St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When you go into the Social Hall tomorrow morning, you will notice many, large garbage bags lined up against the south wall. The teens of our parish are primarily responsible for those bags. No, they did not engage in a cleaning project today, or rake leaves from outside. Those bags are not filled with trash or yard waste. 

Earlier today, out GOYAns prepared 250 food packets for their peers at Entrada and Diamond Ridge High Schools. Very soon, the kids at those schools will be on Fall Break, and many of them will not have anything to eat while away from school. Our children, with the support of our St. Anna’s Outreach Ministry Team and our Food Support Ministry assembled the bags that will go home with the students from these two, beloved alternative high schools located in nearby Midvale.

The Blue Bin that you see every time you come into the church is there to help fill their food pantries. This is an ongoing effort, and we always encourage you that every time you come into the church building, please bring non-perishable food items, to be delivered to the schools each and every Tuesday. Today’s project was separate and apart from our continual effort of helping to stock their pantries. This project was specific in helping to ensure proper nutrition to children in need who will soon be on Fall Break. For many of these vulnerable youth, no school means no meals.

Thank you to everyone who has donated towards these worthy efforts. Your contributions to our Food Service Ministry provide ongoing supplements to our Blue Bin, as well as help us shop for projects such as today’s. The 250 bags that were prepared today cost over $2,500 to provide. Your love and generosity helped make them possible. 

Please pray for the children and their families who will utilize these food bags, as well as for the children who assembled them, and the people who supported them. Everyone has their vulnerabilities and challenges. When we work together to help alleviate them, the Holy Spirit shines through us. 

God bless you all for your kindness and sensitivities to those in need.

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

As a sharer of the ways and a successor to the throne of the Apostles, O inspired of God, thou foundest discipline to be a means of ascent to divine vision. Wherefore, having rightly divided the word of truth, thou didst also contest for the Faith even unto blood,
O Hieromartyr Phocas. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls be saved.

Hymn of St. Phocas of Sinope

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I trust and pray you are all well. And that this evening is blessed for each and every one of you. 

As we have entered into early fall, and the yields from home gardens are beginning to slow down, I would like to call your attention to the Martyr Saint we celebrate tomorrow. St. Phocas of Sinope is the patron saint of gardens and gardeners. His was a life of faith, service, piety, sacrifice, and love. Let us be inspired by him and pray for his continued intercessions. 

Saint Phokas (Phokás) came from Sinope (Sinópē) and his only possessions were a garden which he cultivated with great diligence. His income from the garden was very small. But since he was a good steward and frugal in his needs, he would always have something for the poor. Saint Phokas studied the Holy Scriptures with pleasure. He even told those who saw him studying that our soul is also a garden, which requires care, so that it does not produce thorns and thistles. The gardener Phokas also desired that everyone’s souls should become spiritual gardens. So wherever he could, he contributed to their purification and cultivation. While he was selling vegetables and fruits, he spoke words of great spiritual profit at the same time. Not only did he benefit Christians, but he also converted many pagans.

At that time, the idolaters were persecuting Christians. Therefore, when it became known that the gardener Phokas was a Christian, the rulers sent soldiers to arrest him.

Since the Saint’s home was near the castle gate which communicated with the port, he often had many visitors; sometimes foreign travelers, and sometimes the poor. So when the soldiers came he welcomed them as guests. After some time had passed, he asked them the purpose of their visit. Obliged by his hospitality they disclosed their secret, that they were seeking the Christian Phokas in order to behead him. They even told him that he would be doing them a great favor if he would help them.

Unperturbed, Saint Phokas came out of his house to dig and prepare his own grave, and the next day he told the soldiers who he was. They were astonished and ashamed, because they had been received by Saint Phokas with so much love that they did not want to kill him. The Saint understood their difficulty and told them not to hesitate, but to carry out their orders since it was not they who would be responsible for his murder, but rather those who sent them. By speaking in this way he persuaded the soldiers to behead him.

An accurate account of the Martyr’s death was written by Asterios (Astérios) of Amasea (+ 410).

Christians built a magnificent church on the site of his beheading, and they placed the honorable relics of the Holy Martyr in it. This became a source of comfort for the afflicted, and healing for the sick. A fragment of the Holy Relics of Saint Phokas is located in the Monastery of Proussos in Evritania.

