Lest We Forget Halki 1971 – 2021

The Patriarchal Theological School of Halki

This new year is one of promise and expectation, yet it marks a sad but significant anniversary of which we faithful should always be cognizant.  This year is the 50th anniversary of the tragic closure of the historic and renown Patriarchal Theological School of Halki . As an Archon of the Great Church,  I deeply feel that we Orthodox Christians should be aware of the impact of this tragic attack on Religious Liberty.  Most especially at this time. after the unlawful conversion into a mosque of the Great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the historic Church of Our Saviour in Chora by the Turkish government, we need to educate ourselves. Our school of Halki has been educating Orthodox  clergy since 1844, yet it remains closed by order of the Turkish authorities. Below please find an excellent paper by Archon Elias Damianakis, the celebrated iconographer. Please take a few minutes to educate yourselves. Tell the story and support the reopening of our school as a matter of Religious Freedom with letters to your elected officials. God Bless and  Happy New Year…..Fr. George

HALKI 1971 2021

Clergy at Risk

As you know I have only recently been ordained into the Holy Priesthood. As the son, nephew and cousin of priests, I can attest to the truth of this article. I know and respect George Stavros who  is the  Clinical Associate Professor of Pastoral Psychology and serves as the Executive Director of the Danielsen Institute at Boston University. He is a a world authority and expert in this field. He is also a devoted family man and pious Orthodox Christian.  As you interact with your parish priest please be aware of the demands on his time and the effect on his family. God Bless…..fr g

https://publicorthodoxy.org/2020/11/19/clergy-at-risk/

 

 

Hagia Sophia.

May the Christ and the Theotokos always protect our Holy Church

On September 1st. Dumbarton Oaks presented a beautiful and interesting webinar on Hagia Sophia. This is a link to watch it. I hope you enjoy it. Always pray that Our Lord, the Holy Wisdom of God, and the Theotokos, the Protectress of the Queen City, keep this our Church under the shelter of their blessings.

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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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God Save Your Church!!

Icons of the Church of Our Saviour of Chora

The Holy Church of Our Saviour in the Country(Chora) – ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Ἁγίου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ Χώρᾳ, is one of the greatest churches and monastery complexes of Constantinople. Originally build by St. Constantine the Great and continually rebuilt and adorned from the 4th to the 14th centuries, it falls victim to the tyrannical whims of a present day dictator. All these sacred icons and more are now to be desecrated by the decree of the Turkish government. It is being established as a mosque. These steps are part of a continuous attack on the Orthodox Christian legacy of Byzantium. If you wish to be inspired by the other priceless great icons of the Church link to https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=images+and+Icons+of+Chora+Church&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

This current persecution comes only one month after the Blessed Hagia Sophia was opened as a mosque. Let us pray most especially for Our Patriarch and the Patriarchate because these calculated moves are a direct attack on its position in Constantinople. Please take the time and write our elected representatives decrying the lack of Religious Freedom in Turkey. As an Archon of the Great Church, I urge you to stand with us to protect our Church. This effort can be assisted by educating yourself and signing a petition at: https://www.archons.org

God Bless….dn. g

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Hagia Sophia

The Church of the Holy Wisdom

Dumbarton Oaks is a Harvard University research institute, library, museum, and garden located in Washington, DC. It is a world renown site of research in the area of Byzantine Studies. On September 1, 2020 they will present a scholarly webinar on Hagia Sophia: The History of the Building and the Building in History

The Great Church of the Holy Wisdom is the perpetual symbol of the Orthodox grandeur of Byzantium build to the Glory of God. If you wish to attend this educational webinar this is the link to register: https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/scholarly-activities/hagia-sophia-the-history-of-the-building-and-the-building-in-history

“Dumbarton Oaks is conceived in a new pattern . . . it is the home of the Humanities, not a mere aggregation of books and objects of art.”


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Hagia Sophia

The Great Church

In the age of COVID and our hustle bustle lives, issues come and go. The issue of the Great Church of Christ cries out for our attention. I am re-printing this letter to refresh our memories and to remind us all that we need to be united, write our congressional representatives and above all bend our knees in prayer. Don’t let this issue slip from your hearts and minds. God Bless….dn g

THE HOLY EPARCHIAL SYNOD 
OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA

Holy Wisdom, Arise! – Ἁγία Σοφία, Ὀρθοί!

