Galveston Orthodox Community

Church Hall Blessing

2011-11-18T08:46:00.002-06:00

BISHOP LONGIN CONSECRATES THE CHURCH HALL IN GALVESTON, TX
Presbyter Srdjan Veselinovic elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter

By Sandi Radoja
Srbobran Editor

Galveston, TX - On September 13, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike, a monstrous storm with winds of at least 110 mph, bullied its way into Galveston, Texas. Waves crashed over the 17-foot-high sea wall destroying buildings and tossing boats around like chopsticks. It was the second costliest storm to make landfall in the United States.

Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church survived the wreckage, but the parish lost its hall. It was nearly an immediate decision to rebuild.

On Sunday, October 30, 2011 the new hall was consecrated in the presence of His Grace Rt. Rev. Bishop Longin and over 200 parishioners and guests.

The festivities began with Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the historic church, founded in 1895. It is the second oldest Serbian Orthodox Church in North America. Serving with His Grace Longin were Rev. Ljubinko Savic of Holy Three Hierarchs Serbian Orthodox parish in Dallas-Fort Worth, Protodeacon Doctor Damian Bozic of Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Chicago, Deacon Nikolaj Kostur of Grayslake, Illinois, and parish priest Father Srdjan Veselinovic.

During the Liturgy, Father Srdjan was elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter. His Grace said it was “for his many years of service to the Holy Church on this continent.” The elevation was made on a day reflecting some of the results of Proto Srdjan’s commitment to his flock as the newly constructed hall was consecrated.

Following Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, there was a memorial service in honor of all the founders and former priests who served the community. “We especially remembered Rev. Theoclitos Triantafilides Archimandrites, the first priest of this church.” Born in Greece in 1833, he died October 22, 1916. His remains are entombed in the church.

Parishioners and guests filled the hall for the Rite of Consecration led by His Grace Longin. A festive banquet completed the celebration during which speakers praised the hard work of the parishioners and their newly elevated Proto Srdjan.

His Grace Longin offered congratulations on the completion of the new Serbian hall. His Grace had been in Galveston for the Blessing of the Ground ceremony that kicked off the construction just 18 months earlier. “I am very pleased to see how nicely everything was done in a relatively short period of time. May God bless you and reward you for that,” he said.

The Bishop also spoke about Proto Srdjan’s hard work. “He is still a young and energetic pastor who serves with love for God and respect for his flock. I wish every success to your parish, and I ask all of you to work and help this lovely Christian community to continue to be self-sustained and to grow, fulfilling its mission to the Orthodox in Galveston.”

His Grace asked Proto Srdjan to make a presentation of Gramatas to some of the distinguished members of Sts. Constantine and Helen, among whom were parish President Peter Kovacevic and Master of Ceremonies Mimo Milosevich.

Mitchell Chuoke and Gospava Popovic served as Kum and Kuma for the Blessing of the Hall. Each of them was presented with the Order of St. Sava for their many years of dedication and generosity in Galveston. The Order of St. Sava is the highest recognition given by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Also serving as Kum was Dr. Zoran Cupic who was very emotional when he spoke of the volunteerism that made the hall possible. “With the help of God, we made it,” he said as he also thanked workers and donors including Steve Stajic and his son Shane.

Master of Ceremonies Mimo Milosevich spoke of the love that emanates in this small parish. “We are bigger than we seem. Each and every one of us in this room has done something to help us get to where we are today. I don’t want to leave anyone out. We did this together.” The building project became a community project as parishioners and friends stepped up to lend a hand, donate windows, do electrical and plumbing work. The result is the beautiful hall that was blessed on this sunny Sunday afternoon.

Proto Srdjan received a lengthy standing ovation when he rose to speak. It is clear he is well loved in his community, not only by the faithful but also throughout the City of Galveston. “He is extremely popular,” said Mimo Milosevich later. “Over 75% of the people here today were not members or even stewards of our church just ten years ago.” Proto Srdjan has served the Galveston community for 16 years. His hard work is coming to fruition.

In the new hall, people who witnessed firsthand the devastation of Hurricane Ike were amazed at the transformation. The hall stands as a reminder that you can do anything with the faith, the help of God and a firm commitment to the future. Joining that thinking, the Mayor of the City of Galveston Joe Jaworski said to the parishioners, “You have just made Galveston better. Your spirit and determination are reflections of our future.”

The building of the new hall represents faith, recovery and a contribution to the future of Serbian Orthodox religion, language and culture. It also stands as a beacon of hope in an area that was destroyed just three short years earlier. As Galveston heals, Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church continues to grow, just as Bishop Longin suggests. “I ask all of you to work and help this lovely Christian community to continue to be self-sustained and to grow fulfilling its mission to the Orthodox of Galveston.”

During his visit to Texas, His Grace, along with Protodeacon Doctor Damian Bozic and Deacon Nikolaj Kostur, visited the Greek Orthodox Church in Galveston where Proto Srdjan serves on Saturdays.

Invitation to New Church-Hall Blessing

2011-09-30T11:00:00.002-05:00

STSCHSOC 015/11

27th September, 2011
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be!

On behalf of Holy & Equal to the Apostles, Saints Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church, I have the honor to inform you that we have, by the Grace of God and through the good efforts of its parishioners have completed the new church-hall.

On this joyous and historic occasion for our church community, I have the privilege to invite you to increase our joy by joining us for the Divine Liturgy and Church-Hall Blessing Service which will be held on Sunday, October 30th, 2011, beginning at 10:00am and followed by a festive banquet at which, we hope you will be our honored guest.

In prayerful anticipation that you will deem it worthy to join us, the entire Church-School Congregation of Holy and Equal to the Apostles Saints Constantine and Helen for this occasion in which we inaugurate the new church hall. We will be forever reminded of our sacred obligation and duty to continue to spread the good news of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to feed, clothe and give drink to the least of his brethren, our neighbors.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Serge Veselinovich

New Website for the Church

2011-04-01T15:32:00.004-05:00

Brothers and Sisters,

Here it is in all it's glory, the new webpage of the church. We have added many new features as the previous blogspot was only meant to serve temporarily until an official one was put up. Please pass it on to everyone. Click on the above title to lead you there!

Texas State Resolution for Ecumenical Patriarchate

2011-04-01T15:20:00.005-05:00

Dear Parishioners,

Shortly after Pentecost, the Apostle Andrew established the Christian Church in Byzantium. The Fifth Ecumenical Council established that the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Byzantium (later, Constantinople) would assume an equal role of primacy as the Church in Rome. That role has remained uninterrupted for over 1,700 years and today includes 300 million Christians around the world.

Following the Apostle Andrew, there have been 269 successor Ecumenical Patriarchs who serve as the spiritual head of the world-wide Greek Orthodox Church. Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, our Church has been subject to constant persecution. But, some of the worst political persecution has occurred over the last 100 years. For example, at the turn of the last century, our Church held over 8,000 properties in Constantinople, had a flourishing theological school, and served the religious needs of over 250,000 Orthodox faithful within Turkey (in addition to the hundreds of millions around the world). Today, the government has misappropriated nearly all of those properties (the Church currently has less than 400 properties), shut down our theological school in the early 70’s and arbitrarily enacted laws which require that the selection of the Ecumenical Patriarch be submit to approval by the Turkish state. The policies of Turkey have resulted in only 3,000 Greek Orthodox faithful living in Constantinople today. In addition, the Ecumenical Patriarch is in constant jeopardy for his life. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has been bombed repeatedly, effigies have been burned of His All Holiness, and there have been repeated assassination attempts and plots on His life. Despite this, our Church perseveres.

The current spiritual head of our Church is Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Two years ago, Time magazine identified Him as one of the ten most influential people in the world. Because of the enormous respect He has a world-religious leader (and his constant efforts for environmentalism and interface peace), He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States House of Representatives. In fact, he received more votes for that honor than anyone in history (including Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Theresa). He was recently featured in an extraordinary piece on 60 Minutes on the current state of our Church in Turkey. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/17/60minutes/main5990390.shtml.

Many faithful in the United States have endeavored to put pressure on the government of Turkey to give our Church what we take for granted here in our Country: religious freedom. This includes the United States Senate and the House Foreign Relations Committee which passed strongly worded resolutions in favor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by calling for religious freedom in Turkey. In addition, a national effort is underway to obtain resolutions from each of the 50 states. To date, 39 such resolutions have been adopted by 34 states. Every large state in the country has passed such a resolution (New Jersey, California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois, among others). Most recently, last week the North Dakota House of Representatives passed such a resolution. We are now attempting to pass a resolution in Texas, but have run into ferocious resistance by the Turks.

Attached (at the bottom of this document) is a copy of the proposed resolution for Texas. Please take a moment to review it. The facts stated in that resolution are undeniable. Despite this, the Turkish Lobby in Austin has engaged in a massive counter attack so that this resolution will not pass (including offering paid trips to Turkey to our legislators). We now are launching a grass-roots effort to tell our State Representatives that we want this resolution to pass.

Attached (at the bottom of this document) to this email are (1) the proposed resolution, (2) a one-page list of the issues affecting the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and (3) a form letter which you should sign and mail to your State Representative if you do not have the time to prepare your own letter. If nothing else, please print this letter today, address it to your state legislator and mail it as soon as possible. For those of you that do not know who your current State Representative is, you can easily obtain that information by going to the following link and simply typing in your address: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.

Please do not delete this email and treat it as spam. The state representatives who currently are willing to assist us in passing this resolution made it clear that these letters are essential to overcome the well funded resistance orchestrated by the Turkish government. Every single letter that arrives in Austin will serve as a powerful message that Texas supports the basic concept of religious freedom and that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has a historical right to exist.

Because the current legislative session ends within the next month, we ask that you please send this letter today. If you want additional information regarding the Ecumenical Patriarchate, you can go to www.archons.org.

Because this issue has encountered such tremendous resistance from the Turkish government throughout the state of Texas, please forward this to any and all friends, family members and supporters of religious freedom throughout the state of Texas, including other Metropolitan areas such as Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and elsewhere. When you do forward this email, please ask them to forward it on to people they know as well. Our goal is for the House of Representatives to receive well over 1,000 letters from families across the state of Texas. Finally, it would be great if we can encourage non-Orthodox Texans to send a letter as well because, after all, this is an issue of religious freedom for all faiths in Turkey (as evidenced by the recent beheading of a Catholic priest and the murder of 3 Protestant missionaries) and not just the Orthodox faith.

Have a blessed Lenten season,

Fr. Michael J. Lambakis, Dean

John Zavitsanos, Parish Council President

Copyright 2011. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral
3511 Yoakum Boulevard, Houston, Tx 77006 | Phone: (713) 526-5377 Fax: (713) 526-1048

Schedule of Services for Great Lent & Pascha 2011

2011-03-29T08:57:00.002-05:00

MARCH 25 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.

MARCH 27 THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS

MARCH 30 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 1 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 3 FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST JOHN KLIMAKOS

APRIL 10 FIFTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST MARY OF EGYPT

APRIL 13 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 15 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 16 LAZARUS SATURDAY

APRIL 17 PALM SUNDAY Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. with blessing of Palms

APRIL 18 BRIDEGROOM SERVICES at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 19 BRIDEGROOM SERVICE at 6:30 p.m.

APRIL 20 BRIDEGROOM SERVICE at 6 :00 p.m.

APRIL 20 GREAT & HOLY WEDNESDAY Holy Unction Service at 7:00 p.m.

APRIL 21 GREAT & HOLY THURSDAY
holy and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
The reading of the twelve Passion Gospels at 7:00 p.m.

APRIL 22 GREAT & HOLY FRIDAY
Royal Hours at 10:00 a.m.
Vespers at 3:30 p.m. ( Taking Down from the Cross)
Matins ( Lamentations of the shroud and the procession) at 4:30 p.m.

APRIL 23 GREAT & HOLY SATURDAY
Procession around the church & Matins of Christ's Resurrection at 11:45 p.m.

APRIL 24 PASCHA - LITURGY OF RESURRECTION at 10:00 a.m.

MAY 6 ST. GEORGE, THE VICTORIOUS MARTYR Divine Liturgy 10:00am

JUNE 2 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

JUNE 5 STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN—EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES
PATRON FEAST DAY OF THE CHURCH Divine Liturgy 10:00am

JUNE 12 PENTECOST Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy Saturday

2011-03-29T08:43:00.001-05:00

6. THIS IS THE BLESSED SABBATH
The “Great and Holy Sabbath” is the day which connects Great Friday, the commemoration of the Cross with the day of His Resurrection. To many the real nature and the meaning of this “connection,” the very necessity of this “middle day” remains obscure. For a good majority of Church goers, the “important” days of Holy Week are Friday and Sunday, the Cross and the Resurrection. The Church proclaims that Christ has “trampled death by death.” It means even before the Resurrection , an event takes place, in which the sorrow is not simply replaced by joy, but is itself transformed into joy. Great Saturday is precisely this day of transformation, the day when victory grows from inside defeat, when before the Resurrection; we are given to contemplate the death of death itself.
The death of Christ is the ultimate proof of His love for the will of God, of His obedience to His Father. It is an act of pure obedience, of full trust in the Father’s will; and for the Church it is precisely this obedience to the end, this perfect humility of the Son that constitutes the foundation, the beginning of His victory. The Father desires the this death, the Son accepts it, revealing an unconditional faith in the perfection of the Father’s will.
But why does the Father desire this death? Why is it necessary? He desires the salvation of man, i.e. that the destruction of death shall not be an act of His power, (“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently “give me more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26:53), not a violence, be it even a saving one, but an act of that love, freedom and free dedication to God, for which He created man. For any other salvation would have been in opposition to the nature of man, and therefore not a real salvation. It was essential that death were not only destroyed by God, but overcome and trampled down in human nature itself, by man and through man. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (I Corinthians 15:21).
For death is, above all, a lack of life, a destruction of life that has cut itself from its only source. And because Christ’s death is a movement of love towards God, an act of obedience and trust, of faith and perfection— it is an act of life (Father! Into Thy hands I commend my spirit” LUKE 23:46) which destroys death itself.
Such is the meaning of Christ’s descent into Hades of His death becoming His victory. And the light of this victory now illumines our vigil before the Grave.
“O Life, how liest Thou dead? How dwellest Thou in a tomb. Albeit Thou didst unbind the power of death and raised the dead from Hades, O Christ the Life, Thou hast been placed in a Tomb. By Thy death Thou hast abolished death, bringing forth life to the world. O what joy! O what abounding delight, wherewith Thou didst fill those who are in Hades, when Thou didst rise as a light in its dark abyss...”
Life enters the Kingdom of death. The Divine Light shines in its terrible darkness. It shines to all who are there, because Christ is the life of all, the only source of life. Therefore He also dies for all, for whatever happens to His life— happens in Life itself. This descent into Hades is the encounter of the Life of all with the death of all:
“Thou hast come down to earth to save Adam, and having not found him on earth, Thou hast descended, searching him, even into Hades...”
Sorrow and joy are fighting each other and now joy is about to win. The duel between Life and Death comes to its end. And, for the first time, the song of victory and triumph resounds:
“The company of the Angels was amazed, when they beheld thee numbered among the dead, yet, Thyself, O Savior, destroying the power of death, and with Thee raising up Adam and releasing all men from hell...” “Wherefore, O Woman disciples, do ye mingle sweet-smelling spices with your tears of pity? The radiant Angel within the sepulcher cried unto the Myrrh-bearing women: Behold the grave, and understand; for the Savior is from the tomb...”
Sabbath, the seventh day, achieves and completes the history of salvation, its last act being the over-coming of death. But after the Sabbath comes the first day of a new creation, of a new life born from the grave.
At the very end of Matins, the ultimate meaning of the “middle day” is made manifest. Christ arose again from the dead, His resurrection we will celebrate. However, this celebration commemorates a unique event of the past, and anticipates a mystery of the future. It is already His Resurrection, but not yet ours. We will have to die, to accept the dying, the separation, the destruction. Our reality is in this world, in this “age,” is the reality of Great and Holy Saturday; this day is the real image of our human condition.
But this life between the Resurrection of Christ and the day of the common resurrection, is not precisely the life in the Great Saturday? Is not expectation the basic and essential category of Christian experience? We wait in love, hope and faith. And this waiting for “the resurrection and the life of the world to come,” this life which is “hidden with Christ in God” (COLOSSIANS 3:3-4), this growth of expectation in love, in certitude; all this is our own “Great Saturday.” Little by little everything in this world becomes transparent to the light that comes from there, the “image of this world” passeth by and this indestructible life with Christ becomes our supreme and ultimate value.
Every year, on Great and Holy Saturday, after this morning service, we wait for the fullness of Paschal joy. We know that they are approaching— and yet, how slow is this approach, how long is this day! But is not the wonderful quiet of Great Saturday the symbol of our very life in this world? Are we not always in this “middle day,” waiting for the Pascha of Christ, preparing ourselves for the day without evening of His Kingdom?

A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy Friday

2011-03-29T08:42:00.002-05:00

THE CROSS
From the light of Holy Thursday we enter into the darkness of Friday, the day of Christ’s Passion, Death and Burial. It is the day of Sin, the day of Evil, the day on which the Church invites us to realize their awful reality and power in “this world.” For Sin and Evil have not disappeared, but, on the contrary, still constitute the basic law of the world and of our life. On what side, with whom would we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate? This is the question addressed to us in every word of Holy Friday Services. It is, indeed, the day of this world, its real and not symbolic condemnation and the real and not the ritual, judgment on our life... It is the revelation of the true nature of the world, which preferred then and still prefers, darkness to light, evil to good, death to life. Having condemned Christ to death, “this world” has condemned itself to death and inasmuch as we accept its spirit, its sin, its betrayal of God— we are also condemned... Such is the first and dreadfully realistic meaning of Great Friday; a condemnation to death.
But this day of Evil, of its ultimate manifestation and triumph, is also the day of Redemption. The death of Christ is revealed to us as the saving death for us and for our salvation.
It is a saving Death because it is the full, perfect and supreme Sacrifice. Christ gives His Death to His Father and He gives His Death to us. To His Father because, as we shall see, there is no other way to destroy death, to save men from it and it is the will of the Father that men be saved from death. To us because in very truth Christ died instead of us. Death is the natural fruit of sin, an immanent punishment. Man chose to be alienated from God, but having no life in himself, he dies. Yet there is no sin and, therefore, no death in Christ. He accepts to die only by love for us. He wants to assume and to share our human condition to the end. He accepts the punishment of our nature, as He assumed the whole burden of human predicament. He dies because He has truly identified Himself with us, has indeed taken upon Himself the tragedy of man’s life. And because His dying is love, compassion and co-suffering, in His death the very nature of death is changed. From punishment it becomes the radiant act of love and forgiveness, the end of alienation and solitude. Condemnation is transformed into forgiveness.
And finally, His death is a saving death because it destroys the very source of death: evil. By accepting it in love, by giving Himself to His murderers and permitting their apparent victory, Christ reveals that, in reality, this victory is the total and decisive defeat of Evil. To be victorious Evil must annihilate the Good, must prove itself to be the ultimate truth about life, discredit the Good and, in one word, show its own superiority. But throughout the whole Passion it is Christ and He alone who triumphs. The Evil can do nothing against Him, for it cannot make Christ accept Evil as truth. Hypocrisy is revealed as Hypocrisy, Murder as Murder, Fear as Fear, and as Christ slowly moves towards the Cross and the End, as the human tragedy reaches its climax, His triumph, His victory over the Evil, His glorification become more and more obvious. And at each step this victory is acknowledged, confessed, proclaimed— by the wife of Pilate, by Joseph, by the crucified thief, by the centurion. And He dies on the Cross having accepted the ultimate horror of death: absolute solitude ( My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!?), nothing remains but to confess that “truly This was the Son of God!...” And, thus, it is this Death, this Love, this obedience, this fullness of Life that destroy what made the universal destiny. “And the graves were opened...” (Matthew 27:52). Already the rays of resurrection appear.
Such is the double mystery of Holy Friday and its services reveal it and make us participate in it. On the one hand there is the constant emphasis on the Passion of Christ as the sin of all sins, the crime of all crimes. Throughout Matins during which the twelve Passion readings make us follow step by step the sufferings of Christ, at the Hours (which replace the Divine Liturgy: for the interdiction to celebrate the Eucharist on this day means the sacrament of Christ’s presence does not belong to “this world” of sin and darkness, but it is the sacrament of the “world to come”) and finally at Vespers, the services of Christ’s burial, the hymns and readings are full of solemn accusations of those who willingly and freely decided to kill Christ, justifying their practical considerations and their professional obedience.
But, on the other hand, the sacrifice of love which prepares the final victory is also present from the very beginning. From the first Gospel reading (John 13: 31) which begins with the solemn announcement of Christ: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God has glorified Himself in Him.”
“When Thou, the Redeemer of all, Hast been laid for all in the new tomb. Hades, the respecter of none, saw Thee and crouched in fear. The bars broke, the gates were shattered, the graves were opened, the dead arose. Then Adam, thankfully rejoicing, cries out to Thee Glory to Thy Humiliation, O Merciful Master.”
And when, at the end of Vespers, we place in the center of the Church the image of Christ in the tomb, when this long day comes to its end, we know that we are at the end of the long history of salvation and redemption. The Seventh Day, the day of rest, the blessed Sabbath, comes with it— the revelation of the Life-giving Tomb.

