HE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE J /A 2020 · 2020-07-05 · Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church P.O. Box...

Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church

P.O. Box 427

Newpor t , RI 02840 te l : (401) 846 -0555

www.stspyridonchurch.org

THE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE JULY/AUGUST 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has been a stunning four months, March through June, of 2020, with the Pandemic and the dreadful social, financial, spiritual, and psychological consequences of lockdown; and then the horrible murder of George Floyd and the chaos and violence that ensued.

Jesus promised the end times will include a turbulent mix pestilence and civil strife and war: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:9-12).

We really don’t know what the near future holds. But we know ultimately this world is passing away (1 John 2:17) and there will be tribulation as it does so. “Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). It is time for us to stop investing so much of ourselves in the hope that things will “get back to normal.” We are called to be Christians now, to seek Christ now, in the crosses that we must bear now, because His resurrection life is not on the other side of the cross. It is in the cross. Likewise our life in Christ is found in the midst of our tribulations.

This summer we will enjoy much-needed vacations and relaxing hours in the sun. Let us also use times like the 15-day strict Lenten period of the Dormition Fast of August to recommit ourselves to the basics of Christian life and the pillars of our identity as a Christian Parish: daily private PRAYER, frequent corporate WORSHIP, EDUCATION and SPIRITUAL GROWTH, loving and serving RELATIONSHIPS within our church family, visionary COMMUNITY SERVICE in our neighborhoods, and bearing WITNESS to Christ and the Gospel in our daily lives and as a church family.

Have a blessed summer, enjoy the sun, and stay in touch. Yours with Love in Christ,

July 11th St. Spyridon Film Festival winners

announced

August 6th 8:30 Matins,

9:30 Diving Liturgy for Holy Transfiguration

August 15th 8:30am Matins

9:30am Divine Liturgy for the Dormition of the

Theotokos

ALL SERVICES ON LIVE STREAM

stspyridonchurch.org/live

ONLINE GIVING AND LIGHT A CANDLE

stspyridonchurch.org/give stspyridonchurch.org/

candle

THE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE PAGE 2

SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

www.stspyridonchurch.org, (401) 846-0555

Parish Council: Gia Harrigan, President Maria Holder, V.P.; Maria Stefanopoulos Johnson, Treasurer; Zoe Adamedes, Secretary; Steve Mellekas; Despina Prassas Chanters: Gus Loukas Choir Director: Zoe Adamedes Religious Education: Marianne Menas Stewardship: Gia Harrigan Philoptochos President: Zinovia Canale JOY Advisor: Sandy Giannopoulos Soup Kitchen: Elaine Brown Hellenic Dancers: Anna Kyriakides Bookstore: Despina Haralambidis Greek School: Loula Eliopoulos & Eleni Anagnostopoulos

ST SPYRIDON VOICE: Editor—Aliki Cooper ([email protected]) IT Team: Leon Amarant Bible Study: Frank Fowler Affiliated Organizations AHEPA President: Basile Panoutsopoulos Daughters of Penelope President:

Ellen Anagnostos Island of Skiathos Organization:

Christina Logothets

The Saint Spyridon Voice is a monthly publication of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, 390 Thames St., Newport, RI 02840

Fr. Aaron’s Office Hours Tuesday and Thursday 2-5pm, Friday 12-3pm; and other days and times by appointment.

Other Visits: Please let me know if you would like a visit, house blessing, or to meet at the church. I am reachable by phone I check messages throughout the day. I am

always available for emergencies. Please call me regardless of the time in the case of death so your loved one may receive the traditional prayers for repose of the soul.

Church Secretary, Kathy Lewis Saleh: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 to 5, Friday 10 to 4, [email protected]

Sunday Summer Hours, Weekday Services

Matins 8:30 am Divine Liturgy 9:30 am

SERVICE TIMES

Reverend Fr. Aaron Walker [email protected], (617) 733-1045

JULY/AUGUST 2020 PAGE 3

PLEASE CONTINUE STEWARDSHIP G IVING ONLINE

DURING THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES .

We want every member in our Church Family to know — you are not alone — we are

there for one another. If there is anyone in our Church Family that has a special need,

please contact Fr. Aaron. If anyone knows of other families in your neighborhood that are

struggling at this time, please let us know. We are a Church Family that wants to help out

one another, as well as help our community at large. We donated to the MLK Center,

because they are expanding their great work during these difficult days of the Pandemic. If

there are other needs you would like to see us support please let our parish council know.

