May 14, 2009
HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN ALEXIOS CONGRATULATES OUR GRADUATES
May 2009

My dear Spiritual Children,

“Grow in Grace and Knowledge of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
(2 Peter 3:18)

I wanted to take this opportunity to convey my personal congratulations with paternal love and my hierarchal blessings to all our graduates. As your Hierarch and Spiritual Father, I am full of pride for your accomplishments and I congratulate you on achieving this milestone in your life. I know that your families and your Parish communities are also very proud of you and I share in the pride and the excitement of your achievement. I am confident that all of you will certainly succeed in whatever you undertake because God has given you the gifts and talents necessary for success. Moreover you have learned from your parents and your Parish family the foundation of Christian understanding and Truth as taught by our Holy Orthodox Church.

So I pray that you will enjoy the spiritual riches of God’s Grace and Love always, as you enter a new chapter of your life in Christ! While you continue your life’s journey, may God keep you under His Divine Providence and Protection always!

ALEXIOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta


May 14, 2009
HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN ALEXIOS MESSAGE ON THE NEW MILITARY ORTHODOX BIBLE
Reverend Clergy, Monks and Nuns and the Faithful of the Holy and God-protected Metropolis of Atlanta

My dearly beloved in the Lord,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3

I greet you today with love and joy in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, giving thanks to Almighty God for all His abundant blessings, with that glorious greeting: “Χριστός ἀνέστη! Christ Is Risen!”

As Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Atlanta, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a participant in the Standing Commission of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), I am pleased to inform you that, through the efforts of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit, the Bible Society has published the New Testament and Psalms for Orthodox Christians serving in military. This compact, pocket-sized book, which conforms to military specifications and can be easily carried in a pocket or backpack, also contains icons, morning and evening prayers, guidance for the Holy Scriptures and Orthodox living and other resources. It is aimed at ministering to our Orthodox Christian service men and women who are serving in the United States Armed Forces. The cost of producing the Bible has been paid in full by the members of the Holy Synod.

I pray that you will help us find the names of our brothers and sisters serving in the military so that we can send them these Bibles for their spiritual comfort and edification, providing the means by which they can become closer to God. What better thing could we do than provide them with the “word of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”? Please go out of your way to find their names and addresses and invite all the Armed Forces members who belong to your parish to attend the Divine Liturgy on May 31, where a special prayer may be offered for them, and/or a Trisagion may be offered for those who have died in service or as Veterans. Veterans can be encouraged to attend as well.

Additional copies of the Military New Testament and Psalms to distribute to the members of the Armed Forces may be obtained from the SCOBA web site at: http://www.scoba.us/military.

As His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios said, “Ministering to the men and women who selflessly protect and defend our Nation is an essential part of the Church’s work. During the Divine Liturgy, we do not only pray for peace in the world, but we also pray for those who serve in the Armed Forces and risk their lives to protect that peace.”

May God continue to bless you and keep you in His loving care! Praying for your good health, and wishing you a blessed and safe summer, I remain,

With paternal love in our Risen Lord,
+ALEXIOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta


May 20, 2009
HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN ALEXIOS` REFLECTIONS ON THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
"O Christ, having taken upon thy shoulders our nature, which had gone astray, thou didst ascend and bring it unto God the Father."

(Matins canon for the Ascension)

Next week we will observe one of the twelve great Feast Days of our Church: the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, the last day of His physical presence on Earth. We believe that in his resurrected body, Christ lived among the disciples for 40 days but He did not return to His former life. He does not even stay with them, but only appears at various times and places, always miraculously and mysteriously. "He was not always with them now, as He was before the Resurrection,” as St John Chrysostom says.

The Ascension marks the fulfilment of God’s plan, and reveals the full meaning of Christ’s Resurrection, because with Christ, we also ascend. "We who seemed unworthy of the earth, are now raised to heaven," says St John Chrysostom. "We who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the Kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have came to occupy the King`s throne, and the same nature from which the angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord." By His Ascension the Lord opened for us the way to Heaven.

St. Luke tells us that our Lord “led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.” This sight was so amazing, even to the Apostles who had witnessed all manner of strange and miraculous events, that they stood there, transfixed, gazing up after Him, until rebuked by angels: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11) Thus we understand that The Ascension is also a promise of His Second Coming.

Like the Apostles, we also stand in awe, looking up after our Ascended Lord, and wondering what we should do from then on. However St. John Chrysostom has an answer for us, "If thou art the body of Christ, bear the Cross.”