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Priest Mitrophan and the Boxer Rebellion

Posted on by Fr. Peter
An icon of the seventy-plus martyrs killed along with the Priest Mitrophan.

Yesterday the Orthodox Church commemorated all the saints of the Church.  The feast began as a way to commemorate all of the martyrs and grew into a larger commemoration over the years.  Today we commemorate the Priest Mitrophan and all those who perished with him during the Boxer Rebellion in China.  I must admit I had never heard of him until I saw him on today’s calendar.

The Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer or Yihetuan Movement was a pro-nationalist uprising by the “Righteous Harmony Society” in China between 1898 and 1901.  They were opposed to foreign imperialistic nations and Christianity.  There was a fear, due to the weakened economic state in China, that Christian missionaries would take over large tracts of land and place the Chinese under servitude.

In June of 1900 Boxer fighters, with the support of Dowager Empress Cixi, forced foreigners to seek refuge in the Legation Quarter.  They placed the area under siege for 55 days.  The siege ended when 20,000 troops from and eight national alliance, including the United States, defeated the Imperial Army and captured Beijing.  The Boxer protocol of September 1901ended the uprising and placed severe punishments on all those involved.

The Priest Mitrophan

The Priest Mitrophan whose Chinese name was Ji chong or Tsi Chung was born on December 10, 1855.  He lost his father at an early age and was raised by his grandmother and mother.  When he was 25 years old he was ordained to the priesthood in the Orthodox Church by Bishop Nikolai of Japan.

From the story of his martyrdom

On the evening of June 1, 1900 (which was the 17th day of the 5th month on the Chinese calendar)1, the Boxers (Yihetuan Movement) burned the buildings of the mission. About seventy Christians, hiding from danger, assembled in St Mitrophan’s home. Although Fr. Mitrophan’s former ill-wishers were among them, he did not drive them out. Seeing that some people were dispirited, he strengthened them, saying that the time of troubles had come and would be difficult to avoid. He himself several times daily went to look at the burned church. On the 10th of June, towards 10 in the evening, soldiers and Boxers surrounded Fr. Mitrophan’s dwelling. Up to seventy Christians were there at the time; the stronger among them fled, while Fr. Mitrophan and many others, primarily women and children, remained and were tortured. Fr. Mitrophan sat in his courtyard when the Boxers punctured his chest, and he fell under a date tree. His neighbors removed his body to the mission’s almshouse. Later the hieromonk Avraamy picked up Fr. Mitrophan’s body and, in 1903, during the first commemoration of the martyrs, it and those of the others, were placed under the altar in the martyrs’ church.

His wife Tatiana was beheaded on June 12th.  His son Isaiah was beheaded on June 7th because he was known to be a Christian.  His other son Ioann, who was only 7 when his father was martyred, had his nose, ears, and toes cut off and left to die.  He died around June 10th.

“Minister to Christ, true priest of glory, reasonable sacrifice and blameless victim, thou gavest thyself up to the stadium with thy flock, O father, Chi – Sung in Beijing. Therefore pray for us who keep thy precious memory with faith” (Troparion of Mitrophan Tone 1)

“In a pagan land ye were enlightened by the Orthodox Faith, and having lived in the Faith but a little time, ye inherited the eternal Kingdom. By the purity of your Christian ways ye put to shame the false Confucian piety and trampled demon-inspired Buddhism underfoot as refuse, sanctifying the Chinese land with your blood. Wherefore, we pray: Entreat the Master of all that He enlighten your land with Orthodoxy in these latter times, and strengthen us therein.” (Troparion of the New Martyrs of China, Tone 5)

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Sermon: Sunday of All Saints

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Last week I mentioned the holy oil that is blessed by the Patriarch and is used during the sacrament of Chrismation.  That oil, blessed by His Beatitude and then distributed to each of the Churches under his care, is a sign of the unity of the Church under her head.  That oil is a reminder that we are not just a building here on this place in Southbridge.  It is a reminder that we belong to something much larger than us and not just the Romanian Orthodox Church but to the Orthodox Church.

Today’s feast, and to a lesser extent next week’s feast, is also a reminder of that unbroken link between us here in Southbridge and the rest of the Orthodox Church around the world.  The first Sunday after the Great Feast of Pentecost is set aside on our Church calendar to remember all the saints of the Church.

As you know, each day has at least one saint that is commemorated.  During the services of that day the Troparion of that saint is chanted.  During Morning Prayer we read the Synaxarion, or a little bit of the life of the saint.  In monasteries around the world the lives of the saints are read each day prior to the noon meal in the trepeeza of the monastery.  In our Churches we are literally surrounded by the saints in our iconography.  Saints are important to us in our walk in the spiritual life.

