Twice Now the Seasons Have Come and Gone
A Reflection on the Second Anniversary of Roberto Rivas’s Repose (November 19, 2008)
Roberto Rivas, March 1997.
Twice now the seasons have come and gone; the sleepy Winter and the rebirth of Spring, the never-ending days of Summer, and the gradual fading away of Fall. I have always disliked Fall, with the eerie sound of the wind whipping through the trees, knocking the last intransigent leaves from the branches, adding to those already-fallen, which are emitting a musty smell. During this season of transition from life to death, now two years ago, your time of transition was appointed by God, for reasons which we who remain cannot know, at least until we join you on the Last Day, before the mighty throne of God, on that fearsome day of Judgment.
You were the one who sought out the lonely to give them company, and in fact that is how our friendship began that December day in 1994. You noticed that I was feeling down, troubled by the awkward changes of life, the angst of youth, and uncertainties of which path to follow, whom to trust, and how to safely navigate the seeming social chaos. You would not allow me to spend countless hours alone, but came and retrieved me with your family, ensuring that I had a chance to experience new things and meet new people. During this time, I even acquired fluency in your language, taking in your culture, and seeing myself as a part of everything you were. Even after we became separated by both my move away and your descent into a revolving cycle of incarceration for petty offenses and stints at a stable working life, you continued to share yourself with everyone, bringing people together. Whether you were up or down, you treated those around you with respect and kindness, and always offered justifications for everyone else, never seeking to judge your friends for their mistakes.
How cruel then, that when you passed from this life, you were alone, in the quiet of the night, with no one present to comfort you as you drew your last breath! After giving compassion and love to so many downtrodden friends, we were not there to comfort you and pray for you at the fearsome moment that your soul departed from your body, the moment which all men should fear and prepare for in earnest. (Let the reader make note!) Indeed, after having spent the previous day helping your friends with their move, you embarked on that fateful journey. Entering the car, did you know you would enter eternity? As you checked your rear-view mirror, did you suddenly review your life? Or were you unaware of the impending event that would take you from us, thinking forward to the next day, the new day, wondering with hopeful anticipation if things were finally going to go your way? Perhaps this was the dawn of a new day for you, and we in our selfish grief wish for you to be here, even if this would have meant an extension of your suffering?
Did you suffer inside, because while you were around others, you were still alone? Did your attempts to heal us of our loneliness stem from some inner solitude that you could not surmount? We loved you (and still love you!) and now that the murkiness of this vain life has been cleared, we hope that you feel our love in a way that perhaps you could not feel before. We pray that you are not lonely now, but are surrounded by your ancestors and our ancestors, in the place of hopeful anticipation of the Resurrection. We pray that God forgave you of your mistakes for the sake of your love for Him and others, and for the fact that you never judged. We will never cease to pray for you in this regard, for who ultimately knows the state of another man’s heart? Who can ever know for sure, apart from divine revelation, who is counted among the ranks of the just?
Oh compassionate Lord, give rest to Thy servant our brother Roberto, and may we be found worthy of the Kingdom as well, so that on that great day of Judgment, we might stand with him and hear together Thy words: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world!” (Matthew 25:34).
The Holy Cross
Dear Friends in Christ,
During September, we celebrated our parish feast day, and a few days later, we celebrated the Holy Cross. We recalled the birth of the Virgin Mary, a miracle in and of itself, as her parents had been unable to conceive until they besought God powerfully in prayer, and then in a few short days, we were transported to Our Lord’s Passion, the culmination of His redemptive work. It is a lot to cover in such a short time!
We remember the Cross on two main occasions during the year; the Third Sunday of Lent, and on September 14/27. The commemoration of the Cross is an event that is rich in Old Testament parallels, but which also has been realized in Church history on three occasions as well. The hymns of the feast point especially to three events in the history of Old Testament Israel: Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea by signing a Cross (Exodus 14:21-29), Moses leading the Israelites to victory over the Amalekites by stretching out his hands in the form of a Cross (Exodus 17:10-14), and Moses curing the snake-bitten idolaters by means of a bronze serpent placed on a pole, in the form of a Cross (Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14).
