Sunday After the Nativity

Galatians 1:11-19
Matthew 2:13-23

We deal with many things in the Gospel passage appointed for this Sunday after the Nativity. We first find the Holy Family still in Bethlehem. The Wise Men have come and gone, left their gifts and I am sure Joseph was trying to figure out what to do with his new family. The he has a dream to take the child and his mother and flee. He is to go to Egypt and remain there until the Lord sends for him to let him know it is safe to come back. You see Herod is out to get the child as he perceives that he is a threat to him and his kingdom. The Gospel says he arose and took the child and his mother and left.

What kind of faith must Joseph have had to be able to do this. Think about it. Your an old man (well old in those days) and you are engaged to this young beautiful girl from your village. You go away for a few days, and when you come back she has this fantastic story about how she got "in the family way". You don't believe her. Would you? This is an amazing tale and you are trying to deal with it all. So you are going to do the right thing and quietly send her away when in dream an angel comes to you and says not so fast this is all part of the plan. Mary is carrying a child of the Holy Spirit. Okay so that makes life better right. All cleared up we can get back to normal now. Now the Scriptures do not say what happened in the house of Joseph but I can only imagine. I mean God choose these two for a reason, but they still must have had a few good moments of discussion. To bad Dr. Phil was not around in those days!

Now you have to shlep your little family miles away to be counted and while there your wife goes into labor, or as much labor as Mary had anyway (read previous post on Mary's labor pains) and you try and find her a place but the place is packed. So you find a cave and lay he down in the hay and she gives birth to a son. Okay pretty normal so far right? Then some strange guys show up and gives you gifts. Sorry to say at this moment I have the movie Life of Brian running in my head.

So they leave their gifts and you think this is pretty good after all it is Christmas! Then just when you think all is going to be okay, you have this dream and you have to move to a place you have never been and where you know no one. What does Joseph do? He takes his family and moves on. What faith this man must have had.

He had no reason to believe Mary. No one would have blamed him if he sent her away. Joseph gets short changed in the Scriptures but I think there is much we can learn from him. Joseph like any step parent, takes on a responsibility that is not his to begin with. He takes the child and makes him his own. Teaches him a trade, takes him to the temple, and teaches him how to be a man.

Tradition tells us that St. Joseph died when Jesus still young. Scripture does not mention this fact and after the finding of Jesus in the Temple we never hear of Joseph again. He fades into the background and does his job of raising Jesus to be the man he was. We owe a great debt of gratitude to St. Joseph, and for that matter all step parents, for doing the job that they do in some of the most difficult situations.

Faith is the moral of this story. The faith of St. Joseph. Let us pray that we have that kind of faith.

Happy New Year!

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Saddam

All over the news today have been reports of the pending execution of Saddam. I have very mixed feels about his execution. What good will it serve to execute him? How will his execution make the life of Iraqi's better? Will it make things worse for our troops there? Will it make things worse for us here at home? Is there a way that we could just keep him in prison for the rest of his life and not execute him? As Christians should we not look to forgive him and preserve his life. Do we not believe in the sanctity of life from conception to it's natural end?

Many things to think and pray about. Sphere: Related Content

Romanians Celebrate St. Stephen's Day

From Nine O'clock thanks to Floyd Frantz for the link.

In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia there have been as many as 17 rulers with this name, the most famous of whom is Stephen the Great.

BUCHAREST – The first major celebration dedicated to a religious personality after the Nativity is, in Christian Orthodox calendars, Saint Stephen’s Day. The information we have on him originates in the New Testament, the book titled the Acts of the Apostles. St. Stephen is known as one of the first seven deacons, probably a Hellenistic Jew. The mission he had received from the Twelve Apostles consisted in social activities, such as taking care of the old, the poor, or widows, and preaching the acts and teachings of Jesus. He was seen as more educated than most fellow citizens and with very strong faith, which triggered the envy of Jewish religious leaders.Because of a famous sermon in which he defended Christianity and accused the Jews of having murdered Jesus, Saint Stephen is seized by Jewish authorities and stoned to death, to thus become the first Christian Martyr. One of the most important witnesses of this murder was none other than Saint Apostle Paul, who was one of St. Stephen’s accusers, as the event took place before Paul’s conversion to Christianity.The cult of Saint Stephen developed spectacularly only in the 5th Century, when his grave was found by priest Lucian in Caphar Gamala, in 415. His remains were taken to Constantinople and then to Rome, along with the stones by which he had reportedly been killed. In UK alone, 46 very old churches are dedicated to St. Stephen, and are seen as historic monuments of inestimable value. In art, Saint Stephen has been a favourite subject, with perhaps the most important representation by Jean Fouquet, dating since the early Renaissance, currently kept in Berlin. The Vatican can also boast an extraordinary collection of religious paintings by Fra Angelico.In the West, Saint Stephen is celebrated one day earlier, on December 26, while in UK the feast of Stephen is held on August 3, when the holy remains were found.Over the centuries, numerous sovereigns and personalities were given this name. The Serbs have had as many as four kings named Stephen, the first of them, Stefan Dusan, seen as the founder of the Serbian feudal state. The most important historic personality of Hungary is King Stephen (975-1038), celebrated as a national hero. He is one of the series of five Hungarian kings with this name. In the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia there have been as many as 17 rulers with this name, the most famous of whom is Stephen the Great, venerated and acknowledged as a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

by George Grigoriu

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Gerald Ford RIP

Word has reached us here in the village of the passing of former President Gerald Ford at the age of 93. Much will be written in the coming days of him and his presidency I would like to share some thoughts of this great man.