Each day, the entire Orthodox Church remembers the same saints on the calendar.  Each particular Church, and by the I mean Romanian, Russian, Bulgarian, etc. have saints that they can add to the calendar to be remembered in that Church, but for the most part the saints on the calendar are universal in their remembrance.  This is a link for us not only to our particular Church but to the ancient church that stretches back more than 2,000 years.  Again, it is a reminder that we are not alone in this and that we belong to something much larger than ourselves.

At our Baptism, or Chrismation if we entered the Church from another faith group, we were given the name of a saint.  For many of us this saint has a family connection or perhaps a personal connection to our parents.  We celebrate our name day more than we celebrate our birth day for our spiritual birth deserves more of a remembrance then our physical birth does.  How many of us know the life of the saint we are named after and how many us pray to that saint each day?  This is an important part of our Orthodox Spirituality.

We come here each week, we sit here in this Holy Place surrounded by the saints of the Church.  Do we know who they are and why they adorn the walls of our temple?  Do we know who St. Paraskevi is?  How about Saint Naum or Saint Urban, all of those saints are here with us each week as we gather for Liturgy.  Who are they and why do they adorn the walls of our temple?

But it is not just these old time saints that died long ago.  What about modern saints?  St. Herman of Alaska, St. Alexis of Wilksbery, St. Peter the Alute, and the other saints of North America that did so much to help establish the Church here in America.  We now live in a age that there are people who still live that knew these saints, ate with them, and had them over to their house and maybe even went to them for confession.  I have mentioned to you before about our own Father Vasilachi, who stood here where I stand and could one day be proclaimed a saint of our Church.  Many of you knew him and had meals with him and went to confession to him, and one day he could be a saint of our Holy Church.

Then there are those who we will never know.  Those who gave their lives for the faith whose names have long since been forgotten.  Those who perished in concentration camps or prisons because of what they believed or those who lost their lives in other ways.  These names will be known only to God, and it is on this day that we recall their memory and all that they have done.  This is the meaning  when we sing memory eternal at the end of the funeral or memorial service.  These are important things for us to remember.  They gave so much, it is the least we can do to remember them.

Take some time today to mediate on the saint whose name you bear.  Think about that person and what they have done and ask them in your prayers to watch over you and walk with you.  Ask them to pray for you for you have been placed under their protection.  Remember also, those whose names we will never know and what they have done, for the martyrs of the faith and those who have gone before us.

“Your Church, O Christ our God, clothed itself in the blood of Your martyrs from throughout the world, as though it were a robe of linen and purple; through them, she cries out to You, ‘Send down upon Your people compassion, grant peace to Your commonwealth, and to our souls, great mercy.’”

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Welcome to the New Site

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Welcome to the new and improved frpeterpreble.com I am glad you have taken time to stop by.

The blog has now been moved and is in the process of being tweeked.  You may notice that some of the comments are gone, I hope they can be restored at some point but this is a work in progress and it is going to take a little time to make it all work.

I hope you stop by and see what is new as things will be in flux for the next few days.

Special thanks to Fr. John Peck and the gang at Logos Web Service for all of their hard work.

