“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

Sunday, November 25, 2007

New Rules

Effective immediately the priests apparently have instituted new rules.

Look out; the “Church Attendance Patrol” and the “Communion Patrol” is watching you.

How about the “Confession Patrol?” Is that not a “must” sacrament?

Be careful out there! If you miss a few times (26%/year in Church attendance and 2/12ths on Communion) and you pay the consequences. You become Ineligible. You are NOT in good standing.

Meanwhile you can rest comfortably in the thought that the two priests clergy are praying for you every Sunday. That is solely how our current priests discharge their duties as priests for our community.

Let the Clergy visit the following passages from the Bible.

Let them review Matthew 23:2-33

There is a lesson to be learned. Except for those who are “beyond learning.”

Happy Holidays to all,

Nick J. Colessides

Posted by TOCB Moderator at 11:06 AM

2 comments:

Fr. Gregory Jensen said...

Forgive me, but I fail to see how attending Liturgy on every Sunday and receiving Holy Communion on a regular basis is an undue burden. I likewise fail to see how priests requiring this of potential parish council members is equivalent to the demands made by the scribes and the Pharisees.

November 25, 2007 at 2:49 PM
Anonymous said...

Father,

Thank you for your comment. None of these requirements would be any problem, IF they had been required of everyone all along. These SUDDENLY became requirements for two gentlemen who the current priests have a problem with. I would be hugely surprised to find out that this is an ongoing requirement of the current parish council, or if it had been a requirement in the past. These "rules" are being contrived as we go along - hence, new rules.

Respectfully, Barbara Colessides

November 25, 2007 at 8:34 PM

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