I was in grade school when Ford ran against Carter in the 1976 presidential election. I remember us having a mock election in the class room and I was the only one that voted for Ford in that election. There was just something about this man, who kept falling down, that I liked even at that tender age. Okay, so he pardoned Nixon. Is there anyone alive today that thinks that was a mistake? I also was reminded today that he was the only president that was never elected. He became Vice President with the resignation of Spiro Agnew and then president with Nixon's resignation.

So Memory Eternal for Gerald Ford, and it will be interesting to see how history will treat him.

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Nativity Services

Yesterday after Divine Liturgy we did a quick change of the church from Advent to the Nativity season. All of the red was replaced with white and candles were placed around in different places of the church. Then a quick lunch, a little nap, and Great Vespers was served in the church. Although the group of faithful was small it was a very prayerful way to welcome the Christ Child into our midst. This year I kept the baby from the crib out of the way until last night. Funny thing is only one person noticed that he was not there. Hmmmm.

Today we have one liturgy and then I am off to spend time with family. This has been a very quiet season for us here in the village. I am going to try and take some pictures of the church and post them latter in the week.

Cracun Fericite, Merry Christmas to all who honor me by reading my words on this blog. I look forward to blogging this coming year.

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Nativity Message

The Nativity Message of His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas can be found here:

English
Romanian Sphere: Related Content

Great Vespers

If anyone is in the area tonight, we are having Great Vespers at 5pm here in the church. Fr. Greg is coming down from Worcester so it should be a great service. We are going to try and record it for pod cast purposes so stay tuned.

Merry Christmas
Cracun Fericite
Nollaig Chridheil Dhuibh Uile Sphere: Related Content

Parastas (Paos) Service

The third part of the Funeral Service is what is called the Parastas or Memorial Service. This service is served on the 40th day after the falling asleep as well as the each year for three years. The service is basically the wake service or the Litany of the Dead from the Divine Liturgy.

The tradition in this Romanian Parish is to use boiled wheat but in some places the tradition is to use bread. It all depends on from where in Romanian your family comes from. As mentioned before the wheat symbolizes the resurrection. In the center of the wheat we place a candle to represent the light of Christ's teaching. At the end of the service a little red wine is poured over the wheat to remind us the we are purified, cleansed, and made holy by the blood of Christ. In the name of the person who has fallen asleep we pray on their behalf for forgiveness and mercy.

This service is not just an event where we shed tears for the dead, but an active participation in making Christ present in this world and the next.

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Pastoral Joys

This morning I had a great breakfast with Fr. Greg and returned to the church to find the other furnace in the church on the fritz. We have three hot air furnaces that heat the church. One went down earlier in the week and was repaired. We were waiting on the electrician to come and wire the thing up. While waiting for him, the other one went down and will be down until next week. So if you are coming to church here this weekend bring a hat. Ahhh the things they don't teach in seminary... LOL

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Orthodox Funeral Service Part II

In the last post the pre-funeral liturgies were covered. In this post I would like to look at the actual Funeral Liturgy and some of the symbolism of the things used in the liturgy itself.

After the final litany comes the prayer of forgiveness. This prayer is said by the priest and before the people come up for the final goodbye. A very moving prayer and speaks of the joy that we can all look forward too.

O Most merciful master, Lord Jesus Christ our God, you gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to your holy disciples and apostles. Then after your third-day resurrection, by your grace, you gave them the power to retain and forgive sins of men, that they be retained in heaven just as they were retained on earth and likewise that they be forgiven in heaven as they were forgiven on earth.

Through your unspeakable love for mankind, you made us worthy, though we are your humble and unworthy servants, to be inheritors of this same your most holy gift and grace. You yourself, most good king, through me your humble and unworthy servant, forgive your servant (N) whatever he has transgressed in this earthly life. Forgive him all which he has done in word deed or thought, releasing him from every form of ban placed on him through his actions of anger or through some other motives or if he is under the ban of a hierarch or some other, due to the envy and though the work of the Devil.

Graciously grant, most good and merciful one, that his soul be established with the saints who from the ages have been pleasing to you and that his body be returned to the elements from which you made it. For you are blessed and glorified to all ages. Amen.

After this prayer, the priest invites the people to come up and say their last goodbye and then the final prayer is said.