This is the mission of Christ and His Church! To help us continue this sacred mission of

Christ, please continue to support the Church through your stewardship generosity:

1. Continue to send in your stewardship offering each week or month.

2. Make your donations or stewardship offerings online via our church website at

https://stspyridonchurch.org/candle/ .

3. Let’s keep our church lit up with candles during all these summer days! To light

candles as a prayer offering, go to https://stspyridonchurch.org/give/

4. All our online giving is safe and secure, and kept in the utmost confidence.

THE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE

THANK YOU FOR THE CARETAKING OF OUR FRONT GARDEN

So much work has been done to keep the outside of our church beautiful. Some dead pine trees and bushes were removed. The front garden was planted and spread with fertilizer and black mulch. Many new plants were added including Spartan Junipers, Red Azaleas, Red Rose Bushes, Pink Hibiscus, Gazanias, Yellow Coreopsis, Basil, Zinnias, and Sunflowers. A weekly schedule has been set up to water the plants each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout the summer.

We would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard and been involved in these projects including Eleni Anagnostopoulos, Janet Spentzos, Niko and Lindsay Semerzakis, John Michael and Stephen Diomandes and our Parish Council members.


BOOKSTORE NEWS

We would like to thank John Michael for the beautifully hand crafted bookshelves that he made for our St. Spyridon Bookstore. We are so thankful to him for sharing his talent to help us as we are building up this wonderful ministry.

Despina Haralambidis and the bookstore team have been working to build up a wonderful selection of books and other church items and these exquisite shelves will come to great use to display all of our fantastic selections.

May God Bless John and his family for many years to come.

YOUTH CAMPING TRIP

We are exploring the possibility of a church camping trip for the youth of our church. At the moment there is a very tentative date set for Friday-Saturday of September 11-12 with a rain date of September 18-19. If you are interested, please get in touch with David Jasinski. We will assess the conditions closer to the time, but hope to be able to have this wonder-ful chance for fellowship with our kids. All are welcome to join in.

Father Aaron will be on vacation from Monday, July 6th through Saturday, July 11th.

If you need a priest, please

call Father Aaron on his cell phone (617)-733-1045, and he will see that you get the needed assistance.

No weekday services or Bible Study this week.


SERVICES ARE BEING STREAMED ON FACEBOOK LIVE

Please be aware that even though we have been able to open the church back up for people to attend services, Fr. Aaron is still streaming services live on Facebook Live. You can find them through our Facebook page,

https://www.facebook.com/stspyridonnewport/

You do not have to have a Facebook account to watch. You can also get to our live stream from our website at: https://stspyridonchurch.org/live.

If you would like to watch the services and need technical help to be able to get to them, please contact the office.

SOUP KITCHEN NEWS

Because of social distancing restrictions, we regret that we currently are not able to have our monthly soup kitchen. We are giving the MLK Center, and Community Baptist Church soup kitchen, $200 each from our soup kitchen budget, so we can continue to make an impact locally while our soup kitchen is closed.

For those of you that are able and would like to still be of help to those in need of food at this time, please consider a donation to the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport. They are doing wonderful work to get food out to those in need in our community. Unfortunately, they are not able to have volunteers or take food donations right now, but are in great need of monetary donations to continue their good work.

From their website:

Go to their website and click the Donate button in the menu to help: https://www.mlkccenter.org/ or send donations to:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center c/o Alyson Novick 20 Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland Blvd. Newport, RI 02840


L IGHT A CANDLE ONLINE

For those wishing to light a candle, go to our website and select the candle(s) that you would like us to light and before pressing the “Place Order” button, please submit the names of your loved ones, those who are alive and/or those who have departed this life. During these times we would be happy to light the candle for you at church and read the names that have been submitted. Go to the website to light a candle:

stspyridonchurch.org/candle

HANDICRAFT SMALL GROUP

Purpose: To bring St. Spyridon crafters together for social time in small group setting.

Where: 338 Tuckerman Ave., Middletown

What: Bring your project to crochet, knit, embroider, etc.

(Future date, day, time and frequency to be determined by group members)

(Masks, social distancing and fresh air ventilation to comply with state guide lines)

Contact MaryAnn Swanson if you are interested: [email protected] or 979-219-4444

PROTULIS GREEK SCHOOL NEWS

The Protulis Greek School of St. Spyridon Church celebrated the graduation day on Sun-day, June 28 after the Divine Liturgy.

Each students present received their certificate of promotion and Eleni Haralambidis re-ceived her Diploma, having completed the whole curriculum specified by the Greek Arch-diocese Department of Greek School Education. We wish to all students to have a happy summer vacation and we will wait to see them back in September.


TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

Our Lord had spoken to His disciples many times not only concerning His Passion, Cross, and Death, but also concerning the coming persecutions and afflictions that they themselves would endure. Since all these evils were near at hand, but the enjoyment of good things which they hoped to receive in their stead was yet to come, our Savior desired to give them full assurance, evidently and openly, concerning that glory which is prepared for those who endure to the end. Therefore, fulfilling that which He had promised shortly before, that "there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom" (Matt. 16:28), He took His three foremost disciples and ascended Mount Tabor, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Suddenly, together with this dread and marvelous effulgence of light, there appeared those pinnacles of the Prophets, Moses and Elias, who spoke with the Lord Jesus concerning His saving Passion which was about to take place. Standing before Him as reverent servants, they showed that He is the Lord of both the living and the dead, for Moses came forth from Hades, having died many centuries before, and Elias, as it were from heaven, whither he had been taken up while yet alive. After a little while a radiant cloud overshadowed them and out of the cloud they heard that same voice which had been heard at the Jordan at the Baptism of Christ, testifying to the Divinity of Jesus and saying: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased; hear ye Him" (Matt. 17: 5).

Such are the marvels, truly worthy of God, celebrated in this present feast, which is an image and prefiguring of the future state of the righteous, whose splendor the Lord spoke of, saying: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun" (Matt. 13:43). It is because of this that the Kontakion of this Feast is said daily (when there is not a great feast) in the Service of the Typica in perpetual commemoration of the glory that will be the lot of the Saints. According to tradition, the Lord's Transfiguration came to pass forty days before His Crucifixion; this is why the Transfiguration is celebrated forty days before the Exaltation of the Cross.

THE DORMITION OF OUR MOST HOLY LADY THE THEOTOKOS

AND EVER V IRGIN MARY

Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching,


and brought them at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.

With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulcher, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens.

These things has the Church received from the traditions of the Fathers, who have composed many hymns out of reverence, to the glory of the Mother of our God (see Oct. 3 and 4).

PROJECT MEXICO

Unfortunately, all Project Mexico home-builds are cancelled for this summer. So our St. Spyridon Summer Youth Service Project has to be modified significantly. Rather than building a home with Project Mexico, we are planning to help build a home with Habitat for Humanity! Please contact Fr. Aaron if you are interested in giving the gift of a home to a local family.

“Cancelling all build-groups this summer has a critical financial impact on our 100% donor-funded organization. Homebuilding volunteer trips directly contribute to our ministry with over 40% of our annual operating budget.”

Please click here to help the Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage as much as you can with a financial donation today! https://www.projectmexico.org/donate

https://www.projectmexico.org/donate


“THIS WORLD IS PASSING AWAY , BUT HE WHO DOES THE

W ILL OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER” -1 JOHN 2 :17

Are you as tired as I am, of the cliché, “We live in uncertain and fearful times?” While uncertainty and fear certainly increased for most of us this year, maybe we can go further: We may be emerging out of times of great security and physical safety, and we may be entering into times that are as scary and uncertain as those of our forefathers, down through the ages. We Christians have been here before. In times when faith, equal rights, democracy, rule of law, and medical science did not dominate, the forces of chaos and destruction played a much bigger role in people’s lives than they have in late 20th century America. But regardless of circumstances, we know that God is with us, and He is enough.

We may look back on 2020 as a relatively peaceful year in comparison with what lies ahead.

The foundations of our country seem to be crumbling, foundations of Godly faith in action, of a society built on equal rights and protections for all, of healthy families and churches; of citizens who have been educated to see into the divine truth and order of all things, to understand that God “upholds all things by the word of His power,” and to find strength in God’s beauty and love and order, and not in a utopian vision of human perfection in this life.

Meanwhile, we seem to be repeating the history of other great empires whose wealth and ease led to a decline in morality and discipline, which led in turn to the overall decline and fall of empire. Contemporary novelist G. Michael Hopf may have a point: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

We should add that strong and wise men and women make good times. Liberal democracy, science and technology, and the inherited values of Judeo-Christian civilization have led to a period of great wealth and comfort in America. But now that we have largely abandoned the fear of God, we seem to be moving into the “hard times” created by “weak men,” people who are weak in faith, weak in character, and weak in discipline. May that not be true of us!

