Open Letter to Muslims

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Dear Muslims,
I would like to tell you that not all Christians and not all Americans wish to burn your Holy Book.  This heinous act is being perpetrated in you by a very small insignificant group of people and not representative of all American and all Christians.

My faith teaches me that we are to love everyone.  We are to pray for everyone and we are to forgive everyone.  This is not easy but being a faithful person is not supposed to be easy.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Everything that a right believing Christian is to do is to be done from a place of love and fall into the trap of hate.  Hate is a destructive force in the lives of anyone.  Hate does not come from God the creator of all, hate comes from the Devil the Prince of Lies.  The actions of this man in Florida are not acts of love they are acts of hate and I condemn these actions as hate filled and unChristian.

I call on all people of all faiths to stand with me, shoulder to shoulder, and condemn all acts of violence and terrorism based on religion. I would ask you to call on your fellow Muslims and urge them not to play into this extremists hands by causing violence.  Acts of violence committed because of this mans actions will only fuel the fires of hate.  There has been enough death and enough killing.

September 11th is a day when we should remember those who lost their lives due to the extreme positions of another small group of people.  It is a day that we should be praying for those who serve us and keep us safe each and everyday, not a day that will only continue the hate, the hate that brought down the Twin Towers, the hate that crashed into the Pentagon, and the hate that crashed into that field in Pennsylvania.  It has to end and it has to end now.

Please pray with me that this will come to an end.

Blessings,
V. Rev. Fr. Peter M Preble
Southbridge, Massachusetts 

Archbishop Nicolae on the Koran Burning

Posted on by Fr. Peter
(http://www.romarch.org/) Can a Christian encourage violence and hatred?
This past Sunday our Gospel passage was taken from the 22nd chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel. In that passage Jesus is asked about the Commandments and what the greatest commandment of the law was. Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets.” This is the basis of our Christian faith.
Last week, a pastor from Florida announced that on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks he was going to hold a Koran burning on the lawn of the church. He said that he is doing this as a warning to the Muslims around the world that we want no part of your faith or your laws. General David Patraeus, Commanding General of the American Armed forces in Afghanistan, has made a statement that if this proposed burning takes place it could very well lead to the deaths of US Service men and women serving in Afghanistan as well as other locations in the Middle East.
We enjoy freedoms in America that others do not enjoy: freedom to practice our religion and yes freedom of speech and expression. These freedoms are held in almost a sacred fashion and allow us to practice our faith as we wish. But with freedom comes a moral responsibility and if our actions will or potentially cause harm to others then we should not perform that action. The burning of the Koran on September 11th will only fuel anti American sentiment around the world and place our citizens in danger.
In view of the passage quoted above, we are commanded by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to love our neighbor. The actions of this pastor in Florida will not further the love of Jesus Christ but only spawn hatred and hatred is not an element of the Christian Faith. Hatred is a destructive force and blackens the soul. We must work to get rid of hatred from our life. We received the commandment to love our neighbor and treat our neighbor as we wish to be treated.
As we pause to remember those who gave their life on September 11, 2001 and those who have given their lives in defense of freedom around the world since, let us pray for a better understanding of who our neighbor is so we may love him as Christ is commanding us to do.
† Archbishop NICOLAE

