Categories
Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Message June 25, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I’d like to announce that a new worship space has been created at St. Anna’s. Well, sort of.

Our monthly Paraklesis to the Holy Ancestor of Christ, our Matron St. Anna was held yesterday morning. Anyone who has been around the church the past week has seen that there’s been a sharp escalation in construction activity. While Phase II of construction is complete, minus finishing details, the entire east wall of the building has been demolished and removed. And the north wall of the church (or the south wall of the Sunday School Hallway) has already been erected. I could not believe the progress that was made in five short days. 

But when we went into the church to pray the Paraklesis, a couple things were also at play. Once again, major dust was kicked up into the sanctuary due to all of the dismantled walls. And the electrician was drilling through an exterior wall to install new fire protection strobes. This young man had a job to do, and I did not want to send him away while we prayed. This project is “on the clock” with some very specific deadlines at this point. So we were blessed with an opportunity to be creative. 

Forever in our parish history, we will record the first prayer service in new space was in the Bookstore! Even though there were only four of us in attendance, it was so special and intimately powerful. The small group sang out, chanting the service. The sounds of construction equipment, saws, blaring Latin music (always upbeat and fun), and the flurry of activity outside the windows, accompanied us in our prayer. They were not distractions, but background accompaniment in celebration of the moment. We honored our Matron Saint for her unique ministry in history, her unique relationship with the Christ, and her unique role in our lives. All in a setting that was actively engaged in furthering her name and influence within our broader community. 

It was just such a blessing to have a clean, enclosed and dignified space in the midst of chaos. 

Changes are happening at a rapid pace at this point, but our mission of prayer and service will continue through the dust, debris, noise and confusion. 

Please be aware that beginning tomorrow, post-Liturgy fellowship will take place out on our new, north patio – just steps out of the building. You will be surprised at how perfectly everything has been set up for the purpose of us being together. Never underestimate our ability to wire and plum a commercial coffee maker to the exterior of a building. It can be done!

Please be aware of a couple more milestones on the near horizon:

Next week, the footings for the new steel in sanctuary will be prepared. We are basically engineering a fortified cage in the middle of the building to accommodate the church design. Included in this new structure, will be a ceiling beam that will travers the length of the new worship space from east to west. In the next couple of Sundays, we will make it available to be signed by the parishioners of St. Anna’s before it is raised up. Your personal prayer, message or simple signature will part of our permanent structure.

I initially wanted to have the beam brought into the church for a grand and prayerful spectacle. I got my way with bells and crosses…but I suppose a huge beam was a bit too large of an ask.

So, we’ll go outside, Sharpies in hand, and enjoy a moment in the sun. More details to follow when we have the day secured. 

Lastly, and though this is a month away, I want to announce from now that on the occasion of our Parish Feast Day, His Grace Bishop Constantine of Sassima will be with us on the evening of Saturday, July 22nd, and for the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on Sunday, July 23rd. Our Annual Name Day Picnic will take place on that Saturday in celebration of His Grace’s visit. Again, more details to follow, but please make plans to be with us the weekend before the Feast of St. Anna. 

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Categories
Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for June 25, 2023

Weekly Bulletin for June 25, 2023 2023 Summer Lecture Series

Categories
Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for June 18, 2023

Weekly Bulletin for June 18, 2023 Philoptochos Membership Tea 2023

Categories
Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Message June 11, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow, the Sunday following Pentecost, we celebrate the feast of All Saints who shone forth throughout the entire world. The Gospel reading is from Matthew and consists of two passages – Matthew 10: 32-38 and Matthew 19: 27-30. 

The Holy Church chose to dedicate the first Sunday after Pentecost to all the saints as commemoration and recognition of the Holy Spirit, who spilled out over the church on the day of Pentecost, and is the maker of the saints. The Holy Spirit is the one who sanctifies believers and gives them holiness. In the Resurrectional hymns of Matins, we chant: “Through the Holy Spirit is every soul quickened and exalted in purity, and made resplendent by the Triune Unity in mystic holiness,” and also “in the Holy Spirit you witness all holiness and wisdom.” 

