Melkite Greek Catholic Church
 

English original (PDF, 2 pages, 776KB)

Arabic translation (PDF, 2 pages, 64K)

 

 

 

 

Pascha 2022

Dear Melkites across America,

Christ is risen! He is truly risen!

A number of years ago, a large New York City hospital made a simple but unusual discovery. Crying infants in the nursery disturbed others who also began to cry, leaving them restless. Some proposed playing background soft music but newborn babies never heard music before. Someone suggested recording the heartbeat of a mother and playing it over the sound system. A quick miracle! The heartbeat of a mother was familiar to them even before they were born. The mother's heartbeat was a sound of security and love and became the background music for the nursery babies who grew still and went peacefully to sleep.

What is our background music of life? That we know we must die is the background music for some, so we must listen to the soothing heartbeat not of a mother but of God. The heartbeat of God is the glorious message of his love and forgiveness — we call it the Gospel, the Good News! We need to take time to listen to the risen Savior's voice, sometimes drowned out by the noises of our world.

We find the heartbeat of God in John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life". We find it also in Jesus' words, "I am the resurrection and the life".

If we are anxious about death, listen to the heartbeat of God, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also... because I live, you shall live also." In human death we are very much alive for eternity.

For many, the background music of this world is "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die." But the background music of God's heartbeat sings another tune, "Christ is risen!"

  • Tomorrow you do not die but rather live eternally.
  • Tomorrow is the general resurrection.
  • Tomorrow a reunion with our departed loved ones.
  • Tomorrow judgement. Tomorrow heaven.
  • Tomorrow hell.

So prepare for the Lord — Turn from wickedness and live. You are called by God to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Our background music in life needs to be what we sing on this glorious resurrection feast and entire Pascha season, "Christ is risen! He is truly risen". We who believe in him rise with him to a new life. We sing it joy fully, repeatedly and ecstatically again and again and we need to make it play constantly as the background music of our life: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by his death and to those in the tombs bestowing life." The voice of God is not death but life, not sadness but joy, not defeat but victory.

The Paschal Hymns we sing repeat our joy:

  • Our Pascha Christ the Redeemer is revealed to us today
  • A noble Passover
  • A new & holy Passover
  • A mystic Passover
  • A blameless Passover
  • A glorious Passover
  • A Passover for the faithful
  • A Passover opening the gates of Paradise
  • A Passover that sanctifies all believers
  • A Passover embracing one another with love
  • A Passover forgiving those who hate us!

May the glory and joy of the risen Lord be with all of you and may you always feel his presence in your lives. I pray for all of you and especially remember you in this life-giving season of joy. Christ is risen!

Sincerely yours in the risen Christ,

+ Nicholas

Most Rev. Nicholas Samra

Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 

English original (PDF, 2 pages, 2.4MB)

Arabic translation (PDF, 2 pages, 2.5MB)

 

 

 

 

December 9, 2021

Dear Melkites across America,

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Within God's plan for his creation, humanity would live in an eternal paradise where peace would reign among mankind and even with the animal world. God would be glorified in all aspects of his creation and all of these aspects would be for the glorification of man and woman - the apex of God's creation.

Adam and Eve harmed this relationship with God by choosing the devil's temptation to eat of the one tree God had prohibited. Their act created sin and death. Yet the all-loving God created a new plan of renewal with the promise of a Savior born of a woman by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In time the promise was fulfilled through a young girl of Nazareth, Mary the virgin who said yes to God's plan and gave birth to Jesus Christ in the flesh. God now took human flesh to share his divinity with our humanity- he became one of us.

We celebrate this birth each year but not just a birth of the past, rather a new birth today in each and everyone of us. His birth as a human being was our renewal to live in paradise once again. Through our incorporation into the life of Christ: baptism, chrismation and Eucharist, we become other Christs committed to living his life. He is reborn in us and the celebration of his birth in Bethlehem must become a reminder every day of our life that he is our Savior, GOD WITH US - EMMANUEL.

