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The St. John Chrysostom Oratory Festival is a national ministry of the Department of Religious Education (DRE) of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America that focuses on faith, education and fellowship. Young Greek Orthodox participants present speeches about faith and the Church exploring and deepening their faith while honing their speech-writing and public speaking skills. National finalists receive significant monetary awards and finalists at all four levels receive scholarships. The Oratory Festival was created in 1983 by DRE Director Ernest Villas and Minerva Stergianopoulos, and began in 1984.
Information on the 2024 Oratorical Festival
Promotional material for the 2024 Oratorical Festival
Logo of the Oratory Festival of Saint John Chrysostom
Leaflet for the Oratory Festival of Saint-Jean Chrysostom
About the Oratory Festival
Launched in 1983, the St. John Chrysostom Oratory Festival offers Greek Orthodox teenagers the opportunity to write and speak about their faith. The oratorical festival program begins at the parish level and is divided into three divisions:
Elementary division (local festival only) for grades 4-6
Junior division for students in grades 7-9
Senior division for students in grades 10-12
The best speakers from the junior and senior divisions advance to the district level (if applicable). Two finalists in each district division represent the district at the Metropolis Oratorical Festival. The best speaker from each metropolis division is then selected to participate in the national finals, organized each year by a different metropolis.
The eighteen finalists of the National Public Speaking Festival participate in a weekend of activities culminating in the delivery of their speeches on Saturday morning. The Oratory Festival offers university scholarships and awards to the best speakers.
Katherine Orfanakos Demacopoulos is the national president of the festival.
National oratory festival
Each year, the national final of the oratory festival is organized by a parish from a different metropolis under the Greek Orthodox archdiocese.
This year, the 2024 St. John Chrysostom Oratory Festival will be hosted by Metro Detroit and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Buffalo, NY on the weekend of June 7-9.
The 2023 St. John Chrysostom Oratory Festival was hosted by Metropolitan New Jersey at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, June 9-11.
Information on scholarships and awards
Participants in the National Oratory Festival finals receive prizes from the St. John Chrysostom Oratory Festival Rewards Fund ranging from $500 to $2,000. The Faith Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism Scholarships and the Chrysostom Scholarship Program at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology at Hellenic College also offer scholarships to finalists.
FAITH: An endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism
Each finalist receives an additional scholarship from FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism as part of their grant to the archdiocese. FAITH has been awarding these awards to finalists of the Oratory Festival since 2007. We are grateful to the founders of FAITH for their generous support of the young people of our archdiocese and the finalists of the Saint-Jean Chrysostom Oratory Festival.
The Chrysostom scholarship for the Hellenic College
Each first, second and third place finalist in the senior and junior divisions at the parish, district, metropolitan and national levels of competition is eligible to receive a Chrysostom Scholarship upon acceptance to Hellenic College. This scholarship offers awards ranging from $2,500 to $30,000 per year for four years.
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Click here for more information on the scholarship.
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To register, please complete the registration form found here.
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For a printable flyer to display at festivals in your parish, district and metropolis, click here.
Preparing for a local oratory festival
Holy Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church in Brookville, New York, hosted one of the most successful oratorical festival programs in our archdiocese. The key to their success was excellent organization and continuous contact of the festival president with everyone involved at the local level, as well as with the district, the metropolis and the archdiocese.
The Department is very grateful to Ms. Vivian Casil for sharing a set of downloadable letters and documents (pdf) used by the Parish of the Resurrection and which could be useful to you in organizing your parish oratory festival.