On this feast day, the Church honors all saints, not only those who have been consecrated, or officially had their holiness proclaimed by the church, those whose names are present in the church calendar and their biographies read from the Synaxarion (the life of Saints), but also the unknown ones, as there are many unknown saints to us, but are known before God. 

It is said, “No one was born a saint, but everyone is called to holiness.” This is the teaching of the Church and the Holy Bible. In the Old Testament, we read in the book of Leviticus: “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). 

is synonymous with perfection, according to Jesus’ words: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Making holiness a goal as a Christian may seem difficult, or perhaps almost impossible. Some believe it a vocation exclusive to those who are in the priesthood or monasteries, but through the experience and the teaching of the Church, the opposite is true, that this vocation is the supreme goal of every Christian person, and that the invitation to achieve perfection is from God to all; it belongs to everyone. 

St. Paul the Apostle explains that God has chosen us “in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love,” (Ephesians 1: 4). And in his letter to the Thessalonians he suggests “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). 

As for the Apostle Peter, he exhorts his spiritual children, saying: “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). 

In the Acts of the Apostles and in Paul’s letters it is clear to us that the word “saints” was used to denote the brothers who believed in the Lord Jesus (Philippians 4: 21-22) and was used before the disciples were called “Christians” in Antioch (Acts 11:26). In the Acts of the Apostle, the Apostle Ananias addresses the Lord in the vision, speaking of Saul (later Apostle Paul) saying: “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem” (Acts 9:13). In the same spirit, the Apostle Paul calls the believers, that is the children of the Churches that he visited with “saints. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1). See also (Romans 1: 7, 1Cor 1: 2 and 2Cor 1: 1, Ephesians 1:1 and Philippians 1: 1, Colossians: 1: 1 and 1Tess. 5:37 And Hebrews 1: 3). 

In tomorrow’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus reveals to His disciples how a disciple can seek holiness through several commandments that must be followed. 

The first condition: It is the confession of Jesus “before men”. This is a clear and explicit confession of faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. This confession is not only expressed verbally, but also in deeds. The Apostle Paul says: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,” (Romans 9:10). 

The second condition is love: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Here, the Lord Jesus sets the scale of love. He asks that He be at the height of our priority. He does not exclude family and relatives from this love, as He does not say love me and hate your father or mother (or your son or daughter), but says: “Whoever loves a father or mother (son or daughter) more than me, he does not deserve me.” The Lord Jesus seeks to possess the full love of the disciple. 

And the third condition: “He takes his cross and follows me.” Here, He exhorts followers to bear witness even unto martyrdom. That is, the confession of Him and love for Him will lead to a type of martyrdom. 

After this, we continue reading the second part of the evangelical passage from chapter 19 of Matthew, which was added to the first part of the evangelical reading because of the close spiritual link between the two. This section is taken from Jesus’ dialogue with the rich young man who asked Him saying: “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied to him with: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give the poor.” Peter’s question to the Lord Jesus, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” (19:27) comes after seeing the distraught rich young man. The Apostle Peter, as well as some of the other Apostles, was a fisherman, and some may question the relevance of what he meant when he said to the Lord, “we have forsaken all, and followed thee” as his only possessions were a net and a boat?! 

St. John Chrysostom says in his interpretation of this passage “although the Apostle Peter was poor and did not possess much, he left all that he possessed. So, this shows that the invitation is addressed to both the rich and the poor and not only to the rich who have much. Even the poor, those who do not have much, are also called to leave even a little, which is everything, and to follow the Lord”. 

The Lord had promised His disciples who followed Him to the end and who had seen his crucifixion, glorious Resurrection and the descending of the Holy Spirit, that they would “condemn the twelve tribes of Israel”. 

So that no one would think that what was said applied only to the disciples, Christ broadened the promise to include everyone who does likewise. He says, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” The Lord Jesus promised His disciples and everyone who follow Him also that if they left everything for His name, they would receive in this life a hundredfold, and then he would inherit eternal life. 