A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy Thursday

2011-03-29T08:40:00.004-05:00

THE LAST SUPPER
Two events shape the liturgy of the Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is love. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s redeeming love for man, of love as the very essence of salvation. And the betrayal of Judas reveals that sin, death and self-destruction are also due to love, but to deviated and distorted love, love directed at that which does not deserve love. To understand the meaning of the Last Supper we must see it as the very end of the great moment of Divine Love which began with the creation of the world and is now consummated in the death and resurrection of Christ.
God is Love (1 John 4:8). And the first gift of Love was Life. The meaning, the content of life was communion. To be alive man was to eat and to drink, to partake of the world. The world was thus Divine love made food, made Body of man. And being alive i.e. partaking of the world, man was to be in communion with God, to have God as the meaning, the content and the end of his life. Man received his food from God and making it his body and his life, he offered the whole world to God, transformed it into life in God and with God. The love of God gave life to man, the love of man for God transformed this new life into communion with God. This was the paradise. Life in it was, indeed, eucharistic. Through man and his love for God the whole creation was to be sanctified and transformed into one all-embracing sacrament of Divine presence and man was the priest of this sacrament.
But in sin man lost this eucharistic life. He lost it because he ceased to see the world as means of Communion with God and his life as Eucharist, as adoration and thanksgiving... He loved himself and the world for their sake; he made himself the content and the end of his life. He thought that his hunger and thirst, i.e. his dependence on his life on the world— can be satisfied by the world as such, by food as such. And thus putting his love in them, man deviated his love form the only object of all love, of all hunger, of all desires. And he died. For death is the inescapable “decomposition” of life cut from its only source and content.
Man thought to find life in the world and in food, but he found death. His life became communion with death, from instead of transforming the world by faith, love and adoration into communion with God, he submitted himself entirely to the world, he ceased to be its priest and became its slave. And by his sin the whole world was made a cemetery, where people condemned to death partook of death and “sat in the region and shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16)
But if man betrayed, God remained faithful to man. He did not “turn Himself away forever from his creature whom He had made, neither did He forget the works of His hands, but He had visited him in diverse manners, through the tender compassion of His mercy” (LITURGY OF ST. BASIL). A new Divine work began, that of redemption and salvation.
And it was fulfilled with Christ, the Son of God, Who in order to restore man to his pristine beauty and to restore life as communion with God, became Man, took upon Himself our nature, with its thirst and hunger, with its desire for and love of, life. And in Him life was revealed, given, accepted and fulfilled as total and perfect Eucharist, as total and perfect communion with God. He rejects the basic human temptation: to live “by bread alone,” He revealed that God and His kingdom are the real food, the real life of man. And this perfect eucharistic Life, filled with God, and, therefore Divine and immortal, He gave to all those who would believe in Him, i.e. find in Him the meaning and content of their lives. Such is the wonderful meaning of the Last Supper.
He offered Himself as the true food of man, because the Life revealed in Him is the true Life. The Last Supper is the restoration of the paradise of bliss, of Life as Eucharist and Communion with God.
But this hour of ultimate love is also that of the ultimate betrayal. Judas leaves the light of the Upper Room and goes out into darkness. “And it was night” (John 13:30). Why does he leave? Because he loves answer the Gospel, and his fateful love is stressed again and again in the hymns of Holy Thursday. It does not matter indeed, that he loves the “silver”. Money stands for all the deviated and distorted love which leads man into betraying God. It is, indeed, love stolen from God and Judas, therefore, is the Thief. When he does not love God and in God man still love and desires, for he was created to love and love is his nature but it then a dark and self-destroying passion and death is at its end. And each Holy Thursday, the same decisive question is addressed to each one of us: do I respond to Christ’s love and accept it as my life; do I follow Judas into the darkness of night?

A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday-The End

2011-03-23T13:42:00.003-05:00

These three days, which the Church call Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha. So often the Holy Week is considered one of the “beautiful traditions” or “customs” of our calendar. We admire the beauty of its services, the pageantry of its rite and, last but not least, we like the fuss about the paschal table... And then, when all this is done we resume our normal life. But do we understand that when the world rejected its Savior, when “Jesus began to be sorrowful and very heavy... and His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death,” when He died on the Cross, “normal life” came to its end and is no longer possible. For there were “normal” people who shouted “Crucify Him!” who spat at Him and nailed Him to the Cross. And they hated and killed Him precisely because He was troubling their normal life. It was indeed a perfectly “normal” world which preferred darkness and death to light and life... By the death of Jesus “normal” world, “normal” life were irrevocably condemned. Or rather they revealed their true and abnormal nature, their inability to receive the Light, the terrible power of evil in them. “Now is the judgment of this world” (John 12:31). The Pascha of Jesus signified its end to “this world” and it has been at its end ever since. “the fashion of this world is passing away...” (1 Cor. 7: 31).
Pascha means passover, passage. The feast of Passover was for the Jews the annual commemoration of their whole history as salvation, and of salvation as passage from slavery of Egypt into freedom, from exile into the Promised Land. And Christ was the fulfillment of pascha. He performed the ultimate passage: from death to life, from the “old world” into the new world, into the new time of the kingdom. And He opened the possibility of this passage to us.
And thus Easter is not an annual commemoration— solemn and beautiful— of a past event. It is this Event, given to us, as always being efficient, always revealing our world, our time, our life as being at the End, and announcing the Beginning of the new life... And the function of the three days of Holy Week is precisely to challenge us with this ultimate meaning of Pascha and to prepare for the understanding and acceptance of it.
I. This eschatological— and it means ultimate, decisive, final, — challenge is revealed, first in the common troparion of these days:
“Behold the Bridegroom cometh forward in the midst of the night and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching… But unworthy He whom He shall find careless Beware then my soul, lest thou be weighed down by sleep, Lest thou be given over to death And be shut out from the Kingdom; But awake, crying Holy, Holy , Holy art thou, O God Through the Mother of God, have mercy upon us all.”
Midnight is the moment when the old day comes to its end and a new day begins. It is thus a symbol of the time in which we live as Christians. For on the one hand, the Church is still in this world, sharing in its weakness and tragedies, Yet, on the other hand, her true being is not of this world, for She is the Bride of Christ and her mission is to announce and to reveal the coming of the Kingdom and of the new day. Her new life is a perpetual watching and expectation, a vigil pointed at the dawn of this new day... But how strong is attachment to the “old world”, to the world with its passions and sins. We know how deeply we still belong to “this world.” We have seen the light, we know Christ, we have heard about the peace and joy of the new life in Him, and yet the world holds us in its slavery. This weakness, this constant betrayal of Christ, this incapacity to give the totality of our love to the only true object of love are wonderfully expressed in the exapostilarion of these three days:
“I See thy Bridal hall adorned, O my Savior And I have no wedding garment that I may enter therein, O Giver of life, make radiant the vesture of my soul And save me.”
II. The same theme develops further in the Gospel readings of these days. First of all, the entire text of the four Gospel (up to JOHN 13, 31) is read at the Hours (1, 3, 6 and 9th). This recapitulation shows that the Cross is the climax of the whole life and ministry of Jesus, the Key to their proper understanding. Everything in the Gospel leads to this ultimate hour of Jesus and everything is to be understood in its light. Then, each service has its special Gospel lesson:
On Monday:
At Matins: Matthew 21, 18-43 — the story of the fig tree the symbol of the world created to bear spiritual fruits and failing in its response to God.
At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 24, 3-35: the great eschatological discourse of Jesus. The signs and announcement of the End. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away...”
On Tuesday:
At Matins: Matthew 22, 1-23, 39. Condemnation of Pharisees, i.e. of the blind and hypocritical religion, of those they think they are leaders of man and the light of the world, but who in fact “shut up the kingdom of heaven to men.”
At the Presanctified Liturgy: Matthew 24, 36-26, 2. The End again and the parables of the End: the ten wise virgins who had enough oil in their lamps and the ten foolish ones who were not admitted to the bridal banquet; the parable of ten talents “... Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” And finally the Last Judgment.
On Wednesday:
At Matins: John 12, 17-50: The rejection of Christ, the growing conflict, the ultimate warning: “Now is the judgment of the world... He that rejects my words has one that judges him, the word that I have spoken; the same will judge him in the last days.”
At the Presanctified Liturgy: Matthew 26, 6-16. The woman who poured the precious ointment on Jesus, the image of love and repentance which alone unite us with Christ.
III. The Gospel lessons are explained and elaborated in the hymnology of these days. One warning, one exhortation runs through all of them: the end and the judgment are approaching, let us prepare for them:
IV. Throughout the whole Lent the two books of the Old Testament read at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs.
With the beginning of Holy Week they are replaced by Exodus and Job. Exodus the story of Israel's liberation from Egyptian slavery, of their Passover. It prepares for the understanding of Christ's exodus to His Father, the fulfillment of the whole history of salvation. Job, the Sufferer, is the Old Testament icon of Christ. This reading announces the great mystery of Christ’s sufferings, obedience and sacrifice.

“When the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion He said to His Apostles on the way: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And the Son of Man shall be delivered up as it was written of Him. Come, therefore, and let us accompany Him, that we may live with Him, And that we may hear Him say to us: I go now, not to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, But unto my Father and Your Father, and my God and your God, And I will gather you up into the heavenly Jerusalem, Into the Kingdom of Heaven...”
(MONDAY MATINS)

“Behold, O my soul, the Master has confined to thee a talent, Receive it with fear; Lent to Him who gave; distribute to the poor And acquire for thyself thy Lord as thy Friend; That when He shall come in glory, Thou mayest stand at His right hand And hear His blessed voice: Enter, my servant, into the joy of thy Lord.”
(TUESDAY MATINS)

A Liturgical Explanation of Holy Week-Palm Sunday

2011-03-23T13:39:00.004-05:00

2. HOSANNA-THE PALM SUNDAY
The Saturday of Lazarus from the liturgical point of view is the pre-feast of Palm Sunday — the Entrance of Our lord into Jerusalem. Both feasts have a common theme: triumph and victory. Saturday reveals the Enemy, which is Death; Palm Sunday announces the meaning of victory as the triumph of the Kingdom of God, as the acceptance by the world as the only King, Jesus Christ. In the life of Jesus the solemn entrance in the Holy City was the only visible triumph. Up to that day He consistently rejected all attempts to glorify Him. But six days before the Passover, He not only accepted to be glorified, He Himself provoked and arranged this glorification. By doing what the prophet Zacharias announced: “behold, Thy King cometh unto thee... lowly and riding an ass...” (ZECHARIUS 9:9). He made it clear that He wanted to be acclaimed as the Messiah, the King and the Redeemer of Israel. And the Gospel narratives stress all these messianic features: the Palms and Hosanna, the acclamation of Jesus as the Son of David and the King of Israel. The history of Israel is now coming to its end; such is the meaning of this event. For the purpose of that history was to announce and to prepare for the kingdom of God, the advent of the Messiah. And now it is fulfilled. For the King enters His Holy City and in Him all prophecies, all expectations find their fulfillment. He inaugurates His Kingdom.
First it is our confession of Christ as our King and Lord. We forget so often that the Kingdom of God has already been inaugurated and that on the day of our baptism we were made citizens of it, have promised to put our loyalty to it above all other loyalties. We must always remember that for a few hours Christ was indeed King on earth, in this world of ours. For a few hours only and in one city. But as in Lazarus we have recognized the image of each man, in this one city we acknowledge the mystical center of the world and indeed of the whole creation. For such is the Biblical meaning of Jerusalem. Therefore, the Kingdom inaugurated in Jerusalem is an universal Kingdom embracing in its perspective all men and the totality of creation.
And when the most solemn moment of our Liturgical celebration we receive from the priest a palm branch, we renew our oath to our King, we confess His Kingdom as the ultimate meaning and content of our life.
The branches in our hands signify our willingness to follow Him on this sacrificial way, our acceptance of sacrifice and self-denial as the only royal way to the Kingdom.
And finally these branches, this celebration, proclaim our faith in the final victory of Christ. His Kingdom is yet hidden and the world ignores it. It lives it as if the decisive event had not taken place, as if God had not died on the Cross and Man in Him was not risen from the dead. But we, Christians, believe in the coming of the Kingdom in which God will be all in all and Christ the only King.
In our Liturgical celebrations we remember events of the past. But the whole meaning and power of the Liturgy is that it transforms remembrance into reality. On Palm Sunday this reality is our own involvement in, our responsibility to, the Kingdom of God. Christ does not enter into Jerusalem anymore; He did it once for all. And He does not need and “symbols”, for He did not die on the Cross that we may eternally “symbolize” His life. He wants from us a real acceptance of the Kingdom which He brought to us...
And if we are not ready to stand by the solemn oath, which we renew every year on Palm Sunday, if we do not mean to make the Kingdom of God the measure of our whole life, meaningless is our whole life, meaningless is our commemoration and in vain the branches we take home form the church.

A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Lazarus Saturday

2011-03-23T13:28:00.008-05:00

THE BEGINNING OF THE CROSS - SATURDAY OF LAZARUS
“Having fulfilled the Forty Days... we ask to see the Holy Week of Thy passion.” With these words sung at Vespers of Palm Friday, Lent comes to its end and we enter the annual commemoration of Christ’s sufferings, death and resurrection. It begins on Saturday of Lazarus. The double feast of Lazarus’ Resurrection and the Entrance of the Lord to Jerusalem is described in liturgical texts as the “beginning of the Cross” and is to be understood, therefore, within the context of the Holy Week. The common troparion of these days explicitly affirms that “by raising Lazarus from the dead Christ confirmed the truth of general resurrection.”
It is a Sunday, i.e. a Resurrection service on a Saturday, a day usually devoted to the liturgical commemoration of the dead and the joy which permeates these services stresses one central theme: the forthcoming victory of Christ over Hades. Hades is the Biblical term for Death in its universal power, for that inescapable darkness and destruction that swallow all life and poison with its shadow the whole world. But now — with Lazarus’ resurrection — “death begins to tremble.” For there begins the decisive duel between Life and Death and it gives us the key to the entire liturgical mystery of Pascha.
Let us first of all understand that Lazarus, the friend of Jesus personifies the whole mankind and also each man, and Bethany, the home of Lazarus the Man, is the symbol of the whole world as home of man. For each was created friend of God and called to the Divine friendship: the knowledge of God, the communion with Him, sharing of life with Him. “In Him was life and Life was the light of men” (John 1:4). And yet his friend, whom God loves, whom in love He has created, i.e. called to life, is destroyed and annihilated by a power that God has not created: death. God encounters in
His own world a power which destroys His work and annihilates His design. The world is but lamentation and sorrow, tears and death. How is it possible? How did this happen? These are the questions implied in St. John’s slow and detailed narrative of Jesus’ coming to the grave of His friend. And once there, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Jesus weeps because He contemplates the triumph of death and destruction in the world created by God. “It stinketh” say the Jews trying to prevent Jesus from approaching the corpse and this awful warning applies to the whole world, to all life. God is Life and the Giver of Life. He called man into the Divine reality of Life and behold “it stinketh”... The world was created to reflect and proclaim the glory of God and “it stinketh”. At the grave of Lazarus God encounters Death, the reality of anti-life, of destruction and despair. He meets His Enemy, who has taken away from Him His world and become its prince. And we who follow Jesus as He approaches the grave, we enter with Him into that hour of His, which He announced so often as the climax and the fulfillment of his whole work. The cross, its necessity and universal meaning are announced in the shortest verse of the Gospel: “and Jesus wept”... We understand now that it is because He wept, i.e. loved His friend Lazarus that Jesus had the power of calling Him back to life. The power of Resurrection is not Divine “power in itself,” but power of love, or rather love as power. God is love and Love is Life, Love creates Life... It is Love that weeps at the grave and it is Love that restores life. This is the meaning of the Divine tears of Jesus. In them love is at work again — recreating, redeeming, restoring the darkened life of man: “Lazarus, come forth!...” And this is why Lazarus Saturday is the beginning of both: the Cross, as the supreme sacrifice of love, the Resurrection, as the ultimate triumph of love.

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with palms of victory, we cry out to Thee: O Vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!
—LAZARUS SATURDAY TROPARION

“Christ — the Joy, Truth, Light and Life of all And the resurrection of the world, In Him love appeared to those on earth And was the image of Resurrection, Granting to all Divine forgiveness
—LAZARUS SATURDAY KONTAKION

Galveston Orthodox Community: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians

2011-03-09T10:10:00.000-06:00

Galveston Orthodox Community: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians

2011-03-09T08:43:00.022-06:00

Click on the above link titled Lent for 21st century Christians to listen to the programme.
John David Powell is proud to be a Lone Star Award-winning journalist and author with 5 decades of news and broadcating experience. He is currently a host on blogtalkradio.com

On a archived programme dated March 08, 2011 John graciously interviewed me on his programme titled: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians

On today's big blogtcast, Fr. Serge Veselinovich of Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church in Galveston, Texas, the oldest Orthodox parish in the state. He’ll be here to talk about Lent and what it means to 21st century Christians.

Orthodox Christians, who go by a different calendar, started Great Lent on Monday of this week, but the entire Christian world will celebrate Easter on the same day, April 24.Non-Orthodox Christians who observe Lent and Easter, because some Christian denominations do not, begin Lent tomorrow, making today Mardis Gras, or Fat Tuesday.

Of course, that means an opportunity to spend the two weeks or so leading up to Wednesday as a period of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, with some booze and beads thrown in for good measure.

I was coming home from church two Sundays ago and saw a vehicle stopped alongside the road with a young lady outside, bending over. I asked if everything was OK, and she looked up and said, “Yeah, just too much Mardis Gras partying last night.” Indeed.Booze is big in the Big Easy and the rest of Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission that put out a news release this week to let people know that Mardi Gras is a deadly time on the Pelican State highways.

2009 was the deadliest holiday in Louisiana with 22 people killed and more than 1,000injured in highway accidents. Last year, in 2010, alcohol played a role in 68 percent of the Mardis Gras traffic deaths, which is way more than the annual state average of 48 percent.

