In response to questions concerning the official position of the Metropolis, please be apprised of the following:

1. CREMATION: Because the Orthodox Faith affirms the fundamental goodness of creation, it understands the body to be an integral part of the human person and the temple of the Holy Spirit, and expects the resurrection of the dead. The Church considers cremation to be the deliberate desecration and destruction of what God has made and ordained for us. The Church instead insists that the body be buried so that the natural physical process of decomposition may take place. The Church does not grant funerals, either in the sanctuary, or at the funeral home, or at any other place, to persons who have chosen to be cremated. Additionally, memorial services with kolyva (boiled wheat) are not allowed in such instances, inasmuch as the similarity between the “kernel of wheat” and the “body” has been intentionally destroyed.

2. SUICIDE:  Suicide, the taking of one’s own life, is self-murder and as such, a sin. More importantly, it may be evidence of a lack of faith in our loving, forgiving, sustaining God. If a person has committed suicide as a result of a belief that such an action is rationally or ethically defensible, the Orthodox Church denies that persona Church funeral, because such beliefs and actions separate a person from the community of faith. The Church shows compassion, however, on those who have taken their own 

life as a result of mental illness or severe emotional stress, when a condition of impaired rationality can be verified by a physician.

3. AUTOPSY:  When a person dies for reasons that are uncertain, a qualified medical examiner may, with the permission of the next of kin, perform an autopsyto determine the cause of death. In some states, this is required by law. In all cases, however, the Orthodox Church expects that the body of the deceased be treated with respect and dignity. 

4. FUNERALS:  Concerning the funeral service itself, our Parish Priests are often approached to include hymns from other traditions, both Christian and non Christian. Some families have even requested that secular songs be permitted during the funeral service.  This practice is foreign to the ethos and tradition of the Orthodox Church. Therefore, non Orthodox hymns are not permitted prior, during or following the funeral service held in Parishes of the Metropolis of Boston.

At the end of the funeral service, the priest will offer the eulogy. Laymen are not permitted to speak. Those wishing to offer reflections are welcome to do so at the funeral home, the gravesite or at the memorial meal following services.

Priests and Parishes in the Metropolis of Boston are required to abide by these guidelines.

The first three paragraphs are taken from pages 265-266 of the 2012 Yearbook of the Archdiocese.

May I begin by acknowledging and thanking the hundreds of brethren that are attending the funeral service this morning in this church and the thousands that have lined the streets of this city these past days to pay their respects and honor Jim.

I thank His Excellency Bishop Uglietto and Father John MacGinnis, the pastor of this community, and thank them for extending their welcome to the Saint Vasilios Greek Orthodox Community. I thank the firefighters and policemen of Peabody and throughout the Commonwealth and from neighboring states that are in attendance. I am grateful to our governor and all officials of the Commonwealth together with the mayor in Peabody who have come to honor the memory of a man loved by all.

We gather today to pray that Almighty God may open His arms and welcome into His loving embrace a man respected and befriended by everyone. We offer our sympathies to his beloved family – his parents, his loving wife Amy and his three precious children, Katelyn, Alyssa and Ryan.

The Church and the streets of this city are filled with Jim’s colleagues and friends from the Peabody Fire Department who mourn the passing of a man of character and courage, of inner strength and ethos who earned their friendship and admiration.

Last Friday when I learned the tragic news, I recalled what our Lord and Savior taught His Disciples. He told them that “greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). That truth, treasured in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John, was surely etched upon the heart and soul of Jim Rice.

On December 23 he and his fellow firefighters rushed into a burning building to save the endangered lives of the residents. In the line of duty, James was ready to even lay down his life – (if need be) – to save, his friends. Yes his friends! The residents of that building on Hancock Street were Jim’s friends, even though he may never have met them. They were God’s children. They were Jim’s brothers and sisters in the household of God.

What Jim did last Friday was heroic – but I’m sure he would say that he and his fellow firemen were only doing what they loved to do, to be firefighters – to serve the public – to save lives. To be a firefighter or a policeman is not a job, it’s a vocation. It’s a calling. It’s a special life lived by very special people.

