tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25604995477983431362024-02-20T01:32:16.554-06:00Galveston Orthodox CommunityFr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-26115923161003684282011-11-18T08:46:00.002-06:002011-11-18T09:01:07.643-06:00Church Hall BlessingBISHOP LONGIN CONSECRATES THE CHURCH HALL IN GALVESTON, TX<br />Presbyter Srdjan Veselinovic elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter<br /><br /><br />By Sandi Radoja<br />Srbobran Editor <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Sts. Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church survived the wreckage, but the parish lost its hall. It was nearly an immediate decision to rebuild. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.” <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.” <br /><br />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.”<br /><br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-67159070770930651802011-09-30T11:00:00.002-05:002011-10-11T20:57:14.163-05:00Invitation to New Church-Hall BlessingSTSCHSOC 015/11<br /><br />27th September, 2011<br />The Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross<br /><br /><br />Dear Brothers and Sisters,<br />Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br /><br />Yours in Christ,<br />Fr. Serge VeselinovichFr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-74290990148803067122011-04-01T15:32:00.004-05:002011-06-29T06:25:05.450-05:00New Website for the ChurchBrothers and Sisters,<br /><br />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!Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-89530132280054079192011-04-01T15:20:00.005-05:002011-04-01T15:29:16.756-05:00Texas State Resolution for Ecumenical PatriarchateDear Parishioners, <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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/. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br /> <br />Have a blessed Lenten season,<br /><br />Fr. Michael J. Lambakis, Dean <br /><br />John Zavitsanos, Parish Council President<br /><br />Copyright 2011. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral<br />3511 Yoakum Boulevard, Houston, Tx 77006 | Phone: (713) 526-5377 Fax: (713) 526-1048Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-50466965312739120952011-03-29T08:57:00.002-05:002011-03-29T08:58:35.887-05:00Schedule of Services for Great Lent & Pascha 2011MARCH 25 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />MARCH 27 THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS <br /> <br />MARCH 30 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m. <br /><br />APRIL 1 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 3 FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST JOHN KLIMAKOS <br /> <br />APRIL 10 FIFTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST MARY OF EGYPT <br /><br />APRIL 13 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 15 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 16 LAZARUS SATURDAY <br /> <br />APRIL 17 PALM SUNDAY Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. with blessing of Palms<br /><br />APRIL 18 BRIDEGROOM SERVICES at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 19 BRIDEGROOM SERVICE at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 20 BRIDEGROOM SERVICE at 6 :00 p.m.<br /> <br />APRIL 20 GREAT & HOLY WEDNESDAY Holy Unction Service at 7:00 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 21 GREAT & HOLY THURSDAY <br />holy and Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.<br />The reading of the twelve Passion Gospels at 7:00 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 22 GREAT & HOLY FRIDAY<br />Royal Hours at 10:00 a.m. <br />Vespers at 3:30 p.m. ( Taking Down from the Cross)<br />Matins ( Lamentations of the shroud and the procession) at 4:30 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 23 GREAT & HOLY SATURDAY <br />Procession around the church & Matins of Christ's Resurrection at 11:45 p.m.<br /><br />APRIL 24 PASCHA - LITURGY OF RESURRECTION at 10:00 a.m.<br /> <br />MAY 6 ST. GEORGE, THE VICTORIOUS MARTYR Divine Liturgy 10:00am<br /><br />JUNE 2 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.<br /> <br />JUNE 5 STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN—EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES<br /> PATRON FEAST DAY OF THE CHURCH Divine Liturgy 10:00am<br /><br />JUNE 12 PENTECOST Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-81745079058655278462011-03-29T08:43:00.001-05:002011-03-29T08:43:54.237-05:00Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy Saturday6. THIS IS THE BLESSED SABBATH<br /> 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.<br />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.<br /> 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).<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br />“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...”<br /> 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:<br />“Thou hast come down to earth to save Adam, and having not found him on earth, Thou hast descended, searching him, even into Hades...”<br /> 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:<br />“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...”