Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            On the first Saturday of November this year, the Church calls us to come together to pray for the souls of all the faithful departed.  This is one of the blessed parts of our inheritance as Orthodox Christians.  It is therefore incumbent upon us to observe this.

            We are led by the world to regard the dead as simply dead and no more.  For example, “What do the dead care…,” etcetera.  They care a great deal, according to our traditions.  Our prayers for departed souls are of great benefit for them and for ourselves.

We are reminded that the community of the Body of Christ, the Church, is not simply made up of those in this life.  Our icons of all the saints remind us of this, but praying for the dead directly puts us even more in touch with this fact.  The more we pray for them, the more we ward off the notions of the demons that anything to do with the dead is merely ghoulish and macabre.

Church Fathers tell us that our prayers help departed souls in their encounters with the results of their shortcomings in this life.  Father Seraphim Rose goes into some detail about these encounters in his book, “The Soul After Death” (highly recommended).  We would also learn of the effects of our prayers in the services themselves, such as the services for Demetrius Saturday (this year 11/6 and 11/7).

By praying for the dead, we put ourselves in line to be prayed for when our time of departure comes.  We are also stimulated by a heightened awareness of death towards repentance.

One benefit to us is not perhaps immediately discernable, but it accrues over time to sensibility.  We slowly become aware that we are close to the souls of those for whom we pray, even those unknown to us.  Joy may overtake us in this awareness because of its unexpectedness.  This is worth working toward, even if we have no Orthodox dead in our families.

            It is true that only Orthodox names may be read aloud in the course of the services for the dead and this is a source of pain for some, including myself.  This does not mean that we do not pray for these dead.  We should pray for the souls of those in our connection each and every day in our private prayers.  And it is no excuse to remain away from the services because we cannot mention our own people aloud.  The services instill in us the teaching of the Church about the dead and put us in frequent remembrance of this teaching and their souls.  If we do not enter into prayers for all the dead, what do we teach those who come after?  Who will pray for us if our children do not know to do so?

            Let us therefore enter with joy into that which will bring us joy, both here and hereafter.  Let us keep the Faith in this way, and keep faith with those who have gone before and with each other for the sake of fulfilling God’s will for us, now and forever in His Kingdom.

            Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With these words, the holy prophet Isaiah calls on the people to, with all their strength, take the place that God has laid out for them.  Just so, we, his new people here at Holy Apostles are called to awaken to the parish community in its need.  As we look at the apparent enormity of our task, we remember that God is on our side; and with Him on our side, we can forget about the other side.  It is by taking one small step after another in the right direction that will get us to any goal.  We each have the strength for such small steps as appear for us to do.

For example, our pump-priming “Loaves and Fishes” fund-raising program.  This is where each of us makes a list of at least five names, gets enough stamps, envelopes and copies of the solicitation letter, mails them, and then we see what God does with the bread we have cast upon the waters.

We have no doubt that, with this and with a continuing succession of similar small steps, God will take us toward our heavenly goal by way of the earthly goal that He shows us.  So far, He shows us that He wants us to have this beautiful site and temple.  The time is here for all and each of us to give something back.  We need to remember that our gifts to God and His Church are not for God’s benefit; it is we who need to give them for our own benefit.  These small efforts, these small gifts, join our prayers to show that we mean what we pray.  Probably no one among us can give a million dollars.  But we do have what we have, all of it belongs to God, and we should therefore give what we can and do what we can.  Even if our individual gift does not equal all that is needed, if we give all that we can give, God sees that and rewards that.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father rushes out to meet the son.  In our case, our Father has come more than halfway to meet us to show us the direction we should go.

We should pray God to give us the sight to see and become aware of our need, not to have, but to give.  If ever there was a time to add to our treasure in heaven, this is that time.

In Christ, Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            We are come to the verge of our great opportunity for service to the Lord.  He has led us to this point as surely as He led the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan, as surely as He came to dwell among us in His incarnation, as surely as He triumphed over death and sin for the sake of our salvation in His death and resurrection.   Like the children of Israel of old and the new-made Church from among the remnant of His people and from among the gentiles, we are His people, we at this little parish of the Holy Apostles.

We know we are His because his gifts to us are miraculous and undeserved, and much needed, especially for the sake of our growth and future as a parish.  He has given us an opportunity to carry forward and better a neglected historical legacy, to raise up that which has fallen.  He has given this to us so that His servants might praise Him from this little corner of His creation.  The English poet, George Herbert, says “Let all the world in every corner sing” to God, and God has shown us by His actions toward us that He means for our new corner of the world, our hilltop temple, to reawaken in divine song.

            Let us take up the task as did Miriam, the sister of Moses, when it was time to dance and sing to God for His great victory.  Let us fulfill His victory and move to our new land, given to us by Him.  Let us not fear the “giant” of this land, the amount of money that it is going to take to complete the task, because God has already cut the giant way down to a very contained and finite size.  It is a giant that with our sacrifice we can bring down.  We can sacrifice our own money, of course.  We can also sacrifice our time to ask others to work on the parish fundraising efforts, for another example.  And we can always at all times pray, pray for each other, pray for the benefactors, the Christian Brothers, pray for the Historical Commission of Prince George’s County which will have a say in how we proceed, and pray for those people who will be our benefactors.

God has given us so much, not only that we might have a new larger temple, but that we as Christians might grow in grace and sanctity, in devotion.  We remember that three years ago, our departed Metropolitan Laurus of most happy memory came to us on that Sunday of All Saints to remind us of saintly devotion, not only in what he said, but through his own example, in pouring out his waning strength for his beloved flock.  Here is in part what he said:

“The first Sunday after the feast of Holy Trinity is called the Sunday of All Saints.  On this day the Holy Church prayerfully glorifies all the saints who have pleased God from the ages.  Included in this Sunday are the Holy Apostles, prophets, martyrs, bishops, monks, nuns, fools for Christ and all the righteous ones.

      Honoring the memory of All Saints soon after the Feast of Holy Pentecost, the Holy Church desires in this way to show that sanctity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which was abundantly poured forth on the Holy Apostles and through them in the Holy Church is poured forth on all believers.

      The Holy Spirit made wise and raised to the ranks of the angels men like unto us, and others were crowned with sanctity for their ascetic and righteous lives.  The ascetic feats of the saints were various, as today's Epistle reading informs us.  The saints conquered enemies visible and invisible with faith.  They patiently endured poverty and all kinds of adversity, persecution, martyrdom, and different forms of death.

      The gospel reading of today testifies that the saints were true confessors of the Holy Faith as they left all behind that hindered them from following the Lord or that prohibited them from fulfilling His holy commandments.

      And in the same way that they confessed the Lord before people, before mankind, does the Lord Jesus Christ confess the saints before His Heavenly Father.  The saints whose memory we commemorate today followed the Lord, they followed His call, and took upon themselves the cross and carried it.”

Amen.  Let us make no mistake.  We are being called.  Let us follow the call, and take up this cross with joy.  Vladyka Laurus said at the very end of his homily, “May God help you.  I will ask that all saints pray to God for us.  Amen.”

And Amen.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            On the 2^nd of this month begins the Great Fast wherein we prepare for the bright and glorious Resurrection of our Lord.  The reason that we fast is so that our more frequent corporate prayer might be less distracted by our earthly needs.  Lent is not a mere change of diet.  By cutting back on our earthly burden, we raise our sights to things above.

            If we believe that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome.  It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth.  From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

Fasting and the other Lenten observances and commemorations that maintain the Church’s life are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us.  The Gospel selection that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration.  With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom, not the freedom of license, but that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal.  Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism.  We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be kept ever in our mind’s eye.  To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth.  Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

Father George

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Again, the Lord has given us a sign of the end of the beginning of our unity in the Russian Church.  Within the same year, the two great participants in the healing of a rift within the Body of Christ are called from this passing world into eternity.

            The parallels with our late Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory are striking.  He passed on the Sunday of Orthodoxy at the end of the first week of the Great Fast.  The Patriarch went to his rest within the period of the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the temple, near the beginning of this Nativity fast.  Both were in fragile health, but neither would allow this to impede their path as diligent arch-pastors, faithfully shepherding their flocks.  They both followed the Lord’s leading in going about “doing good” until the end.

            On the evening of Friday, December 6^th, we served a pannikhida in memory of the just-reposed Patriarch.  Those present included some few who would probably not have been with us were it not for the Patriarch’s labors, together with those of our late Metropolitan, to call all those of the Russian Church, both at home and in the diaspora, into unity.