The gospel writers Matthew and Luke present us with a beautiful account of the Lord's birth with a cast of characters and even nature. We witness the earth providing a humble cave and an animals' feeding box in which the child Jesus is laid. The heavens reveal a star to point out to the Magi or wise stargazers where he would be born. Heavenly angels announce to shepherds in the field the good news singing "glory to God and peace on earth." With their sheep they go to Bethlehem's cave followed later by the Magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and there they find heaven on Earth - God in the flesh born of the Virgin Mary. She is protected by the noble Joseph who becomes the protector of Mary's child.

This holy event opens our hearts to accept a humble birth of the everlasting and almighty God in the flesh. It has motivated artists to create many images of the miraculous birth in icons, paintings, writings and other Media forms ; even our calendar is calculated from the time of his birth. He becomes the center of all humanity.

Adam and Eve transgressed God's command; the new Adam, Jesus Christ and the new Eve, the Mother of God, renewed and reconciled our broken humanity with the plan of God. Our broken human nature is divinized. Jesus becomes a man in human flesh to unite our humanity to his divinity: all humanity is called to be divine.

Dear sisters and brothers, clergy and laity, I offer you my love and prayers, asking God to open your hearts to renew yourselves in full commitment to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And through you may he open the hearts of many others to his gospel message. There is still much brokenness in our world, lack of peace among warring nations, major economic problems all around, imbalance in many aspects of our life, violence and senseless shootings, abortion or killing the unborn, and euthanasia, sometimes called mercy killing but in reality totally against God. We look to our faith and our commitment to living Christ and his teachings to combat the non-godly ways. It all begins with us.

Remain strong in your faith, learn and study it more and live it vibrantly. May the celebration of the Lord's birth open us to renew ourselves once again and not just on December 25, but every day of our life. We celebrate this birth also at the end of the year to embark on a new year with all godly aspects of love and peace.

My love and my prayers for each and everyone of you. May you enjoy this family feast all the days that follow. Allow the Lord to be reborn in you! A blessed feast of the Nativity of Christ, a happy and healthy 2022, and a joyful Feast of the Theophany celebrating God's manifestation through the event of his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Forerunner.

Sincerely yours in the new-born Savior,

+Nicholas

 

English original (PDF, 2 pages, 2.4MB)

 

 

 

 

June 16, 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Eucharist is our life-line, without it we cannot live. The Sunday Divine Liturgy is the community celebration of Christ in our midst, the event that unites us all together as the Body of Christ. Celebrating the Eucharist is not just a commandment of the Church, but an inner necessity. Christ sustains us, and, without Him, our lives are empty. It is time to return to full parish life, with precautions, and to come back to church weekly to participate in the Lord’s banquet and receive Him in Holy Communion, by which we become the Body of Christ.

Participating in the Divine Liturgy is the best way to remember the sabbath and to keep it holy – the third commandment from the Old Testament. The Lord Himself rested after six days of creation and “blessed the sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8,11).

In the gospel account, we see Jesus observing the sabbath by going to the synagogue and teaching there. We mirror the life of Christ by conforming to what Jesus Himself did. At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded us to take and eat and drink, and to do it in His memory (Mt 26;26-30, Mk 14:22-26, Lk 22:14-20, 1Cor 11:23-26). The Eucharist is our food on life’s journey, filling us with joy, and transforming us to be witnesses of Christ to our world.

It has been a long, difficult year since March 2020. Many have experienced great pain and suffering during the pandemic. Many have died and many are still recovering from the long-term effects of Covid-19. We honor the heroes - nurses, doctors, and all medical professionals - who brought comfort, along with priests who brought the Sacrament of the Sick to Covid patients.

Now, as we trust in the Lord, and with great confidence in the vaccines, our lives are opening up to more activity. It is time to return to the obligation of Sunday Divine Liturgy. Because our communities are scattered over many states, we still must follow the guidelines given us in the areas where we live. Most states have opened up once again. Churches are included in the re-opening.

