Our Life is a Story

We alone hold the pen to write and edit our story!
 How is your book of life going to continue, how shall it end?
 Fill it with excitement, laughter, things of which to be proud, achievements of good deeds, love and happiness.
 Make sure it won’t be or stay as an empty book, for that would be wasted talent and potential… God’s freewill places our earthly destiny is in our own hands, so make your dreams become reality and life worthwhile.
 Make sure that your story is a good one and that you are not the only one who lives it and with whom it gets buried.

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OCCA Archbishop’s Award for Justice and Peace

The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America is pleased to announce that Judith Hoffhein of Houston, Texas has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Archbishop’s Award for Justice and Peace. This is a commemoration of an individual who has done work at the grass roots level for peace and justice issues. Last year’s honoree was Barbara O’Connor, a native Fort Wayne citizen who has for years been active in a variety of empowering and peacemaking efforts.

Judith has worked for many years in the greater Houston area with such organizations as Food Not Bombs (http://ift.tt/1wRO1Tu), The Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center (http://ift.tt/PSF24I) , Peace Camp Houston (http://ift.tt/1wRO1Tx.) and her own local Houston Mennonite Church (http://ift.tt/1Efr7LY). It is her grassroots level work with justice and peace that brought her to the attention of our Archbishop Peter (Robert Zahrt).

Judith moved to Houston 30 years ago after spending seven years as a volunteer with the Mennonite Church teaching in Jamaica. Her first teaching job here was in a bilingual school as a 5th grade teacher. She realized quickly that she did not speak enough Spanish and her students did not speak enough English. After changing schools she became involved with outreach work and the local Mennonite Church. She spent a great deal of time with Ten Thousand Villages a fair trade store which sends the profits back to the artisans. She served for five years on their board of directors and helped many to understand this marvelous alternative to mindless spending.

She has worked with the Interfaith Worker’s Justice Center, spending three years on their board and organizing rallies and protests and participating in many ways to educate executives and advocate for workers. Working with Peace Camp Houston and with the Peace Club as she says: “I really enjoy working with youth and love planning lessons which focus on caring for others, developing inner contentment, and coping with real life problems like anger, bullies and racism. This has been an ongoing effort, and I feel God leading me in new directions with this work. The families and others that I have met doing this project have been a marvelous blessing to me.”

Three years ago, the Houston Peace and Justice Center asked her to check out a group called food not bombs. They were needing help obtaining non-profit status for donations. On a cold freezing evening in January she visited and saw many hungry faces lined up for a bowl of warm soup and a slice of bread. Good Samaritans were greeting folks, sharing food and involved in conversations. She could not tell the volunteers from the people who had come there to eat and respected and admired that. Everyone seemed equal and there was a terrific sense of community. Most important of all, she saw the love of Christ in this urban street setting. She continues to prepare food four nights a week and take it downtown and share it with others. It is not easy work, as there are often 100-125 people who come -and she can get tired of dicing apples and peeling potatoes. The rewards are many: a grateful comment, a lovely smile, a warm hug, a request for a second helping, sharing the night with kind people, and feeling like she can make a positive difference. As Judith says: “I know that God has led me to this group and I have found a way I can serve that feeds my soul and gives me the energy to continue.” This kind of service brought her to the attention of others – an example of how to be a caring human being in the 21st century.

It is the sincere hope of all of us in the OCCA that other compassionate human beings will follow the example of Judith and work towards the alleviation of suffering by working towards justice and peace. We believe in the “new Commandment” given to us by Jesus: “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

May God bless Judith and all those who care for the least of our sisters and brothers.

Rt. Rev. Dr. +Stephen Duncan

OCCA Bishop in Galveston

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The Orthodox American

The Orthodox American will now be published quarterly (rather than monthly). Please click the following link to access the first 2015 quarterly edition of: TOA March 2015

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Lenten Spiritual Renewal

“Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor person, take pity. If you see a friend being honored, do not be envious. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies.

Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sins. Let the eye fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful… Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip. Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticisms.

For what good is it if we abstain from fowl and fishes, but bite and devour our sister or brother? It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness. The Great Fast has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue.” – St. John Chrysostom

*Edited for inclusive language

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Triumph of Orthodoxy

Tomorrow is the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, celebrated annually in the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of Great Lent. The Feast is kept in memory of the final defeat of Iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons to the churches by the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

The debate involved important issues: the character of Christ’s human nature, the Christian attitude towards matter, and the true meaning of Christian redemption. Therefore, the service commemorates the restoration of icons for use in churches and in the private devotional life of Christians. Icons are held by the Orthodox to be a necessary consequence of Christian faith in the Incarnation of the Word, Jesus Christ. Icons are considered by Orthodox Christians to have a sacramental character, making present to the believer the person or event depicted on them.

Orthodox theology makes a clear doctrinal distinction between the veneration (proskynesis) paid to icons and the worship (latria) which is due to God alone.

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NCC Stands With Assyrian Christians

NCC Stands With Assyrian Christians, Condemns ISIS Attack

WASHINGTON: The National Council of Churches condemns the ISIS attack against Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria. This time, in addition to killing many and forcing others to flee, the terrorist group kidnapped some 150 people, women, children and the elderly. Some reports indicate as many as 400 were kidnapped. Among the captives are reported to be Christian priests. The fate of the captives is currently unknown.

Assyrian Christians trace their ethnic roots in the region back 6,000 years, and their religious roots to the early centuries of the Christian era. The language of their communal worship is Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. Despite experiencing difficulties within the wider society throughout the centuries, the Assyrian community has maintained a vital presence in the region for all this time; like other Christians in the region, they have emigrated in large numbers in recent years due to the ongoing violence there. With the rise of ISIS, their very existence, as demonstrated by this latest attack, is now threatened.

“The present atrocity of the ISIS ideologues against the Assyrian Christians in the Khabur region is akin to a modern-day religious genocide,” stated His Grace Bishop Mar Awa Royel, Secretary of the Holy Synod and ecumenical officer of the Assyrian Church of the East. “The international community cannot simply remain silent about this atrocity. Concrete steps need to be taken to ensure the safe return of those detained and the security of the many hundreds of families who are now displaced, driven from their homes.”

Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the NCC, echoed this call to the international community. In addition, he stated that “This kind of barbarity, again displayed by ISIS, is unconscionable, and inconsistent with any genuinely faithful expression of religious identity.” His comment is set within the context of the NCC view that, while ISIS is built upon extremist interpretations of their faith, it has absolutely no credible claim to mainstream Islam.

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, Associate General Secretary of the NCC, expressed the sorrow of the organization’s members in light of this recent attack against the Assyrian Christians. “The Assyrian Church of the East, an ancient and venerable community of Christians, is a friend of the NCC. We grieve with our colleagues here in the US, whose families and friends are impacted by this act of terror.”

This latest ISIS attack comes after the execution of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, a Muslim soldier from Jordan, and others. It also follows killings perpetrated by followers of ISIS’ ideology in France and Belgium. Among the victims in Europe were Jews. When taken together with the group’s persecution of Christians of other traditions, Shi’ite Muslims, and Sunni Muslims who do not ascribe to their interpretations, it is clear that violence rooted in this form of extremist Islamic ideology is targeted against all who disagree with it. It would also seem that this latest attack is another step by ISIS taken toward fulfilling their threat, made when executing the Coptic Christians, against Christianity and the west in general.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s 37 member communions — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact: Steven D. Martin: 202.412.4323 or steven.martin@nationalcouncilofchurches.us

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Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian

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