When his homeland, Sinope, was in danger of famine, wheat was found, thanks to the Saint’s protection. He appeared several times to sailors who were in danger of sinking in the sea, and saved them from drowning. At other times he would awaken the helmsman, telling him to be ready, for a storm was coming. Other times he was seen by the sailors in rough seas helping sometimes on the ropes, sometimes on the sails, or sometimes protecting the ship, so that it would not be wrecked on a reef, or be caught in heavy rain.

Here is how the custom of having Saint Phokas as a guest at their table was begun among sailors. When they were sitting at the table, one of the sailors bought the Saint’s share; the next day another sailor bought it, and so they collected the money. When the ship reached its destination, they distributed the money to the poor.

The Saint worked many miracles of healing. He appeared to some people in their sleep, but he was not visible to others. Thus, the insignificant and humble gardener Phokas is honored by Christians because of his gift of working miracles.

The Holy Martyr Phokas is especially venerated by sailors, and he is also invoked by those who travel by sea.

This is not a common name, but tomorrow in church, if you see Erin (Phocia) Lucy, before she goes off to teach Sunday School, please wish her a happy Name Day. She is literally the only person in our parish who celebrates this wonderful saint.

With Love in XC,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I pray, that on this day, as we lift up and commemorate the precious Cross of our Lord, that you will find rich and eternal blessings in the long-suffering ministry of Christ. On September 14th, we celebrate the Universal Exaltation of the Cross. It is a day of prayerful contemplation, gratitude, and wonderment. The path of Christ was the path to the Cross. The path to death. Our path, in Him, now leads to light, life, grace, and eternal joy. Praise be to our generous God!

I want to share with you a special video that was just sent out. As you all well know, last Wednesday was the 23rd Anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11. I held a small Memorial Service on that day, (it’s on our YouTube Chanel), praying for all souls departed that day, and by name for the Orthodox Christians.  The day is still haunting and surreal. Every year, among many names, I read the name “Anthony Savas,” an inspector with the New York Port Authority who perished at Ground Zero. If you want to be humbled, read your name in a Memorial Service. I pray for him, his family, and all who were fatally bitten by the venomous fangs of bloodlust, hatred, and unthinkable violence. May all their Memories be Ever Eternal. 

Please take the time to watch this video. the 9/11 Memorial Service at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and Shrine in New York. St. Nicholas was the only house of worship destroyed on that fateful day, and is now rebuilt as an open shrine, dedicated to the spiritual healing and comfort to all. The service was held this morning, on the Feast of the Cross. Indeed, how fitting.

Please keep this day sacred and solemn. Enjoy time with your loved ones and live in gratitude for the blessings you receive. No matter our circumstances, as challenging as they may be, we are all truly blessed. God bless, keep and protect you all.

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow, we celebrate the Nativity of the Theotokos. The large icon on the south side of the back wall of the church sanctuary depicts this great feast. Though the Church has piously celebrated this event from the earliest of centuries, we are reminded that there is no scriptural reference to the birth, infancy, or childhood of the Virgin. I offer to you the commentary of Fr. Thomas Hopko concerning this feast, and its historical significance. 

In addition to the celebration of the Annunciation, there are three major feasts in the Church honoring Mary, the Theotokos. The first of these is the feast of her nativity which is kept on the eighth of September.

The record of the birth of Mary is not found in the Bible. The traditional account of the event is taken from the apocryphal writings which are not part of the New Testament scriptures. The traditional teaching which is celebrated in the hymns and verses of the festal liturgy is that Joachim and Anna were a pious Jewish couple who were among the small and faithful remnant—“the poor and the needy”—who were awaiting the promised messiah. The couple was old and childless. They prayed earnestly to the Lord for a child, since among the Jews barrenness was a sign of God’s disfavor. In answer to their prayers, and as the reward of their unwavering fidelity to God, the elderly couple was blessed with the child who was destined, because of her own personal goodness and holiness, to become the Mother of the Messiah-Christ.

Your nativity, O Virgin, has proclaimed joy to the whole universe. The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone from you, O Theotokos. By annulling the curse he bestowed a blessing. By destroying death he has granted us eternal life.

Apolytikion

By your nativity, O most pure virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve from the corruption of death. And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the Nourisher of our Life.