In a generation that has come to be known as the ME generation, when many of us selfishly think only of our selves… in an age of entitlement – when many of us feel we are entitled to what we have or what we can get from others (including our government)… In times such as these, I thank God for men like Jim Rice and men and women like him that have character, ethos, courage and inner strength that help make the world a better place.

Every day as they leave their homes to go to work, firemen and policemen know in their hearts that it could very well be the day that they may be called to prove, “greater love hath no man than this – to lay down his life for his friends.” For Jim Rice that day was December 23, 2011.

Let us join in prayer that our Benevolent Lord grant eternal rest to this beloved son, this dedicated and loving husband, this adoring father, this respected and revered colleague and friend.

Christmas Reflection 2011

Beloved in the Lord,

“And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

On Christmas day, the Church proclaims to humanity the good tidings of the birth of the Savior who is “Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten not created… who, “for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and was Incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man” (Confession of Faith).

Holy Scripture, the hymnology of the Church, and the Orthodox Christian icon help us to focus on this, the greatest of mysteries. “He who knows no beginning now begins to be, and the Logos is made flesh” (Doxastikon of Christmas Orthros).The Divine Logos, “He who by nature is invisible is seen today in the flesh”. “He lowered the heavens and came down to fashion corrupt Adam anew” (hymns from the Lity authored by John the monk).

St. Paul writing to the Galatians proclaims that God sent forth His Son, “so that we may receive adoption as Sons” (4,5). To the Romans, he speaks of the consequences of this salvific miracle: “If we are children of God, then we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).

Studying the icon of the Nativity, we learn that Christmas is a Paschal mystery which culminates in the passion, death and Resurrection of Christ. The Incarnate Savior is seen in a sepulcher–shaped manger. He is wrapped in a winding burial cloth foreshadowing His repose in a sepulcher hewn from rock following his Crucifixion (Luke 23:53). The infant Jesus is not placed in a cradle, but on an altar of sacrifice symbolizing His death. The icon of the Nativity, however, points beyond darkness and death. A brilliant ray of light and an image of a dove pierce the darkness of the cave to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit. Above is the hand of the Father, the source of life. On the altar lies the incarnate Christ. In the poverty and misery of a manger, the three persons of the Holy Trinity appear. God is present and makes Himself known.

It is of paramount importance for us “to arise and behold the divine condescension from on high that is made manifest to us.” (Sticheron of the Sixth Hour). This is indeed difficult. The obstacles to Christian faith and practice raised by secular culture have unquestionably affected our lives. We are immersed in an environment beset by cynicism, apathy and selfishness — in a society that has lost its spiritual roots. Our culture has no time to reflect upon the “reason for the season.” It is reported that 98% of the references in various media highlight the impact of Christmas on the economy, on travel, on retail sales, etc. Few stories refer to the Son of God. Sadly, the media is only part of our culture which is determined to push Christ out of our sphere of interest. Public and private schools throughout America have removed references to Christmas from the classroom. The lyrics of traditional Christmas songs have been changed. ‘Silent Night’ has been changed to “Cold in the Night”. “We wish you a Merry Christmas” has been changed to “We wish you a swinging holiday.”

Under the influence of hedonistic consumerism, Christmas has lost its true meaning. Recently, shoppers filled retail department stores beginning at midnight in what has come to be known as “Black Friday”. Regrettably, some individuals — armed with pepper spray cans! — proved that they knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. The wisdom of the world claims that happiness comes from what you own, how much money or influence you have, how important other people think you are. St Paul reminds us that we celebrate the birth of Him who, “through he was rich, yet for your (our) sake became poor, so that by his poverty you (we) may become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). We celebrate the birth of Him who asks us,“what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Christmas has always disturbed the conscience of the materialistic world. It has always challenged those who are on a frantic race to enrichment at all cost. It has always challenged those individuals whose selfishness and greed exploit the dignity and rights of their fellow human beings.

My brothers and sisters,

This Christmas, let us pause from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines to be alone with God. To pray. To read Holy Scripture. To read and reflect upon the beautiful hymns of our church which help us to focus on the Christmas miracle. Let us turn off our radios and televisions, our IPhones and IPads and everything else that is electronic. Let us hear the voices of the archangels proclaiming the birth of the Savior. Let us close our eyes to the blinding lights of the world so that we may see the light emanating from the cave in Bethlehem.

