March 14, 2012
HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN ALEXIOS` REFLECTIONS ON THE ANNUNCIATION


“Rejoice, through you joy will shine forth,
Rejoice, through you bondage will cease…”
Akathist Hymn of St. Romanos

There is a special time in the holy season of Great Lent when we observe the Feast Day of the Annunciation. Although it is Great Lent, we celebrate this day with great joy, because it is the beginning of our salvation. This is why in Greek we call it “Evangelismos,” which may be translated as “Good tidings” or “Good News.” This is the feast of the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

The Annunciation of the Theotokos is one of the greatest and most ancient Feast Days of our Church, dedicated to the Mother of God, our most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. It is one of the twelve great Feast Days because on this day both heaven and earth were changed, when the Virgin Mary said yes to God`s astonishing revelation that God the Son should be born as a man into this world. According to the spiritual fathers and teachers, the Annunciation is the first and most important event in our salvation, because, as the hymn says, “Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery!” There would have been no Pentecost without the Ascension, no Ascension without the Resurrection, no Resurrection without crucifixion, no crucifixion without Palm Sunday, no Palm Sunday without the Transfiguration, no Transfiguration without the Nativity and no Nativity without the Annunciation.

With this, we see God’s plan to reconcile us with the Creator, the love He has for all of us, a love that is inconceivable to our minds. It is unthinkable that a Being who is the Alpha and Omega, the Creator, should have the desire to become human. Yet this is just what God did, by asking the assistance of a young girl, an innocent girl only in her teens, to participate in the miracle that enabled us to be saved. This is the miracle that we celebrate on March 25, the Feast Day of the Annunciation.

Often this miracle goes overlooked and unnoticed. How many of us in today’s society will give up our time to celebrate and commemorate such a great event? How many of us will even pause a moment to reflect on the Divine Love that resulted in our salvation? My brothers and sisters, are we too busy or too distracted with worldly things so that great miracles pass us by?

It is my hope that these thoughts will encourage your thinking and your participation in the means by which our Holy Orthodox Church assists us in our spiritual growth and renewal. Let us now resolve to celebrate the great Feast of the Annunciation, and add our “yes” to that young girl’s assent to the will of God, so that our salvation may be accomplished!


March 14, 2012
HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN ALEXIOS` MESSAGE ON GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY
As March 25th approaches, we are preparing to celebrate Greek Independence Day and to pay tribute to the vision and sacrifices of those who dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom for the Greek people.

The celebration of Greek Independence Day on March 25th is also one of the great Feast Days of our Church, the Annunciation of the Theotokos, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the Savior of mankind. On this great day, as we honor and celebrate the Divine Mystery of the Incarnation and the beginning of our salvation, we remember Bishop Germanos of Patras, who raised the banner of revolution, in an act of defiance against the Turkish oppression, marking the beginning of the War of Independence.

As Greek Orthodox Christians and citizens of the United States of America, we are sustained and strengthened by our belief in individual rights, in the rule of law, in the free practice of our religion. Thus the celebration of this day is an opportunity to reflect on the ideals of our identity and our faith.

These are not only the ideals that inspire and motivate us, but more importantly they are the values that we have shared with all those who love freedom around the world, as steadfast allies in the great struggle for liberty.

May we never take for granted the freedoms we enjoy, and never forget to work for the good of our fellow man and in the service of our Lord. May Almighty God bless us and keep us free of the tyrannies of our times so that we might serve Him, as good citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. May God bless us and grant us liberty, prosperity, and peace, and may our celebration of Greek Independence Day be a beacon of hope for all enslaved peoples around the world.

Zeto e eleftheria!


March 22, 2012
ENCYCLICAL OF HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
Prot. No. 217

+ BARTHOLOMEW
BY THE MERCY OF GOD
ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME
AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
TO THE HOLY CLERGY AND THE PIOUS PLENITUDE
OF THE ARCHDIOCESES
AND METROPOLISES OF OUR MOST HOLY APOSTOLIC AND PATRIARCHAL ECUMENICAL THRONE

Beloved children in the Lord,

Each person, created in the image and likeness of God, is a temple of the Lord. Much more so, those of us who have been baptized in Christ and chrismated with Holy Myrrh, grafted into the good olive tree of the Orthodox Church, are temples of the Holy Spirit that is within us, despite our various sins, both voluntary and involuntary, which alienate us from the Lord. “If we are faithless, yet He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Tim. 2.13)
This grace is bestowed on us through the Holy Myrrh because, as St. Dionysios the Areopagite states, the service of myrrh perfects divine knowledge and understanding, whereby in a sacred manner our ascent to and blessed communion with the divinity is accomplished. The Myrrh grants the sanctification of the Spirit and is offered to the faithful as spiritual chrismation, a royal gift that sanctifies the soul and body.
Through the Myrrh we receive the pledge of the Spirit, from whom every good and perfect gift derive. Our God, who granted the Holy Spirit both in the law and to His Apostles, sanctifies all those who are anointed with holy myrrh and ranks them among the choir of those saved by grace, if only they preserve their garment of incorruption spotless from all defilement and struggle not to disappoint the Holy Spirit, which they received through Holy Chrism. For the myrrh renders the pious faithful familiar to and genuine servants of God; and when we are sealed with myrrh, we are known by the holy angels and by all heavenly powers, being conformed to these.
When we have holiness as the purpose of our existence in this life, we keep the commandments of God in order that the Holy Spirit, the good Comforter, may remain with us all and that we may inherit the heavenly Kingdom of God in accordance with the words: “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1.16)
Therefore, inasmuch as the periodical sanctification of the Holy Myrrh is a venerated institution of our Mother Church, our Modesty has, together with the Holy and Sacred Synod, decided that its consecration will be performed this year during the Holy and Great Week of our Lord’s Passion and will take place this coming Holy Thursday. The event will be preceded by the boiling of the Holy Myrrh from Holy Monday to Holy Wednesday, when we shall commemorate the sinful woman who anointed the Lord with precious fragrance and who was ultimately shown to be purer than everyone as a result of her great desire for Christ.
The sanctification of Holy Myrrh announced with this Patriarchal Encyclical constitutes a particular blessing for those of us performing, but also for all those who will attend and participate in this service. The Holy Myrrh will be distributed to other Orthodox Churches throughout the world, thereby becoming an unceasing source of sanctification, “a garment of incorruption and perfecting seal, marking those who receive the sacrament of Baptism with the sacred name of the Father and the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit.”
We ask you, then, beloved children and brothers in the Lord, not to overlook this historical event of the Sanctification of the Holy Myrrh at our Sacred Center and to do your utmost to participate in prayer and spirit, contributing in any way but especially by your presence at the most holy Patriarchal Church from Holy Monday to Holy Thursday, when the inspiring services of the Sanctification will conclude, so that we may all receive the blessing and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as taste the benefits and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
May His divine grace and boundless mercy be with you all.

March 16, 2012