OCTOBER 2003 VOLUME 47 NO. 8 CONTENTS 3 EDITORIAL by Very Rev. John Abdalah ◆ The Most Reverend 5 THE BALANCE BEAM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS Metropolitan PHILIP, D.H.L., D.D. by Fr. Michael Shanbour Primate The Right Reverend 9 ORDER OF ST. IGNATIUS Bishop Antoun, Auxiliary by Danna Lewis The Right Reverend Bishop Joseph, Auxiliary 10 MONEY AND THE CHURCH The Right Reverend by Ron Nicola Bishop Basil, Auxiliary The Right Reverend 12 DEPARTMENT OF MARRIAGE Bishop Demetri, Auxiliary AND FAMILY MINISTRIES Founded in Arabic as Al Kalimat in 1905 14 THE ANGELS by Saint Raphael Hawaweeny by Nabil Semaan Founded in English as The Word in 1957 17 DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH MINISTRIES by Metropolitan Antony Bashir Editor in Chief 22 OYO REGIONAL EVENTS The Very Rev. John P. Abdalah, D.Min. Assistant Editor 23 ARCHDIOCESAN OFFICE Joanne M. Abdalah, MSW Editorial Board 23 DAILY DEVOTIONS The Very Rev. Joseph J. Allen, Th.D. by Very Rev. George Alberts Anthony Bashir, Ph.D. The Very Rev. Antony Gabriel, Th.M. 26 A LOOK BACK AT THE The Very Rev. Peter Gillquist Linda Hopkins BEGINNING OF SOYO Anne Glynn Mackoul, J.D. by Edward Deeb Ronald Nicola Najib E. Saliba, Ph.D. 28 ORATORICAL FESTIVAL The Very Rev. Paul Schneirla, M.Div. Design Director 30 COMMUNITIES IN ACTION Donna Griffin Albert Member 33 THE ORTHODOX WORLD The Associated Church Press Conciliar Press Ecumenical News International Orthodox Press Service COVER Editorial Office: The WORD MT. ATHOS photo by Fr. Michael Shanbour 635 Miranda Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15241 e-mail: [email protected] FAX: 1-412-831-5554 Subscription Office: 358 Mountain Road Letters to the editor are welcome and should include the author’s full PO Box 5238 name and parish. Submissions for “Communities in Action” must be Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 approved by the local pastor. Both may be edited for purposes of clarity ◆ and space. All submissions, in hard copy, on disk or e-mailed, should be double-spaced for editing purposes. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: U.S.A. and Canada, $20.00 Foreign Countries, $26.00 Single Copies, $3.00 THE WORD (USPS626-260), published monthly except July and August, by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America at 358 Mountain Road, PO Box 5238, periodicals postage paid at Englewood, New Jersey 07631-5238 and at addi- tional mailing offices. Postmaster send address changes to: THE WORD, 358 Mountain Road, PO Box 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 VOLUME 47 NO. 8 OCTOBER 2003 ISSN 0043-7964 www.antiochian.org. 2 The Word EDITORIAL the need to achieve SYCHOLOGISTS OBSERVE THAT HUMAN Our value is realized at our conception, and P beings have a need to achieve. This need is comes from the salvation that Christ prepared acknowledged by most behavioral scientists when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. Humans as ranking immediately after the basic needs for have great value because God loves us. Humans food and shelter on the hierarchy of human needs. have value because God chooses us. He chooses us Without a sense of accomplishment, one has a to share His life, He chooses us to share His min- hard time experiencing a general feeling of peace istry, He chooses us to be united to Himself and to or well-being. Without a sense of competency, one live forever. would have trouble feeling good about himself, and While we often forget God’s love for us and would have difficulty relating to others. In addi- busy ourselves with other things, God never ceas- tion, Western cultures place great value in materi- es to love us and to choose us. He loves us as a al and professional success and, for many, success mature and holy parent who is patient while we and value are so closely related that they are struggle and rebel. He shows unconditional love understood as the same. Without feeling success- even when we are rude or ignore Him altogether. ful or adequate, one would have trouble feeling He knows our needs, fears, pain and history. worthwhile and unable to accept God’s love. Nevertheless, He loves us unto His own death, Parents and parishioners have a responsibility to accomplishing everything we need. Indeed, He reveal God to His world. loved us even before we knew Him, and calls us For Christians, human value is not the same as home to Himself. skills or accomplishments. Human beings have We are united to God in Baptism. In Baptism, value that comes from God. God’s love and God’s when asked, “Does thou unite thyself to Christ?” acceptance are not