It is hard not to become weak and even “wimpy,” when we live in times of much comfort and little responsibility. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are great antidotes prescribed by our Church to teach courage and trust in God’s strength, but how many of us are taking these medicines? Few of us have had the training and discipline to give us resilience to overcome hardship. And so we can appreciate our current hardships as things which God allowing to lead us to wisdom, beginning with recognizing our complete dependence on Him.

Let us remember, as Christians, our sense of certainty and confidence is not physical, financial, or political. It is not based in biological health, protection from physical harm, having plenty of money, or even living in a just society. As desirable as these things are, they are not ends in themselves. Our union with God is our single focus, and thankfully this is the deepest desire of God’s heart, as well.


OUR UNION WITH GOD

That our union with God in the future world will come to pass,

and that it will be for us the source of light, peace, joy, and beatitude,

this we partly recognize by experience even in the present life.

During prayer, when our soul is wholly turned towards God,

and is united to Him, we feel happy, calm, easy, and joyful,

like children resting on their mother’s breast;

or, I would rather say, we experience a sensation of inexpressible well-being.

“It is good for us to be here.” Therefore struggle unremittingly to obtain

future everlasting bliss, the beginning of which you know by

experience even in the present life; but bear in mind that these

beginnings are only earthly, imperfect, which we see now only

“in part, as through a glass darkly.” How will it be with us then,

when we shall indeed, be most truly united to God, when the images and shadows

shall pass away, and the kingdom of truth and vision will come?

O! We must labor unceasingly all our life, until death, for future blessedness,

for our future union with God.

- St. John of Kronstadt


JULY 2020 Sunday Summer Hours

MON TUE WED THU

In Case of

Emergency,

Please call

Fr. Aaron's

Mobile Phone:

617-733-1045

1. 2.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

5.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy

11:30 Virtual Coffee

Hour

6. 7. 8. 9.

12.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy

13. 14.

Evening Prayers read by the youth of St. Spyridon, 7pm

15. 16.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

19.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

20. 21.


22. 23.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

286 8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

27. 28.


29. 30.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

Fr. Aaron on vacation. Should you need a priest, please call Father Aaron on his cell phone (617)

Voting for St. Spyridon Film Festival—check your email for details!

Sunday Summer Hours: Matins 8:30am, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am


In Church and

Livestreamed Services:

Sundays

8:30am Matins

9:30am Liturgy

Followed by

Virtual Coffee Hour

Tuesdays

7pm Parish Family Evening Prayers

Thursdays

5:30pm Paraklesis/ Supplication Service

During a Pandemic

Fridays

10:30am Bible Study

THU FRI SAT.

5:30pm Paraklesis

3. 4.

10. 11.

St. Spyridon Film

Festival winners are

announced!

5:30pm Paraklesis

17.

10:30am Bible Study

18.

5:30pm Paraklesis

24.

10:30am Bible Study

25.

10am Parish Leadership

Vision and Planning

Meeting

for 2020-21—all welcome

5:30pm Paraklesis

31.

10:30am Bible Study

Regular Events

Adult Sermon—Immediately after Gospel Reading

Children’s Sermon—Before Holy Communion (currently on hold)

Children’s Religious Education—Sundays, immediately after Holy Communion (resumes after Labor Day)

Children’s Greek School— Tuesday and Thursday, 4-6 p.m.

Fr. Aaron on vacation. Should you need a priest, please call Father Aaron on his cell phone (617)-733-1045,

check your email for details!


AUGUST 2020 Sunday Summer Hours

MON TUE WED THU

30. 31. In Case of Emergency,

Please call

Fr. Aaron's

Mobile Phone:

617-733-1045

2.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

3. 4. 5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

Evening Prayers led by the youth of St. Spyridon, 7pm

5. 6. 8:30 Matins,

9:30 Diving Liturgy

for Holy

Transfiguration

Parish Council

Meeting, 7pm

9.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

10. 11. 5:30pm Paraklesis

Service


12. 13.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

16.

8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

17.

18.


19. 20.

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

23. 8:30am—Matins

9:30am—Liturgy


Hour

24.

25.


26. 27..