Leave some feedback about the site and let me know what you think

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Orthodox Campus Ministry

Posted on by Fr. Peter
In my way of looking at things, Campus Ministry is one of the most important aspects of ministry a church can be involved in.  Young people on campus are the future of our church, any church, and if we do not stay connected to them we will lose them.  There is a statistic that comes up every now and again in Orthodox circles regarding the number of students we lose when they go to college.  I have heard that 17% of Orthodox do not return to the church after college.  I cannot back that up (like the fact we used to say there were 5 million Orthodox in America no it’s like 1.5 million).  But either way, many do not return to the church after college.
Orthodox Christian Fellowship is the Orthodox Churches campus ministry organization.  Organized under the Assembly of Bishop, OCF ministers through some 300 local University chapters across the United States and Canada in an attempt to keep Orthodox college students engaged in the Church.  I have the honor of representing my Archdiocese as a member of the Board of Directors of OCF.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking before a group of student leaders of OCF.  The StudentAdvisory Board is appointed each year and made up of students from all the regions of the County.  They come from a variety of backgrounds, although I was surprised that there was only one convert in the room.  The Board of Directors deals with the budget and other such items while the SAB focus their energy on the Big Picture of Ministry.  And they lead THEIR organization.  OCF is led by students for students.  And that is the way it should be.
I was asked to come and speak on the topic of the persecuted Church.  Much has been in the news recently about persecution in the Middle East and other places and we spoke about the Church that had been in captivity in Eastern Europe under the yoke of Communism.  Then I brought it home.  I spoke about how we might persecute people in our own church.  How we might judge them because they do not do this or they do not do that.  I ended by saying that Orthodoxy is a big tent and there is room for all.  We love everyone, as Jesus commanded us too, and we welcome all regardless of what ails you.  We are all broken and it is the church, the Orthodox Church in its non-juridical way that helps to fix us.
I am so impressed by these future leaders.  I was impressed by their willingness to serve in this capacity for no pay and I was impressed by their engagement in the topic.  They had some great questions and after my hour was up they asked me to hang around and chat over lunch.  I was an wonderful experience and I am proud that I serve on the Board of Directors.
What about the future of campus ministry.  As with all things in American Orthodox we are going through growing pains.  We represent less than 1% of the US population and I would guess that translates to college campuses.  My belief is we need a concerted effort to establish Orthodox parishes outside of college campus across the US.  There are places where they do exists already, but there are places where there are none at all.
Drive through any college town.  Located within walking distance of the major university and that is the secret “walking distance” there are church of every shape and size.  If a church does not exist nearby, a ministry will come on campus and hold services.  We need to remember that most college students do not drive and have no way to get to a church they cannot walk too.  We need to be intentional about planting church near college campus and choosing clergy who have a heart for campus ministry.  It does no good to establish a church near a campus, first of all that does not use English as its Liturgical language, or that has clergy that do not wish to engage college students.  This is VITAL to the future of the Church.
If money were no object and I was in charge, too things that most likely will never happen, I would start to establish Orthodox Student Centers, much like the Roman Catholic Newman Centers, on major college campuses around the country.  For example, about an hour west of my Church is the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  The student population of UMass is about 17,000 (same as the Town of Southbridge with its three Orthodox Churches) and Amherst does not have an Orthodox Church.
According to the Directory of Parishes located on the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops website, the closest Orthodox Church to UMass Amherst is 11.3 miles away, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts. (the Church does not even have a webpage!  Epic Fail!) The law of averages would say there would be at least 100 Orthodox Students of the 17,000 at UMass.  Where are they going to Church?  We need an intentionally planted Church, or at least a student center in Amherst, Massachusetts.  This is just one example of what I am sure is many.
If we wish to be serious about bringing America to Orthodoxy, if we wish to be serious about growing our Holy Orthodox Church from its minority status to that of a serious player on the American Religious Landscape, then we need to turn our attention to our college campuses and to OCF.
OCF is doing amazing work with the resources it has.  OCF is reaching students and keeping them engaged in the Church but, as with everything, we can always do better.
To my fellow clergy, if you live near a college campus are you engaged in campus ministry?  Do you ensure that your college age parishioners know where the local church is near where they go to college?  When you send them off to college, do you send them with an OCF connect kit?  If you answer to any of these questions is no, then you need to ask yourself why!  We have an obligation as clergy to ensure our college students are being cared for and that has to be more then just when they come home on breaks.
We are all busy and we have millions of things that we need to do but if we do not spend the time considering the future of the Church we will have much more time on our hands.
General

