February 2020¨1645 Phillips Road, Tallahassee, Florida 32308 ¨ (850) 878-0747 ¨ Rev. Fr. Robert J. O’Loughlin¨ http://www.hmog.org

Sunday’s are Always Super! ~ A Message from Fr. Robert

The contrast of humility and pride is upon us in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. Unlike the Pharisee who walks to the front of the Temple praying in a loud voice for all to hear, the tax collector stays in a back cor-ner, falls down in humility, and repents while offering the most simple pray-er, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Although the tax collector sinned in countless ways, he truly repented by turning back to God with one of the greatest virtues humility. The Pharisee thought very highly of himself because of his good actions, and his pride led him to judge and condemn others. This parable is a wake-up call to get ready for the opportunity to grow in our faith. We will begin our Lenten journey of fasting and spiritual effort next month as it reminds us that the first way we can prepare looking within ourselves and where we are at in our journeys, which can begin on Sunday’s.

Super Bowl Sunday is upon us in a couple of days, as this football game be-comes a focal point in one way or another. We have an opportunity for eve-ry Sunday to be super in a sense that we are to put everything aside. We are to make a decision to come to Church and be with Christ. We are to defeat the worldly influences of society, and the devil that operates through them, which continuously seek to draw us away from our Church and our Faith, isolating us away from Christ and other believers. Each Sunday is to be a victory for us as individuals and families, we gather as the body of Christ, worshiping God, growing in faith, and our children being able to be taught the faith, as we can all grow closer to one another in faith and love. On Sunday’s we can stand firm against the temptations of the evil one in making the effort to attend Liturgy and put ourselves into an environ-ment of faith which blesses, sanctifies and strengthens our lives.

Sunday can fill the void of the emptiness of the secular world. However, the decision on Sunday’s is ours and a spiritual battle in every Orthodox Christian home every Sunday morning about whether to come to Church or not. However, it is our call and God’s will not force us in our commitment in making Sunday Super every Sunday! Everything else in our life should close down on Sunday morning and our total focus should be on Christ. Every day is a constant battle to do well and follow Christ, but every Sunday at Church can be Super in which we can tap into for strength during the week. Jesus’ Resurrection occurred on this day and there is a power and holiness on this day unlike any other.

Fr. Robert

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Our next ECHO Sundays are February 2 and

March 1. Please drop off your non-perishable food do-

nations into the bins located in the Hellenic Center and

Patmos Hall.

If an emergency or special need should arise, please contact

Fr. Rob immediately at 850-559-8184.

Assembly of Bishops Delegation Participates in March

for Life

Friday, January 24, 2020

Washington, D.C. - The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox

Bishops of the United States of America sent a delegation to the annual March for Life in the nation’s capital on

Friday, January 24, 2020. The event marks the 47th

anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision

that legalized abortion.

Bishop Apostolos of Medeia led the delegation. He was joined by Metropolitan Tikhon, Archbishop Daniel,

Archbishop Melchisedek, Archbishop Michael, Archbishop David, Bishop Thomas, Bishop Daniel and Bish-

op Paul. Bishop Apostolos also attended the National Prayer Vigil for Life at The Basilica of the National

Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday, January 23, the evening before the march. The next

morning, the Orthodox faithful, guided by the hierarchs, met at St. Nicholas OCA Cathedral for a pre-march Divine Liturgy. At the conclusion of the service, Metropolitan Tikhon praised the Marchers for their commit-

ment to defend the right to life.

The rally, attended by President Donald J. Trump, began at noon with a prayer offered by Bishop Apostolos

on the National Mall at 12th Street. Orthodox Christian marchers gathered under the “Orthodox Christians for Life” banner and signs. The march began at 1 p.m. and proceeded along Constitution Avenue to the

U.S. Supreme Court, where prayers for the victims of abortion were offered.

Statement on the Sanctity of Life Thursday, January 31, 2019

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America affirms the sanctity of life based on the firm conviction that life begins at the moment of conception. The Assembly re-mains steadfast in its conviction that any interference in the development of life is a serious issue, and therefore it regularly participates in a variety of relevant events and also releases pertinent statements on the topic.

While recognizing that there are rare but serious medical instances where mother and child may require extraordinary actions, the Assembly of Bishops is deeply concerned that the taking of in-nocent life through abortion has become an acceptable cultural norm. This phenomenon – in-creasingly prevalent throughout contemporary societies – was exacerbated by a recent law of the New York State Senate (Bill S.240). The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United

States of America categorically denounces these adverse developments that allow for abortion, un-der certain unjustifiable circumstances, even within the third trimester of existence.

The Assembly of Bishops further reminds the faithful that Christ is a beacon of hope in this chal-lenging world. Accordingly, the Church is always prepared and willing to support women who are considering abortion to find alternative avenues to alleviate any burden, physical and spiritual. The Church is ever a mother – loving, understanding, nurturing, praying, and protecting all hu-man life.

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Page 4

The parish St. John Chrysostom Oratori-

cal Festival will take place Wednesday,

March 11th. Students have received top-ics in their Church School classes and

participation is encouraged as this is a

wonderful opportunity to discover the fullness of our

Orthodox Faith. Please contact Fr. Rob or Presv. Joy

if you would like to participate or if you have any

questions. Choice of topic is due by February 16th. The district festival will take place at Holy Trinity

Greek Orthodox Church in St. Augustine on Satur-

day, April 4th.

Bowling outing

Sunday Feb 2nd -Our community has the opportunity to team up with the Interna-

tional Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) as we bring help and hope to people affect-

ed by war, poverty, disease and natural disaster in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Saturday Feb 8th - Outreach at the Ronald McDonald House.

JOY(Junior Orthodox Youth)

January Meeting

Agape is a new ministry for young families - ages 0 thru PreK years and

their parent(s). The purpose of this group is to build friendships through playtime, storytime, crafts, etc.. A snack will be provided at this monthly gathering and is also

an opportunity for parents of young children to connect to one another.

Live streaming event on

campuses across the south-

east with a virtual townhall

meeting following the show-

ing of the movie with band

members.

Tuesday, Feb. 4th - 700 pm

Agape

First gathering - Saturday Feb. 8th - 3:00 - 4:00pm

CrossRoad is an engaging 10-day program for Orthodox Christian high school juniors and seniors of all

jurisdictions that takes place every summer on the campus of Hellenic College Holy Cross in Boston, MA (Session 1 & 2) and now at North Park University in Chicago, IL (Session 3).

Application priority deadline is February 1, 2020. Apply online Website: https://www.crossroadinstitute.org/apply Session 1: June 13-June 23 (Boston) Session 2: June 30-July 10 (Boston) Session 3: July 20-July 30 (Chicago)

Page 5

Patriarch Bartholomew's Address at the World Economic Forum The Role of Faith for a Cohesive and Sustainable World

His-All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

(Davos, January 22, 2020)

Distinguished participants,

Honorable guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honor to address this important event organized by the World Economic Forum with a special emphasis on the role of faith for a cohesive and sustainable world. We are pleased today to be able to share insights on the mission faith from the experience and wisdom of the Orthodox Church and participate in this cru-cial conversation for the future of humanity and the world. Faith is a main chapter in the history of culture; culture

cannot be understood without taking into account the impact that faith has on it.

Faith can achieve its mission and fulfill its role of cohesion and sustainability through dialogue and witness to the world. Throughout our almost three decades of Patriarchal ministry, we have striven for the promotion of dialogue, which we consider to be the most effective means for addressing problems. Dialogue is a gesture and source of solidari-ty; it leads to the overcoming of prejudices and mistrust; it promotes mutual familiarization and appreciation; and it

builds respect for otherness.

It is tragic that many people tend today to identify religion with terror, war, and intolerance. Almost every day we learn of violence in the name of religion. This tendency to identify religion with its negative aspects is unfortunately reinforced today through the misinterpretations of religion, which circulate especially among progressive intellectuals. Ignorance, intolerance and violence are the failure and not the essence of religion. They are the marks of fundamentalism and ex-tremism, which regard their own ideology and interests as truth that must be imposed upon others. Yet, our conviction – as we have repeatedly declared throughout our tenure – is that any crime supposedly committed in the name of God is actually a crime against God. This is why we work to combat religious fundamentalism – “this expression of morbid religiosity,” as was stated in the Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, June 2016, §

17).

In our times, word is made of “the return of God,” expressed as the presence of religion in public space and the defini-tive annulation of the theory on the impending “post-religious age” and of the total secularization of culture. The fa-mous German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas, who first characterized contemporary western societies as “post-secular,”[1] stated that political decisions in these societies should not offend the core values and convictions of religious communities, which on their behalf are obliged to respect civil law and human rights, as well as to cultivate

interreligious understanding and dialogue.