The priest holds his hand over the departed and says the following prayer:

May the Lord, Jesus Christ our God, who gave to his holy disciples and apostles the divine command to retain and forgive the sins of those fallen and to us who have received the power to do likewise from them, forgive you all which you have transgressed in this earthly life, voluntarily and involuntarily committed, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
For you are the resurrection, the life and the repose of your servant (N) who has fallen asleep, O Christ God, and we offer glory to you, together with your Father who is without beginning and your all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Then the priest pours olive oil and wine, in the sign of the cross, over the body saying:

Purify me with hyssop until I am clean; wash me until I am whiter than snow.

The wine symbolizes the blood which circulates in our veins and the oil, the announcement of the resurrection.

After this the top of the casket is closed and removed the cemetery for burial.

The symbolism of some of the items used at the funeral:

Candles used around the coffin signify the light which Christ has brought into the world through his Gospel which will guide both the living and the dead until the end of the world.

Incense is used as an offering to God in behalf of the soul of the departed.

Earth is scattered over the casket in the sign of the cross and symbolizes that man is earth and will return to earth.

Ashes from the censer are emptied into the grave as a reminder that man is "earth and ashes."

Boiled Wheat and Loves of Bread as used in the memorial service because wheat symbolizes resurrection. As a grain of wheat must be buried so that it can bring forth fruit, so a man must be buried in order to be resurrected for eternity.

Next up will be the memorial services in another post.

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Festivus

Okay, how many of us remember the "Seinfeld" episode Festivus for the Rest of Us? It was just on not that long ago. Well it would seem that Festivus is taking hold and catching. Who would have thought. Thanks to Yahoo for the news.

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Missionary Blogger

Orthodox Missionary John Burnett from Uganda has a blog about various topics check it out here. Send John an e-mail and thank him for his service to the church. John is a missionary with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center.

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Romania's Communist Past

Thanks to Missionary Floyd Frantz for this information.

Dear Friends of the St. Dimitrie Program,

Often times, we all get pretty bleak about the situation here in Romania. Well, I guess that it is normal, given that we focus so much on the negative side of life, the "hard side" so to speak.

Well, today I got in a little early, and our President, Mr. Traian Basescu was making a speech on national television, and on all the Romanian stations. I could sense that it was something special. It was. He was blowing the whistle on the old hard line Communist's who are still in the government. Everyone knows about them, its just that they are never confronted in public, by one of their peers.

Now, before you read the article, consider that many people consider the Romanian "revolution" in 1989 to be not much more than the manipulation of the people by the Communists (mostly by the secret service) to stay in power. Knowing that Communism and the Soviet Union was rapidly falling the revolution was probably a manipulation of the secret police to control the change of power in the government. There has been quite a lot written about it. Then, when the Romanian army, (not the people, as many believe) shot Ceausescu and his wife at a firing squad affair, the "Communist Party" disbanded. Well, not really. They simply put on different hats and formed the political parties that are now in Romania. About 1 billion usd in gold bullion that came up missing during that time has also never been accounted for.

In reading the article, you will notice that both the far right, (ultra-nationalists) and the left (Social Democratic Party) are represented by former Communists. That is how they have kept control of the government, money, and generally, the people here in Romania since 1989, after the Revolution. And these guys are still in power, one of them has been president twice since 1989 and is now a senator.

I don't usually write about all the political scandals over here, there are too many to note. But this one is worth mentioning because this fellow, Traian Basescu, is really trying to do something to help his country. And, in the last few years things have gotten better. It's a "progress rather than perfection" type of thing, but Romania is improving.

Anyway, the link to read the BBC article is: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6190931.stm you might need to copy and paste it into your browser.

I am doing a "copy and paste" of a second, related article, in case the link does not work in your program. I hope you enjoy reading the article.

Have a good one,

In His Love,
One day at a time,
Floyd

By DPADec 18, 2006, 17:32 GMTBucharest - A Romanian parliamentary session aimed at making the first official condemnation of the communist era was disrupted Monday by an ultra-nationalist writer and lawmaker who lambasted President Traian Basescu as well as guest Michael I, the country's former king. Senator Corneliu Vadim Tudor and colleagues from the Romania Mare (Greater Romania) party heckled, whistled and booed Basescu during his early afternoon speech.The parliamentary session was held to discuss a report commissioned by the president which condemns the 1945-1989 communist era as 'criminal and illegitimate.'
Tudor, the one-time writer-in-residence of former dictator Nicolai Ceausescu, is angered at his portrayal in the report, in which he is charged with helping the communist regime.
The report and the official condemnation has also provoked the ire of the opposition Socialist (PSD) party, whose honorary chairman Ion Iliescu is also named as having aided communism. Iliescu, Romanian president from 1990 to 1996, and again from 2000 to 2004, gained power following the ouster of Ceausescu.
Tudor on Monday described the report as 'anti-Romanian and criminal,' saying Basescu was a 'worm' in comparison to Ceausescu. He accused Michael I meanwhile of having 'brought the Russians into the country' via his 1944 break with Nazi Germany.
Tudor's Romania Mare party is seen by many in the country as being largely made up of officers from the former communist-era security police.

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Orthodox Funeral Service

I have been wanting to write something about the funeral service since the funeral last week. So I thought today would be a good day. The Funeral Service is actually a series of services that begins with the Office of the Parting of the Soul from the Body. This takes place with family and friends gathered around the person who is gravely ill. There is a slightly different office when the person has been suffering for a prolonged period of time and the people pray for a merciful parting.