<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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?Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-7821334409640083532011-03-29T08:42:00.002-05:002011-03-29T08:47:46.396-05:00A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy Friday<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlqyu54mq70/TZHi3Jrt7tI/AAAAAAAABwo/x-wcJdB97oo/s1600/The_Crucifixion.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlqyu54mq70/TZHi3Jrt7tI/AAAAAAAABwo/x-wcJdB97oo/s200/The_Crucifixion.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589498049663463122" /></a>THE CROSS<br />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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.” <br />“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.”<br /> 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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-19104859031198339272011-03-29T08:40:00.004-05:002011-03-29T08:46:25.276-05:00A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Great and Holy ThursdayTHE LAST SUPPER<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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)<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br />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.<br /> 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?Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-70091022338883041172011-03-23T13:42:00.003-05:002011-03-23T13:46:55.134-05:00A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday-The EndThese 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).<br /> 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.<br /> 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.<br /> I. This eschatological— and it means ultimate, decisive, final, — challenge is revealed, first in the common troparion of these days:<br />“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.”<br /> 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:<br />“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.” <br /> 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:<br />On Monday:<br /> 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.<br /> 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...”<br />On Tuesday:<br /> 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.”<br /> 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.<br />On Wednesday:<br /> 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.” <br /> 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.<br /> 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:<br /> IV. Throughout the whole Lent the two books of the Old Testament read at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs.<br />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.<br /><br />“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...”<br />(MONDAY MATINS)<br /><br />“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.”<br />(TUESDAY MATINS)Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-10345263271463200372011-03-23T13:39:00.004-05:002011-03-23T13:41:27.423-05:00A Liturgical Explanation of Holy Week-Palm Sunday<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PThXzcSojRk/TYo-m68KnxI/AAAAAAAABwg/LlWi6pZgmjk/s1600/Entry_Into_Jerusalem.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 156px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PThXzcSojRk/TYo-m68KnxI/AAAAAAAABwg/LlWi6pZgmjk/s200/Entry_Into_Jerusalem.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587347126084083474" /></a><strong>2. HOSANNA-THE PALM SUNDAY </strong><br />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.<br /> 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. <br /> 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.<br />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.<br /> 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.<br /> 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... <br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-87082455858495128682011-03-23T13:28:00.008-05:002011-03-23T13:46:21.950-05:00A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week-Lazarus Saturday<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DFuQHVB57Yk/TYo9Cx7-PdI/AAAAAAAABwI/rmVS6Dvx-rg/s1600/the_rising_of_lazarus.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 157px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DFuQHVB57Yk/TYo9Cx7-PdI/AAAAAAAABwI/rmVS6Dvx-rg/s200/the_rising_of_lazarus.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587345405680434642" /></a><strong>THE BEGINNING OF THE CROSS - SATURDAY OF LAZARUS</strong> <br />“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.”<br /> 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.<br /> 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 <br />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.<br /><br />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!<br />—LAZARUS SATURDAY TROPARION<br /><br />“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<br />—LAZARUS SATURDAY KONTAKIONFr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-70973734159564050212011-03-09T10:10:00.000-06:002011-03-09T10:10:13.194-06:00Galveston Orthodox Community: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians<a href="http://galvestonorthodox.blogspot.com/2011/03/lent-for-21st-century.html#links">Galveston Orthodox Community: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians</a>Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-4550294788032572082011-03-09T08:43:00.022-06:002011-03-09T10:23:23.971-06:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gZUagVJva_s/TXeePrHZ_TI/AAAAAAAABvg/_KSXK5fZJBQ/s1600/john%2Bpowell.