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GREAT LENT 2013
To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Diocese of the West
Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:16-18, read on Cheesefare Sunday)
Dearly beloved,
As we enter into the Great Fast in preparation for our celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection, I exhort each and every one of you, my faithful flock, to heed the words of our Lord quoted above. So often we try to reduce our relationship with the Savior to a list of “dos and don’ts.” Certainly, Great Lent is quite a temptation in this way. What to eat, when to eat it, when not to eat it, how much to eat, if we can eat, etc., all can become the measuring stick for our effort.
But I remind you of two things, brothers and sisters. The first is that the Fast is not about “things.” It is about emptiness and repentance. The emptiness that we feel when we don’t eat or watch very carefully what we do eat is supposed to be a reminder to us that we feed our appetites constantly and never leave room for the Lord. The repentance is the turning around in effort to move away from our daily appetites to move towards a more godly and iconic life reflecting the Lord.
The second reminder is that in many ways, we are not to “measure” our Lenten efforts at all. The Pharisee measured his efforts and found them more than adequate. In all humility, let us strive to make a sincere effort and then allow God to measure it.
I ask your forgiveness as we enter into this holy time of year and wish for all my faithful parishes and each and every one of you a most fruitful and joyous Fast. May we all rejoice in the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection at the end of this journey!
With love in Christ,
†Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco
A "Practicum for Deacons and Subdeacons with His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin" has been scheduled for May 10-12, 2013 at Holy Resurrection Church in Tacoma, Washington. Registration is required and the form can be found here.
A Master Class for Church Choir Conductors and Singers. In the course of the Master Class, Maestro Gorbik will work with conductors (pre-selected by required audition) and the Master Class Chorus of singers (also pre-selected by required audition) on the techniques and principles he has perfected with the Choir of the Moscow Representation Church. More information can found here.
On February 8-9, 2013, musicians from all over California and beyond gathered at beautiful St. Seraphim's parish in Santa Rosa, CA for PSALM's annual Liturgical Singing Seminar: a Pan-Orthodox weekend of training in liturgical singing and conducting. Choral Leadership was taught by Mark Bailey, who is currently director of the Yale Russian Chorus and the American Baroque Orchestra. Vocal Development was taught by Anne Schoepp and Alice Hughes, both directors at St. Lawrence Orthodox Church in Felton, CA. Voicing Music for Small Choirs was taught by Nicolas Custer of St. Seraphim's Orthodox Church. Anne Schoepp also taught a session on Entering into the Beauty of God, featuring Fr. Anthony Coinaris' book, "Do Something Beautiful for God." Together participants sang Friday Vespers, and Saturday Liturgy. Great Vespers on Saturday evening was sung antiphonally between a choir of seminar participants and the St. Serpahim's Parish choir. The time spent singing together is always uplifting for all attendees, but of special importance this year was the singing session devoted to liturgical compositions of the late Maia Aprahamian, friend and colleague of many present. Much of her music was also sung during the services for the weekend. It was a moving and beautiful time for all, and we felt Maia's presence with us. Many thanks to Fr. Stephan Meholick for serving the services for us and sharing some stories about Maia and her journey from being a secular composer to being an Orthodox composer. Glory to God for all things!
Dear Friends,
The St. Juvenaly Orthodox Mission, based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, has just signed a contact on a church building near Hilo, and are trying to raise enough money to complete the purchase.
This is a unique opportunity to expand the presence of the Orthodox Church to the second-largest city in Hawaii.
The Big Island is the largest island in the United States, about 4000 square miles. St. Juvenaly Mission is one of only three Orthodox churches in Hawaii. Hilo is about a two-hour drive from Kona, and the Orthodox community there has grown significantly over the past year.
Please consider helping the church grow by donating to establish a stable, permanent Orthodox presence near Hilo.
The total purchase price is $170,000, and their deadline for raising money is Holy Week.
They are also looking for private investors who might be able to offer a loan for the remainder of the purchase.
This is very much a community effort. Your gifts are appreciated! The Mission community is raising monthly pledges from Orthodox faithful on the island, and they have volunteers ready to step in to fix up the place and make it beautiful, but they can't do it alone.
Donations can be sent to:
St. Juvenaly Orthodox Mission
PO Box 4631
Kailua-Kona, HI 96745
(Please make sure the designation for "Hilo" is clear.)
For more details, including pictures, contact information, and a link to donate online, please see www.stjuvenaly.org/honomu.html.
Thank you!
Stavrophore nun Amvrosia reposed in the Lord on March 6, 2013, in Our Lady of Kazan Skete in Santa Rosa, CA. She was born August 29, 1939, in the city of Kazan in Russia, was baptized in Moscow in 1976, and became a novice in the Skete in Santa Rosa in March 2002. His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin, tonsured her into the small schema on March 20, 2010, naming her after St. Ambrose of Optina.
