Fr. George Parsenios (HCHC ’96)

"Love is Patient; love is kind.” So says St. Paul in today’s epistle reading, taken from First Corinthians 13. These well-known verses are famously printed on posters and plaques—even refrigerator magnets—and they are often read at Protestant and Catholic weddings all over America. Everyone knows the verses and everyone loves them. But few understand them. Far from being a sentimental meditation on romantic love, these famous lines are a rhetorically powerful rebuke to a divided church. Love may be patient and kind, but the Corinthians were neither. They battled against one another over who had more wealth, who had more knowledge of God, or who had deeper spiritual experiences. Paul told the Corinthians that “love is not jealous or boastful” because he had to correct them a few chapters earlier for jealous striving (3:3), and for boasting about spiritual gifts (4:7). He told them that love is slow to judge (13:5) because he commanded them previously to stop dragging each other before pagan judges in public courts (6:1-11). And he said that love hopes all things (13:7), because the Corinthians had a shaky hope in the Resurrection of the dead (15:13). When he wrote that “love is patient and kind,” St. Paul was not poetically reflecting on love with pretty words. He was admonishing a strife-ridden community and confronting their arrogance. We are correct, therefore, to associate these verses with weddings and family concord, not because of how they make us feel, but because of how they make us act. Not sentimental emotions, but real self-sacrifice is the cornerstone of a strong marriage, a firm friendship and any lasting relationship. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, clergy and laity show their love for one another not by what they say, but by what they do.  

Fr. George Parsenios is Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. www.hchc.edu

Fr. George Parsenios (HCHC ’96)

The Greek word Κυριακή/Kyriaki is an adjective that can be translated as “belonging to the Lord,” or just “Lord’s,” and it holds a prominent place in Christian life. The adjective is derived from the Greek word  Κύριος/Kyrios, which means “Lord,” and which translates the Hebrew term for Lord, Adonai. Because Kyrios/Lord is a title that serves as a name for God in the Old Testament, the New Testament applies this name to Jesus in order to identify Jesus as God. If Jesus is “the Lord,” then He is God. Thus, when Jesus teaches His disciples to pray by saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven…” this famous prayer is called the “Lord’s Prayer” (Kyriaki Prosefchi). In the same vein, the first day of the week (which we call in English “Sunday,” i.e., the day of the Sun) is called “the Lord’s Day” (Kyriaki Hemera) in the Greek of the New Testament (Rev. 1:10). Christians would gather to celebrate the Eucharist on this day, because it was the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead (John 20:1). The Greek word for the first day of the week continues to be Kyriaki, the Lord’s Day.

Fr. George Parsenios is Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. www.hchc.edu

On November 2^nd, 1991, fifty-one-year-old Metropolitan Bartholomew of Chalcedon was enthroned as the 270^th Archbishop of Constantinople in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George at the Phanar. His thirty-five-year tenure as Ecumenical Patriarch remains by far the longest—and will perhaps prove to be among the most consequential—in Orthodox Church history.

Born Dimitrios Archontonis on the island of Imbros in 1940, Bartholomew studied at the Theological School of Halki before receiving his doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he was present as a student during Vatican II. He later served for years as the principal advisor to Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios, whom he succeeded.

Well-educated and well-traveled, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is one of the most widely revered religious leaders alive today. A longtime proponent of the ecumenical movement, he has spoken candidly also on the urgent need to reconcile religious faith and scientific study. Above all, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is considered a pioneer in promoting faith-based ecological stewardship, rooted in an underlying message of peace, thanksgiving, and repentance.

The Enthronement of Patriarch Bartholomew. Orthodox Observer, December 1991.

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue (from the Greek deca, meaning ten, and logos, meaning word), form a foundational ethical code that guides humanity in worshiping the true God and in building a society that reflects God's will on earth. Preserved through the centuries as a treasure of Christian civilization, the Commandments have been embraced by the Christian Church as a basic moral standard governing people's responsibilities toward both God and one another. Few documents have exerted a greater influence on religion and morality.

Moses stands as one of the most significant figures of the Old Testament, renowned for his leadership and as a religious forerunner of Judaism. God called him to lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage into the wilderness north of Mount Sinai, between Egypt and Palestine, where they would begin a new chapter of their history. Moses was familiar with this region, having spent forty years there in exile under the guidance of his father-in-law Jethro.

Three months after the Exodus, Moses sought God's guidance so that the Israelites might live faithfully and peacefully under divine protection. In response, God summoned Moses to Mount Sinai to receive His covenant and convey it to the people. The Israelites accepted God's word, declaring, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Exodus 19:8).

Moses remained with the Lord for forty days. At the end of that time, God gave him two stone tablets containing the divine commandments, written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). When Moses descended the mountain and witnessed the people's idolatry, he broke the tablets (Exodus 32:19). God later replaced them. (Exodus 34:1).

The text of the Ten Commandments is preserved in two Old Testament accounts: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-18. Aside from the prohibition concerning images and the command to observe the Sabbath, the Commandments contain moral principles shared by all humanity. Their meaning was further deepened by the teachings of Jesus Christ, especially in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ summarized the entire law in two commandments: to love God with all one's heart, soul, and strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself (Mark 12:29-31; cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Leviticus 19:18). In these two commandments, Jesus reveals the enduring purpose and fulfillment of the Ten Commandments.

Faith in Action

Choose one of the Ten Commandments and intentionally live it with greater purpose each day this week. Begin and end each day with prayer, asking God to help you grow in love for Him and for your neighbor.

Based on a longer article, The Ten Commandments: A Document of Divine Guidance, by Rev. George Mastrantonis, found on goarch.org (https://bit.ly/4ikvFtl)