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gZUagVJva_s/TXeePrHZ_TI/AAAAAAAABvg/_KSXK5fZJBQ/s200/john%2Bpowell.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582104255258033458" /></a> Click on the above link titled <strong>Lent for 21st century Christians </strong>to listen to the programme.<br />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<br /><br />On a archived programme dated March 08, 2011 John graciously interviewed me on his programme titled: Lent and its meaning for 21st century Christians<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />Here’s a look at Rio’s Carnival numbers, courtesy Yahoo News.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />We’ll ask Fr Serge about that.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-76524910763957174672011-03-09T08:39:00.004-06:002011-03-09T10:23:50.164-06:00Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers Service<strong>Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers<br />Sunday March 13, 2011<br />5:00 P.M.<br /><br />Homily will be given by<br />The Very Rev. Thomas Hopko, Th. D.<br />Dean Emeritus; St. Vladimir Orthodox Theological School, Crestwood, N.Y.<br /><br />Sponsored by:<br />The Orthodox Clergy Association of Greater Houston<br /><br />Hosted by:<br />St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church<br />1100 Eldridge Pkwy. Houston, TX 77077<br />281-679-5395</strong>Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-85766358173255945702010-12-19T07:41:00.001-06:002010-12-19T07:42:57.340-06:00Nativity Encyclical of Bishop LONGIN“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)<br /> <br />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.<br /> <br />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.<br /> <br />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.”<br /> <br />Peace of God! Christ is Born! Happy and blessed New Year 2011!<br /><br />L O N G I N<br />Bishop of New Gracanica and Midwestern AmericaFr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-78616275182729823672010-12-19T07:25:00.011-06:002010-12-19T07:47:31.796-06:00Christmas Schedule<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TQ4MWTeCqqI/AAAAAAAABuo/f5GgVG1ohQk/s1600/Nativity.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TQ4MWTeCqqI/AAAAAAAABuo/f5GgVG1ohQk/s320/Nativity.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552388967917333154" /></a><br /><strong>CALENDAR OF CHURCH SERVICES AND EVENTS <br />FOR THE NATIVITY SEASON AT STS CONSTANTINE & HELEN 2010/2011</strong><br /><br /><br />Sunday December 19th St. Nicholas the Great Wonderwoker, Archbishop of Tyron<br /><br />Sunday December 26th Sunday of the Holy Forefathers<br /><br /><br /><strong>JANUARY</strong><br />Sunday January 2nd St. Ignatius the God-bearer, bishop of Antioch<br /><br /><strong>Thursday January 6th Christmas Eve-Badnje Vece with the traditional burning of the yule log beginning at 7:00 pm<br /><br />Friday January 7th Nativity of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ beginning at 10:00am</strong><br />Friday January 14th Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Basil the Great, archbishop of Cappadocia beginning at 10:00am<br /><br /><strong>Wednesday January 19th Theophany of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ (Baptism of the Lord)<br />Great Blessing of the Waters beginning at 10:00am</strong>Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-67400989677045798832010-12-08T10:18:00.007-06:002010-12-08T12:15:55.452-06:00Bishop Longin's visit to GalvestonHis 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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br /><table style="width:194px;"><tr><td align="center" style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif) no-repeat left"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/BishopLonginSVisitToGalvestonAndGroundbreakingOfNewChurchHallLand?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TP-xBm_HguE/AAAAAAAABuU/jG9CrPRcIm0/s160-c/BishopLonginSVisitToGalvestonAndGroundbreakingOfNewChurchHallLand.jpg" width="160" height="160" style="margin:1px 0 0 4px;"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sveselinovich/BishopLonginSVisitToGalvestonAndGroundbreakingOfNewChurchHallLand?feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">Bishop Longin's Visit to Galveston and Groundbreaking of New Church Hall Land</a></td></tr></table>Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-2969534592217625582010-12-08T06:37:00.004-06:002010-12-08T06:42:51.490-06:00St. Romanus Chorale to perform in GalvestonRev. Clergy, members and friends of the St. Romanos Chorale.<br /> <br />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.