In this life, the saints have received the hundredfold as being honored by all faithful, being asked for their intercessions, and building churches in their name. For two millennia, the Holy Church and the faithful honor the holy Apostles and Saints and take their intercessors for them. In this way, the saints have received their reward and honor in this life, and in the other life have received heavenly rewards. 

On the Feast of All Saints, as we honor this “cloud of witnesses” we are called to commemorate the lives of the saints, imitating their examples and realizing that the goal of our lives is not only to be righteous with some good attributes, but rather our goal is “deification- Theosis”, that is, to become “Partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 4: 1) and “Partakers of the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 1: 3). Our life and our path are not complete in this earthly life, but rather “our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20). In a conversation with one of his spiritual sons, St. Seraphim Sarov reveals that “the true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit,” that is, holiness. 

Holiness is the act and work of the Holy Spirit, but the human effort is indispensable in this process towards holiness. This is what the Holy Fathers call “Synergy” between human effort and divine grace. We have all received the grace of the Holy Spirit on the day of Baptism and the sacred mystery of Chrism, as well as every time we partake in the holy sacraments, but as for human effort, we present it through works of asceticism and love. 

“Come, ye believers, let us today stand in rank and celebrate with true worship; let us exalt with glorifications the memorial of all-honored, all-revered saints, shouting, Rejoice, O glorious Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs and Bishops! Rejoice, O company of the righteous and just! Rejoice, O rank of honored women! Supplicate ye Christ to grant the king victory over the Barbarians, and our souls the Great Mercy.” (Doxasticon for all Saints in Tone six). Amen. 

Written by Metropolitan Basilios of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia 

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Categories
Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for June 11, 2023

Weekly Bulletin for June 11, 2023 Philoptochos Membership Tea 2023

Categories
Pastoral Letters

Pastoral Message June 4, 2023

O Blessed are You, O Christ our God, who has revealed the fishermen as most wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit: through them You did draw the world into Your net. O Lover of Man, Glory to You.

The Troparion Hymn of Pentecost

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday, June 4th is the Feast of Pentecost in the Orthodox Church. This literally means we will have reached the 50th Day following the Resurrection. Before offering an explanation of the Feast for your consideration, I’d like to firstly share some practical information.

Tomorrow, the day before Pentecost we will celebrate the Saturday of the Souls services. The Orthros will begin at 8:00 am followed by the Divine Liturgy and Universal Memorial at 9:00 am. If you are able, please prepare a Koliva (Memorial Wheat) in honor of your departed loved ones. 

This weekend will be the first time we begin an hour earlier. It seems we will be able to keep one or two of our swamp coolers online for a few weeks after we demolish the back wall of the building, but those two blowers will not sufficiently and safely cool our expansive space. Please, I pray that this time adjustment does not diminish your willingness or ability to worship with us during the Sundays of the Summer. Historically, St. Anna parishioners have continued through the summer months with very little drop off in participation. Let’s maintain, and even build upon this most blessed trend!

Directly after the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, we will celebrate an abridged Vespers of Pentecost, that will include the Kneeling Prayers in anticipation and in commemoration of the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Recall – we have not knelt in the church since the evening of the Resurrection. This is a gesture of awe and respect for the presence of the 

The following day, June 5th is the Monday of the Holy Spirit – the day after Pentecost. Please join Fr. Elias and me at the Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church for the Name Day of our Holy Trinity Cathedral. There, Orthros will begin at 9:00 am followed by the Divine Liturgy at 10:00 am.

I also want to remind you that once the new sanctuary is built the icon of Pentecost (similar to the one above) will be written on the south ceiling of the altar, next to the icon of the Nativity. It will be prominent and beautiful!

So with all that said, please properly prepare for this most important celebration by reading the following:

In the Old Testament Pentecost was the feast which occurred fifty days after Passover. As the Passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.

In the new covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, the “exodus” of men from this sinful world to the Kingdom of God. And in the New Testament as well, the pentecostal feast is fulfilled and made new by the coming of the “new law,” the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ.

