The Word Volume 53 No. 10 December 2009 VOLUME 53 NO. 10 DECEMBER 2009 contents COVER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh 3 EDITORIAL by Rt. Rev. John Abdalah 4 FOCUS NORTH AMERICA by Charles Ajalat 8 MY DAMASCUS SUMMER by Daniel G. Khalil Jr. 12 METROPOLITAN PHILIP HOSTS ANNUAL SEMINARIAN DINNER 16 FROM THE VILLAGE … The Most Reverend 8 17 THE DEPARTMENT OF Metropolitan PHILIP, D.H.L., D.D. Primate CHRISTIAN EDUCATION The Right Reverend ARCHDIOCESAN OFFICE Bishop ANTOUN 22 The Right Reverend 24 COMMUNITIES IN ACTION Bishop JOSEPH The Right Reverend 31 BOOK REVIEW: Bishop BASIL MEETING THE INCARNATE GOD The Right Reverend Bishop THOMAS 32 BOOK REVIEW: The Right Reverend PATIENCE WITH GOD Bishop MARK The Right Reverend 34 ORATORICAL FESTIVAL Bishop ALEXANDER Founded in Arabic as Al Kalimat in 1905 by Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny) Founded in English as The WORD in 1957 by Metropolitan ANTONY (Bashir) Editor in Chief The Rt. Rev. John P. Abdalah, D.Min. Assistant Editor Christopher Humphrey, Ph.D. Editorial Board The Very Rev. Joseph J. Allen, Th.D. Anthony Bashir, Ph.D. The Very Rev. Antony Gabriel, Th.M. The Very Rev. Peter Gillquist Letters to the editor are welcome and should include the author’s full name and Ronald Nicola parish. Submissions for “Communities in Action” must be approved by the local Najib E. Saliba, Ph.D. pastor. Both may be edited for purposes of clarity and space. All submissions, in The Very Rev. Paul Schneirla, M.Div. hard copy, on disk or e-mailed, should be double-spaced for editing purposes. Design Director Donna Griffin Albert Member ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: The Associated Church Press U.S.A. and Canada, $20.00 Conciliar Press Foreign Countries, $26.00 Ecumenical News International Single Copies, $3.00 Orthodox Press Service The WORD (USPS626-260) is published monthly, except July and August, by Editorial Office: the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America at 358 Mountain The WORD Road, PO Box 5238; periodicals postage paid at Englewood, New Jersey 07631- 635 Miranda Drive 5238 and at additional mailing offices. Pittsburgh, PA 15241 Postmaster send address changes to: The WORD, 358 Mountain Road, PO Box e-mail: [email protected] 5238, Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 FAX: 1-412-831-5554 ISSN 0043-7964 www.antiochian.org. Subscription Office: Canada Post Publications Agreement No. 40691029 358 Mountain Road Return Canada address to: PO Box 5238 AIM, 7289 Torbram Road, Mississauga, ON L4T 1G8, Canada. Englewood, NJ 07631-5238 editor’s letter A Christmas Note! When my altar boys bring me notes dur- I have become so busy lately just doing my ing the Liturgy about selling meat pies or an- job, that I needed a reminder of what it is all for. nouncing8 a meeting, I’m always tempted to Blessed with this reminder, I am more peace- say something like: “We interrupt this work of ful, patient, kind and deliberate. I hope that this God’s people in the Kingdom of Heaven to an- Advent is for you such a reminder, and that, in nounce that the SOYO will be selling hoagies in cele brating this Christmas, we recommit our- the Church hall!” While fear of how my Bishop selves to the Christ who rose from the dead, and Metropolitan would interpret such a stunt who calls us to repentance (re-direction), and keeps me in check, I am willing to write the who made Himself so vulnerable to His own following: “We interrupt your busy schedules, creation in being born as an infant. Christmas shopping, shortened winter days, In this edition of The WORD we call your and December blues for an important message attention to a grass-roots ministry movement from our sponsor, Jesus Christ. The infant Jesus that will allow us to do our Christian work. This Wwho was born of the Virgin Mary is indeed the is also an opportunity to work with Christians Eternal, Only-begotten Son of God, who rose from all of the other Orthodox jurisdictions in from the dead and opened the way of salvation our neighborhood. This is very important in for mankind!” light of the challenge that we be united, initi- This annual announcement of the Church ated by the Mother Patriarchates at the Fourth is yet another attempt to call our attention to Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference this that which is important, so that our days are past June, which took place at the Center of not squandered in vanity. We get so busy doing the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, what we do, that we forget why we do it. We Switzerland. The Mother Churches challenged work so that we can have time to bring each the daughter Churches outside the traditional other and ourselves