Our obligation to participate in worship at the Divine Liturgy is an obligation of love as well as a command of the Lord. Worshiping by watching a live-stream Liturgy is permissible only for those who are ill, have recently been exposed to Covid-19 or any other communicable illness; those who are home-bound or in hospitals or other health-care facilities, those not yet vaccinated, and those of advanced age. Holy Communion to be provided by a visit of the priest or deacon. I recommend we continue live-streaming our services for them. All other parishioners who are well and ambulatory need to be in church to receive the Eucharist.

The obligation to return to Sunday Divine Liturgy attendance becomes effective June 27, 2021. We look forward to welcoming all our faithful back to the celebration of Divine Liturgy after this long and difficult year.

Most Reverend Nicholas J. Samra

Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 

English original and Arabic translation (PDF, 6 pages, 160KB)

 

 

 

 

Pascha 2021

Dear Clergy and Laity across America,

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS TRULY RISEN!

On the day of the Resurrection of Christ two disciples were returning to their village Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were distraught and saddened, even thinking that Jesus’ body was stolen from the tomb. As they walked and discussed, Jesus met them but they did not recognize him. He asked what they were discussing and they began to tell him what happened in Jerusalem and how Jesus was condemned and died on a cross, buried, and now his tomb was empty. Cleopas, one of the disciples said: “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Lk 24: 11-35).

We had hoped - Sad words, expressing pain, loss and disillusionment. Among friends we hear these words so often – We had hoped. We had hoped our marriage would work out… our business would be more successful… our children would turn out the way we wanted… we had hoped illness would not be constant sorrow… we had hoped that death would not separate us so soon or so quickly… we had hoped!

These same words we had hoped from Jesus’ disciples, fill our lives and conversations, yet the resurrection of Christ dissolved this thinking. Jesus told his disciples He would die and would rise from the dead but they missed the meaning of his promise.

On the Emmaus journey Jesus then speaks to them, explaining the scriptures and clarified that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory. In a sense we can say he catechized them and as they sat to eat, their eyes were opened in recognition of Jesus when He blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to them, and He then vanished from their sight. At last they believed. The Risen Savior had come to them in their despair.

Amid our shattered dreams and broken hopes, in the midst of all our “if onlys” and our “we had hoped” experiences, the risen Christ comes today to bring hope and victory. Where there once appeared to be no life, only death, He comes to bring resurrection and new life.

On Holy Friday we heard the story of Ezekiel’s vision (37: 1-4). As Ezekiel looks over an entire valley filled with dead men’s bones, the Lord speaks to him: “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord… I will cause breath to enter you and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live.” Ezekiel’s vision was fulfilled by the risen Christ who even today calls dead men back to life, and clothes their dead bones with meaning, purpose, life and hope!

Pascha, the Lord’s Resurrection, is our celebration of life and joy. As we think of our loved ones in the cemeteries, we do not lose ourselves in despair. We had hoped but they were not crushed by death because Christ is risen and hope is risen. If Christ is risen, they lie not in the darkness of a grave but in the everlasting arms of the Savior, in a place of brightness and joy. If Christ is risen, there is more life, more joy, more love, and an endless eternity of them.

We had hoped? No! St. Paul says, “He rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col:13). 

We had hoped? No! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” writes St. Peter. “By his great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1: 3-4).

We had hoped? No! The risen Christ has liberated us from such pessimism. That is why as we light our Paschal candles we sing full of hope and joy: “Christ is risen! Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the tombs are emptied of the dead. Christ is risen and life is liberated.” (Homily of St. John Chrysostom).

Among the world’s philosophers we hear: 

Sartre, the silence of God.

Heidegger, the absence of God.

Jaspers, the concealment of God.

Bultmann, the hiddeness of God.

Buber, the eclipse of God.

Tillich, the nonbeing of God.

Altizer, the death of God

 

But the New Testament writers – Eye Witnessesspeak of the RISEN and LIVING Lord!

To Him be honor, worship, praise and thanksgiving, now and forever and the ages of ages. Amen.

