The Latest News in the Diocese

New Rector Appointed in Denver

Fr. Kyrill Williams is the new Rector at Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral in Denver, CO. Fr. Kyrill, Tamra and their two daughters Mylee (4) and Alice (1) come to us from the Diocese of the South where they have been serving since leaving seminary. Fr. Kyrill graduated from St. Tikhon’s Seminary in May 2008. Matushka Tamra studied criminology and psychology at the University of South Florida and worked as a felony probation officer in Florida for four years.

World Day of Prayer and Fasting

Dear Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy of the Diocese of the West:

Below is an email sent me by a friend who works in the area of Orthodox-Roman Catholic relations. It is an announcement of a day of prayer and fasting, this coming Saturday, concerning the steadily worsening situation in the Middle East  As all of you know, Syria was once a place where Christians of the Middle East were the most protected. The present drama threatens everyone in Syria, but especially the Christians. I would ask you to consider joining in this appeal to the only One who can solve the problem of the Middle East, God Himself. This is one thing all Christians can do together, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants.

+Benjamin
Archbishop of San Francisco

Email
Pope Francis has taken a big risk. Will his dramatic call for a day of fasting and prayer be largely ignored by the world? There was not even a mention of the appeal in the major Seattle newspaper today. The local press seems more interested in Tomahawk missiles. What percentage of Catholics will really fast next Saturday? Will the Orthodox Churches really join in the fasting and prayer on Saturday or will they consider this simply a “Catholic thing” ? What will the Muslim response be? With only six days between the announcement and the actual day of fasting and prayer, it is very easy to say that there is too little time to plan or organize anything. However, if this is delayed a month, what will happen in the meantime? To what extent will the heads of major denominations and primates of Local Churches join in the call for fasting and prayer on Saturday? Will I actually fast next Saturday? Will you actually fast next Saturday? There are many questions that will be answered as this week continues.
 
Of course, it is too early to say what the response of the world will be.  So far, there are some glimmers of hope.  Here are a few:
 
“Yesterday, the Maronite Patriarch in Beirut, Cardinal Bechara Rai, visited the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Youhanna Yazigi, and the two leaders said they were ‘deeply comforted by the Pope’s appeal’, pledging to raise awareness in their communities for common prayer.”  Link
 
The Grand Mufti of Syria desires to be in St. Peter's with the Pope to pray for peace in Syria: Muslims and other groups join in the appeal.  Link

Catholics in India will fast and pray.  Link

Melkite Patriarch --  In Syria we will keep our churches open until midnight to allow everyone (Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims) to pray. Vigils will be held wherever possible, even if there are fewer than 10 people participating. There will be special prayers at the famous Orthodox Marian shrine of Saidnaya.  Link
 
So far, I have seen the appeal of Pope Francis on few Orthodox websites.  Here are some that have reported it: Link;  Link 2;  Link 3

Peter Anderson

Prayers Asked for Sonora Faithful

A report on the Yosemite wildfire from Fr. Andrew Jacobs of St. Susanna Mission in Sonora, California:

We have for more than a week been breathing the smoke from this fire (please see the news report below). While it is 20 percent contained at this point, it is still growing exponentially. While most of the news about this fire has been focused on Yosemite, small communities throughout Tuolumne County have been and are being threatened. Now, alerts are increasing for the Hwy 108 corridor, an area that is occupied by many of our parishioners. Sonora is not in imminent danger, but adjunct communities—Tuolumne City, Twain Harte, Soulsbyville, and Hwy 49 communities such as Groveland and Mariposa—have been on evacuation notice for days, and a pitched battle is being fought to protect them (one can see the flames from some of these areas, and certainly all are inundated with heavy smoke). We request the prayers of all our brothers and sisters in Christ for those threatened by this truly huge and difficult fire. Again, this fire is unpredictable due to rough terrain and wind variance, and has grown by ten to twenty thousand acres per day for the past several days.

St. Seraphim and Fr. Michael Margitich – 60 Years of Priesthood!

July 19, 2013 was an especially joyous day at St. Seraphim Church in Santa Rosa, California. Not only was it the day for veneration of the relics of the patron saint, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, it was also the day for recognition of Fr. Michael Margitich and his sixty years of active priesthood. To add further to the celebratory atmosphere, His Eminence Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco and the Diocese of the West, was in attendance, elevating the service to a Hierarchical Liturgy.

Saint Seraphim Orthodox Church arose in a fallow field in the 1990s. The grounds and foundation were blessed in 1996, and the Church consecrated on July 28, 2001. St. Seraphim is the second church on the grounds of the Parish of the Protection of the Holy Virgin to which Fr. Michael had been assigned in 1990. The original church, built in the 1930s by ambitious and God-loving Russian Orthodox immigrants, served its purpose well for over a half-century. Most of the children and grandchildren of the old timers had moved on with their lives and away from Santa Rosa. The old wooden church, its walls papered with tattered icons was creaky and dusty as were some of the parishioners. Still, it was a growing and ethnically diverse congregation of old and young. Several of the younger church members had been introduced to the parish at GLENDI, the ethnic dance and food party that had become an “annual” parish event the year before.

