St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the signing of our Declaration of Independence and the establishment of our great Nation, I pray that the Lord our God will continue to rain down upon us, His abundant mercies and rich blessings. 

And of course, if we dare ask of Him such privilege, protection, and security, there is no other posture toward the Throne of God, other than the authentic demeanor as instructed through the Prophet Micah. 

Our Nation, our leaders, our government, our military, our churches, our communities, our families, and we, as individual, American citizens must

Act Justly. 

Love Mercy. 

Walk Humbly. 

Then and only then, do we walk with God. The message couldn’t be more simple. The requirement couldn’t be more clear. The reasoning couldn’t be more obvious. 

Enjoy the celebration of our Nation’s birth and always remember in prayer, that to live in this age, at this time, between these two most-blessed shores, is a gift from the Lord. This gift should never be taken for granted, and must be humbly appreciated every day. 

With Grateful Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is with great joy that I announce the appointment of Mrs. Sophia Hennen as St. Anna’s first Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. Sophie brings an incredible wealth of youth work, spiritual development, education, and enthusiasm to her new position, and I am thrilled to begin working with her in a more formal setting. Already deeply involved in many aspects of life here at St. Anna, Sophie’s involvement with our children and young adults will just be an extension of her life dedicated to her service of Christ. 

Sophie, her husband, Caleb and their six children, Elsie, Elin, Adelade, Gwendeline, Eva and Michael are active and vibrant members of our parish family and have captured our hearts since coming to the parish. Sophie, along with their older daughters sing in the choir, while Caleb plays the organ as we recess from church. In her former religious tradition, Sophie held many responsible positions in youth ministry and children’s religious education. However, I believe that being the mom of six young children, being raised in a vibrant Orthodox Christian home is experience enough! Everything else is icing on the cake.

In congratulating, thanking, and welcoming Sophie, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who applied for the position. The other candidates all had unique and distinguishable talents that would have warranted their hire, and I am deeply appreciative for the demonstrated interested in bringing our children and young adults closer to Christ, His Church, and to each other. 

Sophie will be coordinating efforts between our JOY, GOYA, YAL, Sunday School, Local Retreats, Vacation Bible School, Oratorical Festival, Camp Emmanuel, Metropolis Basketball Tournament, University of Utah Campus Ministry, and Altar Boys – working with the fine volunteers who are in charge of these programs at the local level.

She will be engaged in the collective vision of youth and young adult ministry, organizing their calendar of events, developing programs, and identifying the:

fun, cool, exciting, and awesome ways that our young people can know, love, serve and celebrate Christ.  

Please, everyone, join me in praying for her strength, energy and patience. And most especially, pray for the young people whom she will serve, together with their parents and families.

We are incredibly blessed that she made herself available to answer this calling. Again, Congratulations, and God Bless Sophie! I remain,

With Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Praying you are all well, I am so thankful to greet you in the lingering glow of Holy Pentecost. The Spirit has been sent. The Trinity is fully experienced. The presence of God shall never again be removed, hidden, concealed or separated from us. Glory to God for His generosity toward us and for His love for us; those which endure forever.

Last Sunday, we enjoyed the reading of the Kneeling Prayers – those declarative celebrations of the presence of the Holy Spirit, recited at the Vespers for the Monday of the Holy Spirit. During those three, prayers, we, as is the custom, knelt in the church in awe of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday mornings, during the Epclisis Prayers of the Divine Liturgy, the time when we, in humility and anticipation, call upon the Holy Spirit to transform our bread and wine offering into the precious Body and Blood of the Christ, we are accustomed to kneeling. This is precisely why we placed the little black kneeling pads in the book racks of the nave. This is why Greek Orthodox churches throughout this country, have kneelers on the backs of pews, so they can be dropped down and knelt upon during this time of the Divine Liturgy. This has been the generally accepted practice in our Archdiocese since the 1950’s.

