“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


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Concerning the Boston Marathon Attack

HOLY EPARCHIAL SYNOD ISSUES STATEMENT ON THE BOSTON MARATHON TERRORIST ATTACK

NEW YORK – The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, on the first day of its regularly scheduled spring meeting today under the presidency of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, issued the following statement on the barbaric attack at the Boston Marathon yesterday: 
“On this day of shock and mourning, our hearts and prayers are with the victims of this latest horrendous terrorist attack. We express our unequivocal condemnation of all acts of violence and terrorism against society, which incite the justified indignation of all people who value human life, freedom and justice. We stand together with people of Boston, the participants of the Boston Marathon and their families and the people of our Nation as a whole. We call upon all our faithful to offer prayers for the repose of the souls of the innocent victims who lost their lives in these tragic events and pray for the healing of those immediately affected and for the Nation.”
We applaud the Holy Synod and join them in praying for the victims.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Matthew 19:14

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Recent discussion regarding no "recreational" activities being allowed for the youth of our community during the Lenten season begs closer evaluation.  As is current policy, the youth of our community are not allowed to play basketball or practice dance during Lent.  It is also well known that while our facilities are empty of our youth during this time, other facilities welcome our youth who have actively sought them out. 

Is it more beneficial for the church to have our youth in our facilities or at other facilities?  One would think the clergy would prefer to have the youth of this community in this community's facilities.  If this is a concept that eludes the clergy, maybe the parish council can take a stand in this matter to allow our youth to use the facilities of their church.