The Decani Monastery Relief Fund thanks you

Philippians 1:3-11 NKJV 

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 

Our brother in Christ, Rev. Fr. Nektarios Serfes, is traveling to Kosovo today, October 13…please offer prayer for him as he travels and seeks to bring your loving and generous gifts to those who live in hardship in that area.   

Know that the benefactors of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund are remembered with love and thanksgiving before the altar of God at the Decani Monastery as seen above.  In behalf of Fr. Nektarios, the fathers of the Decani Monastery and the faithful in the area, they send their heartfelt thanks and prayers for you, their benefactors and brethren in Christ!

 

Decani Monastery, Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia

Some thoughts on the Hexaemeron (Six days of Creation)

From the writings of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan +397AD:

In the beginning of time, God created heaven and earth.  Time proceeds from this world, not before the world. 

The earth is not suspended in the middle of the universe like a balance hung in equilibrium:  the majesty of God holds it together by the law of His own will. 

Evil arose from us, and was not made by the Creator God.  It is produced by the created thing; it does not have the dignity of a natural substance.  It is a fault due to our mutability and is an error due to our fall. 

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters; .. and it was so,” Genesis 1:6.  Listen to the words of God, “Let there be,” He said.  This is the word of a commander, not of an adviser.  He gives orders to nature and does not comply with its power.  He does not regard its measurements, nor does He examine its weight.  His will is the measure of things and His word is the completion of the work. 

But since His word is nature’s birth, justly therefore does He who gave nature its origin presume to give nature its law. 

“Let the earth bring forth,” God said, and immediately the whole earth was filled with growing vegetation.  And to humanity it was said, “Love the Lord your God”; yet the love of God is not instilled in the hearts of all.  Deafer are human hearts than the hardest rock. 

The bramble preceded in time the light of the sun; the blade of grass is older than the moon.  Therefore, do not believe that object to be a god to which the gifts of God are seen to be preferred.  Three days [of creation] have passed.  No one, meanwhile, has looked for the sun, yet the brilliance of light has been in evidence everywhere. 

“Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures,” Genesis 1:20, said the Lord—a brief statement, but a significant one and one widely effective in endowing with their nature the smallest and the largest animals without distinction.  The whale as well as the frog came into existence at the same time by the same creative power. 

Fish follow a divine law, whereas human being contravene it.  Fish daily comply with the celestial mandates, but humans make void the precepts of God. 

Moses saw that there was no place in the words of the Holy Spirit for the vanity of this perishable knowledge which deceives and deludes us in our attempt to explain the unexplainable.  He believed that only those things should be recorded which tend to our salvation. 

The Word of God permeates every creature in the constitution of the world. 

The divine wisdom penetrates and fills all things.  Far more conviction is gained from the observation of irrational creatures than from the arguments of rational beings.  Of more value is the testimony given by nature than the proof presented by teaching. 

A Patristic Treasury, Early Church Wisdom for Today, Ancient Faith Publishing, pp 339-342 (excerpts from among those pages)

Ancient Faith Publishing offers a beautiful set of Creation icons

Written by iconographer Michael Kapeluck

 

 

Where did this Faith originate?

 

Our faith is right, and starts from the teaching of the Apostles and the tradition of the Fathers, being confirmed both by the New Testament and the Old.  St. Athanasios of Alexandria (298 - 373 AD)

 

(see larger image here:  http://www.saintjamesmodesto.org/JPG/timeline.jpg)

Remember God

 

It is when you forget God that you begin to entertain evil thoughts and commit wicked deeds. 

Theosis

 

The goal of the life of virtue is to become like God. 



A very special event in a parish community

When a parish community has a heartfelt desire to glorify God in a new or larger consecrated temple, they often undertake a building project.   

 

The parish community of Holy Transfiguration (Greek Orthodox) Church of Anchorage, Alaska, undertook such a project with faith and hope in the living God back in October of 2005.  For many years, the congregation had been worshiping in a converted living room of a large residence on the church property. 

 

 

There had been a longing in many hearts within the parish to build a proper Orthodox Christian temple on the existing site. It was on October 23 that the Parish General Assembly overwhelmingly decided to go forward with a new church building.   

On August 30, 2009, the ground was officially broken for the new church. 

 

 

And, on this day, October 4, 2014, the church is officially opened by His Eminence, Archbishop Gerasimos of San Francisco, to the joy of the parishioners and their presbyter, Fr. Vasili Hillhouse.  The Thyranoixia (Opening of the Doors) and Great Vespers take place at 4PM today, Anchorage time.  

 

 

See the beautiful photos of the new church, the only Greek Orthodox Church in Alaska, which has been raised for the glory of God:  http://transfiguration.ak.goarch.org/ 

 

May God see fit to further bless and enlarge the ministry of Orthodox Christian witness in the Anchorage area through this beautiful event. 

 

Your sister in Faith,

Presbytera Candace

A life that leads to true happiness

A life that is lived with a clear conscience and in humility brings peace, calm, and true happiness, while wealth, honors, renown and high position are frequently sources of many sins, and do not bring happiness.