Personal Comment – ORTHODOX PRAXIS

September 28, 2020October 1, 2020

The Divine Trust

“Receive this Divine Trust and guard it until the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, at which time it will be demanded of you by Him.”

This direct instruction was given to me by Metropolitan Isaiah at my ordination last week as he placed the Lamb of God in my hands. The Lamb had been prepared by him at the Service of Preparation prior to the Divine Liturgy. I do not know if I have ever been so moved and so awed. The thought of being accountable to Our Lord for His Body, the Church, is not only awe inspiring, it is sobering. It is something beyond understanding. You are the Body of Christ. His Eminence’s admonition goes to the heart of priesthood. Christ’s priesthood is a priesthood for His people. He alone is Holy and yet we are called to be holy by living in Him and for Him. St. Peter in his first epistle tells us “but as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’.” (1Peter 1, 15 -16). In the Divine Liturgy, we hear “Holy things for the holy people of God.” And the response from you, the people, is “One is Holy, One is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, Amen.”

As I served my first Divine Liturgy this last Sunday, I am even more moved and more impacted by the thought of this “Divine Trust.” The Church teaches that the fringe on the epitrachilion, the stole, which the priest wears around his neck, represents the souls of the faithful which are in-trusted to his care. This is a reminder to the priest of the instruction of the bishop at his ordination. At the ordination these words were spoken and yet it is something that must be absorbed in one’s consciousness and in one’s spirit and never be allowed to be forgotten. I pray that as I serve in His Holy Altar, He will always guide me and will keep this charge vivid in my heart. Thank you for your prayers and support. God Bless…fr g

September 21, 2020October 1, 2020

Christ the Only Priest

On Sunday, I was ordained into the Holy Priesthood in Our Holy Orthodox Church. In the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn prior to the Great Entrance, the priest prays the words of St John Chrysostomos. The saint has succinctly captured what every priest must feel especially when he thinks of his unworthiness: “…for to serve You is great and awesome even for the heavenly powers.” These feelings are something that I will carry with me each time I am privileged to serve the Liturgy. Even though, I cannot speak with you all personally, I do want to thank you all for your prayers and your support. His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah, Dn Paul and Fr. Vasileios were there at the altar with me and their prayers very much strengthened me. Even more than that day, when I reflect on their wisdom and example, I will find them models to emulate and inspire.

For so many years, His Eminence has been the icon of Christ for those of us in our Metropolis. His humble spiritual leadership has been a blessing to us all. He will always be in my prayers. As I said in my remarks prior to the ordination, I have been blessed to work with many bishops, priest and deacons all my life. I cannot name them all individually here, but each, those in God’s Kingdom, and those serving His people now are shining examples of dedicated servants of Our Lord. My biggest sadness on that day is that because of our present crisis my children and grandchildren were not personally with me. They were missed more than I can say, I thank all my family for their support and encouragement.

The icon above is called Christ the High Priest. It is always found on the throne of the bishop in every Orthodox church. This is to remind us that Christ’s priesthood is THE priesthood of the Church. As St Paul reminds us in his epistle to the Hebrews, Christ is the priest, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” All bishops are icons of His priesthood. As the continuing presence of the apostles in the Church, it is they that connect us to His ministry and safeguard the treasury of tradition in the Church and as the words of the liturgy remind us their role is to “rightly teaching the word of your truth.”

That same prayer we spoke of above is the only prayer in the Divine Liturgy designated for the priest to read for himself. This beautiful prayer emphatically teaches us a great lesson:

“….make me worthy, your sinful and unworthy servant,

to offer these gifts to You. For You are the Offerer and

the Offered; the Accepted and the Distributed, O Christ

Our God…..

Fr Alexander Schmemann in his wonderful book Eucharist reminds us that we enter the church as individuals to be formed by His Holy Spirit into one body, the Body of Christ, with Our Lord at our head. Together, we ascend to God’s throne to worship the Lord. As we approach the Holy Chalice for communion, we must know that we are being given communion by Christ, we receive Christ, His body and blood to become one with Christ and with each other. As the above prayer teaches us that it is Christ the Priest that is offered and is the offerer. As a new priest in His Holy Church this is the greatest lesson that I must always keep in my heart. I ask that your prayers strengthen me and that our Lord grant me His peace each and every time I stand before His Holy Altar. God Bless…..fr.g

September 11, 2020

This Day of Remembrance

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine

Today is a sober day of reflection for all Americans. As time goes by there is a natural tendency to forget events and their impact. September 11th. should not be one of those days. We mourn the loss of so many of our fellow citizens both on that day and those that have succumb to injuries from that day. We should never forget those who perished in the infernal fires and the first responders whose courage we marveled at on that day.