The Divine Liturgy ~ The Liturgy of Preparation

Posted on by Fr. Peter
In my previous posts I have commented on the Divine Liturgy as a whole as well as the Vestments of the Ministers and the prayers before the Liturgy. In this post I will explain the Liturgy of the Preparation or the Proskomedia.
The Proskomedia is a service that prepares the bread and wine for use during the Divine Liturgy. This service is usually done long before the people arrive but after the prayers before the Liturgy and the Vesting of the clergy.
The service usually takes place on the table of preparation of the table of oblation inside of the Holy Place. Set in the apse of the Church this place represents the cave of Bethlehem. In ancient times this was actually another room in the Church and the faithful would leave their offerings there. The brad and wine can be offered for an individual living or dead.
First a word about the bread that is used. The bread (prosfora) is baked using a very simple recipe and in the Byzantine tradition one loaf is used and in the Slavic tradition five loaves are used representing the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. The bread used in Orthodox Liturgy is leaved, yeast is added. Questions are always asked why we use leavened bread when at the Last Supper unleavened bread was used. “Christ ‘leavens’ our lives, so to speak, and the purpose of the Eucharistic celebration is not to ‘recreate’ or ‘reproduce’ a past event but, rather, to participate in an event that is beyond time and space and which, in fact, continues to happen each time the Eucharist is celebrated in fulfillment of Our Lord’s command.” oca.org
There are several items needed for this service.
1. The Chalice that will hold the water and wine
2. The Diskos that will hold the bread
3. The spear that will be used to cut the bread
4. The veils used to cover the chalice and diskos
The service begins with the prayer:
You redeemed us from the curse of the law by your precious blood. Nailed to the cross and pierced by a lance, you poured out immortality upon mankind. O our Savior, glory to You!
Then begins the preparation of the bread. Pressed into the loaf of bread is seal with various markings on it. In the center, marked with the symbols, IC XC NI KA “Jesus Christ Conquers.” This is called the lamb and the actual part that is used to commune the faithful. It is cut out of the center of the bread with the following words:
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.
Like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, like these he never opens His mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend Him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants?
Lifting the lamb the priest says: Since His life on earth has been cut short.
The lamb is then lifted out of the center of the loaf and turned upside down where a cross is cut in the bottom with the following prayer:
The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world is sacrificed for the life of and salvation of the world.
Placed upright with the IC XC on the top in the center of the diskos. The priest then takes the spear and on the part of the lamb marked IC pushes the spear into the lamb with the following words:
One of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance…
The he takes wine and pours it into the chalice:
And immediately there came out blood and water; and this is the evidence of one who saw it and know that he speaks the truth.
The chalice is now blessed:
Blessed is the union of your Holy Things, always, now and eve and unto ages of ages.
On the left hand side of the loaf is a small triangle that represents the Mother of God. This is removed from the loaf and place on the left side of the lamb on the diskos:
In honor and memory of our most blessed, glorious lady, the Birthgiver of God, and ever-virgin Mary, through whose intercessions, O Lord, accept this sacrifice on your heavenly altar. On your right stands the queen, robed in gold.
On the opposite side of the lamb are now placed the nine ranks. There are three rows of three small triangles cut from the loaf and represents:
1. Michael and Gabriel and all bodiless powers
2. John the Baptist and all the Prophets
3. The Apostles
4. Our Holy Fathers and Teachers, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom. Athanasius, Cyril, Spyridon, and the Holy Hierarchs.
5. First Martyr Stephen. Demetrius, George, Theodore the Recruit, Theodore the Commander, Thecla, Barbara, Paraskeve, Catherine and all the holy Martyrs.
6. The God-bearers: Anthony, Euthymios, Sava, Onufrius, Athanasius of Athos (We add Herman of Alaska the First Sanctified of America) and our mothers: Pelagia, Theodosia, Anastasia, Efpraxia, Fevronia, Theodulia, Efrosyne, Mary of Egypt and all the Holy Mothers.
7. The Wonder-Workers: Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John, Panteleimon and Hermolaus.
8. Righteous Ancestors of God: Joachim and Anna, the saint of the day and all the saints.
9. John Chrysostom or Basil, depending on what Liturgy you are using.
Next there are three triangles placed on the diskos in front of the Lamb for the following:
1. The Bishop of the Diocese
2. The leaders of the country
3. Founders of the Church
Remembrance is then offered for all priests, deacons and Monastics. For the sick the suffering, for this holy place, missionaries, travelers etc. The living and the dead are commemorated, the bishop that ordained the priest if he is now deceased or if serving in a different diocese. Finally the priest asks prayers for himself with the following words:
O Lord, in your great mercy, remember me, and unworthy man; forgive me all my trespasses, voluntary and involuntary and because of my sins, do not withhold the grace of your all-holy Spirit from these gifts here presented.
Incense is then offered and blessed.
The star is placed over the diskos. This star represents the star that went forward and halted over the place of His birth in Bethlehem. It also serves to hold the veil off of the discos.
Three veils are used, two small and one large. The two small represent the swaddling clothes that Jesus was wrapped in after His birth and the large one represents the cloth that he was wrapped in when he was taken down from the cross.
After the veils are in place a final blessing is pronounced over the gifts:
O God, our God, who sent the heavenly bread, the nourishment of the whole world, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, savior, redeemer, and benefactor who blesses and sanctifies us, bless this offering and accept it at your heavenly altar. As you are good and love mankind, remember those who have brought is and those for whom it was brought and preserve us from all fault in the holy service of your divine Mysteries. For sanctified and glorified if your honorable and magnificent name: of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Being a Pastor

Posted on by Fr. Peter
The last few days I have been giving much thought to what is means to be a pastor.  Being a pastor is like being a Shepherd as Jesus was the good Shepherd.  Now I have some limited experience with sheep.  IN the monastery we had some sheep and a goat and I was part of the team that took care of them.  That’s just it, take care of them.

