Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley 

invites you to 

CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE 

an In-Person Dialogue with Mother Agapia

& Film Screening

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 6:00pm-9:00pm

Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center

17000 Monterey Road

Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Join us to be in community to learn about Christian Palestinians.  Come meet Mother Agapia and watch the film Forbidden Pilgrimage to learn and discuss Christianity in Palestine, their history, their challenges living in the Holy Land under a brutal occupation, their relationship with others in the region. Mother Agapia is a trusted expert on the Eastern Orthodox faith and the Christian connection to the Holy Land of Palestine.

Mother Agapia was recently interviewed on the Tucker Carlson show about Christians in Palestine, how the Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) are treated, and her lived experience in the Holy Land.

Doors open: 5:30pm

Refreshments: 6:00pm

Film and Discussion: 6:30pm

BIO: MOTHER AGAPIA 
Mother Agapia was raised in a family with a strong tradition of serving the Greek Orthodox Church in America. During her college years at the University of Michigan, she joined a friend on a trip to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, and soon began attending services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). As her Orthodox faith deepened, she discerned a calling to monastic life and in 1991 was made a novice at the newly established Skete of Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr in Jordanville.

After a trip to Jerusalem in May 1996, she received a blessing to join the larger and well established Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem. In September 1998 she was appointed administrator of the Convent’s Orthodox Girls School of Bethany located just over the Mount of Olives in the Palestinian town of Al-Azarya. Serving at the School until August 2005, a time which coincided with the Second Palestinian Intifada, she became intimately connected to the lives and struggles of the local Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim.

Due to upheaval in the political situation and within the Church she returned to New York in 2008, where her current community, the Convent of Saint Nicholas of Myra,https://www.stnicholasconvent.org was established in May 2009. Her ministry at the Convent has included organizing youth retreats, maintaining her ties to the Holy Land both by organizing twice yearly pilgrimages, and by inviting young Palestinian Christians to the Convent each summer to take part in social, cultural, and religious activities. The relationships developed between young Orthodox Christians in Palestine and the United States has been a source of joy and encouragement. The Convent recently relocated to Owego, New York, to be closer to Saint Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Church (GOC), whose members have long and faithfully supported the endeavors of the community.

Co-Sponsored by:

Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley (AACC)

Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)

If Americans Knew (IAK)

Jewish Voice for Peace - South Bay

Showing Up for Racial Justice - Santa Clara County

Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)

San Jose Peace & Justice Center

Soul of My Soul Exhibit (SOMSE)

Gilroy Stands United Against Hate

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP - San Jose/ Silicon Valley Branch)

Come Learn and Be in Community.