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Published by the
Orthodox Church in America, September
1, 2005
Archpastoral
Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan
Herman on the Beginning of the
Ecclesiastical New Year |
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September 1,
2005
To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Faithful
of The Orthodox Church in America
Dearly Beloved in Christ:
For most of us, September is associated with
“new beginnings.” The vacation season has come
to an end. Children return to their classrooms.
And in the workplace, the pace intensifies after
the summer slowdown. As the days grow shorter,
life returns to “normal.”
For the Church, the first day of September, the
initiation of a new ecclesiastical year, also
marks “new beginnings.” The annual cycle of
feasts and fasts begins anew. Church school
classes and other opportunities for spiritual
formation are offered. Parish ministries and
activities are intensified. Parish life also
returns to “normal.”
Exciting as we find new beginnings to be, we
should never be content with a mere return to
“normal.” During the 14th All-American Council,
it was made clear that when the Church limits
itself merely to maintaining the status quo –
the “norm” – it cannot and will not grow
spiritually, numerically, or in any other way.
The essence of the Gospel challenges us to
“repent,” to “begin anew,” to “change” our minds
and our hearts, our attitudes and our direction
in pursuit of things that transcend the “norm”
and enable us to experience that which the world
sees as anything but “normal” – the Kingdom of
God and its righteousness.
There was nothing “normal” about Our Savior’s
ministry. “No man has ever spoken as this man
speaks,” we read in Scripture. In His words and
actions, in His teaching and preaching and
healing, Jesus Christ revealed that mankind’s
“norm” is not found in this world, but in the
life of the world to come – that while we live
“in the world,” we are not “of the world.”
Pursuing that which the world considers
“abnormal” – virtue, wisdom, vision, repentance,
and a life lived in an intimate union with God
and His People – is at the very center of His
ministry, and that of His Body, the Church. It
is a “new beginning” that beckons to us, not
only at the beginning of the ecclesiastical
year, but every day of our lives.
However, without vision, without faith, without
a commitment to proclaim the wonderful things
God indeed does for us, it is impossible to
transcend the “norm,” to approach the new
ecclesiastical year renewed and refreshed by the
very Spirit Who makes all things new, or to grow
“from glory to glory.” Pursuing the familiar may
bring with it comfort, control, and
predictability, but the Gospel is not about
these things. Rather, it challenges us
continually to take a leap of faith and to
pursue those things built upon a vision of the
Church that focuses on how things could be,
rather than how things always have been.
As we begin this new ecclesiastical year, let us
together take the leap of faith into the future,
approaching our personal lives and the vision of
our parish communities with renewed zeal. Let us
intensify our pursuit of the Kingdom of God
which, while yet to be fully revealed, is
already fully present in the life of the Church.
At the Divine Liturgy we sing, “We have seen the
true light! We have received the heavenly
Spirit! We have found the true faith,
worshipping the undivided Trinity, Who has saved
us.” What better time than now to transform
these words into action – action that is hardly
“normal” in the world’s eyes, yet fully expected
in the Lord’s.
Invoking God’s blessing upon you and assuring
you of my prayers, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+ HERMAN
Archbishop of Washington and New York
Metropolitan of All America and Canada
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