Office of the Burial of the dead. This begins with the wake service. Usually held in the funeral home but as of late here in the village we have been having the wake services in the church. The priest and chanter will come into the wake and begin the wake service like the liturgical services usually begin. "Blessed is our God now and always and forever and ever." Then the prayers begin including the Troparion:

Among the righteous spirits departed this life, O Savior, rest the soul of your servant, bringing it to that blessed life with you, O lover of mankind.

Followed by the Litany of the dead and the prayer of the priest:

O God of spirits and of all bodies, who trampled down death and overcame the devil and bestowed life on your world, yourself O Lord rest the soul of your servant (N) who has fallen asleep, in a place of light, in a place of green pastures, in a place of rest from where pain, sorrow and sighing have been driven away. Forgive him every transgression committed in word, in deed, or in thought, for you are good O God and the lover of mankind. For there is no man born who does not transgress and you alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting and your word is true.
For you are the resurrection, the life and the repose of your servant (N) who has fallen asleep, O Christ God, and we offer glory to you, together with your Father who is without beginning and your all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Another litany, followed by a reading from the Gospel depending on the day of the week. Then another Litany and the dismissal. Usually during the litanies the incense is used. However I have found this can lead to some unwanted guests at the wake service in the funeral home as the Fire Department shows up so I usually don't use it at the funeral home. In the church I will use the incense during the wake service.

At the conclusion of all of the services for the dead we sing Memory Eternal three times while ringing the bell.

The concludes the wake service next the funeral service itself, and then the memorial services that are conducted for the departed.

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Christmas Shopping

So yesterday I was able to finish my Christmas Shopping. This is far in advance for me as I am usually running around on Christmas Eve finishing up. Now I just need to start wrapping everything. Nothing on the schedule for today so maybe I can get it done.

The other day as I was working in the church I noticed that one of the furnaces was on the fritz. I need to call the repair man and have them come and give us the annual gouging on the cost. Maybe we need to just light a fire in a 55 gal. drum in the middle of the church for heat. I once went to this little church in Romania and the heat was a fire place. There was this guy in the church and his job was to keep the fire going. Could be a good alternative. Oh well thankfully we have not really used the heat that much this season. Maybe we can squeak by with a small heating bill this year.

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Coat of Arms

I have recently had a coat of arms designed. I have to give a very large shout out to Deb Simmons at DKS Designs. She did a great job capturing both my English and Scottish background as well as displaying my arms in the correct ecclesiastical way for an Orthodox Priest. Thanks Deb. The hat on top of the Mantle is the hat an Orthodox Priest of my rank would wear. Below the shield is the motto I have chosen. On the arms it is in Romanian to denote that I am a Romanian Orthodox Priest. Translated it means "Be Not Afraid" I choose this motto because as Christians we cannot be afraid to step out and do what needs to be done. The lion's head and the diamonds are taken from the arms of the Ships that bear the name Preble.

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Old Friends

Today I had lunch with an old friend. After graduation from High School I enlisted in the Army and ended up at Fort Polk, LA. I met this guy named Dave who was also from Massachusetts. We were together there for three years and had some great experiences. We went our separate ways, and now almost 20 years latter we had lunch together. He is still in the Army and just came back from a year in Afghanistan. It was so great to see him. We shared stories and laughed a lot. Great day!

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Weekend

Although is is Tuesday I am finally getting around to posting the weekend activities. What a weekend it was. Saturday night I attended a wonderful concert at a Synagogue in Hingham, Massachusetts. At the invitation of my Sister-in-law. Five cantors from various places came together for this concert. The first half was all religious music and the second half was filled with show tunes. Great singing and the people were very warm and welcoming. We could learn much from them and from their attitude. At the beginning of the concert they lite the candle for the second day of Hanukkah. Great little ceremony and man can the people sing.

Sunday was the usual except we had 64 people in church, a new record. A memorial service for a parishioner who fell asleep in the Lord 40 days ago, then off to bless the food for the family Christmas party, quick trip to the cemetery to bless the grave, then back to the hall to the Christmas party and the visit of Santa. What can I say.

All would have been fine except at 5:15am the fire alarm pager went off for a 3 alarm fire that I responded too. I got back to the church at 8am to get ready for Liturgy. I was exhausted by days end, but the final episode of Survivor was one so I got 40 winks and then watch the show. Good ending to a great weekend.

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28th Sunday After Pentecost

Colossians 1:12-18

Luke 14:16-24

The Gospel for this Sunday is about the man that throws a great banquet and everyone has an excuse and decides not to come to the banquet. So the man sends out his servant to try and get people to come but everyone is busy and refuses to come.

This is a great example of the Eucharistic banquet that we serve each liturgy in the church. How many times do we have a liturgy and very few people come or on Sunday when the church is full, very few people come forward at the time of communion to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. At each Divine Liturgy we prepare a great banquet and the Lord Himself invites all to come and partake. The words, "approach with the fear of God, in faith and with love." Are the words that the priest uses to call the faithful forward to receive this great sacrament. Many people are not prepared due to grave sin, but are not prepared because of laziness in their preparation and hence the reason they do not come forward.

