User:Ephraem

My name is Ephraem.

• I was baptized in 2005 at the Church of the Annunciation, Milwaukie, Oregon (OCA).
• Zenaida, my wife, joined me in my journey to the Church, and together we attended our first Orthodox service on the Sunday of St. John Climacus, 2004.

There are two
relatively mundane events that I think influenced my being drawn to the Orthodox Church:

• Discovering the writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose in the library at the University of Oregon in the early 90's
• Seeing in a bookstore window a very large poster of a dire looking schemamonk with the caption "The Real Superman". Not that I knew anything at all about schemamonks, but I could clearly see that this Christian monk was very much, spiritually speaking, heavy duty.

Yet in my worldly ways I continued to struggle with the "foolishness of Christianity" for another decade. Today, I am still wrestling with it!
Only now, I am wrestling with it, but with much hope and as a member of His Holy Church.

St. Ephrem the Syrian is my patron saint.

St. Ephrem the Syrian

• My primary interest is Church History, and in particular, its history in Northern Europe and America.
• With the hope of expanding the scope of my inquiries I am learning Russian, but I am very much a struggling beginner in this endeavor.
• I am the head librarian at our parish
• I earned my Bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of Oregon
• My dream jobs are to work in the Church's archives and to work on the preservation and physical restoration of sacred and/or religious texts.
• My desire, here at Orthodoxwiki, is to learn as much as I can about Wiki, to spend my time profitably, to support and utilize this project, and to improve my writing and research practice.
• As I am a newbie, any helpful suggestions or advice would be most appreciated.