For us Orthodox Christians the day has additional significance because we lost the humble and historic church of St, Nicholas, destroyed that day. The reconstruction of St Nicholas Church has been a long time coming. It now appears that with the leadership of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and the generosity of many of our fellow Orthodox believers that St. Nicholas Church and National Shrine is being erected once again. We can be truly grateful to Our Lord for this blessing.

Today, I would ask you all to set aside a moment or two to remember those who sacrificed their lives and the many families that have been impacted as a result of this tragedy.

O Lord comfort those who morn and give them your joy and

Healing!

O God of spirits and of all flesh, You trampled upon death

and abolished the power of the devil, giving life to Your world.

Give rest to the souls of Your departed servants in a place

of light, in a place of green pasture, in a place of refreshment,

from where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. As a

good and loving God, forgive every sin they have committed

in word, deed, or thought, for there is no one who lives and

does not sin. You alone are without sin. Your righteousness

is an everlasting righteousness, and Your word is truth.

For You are the resurrection, the life, and the repose of Your

departed servant, Christ our God, and to You we offer glory,

with Your eternal Father who is without beginning and Your

all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever

and to the ages of ages. AMEN.

May their Memory be Eternal!

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April 4, 2020

Meditation on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt – The Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

St. Mary of Egypt and Abba Zosimas

On this the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, we have an opportunity to learn from three different examples that the Church presents us, the Epistle, the Gospel reading, and the life of St. Mary of Egypt.

As a starting point let’s look at the last sentence of the Epistle reading (Hebrews. 9, 13). St. Paul ends this passage with the statement “Purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” We might ask ourselves, what are ‘dead works?” For examples let’s first go to the Gospel reading of today (Mark 10, 32 – 45). Jesus tells His disciples exactly what is going to happen during His passion. James and John respond in a way that shows how much they don’t get it. They believe Jesus will be an earthly ruler and they want to share in His glory and His power. Their selfish desire is to have a position of prominence over the other disciples. Driven by their egos, they want to be first. In response to their desire to be the most important of the disciples, Jesus defines true leadership for them and for us. Christ replaces their “dead works” of ambition with what it is to truly live in Christ as a servant leader.

The next lesson that the Church presents to us today to help us purify our ‘dead works’ is the story of St. Mary of Egypt. We all know Mary’s story, her conversion from sinner to saint. Looking at her and her early life of degradation, we can see several lessons of “dead works.” No doubt, her lifestyle is a warning to us to not attach ourselves to the pleasures of this life, the pleasures that seduced Mary. There is also a much deeper lesson here for us. Think, what do we feel of when we look at the young Mary? We might say to ourselves – “what a sinner, she is beyond hope, I thank God I am not like her.” How can we point our finger and judge her? We see that God is not finished with Mary, but in our own mind we have already passed judgement on her!

As Mary’s life unfolds, we see the love of God and the prayers of the Theotokos bring her to repentance and to conversion. She destroys her dead works and becomes a model of contrition. Being prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by the force of her sins. Mary recognizes her wretchedness and asks for forgiveness and seeks redemption. After being freed to venerate Christ’s Holy Cross, she flees to the desert beyond the Jordan in obedience to the directions of the Theotokos. Here she finds her true self.

The life of Mary was documented for us by St. Sophronios, the Patriarch of Jerusalem in the seventh century. Sophronios introduces us to the Monk Zosimas, who is lead by God to travel to the desert in search of a holier monk to spiritually edify him. Zosimas journeys into the Jordanian wilderness and encounters a naked stranger. Without telling him her name, Mary recounts her life story. She confesses all her past sins leaving out nothing. She relates how she came to the desert lead by the instructions of the Theotokos. She informs him that she has struggled in the wasteland for 47 years. She tells the monk that for the first 17 years, she battled her demons of temptation; but how her heart was cleansed and purified by God’s love. As she speaks, Zosimas is profoundly affected by her humility and her holiness. Mary’s old life, all her “dead works,” have been purged away and Zosimas sees a soul truly alive in Christ. For us today during this period of “social isolation,” we are living isolated as did Mary. Isolated from everyone, Mary found God and God’s grace. What an opportunity we have to follow the lonely isolation that Mary’s example provides us.

Take a moment to look at the icon, it shows Abba Zosimas giving St. Mary Holy Communion. He returned, one year after their first encounter on Holy Thursday, as Mary had requested. He had not said anything about her to anyone. To his amazement, he witnessed a miracle, as this still unidentified woman, walked on the water and crossed the River Jordan so that she could receive the sacrament. The holy woman asks the monk to return again next year on that very same day to the spot they first met to again give her Holy Communion. Zosimas does as she asks, only to find the incorrupt body of the dead saint laying on the ground. Scratched in the sand beside her was a note asking the monk to bury and to pray for “Mary, the miserable sinner”. The note also said that she had died the very day she first received communion from his hands the year before. Zosimas marveled that Mary had traveled the journey of two days in only one hour and had then peacefully fallen asleep in the Lord. With the miraculous help of a wild lion, Zosimas buried body of the holy saint and returned to his monastery to relate her story. This is the story that was chronicled for us by St. Sophronios. There are many more details you can read for yourself in her life. But even now, close to the end of Great Lent and during our time of isolation, let us remember that Our Lord can heal our dead works of ego, ambition, pride and sinful living if we only turn to Him in sincere repentance. ….God Bless! dn g

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April 4, 2020

We Should All Look to Him

Wisdom from The Prophet Isaiah

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January 27, 2011

DO WE SPEAK OUT ENOUGH?

