Nativity of the Theotokos

On Thursday 7 September 2006 we gathered at the Orthodox Church of Saint Mary in Hunt Valley. Fr. Stephen of St. Demetrios did not serve with us as he had Liturgy at his own parish the next morning. In the Orthodox Church, the day starts with sunset. Thus when we had the Divine Liturgy on the evening of 7 September, it was already 8 September liturgically. A priest can serve only once on any given day. Thus, for Fr. Stephen to serve with us and then serve in the morning would had meant that he served twice in one day.

We also have a rule that there can be only one Liturgy per day per church per altar. The reason is that to have two Liturgies in one day in a church would be dividing the community. The local parish, in communion with its bishop, is the completeness of the Body of Christ. The bishop, of course, has to be in communion with the other bishops of the Church. "Where the bishop is, there is the Church." The priest is the representative of the bishop. He cannot function without the approval of the bishop.

When I arrived, the first thing that Fr. Theodoros told me is that he wants pictures for the diocesan web site. When I took the first picture of Bishop Thomas, the bishop said "Thank you." For the first part of the Liturgy, I was function more as a photographer than as a server.

Shortly before the Epistle, Fr. Theodoros handed me the Epistle book and said, "Read the Epistle." I had just enough time to read it once. I waited for the blessing from the bishop since that is the tradition in the Russian practice. Zach, the son of the deacon, told me, "He's not going to give you the blessing" and so I went out to read the Epistle.

The sermon by Bishop Thomas was on the Gospel and how Martha was busy about many things and Mary listened to the teachings of the Master. Bishop Thomas said that the women in the parish were like Martha, but he is happy that they came out of the kitchen for the Liturgy. He also commented that the parish was fortunate to have the church and kitchen so close.

At the end Fr. Theodoros introduced all the clergy. At the end of his introduction, Bishop Thomas said, "You made only one mistake." Fr. Theodoros said, "Only one mistake?" I won't tell you what the mistake was, but we all joked about it all weekend.

After the Liturgy we had a really nice reception of wonderful food prepared by the ladies of the parish. But this should not surprise anybody who is Orthodox. I rarely attend a function at an Orthodox church where the food is not really good.

At the reception Reader Joseph the Greater (We have two Reader Josephs at Holy Trinity) of Holy Trinity introduced Sister Paraskeva to the bishop. Bishop Thomas told him, "He (referring to me) and I are cousins. I am Bishop Thomas and he is Michael Bishop."

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