eventually accept my English name, Rachel, which is Hebrew for “ewe”, and “fan”, which meant I had to surrender from my cravings to be an archetype, to being a fan. “Rachel” became my Christian name on December 21, 2024, through our parish! Like other female sheep, I desire to follow the Good Shepherd.
My family comes from a Saskatchewan-like place near the Taklamakan Desert, China. In the indigenous Uyghur language, the Taklamakan Desert means “you can get in, but you can’t get out”. By God’s grace, we were placed in Canada and thankfully, learned about the need of our repentance and salvation through Christ. Though for 7 years (2003-2010) I’ve desired my hometown, I eventually accepted that I had to stop longing for my desert (my old life).
My flaws were evident to God, the jealousy, greed, pride, and vain-glory. Helpless and friendless. From 2006 to 2024, if it weren’t for God’s great mercies intervening to allow me to survive two near-death accidents, and for the prayers of Christians, I would not have been cleansed from jealousy and greed, and would not have desired deeper repentance and growth in Christ.
When YuanZhiMing (author of Lao-Tzu and the Bible), spoke his message around 2005 about a disobedient daughter, and the Prodigal Son, it was as if I heard St. John the Baptist’s voice cry out in the desert instead—make straight the way for the Lord! I then started to desire wisdom of God through Christ more than worldly wisdom. Thanks to the prayers for me in Christ’s name, memorizing quotes became memorizing Proverbs instead, and eventually I joined Bible Quizzing, and loved reading the Bible more than other books. Love for the Old Testament also grew in me (2010-2023). Then in January 7, 2023, when my classmate, Isho (Aramaic name for “Jesus”), brought me to St. George for my first time at church to commemorate St. John the Baptist, I saw a flash of scriptures in text-form across the altar and its surrounding icons.
I exclaimed to Fr. Cristian, “I can’t believe this! You have the ENTIRE Bible encapsulated in front of the church! ...” I felt that the altar, and the icon, were a summary of what the Gospel was all about—Christ! When I went home, I agreed with my dad that the icons indeed were not idols and was glad that I obeyed him by visiting St. George. From 2023 January till June 2024, I have compiled a list of reasons to leave, and a list of reasons to attend orthodox Church, and each time the first list receives an additional reason, experience would provide another item for the second list. Both dad and I separately prayed for instructions of which congregation to join in 2023 December till 2024 June, and he believed that it was God’s good plan for me to continue worshipping and learning in St. George, with Dylan and other catechumens (at the time), and truth-loving Christians here.