As a pastor I have been entrusted with the care of my community just as the shepherd is given care of his flock.  The shepherd would never place his sheep in harms way, as a matter of fact the shepherds entire job is to protect the flock, from the strongest to the weakest, from all harm.  We do this by placing ourselves between them and the danger.  We set up a hedge around them to protect them.  At the Judgement I will be held responsible for any of my flock that have left or been harmed by my actions or my inaction.  I will be held accountable for all of them.

This so called “pastor” and I say so called because of his actions, is putting his flock in harms way.  Yes people should not over react to his actions but we are fallen human beings and we have given over to our passions.  His actions could lead to his own community being placed in harms way let alone all Americans traveling or in the service of our country.

I have been praying for him and for his congregation since I first learned of this and I will continue to pray for him.  He says that God has told him to do this.  I am praying that he listens to God, because the God I know would never ask someone to do this and would never ask one of his shepherds to place his flock in harms way.

What Does the Orthodox Church Believe?

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father before all ages: light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, through whom all things were made;

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and become man.

And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried.

And on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures; and he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

And he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

In, one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

First They Came…

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday I posted a reaction to the proposed Quran burning that will take place on September 11th in Florida.  Some have reacted that by commenting it raises this to a level that it does not need to be raised too.  Some have said, once again, that this is simply the media taking a wack at Christians again.  Well first off these folks in Florida are not Christians as far as I am concerned.

Any way silence can be the same as approval and it is times like these that the “right beliving Christians” need to stand up to these folks and tell them that their actions are not appropriate in a Christian context.

Why should we speak out, well shortly after the rise of the Nazis to power Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote a poem called “First They Came…”  Now it might not exactly fit this situation but it should be motivation enough for us “Right Beliving Christians” to start to speak out when we see our brethren go off the reservation.  Think about the words as we approach Saturday’s events.

They came first for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

8 September ~ Nativity of the Theotokos

Posted on by Fr. Peter
According to the ancient tradition of the Church, the Theotokos was born of barren and aged parents, Joachim and Anna, about the year 16 or 17 before the birth of Christ. Joachim was descended from the royal line of David, of the tribe of Judah. Anna was of the priestly tribe of Levi, a daughter of the priest Matthan and Mary, his wife.

Troparion
Your birth, O Theotokos, brought joy to the whole world, for from you dawned the sun of righteousness, Christ our God. Freeing us from the curse, He gave us His blessings. Abolishing death, He granted us eternal life.

Sermon ~ 15th Sunday After Pentecost

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Matthew 22:35-46 ~ Love of Neighbor
The Bible is the owners manual for life. In it we find everything we need to live the Christian life. Most of the time the words of Jesus are very complex and hidden within riddles that we need to unpack in order for us to have a full grasp of what he is saying. Today is not one of those days.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”

This passage is pretty self explanitory, or is it? The love of God part people have no problem with. We know God, there is only one, and we love God with our entire being. We are Orthodox this is not a problem with us. We have a very good understanding of who and what God is.
But what about our neighbor? This is the question that we tend to have trouble with. Notice if you will, that there are no qualifications to who our neighbor is. It does not say, love your neighbor if you know them, or love your neighbor if they speak the same language you do, or love your neighbor if they are the same color as you. No there are no qualificaitons with love of neighbor. Also notice that this is not a suggestion, “on these two commandments” Commandment, and order, something that we are required to do.
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17
Without works our faith is dead! If we do not show our faith, and faith = love, then our faith is a dead faith. Christianity is not a dead faith. Christianity is a faith that is alive because our God, that loves us, is alive. We must love our faith each and everyday and we do this by love of neighbor.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

