JANUARY 2017 Voice of St. George SAINT GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE DESERT 74-109 LARREA ST., PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA Inside this issue “Who Are You “WHO ARE YOU WEARING?” Wearing?”……...pg. 1 Patriarchal While standing in front of Since we celebrate the This means that we have Encyclical……...pg. 2 fashion reporters at the Baptism of Christ on Jan- Christ our God as a part Greek Festival...pg. 4 Palm Springs Film Festi- uary 6th, it seems appro- of us. The things that St. George val, a movie star was priate to talk about the Christ can do, we can do, Endowment asked, “Who are you wear- Sacrament of Holy Bap- also. As Christ fought Fund……………pg. 5 ing?” The answer to the tism. In this, we remind temptations, we can fight Message from question had nothing to ourselves that, upon bap- temptations; as Christ The President, do with fabrics. It had tism in Christ, we are giv- healed others, we can also Philoptochos everything to do with the en two things to wear: a heal others (as is evident News……..…….pg.6 person who designed the baptismal garment and a from the lives of Saints). Stewardship, outfit. It’s an identity is- cross. As Christ arose from the AHEPA News…pg.7 sue. “Who” we wear says dead, we, too are arisen Sunday School..pg. 8 Now the question of much about who we are. from the dead. We are not Coloring Book, “Who are you wearing?” slaves to natural forces, Parish By-Laws, The things we wear do takes on a special kind of but we are brothers and Outreach……....pg. 9 two things:1) they remind quality. St. Paul explained sisters in Christ Who The Three us of our own identity it clearly to the Galatians: gives us the power to Hierarchs………pg.10 and, 2) they project our “All who have been baptized overcome natural forces. Orthodox identity to others. Regard- unto Christ, they have put We are replicas of God in Position RE: less of whether one wears on Christ.” (3:27). The the world. Donation of the robes of a priest; the “special quality” involved Organs, lab coat of a physician; the in answering this question We still have Free Will, Parish Council..pg.11 uniform of a soldier; the is in the fact that now we for without Free Will, we December 2016 are not speaking about overalls of a farmer—the cannot love. If we choose Parish Calendar..pg.19 “dead” apparel, but about message is the same: “This to honor our baptismal is who I am and this is “living” apparel—apparel garment and the cross how others are to know that carries with it the en- that comes with it, we Mailing Address St. George Church me.” We respect our ap- ergies of God. then choose to live out P.O. Box 4755 parel by “living up to our lives consistent with Palm Desert, CA 92261 As a result, our human what it represents.” At the the prayers of the Divine Tel: (760) 568-9901 abilities are not limited by FAX: (760) 568-9492 same time, we seek accep– Liturgy. We do not seek our natural traits; they are Email: [email protected] tance from others based to control other people in expanded to include the Website: www.go-stgeorge.org on what our apparel tells the world around us; we -Fr. Theodore Pantels, Pastor grace of God in our lives. them about us. seek to control ourselves so -Dcn. Euthym Kontaxis, M.D. Page 2 that others can be inspired to love God. In this PATRIARCHAL CHRISTMAS EN- way, we are replicas of God’s love and bearers of CYCLICAL & “2017: THE YEAR OF God’s power through prayer. On the other hand, THE PROTECTION OF THE we can choose to cast away our baptismal gar- SACREDNESS OF CHILDREN” ment and to take off our cross—in essence, we can Beloved brothers and sisters, dear children in the choose to change our identity as one being apart Lord, from God. But, then we are down to simply “the fabrics” of life; not the essence of life. We praise and glorify the God in Trinity, who deemed us worthy once again this year to reach In our choice to follow Christ, our way of life is the great feast of the Nativity in the flesh of the intimately tied to our personal participation in the Son and Word of God the Father in “little Bethle- celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and hem.” Feast Days. Through the Holy Sacrament, our The holy Church is celebrating with fullness of minds, hands and feet become the minds, hands joy, for Christ “assumed flesh” through His in- and feet of Christ our God. carnation and rendered the Church “an adorn- In this way, the Sacrament of Holy Communion ment for the world.” Indeed, the entire human fulfills our baptismal calling—a calling that comes race, and even “all of creation,” rejoices over this to us through the prayer by which the Baptismal divine blessing. “All of creation is today filled Waters are blessed: “Manifest Yourself in this water, with joy because Christ is born of a Virgin.” O Lord, and grant that the one to be baptized may be In contrast to the “unmoved mover” of the an- transformed therein to the putting away of the old per- son, which has been made corrupt according to the de- cient Greeks, our God is the communion of love ceitful lusts, and the putting on of the new, which is and lovingly moves in time toward humankind renewed according to the Image of Him Who created and the world. “In this is love, not that we loved him/her.” God but that He loved us.” (1 John 4.10) This Image is that of God’s Beautiful Light of glo- The pre-eternal Word of the Father, who granted ry. Through the Sacraments, we participate in this “being” to humankind, now grants us “well be- Light, as is proclaimed in the hymn chanted after ing” through His incarnation. “This is the reason Holy Communion: “We have seen the True Light; we behind the feast; this is why we celebrate today: have received the Heavenly Spirit; we have found the namely, God’s descent to us so that we might True Faith, worshiping the Undivided Trinity...” ascend—or return—to God . in order that, by laying aside the old man, we may assume the This “True Light,” by the way, being the Light of new man; and in order that, by dying to Adam, God, is why our baptismal garment is ideally we might therefore live in Christ; in order that white in color. He Who is clothed in the glory of we might be with Christ, be crucified with Him, Eternal Light came into the world as naked as be buried with Him, and arise with Him.” The Adam and Eve. His humble nakedness is the un- way of deification through grace is henceforth doing of the tragic loss of Adam’s innocence due open to everyone coming into the world. All of to sin. While Adam and Eve clothed themselves us are “capable of containing God.” “There is with the fabric of plants in shame, our Lord neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free clothes us in the Light of His fabulous glory and man, neither male nor female; for all of you are Wisdom—the garment of Holy Baptism. one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3.28) +FR. THEODORE Unfortunately, the Gospel of Christmas is once again proclaimed to a world where the racket of weapons is heard, where unprovoked violence Continued on the next page —————> Page 3 PATRIARCHAL ENCYCLICAL, continued shall not enter it (Luke 18.17), as well as what our Savior says about those who against individuals and peoples is enacted, and “prevent” (Luke 18.16) children from ap- where inequality and social justice prevail. It is un- proaching Him and about those who bearable to witness the state of countless children, “scandalize” them (Matt 18.6). victims of military conflict, irregular situations, The mystery of Christmas is crystallized in the manifold exploitations, persecutions and discrimi- words of the festive Kontakion: “For us, a new nations, as well as hunger, poverty and painful dis- child was born, God before all ages.” The divine possession. Word as child and the child as God is revealed Last April, we had the opportunity in Lesbos to wit- to the world with “the pure heart” and simplici- ness with our own eyes—together with His Holiness ty of a child. Children comprehend truths, Pope Francis of Rome and His Beatitude Archbishop which “wise and prudent” people are unable to Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece—the tragic cir- approach. As Elytis observes in his poem From cumstances of refugees and immigrants, and espe- One’s Neighbor: “You can build Jerusalem out of cially the acute problems of the suffering children, children alone!” innocents and defenseless victims of military vio- Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, We lence, as well as the racial and religious discrimina- appeal to all of you to respect the identity and tion and injustice, all of which are constantly in- sacredness of childhood. In light of the global creasing. refugee crisis that especially affects the rights of The feast of God’s Word, who became an infant— children; in light of the plague of child mortali- the child Jesus, whose disappearance is pursued by ty, hunger and child labor, child abuse and psy- worldly authority, according to the Evangelist Mat- chological violence, as well as the dangers of thew (Matt 2.13)—is a reminder and invitation for altering children’s souls through their uncon- us to care for children, to protect these vulnerable trolled exposure to the influence of contempo- victims and to respect the sacredness of childhood.