Sunday, July 12, 2020

To the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We, the Members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, under the presidency of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, write to you in the power of the Holy Spirt in these anguished days when the Great Church of Christ, the Patriarchal Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, Ἁγία Σοφία, institutionalized for the past ninety years as a museum and world cultural monument, has been re-converted into a mosque. This egregious and unnecessary action has gravely wounded all Orthodox Christians, indeed all Christians around the world and all people of faith and good will.

As your Shepherds and the guardians of the Faith, we mourn with you. But we all know the truth: Ἁγία Σοφία was built as a Christian Church, the greatest Christian Church for a thousand years, until it became the spoils of war and was converted into a mosque. It was the glory of the civilized Christian world for centuries, an architectural marvel of the transfiguration of terrestrial into the manifestation of the celestial. From its central dome, borne aloft on clouds of light, the Great Church comprised a vision of Heaven on earth, and its Liturgy was the most magnificent the world has ever seen. As the embassy of Saint Vladimir, Prince of Kyiv and All Rus uttered after being present for the Divine Service: “We did not know whether we were on earth or in heaven!” Such is the spiritual intensity of every aspect of the Great Church. Her iconography is a crowning spiritual aesthetic, achieving the vision, the θεωρία of God among humankind. Through the centuries, all who approached Constantinople by sea or land beheld her towering majesty rising above the massive walls that encircled the Queen of Cities. She was a reminder of the triumph of Resurrection over sin and death, and the surety of God’s love and care for His People. She was and indeed still is the very heart of Orthodoxy, for she manifests even now the way to be true co-creators with the Creator of all of a truly Christian culture, civilization, and polity.

Even during the centuries of the Ottoman period, the power of Ἁγία Σοφία, although now used as an Islamic shrine, was unmistakable, and unmistakably Christian. Throughout the Orthodox world the Great Church remained a symbol of the Orthodox Faith of the Ecumenical Councils which bound the far flung Orthodox Peoples together. Even the stunning design of the Church was repeated across the Islamic world in every city and town, as the overwhelming beauty of its presence inspired builders throughout what we now call the Middles East.

But let us make it very clear. For the Orthodox Christian, there is only one Great Church of Christ. There would be many other “Hagia Sophias” built around the world; most notably in Kyiv for the People of Rus, but none dared to imitate the original. She was to stand alone, at the center of the circle of the Orthodox World for all to relate to as do the spokes on a wheel. We are all connected to the Great Church, whether we know and acknowledge this or not.

Therefore, in response to what has happened, we also ask the question posed to the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost: “Τί ποιήσομεν, ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί –Brethren, what then must we do?” (Acts 2:37). First and foremost, we must bend our knees before the Holy Wisdom of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and beseech Him through the intercessions of His Holy Mother to protect the Great Church of Christ that lives on in the person of our Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. We must pray that God will arise and scatter every ill intention that may manifest toward our community of faith and indeed all the religious minorities in Turkey.

And we must arise, beloved Christians. We must arise and speak out for the silent stones of Ἁγία Σοφία. We must go to our Christian neighbors and friends here in this free land of America, and ask for their prayers and their help. We must arise and speak to our elected leaders and demand that they act in conscience and righteousness to protest by every means possible this defiance of the modern sensibility which respects not only diversity, but the status quo that allows for the peaceful and harmonious cohabitation of nations, religions, races, and ethnicities.

We must arise and as the People of God, make our voices heard from Washington State to Washington, DC, and not lose heart, lose faith, or lose courage because, though our struggle may be long, it is not without our ultimate hope. Remember that there is no one alive today who remembers Ἁγία Σοφία as either a Church or a mosque. Everyone knows it as the former of both which was honored as an international monument, on par with the Parthenon and the Pyramids of Egypt. It should be allowed to retain its status quo as a place of encounter for Christians and Muslims, and for all people who desire to behold how faith in God can transform the world.

Therefore, let us arise – as Orthodox Christians, as people of conscience with a righteous cause. Let us make our presence and our voices known. Your every breath expended will add to “a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2) that will sweep across the world carrying our message. Not one of hate but one of love, of decency, of understanding, and of mutual respect.

We will never give up our hope, never give up our faith; and we will never give up our love.

Σοφία, Ὀρθοί!

With paternal love in our Lord Jesus Christ,

†ELPIDOPHOROS, Archbishop of America 

and the Holy Eparchial Synod

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