dependent upon what people we profess our unity with Him. Now, this unity is say, do or have. Human value comes from God. our response to God’s love. His love is shown in October 2003 3 EDITORIAL is called to tend to the sheep of the Lord. We must nurture our children, siblings and peers. Perhaps nothing is more important than revealing God’s unconditional love to our children. They need to feel loved as they attempt to gain competency and self-esteem. When they sometimes feel unsuccess- ful or sinful and thus unlovable, our children need acceptance and our witness of God’s love. They need to learn that their value comes from God and not from what they are able to do. Among the most important aspects of God’s love which we are required to share is compas- sion. God’s compassion for us is so important because we are wounded people in a broken and damaging world. It is so important for us to share God’s love and compassion with each other when we are suffering, because God’s people reveal God’s presence in His world. Because God has united Himself to us, we must express God and our unity with Him everywhere we go. We must be ready to articulate the faith, and in hearing our siblings’ errors, to guide and correct with humility and love. This requires special study, sharpening of skills, and the mastery of the- ological language. And each of us who is baptized is called to feed the sheep of the Lord, the Lord who took on humanity and calls all of humanity home to Himself. This requires still more study, the post-resurrectional appearances of John 21, prayer and preparation, as well as courage to when He breaks bread and feeds the disciples, and speak and discernment to know when to speak. in the miracle of calling the fish into This year, at the Antiochian House the nets. God knows our needs and ◆ of Studies, we received record numbers takes cares of them. He then calls us EDITORIAL of men and women whom God is call- into His service. Our service in His ser- BY ing into His service. They are respond- vice is an expression of both His love Very Rev. John P. ing with hard work as they gather the for us and our unity with Him. This Abdalah tools necessary to serve the Church ◆ love takes the form of feeding and tend- and God’s people. They come eager to ing, paralleling Christ’s words to Peter: learn and ready to equip themselves feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. We and share with each other. I am awed by this phe- serve and we must serve, because God loves us nomenon of scores of people hearing and accept- and unites us to His ministry and His life. How ing God’s call, willing to sacrifice and humble great then is our value? Our value is joined to themselves in the process. Surely, our mighty God God’s own; it is from God and is independent of is ready and willing to act in His saints. The min- our own actions. istry of these men and women reveals their value Each of us who has put on Christ is called to to the world. share in His ministry. His ministry is one of wit- Three times Jesus asked Peter to express his ness to the Father who sent the Lord into our love, and three times Jesus called Peter to feed, world. This is a witness that requires us to pray tend and again to feed His flock. We who are bap- and study. This witness requires us to feed on tized into Christ are called, as was Peter, to express God’s Word, to interact with each other and to be our unity with God by caring for each other and nourished by the faith that we hear the true voice expressing God’s compassion and love. We are to of the Lord within. Each of us in Christ’s ministry feed each other and tend to each other’s needs. 4 The Word BALANCE BEAM The Balance Beam of Righteousness: REFLECTIONS ON A JOURNEY TO THE HOLY MOUNTAIN OF ATHOS By REV. FR MICHAEL SHANBOUR the invasion). It is THE JOURNEY said that by the 4th BEGINS century the area was completely Chris- t was the opportu- tianized. Despite the I nity of a lifetime good intentions of for one born in the scholars who have heartland of America, insisted that the never having tra- monastic life on versed across an Athos could have ocean or set foot on begun as early as the another continent. 9th century, recent Yet upon the invita- archeological digs tion of an Orthodox near existing monas- friend originally from teries have revealed Thessaloniki, with the buried founda- the blessing of our tions of large church- Metropolitan Philip, es or monastic struc- and by God’s inscrutable grace and physical presence and prayers in the tures dating from at least the 5th providence, the journey began from years after the Resurrection of century.