            We all pray together at the Divine Liturgy for a “Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, peaceful and a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ.”  As it was for our Metropolitan, so was this granted to our Patriarch.  What better defense can be asked for than to have healed a tear in the garment of Christ?

            When we were in Moscow in 2007, many of us for the first time sensed the real significance of what we are a part of in the Russian Church.  In one day, the Feast of the Ascension, we had moved from a state of spiritual “siege”, that is, a growing sectarian mentality, into the fullness of the Church.  Each little event was like a door opening into more and more light.  In the vast space of Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Patriarch proclaims unity and healing in a classic Christian manner of beseeching the Lord for His help, calling to mind King Solomon’s beseeching at the dedication of the temple.  Among the hundreds of clergymen to whom he distributes communion, he gives me the precious gift conveying in his expression the simplest heartfelt joy.

            As we go forward in this Nativity Fast, the Lord, through calling out of this world of His great servant, has called us to pursue our prayer and fasting in preparation for the Incarnation of our Lord with greater focus.  This is always what momentous events mean for the Christian.  We, all of us together, should be about moving from darkness into light, from this world into the heavenly kingdom.  As our late beloved Metropolitan has done, and now as our “great Lord and Father” has done, we too should go about in our lives “doing good” so that we can build up a good hope for our defense before the dread throne as they did.

            May the memory of Patriarch Alexis be eternal.  May our own way be as much in the way toward a blessed eternity as was his.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.

Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 6, verse 38

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

All now are aware of the great gift that God is giving us in a beautiful property of St. Joseph’s chapel and its grounds.  While I have long known and seen that God can do anything, I must confess that I was struck by the whimsical implication of asking for such a gift.  But now, as God brings dreams to reality, we are faced with increased opportunities to serve him with our prayer, time, talent and earnings, since moving the process of acquisition forward is going to require more of all of these from us.  As if to emphasize His outpouring on us, we are given yet another great boon.

We are blessed beyond measure to welcome again to our parish the 700-year-old wonder-working Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign.  We will honor the Mother of God with prayers before her icon, especially in a votive Vigil and Divine Liturgy on the evening of Friday and the morning of Saturday on Thanksgiving weekend.  To refresh the familiar and for those new to the Russian tradition, particularly as concerns the journey of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, this capsule history is offered, copied from the ROCOR website section detailing our Church’s treasured icons.

Father George

Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, Protectress of the Russian Diaspora

On 8 September, 1295, on the day of the Nativity of the Most-Holy Mother of God, a small force of hunters from Rylsk came to hunt at the Tuskora river, 27 versts* from Kursk.  One of the hunters, an honorable and pious man, seeking prey in the woods, found a small icon lying face down on the root of a tree. He had barely lifted it to inspect it when the spot upon which the icon lay burst out with a strong spring of pure water. The icon turned out to be of the type referred to as the "Sign" of the Mother of God. The hunter who found the icon knew that this was no ordinary occurrence. He called his companions and together they built a small wooden chapel, into which they placed this icon. The residents of Rylsk, hearing of the newly-appeared icon of the Mother of God, began to visit it for veneration, and many miracles began to appear from it.

In 1385, the Kursk region was again swept by the Tatars. They tried to burn down the chapel and its Icon, but the wooden structure would not burn. The priest who lived by the chapel, Fr. Bogolep, explained to them that the reason for this miracle was the Icon itself. The incensed Tatars hacked the Icon in half and tossed the pieces in different directions, then burned the chapel.

The priest was made a prisoner and was forced to tend to Tatar flocks. Some time later, he was ransomed by emissaries of the Muscovite Grand Duke on their way to the Golden Horde, and he returned to the place where the chapel had stood. After a long search, while praying and fasting, he found both halves of the holy Icon, placed them side by side, and they grew together seamlessly, exhibiting only something "like dew".

In 1676 the holy Icon traveled to the Don River for blessing the Don Cossack troops. In 1684 Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich sent a copy of this Icon with the order that it accompany Orthodox troops into battle. In 1687 the holy Icon was sent to the "Great Army." In 1689 copies of the holy Icon were given to the armies in the Crimean campaign. In 1812 a copy of the holy Icon was sent to Prince Kutuzov and the battling troops. Before his icon St. Seraphim of Sarov prayed and was healed.

On the night of 7-8 March, 1898, conspirator revolutionaries-atheists tried to blow up the Miracle-working Icon with a hellish bomb, but the Lord Jesus Christ glorified His Most-Pure Mother yet more, for despite the terrifying destruction in the cathedral surrounding the Icon, it remained untouched.

On 12 April 1918, the holy Icon was stolen from the cathedral of the Monastery of the Sign of the Mother of God and stripped of its ornamentation, but on 2 May it was found and returned to its place.

Finally, in 1919, while accompanying Bishop Feofan of Kursk and Oboyan' and some monks of the Monastery of the Sign, the holy Icon crossed the border to the neighborly Serbia. In 1920 it again, at the behest of General Wrangel, visited Russia at the Crimea and remained there until the final evacuation of the Russian Army in the first days of November, 1920. The holy Icon returned to Serbia, where it remained until 1944, when, together with the Synod of Bishops, it went abroad, to Munich (Bavaria) with Metropolitan Anastassy. In 1951 Metropolitan Anastassy moved from Munich to America. Since 1957 the Icon had resided in the main cathedral dedicated to it in the Synod of Bishops in New York. The holy Icon regularly travels to all the dioceses of the Russian diaspora.

*”Verst” is an old Russian unit of measurement equating to about 3,500 feet.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            A mark of the Orthodox Faith is our veneration of the Mother of God.  For those Just coming to Orthodoxy, this at first seems strange, until we consider her place in the plan of salvation.  It is through her willingness to humbly submit to God’s will that our Savior was born into the world.  She is indispensable, therefore, to His incarnation.  She herself prophesied in her song in the Gospel of St. Luke that all generations would call her “Blessed.”

We are among those countless generations who have looked to her example and call upon her intercessions on our behalf.  The efficacy of her intercessions, as well as that of all the Saints, is part of the fabric of our Faith.  Among the many instances of her help for us, we remember especially her protection of the Christian people in Constantinople from invasion.  The feast commemorating this event we call the Protection of the Mother of God, and it occurs on the 14^th of October (the 1^st on our Church calendar).

The Lord shows how He is “wondrous in His saints” through His mysterious use of icons, both as focus for our prayer and as emblems of His mercy.  We remember the many miraculous icons of the Mother of God that adorn the history of the Church.  These wonders persist into our own time.  We have witnessed the myrrh streaming from the wonder-working Iveron Mother of God, now lost.  We have witnessed the healing that God has granted to those who seek her help before this icon and, of course, the Kursk-Root Icon of the Sign, the Protectress of the Russian diaspora.  Copies of these and many others adorn the walls of our little mission.  There is a Russian traditional icon that shows all the saints of the year, rank on rank in the body of the icon, and the margin contains many wonder-working icons of the Mother of God.  Just as with all the saints, however many can be painted into the icon, it is still only a representative number.

God willing, this month Matushka Deborah and I will receive a commissioned copy of the icon of the Mother of God, “Multiplier of Wheat,” written by Matushka Daria Carney, the iconographer of our temple icon of the Holy Apostles.  (Together with her husband, Father Michael Carney, she should be remembered in our prayers.) The original was written at the behest of Holy Elder Ambrose of Optina Monastery.  Showing the Mother of God hovering in the clouds and extending her hands in blessing over a field of standing and shocked ripe grain, St. Ambrose intended it to show that she is a “helper for people in their labors for acquiring their daily bread.” After the Saint’s death, his attendant wrote and gave a copy of the icon to a women’s monastery dedicated to St. Paraskeva / Pyatnitsa.  Later, wide areas of Russia experienced a drought and were threatened with famine.  A moleben was served before this icon, rainfall began, and the drought was ended.

St. Ambrose proclaimed the feast day of this icon to be the 28^th of October (the 15^th on the Church calendar).   As if for emphasis, it happened in God’s good time that St. Ambrose’s funeral took place on that date.  On or about that day, depending on the arrival of the icon, we hope to gather at the church to serve a moleben and akathist before it, using the text of St. Romanos’s great hymn which is appointed to be sung at the Laudation of the Mother of God during Great Lent.  As it also happens, this great hymnographer, called the “sweet singer,” is commemorated together with the Protection on the 14^th.

On these special occasions, we gather for corporate remembrance, and this prayer together should stimulate us to never neglect like prayers in our individual prayer life.  As we struggle for our “daily bread,” we should also remember that our struggle is blessed by our Lord in His prayer to the Heavenly Father, and, accordingly, by the protection and intercession of His most pure Mother.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            September is the beginning of the Church’s Year.  This tradition we inherit from ancient Israel who set apart this time for both material and spiritual renewal.  To this day, the descendants of the Chosen People gather for the Day of Atonement, a time of profoundest reflection and re-dedication.