The great Orthodox Theologian Fr. Alexander Schemman once described this very same thing and used this analogy to describe what the Gospel is trying to say. Imagine that you prepare a great meal and invite your friends over. You put all the food on the table and you all sit down and look at the table. What a wonderful spread you have laid out for your friends. After sometime, you gather up all the food and throw it in the garbage and you never eat any of it. This is what happens on Sunday. We prepare the feast and invite people to come, and then when no one comes, we throw it away, in a figurative sense of course. If reception of the sacrament is not the reason we are there, then why are we? What is the purpose of coming to church if we are just going to watch what is going on? Perhaps we should just have a movie shown in the church on that day, and people can come and eat popcorn.

Sadly for years in the Orthodox Church people strayed away from frequent reception of communion. Twice a year was, and for some, still is the norm. We need to do something to change this practice. The grace we are missing is a grace we cannot afford to miss.

We are called to bring the light into the dark world. This light needs fuel to keep burning, that fuel is the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive at the Divine Liturgy. If we do not keep the light burning, who will? And if there is no light, then darkness takes over... And that is unacceptable.

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Funeral

Yesterday was my fourth funeral since coming here almost three years ago. In the grand scheme of things that is not many, but in a parish this size that is many more than we should have.

The funeral liturgy itself is very beautiful and the priest does not have much to do. It is a work out for the cantor who has to chant every part of it.

I preached on the fact that although we will miss the person, we should rejoice at the same time because for us it is not the end, there is more and we will be together again one day. I did not know the gentleman that well but I can tell from the stories I heard over the last week that he was truly a gentle man and a great friend to many. We waked him in the church, an old tradition that is making a come back. He then spends the night in the church before the funeral. This man loved his church very much so it was indeed a fitting send off for him to be able to spend the night in the church.

The service at the cemetery is very short, and then off to a local place for the mercy meal. I will try and post more about the Orthodox Funeral Liturgy at another time.

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Bum Fights

Yesterday I tuned in to the Dr. Phil show. I am a somewhat regular viewer of the show and tune in when the topic catches my eye. For some reason I knew this one was going to be real stupid. There is this guy who goes around paying the homeless to fight on camera. He paid this one poor soul in booze to pull his teeth out with a pair of pliers. What is this world coming too. He actually said that he is helping these people. Someone needs to help this guy for sure.

What has happened to people that we treat others as entertainment? Now I am a fan of reality TV and watch my fair share, but this is crazy. As Dr. Phil said, he is a supporter of everyones first amendment rights, but I think this goes too far.

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27th Sunday after Pentecost

Ephesians 6:10-17
Luke 13:10-17

This past Sunday the Gospel passage was about the woman who had an infirmity for 18 years and was healed by Jesus. On the surface another healing took place, however this one was a little different. Jesus healed this woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and that is a big no no. Right away the leadership gets mad and chastises him for healing her. Jesus fires back that each of them would save an animal if it got caught in something on the Sabbath why not this woman.

For me, this passage is more about the rules than about healing. We are faced with people who are caught up in the rules and not the fact that Jesus just saved this woman from a life of pain. I think that sometimes in the church the same thing happens. We get caught up in the rules and not necessarily in the fact that something miraculous is happening. Is the liturgy any less valid if it is served in the parking lot with no vestments, or rather in a splendid cathedral with all the trappings of the church. Now don't get me wrong, I love that stuff, but is it necessary? The guys and gals serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have church on the back of HumV and the priest, if there is one, serves in his fatigues with his body armor on and maybe, has a stole on. Is this a valid service?

There is this term that we use in Orthodoxy called Convertitis. This is an affliction for us converts that we get hung up on all of the rules of the church and not on what the rules are for we cannot see the forest through the trees. Can we have oil today, is meat allowed this time of year, was my metania low enough, are the candles in the right place, did I say 300 Jesus Prayers and is my prayer rope tied right around my wrist. These are the kinds of questions that we converts ask ourselves. Notice I lumped myself in there...

What Jesus is saying here is not that the rules don't matter but sometimes there are more important things than the rules. We have liturgical rules for a reason, so we don't have priests just making things up, even though they do! The point is that sometimes for pastoral reasons we change things.

What is important is the Cross, the grave, the third day Resurrection as we say in the liturgy. That's what is important. Sometimes how we get there is not as important as what we do when we get there.

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Liturgical Language

My last post has started me thinking about language. Now I hope I do not insult anyone with my ramblings but I have been thinking of this for sometime now. How do we, the Orthodox Church, grow in this country? In many places immigrants are still arriving and sustaining parishes. But here in the village for example there has not been an immigrant for years. How do we reach converts or others and bring them into the church? The name of my parish is St. Michael's Romanian Orthodox Church. All of our liturgical services are in English with a sprinkling of Romanian. However, when one looks for a church, and sees the word Romanian or Greek, or Albanian I think one would assume that everything would be in that language. If you do not speak that language, then your not going to show up.