To be honest, I’ve never been to any big Mardi Gras celebration, including in New Orleans when we lived in Louisiana, or in Galveston, which is just down the road from the world blogcast headquarters of ShadeyHill Ranch. Frankly, if you really want to gorge yourself on the fleshly feasts of this festival, just jet down to Rio, my friend, and see how the big boys, and girls, Samba the nights away for Carnival.

Here’s a look at Rio’s Carnival numbers, courtesy Yahoo News.

The folks there claim their’s is the world’s largest celebration leading up to Lent, making it, in my opinion, the contender for the world championship of irony. That’s because Lent is a time of introspection, prayer, rededication, self-sacrifice, all leading up to the observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For some reason, I have a hard time seeing the Last Supper being the last meal of Mardi Gras. I mean, who at that table is going to look at one of the female disciples and offer some beads for a peek?

Anyway, those four days of Carnival will see 700 – 750 thousand tourists. US dollars changing hands will total 525 million. 70 thousand drunk and rowdy souls will cram into the Sambadrome to see the absolutely incredible floats and costumes from the thirty samba schools taking part.

This year, though, was deadly. On Monday, Feb. 28, 16 people died when a 7,000 volt power line fell onto a float in the small town of 5,000. Earlier in the month, a young woman died when she fell off of a float during a practice run in Rio. And a fire in the Samba City complex on Feb. 7 destroyed eight months of preparation and did millions of dollars in damage.

Then, there’s Haiti, site of that devastating and deadly earthquake last year that killed about 800 thousand people. As you know, large parts of that country have not recovered.Even so, some Haitians are partying like, well, it’s 1999.

Over in Great Britain, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales says Catholics need to get right with themselves and with God, and Lent is the perfect time to do it. So, he’s suggesting Catholics self-sacrifice by giving up meat on Fridays, or at least give up something they like to eat.

We’ll ask Fr Serge about that.

But, before we get to him, we have one last bit of news to share with you today. If you live in East Texas, or some other parts of the US, don’t be too shocked to see a RV caravan drive through your town and the folks in the caravan warning that the end of the world is coming on May 21. They were in San Antonio a few days ago, heading toward Louisiana and Arkansas. So fair warning to our kinfolk up that way.

The London Daily Mail story says this latest group of end-timers say believers in Jesus Christ will go to Heaven on May 21 while the rest of humanity will face 153 days of horror and turmoil before the world comes to screeching halt on Oct. 21.

The ten Christians from California are known as Project Caravan, and call themselves ambassadors. These folks seem to believe what they preach. They’ve sold all their possessions, left their homes, and some have left their spouses and families, which seems about right, considering they won’t need any of that when the world ends.According to the Church's website, there are two proofs that May 21,is the judgment day.Taking literally 2 Peter 3:8, which says a day for God is like a thousand human years, these folks figure that seven 'days' equals 7,000 human years from the time of the flood, thereby making this the year of the apocalypse.

Their second so-called proof comes by working forward from what they reckon as the exact date of the crucifixion: April 1, 33 AD, but of course, that doesn’t take into account new historical information placing the birth of Jesus around 4 BC, and his death 33 years later at 27 AD. So, I guess we missed the end of the world as we know it.I guess it should be pointed out that the leader of this group, 89-year-old Harold Camping, predicted in the last century that Sept. 4, 1994, was the date for the lights to go out. He says he made a mistake then, but he’s got it all figured out now.

Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers Service

2011-03-09T08:39:00.004-06:00

Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers
Sunday March 13, 2011
5:00 P.M.

Homily will be given by
The Very Rev. Thomas Hopko, Th. D.
Dean Emeritus; St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological School, Crestwood, N.Y.

Sponsored by:
The Orthodox Clergy Association of Greater Houston

Hosted by:
St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church
1100 Eldridge Pkwy. Houston, TX 77077
281-679-5395

Nativity Encyclical of Bishop LONGIN

2010-12-19T07:41:00.001-06:00

“Christ is born, glorify Him. Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him. Christ on earth; be ye exalted. Sing unto the Lord all the whole earth…” (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

With these words, dear brothers and sisters, St. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great fathers of the Church, begins his thoughts about this great day, a day of joy for all – a day of God’s mercy, which is so clearly seen in the Divine decision for the Second Person of the Holy Trinity to be incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, becoming Man for our sake and our salvation.

For this reason We, your spiritual leader and prayerful intercessor before the Triune God, call upon all of you to glorify God in this day of general celebration, to readily come out to meet the Newborn One, and in His presence, be upright and made glad with heavenly joy.

Those souls that try to be on the path of the Lord stand upright before Him. Our wish is that all dedicatedly pray in the sanctified day, that we forgive and ask forgiveness, that we help those who need our help, that we are worthy followers of the Newborn God-Child Christ in all things, that by this and lead by all the Saints of the Serbian Nation, our names will be written in the heavenly book of “the One Who is” and has “power on His shoulders.”

Peace of God! Christ is Born! Happy and blessed New Year 2011!

L O N G I N
Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America

Christmas Schedule

2010-12-19T07:25:00.011-06:00

CALENDAR OF CHURCH SERVICES AND EVENTS
FOR THE NATIVITY SEASON AT STS CONSTANTINE & HELEN 2010/2011

Sunday December 19th St. Nicholas the Great Wonderwoker, Archbishop of Tyron

Sunday December 26th Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

JANUARY
Sunday January 2nd St. Ignatius the God-bearer, bishop of Antioch

Thursday January 6th Christmas Eve-Badnje Vece with the traditional burning of the yule log beginning at 7:00 pm

Friday January 7th Nativity of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ beginning at 10:00am
Friday January 14th Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Basil the Great, archbishop of Cappadocia beginning at 10:00am

Wednesday January 19th Theophany of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ (Baptism of the Lord)
Great Blessing of the Waters beginning at 10:00am

Bishop Longin's visit to Galveston

2010-12-08T10:18:00.007-06:00

His Grace Bishop LONGIN visited our church on December the 4th and 5th 2010. His Grace landed on Saturday in the late afternoon, early evening and was picked up by the church-school president, Pete Kovacevich and Mimo Milosevich. They took His Grace and deacon to our local,favourite restaraunt, The Olympia Grill were our guests were treated to traditional hospitality, Greek style. The owners overdid themselves in honouring our and their guests. Many thanks to Larry and Tiki Kriticos.

On Sunday morning we were especially thrilled that Vladika Longin was able to serve the hierarchical liturgy together with his deacon Nikolai Kostur. Following the Divine Liturgy we all proceeded to go outside for the groundbreaking of the land where our future parish hall will be built. His Grace also blessed the adjoining land that was purchased by Dr. Zoran Cupic. We were fortunate enough to have our Mayor of Galveston Joe Jaworski present as well. His Grace Bishop Longin together with Mayor, Doctor Zoran Cupic and Mitch Chouke, who has a direct link to the original founders of the church, broke ground. And no, those are not golden shovels we see in the photos. I would like to thank Demo Kouzounis for being instrumental in having the shovels plated as we were thinking of having then spraypainted gold originally, perish the thought now as they really turned out magnificent.

As can be seen in the photos we then went to the back of the church were a memorial service was held for the first priest Father Theoclitos who is buried under the altar as per his instructions. The reasoning for this is that Father Theoclitos believed that as long as a person was buried it became a "sacred" site and that the city could not use the land for any other purpose. In this way he wished to safeguard the church and its property from any sort of seizure. His Grace made himself available to all, both young and old and shared much joy, heartening words of faith but especially love with the members of our small but ever faithful parish. We all joined for lunch at the Pelican Club for fellowship with His Grace Bishop Longin and then sadly bid him farewell back to Chicago but before leaving his Grace promised us that he would return upon completion of the hall to bless it. Many Years to His Grace Bishop Longin!

Bishop Longin's Visit to Galveston and Groundbreaking of New Church Hall Land

St. Romanus Chorale to perform in Galveston

2010-12-08T06:37:00.004-06:00

Rev. Clergy, members and friends of the St. Romanos Chorale.

The time for the presentations of the music of the Nativity of Christ, by the Chorale, is only a couple of day away. We invite all of our brother and sister Orthodox Christians and hope to have many non-Orthodox Christians in attendance.

Our main purposes in presenting these programs are:

To give thanks to Almighty God for the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ
To witness the birth of Christ as the real reason and spirit of Christmas
To honor the Theotokos, "birth giver of God"
To strengthen our Orthodox Christian family
To expose the spirituality and beauty of the Orthodox Christian Faith to the uninitiated

Attached you will find a flyer with a brief description of the presentations, dates and venues. Many of you have previously received this attachment along with a request to forward the invitation to your family and friends.
It would be a great assist if you would, even if you have already done so, forward the flyer.
We are trying to show a "Merry Christmas", not a "Happy Holiday".

Thank you and God Bless you and your loved ones,

Bill Attra

“God is with us”
The st. Romanos chorale in concert presents
in anticipation of the nativity of Christ
the beautiful and spiritual ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN music of the Christmas season

ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
1824 Ball St.
Galveston, Texas 77551
Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 7:00 P.M.

Folklore Festival November 26-28th

2010-11-22T21:47:00.005-06:00

On November 26th, 2010 at 8pm there will be a welcome Dance and Dinner at the Memorial West Country Club located at 700 North Kirkwood Rd Houston TX 77070 featuring the following groups:

MORAVA, San Diego California
St. SIMEON MIROTOCIVI, Las Vegas Nevada
OPANAK, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
and our host
SKUD ZAVICAJ, Houston TX

On Saturday, November 27th, 2010 between the hours or 1-4pm there will be the actual Folkloric Performance of the groups which will take place at the Hilton Westchase Hotel on 9999 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX 77042. In the evening at 8pm there will be a Dance and Dinner. The cost for the following events is as follows:

26th November Welcome Dance will be $10
27th November Folk Fest will be $15
27th November Dance Party will be $10

All are invited to see the skills of these young dances and the rich cultural programs they will be bring and entertain us with.

His Grace Bishop LONGIN to visit Galveston

2010-11-22T21:35:00.009-06:00

His Grace Bishop LONGIN will be visiting our church of Sts. Constantine and Helen on December 5th, 2010 for the blessing and ground-breaking for our new church hall following the Hierarchical Liturgy. All faithful sons and daughters of our church-school community are invited to come and partake in this joyous celebration. It will also be a chance for us to visit with our spiritual father. Following the divine services we are invited for lunch at Gaido's Seafood Restaraunt on Seawall Blvd.

His Eminence Metropolitan CHRISTOPHER Falls asleep in the Lord

2010-08-19T07:55:00.004-05:00

METROPOLITAN CHRISTOPHER OF LIBERTYVILLE-CHICAGO, FELL ASLEEP IN THE LORD

Chicago, IL - At 7:45 this evening, Wedesday, August 18, 2010, on the eve of the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His Eminence +Christopher, Metropolitan of Libertyville-Chicago, fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 82. Clergy are asked to serve a small pomen at tomorrow's Divine Liturgy.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE NEWLY REPOSED METROPOLITAN +CHRISTORPHER OF BLESSED MEMORY:

AUGUST 23, 2010

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, 10:00 AM, Monday, August 23, 2010, at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701 N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631.

Funeral Matins, 7:00 PM, Monday, August 23, 2010, at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701 N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631.

AUGUST 24, 2010

Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and Requiem Service, 9:00 AM, Tuesday, August 24, 2010, at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery 32377 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville, IL 60048, followed by burial at the gravesite on the south side of the church.

A memorial lunch will be served at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631, following interment.

May His memory be eternal.

Schedule of Services at Sts Constantine & Helen SOC

2010-03-14T20:39:00.003-05:00

MARCH 7 THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS

MARCH 10 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m.

MARCH 12 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.

MARCH 14 FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST JOHN KLIMAKOS

MARCH 21 FIFTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST MARY OF EGYPT

MARCH 24 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m.

MARCH 27 LAZARUS SATURDAY

MARCH 28 PALM SUNDAY Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. with blessing of Palms

MARCH 31 GREAT & HOLY WEDNESDAY Holy Unction Service at 7:00 p.m.

APRIL 1 GREAT & HOLY THURSDAY
The reading of the twelve Passion Gospels at 7:00 p.m.

APRIL 2 GREAT & HOLY FRIDAY
Vespers at 3:30 p.m. ( Taking Down from the Cross)
Matins ( Lamentations of the shroud and the procession) at 4:30 p.m.

APRIL 3 GREAT & HOLY SATURDAY
Procession around the church & Matins of Christ's Resurrection at 11:45 p.m.

APRIL 4 PASCHA - LITURGY OF RESURRECTION at 10:00 a.m.

APRIL 7 ANNUNICATION OF OUR MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

MAY 6 ST. GEORGE, THE VICTORIOUS MARTYR Divine Liturgy 10:00am

MAY 30 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

MAY 20 PENTECOST Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

JUNE 6 STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN—EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES
PATRON FEAST DAY OF THE CHURCH Divine Liturgy 10:00am

Paschal Greeting from Fr Serge

2010-03-14T20:37:00.003-05:00

CHRIST IS RISEN!
INDEED HE IS RISEN!

This is a great time of our Christian year, a time of rejoicing, a time of faith, a time of hope and therefore a time also of love. One of our Easter hymns gives expression to those sentiments in the following beautiful terms:

“It is the Day of Resurrection,
Let us brighten up with Feast
and let us embrace each other;
Let us call “Brethren” even our adversaries;
Let us forgive all because of the Resurrection,
And thus let us call out loudly:

“CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD
TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH
AND TO THOSE IN THE TOMBS
HE BESTOWED LIFE!”

To that joy, to that friendliness, to that forgiveness we are all called by the Christ and His Holy Church. It is to that same salvation we, your Priest, President and the Church-School Board, invite all today. You who are practicing your faith both in the Church and outside it, in your daily life; and also you whom we miss at the wonderful and Holy Services of the Church, yours and ours. Come let us all be one in our Holy Orthodox Faith and in the One Savior, Jesus Christ, who by His willing sufferings and death did manifest His great love and compassion for all of us. And by His Resurrection He revealed His all mighty divine power by which He reigns over the universe.

Your Church sends this greeting to all in love and hope that you will respond, since through your Church it is our Savior who is calling us. That is why He instituted the Holy Church to do preaching to sound calls and warnings and to dispense His gifts to all of us - from Him.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, we are embarking on an ambitious building program to rebuild our church hall which was destroyed by hurricane Ike. We too, are resurrecting from the recent calamities that have befallen us but with the hope, trust and love in our Resurrected Lord we know that we will also achieve our most desired goal. And that is to share in the communion of each other in our new hall. To that end I greet you as your parish priest together with the church-school congregation of Sts. Constantine and Helen and wish you all the very best this Paschal season.

The forgotten saint of the forgotten church on the forgotten island

2009-12-26T10:53:00.005-06:00

This picture of The Right Reverend, Most Venerable Archimandrite, Fr. Theoclitos Triantafilides is the only one I am aware of. He was the first Orthodox Priest in Texas. The picture did hang with Honor in the Church Congregation Hall of Saints Constantine and Helen Church in Galveston, Texas. It has been saved from “Hurricane IKE’s Destruction” (September 12, 2008), and will hang there again when the new hall is constructed soon. I live in Galveston, and I have been a part of the Church congregation since Baptism. My Mother was baptized by Arch. Fr. Theoclitos and was very proud to tell people of that fact until her death in 2001. I have studied everything I can find on this wonderful Priest over the years, including his Last Will, the Galveston Daily News archives, Immigration Records, the Rosenberg Public Library of Galveston, the Church records (Slavonic, long-hand written in Cyrillic), the Internet and greatly on the local “folklore” stories told of him.

THE RIGHT REVEREND MOST VENERABLE ARCHIMANDRITE FATHER THEOCLITOS TRIANTAFILIDES

“Guided by Saints”, “Priest of Three Kings”

and the History of Saints Constantine and Helen Church Galveston, Texas

Work in Progress by Layman,Milivoy Jovan Milosevich
Aka: MIMOSerbian Christmas….January 7, 2010

IT’S HAS BEEN SAID….
His father was an Athenian Greek. When the first outbreaks of Greek Independence from the Ottoman Empire started on the Peloponnese Peninsula, his father, a fisherman crossed onto the peninsula to join the forces of famed Greek General Theodoros Kolokotronis, also an Athenian. Eight years later, when Independence was achieved (with great help from the Allied Russian, English and French Forces); he settled in Egio (one of the oldest cities in the Balkans), Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece
Born in November of 1833, young Theodoros was named for the famed Greek General. They called him “Theos” and he celebrated his Name Day each September 22nd (Julian Calendar in the 1800’s), on the Feast Day of St. HieroTHEOS, the Student of Saint Paul, the Apostle, who in 53 A.D. became the First Bishop of Athens. Theodorus grew up fishing with his father, and spending time around the port; while his mother (a native of the Peloponnese Peninsula) pushed him to the Church. The era after Greek Independence was wrought with economic problems and the Armenians and Bulgarians had replaced the Ottomans as bankers and merchants, allowing our young Theos to become ever more acquainted with other cultures. Two-thirds of the population had vanished and the land was devastated.
His early schooling was in the Church of Panagia Trypiti that is built inside a cavity of the cliff just 150 stair steps above the Port of Egio and he helped the Priests with all their duties, occasionally traveling into the local mountains to visit Agia Lavras Monastery, about 20 miles south and up in the mountains. Greek Independence had started there with Bishop Germanos Declaring Independence with his blessing of the troops. Later the Ottomans burned the Monastery, but it was reconstructed with help from the Russian Orthodox Church. Many of the Icons there were gifts from the Russian Monastery Panteleimon on Holy Mt Athos and the Be-jeweled Gospel in the Monastery was printed, signed and given by Catherine the Great of Russia. History and multi-ethnic cultures literally surrounded him. As a young adult, he was Tonsured a Monk and was given the name Theoclitos. He soon traveled to Mt Athos where he was accepted as a resident of the Panteleimon Monastery, where he became fluent in Slavonic and studied Russian language and customs; and made regular visits to the Serbian Monastery Hilandar learning the Serbian language and customs. He had become fascinated with languages.
He was invited to complete a formal education and become a teacher at the Slavic Greek Latin Academy and Theological Seminary at Holy Trinity – St. Sergius Monastery, better known today as the Moscow Theological Academy, just outside Moscow, Russia. After under-graduate, a Graduate Degrees in Theology and a few years of teaching; he was called upon by the new Danish born King of Greece, George I, to tutor his son Prince George. Later, the King’s brother-in-law, Tzar Alexander III of Russia called upon him to tutor the Royal Family’s 6 children specifically in other Orthodox cultures including the Greek language. So, he became a Greek cultural teacher to the future Tzar Nicholas II of Russia, who was Canonized a Martyr Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991.
It is also said, Fr. Theoclitos was one of the 30 or so clergyman serving at the wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna, who was Canonized a Martyr Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.
The Parishioners of Galveston would later call him …“The Priest of Three Kings”
It is known that with the outset of the American Civil War, a group of multi-ethnic Orthodox Christians were having regular prayer meetings in Galveston, as early as 1861, and they called themselves “the Parish of S.S. Constantine and Helen”. Galveston is a seaport, and its citizens were accustomed to our Eastern European and Mediterranean People. Our Eastern Orthodox Christians were always around the port. There were those that came, returned home and came back again. The first known Serbian in America lived in Galveston for a long time; his name was Djordje Sagic (aka: Djordje Ribar and/or George Fisher). He came to Texas in the late 1820’s after “jumping ship” (because of indentured servitude) in Philadelphia, and became the first Port Director of the Port of Galveston under the Mexican Government. He then became a Major in the Texas Revolutionary Army under General Sam Houston. He served in public office as City Councilman in Houston, Texas and Justice of the Peace in Harris County after the Texas Revolution. Sagic had studied for the Priesthood in Karlovci Serbia, but left the seminary to join the last efforts of the first Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1813, lead by Serbian leader, Karageorge Petrovitch. He left the area in 1850 to ultimately retire in San Francisco, California as a Justice of the Peace and retained the status of the Official Greek Government Consul there until his death, in 1873. He knew 13 languages.