It was at this time of the year that the Lord read in the synagogue this passage from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Afterward, He taught them and us that He is the Savior that brings about this renewal.  “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

We hear all the time of “mission statements” that encapsulate a purpose.  As a mission of the one and only Savior, our “mission statement” is to proclaim His Person.  We believe that we are one with Him in His body, the Church.  Thus, when He speaks, He speaks for us and through us.  That is why we must be renewed, not only annually, but continually, not only apparently, but from the very ground of our being.  If, as the Lord’s Body, we are to embody the vision and voice of His presence, then it only stands to reason that we must be renewed in our devotion and in holiness.  As Saint Paul says:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

            It is no mere accident or coincidence that the Lord has presented us at this new beginning with another opportunity, another “this day” for us in which we can make our sacrifice.  I speak of course of that to which I alluded in last month’s bulletin: the beautiful and historic St. Joseph’s Chapel and its property two miles north of our present location.  At this writing, the Lord is calling on us to be patient and wait upon His will and judgment.  If it dawns that it is His will for us to take on this responsibility, then the subject of sacrifice, material sacrifice, will emerge for us very tangibly.  It will be necessary for us to do all we can.  We will need to make sacrifices.

            In ancient Israel for both Tabernacle and Temple worship, a detailed schedule of such sacrifices was established.  We can still read of this in complete detail in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.  It is recorded there that the sacrificial requirements were set up according to the gravity of the sacrificial need and economic station.  The premier sacrifice was a male sheep, a ram, without blemish.  In the context of an agricultural pastoral economy, this meant giving up a significant source of revenue, a real “money maker.”  This was a sign that God came first, before economic gain.  The lesson for us is that the Biblical notion of a “normal” sacrifice involves giving up something important, something that we notice.

            In our time, being deceived by the spirit of the age, we have come to view our own material needs and wants as paramount, as one and the same, scarcely distinguishing between the two.  As part of our renewal this year, and in the face of what God is presenting to us as a parish, we need to take a hard look at the difference between needs and wants.  Once we discover that difference, we need to then, for the sake of the building up of the parish, be ready to set aside or defer that which we do not need, and be ready to devote that money instead to sacrificial giving.

            Last month, I said that the tonsurings and ordination did not happen merely as a reward, but as preparation for the burdens of the journey ahead.  If, as may happen, this wonderful property is donated to us, this donation will not be done so that we may sit back and take our ease.  God will have shown us that He wants us to move forward and occupy the land.  Because He will have given it to us, there will also be a burden from Him that will require sacrificial giving to support; but it will be more than bearable because there will also be the accompanying grace to bear it.  Our experience and the experience of the Church from the beginning confirm the truth of this.

After spying out the Promised Land of Canaan, the Israelites at first refused to go in and possess it for fear of giants and walled cities, ignoring the grape clusters that it took two men to carry.  Because of their hard and erring hearts, that first generation was not allowed to enter into the land of promise. (Numbers, chapters 13-14)

We must not be afraid to do what we need to do.  We must not fear because doing what we need to do, sacrificial giving, is the means of healing, deliverance and renewed sight for us the givers as well as to those for whom we give.  We have done all we can to make the place we are now in a vehicle for the Light of the world.  There is every indication, so far, that He wants our lamp to burn even brighter.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the Akathist Hymn to the Twelve Apostles which was composed for us, Reader Isaac refers frequently to the “rays of divine grace” that shine out from the apostles’ path.  The same can be said of the actions of their successors, our bishops.  When Bishop Gabriel visited us, specific application of this apostolic grace was applied in the ordination of Father Damian and the tonsuring of Christopher and John.  Together with recently arrived Reader Joseph, our parish rejoices in the presence of a deacon and three readers.  Of course, God’s grace is with every parish where His name is praised, according to our Lord’s promise.  However, these men are living symbols, visible carriers, of that grace.  Even though this outpouring occurred at a culminating point in our community’s life, our seventh anniversary, we need to understand that, rather than an ending or reward, such a gift is for our strengthening for the path ahead.

Where is that path?  Where is God leading us?  As a result of the grace granted us, we are starting to see signs of new directions that we might go.  Not new, really, just a continuation on the same course, trying to discern and follow God’s will.  The life of the Church is full of the mystery built into it from the start; we experience this whenever we gather to consecrate and partake of the Holy Mysteries at the Divine Liturgy.  In this mystical life in Christ, our Lord and Father continues to lead us His children into new and unexpected revelations of the “depth and breadth and height” of His love and care for us.  One of us dreams a certain dream.  Another one of us sees an opportunity as if in a waking vision.  Another sees a possible fulfillment of the dream in the opportunity.  All these things push us to act.

We must act, yes, especially by intensifying our prayer.  But there are times, like now, that, as we act, we should at the same time follow Moses’ instruction to the children of Israel before the parting of the Red Sea: “Stand still and see the salvation of our God.”  We are reminded, too, of St. Seraphim of Sarov, whose prayerful presence was sensed in connection to one of the recent mysterious occurrences.  He said, “acquire the Spirit of peace and a thousand souls will be saved around you.”

Dear people of God, dear parish family, let us acquire the gifts of stillness and peace of spirit.  Let us pray.  Let us be vigilant.  Let us act, following God’s will.  As Holy David says in the psalms: “Ready is my heart, O God, ready is my heart.” (Ps 107:1)  Let us be ready to see in quietness of heart God’s working out of His purpose for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In April of 2001, Bishop Gabriel gave us his blessing to found our mission, dedicated to the Holy Apostles.  On July 12^th and 13^th of that year, our first All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy were served, coinciding with the feast of our heavenly Patrons.  While this coincidence arose from the pressure of external circumstances, we take this more-than-coincidental occurrence as a great blessing.

From then until the summer of 2002, our worship and parish life was lived in the house I grew up in, which is at the other end of town from where we are now.  My mother had just passed away in June; and in agreement with my brother, Daniel, we decided that we would convert and use her house for our new church.  Our parents were a living example of devotion in the Baptist context.  It seemed to me most fitting, therefore, that prayers to God should be raised anew in the place of their godly-lived earthly sojourn.

On the 12^th and 13^th of this July, we are lifting our hands and hearts in prayer on that same feast of the Synaxis of the Holy Twelve Apostles and Saint Paul for the eighth time.  This time, God willing, Bishop Gabriel who blessed our founding will be here to pray and serve with us.

So much has happened in the life of our parish in these seven years.  We have been part of bringing people to the Faith for the first time through Holy Baptism; we have been part of bringing people back to the Faith after a long time away.  We have grown, especially since the restoration of union within the Russian Church in May of 2007.  This Pascha, a record number of people were present, including first-time visitors.  Since last fall, 25 new people have been added to our number.  Among these are catechumens whom we hope to bring soon into the Church.  And new people continue to visit and express interest.

On this seventh anniversary, Bishop Gabriel will set apart two men as readers, Christopher Johnson and John Swensen, and a third, Damian Dantinne, will be ordained to the diaconate.  As the grace of these offices is granted to these men, among the gifts that they may expect are our prayers for them.  With the grace is a burden that our prayers can help them to carry.

Much fruit has been borne from the Holy Spirit’s grace poured out from the now-established unity of the Russian Church, achieved in large part through the devoted stewardship of our late beloved Metropolitan Laurus and his fellow bishops, including Bishop Gabriel.  People always knew that we held true to the traditions, but tended also to believe without knowledge that we were somehow sectarian or “non-canonical,” and were therefore afraid to have anything to do with the Church Abroad.  Once we were seen to be integrally within the Russian Church, against which no such aspersions could be cast, the fear disappeared.  Thus our traditional witness is open to all and is attractive on its merits, being one with the faith and piety of the Church from the ages.  One significant example of our new-found outreach is the joint membership in our parish young people’s group of our parishioners with those of non-Russian parishes.

Let us rejoice at the addition of new laborers in our little vineyard.  Let us rejoice that the stewardship of the Church Abroad is passed to our new Metropolitan Hilarion, one so like in spirit to our late beloved Metropolitan.  Let us give thanks for God’s blessings shown to us in the stewardship of Bishop Gabriel, and let our prayers accompany him as he assumes the episcopate of Canada.

