“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,

and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you:

but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,

but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, KJV)


The word the Athenians used for their Assembly was Ekklesia, the same word used in the New Testament for Church
(and it is the greatest philological irony in all of Western history that this word,
which connoted equal participation in all deliberation by all members,
came to designate a kind of self-perpetuating, self-protective Spartan gerousia -
which would have seemed patent nonsense to Greek-speaking Christians of New Testament times,
who believed themselves to be equal members of their Assembly.)

- Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter




ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΟ: THE GREEK SECRET


Monday, April 6, 2009

Prevarication - is it a sin when committed by the clergy?

(All of us are judged by our own deeds.)

The date is March 19, 2009. It is approximately noon. A parishioner is pulling out of a parking space at St. Sophia’s side of the Prophet Elias parking lot. About 40 feet away Fr. Michael is driving in front of the church going towards the south exit of the parking lot. As Fr. Michael is signaling to turn left at the south exit of the lot, the parishioner calls Fr. Michael on his cell phone and asks to talk to him about a religious/community-related matter.

His response is verbatim as follows: “I cannot talk to you right now; I am at the University Hospital visiting a patient.” A great response ... if it only were true.

While he is giving the above response, the parishioner is in a car, only 40-50 feet behind him at the Prophet Elias church parking lot. The parishioner is left speechless in the car. Fr. Michael drives away happy that his work for God is done right again.

Άραγες ο σκοπός αγιάζει τα μέσα?
Άλλοι που ξέρουνε λένε οτι δεν είναι η πρώτη φορά
Παράδειγμα προς μίμησιν?

Should we as parishioners emulate his example?

This Proistamenos Must Go (TPMG).

Kalo Pascha,

Nick J. Colessides

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