St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we are in the second week of the Triodion, the preparatory period which proceeds Great Lent, I would like to call to mind a few reminders and announcements concerning the Lenten Schedule of Services and Programs during this most sacred season. I am sending the following information from now, so that you can make proper arrangements and CLEAR your Lenten Calendar from secular distractions. 

Firstly, as we have done in the past, St. Anna’s has purchased a copy of a Lenten Resource for each family in our parish. This is done so that every household can commit to a process of prayer, study, inspiration, ascetic challenge and commitment during this most sacred time of growth. This year I have chosen the lovely devotional, Pilgrimage to Pascha, giving every family and individual a daily opportunity to engage their faith and develop a deeper understanding of Lenten themes, practices and purposes. The books will arrive within the next couple of weeks and will be distributed following the Divine Liturgy within the next two weeks, in time for you to include them in your Lenten practice. Please take advantage of this gracious and blessed opportunity.

As you can see in the attached Flyer, the entire Lenten Schedule is complete. Please keep in mind, that Monday Great Compline Services and Wednesday Evening Presanctified Liturgy Services will begin at 6:00 pm. Salutations and the Akathist Hymn will remain at 7:00 pm. 

We will continue our beloved practice of potluck dinners, sponsored by the various ministry groups following Presanctified Liturgies. Speakers have also been scheduled each week during the dinners. The lineup is set and you will not be disappointed. I love each of the speakers and what they have to share. I will send the list of speakers and ministry groups responsible for each week in the near future. You know how I love to make flyers…

Also, and this is very important, please make plans to be with us during the first weekend of Lent, March 3-5 for the Hierarchical Visit of Bishop Spyridon of Amastris. We are incredibly blessed to have His Grace with us from Friday Evening Salutations to the Sunday of Orthodoxy Divine Liturgy. His Retreat will be held on Saturday. His Grace gave a retreat at Prophet Elias a number of years ago (then, known as Fr. Spencer Kezios) and was received very enthusiastically. I expect no less of a successful Retreat from him, more than a decade later. Let’s have a wonderful showing of participation, please.

Lastly, I am finalizing the details of our long-awaited and greatly-missed GOYA Lenten Retreat. We have not taken our kids to a destination, weekend retreat since the Pandemic. I cannot express in words; how grateful I am to resume this practice. Our young people always thoroughly enjoyed their time together, focusing on their relationship with Christ. 

As you can see, there will be no lack of opportunities to grow and thrive in our Orthodox Christian Faith during this year’s services and programming. While we are operating with a full head of steam to transform the interior of our church, I am equally committed to the inner transformation of our souls, minds and hearts. I hope that we can all experience the joys and benefits that only the Season of Great Lent and the practices of the Fast can provide. I remain,

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I recently had a conversation with a parishioner who was out of town for a couple weeks. He couldn’t believe the progress that’s been made on the interior of the building in that span of time. I told him I can’t believe the progress that’s been made when I come back from lunch! Things are moving and changing quickly these days.

If you take the time to walk through the space this Sunday, nothing is left to the imagination. I have spoken to several people who have had difficulty seeing the vision of our project through architectural floor plans. Now you can literally walk through the spaces in dimensional reality.  The narthex, rooms, hallways, and restrooms are all now clearly defined. If you go back there, please be careful not to trip. Pay special attention to the east wall of the narthex, which is now framed. This is the first evidence of our new sanctuary – its west wall.

Please be aware that I will not be in the office all of next week. I will be in Denver for our Metropolis Clergy Pre-Lenten Retreat. Fr. Elias will be available for pastoral emergencies. God forbid, if you have immediate need of a priest, please contact me, and I will relay the message. 

This Sunday begins the Triodion Period of the Church Calendar. Great Lent is around the corner (February 27th) and we will have much to share and many opportunities for spiritual growth and learning in the coming months. This will be the last Lent, Holy Week and Pascha in our current worship space. A setting that has been temporary but has fulfilled our needs with dignity and has adequately expressed our love for the Savior. Let us prayerfully absorb and appreciate every experience in our present sanctuary, as its use is coming to an end. Ironically, just as Pascha is completing, work to begin construction of the new sanctuary will be underway. 

Enjoy the myriad of blessings which God showers down upon us each day. Even (especially) in our greatest trials and challenges, His grace abounds and sustains. 