Let us rejoice in all the things that God has done, both that which He allowed to happen that we would not have sought and in that which has fulfilled our hopes, knowing that, as we persevere in following His will, in the end, all our hopes in Him will be fulfilled.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We can be sure that it did not escape our Bishops’ notice that the enthronement of Metropolitan Hilarion came about on the exact anniversary of our new-found unity within the Russian Church.  The liturgical anniversary of the Ascension and the reunification happens at the beginning of June this year. This week I spoke to the new Metropolitan, and he passed on his greetings and blessings to all of our parishioners.

We have received many blessings as a result of the reunification of the Russian Church.  Let us rejoice together with our new Metropolitan at every blessing that God is pouring out upon us.

Father George

Metropolitan Hilarion’s Address upon his Enthronement

Your Eminences, Your Graces, Reverend Fathers, brothers, sisters and children!

Christ is Risen!

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father,

and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).

The Holy Apostles customarily greeted the first Christians with these words when addressing them in person or in writing.  And with these words I also, an unworthy bearer of the grace of the Apostles, permit myself to greet you today.  These are great words—great in their significance and meaning.  By them the Apostles showed wherein man's true good lies, and gave voice to the desire that Christians receive it.  Man strives for happiness, strives to find it; yet for the most part he seeks it far from where he should.  Thus, by these words the apostles clearly directed the Christians to that path which leads unfailingly to the desired good.

Only in peace of soul is there true blessedness for us; only those who possess an untroubled conscience before God and their fellow man can really be called happy. It is never too late to obtain this happiness, this peace: one need only actively strive towards God to the limit of one's abilities, trying to live in love and peace with others and to resolve firmly to begin a new, pious life.  Then the desired peace will flow into our soul in a calm, almost imperceptible stream, and with God's help we will quickly sense that we have become happy.  Then will no trials seem difficult and unbearable for us—neither sicknesses, nor poverty, nor sufferings, nor any type of problem or disorder, nor slander, nor persecution, nor imprisonment.  All such things will be shown to be insignificant and easy to bear when compared to the great good which will fill our souls and which we call peace and a pure conscience.

His Eminence, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus lived in peace with God and his neighbor.  He believed in God and trusted wholly in Him and His guidance.  He humbled himself and bowed to the will of God; that is, he gave himself over to it completely and joyfully.  From him there always wafted forth an unbelievable peace and inner tranquility.  His peaceful spirit preserved us in unity and led us to reestablish the fullness of brotherly fellowship within the Russian Orthodox Church.  For this reason, with reverence, love and a sense of personal unworthiness, I pay homage to the struggle of his ministry and his blessed memory, just as I revere the struggle of the primatial ministry of his divinely-wise predecessors, who "rightly divided" the word of Christ's Truth during the difficult years of the Russian emigration.  I trust that the Lord will grant my unworthiness to carry out if only a portion of what my ever-memorable predecessors accomplished in their service.  This is what my constant prayer is; it is for this that I ask all of you to pray.

Our leaders, the organizers of Russia Abroad, always taught that we must preserve what we have, so as to serve Russia and the Russian Orthodox people in the homeland and in diaspora, and to include in the process of salvation its spiritual rebirth, which is, as we see, the direct fruit of the sufferings, the confessional ministry and martyric struggle of the millions of new martyrs and confessors of Russia.  And laboring as missionaries, we must also share this rich inheritance with the world that surrounds us.  The Russian Orthodox Church has always felt a particular calling to the missionary ministry.  We must take particular care for this, continuing the holy work of those who served here and enjoyed success in their apostolic labors: St Tikhon the Confessor, Patriarch of All Russia; and St Innocent, the Equal of the Apostles, who later became Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna.  May they help us, by their fervent intercession, to share pure and unadulterated Orthodoxy and the glory of the Russian Orthodox Church with all who surround us!

On this day, which for me is "appointed and holy", with all my heart I greet my brother archpastors, the pastors and all here assembled in the home of the Hodigitria of the Russian Diaspora.  I am moved to the depths of my soul by the love of our flock, by their words of greeting, comfort and support, their good wishes and prayers.  In particular, I greet the representatives of the clergy and flock of the Diocese of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, which was entrusted to me by the Council of Bishops in 1996.  During my service in Australia, my pious flock, which the ever-memorable Metropolitan Vitaly called "the pearl of the Russian Church Abroad," became like my own family.  May God grant that, with the help of my staff, I may try to combine my duties as First Hierarch with my previous diocesan duties in the land which lies beneath the Southern Cross.  I express my profound gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia, for his primate's blessing and prayerful support; as well as to Archbishop Innocent of Korsun and the members of the Moscow Patriarchate's delegation.  I thank my brother archpastors, who have elected me, for their trust and holy prayers.  

Today, we listened to the Gospel account of the Lord's healing of the paralyzed man.  Paying close attention today to this scriptural passage, I felt that I am paralyzed by many weaknesses and am in need of God's help.  For this reason, I place my trust in God Who helps us; and I trust the ministers of His Church to His carry out and do His work in a worthy fashion.  I trust in the archpastoral wisdom, counsel and support of my brother concelebrants, and in the prayers of the clergy and the whole flock of our Holy Church.

"Behold now, what is so good or so joyous as for brethren to dwell together in unity?" (Psalms 132:1).  Or, to put it differently, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together, that is, in peace and love, says the Psalmist.  In the early days of Christianity, pastors and flock always lived the same life: the sorrows and joys of the pastor were at the same time the sorrows and joys of the flock, and the sorrows and joys of the flock were also the sorrows and joys of the pastor.  If, fathers, brethren and sisters beloved in the Lord, it is in general difficult for us to imitate fully the holy and pious life of the early Christians, let us try to borrow from them if only this trait, which is so precious to the Church.  

May the peace of Christ reign in our mutual relations: between me, your unworthy First Hierarch, and you, my dear fellow archpastors, brethren and sisters in Christ.  Let mutual trust and love prevail between us.  I will support you in your every need, and you will do the same for me.  And thus let us fulfill the commandment of God Who loves us all, and Who said: "Love one another" (John 13:34).

Amen.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the midst of this, our triumph, we should in our daily prayers recall our Bishops who are tasked with selecting and installing our new Metropolitan.  Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory accomplished our unification within the Russian Church.  From the time of his installation until the end he repeatedly sought and acknowledged the support of all our prayers.  We must all help those of his brother Arch-Pastors who remain here with the same fervor that fueled our prayers for him when on earth and now fuel our prayers for his soul.  Among these successors to him and to the Holy Apostles is the one who will speak for us and lead us further on the path within God’s will.  There is a certain grace that pours out upon us especially at this holy time of our worship year.  As we bask in it, we should also be inspired by it to Godly action.  Below is the Paschal Epistle from Archbishop Hilarion, the deputy President of the Synod, who is known to me very well, he having tonsured and ordained me to the offices of Reader, Sub-deacon, Deacon, and Priest.  In 1995, Vladika Hilarion gave us the initial blessing to work towards the eventual founding of this mission parish.

Father George

SYDNEY: April 25, 2008

The Paschal Epistle of Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, Deputy President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Most Reverend brother-archpastors, all-honorable fathers, beloved-in-the-Lord brothers, sisters and children,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

With the overwhelming feeling of Paschal jubilation I greet all of you with the great and saving feast of the Lord’s Pascha, which instills in us the firm conviction of our immortality and hope of future blessed resurrection!

            In exchanging the Paschal kiss with you today, I prayerfully desire that the joy of the Risen Christ strengthen all of us, since we have been orphaned following the untimely repose of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, who in the morning of the Triumph of Orthodoxy pronounced in spirit together with the Apostle Paul: “My desire is to part and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). As written in the Holy Scriptures, death for a person is repose. Though we weep over the parting, our sorrow is now filled with faith, hope and the Paschal reality; we know that death is a temporary slumber, a slumber for the body which will arise on the last day of history, and a time of rejoicing for the liberated righteous soul.

Since we have the firm conviction that after this brief life comes another, eternal life, where God will bless us with heavenly joy and will comfort those who have patiently borne temporal sorrows and sufferings, no manner of death or misfortune which comes our way can be too burdensome. Death itself is not fearful to a person who has complete hope in blessed resurrection: death for him is the path to the longed-for union with Christ. Amidst the fiery temptations which assail an Orthodox Christian, the Christian rejoices in suffering with Christ, being steadfastly assured that in the appearance of Christ in His glory, he will rejoice and be triumphant. Remembrance of the future life and hope of blessed resurrection serve as strong incentives and sure means towards moral perfection and spiritual achievement. If we remember well that our homeland is in heaven, while here we are only temporary guests, we will cease living only for our bodily pleasure. We will cease observing the commandments only outwardly, being honest, truthful, or benevolent solely out of temporal calculations, but will fulfill our duty of serving God and neighbor unselfishly and without seeking recompense.