The Orthodox Church of Tomorrow

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Editors Note:  When Fr. John wrote these words he came under much criticism from laity, clergy, and the hierarchy.  These are words that need to be spoken and read more so today then they were when written in 2008.  We need may more courageous priests like Fr. John who are willing to speak the truth regardless of the cost.  Read his words and as always your comments are welcome.
By: Fr. John Peck
First Published: September 16, 2008
There is an interesting phenomenon occurring in Orthodox Christianity in America today, and reflected powerfully in our seminaries. Seminaries are loaded almost exclusively with converts, reverts (cradle Orthodox who left the faith, and were re-converted to it again), and the sons and grandsons of clergy.
I believe we are looking at the future of the American Orthodox Church — today.
The notion that traditionally Orthodox ethnic groups (the group of ‘our people’ we hear so much about from our primates and hierarchs) are going to populate the ranks of the clergy, and therefore, the Church in the future is, frankly, a pipe dream. Orthodoxy, despite the failings of its leadership, has actually lived up to its own press. The truth of the Orthodox faith, as presented on paper, is actually being believed – by those who have no familial or historical connection with the Orthodox. These poor deluded souls (of which I count myself) actually believe what they are reading about the Orthodox faith, and expect the Church to act like, well, the Church. They refuse to accept the Church as a club of any kind, or closed circle kaffeeklatsch. No old world embassies will be tolerated for much longer – they will go the way of the dodo. No one will have to work against them; they will simply die from atrophy and neglect. The passing away of the Orthodox Church as ethnic club is already taking place. It will come to fruition in a short 10 years, 15 years in larger parishes.
This is a well known problem. Statistical studies taken a mere seven years ago predicted that within 10 years the Orthodox Church in the United States would for all practical purposes, no longer be viable. If nothing was done within five years (that’s two years ago) the decline would be irreversible. Demographics determine destiny, as they say. As you may have imagined, not only was “nothing done,” such reports were surreptitiously filed away, while the calls for a solution from clergy and laity alike only increased. Larger jurisdictions will, of course, have a little more time, but not a different result.
What we are looking at, of course, is of the highest concern to the hierarchy. They know, in their heart of hearts, that they cannot reverse this trend. Yet they fight a rearguard action, hoping against hope to forestall the historically inevitable movement toward an American Orthodox Church.
Statistical studies taken a mere seven years ago predicted that within 10 years the Orthodox Church in the United States would for all practical purposes, no longer be viable.
The laity has already moved on. Americans, generally, don’t fall for very much strong arm intimidation or brow beating, don’t go for bullying by insecure leaders, and certainly don’t see the value of taking on and promoting someone else’s ethnic culture. They care about the Gospel, and the Gospel does not require Slavonic or Koine Greek, or even English for that matter. The Gospel requires context, which is why it cannot be transmitted in any language unknown to the listener.
When we look at our seminaries, we are looking at the Church of Tomorrow, the Church twenty years from now. Indeed, this is the Church we are building today.
Twenty years from now, I anticipate we will see the following:
  • Vastly diminished parishes, both in size and number. There will be a few exceptions, (and they will be exceptional!) but for the most part, most current Orthodox parishioners will age and die, and have no one to replace them. Why? Because as they have taught the context of their culture, instead teaching the context of their faith. Some parishes will simply be merged with others. Many will close outright. A few will change how they do ministry, with a new vision of parochial ecclesiology. These newer parishes will be lighthouses of genuine Orthodox piety and experience. Some parishes, I believe, will actually be formed specifically, in the old fashion, by purchasing land, building a chapel or Temple in the midst of it, and parishioners building or buying homes around it. The Church will be the center of their lives, and many will come from far and wide to experience their way of life.
  • Publicly renowned Orthodox media and apologetic ministries. These ministries are the ones providing a living and powerful apologetic for the Orthodox faith in our culture (that is, our 21st Century life in the United States), and actually providing the Gospel in its proper context – engaged in society and the public arena. These will succeed in visibility and public awareness more than all the speeches before the U.N. and odd newspaper stories about Orthodox Easter or Folk Dance Festivals could ever do. In other words, the Orthodox Christian faith will become that most dangerous of all things – relevant to the lives of Americans, and known to all Americans as a genuinely American Christian entity.
