Assembly of Bishops Appoint July 26, 2026 as Prison Ministry Awareness Sunday

On July 26 hundreds of Orthodox churches across jurisdictions are joining together to share about the importance of prison ministry, but what prison ministry looks like today may surprise you.

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) has evolved with the U.S. prison system over nearly three decades to offer nuanced ministry programs that are still impacting the lives of not only men and women behind bars, but their friends and family on the outside. Storybook Connections™ is reuniting incarcerated parents with their children through the power of stories, sending picture books home with recordings of their parents reading to them from inside prison. The OCPM Clergy Corps is fostering a nationwide brotherhood of Orthodox priests and deacons committed to visiting those in prison facilities near them. OCPM has even partnered with St. Tikhon’s Seminary to offer the first Certificate Program in Prison Ministry

for Orthodox clergy and laity who are ready to be trained by the most experienced practitioners of Orthodox prison ministry in this country.

Still, despite the growing demand for an Orthodox presence in prison and the ever-changing environment of facilities themselves,…