Sunday Summer Hours: Matins 8:30am, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am

In Church and

Livestreamed Services:

Sundays

8:30am Matins

9:30am Liturgy

Followed by

Virtual Coffee Hour

Tuesdays

7pm Parish Family Evening Prayers

Thursdays

5:30pm Paraklesis/ Supplication Service

Fridays

10:30am Bible Study

THU FRI SAT.

1.

Dormition Fast Begins

6. 8:30 Matins,

9:30 Diving Liturgy

Transfiguration

Parish Council

Meeting, 7pm

7.

10:30am Bible Study

5:30pm Paraklesis

Service

8.

5:30pm Paraklesis

14.

Vespers for the

Dormition of the

Mother of God at

Assumption Church in

Pawtucket, 7pm

15.

8:30am Matins

9:30am Divine Liturgy

for the Dormition of the

Theotokos

5:30pm Paraklesis

21.

10:30am Bible Study

22.

10am Parish Leaders

Master Calendar

Meeting

28. 29.

8:30 Matins

9:30 Divine Liturgy

for St. John the Baptist

Regular Events

Adult Sermon—Immediately after Gospel Reading

Children’s Sermon—Before Holy Communion (currently on hold)

Children’s Religious Education—Sundays, immediately after Holy Communion (resumes after Labor Day)

Children’s Greek School— Tuesday and Thursday, 4-6 p.m.


WHEN I AM WEAK , THEN I AM STRONG

“When I am weak, then I am strong.” This bold, paradoxical claim of the Apostle Paul (whom we commemorated on June 29) is key for dealing with overwhelming situations, whether they be personal afflictions, or today’s current societal upheavals. What in the world can this mean, “When I am weak, then I am strong?” It sounds like a meaningless self-contradiction. St. Paul points to a strength beyond ourselves. We are made, not for self-help, but for God-help.

“When I am weak, then I am strong…”

St. Paul prayed fervently and repeatedly for God to remove a persistent affliction from his life. (It may have been epilepsy.) God’s answer was not the answer St. Paul had hoped for but it turned out even better. Sometimes, Paul learned, God does not remove our trials but uses trials to transform us with his grace.

Having begged God “three times” to remove the “thorn in my flesh,” St. Paul heard God’s response: “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Facing difficulties with trust in Him, and with Orthodox spiritual and sacramental tools, we find that God fills up our weakness with His strength. This is not God forgetting our need, but actually meeting our greatest need: to find our identity and strength and joy in Him. We get true meaning and purpose in a true and humble view of ourselves that leads us to rely on God for our every need, to praise God for his Glory and Might, and to serve him out of gratitude.

We can let the very feebleness we feel drive us to Christ for strength, wisdom, and salvation. The more we feel our own weakness, our own smallness, our own insufficiency, the more we are led to lean wholly upon God. And because He is sufficient for our every need, all our spiritual, social, or biological, needs are met by Him in His wisdom and will for our salvation.

“When I am weak, then I am strong.” St. Paul explains the saving death of Christ on the cross in a similar fashion: “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). God sent his Son Jesus to die for us sinners, because we could never save ourselves through our own strength or virtue.

God’s will is for us to see our own weakness and sinfulness in the face of His Holiness and Love--and come, in our weakness, to trust in the strength of Christ’s cross and resurrection, making us alive with Christ’s life. “It is no longer I who live. Christ lives in me.”

Christ shows his strength in our weaknesses! So you can surrender to God’s will and rely on Christ’s strength as you face uncertainties, dangers, helplessness. Remember Christ’s strength and his presence within you from your baptism, the next time you feel overwhelmed by temptations.


We are called to walk a narrow and difficult way and to be witnesses to Christ in these turbulent times, but we can’t do it on our own strength. Let the weakness and even helplessness you may feel urge you to Christ for strength, wisdom, and salvation.

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. … for when I am weak then I am strong.”

THE LORICA OF ST . PATRICK

The Lorica, or Breastplate, of St. Patrick, a bold prayer that calls upon Christ’s strength to be our armor, is a good example of how Christians derive strength in Christ despite our own human weakness. We have always needed these kinds of prayers and the Christ-consciousness they help us to acquire, but this need is becoming clearer every day. Below, Frederica Mathewes-Green provides a great introduction to the Lorica followed by the full text of the Breastplate itself:

The “Breastplate” is popularly ascribed to St. Patrick (5th century), the evangelizer of Ireland, a saint loved by Christians everywhere. In the Old Irish version that has come down to us, the prayer is preceded by an introduction explaining that Patrick composed it when the High King of Ireland, Loegaire, was trying to kill him. Patrick and his clergy, with their young companion Benen, were passing through a forest where the king’s henchmen lay in wait. But the holy men made their way in safety, for the assassins did not see them, only a line of deer followed by a fawn.

