Testimonials

"Before becoming Orthodox, we weren't the most familiar with the specifics of Scripture, although we had a more general understanding. Upon first attending an Orthodox Liturgy, it felt like we had stepped inside the Bible. The prayers, psalms, incense, praxis, and way of living the Faith made the stories we knew come alive.

Becoming part of Saint John Cassian Romanian Orthodox Church felt like the only path that made sense once we visited once and later spoke with Father Valentin. The close-knit community composed of small families made our small brand new family feel at home."

— The Strongs

-Bartos’ Family testimony 

We first became interested in the Orthodox Church after several years of searching and researching into the different Christian faiths, and finding that no other discipline had the dedication and commitment to Christ that the Orthodox Church had. We began attending St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tacoma, WA in September of 2020. At that time Covid was causing many of the Churches to close their doors and to be very restrictive so it was difficult to speak with anyone about how to become a part of the Church. We set up a meeting with the priest and received a bit of instruction on how to go from being inquirers to catechumens, but before we could start the process we were compelled to relocate to Central Texas to provide our 3 sons with a better environment in which to grow up. We became Catachumens in a small ROCOR parish and were baptized as a family in 2023.

We first attended St. John Cassian shortly after our baptism. We felt the need to get to know and experience the liturgy with the faithful from all the other jurisdictions in the area. It was the last Orthodox Church on our list to visit, but as soon as we left the parking lot after Liturgy both my wife and I agreed that this was the place we wanted to stay. We live in San Marcos so it was not the most convenient for us to attend. We knew that we would have to drive about an hour(sometimes an hour and a half) each way to attend services. The parish was very ethnically Romanian which neither of us had any grasp of culturally or linguistically, yet we still knew that this was the place we needed to be. There are several things that made St. John Cassian very unique in our eyes. The dedication, effort, and overall work ethic displayed by Fr. Valentin and Preoteasă Cristina set a tone that reverberated throughout the parish increasing the desire of every member to do more for the Church and for one another. We never felt any pretense, insincerity, false humility, or pietism etc., only a pure devotion to the life in Christ. We saw the Orthodox faith truly put into practice, where the hymns and prayers filled with humility, patience, and hope stood in stark contrast to the rest of the world. There was a level of confidence in the healing love and mercy of Christ that was genuine and beautiful.

If you asked me or my wife to pinpoint the main reason why we felt the need to make this our spiritual home, it’s that these are the people and environment we want our children to grow in the faith with. They are the people we want praying for our souls.