<br /> <br />Our main purposes in presenting these programs are:<br /> <br />To give thanks to Almighty God for the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ<br />To witness the birth of Christ as the real reason and spirit of Christmas<br />To honor the Theotokos, "birth giver of God" <br />To strengthen our Orthodox Christian family <br />To expose the spirituality and beauty of the Orthodox Christian Faith to the uninitiated<br /> <br />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.<br />It would be a great assist if you would, even if you have already done so, forward the flyer.<br />We are trying to show a "Merry Christmas", not a "Happy Holiday".<br /> <br />Thank you and God Bless you and your loved ones,<br /> <br />Bill Attra<br /><br />“God is with us”<br />The st. Romanos chorale in concert presents<br />in anticipation of the nativity of Christ<br />the beautiful and spiritual ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN music of the Christmas season<br /><br /><strong>ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH<br />1824 Ball St.<br />Galveston, Texas 77551<br /></strong><strong>Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 7:00 P.M.</strong>Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-3948603659770161982010-11-22T21:47:00.005-06:002010-11-22T22:14:38.126-06:00Folklore Festival November 26-28thOn 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:<br /><br />MORAVA, San Diego California<br />St. SIMEON MIROTOCIVI, Las Vegas Nevada<br />OPANAK, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada<br />and our host<br />SKUD ZAVICAJ, Houston TX<br /><br />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:<br /><br />26th November Welcome Dance will be $10<br />27th November Folk Fest will be $15<br />27th November Dance Party will be $10<br /><br />All are invited to see the skills of these young dances and the rich cultural programs they will be bring and entertain us with.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-33655020958686337542010-11-22T21:35:00.009-06:002010-12-03T08:48:16.334-06:00His Grace Bishop LONGIN to visit Galveston<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TOs30REmE3I/AAAAAAAABfk/3-qmzANow44/s1600/0434.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TOs30REmE3I/AAAAAAAABfk/3-qmzANow44/s320/0434.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542585137484927858" /></a><br /><br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-38501905737609368982010-08-19T07:55:00.004-05:002010-08-19T22:24:31.653-05:00His Eminence Metropolitan CHRISTOPHER Falls asleep in the Lord<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TG0p4RUIEGI/AAAAAAAABe4/RgHN8Fk9tE8/s1600/metro.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/TG0p4RUIEGI/AAAAAAAABe4/RgHN8Fk9tE8/s320/metro.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507103966041215074" /></a><br />METROPOLITAN CHRISTOPHER OF LIBERTYVILLE-CHICAGO, FELL ASLEEP IN THE LORD<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE NEWLY REPOSED METROPOLITAN +CHRISTORPHER OF BLESSED MEMORY:<br /><br />AUGUST 23, 2010<br /><br />Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, 10:00 AM, Monday, August 23, 2010, at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701 N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631.<br /><br />Funeral Matins, 7:00 PM, Monday, August 23, 2010, at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701 N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631.<br /><br />AUGUST 24, 2010<br /><br />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.<br /><br />A memorial lunch will be served at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 5701N. Redwood Drive, Chicago, IL 60631, following interment.<br /><br /><br />May His memory be eternal.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-42914247770790510682010-03-14T20:39:00.003-05:002011-03-23T14:53:07.336-05:00Schedule of Services at Sts Constantine & Helen SOCMARCH 7 THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS <br /> <br /> MARCH 10 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m. <br /> <br /> MARCH 12 AKATHIST TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS at 6:30 p.m.<br /><br /> MARCH 14 FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST JOHN KLIMAKOS <br /> <br /> MARCH 21 FIFTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT SUNDAY OF ST MARY OF EGYPT <br /> <br /> MARCH 24 PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY at 6:30 p.m. <br /> <br /> MARCH 27 LAZARUS SATURDAY <br /> <br /> MARCH 28 PALM SUNDAY Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. with blessing of Palms<br /> <br /> <br /> MARCH 31 GREAT & HOLY WEDNESDAY Holy Unction Service at 7:00 p.m.<br /><br /> APRIL 1 GREAT & HOLY THURSDAY <br /> The reading of the twelve Passion Gospels at 7:00 p.m.<br /><br /> APRIL 2 GREAT & HOLY FRIDAY <br /> Vespers at 3:30 p.m. ( Taking Down from the Cross)<br /> Matins ( Lamentations of the shroud and the procession) at 4:30 p.m.<br /><br /> APRIL 3 GREAT & HOLY SATURDAY <br /> Procession around the church & Matins of Christ's Resurrection at 11:45 p.m.<br /><br /> APRIL 4 PASCHA - LITURGY OF RESURRECTION at 10:00 a.m.<br /> <br /> APRIL 7 ANNUNICATION OF OUR MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.<br /> <br /> MAY 6 ST. GEORGE, THE VICTORIOUS MARTYR Divine Liturgy 10:00am<br /><br /> MAY 30 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.