That’s an appealing image, and this story about escaping attackers by taking the appearance of deer is also found in a 7th century life of St. Patrick. But it’s unlikely that the prayer, in the form we have it, goes back to Patrick’s time. Scholars say that the language and meter belong to a later period, perhaps the late 9th century. Still, it’s possible that a prayer from St. Patrick’s time was updated a few centuries later, and rendered in contemporary language. If that was the case, it would tell us in turn something about the prayer’s popularity. For a prayer to receive that kind of attention, it was likely still in frequent use, and beloved. The prayer’s emphasis on the Trinity certainly echoes the themes of St. Patrick’s preaching. After the prayer’s conclusion there comes another addition, a few lines of Latin that recall the last verse of Psalm 3, “Salvation is of the Lord.”

The Irish title of this work is Faeth Fiada, or “The Deer’s Cry.” It’s also known as St. Patrick’s “Breastplate” or “Lorica.” A lorica was that bit of Roman armor that protected the upper torso, and the term reminds us of St. Paul’s exhortations to “Put on the breastplate of faith and love” (1 Thess 5:8) and “Put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14).

What makes a prayer a lorica? Its distinctive characteristic is that it takes the form of a series of self-protective assertions. St. Patrick’s Lorica begins:

Today I gird myself with a mighty power: invocation of the Trinity, belief in the Threeness, affirmation of the Oneness, in the Creator’s Presence.

THE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE In subsequent verses the prayer claims the protection of saints and angels, just as our liturgical prayers do; but then it goes further, laying claim to the protecting powers of the sun and moon, fire, lightning, and other elements of Creation. As Christ commands all Creation (“What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” Mat 8:27), we clothe ourselves in every aspect of his power. We claim that protection systematically, pronouncing it on every side: “Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ to my right, Christ to my left…” This prayer places the one saying it at the center of all power in heaven and on earth.

This isn’t like most prayers we know—and there’s something invigorating about the difference. It seems somehow alive, vibrant with power; it expresses a faith that doesn’t merely hope for, but firmly expects, God’s protection. It demonstrates utter confidence that it will receive all it says.

It is not wholly unusual that this prayer doesn’t make any requests. In the Scriptures, the saints sometimes manifest spiritual power without asking for the Lord’s aid. Spirits are cast out when they told to be gone, and people are healed by contact with items that St. Paul or St. Peter have touched. We do something similar when we sprinkle holy water in places where the presence of God is needed.

This trust is also evident in the way we use the sign of the Cross, for we understand the action to be effective even if we make no accompanying request. “Let the Cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow and on all occasions,” said St. Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 313–386), “over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings, before sleep, on lying down and rising up, when we are on the way and when we are still” Catechetical Lectures 13.36). The sign of the Cross has its own power, even when not accompanied by a verbal request.

In fact, the question may be why we don’t use lorica-style prayers any more. Do we not feel as much of a need for thorough, all-around protection? It’s true that we live in a very safe world, compared to that of our ancestors. We take it for granted that the things we touch or consume during the course of the day will not harm us, thanks to the legal regulations (and public-image anxieties) borne by manufacturers. We expect our kids to be safe on a roller coaster, expect our homes’ wiring not to catch fire, expect that the milk we buy is really milk. Nor do we fear disease and injury as much as people did in earlier generations. We were blessed to be born into an age of medicine with drugs and techniques that render many otherwise-deadly threats harmless. (Just think about antibiotics—and anesthesia!) At the time of the American Revolution, the average age at death was only 28; not because people were old and worn out at that age, but due to the terrible loss of life among young people and children. The greatest threat was illness and disease caused by poor sanitation. As humble as it is, indoor plumbing has literally been a lifesaver.

So we feel generally safe as we go through the day, but when you consider the words of this lorica, it clearly came from a time when there was no end to potential dangers. “[P]rotect me, against everyone who will wish me ill…against the encirclement of idolatry, against the spells of women and smiths and druids…


against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding.”