It is overly utopic to expect that solidarity and social cohesion can be established through globalization, economic pro-gress, improved living standards, science and technology, digital communication and the Internet. A world of peace and

justice cannot exist without the contribution of the great spiritual powers of humanity – that is, of religions and their encounter and cooperation. We have also persistently underlined that understanding other people’s beliefs and values is an indispensable precondition of establishing dialogue and coexisting peacefully. Faith strengthens the commitment of human action, and it enlarges our witness for freedom and justice, even providing support to our efforts when they

appear to be at an impasse.

This is why, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has pioneered ecumenical organizations, such as the World Council of Churches, and has advocated and advanced bilateral dialogues with non-Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East and internationally. Such dialogue does not imply abandoning or betraying one’s belief or tradition, but instead encourages learning to live in solidarity with all people, with whom we share this world. We believe that the ap-

propriate response to our present multifaceted crisis is the development and establishment of a culture of solidarity.

Our conviction is nourished by the very essence of the Gospel.

The term “solidarity” points, on the one hand, to the history of struggles for social justice, freedom and dignity, while dynamically expressing the social and political dimension of the term “fraternity” formulated in the triptych of the French Revolution “Liberté – Égalité – Fraternité.” However, it also promotes the idea of law, of social justice and of the

social content of freedom as co-freedom, as cooperation for the common good, as co-responsibility for the common home (“οἶκος”). On the other hand, solidarity points to the Biblical fraternity, to the unconditional love and help toward our fellow human beings, promoting the social dimension and expression of true freedom. In this way, the term

“solidarity” contains the two unshakeable pillars of humanism: justice and love.

In a culture of solidarity, human rights can function as universal humanistic principles for peaceful coexistence and social justice, representing the “culture of humanity,” while ensuring the “right to difference” on the basis of respect for these universal values, as well as the orientation of social and economic life toward the dignity of the human person. They will serve as humanistic criteria for a more just globalization and as answers to the challenges or new threats to freedom and justice. The culture of solidarity signifies a life, where the “law of the fittest” is not predominant, but in-

stead the strength of law and justice prevails. (continued on page 6)

Page 6

(continued from page 5)

In this sense, the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared 2013 as “the year of universal solidarity.” In our Patriarchal Encycli-cal we articulated the conviction that the ongoing worldwide economic and social crisis ultimately expresses a lack of solidarity. Our aim was to sensitize individuals and peoples to poverty and the great inequalities that exist. We under-scored the necessity for initiatives to ensure the right that every human being enjoys the essential goods of life. For us, this immense crisis is a result of a broader spiritual crisis. Humanity needs a renewed culture of solidarity, that trans-

forms our society of “having” into a society of “being.”

Our future is common, and the way to this future is a common journey for us all. No single leader and no single state, no single nation and no single religion, indeed no single science and no single institution can face contemporary chal-lenges alone. We need one another; we need common goals; we need collaborative efforts. We are called to build bridges based on love and understanding, and not to construct walls of division and exclusion based on fear and ignorance. The

Ecumenical Patriarchate invites all of you to join in these endeavors.

Unfortunately, the Orthodox Church is often accused of neglecting the world for the sake of its spiritual life; of being centered on worship and liturgy while ignoring social problems; of turning solely toward the future, to the Kingdom of God that is to come, while disregarding contemporary and current challenges. Yet, the exact opposite is the case. For Orthodox believers, faith presupposes and leads to a proper approach to the earthly reality. Faith definitely cannot be

confined to the private sphere.

Distinguished audience,

As it has been said, the democratic society “lives from powers, which cannot be created by itself.” According to His Emi-nence Walter Cardinal Kasper, “every society needs institutions of transcendence,” which represent publicly the “dimension of the Divine.”[2] We believe that all of humanity needs such a grounding as in Plato’s statement that “God is the measure of all things” (Laws, 716 c), formulated against the “homo-mensura” maxim of Protagoras that “man is the measure of all things.” The future does not belong to the self-ordained “man-god,” a new Prometheus, who ignores or abolishes limits and undeniable measures. All attempts to found a just society need some reference to an “Absolutum.” For us, such a central power is Christianity, in which the Biblical tradition, the ancient Greek idea of freedom and politi-

cal humanism and the Roman culture of justice have found a creative synthesis.

In this spirit, we are very sceptical about the characterization of contemporary Europe as a “post-Christian Europe.” Europe’s secularized present cannot be separated from its past, which is inspired and formed by a cultural heritage cen-tered around Christianity. We must accept that the retreat of this Christian consciousness in Europe ultimately has a

negative impact on Europe’s identity and self-understanding.

