Blog Posts
We held our semi-annual plenary board meeting from August 20-August 22, in Piermont, New York. (Yes, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri threatened to join us!) We've drawn up a lot of plans that we'll be telling you about in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we're delighted to introduce you to our new Executive Board, all of them faces you've seen and voices you've heard here before.
Patricia Fann Bouteneff (on left) is returning to her role as President. She holds a doctorate in Modern Greek from Oxford University and is a former academic, communications professional, and corporate chief-of-staff.
Axia Women has been active for two years now, I'm proud to say. Take a look at what we've been up to and what we're planning in our first annual report. (Sounds boring? Think again! We've got two great stories for you, and have tucked the numbers away at the end, though they tell a pretty good tale, too.)
I think by now we all know about Zoom fatigue—and it’s real! On Sunday evening two weeks ago, we brought together some friends and friends-of-friends from around the country for an hour of peace, fellowship, and crafting.
Axia will be heading into strategic Board planning at the end of August. This reflective process comes at a critical time as our small board works to keep up with the trends and needs of Orthodox women. Our ever-increasing reach on FB and Instagram, as well as the requests we receive for individual and community support, advice, and prayer, tells us our network is important and vital to the health of our Church and its jurisdictions in the U.S.
If I’m being totally honest, I didn’t always have a great relationship with St. Paul. I found—and sometimes still find— reading him a struggle. This is particularly as a woman. Not only are a lot of his texts are taken out of context and weaponized, but even the ones that haven’t been can still be difficult.
So many other people have written profoundly and at length about Mother Maria Skobtsova that I hesitate a little to write briefly about her here. But, as it's her feast day, I wanted to bring up an aspect of her life that might speak to you the way it did to me.
I haven't had a clear career arc. I grew up intending to be a writer, then through undergrad and beyond became a classicist, then a Modern Greek scholar, then a folklorist; taught in higher ed for a few short years, developed a freelance editing practice, spent a decade in corporate communications at massive financial services company--and now I'm one of the people behind Axia Women. Talk about zigzagging!