One reason we don’t say this kind of prayer any more is that we don’t feel a need to. We don’t feel in constant danger, as our ancestors did. We can give thanks for that great blessing, but should also reflect on how this widespread security affect our thinking. It makes us, to some extent, complacent. Our ancestors were reminded many times a day of their complete dependence on God. We don’t share their sense of constant danger and constant need. And that probably has an effect on our prayer life.

Such conditions may lead us to take God for granted—or worse. In recent decades of there has been a trend of presenting Christian faith to potential believers as something that will please them and meet their “felt needs.” This turns the concept of salvation upside-down; it’s as if we are self-sufficient, but God needs our patronage. We will allow him to try to please us, though we don’t feel any need for him.

But God is not as dedicated to making people happy as a neighborhood café might be. As a consumer product he’s notoriously unreliable. His “customers” may conclude that, while humans handle their responsibilities reliably (for example, getting safe milk to the supermarket), God regularly makes a mess of the things he’s supposed to do (preventing hurricanes and disasters). Modern-day “customers” are unaware of any need for repentance; that topic is hushed up, because talk of repentance scares buyers away. So they can come to see God as an incompetent employee, and fire him.

Yet all this confident self-reliance is less warranted than it seems. Disaster could be only a step away—a fall on an icy sidewalk, bad news from a doctor. And, sad to say, for some people that’s what it’s going to take. Some people who won’t take God seriously until he’s the last thing they have left.

Surely the goal is to live with whole-hearted reliance on God, without needing the spur of suffering. A contemporary elder (and I wish I remember who) said that, though people think that unceasing prayer is very difficult to do, it’s actually quite easy. It doesn’t even take practice. Anyone might start praying right now, and continue with fervor until life ends. All it takes is catastrophe.

Let’s use this “Breastplate,” then, to remind ourselves not only of God’s infinite power, but of our own powerlessness. Let’s use it as a reminder that we need him much more than we think.

How might we use it? The repeated line, “Today I gird myself,” lets us know this was a morning prayer (other translations render it, “I rise today” or “I bind to myself today”). The ancient usage, it seems, was to recite these words every morning, and if we made that a habit it would soon lodge in memory. We might want to commit the passage “Christ be with me, Christ before me” to memory more deliberately, as it’s a prayer that would be handy in many situations. Few prayers concentrate so well or so simply the reality of Christ's presence.

The preface to the Breastplate states that it should be said “with [the] mind fixed wholly on God,” so this is not a magical formula but a declaration of faith... Our ancestors spoke this prayer in times far more harrowing than our own, and knew the God on whom they called. We, junior brothers and sisters in faith, can participate in this prayer and, by God’s grace, begin to glimpse the glory that they saw.

THE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE Faeth Fiada: ‘Patrick’s Breastplate’

[Translation by John Carey, King of Mysteries: Early Irish Religious Writing (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000), 130-135. Permission given to reprint by the author and Four Courts Press.]

Patrick made this hymn; it was composed in the time of Loegair son of Niaqll. It was composed in order to protect him and his monks from deadly enemies, who were ly8ing in wait for the clerics. And it is a breastplate of faith, to protect body and soul against demons and men and vices. If anyone recites it every day, with his mind fixed wholly upon God, demons will not stand against him, it will protect him against every poiseon and jealousy, it will guard him against sudden death, it will be a breastplate for his soul after death. Patrick recited it when Loegaire had set an ambush for him, lest he come to Tara to spread the Faith, so that it seemed to those who lay in wait that they were wild deer, with a fawn following them (that was Benen). And its name is Faid Fiada (‘the Deer’s Cry’).

Today I gird myself with a mighty power: invocation of the Trinity, belief in the Threeness, affirmation of the Oneness, in the Creator’s Presence.

Today I gird myself with the power of Christ’s birth together with his baptism, with the power of his crucifixion together with his burial, with the power of his resurrection together with his ascension, with the power of his descent to pronounce the judgment of Doomsday.

Today I gird myself with the power of the order of the cherubim, with the obedience of angels, with the ministry of the archangels, with the expectation of resurrection for the sake of a reward, with the prayers of patriarchs, with the predictions of prophets, with the precepts of apostles, with the faith of confessors, with the innocence of holy virgins, with the deeds of righteous men.

Today I gird myself with the strength of heaven light of the sun, brightness of the moon, brilliance of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of wind, depth of sea, firmness of earth, stability of rock.


