My Dear Family in The Lord
“You are the Light of the world!” (Matthew 5:14) These are the first words of our Gospel Lesson, appointed by the Church, on this Sunday, when we commemorate the 630 Holy and God-bearing Fathers who came together for the 4th Ecumenical Council, who assembled in Chalcedon in 451 to condemn Eutyches, who taught that there was only one nature, the divine, in Christ after the Incarnation, and Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who illegally received Eutyches back into communion and deposed Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had excommunicated Eutyches.
Now going back to the original words, “You are The Light of the world!” and connecting it with the reason for which The Fourth Ecumenical Council was called, we can see clearly the difference of the right, Orthodox Teaching, and a heresy. Jesus Christ, the Lord, gave to His Apostles and Disciples and through them to their successors to all The Holy Fathers and to all of us, who share This Apostolic Succession the illumination of our minds to continue this mission, and this ministry to be The Light of the world! To enlighten the world, through our preaching, teaching, and by offering a personal example, and to preserve everything the way we receive it, without changing or modifying anything! That’s what it means to be the Light of the world.
And this Biblical precept applies to all of us! Whether we are Bishops, Priests or Deacons, ministering in the Church, lay people, or being entrusted with many other responsibilities we are all called for the same thing, to be the Light of the world, to inspire others to commit their lives to Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ and to join His Holy Church! This ministry, or ministries, has been around from Jesus Christ, the Founder of our Christian Church, and will stay like that until His Second and Glorious Coming! There are so many people out there who are hungry and thirsty for the word of God, who want Jesus and His Church in their lives and want a change, a transformation, and more than anything in the world, the Truth!
My Dearly Beloved in the Lord,
This is a Big Call for all of us, not only for some of us, but for all of us, who are following the Lord! We all need to do our own portion in order to accomplish this Sacred Mission. We need to offer our talents to The Work of our local parish, of Our God Protected Holy Metropolis, of Our Holy Archdiocese, along with all Its Organizations and Our Holy and Sacred Mother Church, Our Holy Patriarchate of Constantinople and the last, but not the least, our Beloved School, Hellenic College Holy Cross, Greek Orthodox School of Theology. This is what involves to be a member of The Greek Orthodox Christian Church, it is not limited to supporting or being a member to our local Church!
This truly means to be The Light of the world, to share Christ’s Light to as many people as we can in our community!
May God bless you all, and please remember that I cannot wait to see y’all in Church!