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The Orthodox Church in America has announced the expansion of the Office of Pastoral Life (OPL) and the appointment of Archpriest Nicholas Solak as its first full-time Director, beginning January 1, 2025. This decision, confirmed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, the Holy Synod of Bishops, and the Metropolitan Council, highlights the Orthodox Church in America’s continued commitment to the health and well-being of clergy, clergy wives, and their families.
The Office of Pastoral Life has been supporting clergy and their families through programs that promote personal, spiritual, financial, and educational growth and health. The Office currently manages two Lilly Endowment grants—the first awarded in 2018 and a second in 2023—which fund initiatives such as the Thriving in Ministry Clergy and Clergy Wives Peer Learning Program and the Financial Health Initiative which aims to strengthen the financial health of our clergy families.
The growth of these programs have led to the expansion of the OPL and the need for a full-time Director. As the new Director, Fr. Nicholas will continue to oversee OPL programs such as the Thriving in Ministry Program, the Clergy Wives Ministry, the Synaxis Program, the Financial Health Initiative, and the National Clergy Retreat as well as developing other resources in the future.
The decision to expand the OPL and appoint a full-time Director was passed by a resolution passed by the Metropolitan Council on October 24, 2024 and later accepted by the Holy Synod.
In His Beatitude’s 2018 booklet Of What Life Do We Speak? Four Pillars for the Fulfillment of the Apostolic Work of the Church, Metropolitan Tikhon spoke about the importance of clergy health:
“If the core of our lives as Christians is the Holy Altar of the Church, then the core of our responsibility as members of the Church should be to care for the health of those who stand and serve before that altar and impart to us the Holy Mysteries. … Therefore, it is crucial to renew our efforts at fostering clergy health—physical, spiritual, emotional—so that our parishes and institutions may be guided by pastors and lay leaders who have a deep understanding of the Orthodox therapeutic and pastoral tradition.”
Fr. Nicholas’s appointment as the new OPL Director will help the Orthodox Church in America to continue supporting its clergy and their families and ensure the leaders of our parishes are properly equipped to continue in their vocations.
For more information about the Office of Pastoral Life visit opl.oca.org.