Today I gird myself with the strength of God to direct me. The might of God to exalt me, the mind of God to lead me, the eye of God to watch over me, the ear of God to hear me, the word of God to speak to me, the hand of God to defend me, the path of God to go before me, the shield of God to guard me, the help of God to protect me, against the snares of demons, against the temptations of vices, against the tendencies of nature, against everyone who will wish me ill, far and near, among few and among many.

Today I interpose all these powers between myself and every harsh and pitiless power which may come against my body and my soul, against the predictions of false prophets, against the black laws of paganism, against the crooked laws of heretics, against the encirclement of idolatry, against the spells of women and smiths and druids, against every knowledge which harms a man’s body and soul.

May Christ protect me today against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, that many rewards may come to me. May Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ to my right, Christ to my left, Christ where I lie down, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye which looks on me, Christ in every ear which hears me.

Today I gird myself with a mighty power: invocation of the Trinity, belief in the Threeness, proclamation of the Oneness, in the Creator’s presence.

Salvation is of the Lord, salvation is of the Lord, salvation is of Christ; may your salvation, Lord, be always with us. Article by Frederica Mathewes-


ST SPYRIDON BOOKSTORE

There are many books and other items available for sale in the St. Spyridon Bookstore.

Please contact Despina Stefanopoulos to find out about available items.

You can purchase St Spyridon’s Centennial Album through the bookstore or online at

stspyridonchurch.org/product/centennial-album/

This hardcover, gold embossed, hand-stitched 368 page heirloom captures the first 100

years of the Hellenic Community in Newport and is a wonderful keepsake for

parishioners past and present and for anyone who has ties to or has celebrated special

moments at St. Spyridon in Newport.

ST SPYRIDON FILM FESTIVAL

The St. Spyridon Christian Film Festival is going virtual this year! Check your email for al link to the church website where the films can be viewed starting Tuesday, July 7th. If you have never been to the Film Festival, you are in for a treat. And please be sure to vote! Your votes will be tallied with the judge’s votes. [And it is not too late to enter! Get your video of any length to Aliki Cooper before Monday July 6th. Email her at [email protected] for information of how to share the film.

Voting will continue through from July 7th—Friday the 10th and winners will be announced on Saturday, July 11th.


St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church

Thames & Brewer Streets – P.O. Box 427 – Newport, RI 02840

Tel. 401.846.0555

Christian Stewardship Commitment Card

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Commit to Stewardship in the amount of $ _______ to Christ and His Church for January through December of the year _____, in gratitude for the gifts he has bestowed upon us. Our commitment will be paid in installments of $__________ on a (please circle one) weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis.

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Please turn in your Financial Stewardship pledge for 2020.

Unbeknownst to many, the Trisagion Hymn has often been chanted during times of catastrophe not unlike that which threatens our world today.

Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς

Agios O Theos, Agios Eeskhiros, Agios Athanatos, eleison imas

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. .

In loving memory of

John Stavros Mellekas

Compliments of

Island of Skiathos Organization

Established 1967

Flo’s Drive-In

Portsmouth

Flo’s Clam Shack

Middletown Voted Best in Rhode Island!

In loving memory of

Gregory T. Parkos

John T. Parkos

236-2020 www.atlanticbeachhospitality.com

Order of AHEPA Maud Howe Elliott

Chapter 245

Daughters of Penelope Ares Chapter 49

Aquidneck Pizza Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

27 Aquidneck Avenue Middletown

Take out orders: 849-3356 Daily 7am-12am, Fri & Sat 7am-2am

In loving memory of

Estelle Parkos Antonio Thomas S. Antonio

A-1 Pizza 306 Broadway

Newport F r e e D e l i v e r y

849-2213

In loving memory of

Anthony & Dorothea

Rozes

In loving memory of

Captain George Anagnostos

Mel’s Cafenio 25 Broadway

Newport

849-6420

In loving memory of

Stelios and Frangoula Christopher

CODDINGTON BREWING COMPANY

210 Coddington Highway Middletown

847-6690

Rhea’s Bed & Breakfast Accommodations with

jacuzzis available!

120 West Main Road Middletown

841-5560

Debbie Amarant TERI DEGNAN

REAL ESTATE & CONSULTING

[email protected] 203-434-5196

www.teridegnan.com

In loving memory of

Thomas and Bessie Alexander

Christy and Vasio Petropoulos

HE SAINT SPYRIDON VOICE J /A 2020 · 2020-07-05 · Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church P.O. Box...

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