One of the ancient teachers of monasticism, Abba Evagrius, offers us the following admonition: “The Passover [Pascha] of the Lord is the passing from evil to good. Let us also bring Him some God-pleasing gift.” This gift can take the form of active love, active works of charity and self-sacrifice, when we dedicate our life to Christ, His Church and our neighbor, and gaining inspiration, maintaining constant zeal for the struggle to do good. In perfecting ourselves in virtue, we will be able to preserve in our hearts faithfulness to God, the Church and those around us, as well as dedication to the blessed memory of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, who gave us an example of love, humility and goodness.

Therefore, beloved-in-the-Lord fellow arch-pastors, reverend fathers, brothers, sisters and children, let us establish ourselves firmly on the radiant path of virtue, remembering the words of the Apostle Peter: “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4). Let us turn our minds and hearts to the heavenly Jerusalem, our heavenly homeland—and the thought of our high calling will enlighten the dark paths of our life, grant us consolation and peace amid the sorrows of this world and bring us joy and delight.

Once again I congratulate all of you with this “Feast of feasts,” and sincerely desire that the flock of the Russian Church Abroad, as well as our brothers and sisters in Russia and in all the world, enjoy these most wondrous days in good health and well-being, guarded by the victorious power of the Life, Righteousness, Holiness, Goodness and Divine Beauty radiating from the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord, the Enlightener of our souls!

With Paschal joy in the Risen Christ and a request for your holy prayers,

+Hilarion

Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand

Christ’s Pascha 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The loss to us on earth of our beloved Metropolitan Laurus is difficult to encompass. At the same time, we are spiritually strengthened by the profoundly peaceful way in which his life of total service came to its close. As was his wont as an exemplary monastic, he spent – quite literally poured out – what was to be the last week of his life in prayer. He pressed through all the rigors of the first weekdays of Lent without stint, taking a leading part in all the services until weakness overtook him on Saturday. His faithful proto-deacon Father Victor found him in his customary sleeping position when he brought lunch to him after Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
All the elements in the perpetual petition for our own good death were contained in his: A Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, peaceful, and a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ. The Metropolitan’s death is an absolute illustration of Christian fulfillment. All who had any contact with him testify of the way the Metropolitan radiated humility, grace and peace. And could there be a better defense before the dread throne than healing a rift within the Body of Christ?
While we are saddened because there is one less person like him among us, we are strengthened in our faith by his example. His leaving us forces us to focus on the glory of a Christian life, perfectly completed. We recall that no type of standard “funeral-home” style preparation is done for a bishop. What is notable in Metropolitan Laurus’ case is that his remains manifested no signs of smell or any corruption on the day of his funeral, the sixth day after his death, as testified to by those in attendance. The published color photographs show that his skin tone appeared normal.
At the end of this month, we recount the culminating events in the making of our salvation: our Lord’s death and resurrection. Through His death he destroys the power of death and sin; through His rising, He brings us all to the entrance to the heavenly kingdom, if we would but show our acceptance of this in our ever-more-perfect following of Him. How do we do this? We don’t have to look far. Follow the example of our ever-memorable hierarch, Metropolitan Laurus.

Father George

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

    The Lord makes our time holy through the Church’s liturgical year.  The glorious month of August closes the year with an encapsulation of the story of our salvation.  
On the Feast of the Procession of the Precious Cross, we remember also the witness in suffering of our precursors of old Israel in the Maccabee family.  This reminds us that Christ came to bring to fruition all the faithful labors of those devoted to God throughout the ages.  Our icon of the Resurrection shows that the first action of his resurrection power was to loose the bonds of the righteous dead of ages past.  This commemoration places both His saving action and those who were long awaiting it before our eyes.
The Feast of the Transfiguration holds up for us, as it did for the Holy Apostles Peter, James and John, the glory that belongs to Him eternally.  His incarnate Being completes and fulfills the spiritual inheritance of His people Israel: the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah.  He shows His glory that He had with the Father “before the world was” (John 17:5).  His pre-eternal glory is shown through His earthly body, showing us that He is the one to restore our nature to its original state.  The glorious-as-God and glorified-as-man Son of God provides that “better thing” (Hebrews 11:40) which those in ages past and we, all falling under the same sin-induced condemnation, desperately need and await.
The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, her repose in the arms of her Son and our God, is another harbinger of what is possible in the new, resurrected life.  She dies, as will we all, and, though she has led a life of perfect obedience to God’s will, she yet needs to ask her Son, as do we all, for protection at the time of death.  And just as she has shown us and led us on the way of perfect humilty, so she shows us here that she, and we, may trust Him completely to finish that work that He has begun.   As she looked to Him at all times, she looked to Him at the time of her death.  The immediate lesson for us is, if we do not yet practice as did she to perfect our following of Him, we should start now.  We cannot wait until the time of our death to begin to trust Him and show Him that we do by following His commandments.
God is so merciful.  He continually through the year tells us what we need to know and do.  It is always, therefore, time to follow.   Remember what our dear like-the-Apostles Father Seraphim said.  “It is later than you think.”

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

If we believe that the things above, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome. It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth. From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

These acts that maintain the Church’s life, the fasting and other Lenten observances and commemorations, are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us. The Gospel selection that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration. With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom, not the freedom of license, but that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal. Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism. We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be kept ever in our mind’s eye. To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth. Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,


 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who
being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power, when He has by Himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were
made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.... The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth. (St. John 1:1-3, 14)

 Look where we will in Holy Scripture and Tradition, and we will only find that our Savior is God come in the flesh. Throughout the history of the Church, her enemy, the devil, has tried to attack either that our Savior was God or that He was a man.

 Attacks on the humanity of Christ take several forms of saying that His human nature was somehow buried within the all-powerful Divine nature and was not fully functional. What sense, then, does it make for Him to say “Not my will, but Thine be done?”

 Attacks on His divinity take forms of saying that His God-hood is somehow a poetic expression of His leading the way for us to God, or saying that He was somehow a creature like the angels. Such mental shilly-shallying ignores the Lord’s own words about Himself recorded in the Gospel.

 Since the available record will not support such falsehood, the devil’s next focus of attack is the record. Thus, we have within recent times audacious attempts to deny our Lord’s very existence, masquerading as “Quests for the Historical Jesus” which are quests for anything but history or Jesus.

 It remains our duty as His people to keep both of the startling realities about the Author of our salvation clear in our own minds and clear in our message about Him to the world. Thank God that Holy Tradition remains to help keep our integrity as Christians, down to even the smallest particular; for example, we declare His being when we sign ourselves with the sign of His instrument of salvation, the precious and life-giving Cross, proclaiming with our very hand that He is one of the Holy Trinity and is possessed of both divine and human natures. And, as the passages above show, as some like to have it said, it’s right there in the
Bible.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our salvation is our object. We move toward this goal through the increasing indwelling of the Holy Spirit through our acquirements of God’s grace. We do this, not alone, but together, as witnessed to by the organized life of the Church into parishes. It has been so since the Church was first spoken of in the New Testament. Of course, THE manifestation of such unity is within the Divine Liturgy where Christ, our Chief Cornerstone, is together with His living stones, us and the Saints, in the Mystery of the Body and Blood. Other manifestations of unity suggest themselves as by-products of this primary unity. We eagerly seek other ways for showing and developing our oneness so that our lives together and apart may shine more and more with the brightness of His grace and move us, each and all, toward the final goal of salvation, and in so doing, move us away from the corruption of the things of this world. Such ways suggest themselves to us now. This month, we begin two activities through which we have a good hope that God may move in us and use us.

For some time, we have seen among us a growing number of young, unattached people. The spirit of the age ever preys upon us to draw us away from concern for our place in the Church and salvation. This is most clear among those emerging from their families to assume and lead their own lives. Especially in this day of general falling away from any type of Christian influence, let alone belief, the newly independent person can fall into confusion through the omni-directional assault of influences unknown under the family roof. For this reason, we are forming a group within the parish, known as St. Joseph’s Young Singles, to welcome unmarried Orthodox Christians from college age through the early thirties. St. Joseph is the eleventh son of patriarch Jacob who, as we know from Scripture, resisted seduction by Potiphar’s wife, enduring false accusation and imprisonment rather than succumb to illicit allurements and offend God. God preserved Him to be mighty in Egypt so that he could save not only Egypt, but his own family and promised nation. Our desire is that those in St. Joseph’s Young Singles may encourage each other to keep a holy witness arising out of growing familial love – the love within the family of Christ.