With Much Love in Christ,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Forty days after Christ was born He was presented to God in the Jerusalem Temple according to the Mosaic Law. At this time as well His mother Mary underwent the ritual purification and offered the sacrifices as prescribed in the Law. Thus, forty days after Christmas, on February 2nd, the Church celebrates the feast of the presentation called the Meeting (or Presentation or Reception) of the Lord.

The meeting of Christ by the elder Simeon and the prophetess Anna (Lk 2.22–36) is the main event of the feast of Christ’s presentation in the Temple. It was “revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Lk 2.26) and, inspired by the same Spirit, he came to the Temple where he met the new-born Messiah, took Him in his arms and said the words which are now chanted each evening at the end of the Orthodox Vespers service:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Thy people Israel.

Luke 2:29-32

At this time as well Simeon predicted that Jesus would be the “sign which is spoken against” and that He would cause “the fall and the rising of many in Israel.” He also foretold Mary’s sufferings because of her son (Luke 22.34–35). Anna also was present and, giving thanks to God “she spoke of Jesus to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2.38).

In the service of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, the fact emphasized is that Christ, the Son and Word of God through Whom the world was created, now is held as an infant in Simeon’s hands; this same Son of God, the Giver of the Law, now Himself fulfills the Law, carried in arms as a human child.

Receive him, O Simeon, whom Moses on Mount Sinai beheld in the darkness as the Giver of the Law. Receive him as a babe now obeying the Law. For he it is of whom the Law and the Prophets have spoken, incarnate for our sake and saving mankind. Come let us adore him!

Let the door of heaven open today, for the Eternal Word of the Father, without giving up his divinity, has been incarnate of the Virgin in time. And as a babe of forty days he is voluntarily brought by his mother to the Temple, according to the Law. And the elder Simeon takes him in his arms and cries out: Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, O Lord, who has come to save the human race—glory to Thee!

Vespers of the Feast

The Vespers and Matins of the feast of the Meeting of the Lord are filled with hymns on this theme. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated with the lines from the canticle of Mary forming the prokeimenon and the words of Simeon being the verses for the Alleluia. The gospel readings tell of the meeting, while the Old Testament readings at Vespers refer to the Law of the purification in Leviticus, the vision of Isaiah in the Temple of the Thrice-Holy Lord, and the gift of faith to the Egyptians prophesied by Isaiah when the light of the Lord shall be a “revelation to the Gentiles” (Lk 2.32).

The celebration of the Meeting of the Lord in the church is not merely a historical commemoration. Inspired by the same Holy Spirit as Simeon, and led by the same Spirit into the Church of the Messiah, the members of the Church also can claim their own “meeting” with the Lord, and so also can witness that they too can “depart in peace” since their eyes have seen the salvation of God in the person of his Christ.

February 2nd is also our parish anniversary of moving into our current building. We purchased our building in October of 2019, and opened the doors for the Sunday Divine Liturgy on February 2, 2020. It was indeed a glorious day. For the benefit of those who were not with us, Metropolitan Isaiah presided over the Orthros Service at our former location of St. Thomas More Catholic Church, and we then processed to our new home for the Liturgy. Everyone gathered in the congregation that morning, carried a liturgical item from the former location to the new.

The day was filled with excitement and anticipation. Excitement for what has happening at the moment, and anticipation of what the building might become. And of course, that anticipation is currently being realized. In fact, from the moment we received possession of the space, some project or matter of improvement has continually taken place. Large or small, noticed or subtle, improvements efforts have been unceasing. 

The Lord’s Presentation to the Temple will forever coincide with our presentation into our temple. Our parish enjoys so many historical and spiritual connections to the (literal) family prayers and rituals of Jesus and His ancestors. Let us continually strive to attain a worthiness and favor before God. 

 With Much Love in XC,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter

No one is going to tell you that you will be condemned to everlasting punishment for missing divine services on a Great Feast or on a (Weekday Service). However, as Orthodox Christians attending these services is something we should want to do, something we should want to share with God and our brothers and sisters in Christ, something we should feel a desire and a pleasure in taking part in. And taking part in these services, being mystically present at the events commemorated as we stand in the parish church, is something that elevates us spiritually.