I greet all of you with the love of the living Christ within each and every one of us, and I pray that He will soon conquer the COVID-19 crisis as he conquered death and return us to our joyous earthly life as we await entering into his eternal kingdom. May this Pacha be blessed and joyful as you experience life, greeting each other with Christ is risen! He is truly risen!

With my prayers, love and blessings, I remain,

Sincerely,

Most Rev. Nicholas Samra

Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 
Original letter (PDF, 5 pages, 106KB)
Arabic translation (PDF, 6 pages, 284KB)




Great Lent and Holy Week

Renewal of our Baptismal Commitment

Let us enter the season of the radiant Fast with joy,
Giving ourselves to the spiritual combat. Let us purify our spirit
and cleanse our flesh.
As we fast from food,
let us abstain from every passion. Rejoicing in the virtues of the Spirit, may we persevere with love
so as to be worthy to see
the solemn Passion of Christ our God, and with spiritual gladness
to behold His holy Resurrection.
(Forgiveness Vespers)

In the early Church baptisms took place in connection with the glorious feast of Christ’s Resurrection. The one to be baptized, the catechumen, was plunged into the baptismal pool, symbolic tomb of Christ, only to be raised with Christ from the tomb which now symbolized a womb to new life. Catechumens studied the Christian faith for one to three years, and the last forty days before their baptisms were given more intense instruction on how to live the life of Christ through prayer, fasting and good works, – the basis for a Christian life. So this season was not dismal or sad and gloomy but rather joyful – living Christ was filled with joy.

Over the hundreds of years, the Church extended this 40-day period even to us, the already existing Christians, recognizing that we do not always live our Christ-life as best as we can. We slip: we forget to pray and converse with God as we should. We overindulge much in food and spend more time with gossip and back-biting. We ignore our brothers and sisters in need and forget to care for each other as we should. Our likeness to God gets tarnished and many times we fail to see it – we need a renewal, so the Church proposes to us a more active life in Great Lent to pray more, to fast more, and to perform more good works for 40 days with the hope we are able to renew good habits in our lives in imitation of Jesus Christ, our Lord, model and Savior.

Great Lent opens with Forgiveness Vespers at which we chant: “Let us observe a Fast acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is to put away all evil, to control the tongue, to forebear from anger, to abstain from lust, slander, falsehood and perjury. If we renounce these things, then our fasting is true and pleasing to God.”

We welcome Great Lent not as a time for self-inflicted agony or self-improving therapy. We greet this season as a holy time consecrated to the correction, purification and enlightenment of ourselves through the fulfillment of the commandments of the crucified God.

We push out the evil within us and allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to take deeper root in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22). The forty days are saving days for complete and total dedication to things of God. The forty days are our “tithe” or one tenth of the year to focus more on our godliness. We return to God in the abundance He gives us!

We begin Great Lent with Forgiveness Vespers, properly on Sunday evening or in some parishes on Monday – the first day of Lent. We ask each other for forgiveness as we embark on this intense spiritual journey. God desires our repentance, not our remorse. We express sorrow for our sins but do so in the joy of God’s mercy. We make ready for the Resurrection, both Christ’s and our own. We renew our baptismal promises.

The Church offers us the tools for renewing ourselves and our attempts to be more in conformity with the teachings of Christ. The basic tools are Prayer, Fasting, and Good works – these are essential elements to living a full Christian life. By focusing on them more intensely we begin to renew ourselves to live better lives.

Prayer – Prayer is necessary in Christian life. Jesus Christ himself prayed and taught us how to pray. To be a follower of Christ we must pray – our conversation with God. We lift our minds and hearts to God to have communion with him in order to accomplish his will.

We have personal prayer at home using some formal words or just being informal in dialogue with God. We are urged to pray regularly, secretly, briefly and without many words, trusting that God hears us. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites... so they may be seen by others... rather go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (MT 6:5-6).

A simple prayer for this purpose is the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” This can be repeated many times. We invoke the name of God to have communion with him.

