Saturday Elevation
(In the center: Fr. Anthony, Bishop MARK, Fr. George, Fr. Nabil)
This past Saturday we attended Fr. George Smith's elevation to Archpriest. Bishop MARK was there, naturally, along with several other priests and two deacons. I'm always interested in how the Liturgy changes when the Bishop is present. Since we don't have our own deacon it is always nice to see what parts of the Liturgy are normally for the deacon's role. We were very happy for Fr. George and Kh. Charlotte. They have been very kind to us and it is nice to see them recognized for their faithful service to the Church.
We also got to hang out after service with our "Friend Who Likes Legos", as our kids know and love him. It was a very nice time and I'm glad we get these little chances to spend time together.
We also stayed for Vespers. We were delighted when Fr. Anthony announced at the end of service that Fr. Nabil gave our church oil from a myrrh-streaming icon of the Theotokos from Fr. Nabil's parish, St. George in Indianapolis. Father Anthony anointed each of us with the Holy Myrrh. We were blessed to be partakers of this miracle. At our evening prayers at home it really accentuated the prayer to the Theotokos, "Heal, O pure one, the infirmity of my soul, when thou hast deemed me worthy of thy visitation, and grant me health by thine intercessions."
We also got to hang out after service with our "Friend Who Likes Legos", as our kids know and love him. It was a very nice time and I'm glad we get these little chances to spend time together.
We also stayed for Vespers. We were delighted when Fr. Anthony announced at the end of service that Fr. Nabil gave our church oil from a myrrh-streaming icon of the Theotokos from Fr. Nabil's parish, St. George in Indianapolis. Father Anthony anointed each of us with the Holy Myrrh. We were blessed to be partakers of this miracle. At our evening prayers at home it really accentuated the prayer to the Theotokos, "Heal, O pure one, the infirmity of my soul, when thou hast deemed me worthy of thy visitation, and grant me health by thine intercessions."
Comments
The myrrh-streaming icons have been an amazing blessing in our parish. They have been a beautiful sign of God's presence, and have been accompanied by miraculous healing.
The parish I was received into (and will attend tomorrow morning for Liturgy) has normally had multiple priests and deacons serving. It is not unusual to have three priests and three deacons serving Sunday Liturgy. It was odd coming to a Greek church where the standard seems to be to serve sans deacons.