When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed as resting upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . .

Acts 2.1–4

The Holy Spirit that Christ had promised to his disciples came on the day of Pentecost (Jn 14.26, 15.26; Lk 24.49; Acts 1.5). The apostles received “the power from on high,” and they began to preach and bear witness to Jesus as the risen Christ, the King and the Lord. This moment has traditionally been called the birthday of the Church.

In the liturgical services of the feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit is celebrated together with the full revelation of the divine Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Godhead is manifested with the Spirit’s coming to man, and the Church hymns celebrate this manifestation as the final act of God’s self-disclosure and self-donation to the world of His creation. For this reason Pentecost Sunday is also called Trinity Day in the Orthodox tradition. Often on this day the icon of the Holy Trinity—particularly that of the three angelic figures who appeared to Abraham, the forefather of the Christian faith—is placed in the center of the church. This icon is used with the traditional pentecostal icon which shows the tongues of fire hovering over Mary and the Twelve Apostles, the original prototype of the Church, who are themselves sitting in unity surrounding a symbolic image of “cosmos,” the world.

On Pentecost we have the final fulfillment of the mission of Jesus Christ and the first beginning of the messianic age of the Kingdom of God mystically present in this world in the Church of the Messiah. For this reason the fiftieth day stands as the beginning of the era which is beyond the limitations of this world, fifty being that number which stands for eternal and heavenly fulfillment in Jewish and Christian mystical piety: seven times seven, plus one.

Thus, Pentecost is called an apocalyptic day, which means the day of final revelation. It is also called an eschatological day, which means the day of the final and perfect end (in Greek eschaton means the end). For when the Messiah comes and the Lord’s Day is at hand, the “last days” are inaugurated in which “God declares: . . . I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”; This is the ancient prophecy to which the Apostle Peter refers in the first sermon of the Christian Church which was preached on the first Sunday of Pentecost (Acts 2: 1 7; Joel 2: 28–32).

Once again it must be noted that the feast of Pentecost is not simply the celebration of an event which took place centuries ago. It is the celebration of what must happen and does happen to us in the Church today. We all have died and risen with the Messiah-King, and we all have received his Most Holy Spirit. We are the “temples of the Holy Spirit.” God’s Spirit dwells in us (Rom 8; 1 Cor 2–3, 12; 2 Cor 3; Gal 5; Eph 2–3). We, by our own membership in the Church, have received “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” in the sacrament of chrismation. Pentecost has happened to us.

The Divine Liturgy of Pentecost recalls our baptism into Christ with the verse from Galatians again replacing the Thrice-Holy Hymn. Special verses from the psalms also replace the usual antiphonal psalms of the liturgy. The epistle and gospel readings tell of the Spirit’s coming to men. The kontakion sings of the reversal of Babel as God unites the nations into the unity of his Spirit. The troparion proclaims the gathering of the whole universe into God’s net through the work of the inspired apostles. The hymns “O Heavenly King” and “We have seen the True Light” are sung for the first time since Easter, calling the

Holy Spirit to “come and abide in us,” and proclaiming that “we have received the heavenly Spirit.” The church building is decorated with flowers and the green leaves of the summer to show that God’s divine Breath comes to renew all creation as the “life-creating Spirit.” In Hebrew the word for Spirit, breath and wind is the same word, ruah.

The Great Vespers of Pentecost evening features three long prayers at which the faithful kneel for the first time since Easter. The Monday after Pentecost is the feast of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox Church, and the Sunday after Pentecost is the feast of All Saints. This is the logical liturgical sequence since the coming of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled in men by their becoming saints, and this is the very purpose of the creation and salvation of the world. “Thus says the Lord: Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I your God am holy” (Lev 11.44–45, 1 Pet 1.15–16). (From the OCA)

With Much Love in XC,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Categories
Bulletins

Weekly Bulletin for June 4, 2023

Weekly Bulletin for June 4, 2023 Philoptochos Membership Tea 2023 Sunday School Advancement Ceremony and BBQ 2023