Another prayer prayed especially at every liturgical Lenten service is the Prayer of St. Ephrem. Each short paragraph is accompanied with a great prostration. This prayer can be said upon waking, with our family meals, and before sleeping – or any other times during the day:

  • O Lord and Master of my life, grant that I may not be afflicted with a spirit of sloth, inquisitiveness, ambition and vain talking.
  • Instead, bestow upon me, Your servant, a spirit of purity, humility, patience and love.
  • Yes, O Lord and King, grant me the grace to see my own sins and not to judge my brethren., for You are blessed forever and ever. Amen.

During Great Lent the Church offers us public services: Presanctified Liturgy, Great Compline and the Akathist Hymn. We do not go to church to say our private prayers, but we bring ourselves, our cares, desires, troubles, questions and joy and unite them with others to the prayer of the Church, to the prayer of Christ, the Mother of God, the saints, and our brothers and sisters in our particular community. Check your parish bulletins for these enriching community events.

Fasting – Fasting is essential to our Christian life. Christ fasted and taught us to fast. The goal of fasting is to purify our lives, a physical and spiritual liberation from sin. We strengthen ourselves to love God and people. What money we save from fasting on specific foods is shared with others who have a need. We have our Eparchial Shepherd’s Care Program: Each person, old and young, banks the savings in a Lenten mite box and presents it on Pascha to the Church so that the Shepherd, the Bishop, distributes it to the poor and needy. Fasting helps our body and the bodies of others.

Our fasting regulations developed in monasteries and are somewhat mitigated today but it is up to each person individually to adjust the fast to their life and circumstances. Check your parish bulletin for the traditional fast and the mitigated guidelines and make it a better part of your life – the rules are ideals to which we strive.

Jesus reminds us in Mathew’s Gospel: “When you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting... But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (MT 6:16-18).

St. John Chrysostom also gives us important words on fasting: “Real fasting is not merely abstinence from meats, but from sins as well. Let the hands fast by being pure from plundering and avarice. Let the feet fast by ceasing to run to unlawful spectacles... Let the mouth fast from disgraceful speech, for what does it profit us if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters.”

Our Lenten Vespers sums this up perfectly: “Let us observe a Fast acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is to put away all evil, to control the tongue, to forebear from anger, to abstain from lust, slander, falsehood and perjury. If we renounce these things, then our fasting is true and pleasing to God.” (1st Monday of Lent).

Good Works – Almsgiving – The third arm of Great Lent is a stronger refocus on doing good works. Almsgiving is a daily event, not just done in Lent. In his sermon on the mount, Jesus not only speaks about prayer and fasting, he adds his words or commands of almsgiving as well. “So when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do... rather do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (MT 6:2-4).

Jesus’ call for us to do good works even confirms God’s law in the old covenant: “Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor... Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor Him.” (Proverbs 14:21, 31).

Scripture teaches us that to share our possessions to support the needs of others is the most concrete expression of faith and love. Faith is not alive in one who does not help the needy. “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead”. (James 2:14-17).

The Fathers of the Church also insist on almsgiving. St. John Chrysostom says: “Feed the needy now or be ready forever to feed the fires of hell!” St. Basil the Great also insists on sharing with others: “The grain in your barn belongs to the hungry. The coat in your closet belongs to the naked. The shoes rotting in your basement belong to the barefoot. The silver (money) hidden in boxes belongs to the needy. You sin against all those whom you are able to help, but fail to do so.”

Our liturgical texts also focus on good works: “In this season of repentance, let us stretch out our hands in works of mercy. Then the ascetic struggles of the Fast will bring us eternal life, for nothing saves the soul so much as generosity to those in need; and almsgiving combined with fasting will deliver us from death. Let us do all this with gladness, for there is no better way, and it will bring salvation to our souls.” (Matins Aposticha, 2nd Thursday of Lent).