Kontakion

The fact that there is no Biblical verification of the facts of Mary’s birth is incidental to the meaning of the feast. Even if the actual background of the event as celebrated in the Church is questionable from an historical point of view, the divine meaning of it “for us men and for our salvation” is obvious. There had to be one born of human flesh and blood who would be spiritually capable of being the Mother of Christ, and she herself had to be born into the world of persons who were spiritually capable of being her parents.

The feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, therefore, is a glorification of Mary’s birth, of Mary herself and of her righteous parents. It is a celebration as well of the very first preparation of the salvation of the world. For the “Vessel of Light,” the “Book of the Word of Life,” the “Door to the Orient,” the “Throne of Wisdom” is being prepared on earth by God Himself in the birth of the holy girl-child Mary.

The verses of the feast are filled with titles for Mary such as those in the quotations above. They are inspired by the message of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. The specific Biblical readings of the feast give indications of this.

At Vespers the three Old Testamental readings are “mariological” in their New Testamental interpretation. Thus, Jacob’s Ladder which unites heaven and earth and the place which is named “the house of God” and the “gate of heaven” (Gen 28.10–17) are taken, to indicate the union of God with men which is realized most fully and perfectly—both spiritually and physically—in Mary the Theotokos, Bearer of God. So also the vision of the temple with the “door ‘to the East’” perpetually closed and filled with the “glory of the Lord” symbolizes Mary, called in the hymns of the feast “the living temple of God filled with the divine Glory” (Ezek 43.27–44.4). Mary is also identified with the “house” which the Divine Wisdom has built for himself according to the reading from Proverbs 9.1–11.

The Gospel reading of Matins is the one read at all feasts of the Theotokos, the famous Magnificat from Saint Luke in which Mary says: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1.47).

The epistle reading of the Divine Liturgy is the famous passage about the coming of the Son of God in “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man” (Phil 2.5–11) and the gospel reading is that which is always read for feasts of the Theotokos—the woman in the crowd glorifies the Mother of Jesus, and the Lord himself responds that the same blessedness which his mother receives is for all “who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11.27–28).

Thus, on the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, as on all liturgical celebrations of Christ’s Mother, we proclaim and celebrate that through God’s graciousness to mankind every Christian receives what the Theotokos receives, the “great mercy” which is given to human persons because of Christ’s birth from the Virgin.

Please remember that Sunday School begins tomorrow. Pray for the sanctification of this new school year, and for the protection of all our beloved children in the Lord.

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Yes, Happy New Year, indeed!

No, I do not have my dates mixed up, nor am I looking at the wrong month of the calendar. This Sunday, September 1, 2024, is actually the beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year.

Also known as the Feast of the Indiction, it represents the resetting of the Church Calendar, and the beginning of the cycle of spiritual commemorations in the lives of Orthodox Christians. All of these feasts and celebrations are actually bookended between the Nativity of the Theotokos on September 8th, and the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15th. Our knowledge of, our exposure to, our interaction with, and our identity in Christ is made possible through the ministry of the Mother of God. 

“Indiction” is a Latin word meaning “to impose.” It was originally used in this context upon the schedule of the Roman Government issuing taxes. It was the beginning of the Roman fiscal quarter, in that before the Julian Calendar, Rome started their New Year in September. The date of September 1st takes on a religious identity when in the year 312, the Emperor Constantine sees a vision of the Cross in the sky, thusly inspiring him to unify the Empire under the banner of the Cross. 

On September 1st, this significant day of “beginnings,” Our Lord Jesus Christ walked into the Synagogue (Luke 4:16-22), opened the scroll, and read out loud for all to hear, and for all to see: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The Lord proclaims His divinity, He establishes His ministry, He articulates what He’ll accomplish, and He introduces hope to a darkened, hardened, and wandering world. 

Sundy is the beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year. Let’s treat it as would the secular New Year – but with a heightened sense of purpose. 

Set new goals for yourself – not career goals or academic goals, but goals for a more robust prayer life.

Make New Year’s Resolutions – but not to exercise more or diet, but to practice more acts of kindness and generosity.

Anticipate what is to come – but not just birthdays, holidays and anniversaries – worship services, retreats, Bible Studies, Lent, Holy Week, Pascha!

This Sunday, the Church hits that big “Reset Button.” We start anew, and we forge into the unknown. We honor the past as we look to the future. We take new steps, and we take them boldly – as Christ proclaimed His earthly ministry through the words of the Prophet. May this day…may this Year, bring you countless blessings and a closer relationship with our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Happy New Year!

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter