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The WORD (USPS626-260) Is Published Monthly, Except to Serve THE November 2018 Volume 62 No.WORD 9 EDITORIAL Volume 62 No.9 November 2018 COVER: ICON OF SAINT RAPHAEL by the hand of Making Better Choices; THE Kh. Erin Kimmett, Annunciation Press, WORD APicons.com Feeding CONTENTS 3 EDITORIAL by Bishop JOHN the Spirit 5 THE HIGH CALLING OF THE PRIESTHOOD by Bishop BASIL More than 14 FROM THESE STONES – DEPARTMENT OF MISSIONS AND EVANGELISM the Flesh 17 METROPOLITAN JOSEPH PRESIDES AT BISHOP JOHN WESTERN RITE CELEBRATION 30 ARCHDIOCESAN OFFICE 31 A QUEST FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH by Julia Ritter 34 MYRRH-BEARING WOMEN by Maria Koropsak here is an Orthodox way, themselves also in the image and likeness of God. September 19, 2018 or phromina, that ex- As God is free to love and free to create, so He Beloved in Christ, presses how God makes has given us such freedoms as well. Freedom is an Greetings to you in the Name of Our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! His presence and love essential tenet of our understanding of God and In 1905, our Father among the Saints, Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn, understood the missionary need of a periodical for his new flock. He founded the Arabic-language magazine, Al-Kalimat, where he applied his impressive literary and theological skills to directly communicating known. There is indeed His creation. Also, we understand that we are both the teachings of Holy Orthodoxy to the people in a contemporary and engaging way. His Eminence Metropolitan ANTONY brought the magazine into his own times in a new English-language version, The ORDW . Today, we are blessed to have His Grace Bishop JOHN con- an Orthodox way of dis- spiritual and physical, and sometimes it seems that tinuing to grow and expand this ministry in our day as its Editor-in-Chief. cerning truth, calling our spirits and bodies have different needs and gain I would like to thank all of those who have worked with Bishop JOHN so ably as the Editorial Board – namely Fr. Joseph Allen, Dr. Antony Letters to the editor are welcome and should include the Bashir, Fr. Antony Gabriel, Ronald Nicola, and Dr. Najib Saliba – as well as all of those who served in the past. They have done good and author’s full name and parish. Submissions for “Commu- each other to health, and pleasure in different ways. Metropolitan JOSEPH holy work, and on behalf of myself, my brother hierarchs, the reverend clergy, the esteemed trustees, and the devoted faithful of our Archdio- nities in Action” must be approved by the local pastor. cese, I offer to them my profound gratitude. recognizing the Holy asked me to call to your attention the work of Nico- As we continue our journey into the Twenty-first Century, the time has come to recruit a new editorial board to take up the legacy of its Both may be edited for purposes of clarity and space. All honorable predecessors in constantly renewing the tradition of The ORDW magazine. With great joy, I announce the appointments of the submissions e-mailed and provided as a Microsoft Word Spirit working through demus of the Holy Mountain, who teaches that the new Editorial Board: text or editable PDF. Please do not embed artwork into the • Fr. Michel Najim, Dean of our Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles, California, and President of the Board of Trustees of the An- word documents. All art work must be high resolution: at us. To recognize the Spirit in our lives is an art that mind must choose to concentrate on the spiritual tiochian House of Studies; least 300dpi. • Fr. Patrick O’Grady, pastor of our parish of Saint Peter in Pomona, California, and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Antiochi- requires deliberate efforts and interaction with God. over the physical, when their respective desires for an House of Studies; T Your• Fr.Father Thomas in Christ, Zain, Vicar General of the Antiochian Archdiocese and Dean of our Saint Nicholas Cathedral; ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: This necessitates an awareness of the complexities pleasure are at odds. Our resistance to living lives • Fr. Andrew Damick, pastor of our parish of Saint Paul in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and an author and contributor for Ancient Faith U.S.A. and Canada, $40.00 Ministries; Foreign Countries, $50.00 of our human condition, as well as our obedience that reflect our God-given nature is rooted in this • Fr. Nicholas Belcher, Assistant to His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH; Single Copies, $3.00 • Fr. John Oliver, pastor of our parish of Saint Elizabeth in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, an instructor at Saint’s Tikhon’s Orthodox Theo- to the God who calls us and empowers each of us tension. The