Just prior to the Great Fast we recall on Meatfare Sunday the great parable in Matthew’s Gospel of the Last Judgement: Jesus reminds those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, cloth the naked, visited and cared for the sick, and visited those in prison, “just as you did it to one of the least of those of my brethren, you did it to me...and those that ignored the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick and in prison, “just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do to me.” (MT 25:31-46). Jesus identifies himself as every person in need. Our brothers and sisters are our life – we cannot ignore them or pass by their needs.

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. On weekdays of the Great Lent, we fast from the full Eucharistic Divine Liturgy. However, it is not fasting from receiving Communion, just from the full joyful Divine Liturgy. The Church does not deprive us from receiving Holy Communion by celebrating a modified Vesper-Liturgy in which we receive the body and blood of Christ consecrated on the previous Sunday.

Generally, in our Melkite Church it is celebrated on Wednesday evening but it can be any weekday evening according to parish schedules. It is truly a beautiful service with the pre- sanctified gifts brought to the Holy Altar in deep silence.

Akathist Hymn – This beautiful Kontakion written by St. Romanos, the author of many long hymns is connected with the Great Feast of Annunciation on March 25, which generally occurs during Great Lent, or Holy Week. In our Melkite Church, on Friday evenings we chant the Odes to the Mother of God and a section of the Akathist Hymn. On the 5th Friday we chant it entirely at night prayer (Compline). Although not directly connected to Lenten services, this expressive theological hymn honors the Mother of God who bore Jesus Christ in her womb. She gave birth to our Savior whose saving actions we will celebrate in Holy Week leading to his glorious Resurrection.

Special commemorations take place on the Saturdays and Sundays of this fasting season and a very long Canon on Repentance written by St. Andrew of Crete is sometimes chanted in some parishes. Check with your parish priest, and if not chanted in the church request this Canon which you can chant or read in your homes.

Great Lent ends with the resurrection of Lazarus on the day before Palm Sunday. However, although the 40 days are complete, we embark on a more intense and expressive week – the Holy and Great Week of the Passion of Christ. During Holy Week our fasting should be a bit more intense. Although we are still somewhat in partial lockdown with COVID-19, most services will be live streamed by our parishes. It is a beautiful week walking with Christ in his passion, proclaiming Him our King on Palm Sunday and Bridegroom of the Church. We are anointed with the oil of the sick since we are all spiritually infirm. We witness his humility by washing his apostles’ feet as a reminder that all of us are called to serve each other. We celebrate his institution of the Eucharist which is our life-giving food. We read the Passion Gospels and enact his crucifixion, meditating on his long-suffering and death on the cross, accomplished for our salvation. We remove the dead Christ from the Cross, prepare the burial and sing the joyful glorifications at His decorated tomb. We process with his burial shroud (epitaphios) around the church and even in some places outside of the church, and upon reentering the church we bow underneath his body as a sign of dying with him and asking to be raised with him too!

On Holy Saturday we bless the new light – the sign that Christ lives and we proclaim his resurrection to the world outside before our Paschal Divine Liturgy. And as we proclaim his resurrection, we too stand upright and proclaim our own renewal of our Christian life which we received at the time of our baptisms. At our baptisms we were asked if we renounce all evil, if we accept Christ and if we will live the Christ life. If we were babies at that time our godparents answered for us. But now as adults we recommit ourselves to living Christ and to being another Christ in our world.

I pray this Holy Season be filled with joy for all of you and I pray that when you shout the first Christ is risen, you can add “and me too,” I’m a renewed follower of Jesus Christ.

A Short Pastoral Letter on Great Lent and Holy Week - 2021
Bishop Nicholas Samra
Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 
Arabic translation (PDF, 2 pages, 252KB)

Christmas 2020

Dear Clergy and Faithful

 

Bethlehem, make ready,
for Eden has been opened for all.
Ephrata, be alert,
for the Tree of Life has blossomed forth from
the Virgin in a cave.
Her womb has become a spiritual Paradise
wherein the divine Fruit was planted –
And if we eat it, we shall live
and not die like Adam.
Christ is coming to restore the image
that had been lost in the beginning.
Troparion for Forefeast of Christmas

 

The season of God’s manifestations in the flesh is upon us. It is not just his birth in Bethlehem’s cave: He is named and circumcised according to his people’s tradition; He enters the temple after 40 days to encounter his people; He is baptized by John in the midst of his people. All these events proclaim and celebrate the gift of the Word of God who is fully revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. As the Troparion above says: Truly Jesus becomes a human being to restore the image lost in the beginning in Paradise with the sin of Adam and Eve. These feasts reveal to us God’s saving work in the world through his Son. They are not just historical narratives, for Jesus is very much alive today in the world through the proclamation of the Gospel – God’s saving action in our lives.