Fr. Michael Shanbour

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I pray that your week has been uplifting and all is well in your homes and in your lives. Last weekend, some of our parish youth traveled to Tulsa, OK to participate in our Metropolis Basketball Tournament. Even though the tournament, like many aspects of our lives, is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, it is still the largest, single gathering of the entire Metropolis of Denver, with over 650 registrants. Our kids represented our parish well, not only winning their division of play, but especially as mature and exemplary young people, on and off the court.

We returned to Salt Lake City on Monday afternoon. And after a long and exhausting weekend filled with late-night activities and early-morning starts, I looked forward to the two Weekday Divine Liturgies that were to take place the following two days: The Feast of St. Anthony the Great on Tuesday, January 17th and the Feast of St. Athanasios the Great on Wednesday, January 18th. Though both divine services were lovely and filled with God’s grace, I could not help but notice a trend that has been settling in at our St. Anna parish. 

The gradual, but apparent decline of participants at weekday services has been on my mind and heart for quite some time. We can’t blame COVID for this emerging, bad habit. In fact, when we celebrated a fixed, Seniors Liturgy during the pandemic, it was not uncommon to share the Eucharist with 30 to 50 people. There were not even 30 people at Theophany, one of the Primary Feasts of the Church. 

I am positive that there are many reasons why church may not seem important during the week. And to be sure, the world today will tell you, that if, IF, you go to church at all, it should be relegated to Sunday mornings. Our schedules are busy. Our lives are packed. Our calendars are full. Of course, many of us work during the weekday mornings and it may not be possible to attend. But I am praying diligently that a malaise or spiritual laziness is not creeping in, upon us. 

There are many measures of a thriving Christian Community. And there is no doubt that, thankfully, St. Anna’s is able to check most of those boxes. But let’s be very real in understanding that the worship life of an Orthodox Church is THE LIFE of an Orthodox Church. Our souls must pine for the receiving of the Holy Mysteries and run towards any opportunity to partake of Them. Participating as the Body of Christ within the experience of worship is the defining characteristic of our Faith. I would ask each of us to take a proper account, and prayerfully assess our spiritual priorities. Allowing every opportunity for God’s grace to shower over us and equip us with the necessary strength to combat the challenges of the day can only be helpful and edifying.  

Be mindful that, as we are about to celebrate the Presanctified Liturgy during the Lenten Season, that this very service was created specifically for a people who yearned for a greater liturgical connection to God during the week and were prohibited from receiving Communion during the weekdays of Lent. Would such a service even be devised or seen as necessary in today’s secularly infiltrated world?

I am super grateful for Sunday participation. Visiting priests always comment, and I mean always, on the number of people who come to church on the Lord’s Day. Let’s keep that up, and even strive to do better. But c’mon, folks, the rest of the Saints are praying for your participation in their celebrations, too. 

Equal to the anemic participation in morning services, and this really makes me sad, is the lack of participation in the monthly Paraklesis Services to St. Anna. As a reminder, our parish is blessed to have a Relic of our Matron Saint Anna. And to show our continual love, dedication, affinity, and connection to the Mother of the Mother of God, we gather before her precious Relic each month and chant the Paraklesis Service with her physical presence in our very midst. I fear it is getting lost on us, what a tremendous honor and blessing it is, for a parish to have a Relic of its Patron or Matron Saint for the faithful to continually pray before and venerate. I can’t think of a better time to kickstart a renewal of active worship, than Friday, January 27th at 7:00 pm. Our Matron Saint Anna calls us to a vibrant, active and deliberate relationship with her Grandson and our Lord, Jesus Christ. And Christ compels us to properly acknowledge His Yiayia!

Wow. Even as I type this message, I can see that the tone and tenor is different than anything I’ve ever written to this community. I’ve gone back and asked myself, “Is that to direct?” “Is this to harsh?” I keep answering myself by leaving every word that is pouring out of my heart. As a spiritual father, I desire that our parish be filled with those who love the Lord and who desire to be in His presence at every given opportunity. Is that realistic? Of course not. We are busy. We work. We go to school. But 30 or so people at Theophany, and five or six people consistently (sometimes less) at morning Liturgies and other services is a call to attention that cannot be ignored.

Normally, I suppose I’d ask forgiveness for this kind of rant, and subjecting you to this loving, little nastygram. But rather, I ask forgiveness from God that I have not properly led you in the priorities of an active Orthodox life of worship; not just on Sundays, but on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays. 

Thank you for your acceptance of this note in the spirit in which it was written. If and whenever possible, come to church!

With Much Love in XC,

Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter