Tag: Pastoral Notes

Dear Friends,

In a recent Gospel reading, we heard the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15). The Sower cast seed on the ground, and it landed in various places. Some of the seed fell to the side, and was devoured by birds.

Other seed landed on rock, grew immediately, but then lacking a source of water, choked. Still other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns choked the seed. Finally, some seed fell on good ground, and bore the Sower a rich return.

Christ compares each of these scenarios to people hearing the Gospel.

Some have the word taken away by the Devil, while others become excited and fall away at the first difficulty. Some believe the message, but are more concerned with worldly concerns. Finally, some receive the Word of God, and bring forth a harvest—but with patience.

God gives us the tools we need to produce this same harvest. We were created in his image, and he gives us his grace as nourishment for our souls. He also gives us free will—a choice in the matter—which means that how we end up responding is our own decision.

Working in a small mission such as ours, there will always be people who hear the news of the new Church, become excited, and then disappear. There will be others who come but do not commit because of their other priorities. Still others will be against us from the start. However, Christ is the Sower who planted our mission, and he is watering it with Divine grace, which we receive from the celebration of the Holy Liturgy and the preaching of the Gospel. We should not allow any distractions to take us off course; as we progress spiritually, we will ourselves bear fruit, and this includes seed which will germinate those around us in the community. As the community sees the positive impact the Church has on our life and on others, more will be inspired to join us in our work. But it will be a slow process which will require much patience. The seed that grew in the fertile ground did not appear as quickly as the seed that was on the rock, because it was more immediately exposed to the sunlight, but it grew roots which let it weather the storm.

For those who are receiving this mailing who have not yet visited the mission, I extend to you my greetings and an invitation to come to our next service. I would love to meet you and hope that you will be inspired to join with us in our worship and charitable work!

Yours In Christ,
Fr. Anastasios

Dear Friends,

It is a great blessing and honor that we recently celebrated our first cycle of worship services at the newly formed Orthodox mission in Greenville, NC. Our inaugural liturgy was celebrated on our parish feast day: The Nativity of the Holy Theotokos.

Normally we celebrate a saint on his or her date of death, as this is the birthday into Heaven; but with Christ, the Theotokos, and John the Baptist, we celebrate their Conception, Birth, and Death. With Christ, it is because each event in his life had significance directly for our salvation, and with the Theotokos and St. John the Baptist, it is because the events in their lives point us to and serve as parallels to the events in Christ’s live.

The Virgin Mary was born to Saints Joachim and Anna who were barren; and this is a precursor to the Virgin Mary giving birth seedlessly.

From the first reading at Vespers, we see that Jacob’s ladder is a type of the Virgin Mary; she is the gate from earth to Heaven, by which God comes down to us.

We see in another reading at Vespers that the Virgin Mary is the gate through which no man has passed except the prince; who after having passed, left the gate unopened. This refers to Christ and the Virgin birth.

We read in the Scripture readings on Sunday about the snakes and Moses; the Israelites worshipped idols and as a result, God allowed poisonous snakes to bite them; they were saved when Moses put the image of a snake on a pole and they looked at it. Moses putting a snake on a pole is a type of Christ hanging on the Cross; when the Israelites put their mind on things earthly, they sunk like Peter in the water, but when their eyes were on the snake, they were “lifted up” to good health and salvation; so when we look up at the Cross, we are lifted up. This may lead to us sharing in Christ’s suffering, but now suffering and death have meaning for us and can be overcome.

I look forward to seeing at future services and sharing the Lord’s word with you.

Yours In Christ,
Fr. Anastasios