  • More (and younger) bishops. If our current slate of bishops has been mostly a disappointment, reducing their number will only tighten this closed circle, making the hierarchy less and less accessible, and more and more immune to things like, oh, the needs and concerns of their flock. The process of selection for the episcopacy will contain a far more thorough investigation, and men with active homosexual tendencies, psychological problems, insecurities, or addictions will simply not make the cut. We aren’t far from open persecution of Christians by secularists in this country, and we need bishops who know the score. With better bishops, no one will be able to ‘buy’ a priest out of a parish with a gift of cash. Conversely, parish councils will no longer be able to bully priests into staying out of their affairs, and will be required to get out of the restaurant/festival business and get into the soul saving business.
  • A very different demographic of clergy. Our priests will be composed of converts, reverts, and the sons and grandsons of venerable, long-suffering clergy. These men all know the score. They won’t tolerate nonsense like homosexual clergy (especially bishops), women’s ordination, or financial corruption. They will not tolerate the Church being regularly and unapologetically dishonored by her own clergy. Twenty years from now, these convert and revert priests will be sending life-long Orthodox men, a new cradle generation, en masse to our seminaries. They will be white, black, Asian, Polynesian, Hispanic, and everything in between. Fewer will be Russian, Greek, or any other traditionally Orthodox background.
  • Orthodox Biblical Studies. Orthodox Biblical scholarship will flourish, and will actually advance Biblical Studies, rather than tag along for the latest trends, staying a minimum safe distance back in case the latest theory tanks unexpectedly. Septuagint studies are already on the rise and Orthodox scholars will usurp the lead in this arena, establishing a powerful and lasting influence in Biblical Studies for decades to come. Orthodox higher education — specifically in Biblical Studies in the Orthodox tradition — will finally have a place at the doctoral level in the Western hemisphere, and it will become a thriving academic entity. The whole Church will feed on the gleanings of this new scholarship and Scriptural knowledge, preaching, and Biblical morality will invigorate the Church for generations.
  • A much higher moral standard from all clergy. The next twenty years will see a revival of practical ethics. Instead of trailing military or business ethics, the Church will, once again, require the highest standard of ethical and professional behavior from her clergy — and they will respond! The clergy will not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing and hold to account those who practice these vices. They will vigorously defend the honor of Christ’s priesthood, and Christ’s Church. I dare say, even the clergy will finally respect their own priesthood.
  • Vocations will explode. As a result of the elevated ethical standard publicly expected from the clergy, candidates in far greater numbers will flock to the priesthood. There will be very full classes, distance education, self-study and continuing education going on in every location. Education at a basal level will disappear, except in introductory parish classes. Clergy will powerfully articulate Orthodoxy to the faithful and to the culture around them. Personal opinion will no longer be the standard for clergy when articulating Orthodox ethics and morality. Our seminaries must become beacons for this teaching, and give up “training culture” once and for all. We will finally begin to penetrate our society, rather than go along for the ride like a tick on a dog’s back.
  • Philanthropy will flow like the floodgates of heaven. Finally, the many Orthodox Christian philanthropists who annually give millions of dollars to secular institutions will finally find their own Church completely transparent, completely accountable, and worthy of their faith-building support. Let’s face it, there is more than enough money in Orthodoxy right now to build hospitals, clinics, schools, colleges, universities, and a new Hagia Sophia right here in the United States. The reason this is not being done is because these philanthropists are intelligent men and women who do not trust the hierarchy to do the right thing with their millions. This will change in short order once it is shown that transparency doesn’t destroy the Church, but strengthens it immeasurably. Frankly, I don’t anticipate every jurisdiction to do this in the next twenty years, but those that are practicing transparency will emerge as the leaders in every arena of Church existence.
Hope
This all may seem unlikely today, but it is coming.
How do I know this? For one thing, the last holdouts of corruption, Byzantine intrigue and phyletism (a fancy theological term for ethnic preference) are clinging desperately to a vision of the Church that is, quite frankly, dying fast. Oh, they are doing everything to shore up their power and influence, and busy serving their own needs, but their vision is dying. And where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).
As frightening and disconcerting as it may seem to our leaders, they will learn that emerging from a cocoon, even a Byzantine cocoon, is not a bad thing. Orthodoxy is about to take flight on new beautiful wings. These are the birth pangs of a new era for Orthodoxy. God is giving us a time of freedom and light.
This new Orthodox Church will have a different face, will be ready for contemporary challenges, and will have begun to penetrate American society at every stage and on every level. This Church is the one that will be ready for the challenges of open persecution, fighting for the soul of every American, regardless of their genetic affiliation. This Church will be the one our grandchildren and great grandchildren will grow up in, looking back on the late 20th-early 21st century as a time of sentimental darkness from which burst forth the light of the Gospel. Let it begin.
General