Recently, desires were expressed that our Wednesday night class be conducted with an eye to a focused study. We have decided that one of the books written by Father Michael Pomazansky, “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology,” provide the basis for such a study. Father Michael was one of the last surviving clergy educated in the pre-Revolutionary period when Russian Orthodox Theological training was at its peak. In his introduction to the book, Father Seraphim Rose speaks of the rarified spiritual atmosphere of such writers as Father Michael, and at the same time in their writing the down-to-earth, “salt-of-the-earth” quality that reaches out and touches the heart of the serious student. Therefore, while the title of the work, from our experience with non-Orthodox books with similar titles, may at first be daunting and off-putting, my own experience of this book entirely matches what Father Seraphim says about it. The book is a garden of the Lord, rich for us toward growth in understanding, toward the building up of the foundation of our spiritual house.

Let us all pray that these additional efforts will be means to grow in knowledge and love of the Lord and toward mutual encouragement, understanding and love and growth in the gifts of God.

In Christ, Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 We have begun the Great Fast and we prepare for the bright and glorious Resurrection of our Lord. The reason that we fast is so that our more frequent corporate prayer might be less distracted by our earthly needs. Lent is not a mere change of diet. By cutting back on our earthly burden, we raise our sights to things above.

 If we believe that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are worth seeking, then the Lenten requirements are not burdensome. It is our lingering “old man,” the relic of our fallen nature that looks for the things of this earth. From our fallen state, we sense deprivation when we are asked to follow our Lord’s commandments through the traditions of the Church.

Fasting and the other Lenten observances and commemorations that maintain the Church’s life are part of his Apostolic commission to “observe all things” that He commanded His disciples to teach us. The ending portion of the Gospel of Matthew that records His commission of the Apostles is read at every baptism. With every baptism, there is a sense of brightness and celebration. With every baptism, there is a newfound freedom. This freedom is not the freedom of license, which is really voluntary slavery to passionate whim. The freedom of the Christian Life is that liberation that comes with enlightenment and renewal. Just so, through the season of the Fast, we seek to renew what we received at baptism. We want to anticipate and experience with clear eyes and clean hearts just what it is that God has done and is doing for us.

His great salvation wrought through His earthly life culminating in His death and resurrection should be in our mind’s eye all the time. To do this, we use the Lenten observances to train our faculties to enable us to better cooperate with the words prayed every day: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It will soon be time for spring-cleaning to refresh our houses and gardens for the new season of growth. Just so, with joyful anticipation and hope of heightened and renewed understanding and fervor informing our patience, let us as faithful Orthodox Christians move toward the “prize of our high calling,” both in this season and for our whole life.

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 Here are some thoughts from Matushka Deborah’s Face book page to ponder as we move into Great Lent:

The Saturday evening vigil is a fountain of life for the soul. “Cast out into the deep,” the Lord said to St. Peter. The vigil is a casting out into the deep for the soul. It is a treasure house with untold treasures hidden within. It is a visit to the Lord’s house, full of many mansions. All of the things contained therein - the rest for the soul, the sometimes intense spiritual struggle – are there for our salvation. The Lord has given us this beautiful and deeply profound Divine Service, which is celebrated every Saturday, the eve of the Lord’s day, the day of the celebration of His holy Resurrection.

The quiet light of the candles reminds me that I am lit by God, and one day the candle of my physical body will go out. How do I want that little candle to burn, and to what purpose?

Friends, it can be a struggle to bring yourself to the door of the church. Remember who is the foe in this unseen warfare, and that he tries with all of his tricks to keep us away from the vigil. “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Friends, run to the vigil. Run. Run on ahead.

The Lenten Triodion begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. From afar, we see Pascha, the Bright Resurrection of Christ. In this service, the Lord begins to teach us how to pray. “Let us all humble ourselves, brethren; groaning and lamenting, let us beat our conscience, that at the eternal judgment we may be numbered with the faithful and the righteous, receiving forgiveness. Let us pray to see the true peace of the Age to Come, where there is no more pain, no sorrow, no groaning from the depths, in the wondrous Eden fashioned by Christ, for He is God coeternal with the Father.” (Ikos, Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Everyone who was here last weekend witnessed a wondrous and archetypal outpouring of God’s grace. When Metropolitan Hilarion laid hands on Father Christopher, he carried on the same timeless activity that is part of the grace of God rained down on our heavenly patrons, the Holy Apostles. The Lord said to them after His resurrection, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” The Metropolitan called down that same Holy Spirit on Father Christopher. This grace was called down on us as well. It’s the same grace that comes down on the Holy Gifts so that we can eat and drink of His Body and Blood.

We pray with the ordination service that all things be brought to perfection. We envision perfection, which vision is a gift of God to help show us the way forward in the Lord. He has granted that Father Christopher be made a helper, a great helper, on that way.

Whenever we pray “O Heavenly King” in our prayers, we pray for Him in His Holy Spirit to fill all things. While we have fulfillment of that prayer all the time when we open our eyes to see it, what happened last week and unfolds daily and hourly as a result makes fierily clear that “God is with us”, as says the prophet. From the ground of our hearts, we thank Him and bless Him; we worship Him.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

    This month holds a somber remembrance for us.  None living and aware on 9/11/2001 will ever forget what happened that day.  It is among the days of which anyone can say what he was doing at the time.  Coverage of the rolling, mounting horrors was instantaneous and gripping.  When the twin towers were hit and later collapsed, illumined in a blue, beautiful morning sky, we saw with our eyes the sudden and violent death of nearly 3,000 people.  When the first mind-numbing shock subsides, we want to get whoever did this and wipe them out.  As Americans, as a matter of fact, as human beings with any fellow feeling, we could scarcely avoid this first reaction.  As Christians, we are called to something above this first reaction.  A clue as to where to start is in the recorded reactions of the 9/11 victims themselves.
    There are many accounts of those who, as it became apparent to them that they weren’t going to survive, used their remaining time to reach out in love to those who most needed their love and from whom they most needed love.  During what is by any evaluation a desperate time, they ignored despair and reached out to others in love.
    Another lesson for us from 9/11 victims comes from those first responders who laid down their lives for others, others who were not known to them, those who understand their calling to be shaped by the possibility of sacrifice for others and respond to this call with simplicity and humility.
    We learn too from those passengers on Flight 93 who rose above themselves, above us all, to stop further horrific national and human destruction by putting their lives in the way.  “Let’s roll,” one of them said.  That phrase connected with their sacrificial act, silences in its simplicity any pride that would rise.
How can we adequately appreciate such forthright, straightforward readiness to go to death for us all?  By imitating the divine source of the courage and love that inspired them and through them inspires us.  By loving with all our hearts Him who is the source of love and who loved with His whole person to the point of death for us.  By loving in memory the victims, both the helpless and the sacrificially purposeful.  By loving those left behind by them.  And, finally, by loving each other, as our sacrificing Savior has commanded us to do.
It is in this light and for this cause that our bishops call on us to say certain petitions for the increase of love on the day of 9/11 itself, as well as to remember in a litany for the reposed those who, maybe unbeknownst to themselves, imitated Him who gave Himself for us.

Father George

Money! Power! Honor! These are the temptations that, unfortunately, many people are unable to resist. This is the source of all the disputes, disagreements and divisions among Christians. This is the root of people's forgetting the "one thing needful" which is proposed to us by the true Christian faith and which consists of prayer, acts of repentance, and sincere, un-hypocritical charity to our neighbors. The Holy Church always calls us to this, but especially now, during the Great Fast!

What is required of us Christians is not some kind of "exalted politics," not lofty phrases and hazy philosophy, but the most humble prayer of the Publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!", acts of repentance, and doing good to our neighbors, which proceeds from a pure heart. It is for the practice of all of this that the Church has established Great Lent!

How powerfully, colorfully, graphically, and convincingly, with what ardent inspiration is all of this spoken of in the divine services of Great Lent! No one anywhere has such a wealth of edification in this regard as do we Orthodox in our incomparable Lenten services, which, to their shame, the majority of Orthodox in our times do not know at all.