So then who is our neighbor?
The Hungry
The Thirsty
The Stranger
The Naked
The Ill
Those in Prison
That is our neighbor, those are the people that we need to care for. We need to care for these folks not if we have the time, or the talent, or the treasure, no we need to care for them at all times because as St. James told us faith without works it dead. Being a Christian is more than Church festivals and coming here on Sunday. Being a Christian means rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty. Being a Christian means sitting with someone and just listening to their story, or serving them a meal, or just loving them because they, like you, have been created in the image and likeness of God!
Notice in the passage from Matthew that it says “I” was hungry and “you” gave me food. No where in that sentence does it say When I was hungry the government gave me food! Jesus is not telling us that we need to make sure the government does these things, in fact Jesus would say this is not their job at all but ours.
Christian talk show host and financial guru Dave Ramsey said one time that the Church needs to give the government out of business. When did it become the responsibility for the government to love our neighbor? When did it become the job of the government to do the job of the church? Do we want the government to distribute communion? I do not think so, so why then do we ask the government to feed, cloth, provide drink to our neighbor? This is our job and we need to get back to it!
The entirety of the Gospel message can be boiled down into one word, LOVE. This is an attribute that makes us different from the rest of the word. When we help someone its because we love them because they are a child of God as we are. When we help someone it is not out of some sense of duty because we collected tax money, no it is out of love, the love that God has for us that we are required to show others.
So there it is. How do we prove to the world that we are Christians? We prove it to them by our love of neighbor. Who is our neighbor, everyone! We cannot fix the world, but we can try and fix our little corner of it right here. Plant the seed, water it, and it will grow and bear fruit. We have to start, by starting to love those of us who are in this room right now. All of us are neighbors, and we have to love all. God’s love, like the love of a father, does not discriminate. Jesus did not tell the man in Gospel that he only had to love those that agree with Him, no he said love your neighbor as yourself. That is the only qualification.
In the end it all boils down to love. Love God and love of neighbor. Nothing else matters.

Burning the Quran

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This past Sunday, while I was preaching on the love of Christ as found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, another Christian preacher was preaching hate at his Church in Florida.
Pastor Terry Jones feels that one way to mark the anniversary of September 11th is to burn the Quran. He feels that this will send a message to radical Islam that we are not interested in you. Well I for one would like to send a message to the radical Christians that we are not interested in you! You are what is wrong in this world and your kind are giving the rest of us right believing Christians a bad name. Maybe you should go your local Army Recruiting station and enlist in the military and go and fight for this nation rather than put her military in jeopardy.
Jesus Christ, well at least the Jesus Christ that I preach, preached love of neighbor as yourself. What this “pastor” is doing is preaching hate and as I said on Sunday, “hate has no place in the life of a Christian.” If God is love then He cannot be hate. So hate cannot only come from one other place and that is from the Devil. This “pastor” is no better then the radicals that flew their planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania. If he wishes to commemorate the day then he should be praying for peace and understanding and not causing a riot and fueling anti-Muslim hate.
Today, General David Petraeus has said this action could lead to violence against our troops serving in Afghanistan. I thought as Christians we were supposed to pray for the protection of our troops that are bravely serving our country. I wonder what this “pastor” would say if they decided in Afghanistan to burn the bible in a protest against what he is doing?
The Muslims consider the Quran to be a holy book, much the same way that we Christians think of the bible or the Jews think of the Torah. Why would he think this is a good idea? The only reason that this “pastor” would be doing this is to fuel hate, and I say again hate is of the Devil and has no place in the life of a Christian.
I call on all Christians, and faith leaders from other churches to join me in the condemnation of what is going to happen on September 11th. Our silence is nothing more than approval of this extremist is going to do. The world has no room for extremists, Muslim, Christian, Jewish or anything. What we should be praying for on this day is peace and understand, that’s what the Jesus that I pray to would do!
Disagree with Islam, sure. Try to convert Muslims to Christianity, sure. But this will not do that. We are already seeing a backlash in Afghanistan. Today they were burning the US flag and an effigy of this “pastor” in the streets.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
This is from the Bible that I read each and everyday. Our neighbor is the person living next to us but also the person who hates us and wants to see our destruction. We need to love them as commanded by Jesus in this Gospel passage. Perhaps this “pastor” has a very different view of what his neighbor is, I do not know the man so I cannot say for sure. But based on the hate filled website that his so called Church has set up, I would say he does not take this verse of the Bible very serious.
Love is the summation of the entire Christian Gospel. Jesus entire life was spent loving people even those that disagreed with Him. With His very last breath He asked God to forgive those who had crucified Him. He prayed for and asked forgiveness for the very people who killed Him. Sounds like love to me.
I am not a theologian or a Scripture scholar, but I am pretty confident that Jesus would condemn this action in a very loud voice. I am asking all of you to do the same thing.

Spelling Counts

Posted on by Fr. Peter
In Massachusetts we have several Constitutional Officers elected every four years.  Auditor is one of those positions although I cannot for the life of me think of why we elect this position.  Anyway, there is quite a fight going on.  Auditor is the guy that is responsible to check, very carefully, what others are doing with the States money so I would say being a detail oriented person is important.  As Labor Day approaches the campaigns are in full swing as we make our way to the primary.  One of those candidates, Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis, sent out the flier below.  Notice anything wrong?
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