Earlier in the week the “March for Life” rally as held in Washington, D.C. It is held to coincide with the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision. This year marked the 38^th. anniversary of that court ruling. The question I would like to pose does not have direct bearing on the issue of abortion, as disturbing as it is; but the general topic of the Church and social consciousness. Do we, as an Orthodox community, speak out as often as we should or with a loud enough voice on pressing social issues and moral concerns in this country?

Looking below the surface of this question, what the real question that underlies this concern is; are we comfortable in this country, yet? Have we grown comfortable and confident enough to freely comment on the pressing issues of our society or that confront our nation? This question has bearing on the degree, which we now view ourselves as fully American. Is this country home; or do we still feel like the Diaspora? If we answer by declaring this home, then we absolutely have an obligation to speak with a loud voice of moral guidance based on an Orthodox ethos and ethics.

There is part of me that looks at our reticence to speak with a loud voice as a consequence of our immigrant background. As an immigrant Church, we did not speak out due to our own sense of isolation and insecurity. Our community and even our leadership, both clergy and laity, felt isolated, inferior and was focused introspectively. We looked inward. Fortunately, these days are behind us; or are they? It is fitting to raise our voices in the event of a catastrophe or a difficulty befalling a sister Orthodox community anywhere in the world. This is our duty and our responsibility, to focus the American society and leadership on the difficulties our fellow Orthodox face. But, do we not also have a responsibility to speak to issues that our country faces. Please, encourage our leadership to speak out. Hierarch, clergy and knowledgable lay leadership need to speak out and to attempt to positively influence the course of our nation. The Orthodox social conscious can be that new perspective that the American society needs to make better choices in these crucial times. May Our Lord Guide us all and may the Theotokos ever protect this great country.

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January 19, 2011

A New Year's Challenge

The Saints of January

If you take a quick look at January’s ecclesiastical calendar you notice that it is dominated by big events. Christ’s Circumcision, St Basil, Epiphany and its associated feast days, St. John the Forerunner, St. Anthony, Sts. Athanasios and Cyril and the Three Hierarchs (together and separately). Goodness, it’s enough to make you tired. With this post, I would like to look at some of the other commemoration; lest they slip by us. January has a great number of saints that are not featured in bold type, but are extremely interesting in their diversity and their spiritual examples to us. From the very first day, we see the unfolding of families of holiness with Gregory of Nanzianzos (Sr.), father of Gregory the Theologian, to the last day Sts. Cyrus and John the Unmercinaries. We see examples of piety, sacrifice, people who defended the faith and ascetics. There really isn’t enough space to write concerning each saint, but needless to say the variety and diversity are a little mind boggling.

Perhaps, it is more beneficial to think a moment of the intent of the Church to commemorate saints at all. Why do we bother? What good do all these strange names and strange sounding places do us? Most of the people held up for our consideration are literally strangers. We might know someone named Gregory or Tatiana, but few of us know a Hermylos or a Kalogeras. What good do all these historical figures do us? It would seem to me that we can all acknowledge that we live in an age of celebrity. All over television, radio, newsstands and the internet we can not get away from what some “personality” wore last night, said inappropriately, or with whom they were seen. From film stars, to sports’ figures, politicians or the new name of the week; we are constantly inundated by useless prattle about someone who is looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. The sad truth is that many times, we stop and pay attention; only, so that we are “in the know”. What a sad commentary! When confronted by the Church calendar, do we think that these people, who are commemorated, have been held up as examples for hundreds or even thousands of years? How many present day celebrities will have that kind of staying power? The answers to these rhetorical questions truly challenge us to put our priorities straight. Who do we wish to understand, some temporary here today gone tomorrow plastic celebrity or a saint who has been remembered by Christians throughout the ages. Perhaps, we should put a little effort in getting to know a new saint a month. Pick one, choose a new name and look them up. You can even Google most of them. Make this a project this year. Less fluff and more substance; it might be fun and think of how edifying it will be when we know twelve new saints. Within these saints there very well might be a new friend or someone who catches our imagination with the way they brought Christ alive in their time. If you would like refer to Prologue of Ohrid for information on the saints. (http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html.)

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Category: Personal Comment