Oratorical Festival
The Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical and Fine Arts Festival is a long-standing tradition that provides a unique opportunity for our youth both to learn about their faith and to display their talents in the areas of Speech, Essay, Poetry, Iconography, Vocal Solo and Vocal Chant. The Oratorical Festival is divided into the Senior Division (grades 10-12) and Junior Division. (grades 7-9). The participants start by participating in the parish level festival. Those who are successful at their individual parish festivals in the Junior and Senior divisions are invited to participate at the Metropolis Festival, where the top three finalists in each category and division will be awarded. Those who place first in the Junior and Senior Speech (only) divisions will proceed to the National Festival, which is hosted by a different metropolis each year.
ANNOUNCING THE 2026 PROGRAM
ATTENTION ASCENSION 7th -12th GRADERS!
Express Your Faith! Represent your Parish! Do you like to write? Draw? Chant? Present your point in front of an audience? Don’t miss the opportunity to show your God-given talents as a writer, speaker, artist and vocalist by participating in the 2026 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical and Fine Arts Festival. This year, Ascension's Parish Festival will take place on Sunday, March 15, following Divine Liturgy. Submissions are due to Ascension on Wednesday, March 11. Submissions that advance from the Junior and Senior Divisions (grades 7-12) will present at the Metropolis Oratorical Festival on Bright Saturday, April 18, hosted by St. Mary's Church in Minneapolis, MN. See this year's topics and more information below.
4th-6th GRADERS, THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU, TOO!
If you are in 4th-6th grade, there's a program for you, too, that helps you reflect about your faith and help you practice for when you are older! The purpose of the Elementary Division is to offer children the opportunity to express their feelings about their Faith and Church while gaining confidence and laying the groundwork for later participation in the Junior and Senior Divisions. Click HERE for more information on the Elementary Division Program.
For more information about Ascension's Oratorical Program, please contact our Oratorical chairpersons, Zoe Maglaras & Nectaria Zouras @ oratorical@ascensiongoc.com.
IMPORTANT 2026 DATES
- Ascension's 2026 Parish level Oratorical Festival will take place on Sunday, March 15, following Divine Liturgy in the Anagnos Fellowship Hall
- Parish Submissions are due Wednesday, March 11
- Entries that advance to the Metropolis must be submitted to the Metropolis by Monday, March 30, 2026. This is also the date that presenters must be registered with the Metropolis.
- With the blessings of His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael, the 42nd Annual Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical and Fine Arts Festival will be held on Bright Saturday, April 18, 2026 at St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, MN.
- The National Oratorical Festival, which includes the Metropolis winners for the Speech category only, is scheduled to take place during the weekend of June 12 - 14, 2026 at St.Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge, California.
2026 TOPICS & RESOURCES
The Metropolis level Oratorical Festival will once again offer 6 categories (Speech, Essay, Poetry, Iconography, Vocal Solo, and Vocal Chant), each with 2 divisions (Senior and Junior). Youth are invited to register for as many as two separate events. The guidelines for all categories are contained in the Parish Information Packet, and a deep dive into the 2026 topics can be found in the Archdiocese Topics, Tips and Resources document, which includes a expansive resources such as articles, websites, and liturgical documents. It also includes helpful suggestions to assist participants in brainstorming, developing, and writing their Oratorical Festival speeches.
2026 TOPICS
Click HERE for information about researching your topic and developing your presentation.
JUNIOR DIVISION (Grades 7-9)TOPIC 1
Select a hymn that is chanted in the Divine Liturgy and explain its meaning and theological significance.
TOPIC 2
Choose a Saint who was a child or young person. How did their faith influence their life, and what can we learn from them?
TOPIC 3
Who is the Ecumenical Patriarch, and why is he significant in the Orthodox Church today?
TOPIC 4
Choose an Old Testament story (such as David and Goliath, Daniel in the lion’s den, or Joseph and his brothers) and explain how it teaches us important lessons that apply to young people today.
TOPIC 5
Select a major Orthodox feast day and explain why we celebrate it and how participating in this celebration deepens our understanding of Christ and our faith.
SENIOR DIVISION (Grades 10-12)TOPIC 1
Pick a common icon type that is found in Orthodox churches (for example Christ Pantocrator, Virgin Hodegetria, the Resurrection icon) and explain its meaning and theological significance.|
TOPIC 2
Why is the feast of Pentecost important and what does the story of Pentecost teach us about the Holy Spirit?
TOPIC 3
Saint John frequently contrasts light and darkness in his Gospel and letters. Choose one of his teachings about light (such as “God is light” or Christ as “the light of the world”) and discuss how this imagery helps us understand our Christian calling and witness.
TOPIC 4
Throughout history, Orthodox Christians have faced persecution for their faith, from ancient martyrs to modern confessors. How does the witness of martyrs, both ancient and contemporary, strengthen and guide the Church today?
TOPIC 5
Orthodox funeral services speak of death as “falling asleep” and emphasize the hope of resurrection. How does Orthodox teaching about death and eternal life influence how we live and how we care for the dying and grieving?