Second Anniversary
Dear Friends in Christ,
September 21 will mark the second year anniversary of the first liturgy at our mission parish, Nativity of the Holy Theotokos in Greenville! Eastern Carolina is a place where Orthodox Christianity is not familiar to most, and as such founding our mission presented a unique series of challenges. Yet in each case, God’s blessings allowed a solution to be found, often in an equally unique way.
I want to take the opportunity to thank all of the parishioners who have worked with me since Day One to establish, maintain, and grow this community. Those who help to establish a mission are pioneers of sorts, stepping into unfamiliar territory often with nothing more than hope and a vision for a bright future. God allowed a diverse group of people to meet each other and form the core nucleus back in early 2008. Property became available at a most convenient time, and I was ordained a priest by His Eminence Metropolitan Pavlos that summer. From the start, we have realized we are fulfilling a plan that is bigger than any of our own desires, or even the sum total of all our goals and dreams. I certainly look forward to each liturgy, to fellowship with such dedicated persons, and in anticipation of new visitors, who always seem to enrich our church family in some way. We hope you’ll be inspired to attend liturgy if you have not already.
The Ecumenical Councils and Us
Dear Friends in Christ,
On Sunday, we commemorated the Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, all those bishops and teachers who assembled on seven occasions between A.D. 325 and A.D. 787 to debate and define precisely the Christian faith against those who were challenging it from within. This is an aspect of the Orthodox Church which is not common in other churches; when correct doctrine is defined in opposition to erroneous opinions, the teachings are not only enshrined in decrees, but are also incorporated into the hymnody. This is in keeping with an ancient maxim: “Lex orandi, lex credendi” or, loosely translated, “what is prayed is what is believed.” Our faith in Christ is proclaimed loudly, and what we believe has a profound and direct impact on our personal spiritual life (c.f. my earlier reflections “Doctrines and Spirituality” and “Spiritual, but not Religious”). One of the hymns states:
Ye have become exact keepers of the apostolic traditions, O Holy Fathers; for in setting forth in council the dogma of the consubstantiality of the Holy Trinity in Orthodox fashion, ye cast down the blasphemy of Arius. Then, after censuring Macedonius, the enemy of the Holy Spirit, ye condemned Nestorius, Eutychius, Dioscorus, Sabellius, and Severus the headless. Wherefore, make ye entreaty that we be delivered from their error, and that our life be preserved blameless in the Faith, we pray (Aposticha of Vespers).
Dear Friends in Christ,
On Sunday, we celebrated American Independence Day, our nation’s birthday, a day when we thank God for the freedom we have in this country to live where we wish, work in the profession we choose, and worship God as we choose to. In centuries past, and even today, many people have not enjoyed these same freedoms, and live under oppressive governments. In fact, our own Church, the Old Calendar Greek Orthodox Church, was even banned in Greece after the majority of the clergy accepted the forced change of calendars in 1924, and this situation continued technically through the 1970s, although persecutions were the worst in the 1950s. In fact, our first bishop in America, Metropolitan Petros, came from Greece after his family property was seized by the state! We have a lot to be thankful for, indeed.
How we choose to exercise our freedom, though, is the next question. In order to embark on the journey to freedom, our ancestors had to choose to give up certain things, in the hope of gaining other things. There was a price tag, and there were certainly trade-offs. Some knew they would never enjoy the fruit of their own labor, but believed they could provide a better life for their children. Such acts revealed a true self-sacrificial spirit, which laid a great foundation for us.
Whenever I visit our parishes, or speak to fellow Orthodox Christians, the topic of the missionary work we are doing in North Carolina always generates interest. I have previously written two articles concerning our missionary endeavors in North Carolina, “Our Missions in North Carolina” and “Our One Year Anniversary,” but for some time I have wanted to author another informal reflection to update our friends. Although it is now several months since Holy Week, that blessed time remains ever present in my heart and mind, so I will recount with joy how we celebrate this time in our missions.
