Remarks by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America

At the Community Luncheon

Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

Las Vegas, Nevada

July 30, 2023

 

Your Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco,

Your Grace Bishop Ioannis of Phocaea,

Protopresbyter John, and beloved Deacon John,

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

To complete this beautiful day – on which we ordained our new Deacon John – with a fellowship meal, is the best way for me to complete my time with your parish of Saint John the Baptist and all our brethren at the AHEPA Supreme Convention.

In the early days of our Church, we Christians would call such a luncheon as this an “Agape Feast,” because it was the gathering that reinforced the Eucharistic communion by emphasizing the community. Food and fellowship were shared, and occasionally there were excesses. But I am sure there will no unfitting exuberance here today. Only joy and warm feelings all around, made even more strong by the Ordination that we have just witnessed.

We gather in such “Agape Feasts” in our Church communities, not because we are hungry (though some of the young ones might be!). We gather in order to share, to give of ourselves, and to give generously.

Throughout our Archdiocese, communities like yours come together in the rhythm of the Church, the cycle of the liturgical year, in order to celebrate the great milestones of our Faith. Chiefly and above all, we observe the οἰκονομία of God’s saving love for the world; that is, the great cycle of our salvation in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether it is at Christmas, or on March 25, or throughout Holy Week, we take time to remember the narrative of our salvation through Christ.

And to remember is so much more than a sentimental, or emotional look backwards. It is literally to re-member, to re-connect our minds, spirits and hearts with the essentials of our Holy Faith: the needful things like love, hope, forgiveness, mercy and compassion. These are the very qualities that we enjoy today at our Agape Feast.

But we also connect with the great figures of the history of our salvation; like the Panagia, and your patron and cousin of the Lord, John the Baptist. Together with all the Saints, or, as we say in the Divine Liturgy:

“Πάντων τῶν ἁγίων μνημονεύσαντες,” we bring ourselves into a spiritual place of re-connection, kinship and reciprocity.

In the Divine Liturgy, we establish ourselves as the family of God, and all the saints are our relations. And in this Agape Feast, we recognize in every fellow parishioner, a true sister or brother in Christ.

Look around the room. These are not merely your fellow parishioners. They are your family, whether they live in your house or not. Because you all belong to this Spiritual House. It is the Sacred Home where all of you are valued, respected and, above all, loved.

Everything that we do in the Church – no matter what the activity is – should have the effect of reinforcing and strengthening that love as a family in Christ.

And like any family that faces challenges and disagreements, the Church family has, through the ages, grappled with all kinds of obstacles. But we always return to the place of unconditional love and acceptance, in order to re-ground ourselves in the truest and best purpose of the Church, the redemption of the world through love.

Therefore, my dear friends, and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I commend you on your pursuit of living out the highest purpose of what it means to be a Greek Orthodox Christian Community.

Your Metropolitan is a person of love. Your Proïstamenos is a person of love. And your new Deacon is a person of love.

And you are all people of love, here at this wonderful parish dedicated to Saint the John the Baptist in Las Vegas.

May the Lord always bless you with His every spiritual gift, and grant you all peaceful and happy lives!

Amen!