The First known Greek in Galveston participated in the Parish Church group. He called himself only by the name of Captain Nicholas. Captain Nicholas joined the notorious Privateer Jean Lafitte in New Orleans, when Lafitte sailed for Galveston, as Capitan of Lafitte’s prize schooner the Mirabella. Captain Nicholas sailed away from Galveston with Lafitte after burning everything they left behind. Captain Nicholas returned to Galveston after Lafitte’s death, becoming a farmer on west Galveston Island and recounting old pirate stories at the waterfront. He lived more than 100 years and is believed to have died in the Hurricane of 1900. Some have said that with Lafitte came the first of many nationalities to Galveston, but I am unable to corroborate any other Orthodox Christians. During the late 1880’s and early 1890’s these Orthodox Christian Serbian, Russian, Greek, Bulgarian, and Arab (Lebanese) immigrants to Galveston had organized and started gathering moneies for a church. Aside from the religious group, they each started several individual nationalistic groups. Each had separately written many petitions to their former Bishops back home for a Parish Priest and had received only denials; justified by the facts of distance and costs, but these denials were in some cases including the suggestion that they petition the Russian Orthodox Mission Diocese in North America. So the culture in Galveston was ripe for the addition of an Eastern European & Mediterranean Priest of Arch. Fr. Theoclitos’ stature.

Nicholas II became Tzar of Russia on November 26, 1894. The Romanov Royal Family had created and supported the Russian Orthodox Mission into North America through Alaska since 1784.

AT THAT TIME, BECAUSE OF THE ROMANOV FAMILIES’ TRULY UN-MATCHED WEALTH, THE RUSSIAN MISSION INTO NORTH AMERICA WAS THE ONLY ORTHODOX JURISDITION ON THE CONTINENT PRIOR TO 1922.

So, the Slavs, headed by Risto Vukovich; and the Greeks headed by Athurs Menutis gathered and decided to petition the Russian Mission Diocese. They sent three telegrams written in Cyrillic and signed by Vukovich, Christo Chuk, and Milosh Porobich which explained the diversity of the parishioners to; (1) the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, (2) Tzar Nicholas II personally, and (3) His Grace Bishop Nicholas in Sitka, Alaska. A short time later the parish board received a telegram personally from Tzar Nicholas II, stating his acceptance of their plea. The Tzar had a large Gospel Printed, all the Vestments and Liturgical necessities including a signed Antimins, and all the Icons for an Iconostas painted and assembled including the icon to be used for the name day of the future Church (His own Namesake, Saint Nicholas); and he chose his teacher Fr. Theoclitos to go to Galveston, telling him “Let there be an Orthodox Church in Galveston”.
By this time, Fr. Theoclitos was 61 years of age, was a well traveled man and spoke more than a dozen languages; Greek, Russian, Serbian, Slavonic, Latin, Bulgarian, Arabic, Hebrew, Danish; and some Spanish, English, French, German, and Romanian. The Ambassador of Russia to the United States acquired U. S Citizenship for him even before he left Russia. Prior to leaving Russia, Fr. Theoclitos was given the heavy cross he always wore by Tzar Nicholas II and he was elevated to the rank of Right Reverend Archimandrite, because he would soon be the Priestly leader of a flock of Christians so far away with little known chance of a visiting Bishop anytime soon. His journey to the far off land of Galveston, Texas began with six companions. With him were; the Very Reverend Archimandirte Rafael Hawaweeny (Glorified a Saint in March of 2000 by the Orthodox Church in America) and his three Deacons Constantine Abu-Adal, Istvan Moldowanyi and John Shamie (later Shame was a Priest in Galveston); and Archimandrite Fr. Theoclitos’ two Russian Deacons, Theodore Pashkowsky and Joakim Zubkowsky, and his Romanian Deacon Pavel Grepashewsky; and Fr. Peter I. Popoff. First leg of the trip was by train to Berlin, serving liturgy there at the Russia Embassy Church; then on to the Port of Bremen. Next leg was by passenger ship to Southampton for a change of ships, then on to New York aboard the passenger ship, S.S Havel out of South Hampton, as a United States Citizen. Only 82 passengers sailed that day. Although a group of Priests were at the port of New York to greet them on the Morning of November 14, 1895, they were required by customs to spend one night in Quarantine. The Next Morning, they were joined in New York by Bishop Nicholas Ziorov of the Russian Orthodox Mission in America to consecrate the First Arab-Syrian Orthodox Church in America under the Russian Mission’s jurisdiction, and to install Archimandrite Rafael as Pastor, with his three deacons. A few days later, Arch. Fr. Theoclitos, his three Deacons; and Fr. Popoff traveled with Bishop Nicholas by train to Washington D.C., then to western Pennsylvania, where Fr. Popoff was to serve and then on to Kansas City. At this point, it was decided that only the Romanian Deacon Grepashewsky would travel to Galveston with Arch. Fr. Theoclitos; and Bishop Nicholas and the other two Deacons would go on to San Francisco. Arch. Fr. Theoclitos stopped in Hartshorne, American Indian Territory, Oklahoma to have Liturgy for a group of Russian Miners, just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma before reaching Galveston.

The distances from Galveston to either San Francisco or New York are about 1600 miles. Although his rightful rank was high, which gave him the right to consecrate his own chapel including the right to wear a Mitre (Crown, but with a flat, not standing Cross on top) and carry a Pastoral Staff (Bishop’s Staff); he lived his life in Galveston as a meager Monk, teacher, and Pastoral Priest. The Church Congregation never paid Arch. Fr. Theoclitos, because he received his pay directly from the Tzar (1500 rubels a month and 500 rubels as expenses; about $120 total, at that time) until Arch. Fr. Theoclitos passed away in 1916, a year and a half before Tzar Nicholas II and his Family were murdered.
The Trustees of The Existing Congregation Board (Chris Vucovich, Chris Chuoke, Athurs Menutis and Mitchael Mihaloudski) formally received their State Corporation Papers on January 13, 1895 and subsequently purchased a 43’ wide x 120’ deep property that is at 4107 Avenue L, Galveston, Texas on December 15, 1895. They started to build a rectangular wood frame Orthodox styled Church, and when Arch. Fr. Theoclitos arrived, in January of 1896, he directed the finishing of the Church. The congregation was astonished to be blessed with an Archimandrite and a Deacon, not just a Priest, and best of all he was somewhat of a linguist.

In Galveston, all properties faced either North-west or South-east, so they had chosen property that leaves our Church unusually facing South-east. And, although the Icon of Saint Nicholas was placed in the Iconostas to Honor Tzar Nicholas II as the Patron of the Church; it was Arch. Fr. Theoclitos’ decision to use the name S. S. Constantine and Helen Church, because the congregation that started on its own should be remembered. Bishop Nicholas was invited and he accepted; and the Consecration of our church occurred on June 3rd 1896, the feast day of Sts Constantine and Helen. Arch. Fr. Theoclitos’ decision on the name of the Church, was not unusual with him. He was known to have baptized children with names other than their parents had asked for. My mother’s name was to be Ruza, Serbian for Rose, but he baptized her as Sophia which her parents accepted without question, and gave my mother and others an unusual lifelong connection to their Archimandrite. But then, his guidance and decisions were always accepted by his congregation. There have never been any questions of his guidance that were ever passed down through the years even though we Eastern Europeans have always loved a good argument. He had services in the Slavonic, Greek and Arabic languages. It was as though his congregation was standing with a Saint.

In 1897, Arch. Fr. Theoclitos purchased a 36 plot track in the Lake View Cemetery as a gift to his Congregation. He buried his flock in the next consecutive plot, without regard to couples or children or any Relationship, because he saw them as one congregational family.

In early 1897, Bishop Nicholas replaced Deacon Grepashewsky with a young Russian Monk, Fr. Mikhail Kurdinovski to allow Arch. Fr. Theoclitos time to travel and invited Arch. Fr. Theoclitos to San Francisco to speak in the Greek language on the mounting losses of the Cretan insurgents in their revolution against Ottoman rule. Bishop Nicholas had to be acutely aware that his Archimandrite was the highest ranking Greek born Clergyman in America. While in route, we know that he also served Liturgy again in Oklahoma; and in Denver, Colorado. After his sermon in San Francisco he was asked to traveled with Fr. (later, Archimandrite) Sebastian Dabovich (currently being considered for Canonization as a Saint), to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, where they served Liturgy in Slavonic, Greek and Arabic in both cities. He again traveled to San Francisco in 1898, to participate in the installation of Bishop Tikon Belavin, as the new Bishop, replacing Bishop Nicholas of the Aleutians and Alaska (Diocesan name was changed in 1900 to Diocese of the Aleutians and North America). Although little is known about it, Bishop Tikon visited our parish in 1899, for the first of two visits.

It’s known that Arch. Fr. Theoclitos traveled extensively on the Gulf Coast going as far east as Mobile, Alabama, as far south as Corpus Christi, Texas, and into the interior north to Ft. Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo and Austin Texas, performing Marriages and Baptisms and serving Liturgy where ever he found our Orthodox Christians. In 1897, The Wiemar, Texas newspaper had an article about him; where he borrowed the local Catholic Church in LaGrange, Texas to perform the wedding of a Greek Couple. The writer (obviously Protestant) posted the short article that follows.

Weimar Mercury, 29 Jan 1898
LaGrange, Tex., Jan. 25, --Married today, Mr, Abraham John to Miss Zeche Nemer, both Greek, at the Catholic Church by Rev. Theoclitos (Archimandrite of the Orthodox Church), Galveston, Tex. A very large crowd attended the ceremonies, which were “somewhat of a novelty”, no such ceremonies having ever been performed here.

Our Church Board additionally purchased a like adjoining property west of the Church doubling the size of the property in early 1900. But, in his 66th year, on September 8th 1900, Galveston Island was hit by the greatest natural disaster in United States history when the massive Hurricane of 1900 came ashore. The Island was almost totally destroyed (est. of 8,000 to 12,000 deaths of a population of 30,000, which included 24 members of the congregation. Arch. Fr. Theoclitos and Fr. Mikhail spent 30 hrs in the church praying and giving refuge to parishioners and neighbors that sought safety in the church. After the storm had passed, the Church structure was still standing although it had floated to the west about 10 feet partially onto the additional property just purchased. Those that were with him in the church believed Arch. Fr. Theoclitos and his church had truly saved their lives. The congregation gathered and raised the Church, repaired the damage and early in 1902 petitioned Bishop Tikon, who had since moved the headquarters of the Diocese to New York, to visit and Re-consecrate their repaired Church. Bishop Tikon accepted and arrived shortly before services on June 3rd 1903. This event made Arch. Fr. Theoclitos and his congregation’s church not only patronized by, but also consecrated by future Saints of Orthodoxy. By order of Tzar Nicholas II, Bishop Tikon bestowed on Arch. Fr. Theoclitos the Royal Honors of (1) the Order Of St. Vladimir and (2) the Order of St. Anne (in his picture, the ribbon and cross like medallion around the neck to his right side is the order of St. Vladimir, the ribbon and medallion around the neck to his left side is the Order of St. Anne and the necklet with the large medallion was awarded him upon attaining his Graduate Degree in Theology from the Moscow Theological Academy.

While in Galveston, Bishop Tikon visited the cemetery, and became aware that it was filling fast. As a gift to the Congregation, Bishop Tikon,who was later made Patriarch of Moscow, purchased 27 additional plots next to the original cemetery track. Arch. Fr. Theoclitos and the Church continued with a new influx of immigrants coming to Galveston each year, even purchasing another 21’ to the west of the Church. Although he did keep constant communications with the Diocese, it is not clear whether he ever met with Archbishop Platon of New York, who replaced Bishop Tikon.

He was known to include the Romanov Royal Family each week in the Liturgy, as: (1) word of Tzar Nicholas II’s son, Alexander’s affliction with hemophilia began to spread, (2) World War I was building and (3) talk of revolution against the Tzar was in the news from time to time. Also, because of our multi-ethnic culture in Galveston, the shot by Serbian Gavrilo Princip that assassinated Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, (believed to be the shot that started World War I, was heard loudly in our Church making the War and the assassination more than an important issue.

On weekly trips to the business district, the neighborhood children would gather on the church steps and wait for his return. He would always have a large bag full of fruit and the latest sweets for them, saving a large portion for his parish children. He became acquainted with many people during his years in Galveston and was thought of respectfully, while they became somewhat enchanted with his customary meager but stoic Orthodox Monastic ways. He was a constant visitor to St. Mary’s Infirmary (the local Catholic Hospital) and John Sealy Hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Following his heart, as the Apostle St. Paul guided him through his Name Day St. Hierotheos, he was known to give Confession, Baptizism and Communion to anyone who professed to be Christian. He truly became a friend to many families, who felt his visits to their loved ones in the hospital made those loved ones better. He converted to Orthodoxy many of these families: the Dambido family, the Matthews family and the Lelirra family to name a few.

In 1911, the Galveston-Houston Inter-Urban Train was instituted, allowing many of our Orthodox Christians in Houston (50 miles north and largely Greek and Lebanese) an ease of access to Galveston for Sunday Liturgy. The trains were one or multiple electric cars that ran from downtown Houston to downtown Galveston, and you could get on or off at any time. So, our members could get off, then on again, less than 800 feet north of the Church on the main road into Galveston. It was still a 75 minute trip, one way, but it was an inexpensive way for our Houston parishioners to get to church from time to time. It was later discontinued in 1936.

And then, in his 81st year, the Island was hit by another devastating Hurricane in August of 1915. Again, Arch. Fr Theoclitos and others prayed in the Church. This storm was even more tenuous for them, but never was anyone in the church lost in any storm. The Church floated to the north about 50 feet into the street, and the front wall was torn open and the Gospel given by Tzar Nicholas II was found by parishioner George Mandich another 200’ away in the city cemetery across from the Church, miraculously with very little water damage. The congregation repaired the Church and moved it back into place with mule and muscle.

The parish again, needed more future graves. This time, as a religious benevolent society, they purchased their own private Cemetery in the western part of the city, about a quarter mile from the other cemetery. The land was far larger (would easily accommodate about 300 graves) and would meet their needs for long years into the future. But they also divided it into two sections, the Greeks to one side, and the Serbians and other Slavs on the other.

Later in the following year, the Church was hit by the loss of their 21 year life with Arch. Fr. Theoclitos, just short of his 83rd year, on October 22nd 1916. He had become gravely ill six weeks before. He somehow knew his time was near, and had the Diocese notified of his illness, and he asked parish leaders to find a way for them to bury him under the Altar of the Church. It was his belief that his grave would, by its nature, cause the Church to continue at the location for centuries into the future. He passed to his Creator at 8:15 in the evening, in St. Mary’s Infirmary Hospital. With the help of Church leaders, his body was prepared by Malloy & Sons Funeral Home, but the parishioners then took the body to the church and stood vigil over his remains continually, until his Funeral. The New Archbishop Evdokim of New York ordered his Diocesan Secretary, Archpriest Fr. Peter I. Popoff (who had been one of Arch. Fr. Theoclitos’ companions on the trip from Russia), and two others of his Diocesan Council members; Fr. Louniky Kraskoff of Denver, Colorado (whom he had visited with on trips to San Francisco) and Hieromonk Fr. Paul Chubaroff of Hartshorne, Oklahoma to immediately travel to Galveston so that Our Beloved Archimandrite would be religiously cared for. They finally arrived in Galveston six days later, on the morning of October 28th. Hierarchical Funeral Services were held that afternoon at 2:00 P.M. During the six week wait, the Parish Board had received permission from the County Judge to place his remains under the Church’s Altar and workers prepared the Concrete Vault that was required by the Judge for his casket to be encased, where it remains today. As Arch. Fr. Theoclitos requested in his will, his Cross and Medals were all taken to Archbishop Evdokim by Archpriest Popoff.
+Memory Eternal+

In the following years our Church was served by numerous short-term or as they were called in those days, traveling Priests. In 1929, the parishioners, spear-headed by Petar B. Kovacevich, built a wood frame Hall (32’ X 75’) with a parish home above, in hopes of having a Priest and his family, stay in Galveston. It helped, but, in 1933, our Greek brethren gathered and purchased their own Church, The Assumption of The Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. Our parishes have helped each other thru the years, whenever either was without a Priest or there was a time of need, as our Arch. Fr. Theoclitos would expect of us.

The Hierarchs of the Church in those years were Archbishop Alexander,Metropolitan Platon, and Metropolitan Theophilus

In 1934, Fr. Alexis Revera and his family arrived in Galveston and stayed for 27 years. In 1948, the parish decided it was time for the Church to receive some upgrades, mainly in the form of cosmetics. Wing additions were added to the elevated Altar area, the interior was totally painted, Stain Glass windows were added, hard wood flooring, a new roof coving, and the old siding was covered with a light brown brick; work was completed in 1949. The parish petitioned the Diocese, and in 1950, the newly elected Metropolitan Leonty, traveled to our fare city to re-consecrate the Church. Air-conditioning was added in the 1960.

In 1962, it had become apparent that the community was almost totally made up of Serbians. Metropolitan Leonty and Bishop Dionisije (right) of the Serbian Diocese met and sealed an agreement that put our beloved Church under the Serbian Diocese, while the Russian Diocese would receive under its control the Church in Billings, Montana, which was started by Serbian Bishop Nikolai (Canonized a Saint by the Serbian Orthodox Synod in 2003,) and Archimandrite Fr. Sabatian Dabovich; but had over the years become almost totally Russian. They further agreed to guide these two parishes to remain multi-ethic and services were to be in both English and Slavonic and should include a litany of any other languages when needed for other ethnic parishioners.

In 1964, the Texas Highway Department was working on plans to expand the street next to the cemetery into a 6 lane highway. They were intending to put an over-pass over the Serbian Section. Two parish leaders, Ilija P. Kovacevich and John N. Milosevich went to the highway department with their plan to move the Serbian Section at the Highway Department’s expense. The Highway Department agreed. So, it became the work of parishioners; lead by local Constable and parishioner Sam Popovich to get every relative of a loved one in the Serbian section to sign the necessary papers. The highway department would provide 6 times the land they were taking and would bare all expenses of exhumation and reburial; where a solid caskets or a vault was not found, the earthen material would be placed in a vault to be transported; and the Priest would attend and be paid for a service of exhumation and re-burial for each grave. The new cemetery is much like a Church with a center aisle and rows of graves to each side; with small side-walks between the rows and an Alter table at the front.

In 1978 our Parish came under the Jurisdiction of one of it’s own, Serbian Bishop Christopher. The First American Born Bishop to serve an American Diocese. He was born and raised in Galveston and had been ordained a Priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1949. With his leadership, the congregation has prospered through the past 30 years, with him becoming Metropolitan in 1991.

Now we have been hit by another devastating Hurricane “IKE”, which came ashore on September 12th 2008. Our Church sustained minor damage with only a few inches of water inside and some wind damage (no doubt that our Arch. Fr. Theoclitos mystically was riding out the storm in his Sanctuary). But our Hall was in 3 feet of water. The old wood frame structure was left structurally unsound. The Parish decided to fix the Church first. We then had the old hall destroyed, and are planning to break ground on a new hall in early 2010. Our Greek Brothers and Sister, didn’t fare as well, their beautiful Church was inundated with 8 feet of sea water. The masonry Church and hall structurally survived, but the interiors didn’t make it. They are without a Priest, but have managed to somewhat re-do their Church and are working to completion. During this time, they have attended Liturgy on Sundays with us, and now that their Church is presentable, our priest Fr. Srdjan Veselinovich has liturgy on Saturdays for them.