to God, by the Holy Spirit, motherlands to organize themselves into local through Jesus Christ. This is the reason that Churches. If authentic, this challenge is what God has blessed us with senses and life: that we we have been waiting and praying for. Let us may come to know Him and share in His love pray for our bishops and Metropolitan as well for us and for each other. God brought us out of as the hierarchs of all of the other jurisdictions darkness, and everything is revealed to us. The in this land and throughout the world, as we Father chooses for us to be saved and to share work to discern God’s will and to serve Him. His very own life. For this reason, the Word of This could be the greatest Christmas gift of our God emptied Himself of His Divinity and be- generation. came a man: that we can join and be joined with His own Divinity. God became man so that man Archimandrite John Abdalah can become God, that is to say, so that man can share God’s life in Him. The Word 3 FOCUS 4 The Word A Crucial Ministry for the Orthodox Church About one in 80 children in the U.S. experi- The beginning of the Orthodox Church’s ences homelessness at least once in a year. It is fuller answer to these questions is FOCUS North America, which is uniting the Orthodox faithful estimated that two million people here go hun- to help those in need domestically, in the United gry to bed any particular night. More than six States and Canada. It is the only national Ortho- dox agency working operationally on pervasive million have become unemployed in the last 12 and persistent issues of poverty in our communi- months. Staggering statistics, to say the least. ties. The incredible work of FOCUS North Ameri- So what can we as Christ’s Church do to help ca and its partners can be seen in the nine-minute video, easily found at www. focusnorthamerica.org. these living icons of the living God, these who are “the least of these our brethren”? FOCUS = Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve FOCUS is an acronym for two things. First, it stands for “Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve.” Second, it stands for many of the areas of activity in which FOCUS North Amer- ica operates and partners with others: Food, Oc- cupation, Clothing, Understanding and Shelter. God has significantly blessed the creation of FOCUS North America. Obtaining 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status as a public charity (rather than a church) ordinarily takes 12 to 18 months, but when the Internal Revenue Service saw FOCUS North America’s request for expedited treatment and how effectively it could serve our brothers and sisters in need in this country, they granted tax-exempt status in seven days. Seven. The Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), on the motion of Metropoli- tan PHILIP, gave FOCUS North America its “warm endorsement for this welcome initiative.” In addition, major social action agencies as- sociated with the Orthodox Church gathered to- gether in January to generate and explore ideas. This year, on behalf of FOCUS North America, 15 grants and a total of almost $50,000 have been The Word 5 How FOCUS – Kansas City Works Reconciliation Services of FOCUS – Kansas City is a model for the other FOCUS Center lo- cations. It serves 14,000 meals a year with 200 volunteers each month from the local Orthodox Churches. Orthodox Churches in the metropoli- tan Kansas City area each take one Friday night a month. They purchase food, cook it in their church kitchen or the FOCUS Kansas City kitch- en, bring it to the FOCUS Center, serve it and interact personally with the poor and struggling. This personal contact keeps us mindful of the fact that each person we serve is a living icon of Christ Himself – needing God’s love, as expressed through us as brothers and servants. In addition to the meal program, there is a food pantry and clothing closet supplied by the made to such partner agencies. Metropolitan local parishes and community. If someone asks PHILIP, Fr. Joseph Purpura and Fr. Kevin Scherer for assistance from the food pantry more than have graciously given the Orthodox Youth Out- twice in a six-month period, a case manager will reach (OYO) Program of the Antiochian Orthodox find out more about him or her in order to better Christian Archdiocese to FOCUS North America. help. Maybe he can’t find a job because he doesn’t FOCUS North America is operating the six-year- have a social security card or driver’s license. old program, renaming it “YES” (Youth Equipped Because this is a common reason, one morning to Serve) North America and significantly expand- a week FOCUS Kansas City helps its clients get ing the program (www.YESNorthAmerica.org).