This Sunday I am to be officially accepted as a catechumen. The Archbishop will be at St. Mary of Egypt Church (OCA), in Norcross, GA, where the event will take place. What an honor! Not only to meet the Archbishop but, more importantly, be accepted as a catechumen in the Orthodox Church. Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Tricia and me. This will be a great step in a many years wait to enter into the fullness of the Church!!
Ole, were you not attending an ROCA monastery church? I was not thinking you were at one new calendarist OCA church. Am I wrong that you did? Congratulations are in order anyway our friend. You have prayers of ours.
as often as I can but due to circumstances at home and the long distance to travel, I can only get there about every other month. Hey! One step at a time, right?
I'm glad that you'll be an official Catechumen tomorrow. We've been praying for you and your wife. I hope that all is going well with you.
MaryCecilia
Ole Rocker wrote:This Sunday I am to be officially accepted as a catechumen. The Archbishop will be at St. Mary of Egypt Church (OCA), in Norcross, GA, where the event will take place. What an honor! Not only to meet the Archbishop but, more importantly, be accepted as a catechumen in the Orthodox Church. Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Tricia and me. This will be a great step in a many years wait to enter into the fullness of the Church!!
His Eminence Archbishop Dimitri visited St. Mary of Egypt Church in Norcross, GA yesterday as well as St. John the Wonderworker Church in Atlanta on Saturday. What a wonderful man he is! He looks well, his voice is strong, his hand is firm. I had the priviledge to talk to him for a few minutes about his WWII days (He was an interrogator in post war Japan) and give him a message from a Bishop friend online and relay a message from the Archbishop to him.
He keyed in on the catechumen part of the service in his homily in that at the Lenten season we all become as catechumens again. He made a comment on the Pharisee and the Publican asking us if we had ever thought, "I'm glad I am not as that Pharisee". A great illustration of how quickly we can become proud. It was a rather full service yesterday. One sub-deacon ordination, one priest ordination, two catechumens blessed, and two twin babies were annointed with holy water and prayed over for healing. My good friend standing with me leaned over and whispered, "And some say there is no healing service in the Orthodox Church." "I replied, "It's all healing!"
Reception afterward had tables groaning bountifully with wonderful food. Smoked beef steak cubes, taco salads, garden salads, shrimp kabobs, cheesecakes, fresh bread rolls. A family reunion with all the children gathered around the papa. God grant him many more years.
I hope this update does not offend anyone. I realize there are differences between the ROCOR and OCA that bother people. It seems to go both ways! For example, I mentioned to one older lady that I had visited a ROCOR monastery and she had a small fit. Said I needed to be visiting some monastery in South Carolina of which I am not familiar with. I love the one in Resaca, GA and will continue to go there. Maybe I'll visit the one in SC too, if I get a chance. Anyway, some of you have shown genuine concern for my circumstances and have prayed for me and I appreciate that and so thought I'd update you.
Stephen