My parish is third generation and many of the parishioners no longer speak the language and the language that they do speak is a very different dialect of Romanian than people speak now. As a historian I look at things from history and allow history to color things for me. When Christianity was on the move and spreading into various places on the earth, the church of the east spread faster in places than the church of the west. One reason for that was that the missionaries did not use their own language they would learn the local language and have services in the vernacular. St. Herman of Alaska, Enlightener of North America and one of American Orthodoxy's greatest saint, came from Russia but learned the local Alaskan language and taught the people.

Now fast forward to today, and if one comes to an Orthodox Church, for the most part, they have to learn another language. I said this last night and I have seen this in my own Romanian Archdiocese as well. I love that people will just assume that you speak the language of the people. Folks would come up to me last night speaking Greek. I barely speak English let alone Greek or even Romanian for that matter. Anyway I digress, again...

So what do we do? The attendance at Vespers last night showed me that in some parishes using another language other than English does not hurt, but if I was to switch to Romanian here in my parish I would loose people. What is the answer? How do we proceed into the next generation? How many people have we lost from our churches because the liturgical language is a language that they do not speak anymore? Are we holding on to things that are hurting us and a people rather then preserving us? These are hard questions to answer and have caused many heated discussions over the years. Language is culture, and culture defines us as a people. And we should hold on to that. It makes me sad that many people here no longer speak the language that their ancestors spoke, but I guess that is progress.

I don't have the answers and I am not sure there are answers to many of these questions. But, I feel, if Orthodoxy is going to survive on this land of ours, then we need to adapt and change linguistically so we don't loose anyone else.

Comments? But please be nice...

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St. Spyridon Vespers

Last night I had the opportunity to attend Vespers at St. Spyridon cathedral in Worcester. What a wonderful night filled with much prayer. About 400 people were in attendance as well as about a dozen or so priests and a deacon. His Eminence Metr. Methodios was there and it is always nice to serve with a bishop. The choir from Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA provided the music and it was truly prayerful. My only comment would be that Vespers was served almost entirely in Greek. This is such a shock when I come from my little parish here in the village where all services are in English. However, one can still pray regardless of the language, God understands us all.

I also met some fans of the Blog. I did not realize that people actually read this thing. Yes some people leave comments and the site meter tells me that over 700 people have come by, but I wonder if people really read what I write. So a shout out to Pres. Joanna who I met last night. Thanks for reading and thanks for saying hello last night.

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Today

Today promises to be a little quiet and I like that. I have a meeting at 12pm at the funeral home to make the arrangements for the funeral this week. After that Vespers at St. Spyridon Cathedral in Worcester in celebration of there feast day tomorrow. One of the great things about being here in the Worcester area is that there are 12 Orthodox Churches and all of the priests work very well together. We support one another in many ways, and going to service at each others churches is one of those ways. Sometimes there are more clergy there than laity but that is okay. All that matters is that we join together in prayer.

Yesterday was very busy and not my usual Sunday. After Liturgy, I had to leave coffee hour early and I don't like to do that, I attended the festive banquet for our sister parish St. Nicholas in Shrewsbury. What a wonderful time and His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese was there. It is always nice to be able to see ones bishop. The last time I was with him was in July in Chicago. He is very interested in how we are doing in our parishes and always asks about people that he has met. He is a very spiritual man I am for one am happy to have him as our bishop. He is young and energetic and is breathing new life into the archdiocese.

I will post some of my thoughts from the Sunday Scripture readings latter on today.

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Conception of the Theotokos

Today, those of us in the Easter Church, celebrate the Conception by St. Anna of the Holy Theotokos. Yesterday the Western Church celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Celebrating the same feast but in different ways. The difference in the two feasts revolve around the understanding of Ancestoral or Original Sin. The difference comes in how the sin is transmitted and what needs to happen for the sin to be removed. This is a topic for a longer post so for now we can just say that in the Orthodox tradition the sin is inherited but not the stain or guilt of the sin therefore the Theotokos did not need to be Immaculaty Concived by her parents.

Here is a little snipit from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Website about the fest:

According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since Saint Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift. And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, and was deemed worthy to become the mother of the Mother of our Lord

I am working on the longer post so stay tunned.

Update: I found this great essay that I think will answer all of the questions. Written by Rev. Fr. Antony Hughes, Rector of St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I don't think I could do a better job. I am not a theologian, I am a historian and I think Fr. Antony has done fine work here.

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Death

This past week I received a call from a parishioner to inform me of the death of one of the other parishioners. I have learned here in my almost three years as pastor that this is the way things usually go. I think there have only been two times when someone has been in the hospital that I knew about it before they got out. Anyway I digress.