Twitter and Ministry

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have been using Twitter for several years now.  I find it a very interesting form of communication and I have some wonderful people that I follow and that follow me and my daily “tweets.”  But what about using Twitter, or any Social Media for that matter, in ministry?  I believe it is an essential part of the job.
Yesterday someone responding to a post of mine on Facebook mentioned that he was recently at a conference sitting at a table with a few Orthodox priests.  He was checking in on Facebook when one of the priests remarked that he should stop using Social Media because there was too much influence of the devil on Social Media.  I wonder if this group of priests said that same thing about radio or television when that first came about?  What a backward way of thinking.
Social Media of one form or another is here to stay.  It is the language and “hang out spot” of the wired generation.  They are getting their messages, and learning about the faith on all forms of social media.  They are interacting with their friends and involved in all sorts of conversations.  If the Orthodox hope to influence that generation, then we need to be there with our timeless message of the love of God.  If you do not know what that means then you need to expand your reading.
The other day and article appeared in the New York Timesabout religious power houses using Twitter.  Name such as Joyce Meyers, Joel Olsten, and Max Lucado were mentioned as those using Twitter.  In a survey of “tweets” a study has shown that messages of God’s love and hope from religious leaders perform up to 30 times better than those of Lady Gaga and other celebrities.  People in the “Twitterverse” are hungry for the message and they need to hear it.
15% of adult internet users are part of the Twitter community and about half of that number use the service every day.  That is a tremendous amount of people, in one place, who need to hear the message of the Gospel.  We can reach more people with one 140 character message then we can ever hope to reach standing in our pulpits on Sunday.
There is something to be said about personal involvement and ministry but I have to ask, when Jesus spoke, and when he fed the 5,000 how many of those people to you think he actually met? Bishop Fulton Sheen would be another example.  Bishop Sheen was a pioneer in the use of media, namely television, in his ministry.  His program was watched by hundreds of thousands when it ran, how many of those people did he actually meet?  The message is what is important.
Sometimes I think we Orthodox have a fear of what is new.  We Orthodox need to understand, and use, all forms of media to get our message out.  We cannot just simply open the doors of our churches and hope people come in.  We have message, we have “THE” message if you will and we just need to get the word out. (As a side note, I am constantly amazed by the number of churches that do not even have a web page or one that is so outdated it might as well not exist.  This is basic outreach!)
As an example, Ancient Faith Radio receives 3,000 – to 3,500 unique visitors to their site each day.  That means that each time someone visits the AFR site they are counted, but only counted one time each day.  That is more than 1.2 million in one year, more than the entire population of Orthodox in the USA on one site, in one year!  That’s getting the message out!
I often hear my fellow clergy say they do not have time to use the Social Media.  I am in the process of the reading Deacon Michael Hyatt’s new book called Platform.  The book is about branding yourself and your message.  Something we Orthodox need to learn as well but that is for another post.  In the chapter on the use of Twitter Deacon Michael writes that he spends about 30 minutes a day posting and responding to posts on Twitter.  And this is a guy with more than 126 thousand Twitter followers.  It does not take long.
Anyone who knows me knows that Social Media is a major part of my ministry.  I am a self-proclaimed Facebook Evangelist.  If I had to guess I would say that I spend an average of three hours per day on Twitter and Facebook.  I know of three people who have become Orthodox because of posts I have made or conversations that I have had with them on the Social Media.  Three people have become Orthodox because of Facebook!  That’s more than many of our churches have had in a long time.  I think my time is well spent.
I am not saying that every Orthodox priest and lay person needs to spend that amount of time on Facebook and Twitter, but there are many who can.
St. Nikolai Velimerovich said, “We must be super-conservative in preserving the orthodox faith, and super-modern in propagating it.”  We have to use all the tools that are available to us to propagate the message of Orthodoxy to the world.  We need not fear the so called “new” media we need to embrace it and use it as a tool for good.
What is holding you back from evangelizing on Social Media?

Leaders as Servants

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Jesus washing the feet painting – Calvin Carter

Yesterday, I wrote an essay about Pastoral Leadership.  At the end of the essay I suggested that Great Leaders are those who are servants.  I would like to pick up that theme today.
I have mentioned before that I spent 12 years in the US Army.  During that time I had the privilege of serving under some wonderful leaders.  I also had the, shall I say, honor of serving under some not so great leaders.  There are many things that will distinguish a great leader from a bad one but the one that sticks out in my mind the most was great leaders were true servants of those they led.  By that I mean they truly cared for their troops.  They were concerned that they had enough chow, that they were all okay, and that they all knew what the mission was.  I never saw a great leader first in the chow line.
I make it a practice in my pastoral ministry to never put myself before my parishioners.  I try to live as simple of a life as I can and to be available to them when and if they need me.  After I bless the food at coffee hour or any other function I do not go through line first, rather I take my place at the end of the line.  Although they want me to go first, I choose not to.  I do not make a big deal out of this I just do it.  Funny thing is now they have come to expect it.  Leaders need to care for those they lead.
Much of our servant ministry comes from the image of the shepherd.  The shepherd will do anything, including laying down his life, for the sheep he has in his care.  The shepherd would not think of eating his meal before he had feed his sheep and seen to their needs.
In the 15th Chapter of the Gospel of St. John Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”  Peter responds, “Yes, Lord: You know that I love you.”  We miss the subtle word play here in English but in Greek it is very obvious.
When Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” Jesus is using the word agape.  Agape is the highest form of sacrificial and self-emptying love.  This is the kind of love that God has for humanity.  Peter’s responds, “yes Lord, You know that I love You” and again we miss the subtlety in English.  Peter uses philo, a lesser form of love like that of love between brothers.  Jesus is asking Peter if he is willing to sacrifice everything, including his life, for those that Jesus is about to place in his care.
Earlier in the same Gospel, John 3:30, John states that, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  This is the humility that all of us in pastoral ministry have to have.  I have to constantly remind myself that it is not about me!  Anyone who knows me knows how hard that is for me to do sometimes.  If we want to minster affectively we have to get out of the way and let God minster.  We have just the vessel that God uses; we must decrease in order for Him to increase.
Pastoral ministers need to develop the agape love for those they are leading.  We need to be willing to do anything for them, including the sacrificing of our lives in both a literal and figurative way.  Most of us will not be called upon to give up or lives by martyrdom for those we care for, but we are called to a different type of martyrdom.  Just like when a man marries a women they cease to exist as individuals and live now for one another, so it is with pastoral ministry.  This is why the same hymns are used in the ordination ceremony as they are in the marriage ceremony.
In a very real sense the priest is married to his congregation much like the man and woman are married to each other.  The priest no longer lives entirely for himself but has to live for his community.  During the ordination service, the newly ordained priest is given the lamb, the consecrated bread that will be used to commune the faithful, he is given the lamb and told to guard it.  We are being asked to guard the lambs that God has given us to care for.  Guard them with our lives.  This is the agape love that Jesus was asking Peter about.  This is the agape love in action.  What and awesome responsibility.
In the Romanian tradition a priest is ordained for a particular altar.  This does not mean we cannot move from one church to another, but the idea is that we are ordained for that particular community, it becomes our spouse.  We will grow together.  We will laugh together and we will cry together and the hope is that the agapelove will develop between the priest and the community but there has to be willingness for that to develop.
Agape love develops over time.  Pastoral ministers need to allow that love to develop.  We must be willing to decrease so He can increase in love.  Our will has to become the servant of God’s will.
To be a great leader we must become the servant to those we lead.  Are we willing to humble ourselves so we can become great leaders?  The church needs great leaders, are you ready?

