Beloved Brethren in Christ, The Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs: Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian, is also an anniversary to celebrate the learning, culture and language of Greece — what we call “Greek Letters.” The inscription cited above is adapted from the Panegyricus of the renowned rhetorician, Isocrates (436-338 BCE).
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Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ, On this first day of the 2023 New Year, let us invoke for inspiration in the coming year the memory of the Saint of God who reposed this day so many centuries ago: the shining Hierarch of Cappadocia and Teacher of the oikoumene, Basil the Great. We have many traditions around Saint Basil the Great — the giving of gifts on his Feastday, the Vasilopita, our St. Basil Academy in Garrison, New York, which is a National Institution that proudly bears his name. But beyond even these beloved traditions, we also have the legacy of this saintly hierarch, which offers us a profound understanding of what it means to be a human being.
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Truly, God is with us! This is the great truth of Christmas for the entire human family — namely, that God has entered our history, so as to share it with us and redeem it in order to reveal His purposes in us.
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Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The wonderful American National Day of Thanksgiving is a moment when our entire society pauses, to give thanks to God for the blessings we have found in the New World. To acknowledge this connection to the Divine, President John F. Kennedy issued Proclamation 3560 on November 5, 1963, which said: “Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together, and for the faith which united them with their God.”
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We celebrate National Philoptochos Sunday on the day that we remember the parable of the “Good Samaritan,” when mercy and unconditional compassion are manifest as the highest Christian virtues. A stranger was robbed and wounded, left for dead. And another stranger, a Samaritan, changes the course of the man’s life. He refuses to pass by, as did the so-called religious figures in the parable.
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Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Every year, on the 8th of November, as we celebrate the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels, Michael and Gabriel, together with all the ranks of the Bodiless Powers of Heaven, we remember our precious Archdiocesan Institution, Saint Michael’s Home. Although most of us will never see an Angel face to face before we pass from this life, we do often feel their presence.
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The Holy Saints Cosmas and Damian are the best example to all of us, as we consider the work of our National Philoptochos on behalf of the benevolent and philanthropic ministries of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. By definition, an ἀνάργυρος — which literally means, “one who refuses silver” — is the exact opposite of a φιλάργυρος, a “lover of silver,” the appellation given to the Betrayer of the Lord who took the thirty pieces.
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We live today – both in Greece and in America – as free peoples, because of the sacrifice of others. They sowed the harvest of our liberty, as the Psalmist says, “with tears, and they wept as they cast their seeds” (Psalm 125:6-7, LXX). They sowed in cold and rain. They sowed in hunger and thirst. They sowed and fought and labored, experiencing horrific deprivations. Many died without seeing the final triumph over the Axis powers. But they knew in their hearts and in their very bones the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
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Archepiscopal Encyclical for National Leadership 100 Sunday
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This month of September is replete with commemorations that define us as a People, even as they are hard to bear because of the loss and devastation. We just passed the twenty-first memorial of September Eleventh, and we are now upon the one hundredth anniversary of the Asia Minor Holocaust that cost so many lives and changed the face of the Greeks across the Hellespont in Pontos and the coasts of Asia Minor.
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The Sacred Feastday, which reminds every parishioner from coast to coast of our beloved Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology, speaks to the love of God for every human being. But it also speaks of our service to the Holy Cross by being Σταυροφόροι – those who bear the Cross. And how do we do carry His Cross? First, by picking up our own and carrying it with all the love and compassion we can muster for ourselves and for those around us.
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Unto the Most Reverend and Right Reverend Hierarchs, Pious Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, Presidents and Members of Parish Councils, Honorable Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Members of Leadership 100, the Day and Afternoon Schools, Philoptochos Societies, the Youth, Greek Orthodox Organizations, and the entirety of the Christ-named Plenitude of the Holy Archdiocese of America:
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This Fourth of July — which we celebrate tomorrow — is a most extraordinary day for the Greek Orthodox Church of America. We are saluting the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, as well as the extraordinary milestones in the history of our National Church. We shall celebrate the consecration of the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center, even as we mark the centennial of the establishment of our Sacred Archdiocese — the first and preeminent Eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Diaspora.
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This Father’s Day, I ask for our entire Archdiocese to remember the “fathers” of our communities across the nation — that is, our very own clergy, who serve everyone so selflessly. This is our second year of recognizing the parish clergy of the Church on this special occasion. And the fact that it coincides with the feast of All Saints gives it even greater force, as we ourselves are all “called to be saints” as well (Romans 1:7).
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My Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ, These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers and sisters. (Acts 1:14)
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My Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ descended alone to the Gates of Hades, He returned taking many spoils of His victory.
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My Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Today, as we chant our hymn of “victory and thanksgiving,” we remember our sisters and brothers struggling in Ukraine at this very hour, who are under a brutal and inhuman attack by their neighbor, even their fellow Orthodox Christians.
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We find ourselves in deep pain and sorrow of soul over the horror that has ensued from the invasion of Ukraine. I do not say, “Russia,” because many thousands of the Russian People are protesting this unprovoked and unreasonable attack at risk to their own lives and freedom. This attack must be squarely set upon the shoulders of Vladimir Putin, who is risking global peace for his own selfish political agenda.
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This year — the Centennial year of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America — we pause to remember those who came before us, and honor the legacy of the pioneers of our Church in America. It seems only fitting, that on this Feast of the great and holy Patriarch Photios, we make special mention of the brave and stalwart πρωτοπόροι, whose voices brought the Faith of the Orthodox Christian Church to these shores.
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The Feast of the Saintly Three Hierarchs — Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom — is an occasion of the greatest joy in the Church. Together, as the hymn says, they stand as “pillars of the Faith,” much like those established in the Book of Revelation when the Lord says: “I will make the victor a pillar in the Temple of My God…. (3:12). Indeed, each of these great Hierarchs was victorious, triumphing over heresy and sophistry. They were the finest examples of the Wisdom of God, who establishes Her own pillars (cf. Proverbs 9:1) to edify the House of God.
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