The man who died was really not known to me. Now this is a problem for me since we only have 75 members of this church. You would think I would know them all, but this is a flaw in my pastoral ministry that I do not know them all. This is something that has been bothering me all week. How can I make this better. So the man who died has no family. His parents are both dead and several years ago his unmarried sister died. This man never married and there are no living relatives that can be found. However, some of his friends in the church have stepped forward and his church family has taken over for him. But before this happened it was a day of phone calls between the social worker at the hospital, myself, the police department, lawyers and the like trying to gain information on this man. He was a very quiet man who I would see at church and sometimes at coffee hour. However I learned many things about him as I looked for information.

He was a veteran of the United States Air Force and was one of the Air Traffic Controllers that lost their jobs in the early 80's. He lived in a small apartment not far from the church and continued to work at a local optical manufacturing plant. His parents were born in Albania and there may be relatives living there, that will be the task for the coming week.

I started to think about how many others are there that are in similar situations but have no one, no church family, or other family, that would care for them and see that they get the appropriate burial. We have an obligation as Christians to care for those around us, and I would extend that to those that are not members of our individual churches.

No one knows if this man has a will or where it could be found. So the legal process takes over and an administrator has to be appointed to go through his belongings and search back through his life for clues. This detail has fallen to me as father of the church family. I do not mind and I am not complaining about it, but how could we let this happen? How could we let one of our own get away from us like this? How could I, as the father of the community, allow on of my own die and not even know he was sick. I have not done my job for this man, and I pray that he will forgive me for my short comings in this area.

In seminary we spend years learning scripture, chant, liturgy, and other such very important things. Then you get to the parish and you wish you had some courses in accounting, office management, legal matters, taxes, that's another story for another day, and other day to day things like that. If we are lucky we get an assignment with someone who has been doing this for awhile and can guide us or that the one that we replace has left things in a relatively good state. Then there is the opposite side of things. I do not know what the answer is but we some how need to find a balance between the theoretical and the practical. Most of us will never take another class or continue our education beyond what we already have and that is fine, but we need to hone our practical and pastoral skills that you can only learn by doing.

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Advent Thoughts

This advent season I have been re-reading the book The Winter Pascha by Rev. Fr. Thomas Hopko. A great little devotional reading book for this time of year. I usually read this book each Advent and follow up with this book on Great Lent in the Spring. It is amazing how many new things you can learn even reading the same books over and over. Here is something that I came upon today in my reading and I thought I would post it here.

Christians live between the two comings of Christ. They remember His first coming to be sacrificed. They anticipate His second coming to reign. This is vividly portrayed in traditional Orthodox church buildings where the "royal gates" of the icon screen in front of the altar table are flanked by the icons of the Theotokos and Child on the one side, and the Lord Jesus in glory on the other. To the uninitiated it may seem as though these are simply pictures of Mary and Jesus put on the same level. This is not so. The icons which frame the Orthodox altar are images of the two comings of Christ. Mary is not alone in her icon; she is holding the Christ Child, who is not shown as a baby, but as the Son of God incarnate "in the form of a slave... in the likeness of men" (Phil 2:7). This is the icon of Christ's first coming. And the icon on the right of the doors is not a picture of Jesus as He was on the earth. It is His image in glory as King and Lord, the icon of His second coming.
The two comings of Christ are held together in Christian thought, action, and prayer at all times. They cannot be separated. When they are, it is the end of Christian faith, life and worship. The first coming without the second is a meaningless tragedy. The second coming without the first is an absurd impossibility. Jesus us born to bring God's kingdom. He dies to prove His kingship. He rises to establish His reign. He comes again in glory to share it with his people. In the kingdom of God there are no subjects. All rule with the risen Messiah. He came, and is coming, for this purpose alone.
(The Winter Pascha, Thomas Hopko, pp. 92-93)

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December 7th

Today we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. Much has be written on this subject and I am not going to add to those voices already speaking out and other such things. All I will say is that we should pray for peace in the world. One of the litanies in the Orthodox Liturgy ask us to do just that, ...for peace in the world, let us pray to the Lord...

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St. Nicholas

From the Greek Archdiocese Website:

This Saint lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, and reposed in 330, As a young man, he desired to espouse the solitary life. He made a pilgrimage to the holy city Jerusalem, where he found a place to withdraw to devote himself to prayer. It was made known to him, however, that this was not the will of God for him, but that he should return to his homeland to be a cause of salvation for many. He returned to Myra, and was ordained bishop. He became known for his abundant mercy, providing for the poor and needy, and delivering those who had been unjustly accused. No less was he known for his zeal for the truth. He was present at the First Ecumenical Council of the 318 Fathers at Nicaea in 325; upon hearing the blasphemies that Arius brazenly uttered against the Son of God, Saint Nicholas struck him on the face. Since the canons of the Church forbid the clergy to strike any man at all, his fellow bishops were in perplexity what disciplinary action was to be taken against this hierarch whom all revered. In the night our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lady Theotokos appeared to certain of the bishops, informing them that no action was to be taken against him, since he had acted not out of passion, but extreme love and piety. The Dismissal Hymn for holy hierarchs, The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock ... was written originally for Saint Nicholas. He is the patron of all travellers, and of sea-farers in particular; he is one of the best known and best loved Saints of all time.