May that light radiate in our hearts and enlighten our minds this Christmas and every day of the New Year 2012.

With Archpastoral love

in the Incarnate Lord,

M E T H O D I O S

Metropolitan of Boston

When I told him I was Greek Orthodox, Pastor Johnson told me a fascinating story.  Back in the day a black couple (parishioners of Pastor J.)  had gone to a Greek-owned restaurant for a meal.  The proprietor told them that he was sorry but he couldn’t serve them because he would get in trouble with the law.  As the pastor told it, he emphasized that the restauranteur was nice and apologetic – he was not some demented racist – he just didn’t want to get in trouble.  Pastor Johnson went to visit the Greek priest and told him what had happened.  The priest at the time – I think this was the early to mid sixties – told him to tell the couple to return to the restaurant tomorrow at the same time.  They did, and received service with a smile.  And so integration in Charlottesville, it seems, got its start with a heart-to-heart between two good Christian men, Pastor Johnson and his colleague at the Greek church.

There is a bit more to the history here.  While blacks were discriminated against by whites in Charlottesville back in the day, so were Greeks.  Greeks were not allowed to own property and had other limits put on them – perhaps this commonality also played a part in this drama.  God bless the memory of Pastor Johnson.

The question we have been debating is what is the exact nature of the author of Hebrews quoting the line from the Psalm.  Another good article is here.  I need to do more research on the subject, but I will come back to one of my most-used expressions when talking about scripture:   the meaning of the name matters.  It is very important to understanding scriptural stories and characters from Aaron (probably Egyptian in origin as is that of Moses) to Zerubbabel (seed of Babel).  Melchizedek – the “righteous king” – has such a powerful meaning that an argument can be made for translating it rather than leaving it as a proper name.

One of the most colorful parts of any nativity scene is the three wise men or magi.  They are usually depicted in colorful robes and bear the traditional gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Often they will be accompanied by the camels or, more rarely but more correctly, the horses on which they rode.  Interestingly, in their appearance in the gospel of Matthew the wise men are not enumerated; the number three is associated with them due to the three gifts.

As interesting and colorful as the magi appear, what is their purpose in the story?  The key to understanding this is in the origin of the term magi, which is from a Greek root meaning magician or one who engages in augury.  This activity is strictly forbidden in scripture as being blasphemous, but the word magi in the Hellenistic era meant a follower of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion now extinct in Iran but still followed by the exiled Parsi community.  The magi are, in this sense, the ultimate Gentiles; magi is term like “crowd”, “dogs”, and others that in the New Testament denotes a Gentile who accepts the good news of the gospel just as the chief priests and scribes struggle with it.

There is another shade of meaning to the magi story, and it connects the episode to, of all things, the serpent in the Adam and Eve story.  The serpent famously tempts Eve, which is the beginning of their disobedience to God.  The Church Fathers, following a reference in the Book of Revelation, connect the serpent with Satan, but in the story this identity is never made explicit – it is inferred based on the activity of the serpent as a trickster and divider.  Serpent in Hebrew is naHash, which is from a root related to augury.  Here, the “one who engages in augury” has a very different role than the magi.  In this sense, the placing of the magi in the nativity story represents a redemption of the serpent.  Rather than being tempters or dividers, the magi actively engage in doing God’s will.  The transition from serpent to magi is not as stark as it seems.  In Numbers Moses uses a serpent as a staff of healing; the former agent of deception again becomes an instrument of God’s will.  In the Gospel of John Jesus brings the idea full-circle by comparing the raising of Moses’s brass serpent with the raising up of the Son of Man.

The Bible consistently uses unlikely characters – Nebuchadnezzar, a serpent, Zoroastrians, Roman soldiers – as agents of God’s will.  Those who are outside of the scriptural community are often shown as being more obedient to God than the insiders.  The connection of the serpent with the magi is a representational redemption of the serpent.  As we make the transition between the Christmas season, which ends on February 2, forty days after Christmas, and the Lenten period, we can see in this story a representation of the redemptive power of God’s love and mercy.