In 2009 our parish was placed under the jurisdiction of His Grace, Serbian Bishop Longin, ending an over 40 year schism in the Serbian Orthodox Church in America. Interestingly, His Grace Bishop Longin and Arch. Fr. Theoclitos, both received Graduate Degrees in Theology from the Moscow Theological Academy at Holy Trinity – St. Sergius Monastery (name changed to Zagorsk Monastery in 1930).

And so,168 years after the first parish meeting in Galveston, Texas, we beseech Our Archimandrite Father Theoclitos Triantafilides; his friends Archimandrite Saint Rafael Hawaweeny and Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich; Our Patrons Saints Tzar Nicholas II and Saint Trazistza Alexandra, Our First Metropolitan and Patriarch Saint Tikon Belavin, our first Serbian American Bishop Saint Nikolai Velimirovich and all those who with the Saints have guided our Parish in their goodness, to intercede on our behalf for yet another Century of existence.

From 1895 -2010, the Church-School Congregation of SS. Constantine and Helen was served by the following priests:

Archimandrite Theoclitos (Greek) 1895-1916
Father Michael Andriates (Greek) 1916-1918
Father John Shamie (Lebonese) 1918-1920
Father George Palamarchuk (Serbian 1920-1925
Father Marko Dimitrieff (Greek) 1925-1926
Father Pavel Markovich (Serbian) 1927-1928
Father George Milosavljevich Serbian) 1928-1929
Father Joakim Tkoch (Russian) 1929-1934
Father Alexis Revera (Russian) 1934-1961
Father Damaskin Susjnar (Serbian) 1961-1965
Iguman Mitrofan Kresejovich (Serbian) 1965-1968
Father Jovan Trisich (Serbian) 1968-1969
Father, Dr. Tihomir Pantich (Serbian) 1969-1971
Father Constantine Pazalos (Serbian), (Greek Born) 1971-1982
Father Svetozar Veselinovich (Serbian) 1982-1985
Father Zarko Mirkovich (Serbian) 1985-1987
Father Dragan K. Veleusic (Serbian) 1987-1992
Father Oleg Vifliantsev (Serbian), (Russian Born) 1992-1994 Father Dane Popovich (Serbian) 1994-1994
Father Dejan Tiosavljevich (Serbian) 1994-1995
Father Srdjan Veselinovich (Serbian) 1995-Present

Marriages, Baptisms and Celebrated Liturgy in the following locations in America.
City/Town Aprox. Distance
from Galveston
New York, New York 1416 miles
Washington, D.C. 1213 miles

Hartsborne, Oklahoma 380 miles
Dallas, Texas 269 miles
Ft. Worth, Texas 281 miles
San Angelo, Texas 363 miles
New Braunfels, Texas 199 miles
La Grange, Texas 132 miles
Galveston, Texas 0 miles
Houston, Texas 50 miles
Beaumont, Texas 90 miles
Eagle Lake, Texas 93 miles
Seattle, Washington 1937 miles
Portland, Oregon 1881 miles
San Francisco, California 1686 miles
Denver, Colorado 928 miles
New Orleans, Louisiana 287 miles
Lake Charles, Louisiana 117 miles
Mobile, Alabama 414 miles
Biloxi, Mississippi 362 miles
Port Lavaca, Texas 122 miles
Polacios, Texas 86 miles
Corpus Christi, Texas 181 miles
San Antonio, Texas 216 miles
Waco, Texas 209 miles
Austin, Texas 191 miles
Cameron, Louisana 81 miles
Rockport, Texas 154 miles
Indianola, Texas 35 miles
Brazos, Texas 60 miles
Sabine, Texas 75 miles
Approximate total missionary miles of work……..over 25,000
“by train or horse and buggie”
31 locations in 11 States in 21 Years

Extreme Post Script:
In retrospect, this writer remains in awe, that The Right Reverend, Most Venerable Archimandrite Father Theoclitos Triantafilides May….truely….be
“The Forgotten”First Greek-American SAINT
He was the answer to our predecessors every prayer.
He traveled extensively on a global basis to serve the religious needs of many. He provided the “Connecting Link” for our multi-ethnic American lives, and through the teachings of Orthodoxy and his God-Given Art of Language, he lead us on the path of Saint Paul, the Apostle, past the ever separating ethnic divide.

Nativity Encyclical 2009

2009-12-26T10:51:00.000-06:00

The Serbian Orthodox Church
to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2009

+AMPHILOHIJE

By the Grace of God
Orthodox Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands, Locum Tenens of the throne of the Serbian Patriarchs, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

Again this year, our dear spiritual children, here we are before the cradle of the Divine Child Jesus Christ. The immense mystery beyond comprehension of the birth of God the Logos took place in a lowly cave in Bethlehem, which from that moment, once and for all time, became the center of the world – the center of God’s glory and a source of comfort to all those who have sought after God throughout human history.
The great father of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, when speaking of the Nativity Feast says: “Honor, brothers, the feast days, but most of all the day of Christ’s Nativity; for he who calls Christ’s birth the mother of all feast days makes no mistake…” From the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord all the feast days spring forth, as rivers spring forth from their sources. According to the holy Chrysostom, the birth of Christ is a new creation of the world, and the Incarnation of God the Logos is the cornerstone of everything.
Another great father of the Church, St. Gregory the Theologian, begins his Nativity homily with the doxology – glorification of God:

Christ is born – let us glorify Him!
Christ comes from heaven – let us welcome Him!
Christ is on earth – let us be lifted up!
Sing to the Lord all the earth!

And he continues: “Let the people that sit in the darkness of ignorance see the great light of the knowledge of God. The old is gone – look, everything has become new! The letter of the Old Covenant withdraws – the Spirit takes over; shadows disappear – the Truth arrives.”
According to the narrative of the Holy Evangelists, the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus in Bethlehem of Judea, the city of prophets and of King David, from whose offspring, according to the prophesies of the Old Testament prophets, was to be born the Messiah promised by God – the Savior of the world.
Saint Gregory Palamas, the theologian of the light of Bethlehem and of Tabor, in his Nativity homily reveals the deep meaning of the Messiah’s coming: “With the incarnation and birth of Christ the Messiah into the world, universal joy and peace have been granted to the world. Listen to the end of the song of the Angel, the deliverer of the good news, and you will discover it – it says: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men (Luke 2:14); for God came in the flesh in order to bring His peace to the world and to reconcile it with the Most-High Father.” Christ’s peace is not the same as the peace of this world. St. Gregory Palamas calls the peace of Christmas “the spirit of adoption, because those who are bearers of this peace with faith became inheritors of God and coinheritors of Christ (Romans 8:17). “That is why, according to this same saint, only those who live in love with one another, and who according to the words of the Holy Apostle Paul “bear with one another, and forgive one another…even as Christ forgave you,” live in the same Savior and in the spirit of Christmas. (cf. Colossians 3:13)
The far removed and exalted God, Who in the Old Testament conversed with Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 3:5), with Christ’s birth bowed down the heavens and became “Emmanuel, which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23), without losing anything divine. St. John of Damascus confirms this when he talks about Christ’s Nativity by saying: “That is why we don’t say about Him that He is a man made God; rather He is God Who became man: because He being perfect God according to His nature, became perfect Man without changing His own nature nor the divine economy.”
The newly revealed Abba Justin of Celije said that “on Christmas God, according to His immeasurable love, entered history, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, incarnate from the Ever-Virgin Mary Theotokos, and became a real man.” In this way in the new born Child – the Divine Child Jesus Christ God – we have been given every abundant gift of the Heavenly Kingdom, bringing with Himself eternal Truth, eternal Justice and eternal Life which, according to Saint Maxim the Confessor, we taste in advance in the life and the liturgy of Christ’s Church.
The Feast of Christmas has divided the entire history of mankind into two parts — into the time of anticipation and into the time of salvation. The biblical anticipation of the Messiah and Savior already began with the promise to the first-created people Adam and Eve (see Genesis 3:15), and more concretely to our forefather the patriarch Abraham, to whom God promised that in his descendants all peoples would be blessed (see Genesis 22:18), which was fulfilled precisely by the Birth of the God-Man Jesus Christ.
All the Old Testament prophets pointed to the great mystery of the Messiah’s birth. Therefore, looking at the Old Testament with the eyes of the Holy Apostle Paul, we can repeat after him that the Old Testament in its entirety is “our tutor to bring us to Christ”, (Galatians 3:24), an instructor which before Christ pointed all God-loving souls to Bethlehem’s Cave.
On the other hand, the three Magi from the East, whom the grace-filled Bethlehem star brought to the place where Christ was born, signify, according to the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, the entire polytheistic world, which through its philosophy of men (cf. Colossian 2:8) could not penetrate into the depths of the mystery of God’s Incarnation.
To both the God-loving souls and the polytheistic world, the heavenly angel during the Birth of Christ revealed the great mystery of the world’s salvation, delivering the Good News to Bethlehem’s shepherds, and through them to all of us: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
From that proclamation of glad tidings to Bethlehem’s shepherds right up to today, the Birth of Christ is the Feast Day of heavenly and earthly joy in which angels and saints participate together, but also every God-loving soul enlightened by Bethlehem’s light. Like the three Wise Men from the East who came to worship the Divine Child Jesus Christ, all of us are called as well to worship Him, and to offer our gifts to the newborn King of heaven. (cf. Matthew 2:2)
Is not all the good from God that we have done this year our biggest gift to the Divine Child?
If we have fed the hungry, given a drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick, in doing so did we not offer our gifts to God?
If we have glorified God with our life, living a holy and God-pleasing life, in doing so did we not offer the gold of the virtues to the Divine Child?
If we have loved God’s Church and with our diligence have adorned the Lord’s House, in doing so did we not offer a God-pleasing sacrifice?
If we have acknowledged the suffering of our brothers, and have comforted them with our works, in doing so did we not do good to Christ Himself? (cf. Matthew 10:42)
You see, in return for His limitless love the Divine Child Christ expects such gifts from us. That is why Christmas is also a feast day before which we re-examine our faith and everything which we, as God’s creatures and sons and daughters of God, are called to do, as was so often repeated by our Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory.
This Nativity season we are especially filled with joyous sadness that our great Patriarch Pavle has left us and has gone on from earth to heaven. We deeply believe that he, in accordance with freedom given to him by God, “with all the saints of our nation” continues to offer his prayers for our Church and our crucified people, together with Saint Sava, Saint Simeon the Myrrh-gusher and all our holy ancestors who recognized and received Patriarch Pavle “as one of their own and as their equal.”
This Christmas we also remember all those who are afflicted, the suffering, those in exile, and all those who have had any injustice done them; we want to comfort them with the words: Christ is Born! Rejoice, for behold, the Lord comes to wipe away every human tear. (See Revelation 21:4)
With His birth on earth Christ has sanctified every aspect of human life – from conception to death and resurrection. That is why the Nativity reminds us not to raise our hand against the fruit of our womb, but rather to live according to God’s commandment: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) By respecting this blessing of God, Rachael’s weeping over our people and for our children who are no more (see Matthew 2:18) would cease, and the inextinguishable life that has shown forth from Bethlehem’s cave would blossom.
This Nativity season we are also with our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija — the cradle of our people. In Christ’s love we ask them to return to their homesteads in Kosovo and to stay there to live with their holy shrines, safeguarding our Kosovo, that “wretched place of judgment.” Let us never lose hope that God will enlighten the minds of those to whom He has given earthly power and control over other countries and peoples; that they, in the spirit of divine and human justice, will re-examine their unjust decisions regarding Kosovo and Metohija. Only in this way will peace and community in the Balkans and Europe be renewed, and the wounded dignity of the Serbian Orthodox people be returned. We also pray to the Newborn King of Peace that He eradicates war, violence and injustice everywhere in the world, so that finally peace and justice might reign among all peoples and nations.
We greet our entire God-loving people with the greeting of Bethlehem, asking that we safeguard our Orthodox Faith, our language and our alphabet, on whatever continent we might live. We Serbs are an ancient Christian nation, because through baptism by Cyril and Methodius and enlightenment by St. Sava we became part of the culture of the entire Christian world. We in this way have left an indelible stamp on the history and civilization of modern Europe and the world, embedding ourselves, once and for all, in their future.
The Nativity of Christ always calls all of us to live in brotherly love, in love for God and in evangelical humility, living from the work of our hands and holding fast to the New Testament teachings: that we not do to others anything that we would not wish them to do to us. (cf. Acts 15:29)
In summarizing this great and inconceivable mystery of the Nativity, Saint Gregory the Theologian said: “This is our holy day. This is what we celebrate today: God’s coming to mankind — so that we might come to God; or to put it more suitably: so that we might return to God; so that we might put off the old man and put on the new, and so that just as we have all died in Adam, we may come to new life in Christ, that we may be born again with Christ, and be crucified along with him, and be buried with Him, and resurrect along with Him.”
Concluding our Nativity encyclical with the words of this Godly-wise Church father, we greet you all, dear spiritual children, and we greet all peoples and all nations with the all-joyous greeting of Bethlehem and of peace:

PEACE FROM GOD - CHRIST IS BORN!

Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade at Christmas, 2009.

Your intercessors before the cradle of the Divine Infant Christ:
The locum tenens of the throne of the Serbian Patriarchs,
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands AMPHILOHIJE
Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana JOVAN
Metropolitan of Libertyville-Chicago CHRISTOPHER
Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna NIKOLAJ
Bishop of Sabac-Valjevo LAVRENTIJE
Bishop of Nis IRINEJ
Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE
Bishop of Srem VASILIJE
Bishop of Banja Luka JEFREM
Bishop of Budim LUKIJAN
Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE
Bishop of Banat NIKANOR
Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America LONGIN
Bishop of Eastern America MITROPHAN
Bishop of Zica CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Backa IRINEJ
Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia DOSITEJ
Bishop of Ras and Prizren ARTEMIJE
Bishop of Bihac and Petrovac CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Osijek and Baranja LUKIJAN
Bishop of Central Europe CONSTANTINE
Bishop of Western Europe LUKA
Bishop of Timok JUSTIN
Bishop of Vranje PAHOMIJE
Bishop of Sumadija JOVAN
Bishop of Slavonia SAVA
Bishop of Branicevo IGNATIJE
Bishop of Milesevo FILARET
Bishop of Dalmatia FOTIJE
Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic JOANIKIJE
Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina GRIGORIJE
Bishop of Valjevo MILUTIN
Bishop of Western America MAXIM
Bishop of Gornji Karlovci GERASIM
Bishop of Australia and New Zealand IRINEJ
Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Hvostno ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Jegar PORFIRIJE
Vicar Bishop of Lipljan TEODOSIJE
Vicar Bishop of Dioclea JOVAN
Vicar Bishop of Moravica ANTONIJE
THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OCHRID
Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje JOVAN
Bishop of Polos and Kumanovo JOAKIM
Bishop of Bregal and locum tenens of the Diocese of Bitolj MARKO
Vicar Bishop of Stobija David
[Path of Orthodoxy translation]

His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew on 60 Minutes

2009-12-18T17:21:00.006-06:00

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Appear on
60 Minutes Segment on Orthodox Christianity

NEW YORK - His All Holiness Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians who constitute the second largest Christian denomination in the world, will be featured on the CBS News program 60 Minutes reported by Bob Simon, scheduled to air on Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 7 p.m. EST. The segment will focus on the Orthodox Church, the most ancient Christian church, and its development from its earliest years to modern times in what is now the Republic of Turkey.

His All Holiness was named 11th among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and was awarded the US Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts to promote human rights and religious tolerance. He has also been recognized by the United Nations as a Laureate Champion of the Earth for his pioneering work to protect the environment. Affectionately known as "the Green Patriarch," Patriarch Bartholomew has called upon leaders of all denominations to join him in this effort, noting simply that "If life is sacred, so is the entire web that sustains it."

His All Holiness recently concluded an extended visit to the U.S., where he participated in an environmental symposium in Mississippi, ministered to the five million Orthodox faithful in America, and met with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama, among many others. He is the author of Encountering the Mystery (Doubleday) and In the World, Yet Not of the World (Fordham).

Commenting on the upcoming broadcast, Archbishop Demetrios of America said:

"The appearance of the Ecumenical Patriarch on a program such as 60 Minutes is an extraordinary opportunity for the American public to become aware of our Orthodox Christian Faith. Millions of people who would otherwise have limited knowledge of the Orthodox Church will have the chance to see and hear the highest ecclesiastical personage of our Church in their living rooms. It is also a tremendous opportunity for our own Orthodox Faithful in the United States to see His All Holiness in a way that will surely touch their hearts and minds with love and deep respect."

60 Minutes is the pre-eminent investigative television news show in the United States and has run on CBS since 1968. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life and has garnered numerous awards over the years. The show will also be broadcast over the Internet on the 60 Minutes website: www.60minutes.com

More information about His All Holiness's work for religious freedom, human rights, environmental conservation, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as texts of his addresses may be found at: www.patriarchate.org

Nativity Greetings

2009-12-18T17:19:00.001-06:00

“We bow unto Thee, the Sun of Righteousness”
–From the Troparion of the Nativity

The One Who was born of the Virgin Mary, Whom we call “the Sun of Righteousness,” and Whose miraculous birth we glorify again this year, is indeed worthy of our worship and our reverence.

Let us bow unto Him for He was pleased to be born like one of us—entirely because of us and our salvation. Let us bow unto Him because of His love towards all creation and especially towards man. And let us rejoice this year also in the Newborn One, in hope that he will warm our hearts and that He will, by His might, make way for that which is God-pleasing, good, honorable and steadfast to be born in our souls.

This Nativity, we greet all of you, the faithful of our Diocese, for whose souls we answer before the Lord, and we pray that we all work more diligently on the path of salvation. “Let us be people,” was the message of our most-holy Patriarch Pavle. The authenticity of his persona and the simplicity of his message have touched the soul of Serbia, as well as of millions of Orthodox throughout the world. May the God-Child grant that this message produces a rebirth in us also!

Peace from God – Christ is Born! Happy and Blessed New Year 2010!

+LONGIN
Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern America

Chistmas Schedule

2009-12-04T14:28:00.005-06:00

CALENDAR OF CHURCH SERVICES AND EVENTS
FOR THE NATIVITY SEASON AT STS CONSTANTINE & HELEN 2009/2010

DECEMBER

Sunday, December 6th 26th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 13th 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 20th 28th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, December 27th 29th Sunday after Pentecost

JANUARY

Sunday, January 3rd Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

Wednesday, January 6th Christmas Eve Great Vespers Service @ 7:00 p.m. with Traditional Burning of Yule Log

Thursday, January 7th NATIVITY OF OUR LORD.

Sunday, January 10th 31st Sunday after Pentecost

Thursday, January 14th Circumcision of our Lord; St. Basil the Great

Sunday, January 15th 32nd Sunday after Pentecost

Tuesday, January 19th THEOPHANY -Baptism of our Lord (Great Blessing of the Water)

Sunday, January 24th Sunday of the Publican & the Publican

Sunday, January 31st Sunday of the Prodigal Son

FEBRUARY

Sunday, February 7th Sunday of the Last Judgement

Sunday, February 14th Sunday of Forgiveness

Monday, February 15 Beginning of Great & Holy Lent

All Divine Litirgies commence at 10:00am

Benefit Concert

2009-08-31T22:41:00.004-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Iva Milenkovic is 28 years old and battling a rare and aggressive form of cancer called extra-skeletal osteosarcoma with telangectatic features. She is being treated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Being from a foreign country and without any insurance, Iva must cover all costs from personal funds.