The year 1989 marked worldwide the end of the period of the Cold War. However, it was not the “end of history,” in the sense of the already certain and stable global dominion of the “market economy,” or of the prevalence of freedom and prosperity according to the model of Western democracies, characterized by philosopher Karl Popper as the best politico-social systems, which mankind has ever experienced in its historical trajectory.[3] The old rivalries were replaced by the rise of a polycentric world, marked by the emphatic consciousness of cultural diversity and the potential clashes among

civilizations, within the environment of globalization.

What was the public role of religion during these thirty years after the great change? It is a fact that religion was a fac-tor, which influenced developments, both local and global, in an ambivalent way. Today religions are called to develop and give prominence to their peace-making power and humanistic principles, their precious spiritual and moral herit-age, as well as their deep anthropological knowledge, all of which strengthen our engagement with and struggle for the protection of human dignity. Faith and religion can play a vital role in raising awareness, advancing dialogue and foster-

ing collaboration among people on contemporary global challenges.

And what is the place and role of the Orthodox Church in face of the current crisis? In many geopolitical contexts world-wide, Orthodoxy was, is, and will continue to be a minority religion with a universal message and a legacy of a long-standing historic presence. In regions such as the Middle East, South-Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, the Orthodox Christian faith has shaped the religious landscape for centuries, or even millennia. The challenges in this context are real and urgent. In the Middle East in particular, the survival of Christianity hangs in the balance. During the war in Syria and the uprising of the so-called “Islamic State,” news reports and articles regularly reminded us of the reality of

Christians in the Middle East and their continuous struggle to survive in the very region where Christianity was born. It

is important for us here to understand that these Christians are more than just a historical link to the world of the Gos-pel. They are the heirs to a unique spiritual and cultural legacy and symbol for the value and respect of religious diversi-

ty worldwide.

Faced with the contemporary international and globalized crisis, all faith communities must renew their message, func-tioning as a positive challenge to individuals and peoples, and offering an alternative model of life within a globalized culture, which bestowed humanity with precious gifts, but at the same time seems to push people to live for themselves, ignoring the others, with whom they have to share the world. In this sense, the faithful can become more humanist than humanist themselves, because the struggle for social cohesion and the protection of the integrity of creation is not just a

moral imperative, but a commandment of God.

Thank you for your kind attention!

Page 7

Philoptochos Annual

Family Fun Day

Sunday, February 23

Following Divine Liturgy

Bingo and Lots of Fantastic Prizes to Win!!!

Philoptochos “Secret Ingredient Chili”

Hot Dogs

With all the trimmings

As we get ready for our journey into Great Lent, what better way to enjoy a fun time with your own family as well as your

church family!!! As we get ready for our journey into Great Lent, what better way to enjoy a fun time with your own family as well as your church family!!!

Saturday, February 15, 2020

6:30 pm – 11:30 pm Music includes DJ

Dinner Menu:

Appetizers

Prime Rib

Greek Style Oven Potatoes, Green Beans, Greek Salad & Dessert

$25.00 for Adults

$12.00 for Students

Children of Church Members 12 & Under FREE

Cash Bar for Wine, Beer and Sodas

Tickets will be presold in the Hellenic Center following Liturgy or see any AHEPA member

“Join the fun with music, prizes, dancing”

Profits from this event go towards scholarships for upcoming qualified high school seniors, plus philanthropic purposes

February 2020

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 6 at 5:30 pm

Upcoming Event: Family Fun Day, Sunday, February 23, 2020 following Liturgy

Thank you to all who attended our annual cutting of the Vasilopita on Jan. 12th and for all of

the beautiful and delicious vasilopitas. It was a great success! All monetary donations bene-fit St. Basil Academy. Congratulations to all of our parishioners who received the coin in their slice of Vasilopita and in par-

ticular to those who received a slice in recognition of their service to our Church.

Save the date: Next meeting, Thursday, March 5th

Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church

1645 Phillips Road Tallahassee, Florida 32308

Return Service Requested

The Feast Day of

St. Haralambox

Celebrated

February 10

Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church

1645 Phillips Road Tallahassee, FL 32308

Office: 850-878-0747 Hall: 850-877-2501

Fr. Rob’s Cell: 850-559-8184

Website: www.hmog.org

Email Addresses:

Father Rob: fr.robert@comcast.net

Church Secretary: hmog@comcast.net

Secretary Hours: Mon./Wed./Fri. 9am-2pm