Eastern Catholic Life Official Publication of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic VOL. LVI, NO. 10 OCTOBER 2020 Glory to Jesus Christ! My dear friends, 2020 Bishop’s Appeal What a year 2020 has been! A woman told me she de- cided to skip the rest of the year and start her new year Pledges Can Now Be Made Through December 31 on September 1. On our calendar from the Eastern Roman Empire, we do start the year on September 1, so maybe we should all move on early. At a Divine Liturgy at the cathedral I was admitting that I get con- fused about what order to do everything because our services are so disrupted by our sanitary processes. The priest said to me, “Don’t apologize, Bishop. We’re all newly ordained priests this year, trying to figure out what to do.” Thanks to your generosity, we really do have a newly-ordained priest this year, but the rest of us are all beginners, too. Every year I enjoy sharing an icon with you from your collection here in Woodland Park. That’s one thing we are still allowed to do. One of our most popular icons and most popular feast days is the Protection of the Mother of God, also called Pokrov. In the icon you can see the Mother of God in the center. She is holding her veil, spread out in protection for us. Her raised hands are the posture used for prayer by the early Christians. One of the most ancient paintings of Mary is in a catacomb in Rome and shows her in this posture. Our Lord Jesus Christ is above blessing with one hand and holding a book with his other hand. She is surrounded by four archangels and twelve saints. On the bottom is Saint Romanos the Melo- dist, and the lower right corner shows the Mother of God giving Saint Romanos his vocation while he sleeps. There is a complete description with all the names on our eparchial website. We certainly do need extra protection this year. I am so inspired at how our people stepped up to take care of each other and their parishes during the epidemic, and how the priests reinvented ministry for our time. I know many people have lost their in- come, or had their lives disrupted in other ways. This year, I ask for financial assistance in the work of the Eparchy only if you can afford it. If you are unable to assist financially this year, I completely understand. You need to care for yourself, your own family, and your own parish first. Please pray for our Eparchy in any case. As you can see all around the country, The Pokrov Icon, The Protection of the Theotokos people need the light of Jesus Christ more than ever before. Please pray as never before for God’s mercy Description of Icon Starting from the center of the icon and moving out- and blessings in our country. I pray every morning wards to our right, in the middle row, Saint Gabriel to the Mother of God for everyone of you. May the This exquisite antique icon is in the Heritage Center the Archangel, Saint John the Theologian (the Evan- Holy Virgin protect you under her mantle this year. of the Eparchy of Passaic. The Mother of God is in the gelist and Beloved Disciple), Saint James the Apostle, center of the icon with her veil spread out as a symbol and the Holy Prophet Isaiah. Above Saint Gabriel is of her motherly protection of the city, and her arms Saint Barachiel the Archangel, then the Monks Saint raised in the “orans” posture, the prayer posture of Zosimus, Saint Savvaty, and Saint Sergei. the early Christians. Above her is Jesus Christ bless- ing with his right hand and holding a book in his left On the bottom row, Saint Romanos the Melodist is The Pokrov Icon hand. in the center of the icon. Moving outwards to our Origin of Icon left, the one closest to Saint Romanos is the Patriarch Starting from the center of the icon and moving out- Saint Gennadius, then Emperor Leo the Wise and his On Sunday, October 1 of the year 911, Saint Andrew wards to our left, in the middle row, Saint Michael the wife Zoë. the Fool for Christ and his disciple Epiphanius had a Archangel is closest to the Theotokos, then Saint John vision in the Church of the Blachernae in Constanti- the Forerunner (the Baptizer), then Saint Peter the Moving in the other direction from the center, next nople. The Mother of God escorted by Saint John the Apostle, Saint Paul the Apostle. Above Saint Michael to Saint Romanos is Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ Forerunner and Saint John the Beloved Disciple en- is Saint Uriel the Archangel, and next to him is Saint pointing to the Theotokos for the benefit of Saint Epi- tered into the Church. She stopped at the ambo where Basil the Great, then Saint Gregory the Theologian, phanios his disciple. Finally, in the lower corner of the she knelt and prayed fervently. She then proceeded to and Saint John Chrysostom (not the usual portrayal icon is the Mother of God appearing to St. Romanos the altar where she prayed again, then removed her veil of him). while he was sleeping, bringing him healing and his and spread it out as a sign of protection of the City. vocation as a songwriter. Bishop Kurt’s Reflection—p 2 Virtual Deacon Retreat—p3 Eparchial Financial Report—p5 Vocation retreat at seminary—p7 Page 2 Eastern Catholic Life OCTOBER 2020 I Lift Up My Eyes... Pastoral Reflections of Bishop Kurt O Gentle Protectress inspired artwork, etc. There seem to be obsessed with avoiding honor after the tecting the Greeks from Slavic invaders. hundreds of them in a large number of Franciscans began to be honored by By the way, if you are part of our church, foreign languages and cultures. If peo- the people. When entering one village and you are not familiar with the “Tales ple today reject our current calendar as he put his pants on his head so that no of Bygone Years” also called “The Pri- culturally biased, perhaps we could all one would honor him as a holy man as mary Chronicles,” it is worthwhile to agree on one of the ones that Tolkien he walked through the village. In the read about it on the internet. It is a invented. Another calendar invented movie Ostrov, or Island, the most as- history of the eastern Slavs, beginning for modern fiction is fromBrave New cetical monk acquires a reputation for with Adam, and continuing through World in which years are numbered holiness and people in trouble come to Saint Vladimir and the adoption of the t seems like years since last Octo- from the birth of Henry Ford. In Hux- him for spiritual advice. For example, a Christian faith in Kiev in 988, and then Iber, so many things have happened. ley’s brave new world, the years are troubled woman asks him to bless her another century or so, ending in 1117 What seemed like just another exotic styled “in The Year of our Ford,” and before an abortion. He goes in another AD. Like many ancient histories, it is illness on the other side of the globe the Christian cross is replaced with a T room and pretends to be talking to the most reliable closest to its own time. took control of our entire economy. At in honor of the model T. Henry Ford holy man within earshot of her so that The author Nestor, of course, had ac- the beginning of the year, I saw Chinese is idealized as the inventor of mass pro- she won’t honor him as a saint. In my cess to many documents at the time people wearing masks in airports, and duction and assembly lines. The novel own life, I knew a man who entered re- that we no longer have. It is available now we all are. Then the social upheav- begins in the Year of Our Ford 632, covery for alcohol and drug addiction. in both English and Old Slavonic on al has been remarkable. I just learned which is 2540 AD. His sponsor wanted to cure him of the internet. It isn’t very long by our through my own family in California vainglory and the desire to be thanked, standards and will reward anyone who that two banks were burned to the Getting back to Constantinople, on so he told him he had to do kind acts takes the time to read it. ground in a quiet suburb of San Diego. Sunday, October 1, in the tenth century, for people and never identify himself. An unprecedented number of people Andrew the Fool for Christ had an early So, in the middle of the night, he used The Mother of God also saved the are out of work. What a relief that it morning vision of Mary the Theotokos to clean people’s windshields and leave city of Constantinople from various is October, the month when we re- in the Church of Blachernae. Andrew bags of groceries, and so on, and nev- plagues, so this feast day is really a won- member the Protection of the Mother saw the dome of the church open and er identify himself. I suppose he was derful feast day for us this year. Every of God, as we say in the troparion, the Mary entered in the air surrounded following the tradition of the fool for year, I enjoy sharing with you one of gentle protection.