Pastoral Leadership

Posted on by Fr. Peter

I have written on this topic in the past and I continue to learn more and more each day about leadership.  Sometimes I learn by doing and sometimes it’s simply by observing other leaders and what they do, but more importantly what they do not do.  Great leaders are not born, great leaders are trained and willing to be trained.  Great leaders will admit when they do not know something and they are willing to find the answer, great leaders are always learning.
Leadership is about people, it’s not about managing people it’s about leading them.  Jesus did not manage his apostles He lead them.  He chose each one of them for a specific reason.  He saw their potential and then led them to that potential.  That to me is the number one task of a great leader, lead your people to their full potential.  A leader cannot accomplish this if he or she does not have a relationship with those they lead.
Pastoral leadership is all about relationships.  The priest is the father of the parish and the leader of those people that God has entrusted to him.  This is a sacred task that needs to be taken seriously.  I spoke to a young priest recently about challenges he was having in his parish.  After he went through the laundry list of problems he was having I sat back and asked, “do you love them?”
When I came to this parish almost eight years ago I thought I had all of the answers.  I was filled with the arrogance that many new priests have.  I was going to do it better than the guy before me.  I knew what I was doing and I was going to do it.  It was not until I loved the people, really loved them, that I truly felt I was their pastor.  You see before I loved them I was just going through the motions.  But when I discovered that I needed to love them it became less about me and more about us.  Once I entered into a relationship with them I found, and unlocked, the potential that they had and we have done some amazing things.
How do we do this?  We have to listen.  We need to sit and just listen to what they have to say.  Where are them from?  Where do they hope to go?  What is the story of the parish?  This parish was founded by immigrants who came here to find a better life.  They found that life here and, once they determined to stay, they built a church.  When I say they built a church I mean they literally built the church, stone on top of stone.  They worked all day in the factory and then came to the church and worked.  They loved this place and it shows.
When you listen to the stories you get to know them, on a very deep level.  The joy of a small parish is that I have time to really get to know each parishioner.  Some would say that there should be a line that is drawn between the priest and the people.  I agree with that to a point.  There is a line, but that line moves as you get to know them and fall in love with them.  Once you get to know them then you will see their potential and that is when the development happens.
Jesus worked with His apostles for three years.  We are not privy to every conversation that He had with them but the ones we are show a pattern of development of each person to reach their potential.  They were given opportunities and placed in situations where they could develop the skills they would need.  Of course this did not come to fulfillment until the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost but the hard work was done during those three years of ministry.
Great leaders have a personal vision that they are able to get other excited about.  This vision is developed as they are getting to know the team.  The pastor of a parish needs to lead his people to holiness.  Again I turn to Jesus and the way He dealt with people that He met.  He was stern with them when He needed to be but it was always done out of love and with the vision to show them how to get their life back on track.  Gentle correction and love that is what it is all about.
The 4th Century B.C. teacher Chanakya, teacher of the first Indian Emperor to rule then entire Subcontinent wrote, “the king shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects” “the king is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people.”  Great Leaders are servants first, and this is so true with pastoral leadership.  I was reminded recently that Pharaoh of Egypt carried a shepherds crook to lead the people and a whip for the horses that pulled his chariot to defend those people.
Pastoral leaders would be served well to remember that we are servants first.  Jesus came to serve not to be served.  Being a servant means to be able to listen to those we serve, get to know them and love them.  Only then will we be able to lead them.
General

