Devshirme

Two new podcasts are up!  The first is a “lost episode” that includes our bizarre encounter with a graffiti-covered bus out in the country, while the second is about a trip to a farm.  You can check them out on the podcast site or on iTunes, where it is a free download (as it is on our site, of course).  If you get it from iTunes be sure to leave a comment!

The biennial clergy-laity gathering of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is going on right now in Atlanta.  The official website is here and on it you can read the reports of the many ministries of the Archdiocese.  I highly recommend taking some time to do this.  A portion of our stewardship money goes to the Archdiocese and I for one like to know what happens to it.  In addition to ministry reports the conference has workshops, a trade-shop aspect (where you can buy books, vestments, etc), meetings, services and fun activities.  I went to the conference in Los Angeles some years ago and saw the Village People at the Hollywood Bowl!  Fr. Peter just returned from the Romanian Archiocese’s equivalent – this must be a popular time of the year to hold such things.

Last Sunday groups of people from most of the 64 communities in the Boston Metropolis converged at Lombardo’s in Randolph, MA, for the annual Metropolis ministry awards dinners.  This is always a big event – there were something like 800 people there.  A hearty Axios to Al Matulaitis, who earned the laity award from our community.  Below are the His Eminence’s remarks from the evening:

“Tonight, as our Metropolis gathers for the 24^th time to honor the recipients of the Ministry Award, we celebrate the 20^th anniversary of our Camp Ministry.   Since 1990, over 4500 youngsters from throughout New England, America (and for that matter throughout the world) have attended our Summer and Winter Camp programs  which have been hosted since 1999 at our St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center in Contoocook, NH.  We hope that many camp alumni will attend our 20^th Anniversary Reunion and Open House on Saturday, July 24.

            The camping experience has been one of fun and fellowship which has sought to strengthen the faith of our young people.

            The well organized program affords them the opportunity to engage in discussions with clergy and well trained councilors concerning issues they face in their lives.  They learn how to effectively respond to life’s challenges.  They have the opportunity to discuss their life experiences which are examined under the lens of our faith heritage.  We try to help our young people see clearly which direction they should seek in their lives.  We encourage them to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with confidence.  We encourage them instead of striving for worldly success to strive for lasting significance.

            What has made the Metropolis of Boston Camp so successful is that it is a fun experience.  Campers have the opportunity to participate in a variety of different activities such as volleyball, baseball, basketball, arts and crafts, fishing, dancing, cooking, swimming and numerous other activities.  The fun and fellowship they share provide opportunities to build lifelong friendships amongst not only their peers, but with the dedicated staff members who serve as role models and mentors.

            What we have achieved at our camp is thanks in great part to the Youth Ministers of our Metropolis over these 20 years.  I thank once again our Youth Directors, Father Chris Foustoukos, Father Ted Barbas, and Father Phil Mussis, Mike Sintros and Dino Pappas and the hundreds of staff members and volunteers who have offered such a dynamic ministry.

            It has long been our vision to reach out to offer similar ministries to the adults of our parishes.  Last September, we opened the doors to our new Retreat House on the grounds of the Faith and Heritage Center.  It has fast become a spiritual home away from home where everyone finds joy, peace, healing and salvation.

            It is there where the power, truth and beauty of our Faith may be experienced in a pristine environment.

            We hope that our ministry to adults– to our Parish Councils, Philoptochos, Choir Members, to our educators, senior citizens, etc. — be as effective as has our outreach to our campers who have enjoyed a life changing experience.

            The life of prayer, the study of our theology and the emulation of the lives of the Saints equips all of us—young and old alike–to address the many challenges and opportunities of life.

            It is of vital importance that our Retreat House be a beacon of faith and hope because we seem to have lost sight of what is important and genuine in life.

            The popular mindset today defines  happiness as the ability to acquire the next pleasure as quickly as possible whether that be in the form of a better job, more money, luxury, fashion, etc.

            Living as we do in a culture of entitlement, we have been lured into believing that we deserve everything we have and desire.

            We are experiencing an unparalleled crisis of the human person, of marriage and family, and the Church must respond effectively.