A benefit concert for Iva will be held at Dunham Theater Houston Baptist University 7502 Fondren Road, in Houston on Thursday, Sept 3, @ 8:00 pm. The music of Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninov will be played beautifully by two concert pianists, Ivana Ristova and Krume Andreevski. All proceeds will go towards Iva's fight against cancer. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the door.

We are trying to sell 1,100 tickets, so in addition to attending, we need everyone's help in promoting this event. Please tell friends, family, co-workers, etc. This is a great opportunity for everyone to support Iva in her fight and enjoy a relaxing evening of great music!

For more information please visit:

http://www.saveiva.org/

Road Closure on HWY 45 August 30th 2009

2009-08-27T11:29:00.006-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I just got off the phone with one of parishioners who was privy to the information concerning the closure of Hwy 45 this Sunday. It seems that both the City Councils of League City and Galveston were strongly debating this move. One for obvious tourism reasons and the other for traffic congestion reasons. League City has won out and the closure will proceed as planned. This means all lanes both north and south, including feeder roads will be closed at the Calder Exit near 518. All traffic is to be diverted onto Hwy 3. This means that the trip back home will mean travelling along this path which will be congested as all traffic will be heading along the same path. Be prepared and allow for extra travelling time, both to and from church for those who will be brave enough to weather the traffic storm.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/construction/construction_report.aspx

Church Records

2009-07-30T09:53:00.006-05:00

Brothers and Sisters,

We are extremely excited to offer to all our faithful the original parish records of the births/baptisms, weddings, deaths and burials of Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church. I would like to take this opportunity in thanking Christine Kovacevich who painstakingly scanned each entry one by one with the greatest of care and in the highest resolution possible for all of us to enjoy and cherish. The entries begin with the first records dating back to 1895 and go up to 1924 for now. We are still in the process of scanning the rest of the entries. To best view these records I would "save as" and then name either church records with the years to my desktop, hard drive. Under the View options scroll down where it says Page Display and select Show Cover Page During Two-Up. We also have the ability to zoom in up to 6,400% for those who might need a little extra help in viewing them up closer.This will also allow us to print off the pertinent information that we need in the gathering on information for family trees. I should like to give everybody a heads up that the records vary in size in Adobe Acrobat Format so it might take a couple of minutes each downloading and saving them.

http://www.tejascomputerservices.com/SCHSOC.html

Russian Television programme: Orthodoxy in America

2009-07-22T20:26:00.009-05:00

Dear Friends,

On June 6th, 2009 we were very privileged to have with us all the way from Moscow Russia the official television crew under the direct blessing of His Holiness Patriarch KYRIL. Very Reverend Father Alexei Uminski who together with the able crew of "Orthodox Encyclopedia" made a journey/pilgrimage to the United States where they paid particular attention to the history of Orthodoxy in Texas. Although the video is entirely in Russian it nevertheless offers the viewers a glimpse of what our church looked liked during it's repair post Hurricane Ike (21:35). The programme itself runs for 25 minutes and is actually part 2. Father Alexei has visited many different continents in search of Orthodox communities to show the viewers of the largest Orthodox country in the world back home in Russia where and how the rest of Orthodox faithful live and practise their faith. Our own Mitchell Chuoke and Officer Steven Brewer make an appearance in the video.

http://www.sedmitza.ru/text/723427.html

Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Dormition Announces Recover Update

2009-05-05T09:02:00.004-05:00

May 1, 2009

“RECOVERY UPDATE”

Dear Friends:
The holy altar table is being rebuilt by volunteers.
The building permits are in place.
We have chosen two contractors to share in the rebuilding of the interior of the Church and the hall, which work will start on the 6th of May.
We will not have air conditioning but hope to have the holy altar fully completed and have our first service, post “Ike”, on Saturday, May 23rd or May 30th.
I will send out a notice A.S.A.P. to advise on the date of our first service.
Please feel free to contact me anytime on my cellular at 281-686-6120.

Regards,

Leroy Naschke Jr

Recovery Chairman

P.S. Please honor your pledge commitment given in 2008 and do the same for 2009. Send pledges and donations to The Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, P. O. Box 655, Galveston, Texas 77553-0655.

http://assumption.tx.goarch.org/

Save Iva Milenkovic

2009-05-01T08:36:00.009-05:00

Dear Friend,

My sister Iva Milenkovic is 27 years old and battling a rare and aggressive form of cancer called extra-skeletal osteosarcoma. Unfortunately, there are very few hospitals in the world that have the expertise necessary to treat these cancers. One of them is the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Being from a foreign country with no international insurance, Iva must cover all costs from personal funds. This is where we need your help. Your generosity can help save her life. Every dollar donated goes directly to covering Iva’s battle against cancer. Unfortunately, we do not have time to wait, so please donate now to help save Iva’s life. Thank you!

~ Zoran Milenkovic

How to Donate
The estimated cost of treatment for Iva is $250,000 over the next 9 months, averaging about $1000 per day. Please consider giving Iva a fighting chance by sponsoring a day of treatment.
To donate make checks payable to "Zoran Milenkovic" and send to the address below:
814 Island Meadow Court
Houston, Texas 77062
Or, to donate by credit card, visit our website

http://www.saveiva.org/

Pictures of Church Hall Demolition

2009-05-01T08:27:00.001-05:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/ChurchPicsOfChurchHallDemo?authkey=Gv1sRgCNefpLmu_YKIywE&feat=directlink

Paschal Greeting from HEM CHRISTOPHER

2009-04-19T07:32:00.001-05:00

Paschal Greeting 2009

Centuries have passed since the Myrbearing women first saw the empty tomb. They came to anoint the body of the Teacher with aromatic fragrances sprinkled with their tears. They were present at the Cross of Crucified Savior, when all except His mother and one of the disciples abandoned him. Thus, they were honored to be the first witnesses and the first to announce His Resurrection. Likewise, many centuries separate us from that first resurrection evening, when the Risen Lord appeared to his disappointed and frightened disciples and greeted them with a greeting of encouragement: “Peace be with you! In a moment he returned peace to them, renewed their faith in Himself and His Divine mission.If He, the Son of God, had not risen, the history of Christianity would have ended with His last words on the Cross: “It is finished”. He did arise, and in the name of that truth, His Disciples had joyfully given their lives, bearing witness to Him, our Lord and Redeemer. Bearing that great and undisputable truth, His Church has undertaken a worldwide mission throughout the worldWe pray to the Risen Lord to resurrect in us the human image of mans original nature, which today is so disfigured with countless faults and vices. That in us everyone would recognize a human being, regardless of our intellectual, social or financial status. Our time abounds with material goods, grand plans and ideas. Nevertheless, our age is characterized by a crisis of morality and character. Let us pray to the Risen Lord and beseech Him, as did Luke and Cleopas, that He remain with us, that we may rejoice in Him, derive strength from Him, that we may uplifted and escape and not be carried away by the murky waters of our time. On this day of our common spiritual joy we call upon you, dear brothers and sisters to remember St. Sava Monastery, the center of our spirituality and place which nurtures the future pastors of our Holy Church, and your Metropolitanate with a generous offering that they may successfully fulfill their holy mission.With these thoughts, we greet you, dear brothers and sisters, with our joyous Paschal greeting:

Christ is raised! Indeed, he is Raised!
~Your Prayerful intercessor before the Resurrected Christ,
+CHRISTOPHERMetropolitan of Midwestern America

Some relections on Confession-Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

2009-04-14T15:14:00.001-05:00

1. For each conscientious priest confession is without any doubt one of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of his ministry. It is here, on the one hand, that he encounters the only real object of his pastoral care: the human soul, man, as he stands sinful and miserable, before God. But it is here, one the other hand, that he realizes to what degree nominal Christianity has pervaded our Church life. The basic Christian notions of sin and repentance, reconciliation with God and renewal of life, seem to have become irrelevant. If the terms are still used, their meaning is certainly quite different from that, on which our whole Christian faith is based.
2. Another source of difficulties is the theoretical, or even theological, confusion as to the nature of the sacrament of penance. In practice a purely formal and juridical understanding of it, clearly Western and "romanizing" in its origin, coexists paradoxically with an equally doubtful reduction of confession to psychology. In the first case the man comes to the priest, confesses transgressions of Christian law, and receives absolution which entitles him to the second sacrament "of obligation" - Holy Communion. Confession proper is reduced here to a minimum, and in some churches even replaced by a general formula to be read by the penitent. All emphasis is on the priest's power of absolution and the latter is considered "valid" regardless of the state of soul of the penitent. If the first case reveals "romanizing" tendencies, the second can be termed "protestantizing". Confession is regarded as "counseling," as helping and solving difficulties and problems and is a dialogue not between man and God, but between man and a supposedly wise and experienced advisor with ready answers to all human problems. Both tendencies, however, obscure and deform the truly Orthodox understanding and practice of confession.
3. The existing situation is due to many factors. And, although, it is obviously impossible to enumerate all of them here and to even outline the very complicated historical development of the sacrament of penance, a few remarks are necessary before we discuss possible solutions.
a) Originally the sacrament of penance was understood and practiced as reconciliation of those excommunicated, i.e., banished from the "ecclisia" - the assembly of the People of God and its fulfillment in the Eucharist which is the "Koinonia" of the Body and Blood of Christ. The excommunicated is the one who cannot offer and, therefore, cannot receive. This reconciliation was a long process and the absolution - its final seal, the sign or "image" of repentance, i.e., of the rejection and condemnation by the penitent of his sin and alienation from God, of its real confession (manifestation, recognition) as sin. The power of absolution was not thought of as a "power in itself," virtually independent from repentance. It was indeed the sacramental sign of an accepted repentance which has brought forth its fruit. The Church in the person of the Priest witnessing that there is true repentance and that God has accepted it, has "reconciled and united" the penitent with the Church. Whatever changes occurred in the practice of the sacrament, this first and essential meaning, is still the starting point of its Orthodox understanding.
b) Also from the very beginning the ministry of the Church implied the care of souls, i.e., guidance in spiritual life, help in a man's fight with the old Adam in him. But at first, it was not included in the sacrament of penance. It was under the influence of monasticism with its highly developed theory and practice of spiritual guidance, that the latter became little by little an integral part of confession. Yet, in monasticism itself this spiritual guidance remained for a long time distinct from sacramental confession and was entrusted quite often to non-ordained monks. What made it an essential aspect of the pastoral ministry and almost the central contents of confession was the progressive secularization of Christian society. The Church after Constantine ceased to be a minority of heroically minded "faithful," she identified herself almost completely with the "world" (cf. the Russian term "mirianin" for "laikos") and had to deal with a multitude of nominal Christians in need of help, constant guidance and personal care. The significant change in the Eucharistic practice (from a corporate communion as an essential act of membership in the Body of Christ - to a more or less frequent individual communion) which occurred during the same period and under the influence of the same factors, meant a decisive transformation in the understanding of penance. From a sacrament for those cut from the Church, it became a sacrament for those inside the Church. The theological emphasis shifted from repentance to absolution, as virtually the only essential element of the sacrament.
c) The secularization of Christian society made it open and receptive to humanistic and pragmatic philosophies of life, which radically obscured the Christian idea of sin and repentance. The concept of sin as separation from God, from the only true life in Him and with Him, was progressively replaced by a sort of moral or ritual legalism in which sin means primarily the transgression of an established rule. In a man centered and self-satisfied society with its ethics of success and purely external "decency," these rules themselves underwent a radical transformation. They ceased to be regarded as absolute norms, and were reduced to a socially accepted ethical code. If an early Christian always knew that he was a sinner whose sins are forgiven and who, without any merit on his part, is introduced into the Bridal Chamber, given a new life, made partaker of the Kingdom, the modern Christian, since in the eyes of the society he is a decent man and a "nice fellow" always "feels fine" about himself and thoroughly enjoys his self admiration. His vision of life, which, in turn, shapes his understanding of religion, excludes altogether any dimension of depth, be it that of his alienation from true life (sin) or that of a new life in Christ. From time to time he commits, to be sure, certain transgressions - very common and minor! - but, after all, who doesn't? However, when I recently happened to confess about 50 people in a typical Orthodox parish in Pennsylvania, not one admitted to have committed any sin whatsoever! Are we not told daily by the press and other media of mass communication that we live in the best possible society among the best possible people? "Christian" people have taken this affirmation quite seriously.
d) This secularism finally won the hierarchy and the priests themselves. Our Church life is simply based on a system of mutual praise and adulation. A parish is always happy about itself and requires the pastor to constantly thank his "fine" people for their contributions, efforts, help and generosity, to be the mirror in which they can admire themselves. The same spirit of success, "good-neighborhood," and external activities pervades our life from the top to the bottom. The success of the Church is measured in terms ofattendance, financial wealth and the number of "parish affairs" of all possible kinds. Where in all this is there any room for repentance? It is indeed absent from the very texture of the Church's preaching and action. A priest can call his parishioners to ever "bigger ‘n better" achievements of material nature, he can sometimes voice his dissatisfaction with their "attendance" and "obligations," he can fight masonry and church committee, but he himself usually does not think in terms of a world which ". . . is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of eyes and the pride of life" (I John 2:16). He himself does not really believe in the Church as salvation from the despair and darkness of sin, and not an institution for the satisfaction of the "religious needs" of members "in good standing." In these spiritual conditions, in this pseudo-Christian moral situation confession cannot be but what it actually is: either another "religious duty" to be performed once a year for the satisfaction of an abstract canonical norm, a real "end in itself" with no spiritual consequences whatsoever, or, then, a discussion of one's "problems" (not sin, for a sin, as soon as it is recognized as such, has ceased to be a "problem") which most of the time have no solution precisely because their only solution would be the conversion to real Christianity.
4. Can a truly Orthodox view and practice of confession be restored? Yes, if we have the courage to deal with the problem at its roots and not with mere externals.
The starting point of this restoration is in preaching and teaching. To some extent all Christian preaching and teaching is a call to repentance, to the metanoia, the change of mind, the reevaluation of all values in the light of Christ. There is no need to preach constantly on "sin," to judge and to condemn. It is when a man is challenged with the real "contents" of the Gospel, with its Divine depth and wisdom, beauty and all embracing meaning, that he becomes "capable of repentance," for the true repentance is precisely the discovery by the man of the abyss that separates him from God and from His real offer to man. It is when the man sees the bridal chamber adorned that he realizes that he has no garment for entering it. Too much of our preaching is in the form of abstract imperatives: the Church prescribes to do this and that; but commanding is not preaching. Preaching implies the desire to convey to people the positive, the Divine meaning, for it is only this meaning that makes "prescriptions" significant, life-giving, saving. Christian teaching should also include a deep and constructive criticism of the secularistic philosophy of life, an evaluation of the culture in which we live. Christians must always fight idols - and there are plenty of them today: "success," "materialism," "security," "money-centerdness," etc. For here again, only within such broad and truly Christian judgment of this world the notion of sin recovers its true meaning, as deviation of love and interest, as worshipping values and norms that are not truly "valuable." This implies, of course, that the priest himself is free of this identification with the world, puts eternal Truth and not the "practical considerations," in the very center of his ministry. Both preaching and teaching must have a prophetic element in them, i.e., an element of Divine judgement, an invitation to consider everything in this world with the eyes of Christ.
5. Confession, then, must be replaced in the perspective of the sacrament of penance. And each sacrament implies at least three equally essential elements: preparation, liturgical order, and fulfillment. If the whole life of the Church, but especially preaching and teaching are, as we have seen, preparation for repentance in a broad sense, there is room and need for spe cial preparation. The Church has set apart special periods of repentance: Lent, Advent, other fasts. Here the liturgy itself becomes a "school of repentance" (cf. for example the inexhaustible riches of the Lenten Triodion), and it is the proper time to center preaching on the sacrament of penance itself. The order of Gospel readings, the Psalter, the hymns and prayers supply us with abundant material, the purpose of preaching being to "apply" all this to men, to their life, to their actual situation. The goal is to provoke in them the penitential mood, to make them examine their life not only in terms of isolated sins and transgressions, but in their deepest motivations. Where is the real treasure of their hearts? What guides them in their life? How do they "feel" the precious time given them by God? What is the meaning of this rapid progression to the unescapable end? A man who questions the deep motivations of his life, who has understood, be it just once, that life in its totality can and must be referred to Christ, is on his way to repentance, which is always a conversion, a change of mind, a renewed vision, a decision to return to God (cf. my pamphlet on Great Lent). The preparation must, of necessity, include an explanation of confession, - its order, prayers, meaning.
6. The liturgical order of confession consists of A) prayers before confession, B) exhortation to penitents, C) confession proper, and D) Absolution.
Prayers before confession should never be omitted. Confession transcends the level of a human dialogue and also that of a purely rational acknowledgment of guilt. The man can say - "guilty" and yet feel no repentance. All sacraments are acts of transformation. And the first transformation in the sacrament of penance is precisely that of a human confession of transgressions into Christian repentance, i.e., into a purifying crisis of the human soul, which turns itself to God and from Him receives the vision of both - sin and the overwhelming love of God "covering" that sin. But this transformation requires Divine help and prayers before confession invoke and call for, this help. They are, therefore, an integral part of the sacrament.
After the prayers comes the exhortation. It is the ultimate invitation to true repentance. "God stands here invisibly and receives your confession . . ."
But it is essential that at this solemn moment, when the priest points to the presence of Christ, he himself would not be opposed to the penitents. One of the best forms of exhortation is an identification of the priest with all sinful men. "We have all sinned . . ." For he is neither a prosecutor, nor a silent witness. He is the image of Christ, the One who takes upon Himself the sins of the world, and it is his active charity which will move men to repentance. The Russian pastorologist, Metropolitan Antony, defined the essence of priesthood as "compassionate love." Penance is the sacrament of reconciliation, i.e., sacrament of love, not of judgment.
Confession itself has various patterns. But, since the penitent usually does not know how to begin, it is the duty of the priest to help him. The form of a dialogue is, therefore, the most practical one. And although all sins are essentially sins against God, against His truth and love, it is advisable to divide confession into three parts:
A) Relation to God: - Questions on faith itself, on possible doubts or deviations, on prayer, liturgical life, fasting etc. Too many priests narrow the whole confession to "immoral acts," forgetting that the deep root of all sins is in the weak or deformed faith, in the lack of love for God.
B) Relation to fellow man: - The basic attitudes of selfishness and self-centerdness, indifference to men, lack of attention, interest, love. All acts of actual offense must be mentioned and their sinfulness shown to the penitent. Envy, gossip, cruelty, etc.
C) Relations to one's self: - Sins of flesh with, as its counterpart, the Christian vision of purity and "wholesome," respect for the body as an icon of Christ, etc. - Lack of serious interest, of any real effort to deepen the whole life; alcohol, cheap idea of "fun," irresponsibility, family relations. We must never forget that we usually deal with a man who is not used to examine himself, whose attitudes towards life are shaped by common standards, who is basically self-satisfied. It is the function of the confessor to shake this "petty bourgeois" attitude, to show the penitent the real Christian dimensions of perfection, to challenge him with the idea of constant conflict. The Christian vision of life is a tragical one and unless people realize it, there is simply no hope for a "Christianization" of our soft and socially centered Church life.
A final exhortation concludes this dialogue. In it the priest must call the penitent to a necessary change. God does not forgive, unless the man desires a better life, makes the decision to fight his sins, to begin an ascension towards God. What seems impossible with men, is possible with God. This last exhortation must be an act of faith: try hard and God will help for He has promised to do so . . .
And then, only then, comes the absolution - as the fulfillment of all this: - preparation and effort, preaching and meditation, exhortation and confession. Once more, from an Orthodox point of view, there can be no absolution where there is no repentance. God does not accept a man, who has not come, and "coming" is precisely repentance, an act of "conversion," a real and critical change of the whole attitude of man. To think of absolution as sheer "power," valid and efficient whenever pronounced by the priest, is to deviate from Orthodoxy into a magical sacramentalism and a "juridicism," denounced by the whole spirit and the entire tradition of the Orthodox Church.
7. Therefore, the absolution must, of necessity, be refused if a man
- is not an Orthodox Christian, i.e., openly and confessedly rejects the vital teachings of the Church;
- refuses to give up an obvious state of sin: for example, adultery, stealing, exercising a dishonest profession, etc.;
- conceals his sins or fails to acknowledge them as sins.
We must remember, however, that the refusal of absolution is not a punishment. Even excommunication in the Early Church was pronounced with the hope of healing the man. For the Church's purpose is to save, not to judge or condemn. The priest must always contemplate the total fate of man, strive at his conversion and not simply follow a formal norm of justice. We know that the Good Shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in order to save just one. This leaves a great freedom to the Priest who must follow his priestly conscience, must pray before he decides anything and must never be satisfied with an external conformity, with "rules" and "prescriptions."
May, 1961
St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3, Fall, 1961, pp. 38-44

Paschal Encyclical in Serbian

2009-04-14T13:34:00.004-05:00

СРПСКА ПРАВОСЛАВНА ЦРКВАСВОЈОЈ ДУХОВНОЈ ДЕЦИО ВАСКРСУ 2009. ГОДИНЕ ПАВЛЕ

ПО МИЛОСТИ БОЖИЈОЈ ПРАВОСЛАВНИ АРХИЕПИСКОП ПЕЋКИ, МИТРОПОЛИТ БЕОГРАДСКО-КАРЛОВАЧКИ И ПАТРИЈАРХ СРПСКИ, СА СВИМ АРХИЈЕРЕЈИМА СРПСКЕ ПРАВОСЛАВНЕ ЦРКВЕ, СВЕШТЕНСТВУ, МОНАШТВУ И СВИМА СИНОВИМА И КЋЕРИМА НАШЕ СВЕТЕ ЦРКВЕ: БЛАГОДАТ, МИЛОСТ И МИР ОД БОГА ОЦА, И ГОСПОДА НАШЕГА ИСУСА ХРИСТА, И ДУХА СВЕТОГА, УЗ РАДОСНИ ВАСКРШЊИ ПОЗДРАВ:

ХРИСТОС ВАСКРСЕ!ВАИСТИНУ ВАСКРСЕ!

Рецимо, браћо, и онима који нас мрзе, опростимо све ради васкрсења.(Пасхална стихира)
И ове године у пролећне дане, драга браћо и сестре, у једнакој радости прослављамо највећи празник Цркве Божије, Васкрсење Христа Спаситеља. Сваке године у ово доба, када тајанствена сила живота буди обамрлу природу, слава Васкрслог Господа и у нама буди један светлији, светији и радоснији живот. Данас навиру узвишене мисли, рађају се дивна осећања и обузима нас једно свето и несвакидашње расположење. Са Васкрслим Господом и ми се уздижемо у један виши и садржајнији живот. Блиста у срцу нашем победнички сјај вечног живота који нам је даровао наш Васкрсли Искупитељ и Спаситељ. Као што је у оном тајанственом Почетку, на Божију Реч постао свет и у свету живот, тако је својом Божанском силом васкрснуо из мртвих Син Божији Исус Христос. Овај велики догађај тајанствен је као стварање света, чудесан и узвишен као права песма радости која се заорила над свеукупном Божанском творевином. Шта више, као пуноћа првог стварања и као ново стварање, он је још чудеснији и узвишенији како од првог стварања тако и од свих историјских збивања.

Многи векови деле нас од оног ведрог јерусалимског праскозорја, када су свете жене Мироносице угледале празан гроб. А биле су дошле да мртво тело свога Учитеља помажу мирисима, да Га оросе сузама и да хладну гробну плочу загреју топлином своје љубави, своје верности и своје оданости. Биле су оне и поред крста Распетог Спаситеља онда када су Га, осим Мајке и једног ученика, сви били оставили. Макар и издалека пратиле су оне последње тренутке највећег Учитеља. Нису Га заборавиле ни када је умро. Зато су удостојене да буду први сведоци и први весници Васкрсења, прве радоснице новога живота у Васкрслом Господу. Данас и у нашим ушима одзвања ехо оне благе опомене коју им је упутио анђео Божији са гробног камена: „Што тражите живога међу мртвима? Није овде, него устаде” (Лк 24, 5–6). И уплашене жене, ту у врту где је био гроб, прве доживеше радосни сусрет са Васкрслим Господом. Упутио их је да иду у Галилеју, да обавесте ученике и да их обрадују радосном вешћу да ће се и њима јавити (Мк 16, 7). И ево, драга децо Божија, и ова наша данашња васкршња радост потиче од тог сусрета са Васкрслим Господом, Који је васкрсао за нас и унео радост новог живота у све следбенике Своје и исповеднике Његове Божанске науке.

Исто тако, деле нас векови од сутона оног јерусалимског дана, када се Васкрсли Господ јавио следбеницима Својим, Клеопи и другом ученику. Преплашени, хитали су они из Јерусалима у Емаус, да би се склонили због страха од Јудеја. Иако нису били храбри као свете жене Мироносице, удостојени су сусрета са Васкрслим Господом. Скрио је Он од њих Свој пређашњи лик, па Га нису познали. И када их је после разговора о ономе што се догодило у Јерусалиму и ломљења хлеба напустио, исповедише се један другоме како је „срце горело у њима” док је са њима беседио (Лк 24, 13–32). Онај исти свети огањ, који је горео у срцима двојице Христових ученика који су ишли за Емаус, пламса данас и у нама, када прослављамо овај Празник над празницима, када и ми доживљавамо духовни сусрет са невидљивим победитељем смрти. Исти тај огањ грејао је и греје Цркву Божију у дугим вековима њене историје. Зар Он сам није казао: „Дођох да бацим огањ на земљу” (Лк 12, 49). Тај свети огањ грејао је и претке наше и осветљавао им живот у тамницама дугих векова. Живели су они дуго без дома, без огњишта, без слободе, у крајњој несигурности, без кућишта и имања, као и многи данас који су избегли са својих огњишта, али увек са вером у васкрслог Господа, с вером у победу правде и истине и с вером у васкрсење.

Исто тако, дуги векови деле нас од оне прве васкршње вечери, када се Васкрсли Господ први пут јавио својим од страха и разочарења преплашеним ученицима, и поздравио их поздравом охрабрења: „Мир вам!” (Јн 20, 19). У трен ока вратио им је мир, васкрсао веру у Њега и Своје Божанско посланство. Да Он, Син Божији, није васкрсао, историја хришћанства била би завршена одмах Његовим последњим речима на Крсту: „Сврши се!” (Јн 20, 30). А Он је васкрсао и у име те истине Његови ученици дадоше радосно живот за Њега. Носећи ту велику истину Његова Црква пошла је у победнички поход широм света, да без проливања крви победи своје бројне до зуба наоружане непријатеље.

„Што тражите живога међу мртвима?” (Лк 24, 5), опоменуо је, као што сте чули, анђео Божији свете жене Мироносице, наднете над светим гробом. Али оне су пошле на Његов гроб жедне истине и вечног Живота. А данас милиони и милиони духовно осиромашених и морално опустошених људи, занесени сјајем пролазних ствари, живе у овом свету као у хладном гробу. Зар се свет не претвара у фабрику и тржиште лажног сјаја и пролазних вредности? Зар се данас често не говори да човек и без неба може мирно да ходи по земљи? Као да се попео данашњи човек на високе врхове своје вавилонске куле, самоуверен у своје знање, али често ситан, себичан, агресиван и пун злих настројења која прете његовој кули и његовом опстанку. Бојимо се да ће се ова наша цивилизација сувише касно сетити Христових речи: „Без мене не можете чинити ништа” (Јн 15, 5).Наш Спаситељ је и постао човек, да бисмо се ми обожили. Дао је да се разапне на Крсту да би искупио грехе рода људског. Васкрсао је из мртвих да би нама даровао вечни живот. Учинио је смрт само једним посебним тренутком у животу - животу који не престаје. Када је Пилат пресуђивао Спаситељу, није имао духовне снаге ни умне висине да у Њему препозна Сина Божијег. Али ипак, испред његових очију није могла да умакне лепота људског лика страдалног Спаситеља у његовој судници. „Ево човека!” – објављује Пилат тужитељима (Јн 19, 5). Овим је ипак покушавао да утиче колико-толико на окореле савести Христових убица. Веровао је да ће људски сјај Његове Личности можда неке поколебати.

Молимо Васкрслог Господа да и у нама васкрсне људски лик првобитне човекове природе, који је данас тако често извитоперен, маскиран и унакажен бројним манама и пороцима. Да и у нама свако препозна човека, обасјаног Његовим вечним животом, био имућан или сиромашан, на великом или малом положају и месту. Наше доба је тренутно суочено са материјалном кризом, али је код нас још присутнија криза морала и карактера. Радоваћемо се ако свако, угледавши било кога од нас, може да каже: Ево човека! – да би свако, и пријатељ и непријатељ, и судија и тужилац, у свакоме од нас увек доживео истинског и правог човека. Сачувајмо, браћо и сестре, људско достојанство, које је толико уздигао Својим Васкрсењем Син Божији. Сачувајмо веру у Васкрслог Господа, љубав према ближњима, истини и правди; према свему добру које људи ипак желе, али које без помоћи Васкрслог Господа и Његовог Јеванђеља не могу постићи.Помолимо се Васкрслом Господу и замолимо Га као двојица ученика, путника за Емаус, да остане са нама. Да му се радујемо, да из Њега црпимо снагу, да се духовно уздижемо, да нас не захвате и не однесу мутне воде нашег времена.

Упућујући ову поруку свој нашој браћи и сестрама, данас се посебно сећамо верника на Косову и Метохији, као и наших верника широм света, на свима континентима где православни Срби и сви православни хришћани данас прослављају Васкрсење Христово, ваш Патријарх и сви Архијереји Српске Цркве поздрављају вас поздравом радости и новог живота.

ХРИСТОС ВАСКРСЕ!
ВАИСТИНУ ВАСКРСЕ!
Дано у Патријаршији српској, у Београду,о Васкрсу 2009. године.
Ваши молиtвеници пред Васкрслим Господом:Архиепископ пећки,
Митрополит београдско-карловачки и Патријарх српски ПАВЛЕ
Митрополит загребачко-љубљански ЈОВАН
Митрополит црногорско-приморски АМФИЛОХИЈЕ
Митрополит средњeзападноамерички ХРИСТОФОР
Митрополит дабробосански НИКОЛАЈ
Епископ шабачки ЛАВРЕНТИЈЕ
Епископ нишки ИРИНЕЈ
Епископ зворничко-тузлански ВАСИЛИЈЕ
Епископ сремски ВАСИЛИЈЕ
Епископ бањалучки ЈЕФРЕМ
Епископ будимски ЛУКИЈАН
Епископ канадски ГЕОРГИЈЕ
Епископ банатски НИКАНОР
Епископ новограчаничке епархије ЛОНГИН
Епископ источноамерички МИТРОФАН
Епископ жички ХРИЗОСТОМ
Епископ бачки ИРИНЕЈ
Епскоп британско-скандинавски ДОСИТЕЈ
Епископ рашко-призренски АРТЕМИЈЕ
Епископ бихаћко-петровачки ХРИЗОСТОМ
Епископ осечко-пољски и барањски ЛУКИЈАН
Епископ средњоевропски КОНСТАНТИН
Епископ западноевропски ЛУКА
Епископ тимочки ЈУСТИН
Епископ врањски ПАХОМИЈЕ
Епископ шумадијски ЈОВАН
Епископ славонски САВА
Епископ браничевски ИГЊАТИЈЕ
Епископ милешевски ФИЛАРЕТ
Епископ далматински ФОТИЈЕ
Епископ будимљанско-никшићки ЈОАНИКИЈЕ
Епископ захумско-херцеговачки ГРИГОРИЈЕ
Епископ ваљевски МИЛУТИН
Епископ западноамерички МАКСИМ
Епископ горњокарловачки ГЕРАСИМ
Епископ аустралијско-новозеландски ИРИНЕЈ
Епископ умировљени захумско-херцеговачки АТАНАСИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ хвостански АТАНАСИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ јегарски ПОРФИРИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ липљански ТЕОДОСИЈЕ
Викарни Епископ диоклијски ЈОВАН
Викарни Епископ моравички АНТОНИЈЕ
ОХРИДСКА АРХИЕПИСКОПИЈА:
Архиепископ охридски и Митрополит скопски ЈОВАН
Епископ полошко-кумановски ЈОАКИМ
Епископ брегалнички и мјестобљуститељ
Епархије битољске МАРКОВикарни
Епископ стобијски ДАВИД

Sermon by Metropolitan Jonah

2009-04-09T17:30:00.005-05:00

It is a great joy to see everybody here this evening from so manydifferent communities, from different traditions. Orthodoxy is acelebration of diversity in unity, and unity in diversity. Our unity is in our one Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and our one Orthodox faithand our one commitment to living the truth, to living as Christians.Not to live according the spirit of the world, not to live accordingto our passions, not to live according to the desires that flit by through our minds and lead us into all sorts of trouble, but to livethe truth, to live Orthodox.

And, our diversity is something wecelebrate, not a diversity of lifestyles, but a diversity that reflects the whole spectrum of our community, people of all races,people of all colors, people from a multitude of different ethnic backgrounds.And yet, there is another thing that unites us here as well: we areall Americans. We are a single community, we are a single community of Orthodox Christians, and we are the local church in Dallas, the localchurch in Northeast Texas. It doesn't matter that we have all these various administrative jurisdictions, ultimately, because we gathertogether as one body, to pray with one mind and one heart, to celebrate the same Eucharist, to come to the same chalice. It doesn'tmatter if we are eastern rite or western rite, doesn't matter the language in the service is, but its all, we are one church, we are one local Church, and I might add, we are one indigenous Church.

Right now in world Orthodoxy there is a solution to our disunity being proposed. But I would propose there are two solutions. There's onesolution being proposed in which we all submit to Constantinople. We all submit to a foreign patriarchate where all decisions will be madethere, where we will have no say in the decisions that are made. We will have no say in our own destiny. We surrender the freedom that wehave embraced as American Orthodox Christians to a Patriarchate still under Islamic domination. I think we have a better solution.And this is something of the utmost importance, and it is something imminent. It is not something where we can wait and say "Oh maybe in my grandchildren's time there will be Orthodox unity." I'm talking about June. And, if you think I'm kidding, there is a conference being convened in the Phanar in June to discuss exactly this -- (actually,it's in Cypress) -- to subject the Diaspora to the single singular control, the so-called Diaspora, to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and thereby come into unity.Well, that's one model for unity. I would submit if we wanted a Pope we'd be under the real one. And I don't think any of us want a Pope,otherwise we wouldn't be here.

But who are we really? I think part ofthis comes from a total and complete ignorance and misperception onthe part of the holy fathers who are the leaders of the churches inthe Old World. They don't understand that there are Americans who are Orthodox.There are Americans who have been born and bred in this land who have embraced the Orthodox faith. There are Americans who have come over here -- fleeing communism, fleeing Islamic domination, fleeingoppression. Who have come to this land to embrace a new life, a lifeof self-determination as well as a life that is governed by the Orthodox faith. I don't think they understand that our church here has this rich diversity but we all share a common identity.It doesn't matter what language the services are in, we appreciatethem all. We appreciate the Arabic and the Romanian and the Slavonic;we appreciate the Georgian and the Albanian and who knows what else.But we also have to appreciate the English and the Spanish and the French, just as we have to appreciate the Klinkit and the Aleut, andthe Upik and the Athabaskian, who are the true indigenous Orthodox Christians of our land.I don't think the holy fathers in the Phanar understand that we are a Church, albeit with separate administrations, but that has a common value of determining our own destiny. A church that is dedicated tothe conciliar process, which does not ignore the voice of the laity,which does not ignore the voice of the priests, a church which is united in its common commitment. Because we are Orthodox not simply by birth, we are Orthodox not simply by our ethnic heritage. We are Orthodox because we have chosen to be Orthodox. We are Orthodox because we have committed our entire life to Jesus Christ and the Gospel. And, it is that commitment to Jesus Christ and the Gospel andour commitment to bring our brothers and sisters in our land to thatsame commitment of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, not to some kind ofalien ideology, not to some nationalist or imperialist ideology fromsome forgotten empire, not the imposition of foreign customs and thesubmission to foreign despots.But, to a united Church in this country, a Church in which we value the diversity and value the unity equally. A Church in which weappreciate one another and listen to the voice of one another so that no person is devalued. So the traditions that our fathers in the faith have brought to this country are valued.

So the efforts and the labor and the sweat and the blood and the tears of all those who have gonebefore us to establish the Orthodox Faith in America for over 200years now, 215 years to be precise, to acknowledge their sacrifice.And, it is upon their sacrifice, upon their martyrdoms, upon their sanctity, upon their sacrifice that our Church here is built.There are those there that say that there was no canonical OrthodoxChurch in the North American until 1924 until the establishment of thePatriarchate of Constantinople and the Greek archdiocese. Excuse me. The Russian Orthodox Church established a missionary workhere in 1794. It established English-speaking churches where priests were trained to speak, to serve the liturgy, to teach the Gospel, andto bring faithful people into the Orthodox Church, from 1857 in SanFrancisco. They say our unity in America was a myth at the time of St.Tikhon. Well yes, there were a few dozen churches that were not partof it, but what about the 800 that were? What about those 800churches? Churches that may have had Russian clergy, or had clergy whowere trained by the Russians, but were composed of Greeks and Serbs,of Arabs, of Romanians, of Bulgarians, and of converts, who have stood for the integrity of the Orthodox Faith and the integrity of theGospel of Jesus Christ, and the integrity of the witness, the missionary outreach which is essential to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Not to make people Greeks, not to make people Russians, not to makepeople Arabs, but to simply bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to thisland, in its wholeness and its completeness, as it was preached by the holy Apostles, in the fullness of its integrity. There are those there, in the old world, who devalue this, who say that they are the only criteria of Orthodoxy. Who are ignorant of our Saints, who refuse to recognize the sacrifice of so many of those who have come beforeus, in Christ, to establish the Gospel here.

I think we have a different solution. It is imperative for us to cometogether. Not for all the other churches, the Antiochians and theSerbians and the Bulgarians and the Romanians and everyone, to jointhe OCA, but to come together in a new organization of Orthodoxy in North American that brings us all together as one Church, even justpulling together all our existing organizations so that all the bishops sit on one Synod, so that all the Metropolitans get together on a special Synod or something like that. So we can continue ourrelationship with the Mother Churches, a relationship of love and support. Firm in our own identity as Orthodox Christians and making our witness to protect them from whatever evils confront them, whetherit be an aggressive Islam, or whether it be Communists who now call themselves democrats (I'm not talking about Washington by the way, not at all.)It's very interesting. Seven months ago I was still an abbot in a monastery in northern California. Just a few months ago I was madeMetropolitan and I had no idea, really, what the scope of Orthodoxy isin America. And, now I'm beginning to get an idea. Not only did I findmyself the Metropolitan of the OCA, but Locum tenens of the Bulgarian diocese. Well, these are people who have fled oppression just as in somany eastern European countries. It's the same people who were thereunder the communists; they just changed their titles.It's the same thing with the churches in the Middle East. How manyhundreds of thousands of faithful Iraqi Orthodox Christians are livingas refugees in camps in Jordan and Syria, ignored by the world. Weneed a united, powerful witness. A witness that will not only bear witness to the unity of the Gospel and our common commitment to oneFaith in Jesus Christ the one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism that constitutes the Orthodox Church. We need to bear witness as a united Body, only to those issues that affect the Phanar, not only to the tragic situation in Cypress, but to those issue that affect all Orthodox Christian throughout the world. There is no witness in Congress. There has been no Orthodox voice, save one lone Serbian bishop, during the American aggression in Kosovo. There were so manyhundreds and thousands of Orthodox Christians that suffered and died at our hands, and the hands of our government and our voice was muted.