The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, thou hast achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Troparion of St. Nicholas 4th Tone

Father, hear our prayers for mercy, and by the help of Saint Nicholas keep us safe from all danger, and guide us on the the way of salvation. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Liturgy of the Hours

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Parish Website

For those of you who have not visited our parish website, I have made some changes today. Under the news section I have added the December newsletter for all to enjoy... Look for more changes this week.

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Snow?

Today is Monday, and I was ready when I woke up to see a little snow on the ground. We have been told all weekend that we should get ready for the first snow of the year. I have yet to see a flake. I am all ready, have the boots out, got the shovel out yesterday and cleaned it all up, we put all the outside stuff inside so not to get ruined in the snow, and nothing nada, not a flake, well snow flake anyway. So we sit and wait. If it does snow I will try and get some snaps and post them. I think snow is great except when one has to travel in it. As long as I don't have anywhere to go, then bring it on.

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Incense

Thanks to Fr. Jim at Dappled Things, he has posted something about the history of Incense in liturgical practice. Very interesting.

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Sunday Recap

Divine Liturgy was wonderful with His Grace Bishop Nikon at St. Nicholas Church here in Southbridge. We had about 125 people in the congregation and that was wonderful also. It is shades of what could be if all the churches in town were one. Putting that aside, it was a great morning.

This afternoon I attended a concert at St. George Cathedral in Worcester. This was a concert by the combined choirs of the New England Antiocheans. 65 voices and a crowd of about 300 or maybe 400 it was spectacular. I can only imagine how hard they must have to rehearse to get to sound like that. Man they are good.

Off to a class tomorrow on Critical Incident Stress Management. This is part of my duties as a fire chaplain. When I went into this ministry I had no idea I would get involved in the things that I am involved in. I am so happy that I decided to do this ministry. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to get involved deeper in ministry and ministry from another perspective. Two days of class to move to the advance level. More on that after.

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Sunday

Today I will be a spectator at liturgy. As my parish has done for the last few years, we join our friends across the street at St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church for the celebration of their feast day. I believe that Bishop Nikon will be in attendance so I will be at the altar but will not celebrate per se. In the Orthodox world we do not concelebrate as our friends in the Roman Church do. One of the best parts of this is that I will have a chance to worship for a change and also I don't have to preach. As a pastor I very rarely get the chance to worship as I am always working. Not that being the celebrant at a Divine Liturgy is not worship, but you often find your mind drifting to what the altar servers are doing of what the cantor is going to sing, how many people are in the church, and the every important what am I going to say today. So today it is sit back and enjoy the liturgy.

Here in the village we have three Orthodox Churches. Ours, St. Michael's, the one across the street that I have already mentioned, St. Nicholas, and a small Greek church, St. George. This can cause some distress from time to time as we really should be one church and not three small ones. We all struggle to survive and I often think it would be easier if we were one larger church. The three of us exist because Southbridge was once a town with people from all different lands and could support three churches. By the way there are four Roman Catholic Churches here also... However time has changed the town and we no longer have the numbers we used to have. Something should be done, but it will happen in God's time.

So I got to sleep a little latter today and will have an enjoyable day at St. Nick's. Tonight there is a concert at St. George Cathedral in Worcester that I might try to attend. We are supposed to get our first snow, so we will see.

Happy Sunday to all!

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Friday

Friday was a very busy day hence the lack of posts. The day began with breakfast with Fr. Greg. We decided some months ago that we would meet every now and again and have breakfast together. We use these times for mutual support and also a time to just shoot the bull so to speak. We always go to the same place Bickfords in Auburn. Its nice to be able to break bread with a brother in the Lord.

Returned to the Village to gather up some stuff and change my shirt and started out on visitations. I don't do this as often as I should and it was nice to get back in the groove of visiting. I only have two house bound parishioners here so it does not take long, but it also allows me more time to spend with each of them. One lady lives in her own home and one lives in a rest home. Both are lovely ladies and I enjoy talking with them. They have great stories of church life here in the early years and it is nice to hear them.

In between the two visits I had my oil changed in the old truck, another thing that I don't do enough. Why is it that you go to have your oil changed and they want to sell you every other thing under the sun. Just change the oil thank you. The other thing I thought was funny while I was sitting in the waiting room I picked up the local paper and noticed that all of the ads from other oil change places had the word VOID written across them. I had to laugh at that.

After my second visit I went off to the Fire House. I have not been by there in a while either and I like to pop in for lunch, but I had such a big breakfast I skipped lunch yesterday. It's nice to pop and see the guys and talk with them about what is going on. We have a small town and not much happens in the way of big fires, but they still get busy from time to time.

Back to the village for a light supper and then I watched the movie White Christmas. Nice movie about simpler times and I was wondering if that movie would be a hit today like it was when it first came out. Everyone had their clothes on in the whole movie, no one got killed, and everyone stayed in their own rooms at night. Just some good clean dancing and singing. I did not know this but it was the first time that Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby were in a movie together.

Well, that's pretty much a day in the life here.

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World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS day and a day when we should remember those who work with people affected by AIDS and also those who suffer with this dread disease.

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