<br /> <br /> MAY 20 PENTECOST Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.<br /><br /> JUNE 6 STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN—EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES<br /> PATRON FEAST DAY OF THE CHURCH Divine Liturgy 10:00amFr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-36533313154403751462010-03-14T20:37:00.003-05:002010-03-14T20:49:24.775-05:00Paschal Greeting from Fr SergeCHRIST IS RISEN! <br />INDEED HE IS RISEN!<br /><br />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:<br /><br />“It is the Day of Resurrection, <br />Let us brighten up with Feast <br />and let us embrace each other;<br />Let us call “Brethren” even our adversaries; <br />Let us forgive all because of the Resurrection,<br />And thus let us call out loudly:<br /><br />“CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD<br />TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH<br />AND TO THOSE IN THE TOMBS<br />HE BESTOWED LIFE!”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-62627354819086615392009-12-26T10:53:00.005-06:002009-12-27T01:01:32.549-06:00The forgotten saint of the forgotten church on the forgotten island<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/SzZBWDNb-cI/AAAAAAAABTg/V2ZWdTjjOvA/s1600-h/archimandrite+theoclitos.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EAQrb0OYeIs/SzZBWDNb-cI/AAAAAAAABTg/V2ZWdTjjOvA/s320/archimandrite+theoclitos.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419591048661563842" /></a> 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.<br /><br />THE RIGHT REVEREND MOST VENERABLE ARCHIMANDRITE FATHER THEOCLITOS TRIANTAFILIDES<br /><br />“Guided by Saints”, “Priest of Three Kings” <br /><br />and the History of Saints Constantine and Helen Church Galveston, Texas<br /><br />Work in Progress by Layman,Milivoy Jovan Milosevich <br />Aka: MIMOSerbian Christmas….January 7, 2010<br /><br />IT’S HAS BEEN SAID….<br />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<br />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.<br />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. <br />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.<br />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. <br />The Parishioners of Galveston would later call him …“The Priest of Three Kings”<br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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”.<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /> <br />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.<br /><br />Weimar Mercury, 29 Jan 1898<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /> <br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br />+Memory Eternal+<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The Hierarchs of the Church in those years were Archbishop Alexander,Metropolitan Platon, and Metropolitan Theophilus<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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). <br /><br />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.<br /><br />From 1895 -2010, the Church-School Congregation of SS. Constantine and Helen was served by the following priests:<br /><br />Archimandrite Theoclitos (Greek) 1895-1916<br />Father Michael Andriates (Greek) 1916-1918 <br />Father John Shamie (Lebonese) 1918-1920 <br />Father George Palamarchuk (Serbian 1920-1925<br />Father Marko Dimitrieff (Greek) 1925-1926<br />Father Pavel Markovich (Serbian) 1927-1928<br />Father George Milosavljevich Serbian) 1928-1929<br />Father Joakim Tkoch (Russian) 1929-1934<br />Father Alexis Revera (Russian) 1934-1961<br />Father Damaskin Susjnar (Serbian) 1961-1965<br />Iguman Mitrofan Kresejovich (Serbian) 1965-1968<br />Father Jovan Trisich (Serbian) 1968-1969<br />Father, Dr. Tihomir Pantich (Serbian) 1969-1971<br />Father Constantine Pazalos (Serbian), (Greek Born) 1971-1982<br />Father Svetozar Veselinovich (Serbian) 1982-1985<br />Father Zarko Mirkovich (Serbian) 1985-1987<br />Father Dragan K. Veleusic (Serbian) 1987-1992<br />Father Oleg Vifliantsev (Serbian), (Russian Born) 1992-1994 Father Dane Popovich (Serbian) 1994-1994<br />Father Dejan Tiosavljevich (Serbian) 1994-1995 <br />Father Srdjan Veselinovich (Serbian) 1995-Present<br /><br />Marriages, Baptisms and Celebrated Liturgy in the following locations in America.<br /> City/Town Aprox. Distance<br /> from Galveston<br /> New York, New York 1416 miles<br /> Washington, D.C. 1213 miles<br /> <br /><br /> Hartsborne, Oklahoma 380 miles<br /> Dallas, Texas 269 miles<br /> Ft. Worth, Texas 281 miles<br /> San Angelo, Texas 363 miles<br /> New Braunfels, Texas 199 miles <br /> La Grange, Texas 132 miles<br /> Galveston, Texas 0 miles<br /> Houston, Texas 50 miles<br /> Beaumont, Texas 90 miles<br /> Eagle Lake, Texas 93 miles<br /> Seattle, Washington 1937 miles<br /> Portland, Oregon 1881 miles<br /> San Francisco, California 1686 miles<br /> Denver, Colorado 928 miles<br /> New Orleans, Louisiana 287 miles<br /> Lake Charles, Louisiana 117 miles<br /> Mobile, Alabama 414 miles<br /> Biloxi, Mississippi 362 miles<br /> Port Lavaca, Texas 122 miles<br /> Polacios, Texas 86 miles <br /> Corpus Christi, Texas 181 miles<br /> San Antonio, Texas 216 miles<br /> Waco, Texas 209 miles<br /> Austin, Texas 191 miles<br /> Cameron, Louisana 81 miles <br /> Rockport, Texas 154 miles <br /> Indianola, Texas 35 miles<br /> Brazos, Texas 60 miles<br /> Sabine, Texas 75 miles<br />Approximate total missionary miles of work……..over 25,000<br />“by train or horse and buggie”<br />31 locations in 11 States in 21 Years<br /><br />Extreme Post Script:<br />In retrospect, this writer remains in awe, that The Right Reverend, Most Venerable Archimandrite Father Theoclitos Triantafilides May….truely….be <br />“The Forgotten”First Greek-American SAINT<br />He was the answer to our predecessors every prayer.