We have to come together as one united Orthodox Church in North America in order to truly show people that the Orthodox Church is the One Holy Catholic Church, in order to show that truly we are the Church constituted by the Apostles of Jesus Christ. And, there is only one way to show that -- not by self-righteous proclamations of our Orthodoxy it's not by self-righteous condemnation of non-OrthodoxChristians, it's by coming together and showing people how we love oneanother, how we forgive one another. How we bear common witness to the Gospel. Though we have multiple churches and diverse traditions, weaffirm that there is One Truth, who is the person of Jesus Christ. The Orthodox way of life is the way of the healing of the soul and the way of salvation.It is imperative brothers and sisters, imperative on us that, we come together and with one voice, as the Orthodox Church of North America,to say to the holy fathers of the Old World, the Orthodox Church exists in North America. We are grateful for the support you have given us. We love and support your work. We rejoice in your victories and we are sad with your tragedies. But, you have to give us the freedom to take care of our own Church in our own country, in our own culture, and not to be controlled by people who have never heard a word of English much less allow a word of English to be spoken in the liturgy. We can't allow our Church to be controlled with people who have no appreciation of our culture and have to bow to the Turkish Islamic authorities.This, my friends, is something truly critical affecting our life and our witness. We hear of all of these scandals, all the stuff that wenton in the OCA and all the stuff going on in the Antiochian Archdiocese, and all the petty little stuff that goes on in ourparishes. All of that is pettiness. We have to come together. The Lord Jesus Christ is calling us together to be one Church in America,composed of all Americans, no matter where they came from, no matterhow long their ancestors, or they themselves, have been in this land.Because the canonical organization of the Church, according to theHoly Apostles and all of the ancient Fathers, is not about some kindof international organization where we look 8000 miles away for some source of canonicity. But it is the local Church, the presbyters andthe deacons, and the faithful people gathered around their bishop.This is the fullness of the catholic Church. This is the fullness ofthe Orthodox Church as it was given to us from the holy Fathers, as it was given to us by the Apostles. And, it is this that we must affirm.That Church exists now, here, in our midst. It was planted by ourFathers in the faith generations ago, on this continent. It has grown and bears fruit. And, it subsists out of our common sacrificial commitment to Jesus Christ. Let us give thanks to God for our unity,let us give thanks to God for our diversity. Let us affirm to ourbishops that they will tell the bishops of the Old World,"There is an American Orthodox Church. Leave it alone."God Bless you.

(transcribed from Sermon, April 5, 2009)

Schedule of Services for Holy Paschal Cycle

2009-04-06T13:27:00.003-05:00

APRIL 5 FIFTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT– ST. MARY OF EGYPT Liturgy at 10:00 am

APRIL 7 ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. Liturgy at 10:00 am

APRIL 11 LAZARUS SATURDAY Liturgy at 10:00 am.

APRIL 12 PALM SUNDAY Divine Liturgy at 10:00 am. with blessing of Palms

APRIL 15 GREAT & HOLY WEDNESDAY Holy Unction Service at 6:30 pm

APRIL 16 GREAT & HOLY THURSDAY St. Basil’s Liturgy at 10:00 am
The Reading of the twelve Passion Gospels at 6:30 pm.

APRIL 17 GREAT & HOLY FRIDAY (STRICT FAST DAY).
Vespers at 6:30 p.m. ( Taking Down from the Cross)
Matins ( Lamentations of the shroud and the procession) at 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 18 GREAT & HOLY SATURDAY
Procession around the church & Matins of Christ's Resurrection at 11:45 pm

APRIL 19 PASCHA - LITURGY OF RESURRECTION at 10:00 a.m.

APRIL 26 ST. THOMAS SUNDAY Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 3 SUNDAY OF THE MYRRHBEARERS Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 6 ST. GEORGE THE GREAT MARTYR & VICTORBEARER Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 10 SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 17 SUNDAY OF SAMARITAN WOMAN

MAY 24 SUNDAY OF THE BLIND MAN Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 28 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD Liturgy 10:00 am

MAY 31 HOLY FATHERS OF THE 1ST EUCUMENICAL COUNCIL Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

JUNE 7 PENTECOST– TRINITY SUNDAY
STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN -Patron Feast Day of the Church
Divine Liturgy 10:00 am followed by banquet.

Church Closure for February 22nd

2009-02-19T16:55:00.004-06:00

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

The Church will be closed this Sunday the 22nd of February although the Holy Liturgy will be celebrated outside the church in front of the steps as the parish hall is not safe or befitting for us to hold services in due to its current state. I have also posted a notice concerning the traffic flow to and fro on I-45 in the upcomming months which will prove to be a headache for those who do not alternate routes. I myself will probably travel on Hwy 3 aka Old Galveston Highway.

Fr. Serge

The Nativity Icon

2008-12-21T21:04:00.016-06:00

The intimate relationship of icon, ritual worship, and event of the feast is nowhere better illustrated than on Christmas. The icon of the Nativity of Christ shows in a remarkable way the special place the Orthodox Church assigns to icons. It portrays the whole scene of the Incarnation, its spiritual and theological dimension. If one were to see this icon and understand it, one would have a profound insight into the meaning of the Birth of the Lord.

The icon is crowded with figures and scenes, but each has a story to tell, each is involved with the Nativity. Occupying the central place is the new-born Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, while the Mother, the Holy Virgin, reclines close by. they are in a dark cave, from which peaks jut into the sky. The light from heaven pierces the blackness. All this conveys an other-worldly character to the scene. The Incarnation involves two worlds- that of eternity and that of God and Man. And in the birth of Christ we have a fusion of those worlds, we have God becoming Man.

We see the God-Man in all His humility. He is born in a cave. Animals watch and wait upon Him silent wonder. He comes at night and the world is asleep to the awesomeness of the occasion. Still the newborn Child is the Lord of Creation. the heavens open and a star points its light at Him. The angels appear and sing out praises to God and Child. The shepherds, awed by the sight and sound of the night, cautiously approach the improvised cradle. Strange men of the East come, and kneeling before Him, offer Jesus the precious gifts they bear.

The Magi often translated as Wise Men are connected with the Three Wise Youths who refused to offer worship to idols in the Book of Daniel and were rescued from the fiery furnace that King Nebuchadnezzar had placed them in when they invoked the name of God. The Magi were considered priests of an eastern cult and practitioners of magic and astrology. The wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria represented the sorcery and idol worship that the Magi gave up when they worshipped Jesus. Even their names have significant meaning. Balthazar a Greek corruption of the Babylonian name Belshazzar, familiar in the Book of Daniel which means: O Lord, protect the king". Melchior, is an Aramaic name which means, "The king is my light". Gaspar is a Roman corruption of Persian name for Gondophares, which means, "treasure bearer".

St. Irenaeus of Lyons alluded to the role of the Magi in the allegorical interpretation of their gifts. Gold because He was a king of an eternal kingdom, Frankincense, burnt on altars as divine offerings, because He was a High Priest and Myrrh, used for anointing corpses to indicate that He would die and be buried for the sake of mankind. Venerable Bede recorded in later tradition that the three Magi signified the three parts of the world- Africa, Asia and Europe and that they were thus linked with the sons of Noah, who fathered the three races of Earth.

Christmas Services Schedule

2008-12-21T20:31:00.003-06:00

Dear Beloved Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Christ is Born! Indeed He is Born!

This is a great time in our Christian year, a time of rejoicing, a time of faith, a time of hope and therefore a time of love. It is to that joy, to that friendliness that we invite all today, those who are practicing your faith both in the Church and outside it, in your daily life and also you whom we miss at the wonderful and holy services of the Church, yours and ours. Come let us all be one in our Holy Orthodox Faith and in the One Lord, Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who by His great love and compassion for all mankind condescended to be born of a virgin. And by His Nativity He revealed to all His almighty divine power by which He reigns over the universe.

Your church sends this greeting to all in love and hope that you will respond. As we all know in the previous months that our island of Galveston suffered a major catastrophe which engulfed many of our parishioners who lost almost all of their earthly possessions. Unfortunately, even our small but ever faithful orthodox church communities have suffered as well, especially our sister parish of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Birth-Giver of God. It is my fervent prayer that we will remember these parishes not only now for this holy season but continually throughout the whole year and the course of our life, and for our earthly, temporal gifts that God grant us His heavenly and eternal gifts.

Enclosed we will find the schedule for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Services for Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church:

December 24th at 7:00pm we will have Othros followed by Divine Liturgy for the members of our Greek Orthodox Community whose church, hall and office were completely decimated by the storm

January 6th at 7:00 pm we will have Great Vespers Service (Badnje Vece) with traditional burning of Yule Log.

January 7th at 10:00 am Divine Liturgy NATIVITY OF OUR LORD & SAVIOR

Future announcements

2008-10-14T11:31:00.004-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A few announcements:

Father Nicholas Hadzellis together with YAM: Young Adult Ministries( A Pan-Orthodox Ministry) has asked us to join the Ballapalooza! Basketball and Volleyball in an effort to help the Orthodox Churches in Galveston recovering after Hurricane Ike. The event will take place on October 23, 2008 between 6:30-8:30pm at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Gym. Father Nick can be reached below.

Father Nicholas Hadzellis
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral
3511 Yoakum Blvd.Houston, Texas 77006
(713) 526-5377
youngadults@agoc.org
http://www.yamhouston.org/

Also on Sunday October 25th, 2008 following the Divine Liturgy we will have a special church meeting for all board members, family and friends of Sts. Constantine and Helen to discuss future plans in the reconstruction of our church hall and also in the effort of helping our fellow parishioners with any assistance they might need. Don't forget the day before on Saturday the 24th we will have another cleanup work day on our church hall

Church services have resumed at Sts. Constantine & Helen Church

2008-10-14T09:44:00.003-05:00

Dear brothers and sisters,

Thank God we are now able to serve divine liturgy in our church and will do so going forward. We have the air conditioning working and lights as well. It is so good to see everyone back at home in our church where we all belong. We will still have to wait another month or so before we can sand and repolish the church floor and then to add the carpet again. Unfortunately we cannot enjoy each others company for fellowship post liturgy as the hall is still in need of major repair. Nevertheless we will make sure that we will triumph over this tragedy. Great news friends our sister parish of the Greek Orthodox church will be able to save their icons from the iconostas after all. There were initial worries that this would not be the case but thanks to the Good Lord above and His divine providence they will be spared. The icons were painted in the period between 1931-1934. The icon of the Mystical Supper above the Royal Doors was painted in 1966 while the deacons doors with Sts. Archangel Michael and Gabriel were painted in 1977. They were carefully removed from the church yesterday and placed in storage with the help of Jim Kyritsis and Barnabas Powell from the IOCC Team under the supervision of Tony Speakman. The church has been able to be aired out and the majority of pews and carpets have been taken out as they were destroyed.

Enclosed are some pictures prior to the removal of the icons from the church in order to give us a better understanding of the devastating affects the waters did have on both the church and hall

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/LeeSKapetenakisPics?authkey=Pj9Rl20eF5E#

Church and Hall Cleanup

2008-10-13T13:08:00.004-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On October 4th at 9:00 am about 20 or so volunteers had gathered together at Sts. Constantine & Helen to help clean up the church as well as the Church Hall. What started out to be a routine cleanup turned into a mjor project and one that was truly beneficial to all involved. The floor in the hall had to pulled up after buckling beyond any hope of recovery. Next to go was the sheetrock on the walls that had to pulled down revealing the mold spots behind them. Almost everything in the hall needed to be thrown out. All the tables and chairs were ruined. We were fortunate enought to save some tables. The kitchen and restrooms were not spared the fury of Ike and needed to be cleaned from top to bottom. We were also able to trim bushes and cut down any branches hanging precarioulsy over our fence. It goes without saying that a good, honest, hard day's work does not go unrewarded. We were treated to a feast of sorts provided again by the generosity of the workers who had come to clean the church. Their love and support was shown most perfectly by their actions. God bless the workers, cleaners, cooks and everyone who helped, continues to help and who will help in the near future. A special thanks need to go out to the following people:

Slobodanka Matic, Ljubica Puskac, Mira Djujic, Aleksandar Savic, Natalija Hryshechko and John (Ilija), Joby and Colleen Erickson, Richard (Basil) and Mary Gustafson, Carl Northcutt, Irena Milosavljevic, Ross Leo, Gordan and Dijana Joncic, Branko Gligoric, Gordan and Mileva Heckner, Nada Grueneich, Zoran Milenkovic, David and Andrew Jarrett.

Enclosed are some pictures from that days labour which commenced at 9:00am and did not finish until 5:00pm. Don't worry brothers and sisters, there will be another cleanup scheduled for October the 25th for all those who missed the first one.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/CleanUpOfStsConstantineHelenChurchAndHall?authkey=D_nsyN48I24#

Church Services in Galveston this Sunday

2008-09-26T19:23:00.005-05:00

God-willing, dear brothers and sisters, we will be having a Service of Thanksgiving this Sunday September the 28th at our church of Sts. Constantine and Helen at 10:00am. Seeing that we still do not have electricity and a majority of our parishioners have lost a majority of the earthly possessions we still wish to thank our patron saints and our Good Lord for sparing our lives and most importantly to give us strength, hope, courage and love so that we can lean on each for support and of course see each other for the first time after this calamity that has befallen us.

Enclosed also is a new link with more pictures taken by the IOCC Team:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/IOCC?authkey=KC1OR2oWJVc#

Sunday Services

2008-09-20T09:04:00.004-05:00

Services will be held this Sunday, September 21st at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Houston.

Divine Liturgy at 9:00 a.m. (English) 10:30 a.m. (Greek)

Fr. Serge will be serving at the 9:00 a.m. service. Following the Divine Liturgy, we will meet with representatives of IOCC in the church hall.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral
3511 Yoakum Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006
713-526-5377

View Larger Map

Local News Media Outlets

2008-09-19T13:31:00.003-05:00

The following links are to local Houston news media outlets.

Houston Chronicle Newspaper

http://www.chron.com/

KHOU-Channel 11 News (CBS Affiliate)

http://www.khou.com/

KPRC-Channel 2 News (NBC Affiliate)

http://www.click2houston.com/

Photos of Serbian & Greek Orthodox Cemetery

2008-09-18T07:53:00.010-05:00

The following link contains photos of both the Serbian & Greek Orthodox cemeteries on Galveston Island.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/SerbianGreekOrthodoxCemeteries#

Photos from Sts. Constantine & Helen Serbian Orthodox Church & Hall

2008-09-18T07:53:00.008-05:00

Click on the link below to see photos from Sts. Constantine & Helen Serbian Orthodox Church & Hall:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/StsConstantineHelenSerbianOrthodoxChurchHall#

More photos will be forthcoming as they become available from the IOCC team.

Photos of Greek Orthodox Church & Hall

2008-09-18T07:53:00.006-05:00

Please click on this link to view the photos from the Holy Assumption Greek Orthodox Church & Hall.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/HolyAssumptionGreekOrthodoxChurchPhotos#

IOCC and Fr. Serge Visit Galveston Churches

2008-09-18T07:53:00.005-05:00

IOCC representatives Lee Kapetanakis, Pascalis Papouras, Deacon Dan Gray and Fr. Serge visited Galveston Island yesterday. They toured the Sts. Constantine & Helen Serbian Orthodox Church and the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church. A report and photos will be forthcoming.

Video from the Strand

2008-09-18T07:53:00.002-05:00

Channel 2 News did a walking tour/video of the Strand. Follow this link:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17492630/index.html

Update on Parishioners & Friends

2008-09-16T21:20:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of the following parishioners/friends I have heard from thus far:

Sveto & Angela Andrich
Allison Baker
Sandra Bartosh & Family
Leslie Canatella
Tom Colyandro
Fr David & Presbytera Eckley
Joby & Colleen Erickson
Celina Guyewski
James & Pat Callahan w/children
Branko Gligoric & Family
Slavica (Silvia) Hallum & Family
Alex & Monica Heckner
Gordan & Mileva Heckner
John (Ilija) & Nataliya Hryshecko
Lister Family
Bernice Kovacevich
Eleanor Kovacevich & Family
John & Cindy Kovacevich
Natalija & Danica Kovacevich
Pete Kovacevich & Family
Larry & Taki Kriticos (Olympia Grill) & Family
Getrude (Baba Goya) Popovich & Family
Danilo (Danny) Popovich & Family
Elizabeth (Betty) & Marko Markovich & Family
Bobana Matic
Dana & Nenad Mirkovich
Elizabeth Mitich
Elaine Mitrovich
Mimo Milosevich
Ilija Milovanovic
Valentina Novakovich
John & Sharon Powell & Family
Bethany Powell
Vida Rector & Family
Alex Savic
John & Lisa Stanish
Raul (Ralph) & Joanne Valencia & Family
Stephanie (Caravageli) & Brent Vasut

FEMA Will Pay for Hotel Bill Directly

2008-09-16T17:45:00.003-05:00

For those of you who cannot return to the island, or any area that has been designated a disaster by the federal government, FEMA will pay for your hotel directly. Please visit the FEMA website for more information-you must register for assistance with FEMA first, then apply for this program-and it is only available to those who are unable to return to their home:

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=45791

Look & Leave Policy for Galveston Residents

2008-09-16T17:41:00.003-05:00

Galveston was allowing residents onto the island this afternoon on a "look and leave" policy only. Each car was marked with "LL" to designate that it must exit by curfew. As word spread, I-45 the Gulf Freeway became a parking lot with cars trying to get on the island. A few minutes ago, news reports indicated that the "look and leave" policy was going to stop due to the number of police needed to monitor the overwhelming traffic and the number of incidents of looting that subsequently increased due to police being diverted to the handle the huge inflow.

Update Regarding Churches

2008-09-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

We have just received information from Leroy Naschke, president of The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church on Ball Street, that the Greek church did take in some water. He will going by there today to reassess the damage.

Sts. Constantine & Helen Serbian Orthodox Church is in good condition, from the outside there doesn't seem to be any damage to either the church or the hall.

Leroy remains on the island and will contacting Fr. Serge in approximately 2 hours with another update.

Sts. Constantine & Helen Church

2008-09-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

Fr. Serge and Christopher Bolan emptied out the church on Friday, September 12th at 4:00 pm. All liturgical items, vestments, church records, icons, etc. have been removed and are being housed in a safe location. The only thing, unfortunately, that was not taken out of the church were the icons on the iconostas.

If you have heard any information on the condition of the church, please post here.

Blog Set Up to Share Information

2008-09-16T09:46:00.001-05:00

This blog is created to help share information regarding the Orthodox faithful on Galveston island. As you've seen in the news, Galveston took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike and the devastation is far and wide. No one is being allowed onto the island and it is extremely difficult to get information from anyone still located on the island.

If you have heard from parishioners from the following churches, please post information regarding their status:

Sts. Constantine & Helen Serbian Orthodox Church
4109 Avenue L
Galveston, TX 77552

Holy Assumption Greek Orthodox Church
1824 Ball
Galveston, TX 77550