            Sadly, the world around us has come to tolerate, embrace and even champion behaviors and lifestyles that were unacceptable to past generations. The Ten Commandments are nowhere to be found in public places in America.  Our courts have surgically removed every vestige of Christianity from our children’s classrooms.   Traditional Christian values are rejected, ridiculed and demonized.  Sadly, we have become tolerant of all sorts of evil, and of those who promote behavior and beliefs foreign to the eternal truths of the Gospel.  All of us– but especially our young people–are seduced to debauched forms of self expression. Self destructive behavior has been systematically transformed into acceptable—even preferable lifestyles!  Corruption, selfishness and foolishness are packaged today as enlightened, liberated and even spiritually advanced behavior.  Evil has been made to appear as good, and good to appear as evil.  Moral confusion and relativism have permeated our lives.  Their proponents are leading society to abysmal levels of banality never before known to mankind.

            This is why it is so very important that we all be vigilant, that our Retreat House be a beacon of Faith and Hope effectively addressing the needs of the our people.

            With your encouragement we will do our best to meet the challenges of our time.

Last week in New York City there was a meeting of all the Orthodox bishops of America, from all the canonical jurisdictions.  The idea was to get the ball rolling on creating a framework for an eventual American Orthodox church.  You can read the statement of what was done at the assembly here.

Fr. Peter (who was recently elevated to the status of hieromonk by Archbishop Nicolae – Axios!) has a post on so-called Ephraimite monasteries and a website out of Chicago set up to warn of the dangers associated with them.  The comments section of the blog is especially lively.  I fairly recently visited one of these monasteries.  All there were very hospitable, but I did notice that everywhere I went and everyone I met mentioned how our Metropolis as yet does not have a monastery.  I did not appreciate this line of suggestion, but I noted that we indeed have monks and sisters who are active in our Metropolis but  no monastery, and, well, things are just fine.

Fr. Dean and I recently noticed that the corpus from the big cross behind the altar had more than its share of nicks, dings and lipstick stains from people reverencing it, so we contacted the talented Melina Barber, who graciously agreed to do some restoration work on it.  Melina is a gifted artist and decorator (if you have visited the Flying Rhino you will know what I mean) and she can add icon restoration to her list of skills.  This is a picture of Melina doing some restoration on the corpus while it remains down from the cross until we put it back the day before the Ascension.  She will also at some point in the near future take care of the many lipstick stains on the iconostasis.  Vexingly, the chemical content of many kinds of lipstick means that these stains are very difficult to safely remove.  We are blessed to have people like Melina and the many others who selflessly give their time and skills to the Cathedral.

Today was the annual Greek Independence Day parade in Boston, and it turned out to be fabulous.  We were all expecting rain (I, who has no umbrella, was particularly dreading walking and getting soaked).  And we ended up having a fairly sunny day and pleasant, not-too-warm-or cold weather.  It is funny because today was the feast of St. Mark, and the Liturgy of St. Mark includes prayers for rainfall (it is a liturgy from Egypt, so it has these prayers and prayers for the rising of the Nile) and yet most people were saying “please pray for _no_ rain!”.  The Greek School children marched with vigor, and the float was in tip-top shape.   Many thanks to the Marine USA, who graciously wrap and store our float each year, as well as the Greek School teachers and PTA.  Here is a picture that Eva P. took of Robin (me) and Batman (Fr. Dean).  A cropped version of this is my new profile picture on Facebook.  I imagine the Greek Boston site will have pictures up soon, and I will link to it when that happens.

There is a new Facing East podcast up, and we are recording another one tomorrow.  Check it out here or download it for free on iTunes.  It is a typical episode for us - driving around and talking about random stuff.

I just got back from a fabulous event at the College Of The Holy Cross.  Our OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) group there put on a Food Festival featuring Greek, Syrian and Russian food, dancing, and displays about our faith – icons, chant, scripture, etc.  There were over eighty people in attendance, including some from other schools (the Assumption OCF came as well).  The students did a great job making and getting the food (Catherine’s mother’s golumpkis were out of this world – I love Russian food), decorating the room, putting together the program book, and getting the word out.  A nice touch was having it in Loyola Hall, with a great view of the city.  Prez Cindy and I represented the Cathedral and are very proud of our kids. 

The night ended with dancing but before that there was a bittersweet moment.  The OCF members presented Christina and Catherine, outgoing co-chairs of the group who are graduating this year, with flowers.  More than a few tears were shed at this.  “Cat” and “Tina” founded the group in 2007 and made it what it is today.  We will all miss them when they graduate next month.  They are of course no strangers to our Cathedral – here is a picture, with flowers: