You stay connected through prayer, Scripture, and your baptism into Christ’s Body. The Church isn’t just a building on Calder Avenue.
When you evacuate for a hurricane, you can’t take much. But you can take your faith. The Divine Liturgy is the center of our life as Orthodox Christians, and missing it hurts. It should hurt. But physical separation from your parish doesn’t sever you from the Body of Christ. You’re still Orthodox. You’re still connected. You’re still being saved.
Pack a small spiritual kit alongside your medications and documents. Include a travel icon or small cross, a prayer rope for the Jesus Prayer, and a printed copy of your morning and evening prayers. Don’t rely on your phone having service or battery. Write down your priest’s contact information and the addresses of Orthodox parishes along your evacuation route. If you’re heading to Houston or San Antonio or Dallas, know where the nearest Orthodox church is before you leave.
Keep your prayer rule simple
Your normal prayer rule might not work in a hotel room with your whole family or at your sister’s house in Austin. That’s fine. Adapt it. Say the Trisagion, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed each morning. Read one Gospel passage. Pray the Jesus Prayer on your rope while you’re sitting in traffic on I-10. St. Silouan of Mount Athos kept the Jesus Prayer going through everything. You can too.
At night, say your evening prayers. Read a Psalm. Psalm 50 works for any situation. Ask God’s mercy for yourself, your family, everyone back home, and everyone else displaced by the storm. Then sleep.
This isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about staying connected to Christ when everything else feels unstable. Prayer isn’t magic, but it’s real. It does something. You’re not just talking to yourself.
The Eucharist matters
You’ll miss Liturgy. Maybe for a week, maybe longer depending on when it’s safe to return and whether the building took damage. That absence should feel wrong because the Eucharist is how we’re united to Christ and to each other. We’re not Baptists who can skip church for a month and call it fine.
But economia exists for situations like this. If you’re near another Orthodox parish while evacuated, go to Liturgy there. Call ahead if you need confession. Most Orthodox priests will help you receive Communion even if you’re not from their jurisdiction. We’re one Church. If there’s no Orthodox parish nearby, keep your heart oriented toward the Eucharist. Long for it. Prepare for it. Plan to make confession and receive Communion as soon as you’re back home.
The early Christians sometimes went months without the Eucharist during persecutions. They stayed Orthodox through prayer, Scripture, and their commitment to return to the chalice when they could. You can do the same for a week or two.
You’re not alone
Tell your priest you’re evacuating and where you’re going. Text him when you’re safe. He’s praying for you, and he needs to know who’s accounted for. If you end up displaced for a while, he can help you connect with clergy wherever you are.
Stay in touch with other parishioners if you can. Pray for each other by name. The Church isn’t just the priest and the building. It’s all of us together in Christ. When you’re scattered, that unity has to be intentional.
And remember that the saints are still with you. The Theotokos is still interceding. Your patron saint is still praying. You didn’t leave them behind in Beaumont. They’re wherever you are.
When you get back
Come to Liturgy as soon as you can. Make confession if you need to. Receive Communion. Reconnect with your parish family face to face. Tell people you’re okay. Ask how they are. Help clean up if the building or someone’s house needs it.
Evacuation disrupts everything, but it doesn’t break your connection to the Church unless you let it. Keep praying. Keep reading Scripture. Keep your heart turned toward God and toward home. The Church has survived worse than hurricanes. So will you.
If you need help figuring out where Orthodox parishes are along your evacuation route, ask before hurricane season starts. We’ll get you a list. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.
