Promise The
HOLY TRINITY GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH WESTFIELD ^ NEW JERSEY
September 2012 ^ Volume 36, Issue 6
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Welcome Back
Ecclesiastical New Year
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THE REVEREND PETER DELVIZIS
T
he month of September has arrived which means the start of the Ecclesiastical New Year and a full thrust into the many activities here at Holy Trinity.
I wanted to take this moment to encourage the faithful to make an “Ecclesiastical” New Year resolution. A resolution is a commitment to better the self. It is a thought or desire followed by an action to accomplish such intended goal. The term “new year” implies a new beginning or direction. In other words, in a new year, we are determined to find the power, the energy, and the aspiration to leave behind that which keeps us stagnant in order to propel us to achieve our particular objective. An “Ecclesiastical” resolution is such a pledge that will provide spiritual gain. As your parish priest, nothing could be better than a congregation pledging themselves to Christ as did the Panagia and all the Saints who we remember. In September, we begin Sunday School. Religious education, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, cannot end with or be limited to our children. We have to be role models for them. Accordingly, we have to return to the classroom of religious studies to better ourselves spiritually and to help direct our precious ones to salvation. As adults, our religious education does not, should not, and must not stop after Sunday School. It must always be an objective of ours. If I ask, “What is your most vivid or important memory of childhood Sunday School?” invariably the answer involves a particular teacher. Most of us do not recall a specific lesson or learning experience but we do remember special people who were there every Sunday to express love and concern, and who lived their faith in the presence of the children. This demonstrates the power of a role model. Further, it shows why it is so significantly important for you to be the role model of faith. The parent is the leader of our faith at home; you don the priesthood of faith in the Μικρή Εκκλησία (the small church or church found in the home). So, what is your “Ecclesiastical” New Year resolution going to be? I encourage you to make one.
Pag. 9
What was Christ
Writing on the Ground?
O
nce, the All-Loving Lord was sitting in front of the temple in Jerusalem, nurturing hungry hearts with His sweet teachings. A multitude gathered round Him [John 8:2]. The Lord spoke to the people about eternal bliss, about the never-ending joy of the righteous in the eternal homeland in the heavens. And the people delighted in His divine words. But something frightening, savage, and cruel occurred. It originated, as even now it often does, from bad and spiritually blind people. What happened before the Lord? A group forcibly brought forth an unfortunate sinful woman, “taken in the act of adultery;” brought her forth with triumphant boasting and crude and deafening cries. Having brought her before Christ, they cried: “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but do you say?” [John 8:4-5; Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22]. The case was presented in this way by sinners, who denounced the sins of others and were adept at hiding their own Pag. 5
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