Third Liturgical Music Master Class

The following is an excerpt from the article written by Vladimir Morosan and posted by Orthodox Arts Journal.

Like other liturgical arts, the art of liturgical singing, whether solo chant or choral, is dependent to a great extent upon apprenticeship and following traditionally established models. The successful transmission and development of this subtle and ephemeral art depends on the availability of opportunities for aspiring liturgical musicians to encounter examples offered by skilled master teachers, to observe and to learn from them in direct and personal ways.

Such an occasion was offered once again to the attendees of the Vladimir Gorbik Master Class entitled “Interpreting Orthodox Sacred Choral Music,” which took place June 27-29, 2013, at St. Seraphim Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa, California. During the intense two-and-a-half day period of preparation and worship, five student conductors and nineteen singers participated in 2 two-hour conducting seminars and 5 three-hour choir rehearsals, followed by a choral recital. The event culminated with the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Leave-taking of Pentecost and SS Peter and Paul (NS) on Friday evening and Saturday morning, respectively, alternately sung by the Master Class Chorus, under the direction of Vladimir Gorbik and the student conductors, and the parish choir of St. Seraphim Church, under the direction of Nicholas Custer. Archbishop Benjamin of the OCA Diocese of the West, who presided at the Divine Liturgy, spoke warmly to the Master Class participants, saying that he could not recall the last time he attended a service that was better sung.

Read whole article.

AFFIRMATION OF THE MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America

July 2, 2013

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] -- At the Tenth All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America, held in Miami, Florida in July 1992, the Holy Synod of Bishops issued a document titled, "Synodal Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life."  The Affirmations were issued after a lengthy process of study and discernment with the intention of addressing issues that, even in our time, continue to be a source of debate and division within American society.

The first section of the Affirmations, titled, "The Mystery of Marriage," reads as follows.

"God creates human beings in His own image and likeness, male and female. He declares human life, with all that He makes, to be 'very good' (Genesis 1:27-31).

"God wills that men and women marry, becoming husbands and wives. He commands them to increase and multiply in the procreation of children, being joined into ‘one flesh’ by His divine grace and love. He wills that human beings live within families (Genesis 1:27; 2:21-24; Orthodox Marriage Service).

"The Lord Jesus blessed marriage in which the ‘two become one flesh’ when, by His presence with His mother Mary and His disciples at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, He revealed His messianic glory in His first public miracle, evoking for the first time the faith of His disciples (Genesis 2:24; John 2:1-11)....

"Christ’s apostles repeat the teachings of their Master, likening the unique marriage between one man and one woman to the union between Christ and His Church which they experience as the Lord’s very body and His bride (Ephesians 5:21-33; 2 Corinthians 11:2).

"While condemning those who forbid marriage as an unholy institution, along with those who defile marriage through unchastity (1 Timothy 4:3, Hebrews 13:4), the apostles commend as ‘the will of God’ that Christians, as examples for all human beings, abstain from unchastity [porneia] and know how to marry ‘in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God.’ They insist that ‘whoever disregards this [teaching] disregards not man but God, who gives His Holy Spirit’ to those who believe (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).

"Husbands are commanded to be the heads of their wives as Christ is the head of the Church. They are called to love their wives as their very selves, as Christ loves the Church, giving themselves in sacrifice to their brides as to their own bodies. And wives are called to respect and reverence their husbands as the Church devotes herself  to Christ with Whom she too, like the wife with her husband, is ‘one flesh’ (Ephesians 5:21-33; Orthodox Marriage Service).

"The ‘great mystery’ of marriage (Ephesians 5:32) is the most used image and symbol in the Bible for God’s relationship with His People in the Old and New Testaments where the Lord is the husband and His people are His wife—so often unfaithful and adulterous (cf. Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Song of Songs, Corinthians, Ephesians, et. al.). And the ultimate union between the Lord and those saved by Christ for eternal life in God’s kingdom by the indwelling Holy Spirit is likened to the communion of marriage (Revelation 21-22)."

In light of the decisions rendered on June 26, 2013 by the Supreme Court of the United States of America with regard to same-sex marriage, we, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, reaffirm that which had been stated in June 1992, namely that marriage involves the union of one man and one woman, as divinely revealed and experienced in the sacramental life of the Church. As such, the Church does not, and can not, condone or accept marriages apart from those involving one man and one woman who seal their relationship in the all-embracing love of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

We exhort the clergy and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America not to have fear or anxiety in the face of the decisions of the civil authorities of our lands, but to bear witness to the timeless teachings of Christ by striving for purity and holiness in their own lives, by instructing their families and communities in the precepts of the Holy Gospel and by placing their trust in our Lord who ‘has overcome the world.’