My beloved in the Lord, I do not need to tell you that from an Orthodox Christian perspective of time passage, the 1950’s is as if a half hour has passed. Though this has been the practice for a couple generations here in America, it does not mean that it was a correct practice. Last month, His Eminence Metropolitan Constantine of Denver sent a directive to the priests of the Metropolis instructing us that we return to the canonical and historic practice of standing during this part of the Divine Liturgy.

Here is some historical context:

Standing during the Epiclisis was first formally discussed at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea – May 325 AD. With nearly 300 hierarchs and clergy present, and in the presence of Emperor Constantine, this is where it was affirmed in the beginning stages.  

Canon 20 of the First Council of Nicaea

Forasmuch as there are certain persons who kneel on the Lord’s Day and in the days of Pentecost, therefore, to the intent that all things may be uniformly observed everywhere, it seems good to the holy Synod that prayer be made to God standing

To reaffirm this, it was again addressed in the 7^th century by Paul III of Constantinople and in the presence of Emperor Justinian II, with around 200 hierarchs and clergy present.

Canon 90 of the Quinisext Council (Trullo, 692)

We have received it canonically from our God-bearing Fathers not to bend the knee on Sundays.  Therefore, after entering the holy altar on Saturday evening, at the beginning of the Lord’s Day, we offer our prayers to God standing, until Sunday evening.

Here is some practical context:

When I look back on the innocent spiritual development of my youth, my first memories of sacred church music are while I was kneeling in the church, on Sundays. With my head buried in my arms, I would look forward to the choir soloist, our own Billy Poulos, singing the crowing apex of the hymn. I couldn’t see her. I was a little kid, so I didn’t know her. I did not need to see or know her, I attentively listened to her while offering my prayers to God, thanking him for “making Communion,” as I was instructed to do. 

So, I realize that our young tradition of kneeling on Sunday mornings is baked into many of our spiritual experiences. This might be a difficult adjustment for some. It will be a barely noticeable detail for many. Regardless of our innocent indifference, or our hard-wired desire to kneel down in prayer, His Eminence has asked us (well, more like instructed us) to make this change and return to what was intended since the early 4th century. 

And so that I’m clear, the kneeling pads will remain in the church. We are still encouraged to kneel in prayer during WEEKDAY LITURGIES. This entire discussion concerns Sunday Morning only. 

To be honest, while this may seem like an unimportant detail, hardly worth the effort of disrupting our local traditions or confusing the Faithful, I support and applaud the efforts of His Eminence to reintroduce consistency and uniformity within the liturgical practices of our sacred Metropolis. When it comes to our salvation, there are no details that are unimportant or practices that are vague. We will get used to this together.

Lastly, please know that I am not going to interrupt the Divine Liturgy by making any real-time announcements concerning kneeling/not kneeling. I hope that our people will read this, respond accordingly, and that this transition will be made smoothly and naturally. I remain,

With Love in XC,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This coming Monday, we commemorate Memorial Day, the day in which we set aside time to honor those who have passed – through military service to our nation, through the sacrificial work of first responders, and of course, we include those whom we love and have lost.

As Orthodox Christians, part of our natural worship experience includes memorializing those who have gone before us. We do this at prescribed times, marking the anniversaries of those who entered into their glory.

To prepare for the coming of Memorial Day, please reference the following service – the actual verbiage from the Memorial Service. I pray it brings you peace and comfort, thinking about, and praying for your loved ones as you read these prayers.

People: Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your commandments.

The choir of Saints has found the fountain of life and the door of Paradise. May I also find the way through repentance. I am the lost sheep: O Savior, call me back and save me. 

People: Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your commandments.

 Of old, You created me from nothing and honored me with Your divine image. But when I disobeyed Your commandment, You returned me to the earth from which I was taken. Lead me back again to Your likeness, so that the ancient beauty may be refashioned.

People: Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your commandments.