<br />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.Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2560499547798343136.post-92154542255085665112009-12-26T10:51:00.000-06:002009-12-26T10:52:31.028-06:00Nativity Encyclical 2009The Serbian Orthodox Church<br />to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2009<br /> <br />+AMPHILOHIJE<br /> <br />By the Grace of God<br />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:<br /> <br />Peace from God! Christ is Born!<br /> <br />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.<br />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.<br />Another great father of the Church, St. Gregory the Theologian, begins his Nativity homily with the doxology – glorification of God:<br /> <br />Christ is born – let us glorify Him!<br />Christ comes from heaven – let us welcome Him!<br />Christ is on earth – let us be lifted up!<br />Sing to the Lord all the earth! <br /> <br />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.”<br />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.<br />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) <br />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.”<br />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.<br />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. <br />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.<br />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. <br />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)<br />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)<br />Is not all the good from God that we have done this year our biggest gift to the Divine Child?<br />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?<br />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?<br />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?<br />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)<br />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.<br />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.”<br />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)<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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)<br />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.”<br />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:<br /> <br />PEACE FROM GOD - CHRIST IS BORN!<br /><br />Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade at Christmas, 2009.<br /><br />Your intercessors before the cradle of the Divine Infant Christ:<br />The locum tenens of the throne of the Serbian Patriarchs,<br />Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands AMPHILOHIJE<br />Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana JOVAN<br />Metropolitan of Libertyville-Chicago CHRISTOPHER<br />Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna NIKOLAJ<br />Bishop of Sabac-Valjevo LAVRENTIJE<br />Bishop of Nis IRINEJ<br />Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE<br />Bishop of Srem VASILIJE<br />Bishop of Banja Luka JEFREM<br />Bishop of Budim LUKIJAN<br />Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE<br />Bishop of Banat NIKANOR<br />Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America LONGIN<br />Bishop of Eastern America MITROPHAN<br />Bishop of Zica CHRYSOSTOM<br />Bishop of Backa IRINEJ<br />Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia DOSITEJ<br />Bishop of Ras and Prizren ARTEMIJE<br />Bishop of Bihac and Petrovac CHRYSOSTOM<br />Bishop of Osijek and Baranja LUKIJAN<br />Bishop of Central Europe CONSTANTINE<br />Bishop of Western Europe LUKA<br />Bishop of Timok JUSTIN<br />Bishop of Vranje PAHOMIJE<br />Bishop of Sumadija JOVAN<br />Bishop of Slavonia SAVA<br />Bishop of Branicevo IGNATIJE<br />Bishop of Milesevo FILARET<br />Bishop of Dalmatia FOTIJE<br />Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic JOANIKIJE<br />Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina GRIGORIJE <br />Bishop of Valjevo MILUTIN<br />Bishop of Western America MAXIM<br />Bishop of Gornji Karlovci GERASIM<br />Bishop of Australia and New Zealand IRINEJ<br />Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina ATANASIJE<br />Vicar Bishop of Hvostno ATANASIJE<br />Vicar Bishop of Jegar PORFIRIJE<br />Vicar Bishop of Lipljan TEODOSIJE<br />Vicar Bishop of Dioclea JOVAN<br />Vicar Bishop of Moravica ANTONIJE <br />THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OCHRID<br />Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje JOVAN <br />Bishop of Polos and Kumanovo JOAKIM<br />Bishop of Bregal and locum tenens of the Diocese of Bitolj MARKO<br />Vicar Bishop of Stobija David <br />[Path of Orthodoxy translation]Fr. Sergehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12155316464848204271noreply@blogger.com0