Christ is Risen! Χριστός Ανέστη!
Христос Воскрес! Hristos a inviat!
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PATRIARCHAL ENCYCLICAL FOR HOLY PASCHA Prot. No. 289
+ B A R T H O L O M E W BY GOD’S MERCY ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH: MAY THE GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY OF CHRIST RISEN IN GLORY BE WITH YOU ALL ***
Having completed the soul-profiting Lent and venerated the Lord’s Passion and Cross, behold today we are rendered participants of His glorious Resurrection, radiant through the feast and crying out with ineffable joy the world-saving announcement: “Christ is Risen!” All that we believe, all that we love, and all that we hope as Orthodox Christians is associated with Pascha, from which everything derives its vividness, through which everything is interpreted, and in which everything acquires its true meaning. The Resurrection of Christ is the response of the Divine love to the anguish and expectation of man, but also to the “yearning” of creation that groans with us. In the Resurrection the meaning of “let us make man in our image and likeness”1 and of “God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good”2 has been revealed. Christ is “our Pascha,”3 “the resurrection of all.” If the fall comprised the suspension of our journey toward the “divine likeness,” in the risen Christ the way toward deification through grace is once again opened for “the beloved of God.” The “great miracle” is performed, which heals the “great wound,” mankind. In the emblematic icon of the Resurrection at the Chora Monastery, we behold the Lord of glory, who descended “to the depths of Hades” and conquered the power of death, to arise as life-giver from the tomb, raising with Himself the forefathers of humankind and in them the entire human race from beginning to end, as our liberator from the slavery of the enemy. In the Resurrection the life in Christ is revealed as liberation and freedom. For “Christ has set us free ... for freedom.”4 The content, the “ethos” of such freedom, which must be experienced here in a manner befitting to Christ, before it is perfected in the heavenly kingdom, is love, the experiential quintessence of the “new creation.” “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.”5 The freedom of a believer, grounded on the Cross and Resurrection of the Savior, is a journey upward and toward our neighbor; it is “faith working through love.”6 It is an exodus from the “Egypt of slavery” and of the diverse alienations, the Christ-given transcendence of an introverted and shriveled existence, the hope of eternity that renders man human. As we celebrate Pascha, we confess in Church that the Kingdom of God “has been already inaugurated, but not yet fulfilled.”7 In the light of the Resurrection, earthly things assume new significance, because they are already transformed and transfigured. Nothing is simply “given.” Everything lies in motion toward eschatological perfection. This “unrestrained rush” toward the Kingdom, which is especially lived out in the eucharistic assembly, safeguards God’s people, on the one hand from indifference toward history and the presence of evil in it, and on the other hand from forgetfulness of the Lord’s words, that “my kingdom is not of this world,”8 which marks the difference between the “already” and the “not yet” of the coming of the Kingdom, in accordance with the most theological expression that “The King has come, the Lord Jesus, and His Kingdom is to come.”
The chief characteristic of this God-given freedom of the believer is the unrelenting resurrectional pulse, this freedom’s vigilance and dynamism. Its character as a gift of grace not only does not restrict, but in fact manifests our own consent to this gift, and strengthens our journey and our conduct into this new freedom, which also contains the restoration of our estranged relationship with creation. One who is free in Christ is not trapped in the “earthly absolutes” like “the rest, who do not have hope.”10 Our hope is Christ, the existence fulfilled in Christ, the brilliance and resplendence of eternity. The biological boundaries of life do not define its truth. Death is not the end of our existence. “Let none fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He was held prisoner by it and has annihilated it. The one who descended into hell, He made hell captive.” Freedom in Christ Christ is the “other creation”12 of man, a foretaste and model of the fulfillment and fullness of the Divine Economy in the “now and always” of the last day, when the “blessed of the Father” will live person to person with Christ, “seeing Him and seen by Him, as they enjoy the fruits of the endless delight that comes from Him.”13 Holy Pascha is not merely a religious feast, albeit the greatest feast for us Orthodox. Every Divine Liturgy, every prayer and supplication of the faithful, every feast and commemoration of Saints and Martyrs, the honor of sacred icons, the “abundant joy” of Christians (2 Cor. 8.2), every act of sacrificial love and fraternity, the endurance of sorrow, the hope that never disappoints the people of God, is a festival of freedom. All of these radiate the paschal light and exude the fragrance of the Resurrection. In this spirit, then, as we glorify the Savior of the world, who trampled down death by death, we convey to all of you – our most honorable Brothers throughout the Lord’s Dominion and our dearly beloved children of the Mother Church – a festal greeting, as, with one voice and one heart, we joyously bless with you Christ unto the ages.
At the Phanar, Holy Pascha 2021
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople
Fervent supplicant for you all to the Risen Lord.
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THE GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA ARCHIEPISCOPAL ENCYCLICAL Prot. No. 105/2021
Archiepiscopal Encyclical on the Feast of Great and Holy Pascha May 2, 2021
Unto the Most Reverend and Right Reverend Hierarchs, Pious Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, Presidents and Members of Parish Councils, Honorable Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Members of Leadership 100, the Day and Afternoon Schools, Philoptochos Societies, the Youth, Greek Orthodox Organizations, and the entirety of the Christ-named Plenitude of the Holy Archdiocese of America. My Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Ἰδοὺ σκοτία καὶ πρωΐ ... (ΕΩΘΙΝΟΝ Ζ', Ἦχος βαρὺς ) Behold the darkness yet the dawn... (EOTHINON VII, Grave Mode) How far we have come since Easter of last year! Those were dark days, when our passing of the light of the Resurrection had to be virtual, even if no less heartfelt. But as we all know, it is always darkest before the dawn. Thus, we behold in the hope of the recovery of our world from the pandemic, the glimmer of the dawning of faith and confidence for our collective future. This year, we will celebrate our Holy Pascha – perhaps not in the fullness of the pre-pandemic days, but certainly with a greater degree of freedom and in-person community. But let this not be an excuse for relaxing our vigilance. Our responsibility to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper and guardian abides. Our anticipation of the rising of the Sun of Righteousness is within our hearts, like the little sun that Saint Symeon the New Theologian speaks of, which dawned inside of him. The darkness of night that is dispelled at first gradually gives way, shade by shade, until the brilliant solar orb overpowers the horizon. Every other star fades in the light of the one. This is also how the fullness of God Almighty overwhelms every shadow in our souls. Like a sleepless night of worry and troubled thoughts, the dark night of the soul can be very long indeed. But as the Psalmist says, “joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 29:5, LXX). And in the dawning of the Day of the Lord, every concern of this world pales before the glory of the world to come. The Resurrection of our Lord is the triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil, of love over hate, and of life over death. Moreover, it is the dawn of a new humanity, the potential of every human being to become divine. As Saint Athanasios the Great says: “For He became a human being, so that we might made divine” (Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπισεν, ἵνα ἡµεῖς θεοποιηθῶµεν). The Lord did not rise from the dead only for Himself. He arose so that we might rise with Him, in this life and the next. Therefore, my beloved Faithful, let us embrace the dawn that rises within us. Let us live in the light of Christ, a light filled with love and compassion for every creature. A light that passes no judgment on anyone. A light that is clear and transparent with honesty and humility. Let us witness to the truth that indeed: Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs He has granted life! Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
† ELPIDOPHOROS Archbishop of America
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To the Clergy, Monastics, Parish Councils, Philoptochos, Archons, Youth, and all the faithful of the Metropolis of Atlanta:
My beloved in the Lord, I greet you with love and joy in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Having been once again found worthy to witness our Lord’s life-giving Resurrection, I pray that you and your loved ones experience the radiance that we are blessed to receive through our Lord’s victory over Death. Only one year ago, we experienced the joy of Pascha, much as the Disciples did, for Evangelist writes, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week…the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear…” (John 20:19) Though we remained in our homes for protection from an unseen virus, we were perhaps better able to understand the Disciples. Our Lord Himself had taught them that “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” (Mark 9:31) However, in fleeing from His Betrayal, they lost heart. What would happen to them? During last year’s Paschal celebrations, many questioned: What would the future bring? When could celebrate our Church’s Great Feasts with our loved ones? Human beings may fall into negative thoughts, but hours before His Passion, Jesus reminded us that, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27) Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration of Pascha remained the same. As the Disciples grieved for their loss, so do we grieve for those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, especially in the past year. However, our grief becomes joy, for as St. John Chrysostom writes in his Paschal Homily, “Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!” Though the Disciples could not yet comprehend the wisdom of this plan for our salvation (as they had not yet received the Holy Spirit), we Orthodox Christians are blessed to know that God’s love for His Creation conquers all things, even Death. Now, as we are blessed to begin gathering safely with our parishes and our families, we can be renewed in those feelings of love and fellowship, since we are all part of a community whose spiritual life remains focused on the reality of our Lord’s triumph over sin and the grave. Therefore, may you greet the Resurrection of our Lord with a renewed joy and gladness, knowing once more, that after the darkness comes the dawn!
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
+ A L E X I O S Metropolitan of Atlanta
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Parish office hours
9:00 am - 12 pm, on Monday and Thursday
To schedule a confession or meeting with the Parish Priest, please call Fr. Sasa at (251) 233-3128 to make an appointment. Thank you and God Bless you!
Please go to this link to watch Sunday services:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCWQWh0WF8ZYD5i2_500sPPg
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20th Annual Saint Athanasios Golf Classis
Saturday, May 15th, 2021
Glen Lakes Golf Club
9530 Clubhouse Dr.
Foley, AL
Registration, Open Range & Light Lunch 10:00 a.m.
Tee Time: 11:00 a.m.
Dinner, Awards & Prizes: 3:30 p.m.
To Register or Become a Sponzor, Call:
Mark Tampary (251) 752-5000
or Angelo Adamd (251) 689-3036
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ANNUAL YARD SALE
Saturday May 30, 2021
Please call Steffie for volunteers and donations: (336)414-3862
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