We refer to this entire forty-day season in a general way as the Christmas season.

Christmas means that “The Word (the Eternal God) became flesh and dwelt among us, full of Grace and Truth” (John 1:14).

Christmas means God is not an impersonal machine or super power who runs the universe by remote control. He is a Person “Emmanuel – God with us.” “And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21).

God is a Person who wants to establish a personal relationship with you. A Person to whom you can pray, a Person who cares for you.

Christmas means that God has visited his people and not just a visit but here to stay. He is with us in joy and sorrow, living and dying, and he will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead.

Christmas means that we do not have to be terrorized by the sins of the past. God’s great gift to us is a Savior wrapped in human flesh. He came to wipe out our sins of the past and restore us to holiness.

Christmas means that God cared to give us the Best. “God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).

God did not send an angel or a saint or a prophet – He came HIMSELF IN PERSON.

Christmas means that there are two births of Christ: one in Bethlehem for all; the other in each of us to allow us to be spiritually reborn. He unites our humanity with his divinity – the initial plan for all of us in Paradise. He allows us to be a communicant of the Divine nature through Theosis, becoming GODLY.

He was born in the first Bethlehem so that he might come and be born in the second Bethlehem – your soul and mine!

Our liturgical prayers tell us we “behold a strange and wonderful mystery: The cave is heaven, the Virgin a cherubic throne, the manger, a noble place where reposes Christ, the uncontainable God.” (9th Ode of Nativity).

Accept Christ in, allow Him space in you, and not just will the “cave be heaven,” your body too will be heaven with Christ reposing in you and restoring you to touch the divinity.

I offer all of you my best wishes during this glorious season, asking you to stay safe during this COVID crisis. Pray for each other, care for each other, love each other, for you have Christ living within you.

With my love and prayers, I remain,

Sincerely in Christ God,

Most Rev. Nicholas Samra

Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 

Original letter (PDF, 3 pages, 114K) [Please click Donate above to use a credit card.]

Oct. 4, 2020

My Dear Melkites Across America,

In today’s Gospel Jesus is telling us what he told us in the Sermon on the Mount: love conquers all: Our enemies, those who hate us, revile us, persecute us, speak evil against us and there is only one way to conquer them. Love them! And that is not impossible because each person gives what he/she has and since we have Christ within us, then we give his love, his care and his forgiveness.

Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful! These words of the Gospel are not impossible to live because the power of God overshadows us and we, having Christ in us, we too can be merciful. Our love needs to spill out.

Today we begin our Annual Bishop’s or Eparchial Appeal and our love for God and the building and growth of his Body, the Church, must spill out of each one of us. The present and the future of our Church are in our hands - all of us together, bishop, priests, deacons, religious and laity. With all of our hands together we can accomplish great things.

You will be receiving a letter from me this week sharing some more information of the “vision” of our Church and your involvement in living this vision. My faith in God is strong and over the many years, 50 as priest and 31 as bishop, I see his guidance in my life, especially the last nine years as your eparchial bishop. I have witnessed your strong faith and commitment to your parish and to the Eparchy. Your involvement in the Body of Christ – the Church is truly a blessing and I thank you sincerely for sharing that blessing by your participation in parish life and your prayerful and financial assistance to the Eparchy. Your assistance is helping us grow our Church, support our seminarians for priesthood and diaconate, develop more resources for our Evangelization and Catechesis, especially on-line, YouTube and family faith celebrations. Your gifts provide us the opportunity to send you Sophia – an award-winning magazine. We have begun to properly develop our archives and digitizing all records along with preserving precious icons, books and memorabilia in an eparchial museum. Even our Annual Calendar that your parish gives you has a catechetical-education approach.