Archbishop Averky of Syracuse (+1976)

A Child’s Lent Remembered

The following excerpt is taken from Ivan Shmelyov's “Anno Domini, a wistful recollection of life in his pious, old-fashioned, well to-do home in pre-Revolutionary Moscow” – From “Orthodox America”

Clean Monday

I waken from harsh light in my room: a bare kind of light, cold, dismal. Yes, it's Great Lent today. The pink curtains, with their hunters and their ducks, have already been taken down while I slept, and that's why it's so bare and dismal in the room. It's Clean Monday today for us, and everything in our house is being scrubbed. Grayish weather, the thaw. The dripping beyond the window is like weeping. Our old carpenter, Gorkin, "the panel man", said yesterday that when Lady Shrovetide leaves, she'll weep. And so she is--drip...drip...drip... There she goes! I look at the paper flowers reduced to shreds, at the gold-glazed "Shrovetide" sweet cake--a toy, brought back from the baths yesterday; gone are the little bears, gone are the little hills--vanished, the joy. And a joyous something begins to fuss in my heart; now everything is new, different. Now it will be "the soul beginning"--Gorkin told me all about it yesterday. "It's time to ready the soul," To prepare for Communion, to keep the fast, to make ready for the Bright Day.

"Send One-eye in to see me!" I hear Father's angry shouting.

Father has not gone out on business; it's a special day today, very strict. Father rarely shouts. Something important has happened. But after all he forgave the man for drinking; he cancelled all his sins; yesterday was the day of Forgiveness. And Vasilli Vasillich forgave us all, too, that's exactly what Ira said in the dining room, kneeling: "I forgive you all!" So why is Father shouting then?

The door opens; Gorkin comes in with a gleaming copper basin. Oh, yes, to smoke out Lady Shrovetide! There's a hot brick in the basin, and mint, and they pour vinegar over them. My old nurse, Domnushka, follows Gorkin around and does the pouring; it hisses in the basin and a tart steam rises a sacred steam. I can smell it even now, across the distance of the years. “Sacred.” That's what Gorkin calls it. He goes to all the corners and gently swirls the basin. And then he swirls it over me.

"Get up, dearie, don't pamper yourself," he speaks lovingly to me, sliding the basin under the skirt of the bed. "Where has she hid herself in your room, fat old Lady Shrovetide. We'll drive her out. Lent has arrived. We'll be going to the Lenten market, the choir from St. Basil's will be singing 'My soul, my soul arise;' you won't be able to tear yourself away."

That unforgettable, that sacred smell: the smell of Great Lent. And Gorkin himself, completely special, as if he were kind of sacred, too. Way before light, he had already gone to the bath, steamed himself thoroughly, put on everything clean. Clean Monday today! Only the kazakin is old; today only the most workaday clothes may be worn, that's "the law". And it's a sin to laugh, and you have to rub a bit of oil on your head, like Gorkin. I'll be eating without oil now, but you have to oil the head, it's the law, "for the prayer's sake." There's a flow about him, from his little gray beard, all silver really, from the neatly combed head. I know for a fact that he's a saint. They're like that, God's people that please Him. And his face is pink, like a cherubim's, from the cleanness. I know that he's dried himself bits of black bread with salt, and all bent long he'll take them with his tea, "instead of sugar."

But why is Daddy angry with Vasilli Vasillich, like that?

"Oh, sinfulness..." says Gorkin with a sigh. “It's hard to break habits, and now everything is strict, Lent. And, well, they get angry. But you hold fast now, think about your soul. It's the season, all the same as if the latter days were come. That's the law! You just recite, "O Lord and Master of my life...' and be cheerful."

And I begin silently reciting the recently memorized Lenten prayer.

The rooms are quiet and deserted, full of that sacred smell. In the front room, before the reddish icon of the Crucifixion, a very old one , from our sainted great-grandmother who was an Old Believer; a "Lenten" lampada of clear glass has been lit, and now it will burn unextinguished until Pascha. When Father lights it--on Saturdays he lights all the lampadas himself--he always sings softly, in a pleasant-sad way: "Before Thy Cross, we bow down, O Master," and I would sing softly after him, that wonderful refrain: "And Thy holy Resurrection, we glorify!”

A joy-to-tears beats inside my soul, shining from these words. And I behold it, behind the long file of Lenten days--the Holy Resurrection, in lights. A joyful little prayer! It casts a kindly beam of light upon these sad days of bent.

I begin to imagine that now the old life is coming to an end, and it' s time to prepare for that other, life, which will be – where? Somewhere, in the heavens. You have to cleanse the soul of all sinfulness, and that's why everything around you is different. And something special is at our side, invisible and fearful. Gorkin told me that now, "it's like when the soul is parting from the body." THEY keep watch, to snatch away the soul, and all the while the soul trembles and wails: "Woe is me, I am cursed!" They read about it in church now, at the Standings.

“Because they can sense that their end is coming near, that Christ will rise! And that's why we're given Lent, to keep close to Church, to live to see the Bright Day. And not to reflect, you understand. About earthly things, do not reflect! And they'll be ringing everywhere: 'Think back! Think-back!" He made the words boom inside him nicely.

Throughout the house the window vents are open, and you can hear the mournful cry and summons of the bells, ringing before the services: think-back...think-back. That's the piteous bell, crying for the soul. It's called the Lenten peal. They've taken the shutters down from the windows, and it'll be that way, poor looking, clear until Pascha. In the drawing room, there are gray slipcovers on the furniture; the lamps are bundled up into cocoons, and even the one painting, "The Beauty at the Feast," is draped over with a sheet. That was the suggestion of His Eminence. Shook his head sadly and said: "A sinful and tempting picture!" But Father likes it a lot--such class! Also draped is the engraving that Father for some reason calls "the sweet-cake one"; it shows a little old man dancing, and an old woman hitting him with a broom. That one His Eminence liked a great deal, even laughed. Ali the house folk are very serious, in workday clothes with patches, and I was told also to put on the jacket with the worn-through elbows. The rugs have been taken out; it's such a lark now to skate across the parquet. Only it's scary to try--Great Lent: skate hard and you'll break a leg. Not a crumb left over from Shrovetide, mustn't be so much as a trace of it in the air. Even the sturgeon in aspic was passed down to the kitchen yesterday. Only the very plainest dishes are left in the sideboard, the ones with the dun spots and the cracks – for Great Lent. In the front room there are bowls of yellow pickles, little umbrellas of dill sticking out of them, and chopped cabbage, thickly dusted with anise--a delight. I grab pinches of it--how it crunches! And I vow to myself to eat only Lenten foods for the duration of the fast. Why send my soul to perdition, since everything tastes so good anyway! There'll be stewed fruit, potato pancakes with prunes, "crosses" on the Week of the Cross...frozen cranberries with sugar, candied nuts... And what about roast buckwheat kasha with onions, washed down with kvass! And then Lenten pasties with milk-mushrooms, and then buckwheat pancakes with onions on Saturdays... and the boiled wheat with marmalade on the first Saturday...and almond milk with white kissel, and the cranberry one with vanilla, and the grand kuliebiak on Annunciation .... Can it be that THERE, where everyone goes to from this life, there will be such Lenten fare! And why is everyone so dull-looking? Why, everything is so...so different, and there is much, so much that is joyous. Today they'll bring the first ice and begin to line the cellars--the whole yard will be stacked with it. We'll go to the "Lenten Market," and the Great Mushroom Market, where I've never been... I begin jumping up and down with joy, but they stop me: "It's Lent, don't dare! Just wait and see, you'll break your leg!"

Fear comes over me. I look at the Crucifixion. He suffers, the Son of God! But how is it that God... how did He allow it? I have a sense that herein lies the great mystery itself--GOD.

(Translated from Russian by Maria Belaeff)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Last year at our clergy Lenten retreat, Father Artemy Vladimirov inspired us with his elevating talks.  At one point, he spoke of a “land of miracles.”  Of course, he was speaking of his homeland of Russia.  As we look at the events of the past few weeks in our parish life, the realization dawns that the “miraculous country” can be found elsewhere as well.

As we go into our tenth year of life as a parish, we find ourselves rejuvenated by a series of miracles: an inspiring and timely visit by our long-time friend and spiritual counselor, Archpriest John Townsend; a blessed visit by the Mother of God in her miraculous Kursk Root Icon of the Sign; and a wonderful annual meeting of the parish.  Yes, that’s right: a wonderful annual parish meeting.

How can this be?  Has anyone heard of a wonderful parish meeting?  How can such a mundane-sounding event be compared to the wonderful things that preceded it, especially the visitation from Her who bore our Savior?

We can dare to say that our parish meeting was wonderful because the preceding wonders brought us all in touch with that which buoyed us up.  We say this because the uncertainty that clouded our minds as we entered the meeting was dispersed by the Holy Spirit’s aid and guidance. All present were brought in to the knowledge of and commitment to the principles of our founding.  At this meeting, it was as if the parish was re-born, was founded anew.

