Your Salvation is Outside Your Door

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazaros (Luke 16.19-31), Jesus tells of an opportunity for salvation that goes unnoticed by the rich man. Day after day he stepped out his door passing over his salvation, a humble poor man “desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.” (Luke 16.21) Day by day the rich man was sealing his fate for an eternity of torment and grief, while the fate of the poor man rested firmly in the bosom of Abraham. Both men died, and both men met their fate.

Too often we think of salvation in terms of a court of law. If we get caught doing something against the rules, we will be on trial in front of God. If we don’t do anything bad, we will go to heaven. The biggest problem with this misunderstanding, is that salvation isn’t about good or bad deeds. It is about a good or bad heart. Does our heart love God and others more than ourselves, or do we go through life putting our desires before the needs of those around us? Do we even take the time to acknowledge the needs of those around us, many of whom are just sitting outside our door?

Just outside your door, if you choose to notice, is your salvation waiting for you. Every time you step out your front door is an opportunity to meet your salvation face to face. The rich man in the parable was so focused on his own comfort that he ignored the man lying across his front steps. When you step out your door you leave behind the comfort of home, but you also leave behind the chains of torment and grief. Every person you meet, rich or poor, is your opportunity for salvation.

Just outside the doors to our magnificent cathedral, as we leave each Sunday, we will encounter our opportunity for salvation. Rich or poor, good or bad, employed or unemployed, healthy or sick, Greek or non-Greek, Christian or atheist, the list goes on with describing the people in our lives. Will we step over them ignoring their needs, or will we stop and take notice of them and love them? Salvation isn’t about rich or poor. It isn’t about names. It is about bread crumbs and dogs. It is about being able to see the person just outside your door, not as a burden or inconvenience but with compassion and love. Salvation is about love.

+Fr. Athanasios C. Haros

Dear St. Nicholas Cathedral Family,

The next feast day on our Calendar is Epiphany or Theophany, the feast of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River. We are blessed to live in Epiphany City, the host of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan celebration, as the feast day is important to us and special to us in the way we celebrate together as a whole community. Even with all of this you would be surprised at the amount of people who cannot answer the question, “What is Epiphany all about?” As Orthodox Christians we can celebrate the feast day with a greater appreciation that comes from a better understanding of why we celebrate this Great Feast.

The definition of the word “epiphany” is “a manifestation or showing of” and leads us to the event of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River as described in the narratives of the New Testament’s first three gospels. What exactly is being manifested or shown? It is the revelation of the Holy Trinity in God the Father’s voice proclaiming His pleasure with His Son, and the Holy Spirit appearing in the form of a dove.

Many people ask, “Why did Christ need to be baptized?” There are three reasons that Christ needed to be baptized. First, when Christ went in the water to be baptized, He cleansed it of sin, and because the water of baptism is now cleansed, we can now be washed in it. The second reason is that Christ’s immersion and subsequent rising from the water foretold His death and Resurrection. When Christ dies on the Cross, He takes on the sins of the world and descends into Hades, and in His Resurrection, we see that he conquers sin and death. In the same way, when Christ goes down into the water, He foreshadows His death and descent into Hades, and when He rises from the water, He foreshadows His Resurrection—He emerges having conquered sin and death. The third reason that Christ was baptized is so that we may follow His example.

Then it usually followed up with the question, “How do the baptisms given by Christ differ from the baptisms given by John?”  When John baptized, it was for the repentance of sins; while it prepared the people for the coming of Christ, it was a baptism only of water. Once Christ sanctifies the waters during His baptism, the purpose changes—the act of baptism is now about communion with our Lord. While baptisms after the coming of Christ are still about repentance, turning from our sins, and still involving water, baptism takes on an additional meaning. When we are baptized, we profess our faith in Christ, asking His Spirit to live within us, so that we may join our life to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (communion with God).

I pray we all take this information and share with the world on Epiphany our beautiful Faith and Traditions.

With Love in the Lord,

+Fr. Sampson N. Kasapakis

Memorials

8:15AM Divine Liturgy (Greek)

Gregory Haritonides | 40 Days Petros Psaras| 40 Days

Pantelis (Pete) Koulianos| 40 Days Irene Zervos |  1 Year

Kostas Bizios | 3 Years Vasiliki  | 8 Years

Maria Koulianos | 9 Years Triantafillia Himonetos | 9 Years

Ipapanti Koulianos | 12 Years Faneromeni Tsangaris | 14 Years

Petros Koulianos | 16 Years Ioannis Tsangaris | 39 Years

 11:00AM Divine Liturgy (English)

Themistocles Diamandis | 3 Years