Her funeral is planned to be served at the Skete on Monday, March 11, immediately followed by burial in Oakmound Cemetery in Healdsburg, CA, God willing. The Skete sisterhood wishes to express deepest thanks for the great blessing of the Church's holy prayers offered for Mother Amvrosia throughout her past 3-year battle with cancer, and now for her repose. Memory Eternal.
by Wesley J. Smith
I was busily preparing the church for Liturgy as usual a few weeks ago when my friend Mark approached. “Can you tell the difference between the two bouquets?” he asked, referring to flowers in vases on either side of the Royal Doors. I took a look. One of the bouquets was withered and dry, the other fresh. When I expressed surprise at the startling contrast, Mark smiled. “On Theophany I put my old Holy Water in the vase with the fresh flowers before filling my container with the new.” He also told me that he had not put any in the vase with dry flowers.
That got my attention! The flowers were identical inexpensive bouquets that had been purchased by a parishioner from Safeway for under $5 each. She had given them to me prior to the December 23 Liturgy. I had cut the bottom off their stems to maximize freshness, put them both in identical inexpensive glass vases with water, and then placed them in their current locations. No plant food or preservatives were added to the water of either vase. Neither, as far as I know, had either been touched since. The only apparent difference between the handling of the two bouquets was Mark pouring his Holy Water into the vase containing the still-fresh flowers.
I showed the contrasting bouquets to our priest, Fr. John, and received his blessing to mention the attention-getting phenomenon during my usual announcements at the end of Liturgy. More than a few eyebrows were raised. That was Sunday, January 20. The “Holy Water flowers” remained fresh on January 27, and Fr. John referenced them in his homily. I took the photo accompanying this article the next week, on February 3—at least six weeks from the date the flowers were put in their respective vases.
I thought the Holy Water flowers were noteworthy enough to send a photo and description to His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin, who replied, “It is wonderful when God breaks into our ordered world with its assumptions and categories and does something small that disturbs them. It is like a little nudge to say – ‘I am still here and still in charge no matter what you think.’”
Indeed. More than that, if the continuing freshness of one bouquet for more than six weeks is a little miracle—and I think it is—materialism is proved to be false. For if God can give us a little “nudge,” it means there is more to existence than news, weather, and sports: There is Abundant Life.
We are not to seek after signs. But isn’t it sweet when, in His graciousness, He unexpectedly sends one our way? Glory to God! Glory forever!
Wesley J. Smith is a sub-deacon at St. Innocent Orthodox Church in Livermore, California
by Father Lawrence Margitich
“…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:32). These words of St. Paul tell us that if we conform to the moral, ethical, spiritual and philosophical norms of “this world” and how it understands things, we will lose the way in our struggle to reach our goal. What is that goal? Our Savior prayed these words: “…that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John 17:21–23) The Lord prays that His glory may be given to us, that we may be united in Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Everything in the Church is appointed so that may happen: Baptism, Chrismation, the Liturgy, priesthood, Confession, the scriptures, prayer, fasting, prostrations, monasticism and marriage—are all both means of the cleansing of the heart as well as direct experiences of Kingdom, and an entrance into the glory. The liturgical, spiritual and moral path of the Orthodox Church is not based on theory or ideas. It’s a well-marked path, producing Apostles, saints, the holy bishops, monks and nuns and holy laypeople. If we conform ourselves and the Church to this world we will replace the tried and true methods of experiencing God’s Kingdom, and the result would not be the making of saints, but a tragic loss: the Holy Mysteries would become empty gestures, the Church would become a social institution based on moralistic, humanistic and situational ethics open to all kinds of currents, and we will have nothing at all to say to the world about the Kingdom of God and it’s ultimate destiny. Society, and in fact most Christian denominations, long ago forgot that although God created all things good, we live in a fallen world warred upon by demonic powers, broken with evil, sin, death, anarchy, pride, human will, suffering, the rebellion of nature, and man’s ignorance of God’s loving presence.
Announcing PSALM's
Liturgical Singing Seminar 2013
Choral Leadership and Vocal Development
February 8-9, 2013, Santa Rosa, CA
$100 both days, includes all meals, Friday and Saturday
$50 one day, includes meals for one day
Hosted by St. Seraphim Orthodox Church
90 Mountain View, Santa Rosa, CA
Speakers:
Mark Bailey
Alice Hughes
Anne Schoepp
Fr. Lawrence Margitich
Fr. Stephan Meholick
See photo galleries from Theophany celebrations around the Diocese of the West, If your parish would like to be included, send jpg files to Father John Dresko at jdresko (at) me (dot) com.
His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin, and his secretary, Reader Andrew Smith, celebrated the feast of Theophany, known locally as the Day of the Three Kings, at the invitation of Archbishop Alejo at the Exarchate's Cathedral of the Ascension in Mexico City. The two hierarchs concelebrated the Liturgy and performed the Great Blessing of Water.
At the conclusion of the blessing, gifts were distributed to the children present and to the elderly. After the Liturgy, local people came in the traditional garb of the Three Kings singing and dancing. Theophany is the big day in Hispanic culture for kids. Instead of Santa Claus, the Three Kings come at night and leave toys for the children in their shoes.
Archbishop Dmitri of blessed memory, who was well loved by the local clergy and people, made it a point to visit Mexico City at this time of year to strengthen the ties that unite the Exarchate with the rest of the Orthodox Church in America. Hopefully, this tradition will continue. Archbishop Alejo has been the guest of the Diocese of the West. Archbishop Benjamin is a member of the board of directors of Project Mexico.
