Volume 60 No. 9 November 2016 VOLUME 60 NO. 9 NOVEMBER 2016 COVER: ICON DEESIS EDITORIAL at St. Siouan Monastery Chapel in Wichita, Kansas. contents Icon written by the hand of Janet Jaime, [email protected] 3 EDITORIAL by Bishop JOHN Am I Any More Ready to Receive Christ 4 AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH by Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis Today Than Israel Was 2,000 Years Ago? 6 METROPOLITAN JOSEPH VISITS METROPOLITAN TIKHON AT THE OCA CHANCERY ast week a young man came to me lamenting change our lives to re ect our beliefs and values. is 8 PREPARING FOR MASS over not living as if Christ is resurrected and the takes some deliberate e ort. by V. Rev. John W. Fenton tomb is empty. I invited him to explore with e Church has given us two major fasting periods 15 IOCC me what that “living after the Resurrection” each year to bring us back to the reality of God’s presence. L should look like. He thought that there should We celebrate His Nativity and Resurrection, preceded by 16 ORATORICAL FESTIVAL by Jordan Khabbaz be some peace, arising from a simple understanding that periods of fasting, intensi ed worship, almsgiving and God has accomplished already those things that we fear private prayer. e messages focus on what God does 18 EXPERTS “RE-THINK” SACRED ARTS AT ST. VLADIMIR’S SEMINARY and dread. We should not need to compete for God’s in our lives, and we are called to encounter Him. We attention or love; He has come to us! erefore we can look forward to the messages the Church provides 19 HELPING WOMEN SAVES LIVES should live without fear. ere should be some joy, as we during Advent and Lent. by Christopher Humphrey, Ph.D. understand that God is with us, cares for us, and is active Having written this, however, the words of my young 21 ARCHDIOCESAN OFFICE in our lives. is is why He took on esh and shared in friend echo in my mind. Yes, I believe, but … changing 22 ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS everything that human life is, from conception to death. our ways of living, our habits, if you will, takes practice. THROUGH A VIBRANT PARISH ere should be freedom to Just as a nun dons her habit SPIRITUAL LIFE by Bishop THOMAS with the assistance make godly choices, because (puts on her clothes) every of Peter Schweitzer and Marshall Goodge Christ is the Truth that day, so we need to practice in 30 COMMUNITIES IN ACTION has set us free. Filled with “putting God on,” speaking God, we no longer try to to Him, listening through 32 GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS ll our emptiness with food, the Scriptures, and making by Khouria Stefanie Yazge, Ph.D. alcohol, drugs, television or choices throughout the day anything else of the world. that re ect Christ’s closeness We have life-giving food to us. We need to practice Letters to the editor are welcome and should include from above. living the truth that God is the author’s full name and parish. Submissions for “Communities in Action” must be approved by “Yes,” said my young with us. We change habits the local pastor. Both may be edited for purposes friend, “I believe all these by practicing new habits. of clarity and space. All submissions e-mailed and provided as a Microsoft Word text or editable truths, yet I still act as if God We gain skills by practice. PDF. Please do not embed artwork into the word has not yet come. I don’t It is noteworthy to me documents. All art work must be high resolution: at least 300dpi. think of Him all the time, that we are not searching I don’t pray enough and I around, looking for God. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: U.S.A. and Canada, $20.00 busy myself with mindless Our God has taken on esh Foreign Countries, $26.00 Single Copies, $3.00 things!” Perhaps this young to show Himself to us. He man speaks for many of us. We believe, but are so busy comes into our lives and calls us. He knocks at our The WORD (USPS626-260) is published monthly, except July and August, by the Antiochian Orthodox with life, which is mostly secular, with many competing doors. When Christ knocks at our doors, will we make Christian Archdiocese of North America at 358 Mountain Road, PO Box 5238; periodicals postage ideas, that we don’t live as though God has come to us in room for Him in our hearts, or in our garages and barns? paid at Englewood, New Jersey 07631-5238 and at the person of Christ – has su ered, has been buried, and Will Jesus be to us an added spice to life, or the essence additional mailing offi ces. is raised from the dead. We forget, moment to moment, of life itself. Can we be patient enough with ourselves to Postmaster send address changes to The WORD, that God is with us. journey to God from where we are, or will our lament 358 Mountain Road, PO Box 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 Simply lamenting our separated state from God turn to despondency and defeat us? With God, all things ISSN 0043-7964 www.antiochian.org. alone will not help much. We need truly to change are possible. God acts, and it is His will to save us. For Canada Post Publication Agreement No. 40043404 direction and put Christ back in the center of our lives. this reason the Word took on esh and lives with us. Return Canada address to American International Mail, STN A – BOX 697, We need clearly to make Him our goal and deliberately Bishop John Windsor ON N9A 6N4, Canada 2 JanuaryNovember 2016 2016 e Word 3 the earth itself – the cave. All of Creation gathered to after a four-year absence? AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH worship the Creator in its midst. In their supreme sacri ce, in their trust, in their faith, AND DWELT AMONG US AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. ird, the icon serves as an invitation to us to come all of these people received the greatest blessing. ey John 1:14 and worship also. e manger is shown as a tomb, the beheld His glory. ey beheld with their own eyes the swaddling bands are burial cloths. is is the Creator, Son of God, made esh, come to dwell among us. ey come to save us through the cross and the tomb. His were all profoundly changed by the experience. All are The Most Reverend he Gospel accounts of the without Christ was not anything made that purpose is clear. e cave is heaven; surrounded by jagged profoundly honored, both by God and now by us. Metropolitan JOSEPH rocks, the cave itself is a setting of peace amidst danger. Indeed, John captures the message of the feast in the The Right Reverend Nativity are limited to a mere 40 was made. Bishop ANTOUN verses. In the Gospel of Matthew, Continuing on with John’s Gospel, we We are called to follow, the way the Magi followed the most succinct way. We are called to behold His glory. The Right Reverend there are 19 verses about the read, And Christ took on esh and dwelt star. We are all called: the call to the Shepherds is the is is the message of the Nativity. It is also the goal of Bishop BASIL T Nativity; the Gospel of Luke among us, and we beheld His Glory. e Feast call to everyone. Whatever your stage in life, whatever every human life. The Right Reverend your status in society, Bishop THOMAS has 20. e Gospel of Mark makes no of the Nativity is the day that the Son of you are welcomed. Be not afraid. The Right Reverend mention of the Nativity, but instead begins God left His mother’s womb to live among Bishop ALEXANDER with the Baptism of Christ. e Gospel of us. He took on esh in the way that we e heavens declare I bring you good The Right Reverend John summarizes the Nativity in one verse: do. He came into this world as a new-born the glory of God. news Bishop JOHN And the Word became esh and dwelt among baby. He didn’t just drop in as an adult. e angels sing God’s Of a great joy The Right Reverend praises and invite us to Bishop ANTHONY us and we beheld His glory. In Nativity From the time of His Incarnation in the Which will come to do the same. The Right Reverend scenes and Christmas pageants, we are so womb of His mother, He followed all the all the world. Bishop NICHOLAS enamored with the gures of the Nativity steps that we take. He grew up as we do. He When I study the For to you is born icon of the Nativity, Founded in Arabic as story – the angels, the shepherds, the Magi learned to walk, He went to school, He had this day. Al Kalimat in 1905 I nd that I relate to by Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny) – that sometimes we forget the main gure friends, He had struggles. e di erence A Savior, who is Founded in English as in the story: our Lord Jesus Christ. between us and Him is that throughout His the gure of Joseph The WORD in 1957 most of all. He sits at a Christ the Lord. by Metropolitan ANTONY (Bashir) When we call the feast of Christmas “the life, He walked in tandem with God.