I am an image of Your ineffable glory, though I bear the scars of my transgressions. Take pity on me, the work of Your hands, Master, and cleanse me by Your compassion. Grant me the desired homeland for which I long, making me again a citizen of Paradise.

People: Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your commandments.

Give rest, O God, to Your servant(s), and place him (her, them) in Paradise where the choirs of the Saints and the righteous, O Lord, will shine as the stars of heaven. To Your departed servant(s) give rest, O Lord, overlooking all his (her, their) offenses.

People: Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us devoutly praise the threefold radiance of the one God as we sing: Holy are You, the Father without beginning, the co-eternal Son, and the divine Spirit. Illumine us who worship You in faith and deliver us from the eternal fire.

People: Now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Rejoice, gracious Lady, who gave birth to God in the flesh for the salvation of all, and through whom the human race has found salvation. Through you, pure and blessed Theotokos, may we find Paradise.

People: Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Glory to You O God. (3)

Tone Eight

People: With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul(s) of Your servant(s) where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting.

Tone Four

People: Among the spirits of the righteous perfected in faith, give rest, O Savior, to the soul(s) of Your servant, keeping it (them) in the blessed life which is from You, O loving One.

People: In your place of rest, O Lord, where all Your saints repose, give rest also to the soul of Your servant, for You alone are immortal.

People: Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

People: You are our God who descended into Hades and loosened the pains of those who were held captive. Grant rest also, O Savior, to the soul of Your servant.

Now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

You the only pure and spotless Virgin, who ineffably gave birth to God, intercede for mercy and forgiveness of the soul of your servant(s).

Priest: Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Your great mercy; we pray to You, hear us and have mercy.

People: Lord, have mercy. (3)

Priest: Again we pray for the repose of the soul(s) of the departed servant(s) of God (Name) and for the forgiveness of all his (her, their) sins, both voluntary and involuntary.

People: Lord, have mercy. (3)

Priest: May the Lord God grant his (her, their) soul(s) rest where the righteous repose. For the mercies of God, the kingdom of heaven, and the forgiveness of his (her, their) sins. 

People: Grant this, O Lord.

Priest: Let us pray to the Lord.

People: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: O God of spirits and of all flesh, You trampled upon death and abolished the power of the devil, giving life to Your world. Give rest to the soul(s) of Your departed servant(s) (Name) in a place of light, in a place of green pasture, in a place of refreshment, from where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. As a good and loving God, forgive every sin he (she, they) has (have) committed in word, deed, or thought, for there is no one who lives and does not sin. You alone are without sin. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your word is truth.

Priest: For You are the resurrection, the life, and the repose of Your departed servant(s) (Name), Christ our God, and to You we offer glory, with Your eternal Father who is without beginning and Your all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

People: Amen.

The Dismissal

Priest: Glory to You, O God, our hope, glory to You.

Lord of the living and the dead, the immortal King and Risen Christ, our true God, through the intercessions of His all-pure and spotless holy Mother; of the holy, glorious, and praiseworthy Apostles; of our venerable and God-bearing Fathers; of the holy and glorious forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of His holy and righteous friend Lazaros, who lay in the grave four days; and of all the saints; place the soul(s) of His servant(s) (Name), departed from us, in the dwelling place of the righteous; give rest to him (her, them) in the bosom of Abraham; and number him (her, them) among the saints and have mercy on us, as a good God who loves mankind.

People: Amen.

Priest: May your memory be eternal, brother worthy of blessedness and everlasting memory. (3)

For Women

Priest: May your memory be eternal, sister worthy of blessedness and everlasting memory. (3)

For Many

Priest: May their memories be eternal, sisters and brothers worthy of blessedness and everlasting memory. (3)

People: Eternal be his (her, their) memory. Eternal be his (her, their) memory. May his (her, their) memory be eternal. (3)

Priest: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us.

People: Amen.

With Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas

Protopresbyter