Some attendees afterward said to me that a peace descended on the meeting that was brought about by the Mother of God.  The general feeling was not unlike that which pertained when the wonder-working icon was with us.  In reflection, this meeting was a moment to which Moses’ words to the children of Israel can be applied: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Would that all in our connection could have been present.  We can all do something, though, with this and all the other gifts that have been rained down upon us.  God’s love is the source of it all, of that to which Father John referred when he said, “you have everything.”  We can love in return.  We can, in fact are commanded to, return love, to love God and each other as we would love and have others love ourselves.  Perfect love casts out fear, says our Lord.  We can therefore in our divinely engendered love cast off the rags of fear and lack of faith that so easily snare us.

Let us show our love in our generosity and in our efforts for each other and, in short, in our faithfulness and devotion to the Church, the Body of Him who came and comes to save us who are her members.

Father George

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

What is happening on our behalf through Christ’s incarnation?  Let us hear the voice of His Church in a sampling of her divinely wrought hymns.

The Creator, when He saw man perishing, whom He had made with His own hands, bowed the heavens and came down; and from the divine and pure Virgin did He take all of man’s substance, being made truly flesh: for He hath been glorified.

O Christ, who hast made Thyself in the form of a creature of vile clay, by Thy sharing in that which is worse, even our flesh, Thou hast made us partakers of the divine nature; for Thou hast become mortal man, yet still remainest God.  Thou hast raised up our horn, holy art Thou, O God.

Christ our God, whom the Father begat from the womb before the morning star, has come, made flesh; and He who doth hold the reins of the undefiled powers, is laid in a manger of dumb beasts.  He who looseth the tangled cords of sin, is wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Father George

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,  

            We need to make ourselves ready for Him who comes to save us.  Preparing for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with getting a tree and buying presents, or getting the latest toy.  The world, under the influence of the prince of this world and the enemy of our salvation, would suffocate our spirits with petty and meaningless material wants.  We desperately need to escape from the spiritually corrosive materialism that surrounds us.  We need to seek the Kingdom that is the reason our Savior became an infant.  He comes to us to bring us to Him.

            Let us be wise and ready, like the wise virgins of the parable, having filled our lamps with the oil of heartfelt prayer and desire for Him and His will. He is spoken of as the Bridegroom in the parable because He would make Himself one with our soul, more strongly than even the most devoted friend or spouse.  In fact, it is His love that makes all love possible.  “We love Him because He first loved us and gave Himself for us.”

Let us be conscious and devoted followers of and seekers after Him.  His devotion to us is complete.  We cannot match His gift with any gift of our own; but it is possible for us to receive his gift of Himself to us with gladness and joy.

Father George

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

            This month, we celebrate two significant anniversaries.

Four years ago for the Sunday of All Saints, Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory served with us.  The weekend services were a culmination of the St. Romanos the Melodist English Choir Conference we held in June 2006.  We invited the Metropolitan, only half expecting him to accept.  It was just after the All-Diaspora Council during which the decision was taken to pursue re-unification with the Church in Russia.  The labors during that effort were immense, and no more so for anyone than for our aging Metropolitan.  But he did accept, and I can never forget the soldierly pluck in the words with which he accepted our invitation.  He said, “If I am alive, I will be there.”  And he came.  With just such diligence he pursued the rest of his Arch-pastoral burden, which coincided with the rest of his life.  During his last week, the first week of the Great Fast, he led his community in all the intensive services, up through the day before he reposed in the Lord.

When he was with us, for the Divine Liturgy for All Saints, this is the homily that he gave:

         “The first Sunday after the feast of Holy Trinity is called the Sunday of All Saints.  On this day the Holy Church prayerfully glorifies all the saints who have pleased God from the ages.  Included in this Sunday are the Holy Apostles, prophets, martyrs, bishops, monks, nuns, fools for Christ and all the righteous ones.

         “Honoring the memory of All Saints soon after the Feast of Holy Pentecost, the Holy Church desires in this way to show that sanctity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which was abundantly poured forth on the Holy Apostles and through them in the Holy Church is poured forth on all believers.

         “The Holy Spirit made wise and raised to the ranks of the angels men like unto us, and others were crowned with sanctity for their ascetic and righteous lives.  The ascetic feats of the saints were various, as today's Epistle reading informs us.  The saints conquered enemies visible and invisible with faith.  They patiently endured poverty and all kinds of adversity, persecution, martyrdom, and different forms of death.

         “The gospel reading of today testifies that the saints were true confessors of the Holy Faith as they left all behind that hindered them from following the Lord or that prohibited them from fulfilling His holy commandments.

          “And in the same way that they confessed the Lord before people, before mankind, does the Lord Jesus Christ confess the saints before His Heavenly Father.  The saints whose memory we commemorate today followed the Lord, they followed His call, and took upon themselves the cross and carried it.

         “Brothers and sisters, today I am happy to pray with you, and I am pleased that I have the opportunity to celebrate today's feast with you during this church music conference.  Your efforts, your fruit:  you adorn the services with your prayerful singing.  With all my heart I wish you that these conferences will assist you more and more to better the quality of church singing in each of your parishes.  This is a great and holy endeavor.  May God help you.  I will ask that all saints pray to God for us.  Amen.”

        We continue to rejoice in our late beloved Metropolitan’s blessing.  As many have said who have known him in any degree, he was an icon of humility and graciousness.  Even though he had grown up, matured and grown old in worship, steeped in the sounds and accents of Church Slavonic, he was willing to be with us and bless our work for the English-speaking communities, recognizing in his apostolic office the importance of our “endeavor.”  He prepared his homily ahead of time for us, and read it in English.  We have the sure hope that he is among the righteous and continuing to pray for us and bless us.           

        The other anniversary we will be celebrating is on June 3rd.  One year ago on that date, the wondrous gift of God of the historic St. Joseph’s chapel officially passed into our hands.  This day is also the day of Sts. Constantine and Helen, called “equal to the Apostles.”  As in their earthly lives, Sts. Constantine and Helen continue to be founders and establishers of churches, both great and small.  As the holy Helen uncovered the Very Cross of our Lord, just so was the beautiful relic of this disused church building uncovered and, in God’s good time, will be readied to hear “Blessed is the Kingdom” to which they and all the faithful departed belong.
 
            Being a native of Beltsville, I had grown up knowing of the chapel building, but somehow, even after our mission’s founding, its use for us never dawned on me.  I had never even gone out of my way to see it.  We had dreamed of and worked toward a haven where we could be, right here in the community where we were founded, but, for whatever reason, the thought never occurred that such a place existed.  Then from out of the blue the chapel was revealed to us, and its beauty and potential took us over.

            Since this revelation, we have pressed deliberately and prayerfully forward, one step after another.  Speed does not matter as long as we are following God’s lead.  Lead us He has, and, as long as we are looking steadfastly to Him, lead us He will.  Taking heart from the examples of Holy Constantine and Helen, and our beloved Metropolitan Laurus of happy and blessed memory, we have confidence and a sure hope.

Father George

Christ is risen!  Truly He is risen!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life!

The angel cried unto her that is full of grace: O pure Virgin, rejoice! And again I say rejoice!  For thy Son is risen on the third day from the grave, and hath raised the dead; O ye people, be joyful.

Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: dance now, and be glad, O Sion, and do thou exult, O pure Theotokos, in the arising of Him whom thou didst bear.

            Dear people of God,

            Let us be joyful in Him who became man, suffered as man, endured the dread passion, thereby transforming the Cross into that with which we arm ourselves against the devil, descended into the realms of the dead to defeat death and give life to the ancient righteous, and rose again on the third day from the dead to complete the triumph of our salvation.

            We rejoice because what He has done cannot be taken away from us because He is God, the “Pantokrator,” the Almighty.  As Christians, followers of Christ and members of His Body, the Church, we inherit the eternal kingdom that he has prepared.  We must simply accept what we have been given.  This can be difficult for us in our prideful tendencies.  But again, no one can take it from us.  We have been given the power, through Him, to keep it.

We must keep our view of this immense reality clear, clear of worldly designs that we would put up to block our view.  The immensity of the Kingdom of God calls for a like breadth of mind on our part.  It takes effort to look at the sky when there are so many trees that are easier to see and contemplate.  To see and keep in our minds the Kingdom of God is, however, what we are called upon to do.  “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,” says God, and all the things that are here that we need will be provided for us.  This is the Risen One’s direct promise.  And He ought to know, having created all in the first place, and re-created it again, for our sake.

Christ is risen!

Father George

Pascha the beautiful, Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha, the Pascha All-venerable hath dawned upon us.  Pascha!  With joy, let us embrace one another.  O Pascha, ransom from sorrow!  For from the tomb today, as from a bridal-chamber, hath Christ shone forth!