teaching of St. Nicodemus, that we are logical Seminary, and an author and contributor for Ancient Faith Ministries; Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America • Khouria Erin Kimmett, author, iconographer and founder of Annunciation Press, and Khouria of our parish of Saint George in Nor- The WORD (USPS626-260) is published monthly, except to serve. Let us consider the human condition both to feed our spirits more than our physical bodies, wood, Massachusetts; July and August, by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian • Dr. Ann Bezzerides, Director the Office of Vocation & Ministry at Hellenic College Holy Cross, noted author and editor, and a mem- Archdiocese of North America at 358 Mountain Road, PO generally and personally, and seek to fashion a bal- implies that we are truly free to make choices that ber of our parish of Saint Mary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Box 5238; periodicals postage paid at Englewood, New anced and holy response to those around us whom reflect our God-given nature. St. Nicodemus says, Excerpted from I have confidence that this fine and talented group of Orthodox Christians will continue the tradition in new and dynamic ways under Bish- Jersey 07631-5238 and at additional mailing offices. Metropolitan JOSEPH’s op JOHN’s leadership. we venture to serve and are called to witness. Let’s surprisingly, that we are a macrocosmos in a micro- and Bishop JOHN’s While still offeringThe ORDW in its current print and online forms, exciting plans are underway to distribute the magazine as a first-class Postmaster send address changes to The WORD, 358 Keynote Address, “app.” This should more easily reach our people in this increasingly technological society – all while continuing in the holy tradition set for us think about man’s God-given freedom, with its cosmos. This formulation inverts the view of those by our Holy Father Raphael. The new Board will welcome feedback and new ideas as we enter this new era. Mountain Road, PO Box 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631- “Compliance and 5238 Giving thanks for all of those who have faithfully contributed to this ministry of The ORDW magazine by giving of their time, talents, and many complexities and enslavements. As Saint Paul philosophers who would see man as but a minus- Resistance: Discern- ISSN 0043-7964 www.antiochian.org. treasure, and asking God’s blessing on those taking up their sacred mantle, I remain, points out, we do what we don’t want to do and cule dot in an expanding universe. According to St. ing the Spirit,” made to Your Father in Christ, the Orthodox Christian Canada Post Publication Agreement No. 40043404 don’t do what we want to do. Nicodemus, the macrocosmos that is each person is Association of Medicine, Return Canada address to Psychology and Religion American International Mail, STN A – BOX 697, Windsor Archbishop of New York and Metropoliltan of all North America To be effective witnesses to each other, we need a universe of complexities, including all kinds of (OCAMPR) at its 2018 ON N9A 6N4, Canada to respect those whom we find around us who are emotions, drives and feelings, residing in a world, Annual Conference. 2 JanuaryNovember 2016 2018 TheThe WordWord 33 “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11: 26) 358 Mountain Road, P.O. Box 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 (201) 871-1355 T [email protected] (201) 871-7954 F EDITORIAL the body of each human being. The cosmos, on the other hand, is not in the image and likeness of God, and therefore is not greater than man; rather, it is created for THE HIGH CALLING OF man’s needs. We are indeed spiritual creatures with bodies. We need to approach each other with awe and respect. Freedom and autonomy are traits of both God and those with whom we live. THE PRIESTHOOD Because God can do as He chooses, and He makes us in His own image and like- Bishop BASIL’s Presentation to the Antiochian Clergy at the Clergy Symposium The Most Reverend ness, we too must have freedom to choose, though we don’t always choose well, or Metropolitan JOSEPH reflect God’s image in our actions. God calls us to a way of living that is beyond The Right Reverend Bishop BASIL what we understand to be “normal” in a fallen world. In Isaiah 55:8–9 we read: The Right Reverend “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Bishop THOMAS LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than The Right Reverend your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The ways of God are indeed dif- Bishop ALEXANDER ferent from our own. Who among us would have a party for a son who wasted our The Right Reverend Bishop JOHN retirement for evil pleasures? Who would spend a day looking for a coin? Never- The Right Reverend theless, God gives us choices.
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