“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


Thursday, December 2, 2010

REFRAIN: verb - to abstain from an impulse to say or do something

All involved in this matter are advised to refrain from any further action whatsoever related to the issues raised, pending review and resolution of the matter by the Holy Eparchial Synod.
 - from the October 28, 2010 letter to N. Colessides by Archimandrite Skordallos, Chief Secretary for the Holy Eparchial Synod  

What part of this instruction is unclear? We are about to receive a highly hedged letter asking for stewardship pledges while we still do not know the decision of the Holy Synod. 


For a group of people who represent those highly anxious to eliminate Greek from services, one would think instructions in English would be comprehended. And, for a group that professes such deep adherence to the wishes of the clergy, one would imagine that the precise instructions given by the Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod would be followed TO THE LETTER!


- The Moderators

1 comment:

Yannis Armaou said...

Probably the proistameno from Prophet Elias only, told his sheep that we are already split and it's a minor delay.The letter is not signed by the clergy! why? Are they not the ones that pull their(PC) strings??
They need the money badly.No general Assembly,NO BUDGET for 2011,they owe
3 mos to the archdiocese,what do you expect them to do,how can they "refrain"? As they say in the old country:Ο ΠΝΙΓΜΕΝΟΣ ΑΠ'ΤΑ ΜΑΛΛΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΙΑΝΕΤΑΙ.