Pastoral Messages

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we enter the new ecclesiastical (church) year, I would like to offer a theme for the year: Philoxenia (fee-lok-se-NEE-a): “Love for Strangers”. On past Sundays I have spoken about this rich word and how it is central to our spiritual lives. Please allow me another moment to explain. Philoxenia is the outpouring of God’s love, expressed by and through each of us. We can become fountains of God’s love, showering it upon those around us. In the world ... [Read more]

What's in a nickname? (To paraphrase Shakespeare.) It seems that nicknames have been around as long as proper names have. In the Bible we learn that the Apostle Thomas was called "Didimos" ("The Twin"), James and John were called the "Sons of Thunder," and Simon was called "Zealot." Some nicknames are so predominant that we forget the person's real name. The chief Apostle, Peter, was actually born with the name Simon. Yet he was named "The Rock" (Petros in Greek, or Cephas in Aramaic), and ... [Read more]

Beloved Faithful, It’s with a heavy heart that I write this month’s newsletter article. I’m very grateful to Fr. Matthew for asking me to take this issue to share some heartfelt thoughts with all of you. First, I can’t even begin to tell you how much all of you mean to Presvytera and I. From the day we arrived you welcomed us with open arms and showered us with love. You have cared for and supported us in countless ways over the years we’ve been with you. You exemplify what it means to be ... [Read more]

A Parable A man has fallen into a pit, a deep and dark cavern. He has been sitting at the bottom for a while. Far above, a tiny sliver of light casts a faint shade of gray across the cavern, so that he can dimly make out the towering walls. He just sits for a very, very long time, uncertain of what to do. Eventually he notices that a rope is tied to his waist. He feels his way along it, then gives a gentle tug to find out its origin. The rope tugs back, equally gently. Startled, the man ... [Read more]

The following words are from Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou of St. John the Baptist Monastery in Essex, England. He beautifully reminds us that when we pray, we must pray with a humble and contrite heart. Those who pray with a humble heart have recognized that their very life is a gift from God and that apart from God they are but earth and ashes. Realizing this truth their heart is full of gratitude, which in turn fills their entire being with even more humility. It is from this disposition ... [Read more]

There are few things in life that strike us deeper than being wrongly accused. Alarm bells go off inside of us and the indignation rises, as our sense of justice is offended. We think, "How dare they...!" We revolt against the accusation, mounting our defense against the facts as presented. It's one thing to be accused of something of which we are actually guilty. In these cases, we have an internal debate about whether to tell the truth or not. This often involves finding excuses for ... [Read more]

When God creates each and every one of us – putting the breath of life, the spirit into us in our mother's womb – He gives us our span of life as a sacred time period in which we must strive to unite ourselves with Him. This is our true and only "purpose" in life: union with our Creator. Yet we spend so much of our life focused on other purposes and distractions. We strive toward Him in fits and starts, then we drift off in the other direction, turning our attention to the passing things of this ... [Read more]

Once again, the season of the Nativity of Christ is upon us. We find ourselves on a familiar path that will ultimately lead us to the cave where our Savior is born. With His Mother, accompanied by Joseph her betrothed, the shepherds, the wise men, the animals and the angelic hosts, we all gaze, awestruck, by what we see before our very eyes: God, no longer the invisible deity, but among us, in the flesh as an infant. Our familiarity with this great feast day can easily diminish the proper ... [Read more]

This month we celebrate one of the great American holidays: Thanksgiving. We remember our Pilgrim forbearers who had endured an extremely harsh New England winter. Many of their family members died of cold and starvation. Yet some were preserved: a remnant of the colony survived. After a toiling spring and summer of growing crops and building houses so that they could survive another winter, they paused for a great celebratory meal, to give thanks to God for preserving them. The description ... [Read more]