RESOURCES
METROPOLIS OF CHICAGO INFORMATION PACKET
ARCHDIOCESE TOPICS, TIPS & RESOURCES PACKET
Click for the Information Packet complete with all submission guidelines (length of speech, essay, format for icon and vocal submission, etc.), presentation guidelines and evaluation criteria. NOTE: The Music Selections (for Vocal Solo and Vocal Chant) are contained in the Parish Information Packet above.
METROPOLIS OF CHICAGO 2026 WELCOME LETTER (forthcoming)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For more information about Ascension's Oratorical Program, please contact our Oratorical chairpersons, Zoe Maglaras & Nectaria Zouras @ oratorical@ascensiongoc.com
Visit the Metropolis of Chicago Oratorical Webpage HERE
Visit the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America's official 2026 Oratorical Website HERE
2025 Parish Oratorical Festival Recap
VIEW PHOTOS 
2024 ORATORICAL FESTIVAL
We are immensely proud of the youth that participated in this year’s Parish Oratorical Festival on April 10, 2024. Twelve Ascension youth submitted 14 entries expressing their faith through word, song, and art, and our community was able to see their hard work both at the festival and after Divine Liturgy on Sunday, April 14 when the speech entries presented their work to the congregation. Maria Zouras and Chris Zouras will present their speeches at the Metropolis level on Bright Saturday, along with vocal chanting from Maria Zouras and Maria Malamis, a poem by Constantine Zouras, and an icon by Thanasi Maglaras.
2023 METROPOLIS & NATIONAL EVENTS
CHICAGO METROPOLIS ORATORICAL FESTIVAL HELD AT ASCENSION OF OUR LORD CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE ON APRIL 29, 2023
It was an inspirational and historic day at Ascension on April 29, 2023 when our Parish hosted the Metropolis of Chicago St. John Chrysostom Oratorical & Fine Arts Festival for the first time in conjunction with the year-long celebration of our 25th Anniversary. Metropolitan Nathanael, along with more than 200 people, from 26 parishes, throughout 5 states across the Midwest, gathered to witness 7th-12th grade youth express their Orthodox faith through Jr. & Sr. Division Categories in Speech, Song, Chant, Essay, Poetry, and Iconography.
We are very excited to announce that the following Ascension parishioners placed first across 5 of the 6 Jr. Division categories offered: Dina Anteliz, 1st Place, Poetry; Thanasi Maglaras, 1st Place, Iconography; Alexis Petros, 1st Place, Essay; and Maria Malamis, who placed 1st in both Vocal Chant and Speech Categories. Maria Malamis will go on to represent Ascension and the Metropolis of Chicago in the Jr. Division Speech category at the National Oratorical Festival, June 9-11, at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey! AXIOI to all our youth! We are so proud of you!
View the 2023 Metropolis Oratorical Festival Program Book
View Photos from the Metropolis Oratorical Festival
NATIONAL ORATORICAL FESTIVAL, JUNE 9-11, 2023
With the blessing of Archbishop Elpidophoros, the Archdiocesan National St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival, which includes only the Metropolis winners, both Junior and Senior, for the Speech category, took place the weekend of June 9-11, 2023, at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey. Congratulations to Maria Malamis who represented the Metropolis of Chicago and Ascension of Our Lord at the 2023 Festival!
2023 Parish St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival
We congratulate our 11 presenters and thank our 3 judges who participated in this year’s Parish Oratorical Festival held March 22, 2023. It is very heartwarming and inspirational to witness our Orthodox faith and history through the perspectives and hearts of our youth. AXIOI! Speech, Chant, Essay, Poetry, and Iconography submissions that advance from the Parish festival presented at the Metropolis of Chicago's St. John Chrysostom Oratorical & Fine Arts Festival, which was held at Ascension on Saturday, April 29 (see above).
2022 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival
In 2022, Ascension's Parish Oratorical Festival took place at Ascension on Wednesday, April 6th. Submissions were submitted by Thursday, March 31st.
At the Metropolis level, the Annual Saint John Chrysostom Oratorical and Fine Arts Festival was held on Bright Saturday, April 30, 2022 at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee. Ascension had six of our young parishioners compete at the Metropolis level Oratorical Festival on Βright Saturday in Milwaukee and all six placed and received awards! One of our young parishioners advanced to Nationals and took first place in the Jr. Division Competition (see below)!
Click HERE to view the 2022 Metropolis Oratorical Program.
ASCENSION PARISHIONER PLACES FIRST IN 2022 NATIONAL ORATORICAL FESTIVAL JR. DIVISION COMPETITION
AXIOS! On June 4, 2022, Chris Zouras represented Ascension and the Metropolis of Chicago at the 38th annual festival in Dallas, Texas, and placed first against finalists in the Jr. Division from each Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Metropolis throughout America! Chris’ presentation focused on The Sunday of Orthodoxy, and in particular, the service that took place in 2020 just before COVID halted worship services that year. Chris, who is an active member of Ascension’s Jr. GOYA and the Acolyte ministries, first competed on April 6th at our Parish Festival, moved on to take first place at the Metropolis of Chicago festival on Bright Saturday at Annunciation Church in Milwaukee, and then was among the nine finalists competing in the National Festival at Holy Trinity Church in Dallas. We are very proud of Chris for using his God-given talents to express his faith, and also offer our congratulations to his parents, John & Nectaria Zouras. Read More in the Orthodox Observer article HERE.
