Holiday Season Greetings from Father Abbot Gregori
Preparation of the Feast of the ENTRANCE OF THE MOST HOLY MOTHER OF GOD into the Temple; commemoration of our Father among the Saints GREGORY THE DECAPOLITE and PROCLUS, Archbishop of Constantinople.
Dear Eminence;
Greetings and Blessings to you. I hope and pray that this e-mail finds you in good health and spirit.
The attachment with this e-mail is a special holiday message to all the clergy members of the AOC (NAOC), which, with your kind permission, I wish to have posted to the Apostle1.com website (as shown below).
Wishing you and yours a very Happy, Safe, and Blessed Holiday Season and coming New Year.
A Christmas
Message From
Very Rev. Fr. Gregori, SSJt
KONTAKION OF VESPERS
Today the Virgin gives birth to the One who surpasses all
essences, and the earth offers a cave to God, the Inaccessible One.
Angels sing his glory together with the shepherds: for to us is born a Child, God in all eternity.
Greetings and Blessings to all, in the name of the Father +, the Son +, and the Holy Spirit +. Amen.
As we enter this period of celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the coming new year, we should all take time to meditate on what we have done as priests of the Most High and give deep thought as to what we can do to improve how we perform our priestly duties in the coming year, and all the years to come.
There are several questions we should ask ourselves, and when we do, we should contemplate on them and then give ourselves an honest answer, (“unto thine own self be true”), and if we find that we are lacking, then we must make every effort to improve in what ever areas we find short-comings. This is part of the process of reaching our goal of True Orthodoxy which can be a life-long endeavor, but one well worth the effort.
The first question I shall ask myself is; “Have I done enough to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and to win more souls for the Kingdom of God, or have I used my priesthood as a means of building up my own stature in my community?” Sad to say, I have run across many men who have become priests for all the wrong reasons, the worst of which was to build up their own feelings of self-importance. In this instance, I have often advised them to spend some time in a monastic setting to take time to enter into personal prayer and meditation in order to come to an honest decision as to whether or not to remain in the active priesthood or to either become a monk or return to lay status. Even a lay person can attain to true Orthodoxy.
The second question I shall ask of myself is; “Have I treated those who sought my counsel, with the true spirit of love and compassion that the Lord showed to sinners, or have I shunned them with a holier than thou attitude?” Many times, priests tend to forget that they too are sinners. Being human, we all fall victim to the temptations of the Evil One, and just because we are members of the priesthood, does not make us immune to the temptations of the flesh and of the world. As my Archbishop, +Joseph Thaddeus, has often stated: “The Church is a hospital for sick souls.” How true this is, and we, the members of the clergy, are the doctors and nurses who administer the cure of forgiveness of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. But, please bear in mind that even doctors become ill and are in need of the same medicines that they prescribe for their patients. It is for this reason that all priests, even those in the hierarchy, are assigned a confessor, a spiritual father to whom they can turn to for their own spiritual healing. The one difficulty that we, as priests face is proper discernment. By this I mean that we should never close the door to any sinner who seeks the Lord, but when one comes for forgiveness, in order for absolution to be granted, the sinner must show true repentance
(a turning away from the sinful acts), if a priest grants absolution, but the sinner does not have the spirit of repentance in his/her heart, then absolution has not been granted
in heaven by God. We do not have the power or ability to read another’s heart, but we can read the actions of others, so if you see that someone is continuing in their sin and shows no sign of remorse, then it is right and proper to put that individual out of the church to prevent the whole church body from becoming infected. However, always be ready to welcome that individual back into the fold if and when they show a change of heart and seek re-admission to the church family. When the Lord forgives sinners, that persons “slate” is wiped clean and the Lord remembers their sin no more. We, as priests, the representatives of Christ on earth, should strive to do the same, for this is the sign of true forgiveness.
Finally, I shall ask myself; “What have I done to recruit others to the priesthood?” We are living in a time when we need more workers to toil in the fields of the Lord. Not every man can be a priest, for many are called but few are chosen, but it is up to us to put forth the effort to reach those who may be feeling the call, but may not know how to proceed to answer that call. Even if they become brothers (monks) in one of our Orders, they can do much to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and bring others to the Lord. If you are able to encourage even one person to enter the priesthood or into the holy life of a monastery, you will experience one of the greatest feelings of joy and pride that you have ever felt since the day of your own ordination.
With each one of these small steps, you will find that you have come ever closer to attaining your goal of True Orthodoxy. Most likely, none of us may ever reach this goal in our life-time, but when we join the Lord in heaven, we will hear the Lord say: “Welcome, for you have done well.” To paraphrase St. John Chrysostom; “Trust in Christ, who called you and set you over his own sheep, that you will gain such assurance from your ministry that when you stand in peril on that great Day, he will receive you into his everlasting habitation.”
Wishing one and all a very blessed Christmas and a very holy, happy and safe New Year, and may the Lord keep you all in the safety of his out-stretched arms.
Very Rev. Fr. +Gregori, SSJt . Abbot
And He Adds his Post Script to one and all:
+The True Story of Santa Claus
+About Monastic Holy Orders: a basic
+Society of St. Jude Thaddeus (SSJt.)
+Orthodox Order of Friars Minor (OOFM)
+Servants (In Service) to Christ (SC)
Twenty First Century Desert Fathers
Lines of Apostolic Succession of His Eminence
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MAN: To Err, the Church and Holy Spirit
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A Message from Our metropolitan Archbishop - UPDATED
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