About the Light a Candle App

Introduction to the Light a Candle Virtual Chapel App

The Virtual Chapel interactively re-creates the devotional practice of picking up a candle, lighting it, and placing it in a stand, as if users were in an Orthodox church.

It includes an integrated playlist-driven audio player, as well as links to donations and sharing. It is customizable to allow for a background image from the parish and additional features, providing a unique and customized user experience.

The application should work in virtually all modern browsers using HTML5 that works on desktop computers and mobile devices alike. The app is currently NOT optimized for mobile browsers. 

Parishes can use it to encourage engagement of parishioners, and maintain relationships with members who may be traveling or have moved. It can also be used to drive donations to the parish, via the "Donate" button. The audio player can be used to showcase recordings of the parish choir or other related content, such as homilies or other recordings.

Examples:

 

What does Light a Candle Cost?

We offer the hosted option of Light a Candle for free to parishes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. All other parishes and organizations have the choice to purchase the full code base for $2,000 or to go with the hosted option for $250/year.

How Can I Get "Light a Candle" on our Website?

For the Light a Candle program, parishes will need to provide us the following:

  1. An image to be used as the background of the app (jpg, at least 1920 x 1080 pixels). The image does not need to include candelabras as we will be adding our own to the image.
  2. Text to be placed in the About section.
  3. Donate link URL. This may be a PayPal page or other donation portal.
  4. Web Address on your site where you will be embedding the app (for the email generated by clicking on "Share")
  5. Preferred color for the top navigation bar
  6. Optional: Any music you wish to use in MP3 format

A Tale of Two "Light a Candle"s

Lighting a candle as part of prayer is a natural expression seen in Orthodox Churches. When parishioners are unable to attend church in person, you may want to give them an opportunity to virtually light a candle through your website.

There are two "Light a Candle" experiences available for your website. An interactive "Light a Candle" module offered by the Archdiocese Department of Internet Ministries and a "Light a Candle" Donation System, which was conceived by St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, FL. 

The product offered by Internet Ministries is an interactive virtual module, not a donation system. The donation system conceived by St. Mark Church is made up of the following parts: (a) an online donation tool; (b) someone at the parish who lights a candle for the person who made the donation; (c) that person takes a photo of the candle being lit and sends it to the donor.

For more on the "Light a Candle" donation system, check out the following links:

Ready to Get Started - Light a Candle

Ready to Get Started?

If you would like to learn more or are ready to add the Light a Candle to your website, please contact the Department of Internet Ministries by submitting a helpdesk request at support.goarch.org .