I continue to serve both our missions in Raleigh (St. Mark the Evangelist) and Greenville (Nativity of the Holy Theotokos) regularly; generally speaking, three times a month in each location, by a combination of Saturday and Sunday liturgies. I maintain a secular job to support myself, and my on-call rotation has increased, so scheduling is often challenging, but God has always blessed it to work out in the end. I also occasionally find time to visit my other mission station, in Charlottesville, Virginia, or to provide pastoral care for families who have found us elsewhere and are hopeful to establish a mission, such as the folks in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Whenever I visit our parishes, or speak to fellow Orthodox Christians, the topic of the missionary work we are doing in North Carolina always generates interest. I have previously written two articles concerning our missionary endeavors in North Carolina, “Our Missions in North Carolina” and “Our One Year Anniversary,” but for some time I have wanted to author another informal reflection to update our friends. Although it is now several months since Holy Week, that blessed time remains ever present in my heart and mind, so I will recount with joy how we celebrate this time in our missions.
I continue to serve both our missions in Raleigh (St. Mark the Evangelist) and Greenville (Nativity of the Holy Theotokos) regularly; generally speaking, three times a month in each location, by a combination of Saturday and Sunday liturgies. I maintain a secular job to support myself, and my on-call rotation has increased, so scheduling is often challenging, but God has always blessed it to work out in the end. I also occasionally find time to visit my other mission station, in Charlottesville, Virginia, or to provide pastoral care for families who have found us elsewhere and are hopeful to establish a mission, such as the folks in Nashville, Tennessee.
Let the Dead Bury Their own Dead
On Saturday, June 6/19, 2010, Fr. Anastasios delivered a sermon on the theme “Let the Dead Bury Their own Dead” at our sister mission, Holy Mother of God in Charlottesville, Virginia. We thought it would be beneficial to re-post the sermon video here as well, since it touches on the concept of following through with initial enthusiasm, something which affects missions greatly. The lighting in the video is unfortunately a little dark, but that was due to it being such a beautiful and sunny day!
Loving Our Enemies
Dear Friends in Christ,
During the liturgy last Saturday morning, the Gospel appointed to be read was Matthew 5:42-48:
Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Passages such as these are difficult for us to hear; they are the moments when the “rubber hits the road.” It’s easy to be nice to the people that are nice to us, but exceedingly difficult to be nice to people who are even hateful towards us. Yet Jesus calls us to do so.
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Redefining Church?
When I come to Greenville for liturgy three times a month from Raleigh, I take U.S. Route 264, which brings me right by the town of Wilson, N.C. The few times I’ve stopped there for gas or food, I’ve been impressed by its small-town charm, and have prayed that someday there will be an Orthodox Church there.
For several months, I have noticed a certain billboard as I pass by the town. It is for a Church that has campuses in both Wilson and Greenville, and it states boldly: “Redefining Church.” I am suspicious of slogans in general, but all the more so when they are related to Church. When they express an idea that is incorrect, I feel frustrated.
That is exactly the feeling I get each time I see this billboard. I want to make it clear that I do not judge the sincerity of the Church’s pastors and staff, and I have no desire to disparage any good work they may be doing in their community. For this reason, I will not name the Church. But I do feel an obligation to point out where this message falls short of the Gospel of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
What do Churches like this one mean by “Redefining Church,” anyway? Often they arise in reaction to what they perceive as the stuffy, spiritually dead atmosphere found in mainline Protestant congregations. Just as in the 16th century, Martin Luther was faced with the Roman Catholic Church, which had replaced a personal relationship with Jesus with a formalistic, cold religious system, our modern Churches believe that even Protestantism has now become formalized and stuck in the past. The process of Reformation must continue.
