St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This morning, February 2nd, we celebrated the Feast of our Lord’s Presentation in the Temple, according to our Holy Archdiocese, when the most pure Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary’s forty days of purification had been fulfilled, she took her first-born Son to Jerusalem on this, the fortieth day after His birth, that she might present Him in the temple according to the Law of Moses, which teaches that every first-born male child be dedicated to God, and also that she might offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Law (Luke 2:22-24; Exod. 13:2; Lev. 12:6-8).
On this same day, a just and devout man, the greatly aged Symeon, was also present in the temple, being guided by the Holy Spirit. For a long time, this man had been awaiting the salvation of God, and he had been informed by divine revelation that he would not die until he beheld the Lord’s Christ.
Thus, when he beheld Him at that time and took Him up into his aged arms, he gave glory to God, singing: “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, O Master. . .” And he confessed that he would close his eyes joyfully, since he had seen the Light of revelation for the nations and the Glory of Israel (Luke 2:25-32). From ancient times, the Holy Church has retained this tradition of the churching of the mother and new-born child on the fortieth day and of the reading of prayers of purification.
Tomorrow, we honor the righteous Elder Symeon and Prophetess Anna, who prophesied concerning Him by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and were the first in Jerusalem to receive Him as the Messiah.
This event; our Lord’s Entrance into the Temple, for His “40-Day Blessing” (not unlike the similar blessing for our own children), goes largely unnoticed in the greater scheme of the things Christ experienced. However, for the Orthodox, this event in His infant life is regarded as one of His greatest revelations of humility, tenderness and obedience to the Law. Though He created the Law, Christ still feels compelled, for our sake, to abide by the Law.
On a deeply, personal note, there is a very tiny chapel dedicated to our Lord’s Presentation in Thessaloniki. Many years ago, I spent an entire day of prayer and meditation in that little church. The Lord answered my prayers on that day and the Feast of the Presentation will always be very special in my heart and soul. I pray that the Lord enters our hearts and nourishes our souls as he penetrated the steps of the Temple in order to fulfill the divine plan of His Father. These days are special indeed. Let us honor Him through His holy Feasts.
With Love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony

Good Evening, Dearly Beloved in the Lord,

I thank you for your prayers and well wishes this past, almost two weeks. Your positive energy and love have helped me more than you will ever know. I look forward to resuming my pastoral duties very soon. God willing, I will be with you this Sunday for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and the swearing in of our 2017 Parish Council. Please be aware that our JOY Ministry will meet after Sunday School and the participants of the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival will meet with their coaches, exchange ideas and begin their creative process, also this Sunday. For those of you who have submitted your House Blessing Forms, please know that I will be contacting you within the next few weeks to continue this sacred Tradition.

As we continue into a very busy time of the year, with our many ministries in full swing, I pray that the good Lord blesses all of your homes with abundant joy, continued health and fervor in faith.

I so look forward to seeing you at Liturgy! And again, thank you! Your cards, texts, emails, calls and posts were much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed.

With Love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we continue to celebrate the blessings of a New Year and remain, steadfastly in the days of Holy Theophany, I come to you, my dearly beloved in the Lord, asking for your prayers.

As you may have noticed for the past few month, I have seemingly suffered with cold symptoms, congestion and headaches. Pretty much non-stop since October. Many of you have been kind enough to offer your remedies, solutions, special tricks and formulas for improved health. Believe me, I tried them all. And I was always grateful for your prayers and concern.

As it turns out, a CT scan revealed what has been bothering me for all this time, and that is severely blocked and infected sinus’, especially in the left side of my head which is 100% affected. In order to gain some much-needed relief and to begin breathing again, surgery is required. That said, I need to offer some changes to the very Bulletin which is attached to this message. Therefore, please be advised that:

I will be having surgery on Tuesday, January 17th and will be out of the office until January 25th.

There will be no Divine Liturgies celebrated on Tuesday, January 17th (St. Anthony) and Wednesday, January 18th (St. Athanasios). I am sorry about this.

We will celebrate the Divine Liturgy in honor of both Saints Anthony and Athanasios on Monday Evening, January 16th at 6:00 pm.

There will be no Bible Study or Spirituality Classes next week. Again, I am sorry for this.

All other meetings/ministries will continue for the week, or so that I am recovering.

On Sunday, January 22nd, we will be blessed with Fr. Seraphim Johns from Pocatello, ID as our visiting priest.

Fr. Seraphim is a dynamic, young priest who has been assigned to the historic and lovely Greek Orthodox Community of Price, Utah, beginning February 1st. This will be St. Anna’s first opportunity to welcome him to Utah and to pray for his success and his ministry to the Orthodox faithful in Carbon County.

I thank you for your prayers and for your patience, these past many weeks, with me sounding much less than inspiring during the celebration of our divine services. God willing, I look forward to being healthy for the continuation of our House Blessings and into the precious time of Great Lent. I remain,

With Love in XC,
Fr. Anthony