Pentecost Sermon

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost also known as the Sunday of the Holy Trinity.  We heard the depiction of what happened on that day read from the Book of Acts and we only have to look at the great stained glass window above the Holy Altar to see what happened.
The feast comes 50 days after the Great Feast of Pascha and it is the fulfillment of the mission of Jesus Christ and is the start of the messianic age of the Kingdom of God mystically present in the Church.  One might also call this the birthday of the Church as tradition tells us that this is when the Church began her public ministry.  We see in this feast for the first time the revelation of the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Scripture tells us in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles that all those who were present heard the Apostles speak in their own language.  People had gathered in Jerusalem from all points of the Empire and each was able to hear in his own language the message of St. Peter as he quoted from the Prophet Joel, the passage that was read last night at the Vespers service, “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:25)
In the Vespers Hymns last night we heard of the fulfillment of another event from the Old Testament that has to do with language:
The arrogance of building the tower in the days of old led to the confusion of tongues.
Now the glory of the knowledge of God brings them wisdom.

 

There God condemned the impious for their transgression.

Here Christ has enlightened the fishermen by the Spirit.
There disharmony was brought about for punishment.
Now harmony is renewed for the salvation of our souls.

We also heard about the power of the Holy Spirit and the mission:
The Holy Spirit provides all things:
He pours forth prophecies,

 

He leads priests to perfection,

He teaches unschooled people wisdom,
He reveals fishermen as theologians,
He confirms the Church.
O Comforter, one in essence and enthroned with the Father and the Son, glory to You!

This day has a special significance for me.  8 Years ago, on Pentecost Sunday, I knelt before the Royal Doors of this very Church and was Chrismated into the Orthodox Church.  For me Pentecost is the culmination of a very long journey that brought out of the faith of my birth and into the faith of the Orthodox.  In a sense, the day of my Chrismation is my birthday, the day that my spiritual life began.
Through the Sacrament of Chrismation we are anointed with oil, a special oil, that can only be blessed by the Patriarch of a particular Church, for us that is the Patriarch of Romania.  The Myron that we are anointed with is a link to the Ancient Church, the symbol of what joins us to that unbroken line all the way back to the Apostles who were anointed on that first Pentecost in the upper room.  A transformation takes place that has to continue each and every day.
You have heard me say many times before, but it bears repeating, that our spiritual life is not a sprint but a marathon.  Each day we have to renew our commitment to be sons and daughters of the light.  We have to relight that light if you will each and every day and this is not an easy task.
We come to Church each week to find the strength that we need for the journey.  The Church has been called a hospital the soul.  This is the place we come to find refreshment and healing.  Healing of all those hurts, all of those things that have estranged us from fulfilling our full potential to be the sons and daughters of the light.  We come and gather in the presence of the Sacred and ask the Holy Spirit to come upon us and remain with us as we continue the week.  Life is good inside, but once we walk outside that door life become real.
At the start of every Liturgy I pray the prayer of the Holy Spirit.  Three times I recite the prayer that asks for the Holy Spirit to enter this place and abide with us.  Everything that we do is through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The realization that we need the healing, the healing that only the Holy Church can offer, comes to us through the Holy Spirit.  The ministry that I have, that I celebrate on behalf of all of us, is completed in and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  I call the Holy Spirit down upon the gifts of bread and wine, the final sacrifice, the simple, humble gifts that have been placed on the altar by and from all of us.  The Holy Spirit comes and sanctifies the bread and wine and it becomes for us the bread of life, the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate and remember and event that took place more than 2,000 years ago.  The day the Church was born, the day the Apostles started their earthly ministry.  But this is not just a date in history because we celebrate this event each time we gather as Church.  We call upon the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide us in all that we do as Church.  Just as the Holy Spirit emboldened the Apostles I pray that each of us will experience the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in each of us as we continue of spiritual journey.

O heavenly King,

O Comforter, O Spirit of Truth,

You are everywhere present, filling all things;

O Treasury of blessings

and Giver of life,

come and abide in us,

and cleanse us from every impurity,

and save our souls, O Good One!

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