We all need to grow in Christ more and more and your gifts allows me to share this growth and make it possible. I decided to merge the Annual Appeal and the Order of St. Nicholas. At next year’s Convention in Atlanta we will have a luncheon meeting for the Order members – They are those who are able to give $1000 or more each year continuously. We will form a board of directors who will work with the bishop to develop the assistance for mission growth and insurance for the married clergy families. Each Order member will be inducted on the parish level and be given the Cross of St. Nicholas which they wear on special occasions and especially when the bishop makes a parish visitation.

The other donors to the Appeal will be supporting Sophia Magazine, priesthood and deacon formation, charity, religious education, archives, digitizing documents, etc. This year 10% of our Appeal will be sent to our Melkite Metropolitan George Bacouni in Beirut to assist the families hurt severely by the horrific explosion of the 4th of August.

St. Paul in today’s Epistle speaks to us about Giving – God loves the Cheerful Giver. So often people say “money talks.” In a sense it does. If someone glanced at your old checks, they could see the real you, what kind of person you are. They would know if you belonged to a church, how much you gave to God, how much you spent for personal luxuries – so yes, “money talks.” It tells what kind of people we are, what we value most in life, what we love and care for most.

St. Paul says: “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”

The important thing about Christian giving is not “how much” we give but rather “how much in comparison to what God gives us. God blesses us abundantly – so we give in proportion to his love, and we give this lovingly.

Paul says “the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly” so let us not err but rather give generously – give abundantly and you will receive abundantly.

Let each family make 2 lists: column 1: “What are we living for? Column 2: What are we spending for.” When you realize what you are living for, give wisely and give gladly – be a cheerful giver.

Years ago I got hooked on “tithing” – 10% for God, 10 cents for every dollar I made. I have never felt a loss, in fact I found I could not win with God – He always out gave me. He gave to me physically, financially and in many other ways. He owns me and my income too, all of it. I learned that tithing is just a symbol of my trust in Him.

Proportionally, lovingly, generously, wisely, gladly – and finally give humbly. When we give a gift to God, we bow in deep humility even on our knees because we bring so little when we think of how much He gave for us on the Cross and still gives.

In giving to God to your parish and to this Annual Bishop’s Appeal and Order of St. Nicholas you are assured that God’s good work in us continues to grow in abundance. God promises, says Paul “to provide you with every blessing in abundance” so that you may share this abundance to build his Body on earth.

If our giving is abundant, God’s giving to us will be even more abundant.

I keep you all in my prayers especially during this COVID-19 crisis, asking God to keep you in good health. I ask also that He open your hearts to keep His good work alive in our Eparchy by a generous gift to the Annual Appeal.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Nicholas Samra

Eparchial Bishop of Newton

 

His Grace, Bishop Nicholas, sends you his YouTube message for

Pascha, courtesy of Father Hezekias and the Office of Evangelization

and Catechesis. Paschal Odes and Stichera (PDF, 6 pages, 64KB)

 
Join us at the Annunciation Cathredral to celebrate the services. The link below is to register. Once registered, you'll get an email with the link to the live-streaming!
Day Time Service Link to register
Wednesday 7:00PM Divine Liturgy Wednesday registration
Saturday 5:00PM Great Vespers Saturday and Sunday registration
Sunday 10:15AM Orthros
Sunday 11:00AM Divine Liturgy
If asked, the password is "Melkite". All times US/EDT.
 

His Grace, Bishop Nicholas, sends you his YouTube message for

Great and Holy Week, courtesy of Father Hezekias and the Office

of Evangelization and Catechesis.

Shopping Cart

Your shopping cart is empty
Visit the shop

Questions? © 1995-2021 Melkite Eparchy of Newton  ·  All Rights Reserved RSS Feed