The Promise

December/January 2011
Words of Wisdom

“The person who listens

to Christ fills himself
with light;
and if he imitates Christ,
he reclaims himself.”
- St. Thalassios the Libyan

Dates To Remember Inside This Issue

December 5
Christmas Cookie Party
December 19
Parish Christmas Luncheon &
Stewardship Card Collection
January 9
Philoptochos Vasilopita
January 14 - 17
Oklahoma City Tournament
January 22
Scholarship Foundation Wine Tasting
Pastoral Message .....................................2
Preaching Christ Crucified.................3
Christmas Services & Event.................7
News & Notes...........................................10
Beauty, The Divine Connection....13
Taybeh Housing Project.....................14
Managing Somebody Else’s Stuff....15
More Summer Scenes.............................17
Welcome......................................................21
Happy Birthday.......................................25
December Calendar................................31
January Calendar...................................32
Page 1
THE PROMISE
Pastoral Message
W
hen we attend services on Sunday,
every so often it is good for us to stop
for a minute and look around. For
at a glance we will quickly take note
of all of our brothers and sisters in Christ who join
us in praising God. A look around will also lead us
to perceive the cloud of witnesses that spiritually
surround us in the Church at every service as the
icons of the saints on the wall serve to highlight. But
at the same time, more often than not, a look around
during any Divine Liturgy will lead us to realize that
there are many faces that are missing. In fact, it is safe
to say that on any given Sunday
morning each and every one of
us can personally name a few
friends and or family members
who are not in Church.
In a handful of cases there
might be some a very legitimate Look
reason for their absence. But
the question is NOT why some
of our fellow parishioners are
Around
not in Church on Sunday, the
question for each of us is, “what
are we doing about it?”
At first the question may sound
intimidating. After all, we often
think of ourselves as very small pieces in a much
bigger picture, and as a result, loose sight of the fact
that in God’s plan we not only have an important
role to fulfill, but each and everyone of us actually
have an impact on others and on the big picture.
Case in point, the woman with the flow of blood who
touched the hem of the Lord’s garment in the Gospel
according to Luke 8: 41-56. In her wildest dreams,
she could have never imagined how her plight and
her actions would affect people thousands of years
later. And yet here we are in Little Rock, Arkansas
thousands of years later talking about her and in awe
of what Christ did for her.
She alone is brilliant evidence of the fact that in God’s
Page 2
big picture, every brush stroke of the Lord not only
matters, but makes things clearer and more beautiful.
Therefore, it is incumbent on us to ask ourselves
exactly what are we personally doing to reach out to
all of those beautiful faces that we know and love who
frequently miss the Lord’s heavenly banquet.
For it is simply not sufficient for us to be satisfied
that we ourselves attend the services of the Church
regularly. We have to be genuinely concerned for
those people in our life who are not going to Church.
Not because we are better than any one else; Not
because we are smarter than any
one else and Not because we
are holier than any one else. But
because as Orthodox Christians
we genuinely love our family and
friends! And as men and women
of faith, we know that God really
matters. The Divine Liturgy
really matters. The Church really
matters. All of His people really
matter.
We must not look to lecture
others on their priorities, and
we must not look to lift ourselves
up at others expense. Instead,
we must fulfill our calling to
share the gift of faithful life in Christ with our world
of family and friends.
After all, knowing that the Divine Liturgy is a limitless
reservoir of life, it is intrinsically unnatural for us to
idly stand by and quietly “hope” that someday our
family and friends might stumble upon the eternal joy
of the Divine Liturgy. We simply cannot save a soul
from drowning by biting our tongue or expecting that
one day they might come to their senses and learn
how to swim. Knowing what we know about the
importance of having Christ at the center of life, we
cannot wait for someone else to throw our loved ones
and friends a lifeline.
(Continued on page 4)
 December / January 2011

Our Condolences A Gift

The Annunciation family notes with deep sadness
the passing of our sister in Christ, Jean Marie
Bailey, the mother of Mike Bailey, who fell asleep in
the Lord.

The Annunciation family notes with deep sadness
the passing of our sister in Christ, Evelyn
Brewer, the sister of Helen Hronas, who fell asleep
in the Lord.

Let us keep all of these families in our prayers and
beseech the Lord to offer them His comfort and strength.
“May Their Memory Be Eternal.”
to Your
family
At the dawn of
a new year the
Annunciation
parish is pleased
to offer the entire
Church family an
ecclesiastical calendar
for the home &
wallet as well as a Bible Guide to all of its faithful
stewards in order to help us all plan for the coming
year under the guiding light of Christ and His Church.
The calendar will help us plan for and celebrate the
major feasts of our faith as well as commemorate the
memory of the saints while the Guide will help us to
better study and absorb the truth of the Scriptures. If
you do not receive these gifts after the New Year, please
see a Parish Council member. With God’s grace may
these small tokens of love from the Annunciation serve
as a constant reminder of the love of Christ and His
Church for us all as together we strive to spiritually
grow to new heights in 2011.

Attention
Oklahoma City
Tournament
Travelers
Remember,
We are leaving on
Friday, January 14th
and returning on
Monday, January 17th.
Keep an eye on the Sunday
Bulletins and Parish emails
for all of the details!

Page 3
 THE PROMISE

Pastoral Message what she heard; and

then acted accordingly.
(Continued from page 2) But what is sometimes The only
overlooked is the fact
that by faith in action,
thing we
she not only helped should be
If we are familiar enough with someone to know more herself, but countless
than their name – then there can be no question that others discovered Jesus
afraid of is
we have a connection with them, and God has made Christ because of her. letting Christ
us their lifeline. This truth must motivate us when we The truth is that we do
confront the temptation to think that reaching out to not always think of that
pass without
our missing Church family members is an imposition particular woman as an reaching out to
or beyond our personal sphere of duties. For if our example of outreach
love for God and our fellowman moves us to reach – but perhaps that is
receive what He
out to another in Christ – we will never truly be a our mistake. After all, is offering and
nuisance. she indeed overcame
some of the very same
then failing
Furthermore, we must intentionally overcome the obstacles we face when to share it
enticement to think that reaching out to others is it comes to reaching out
the sole domain of the clergy. For that would be true to our family and friends
others.
only if there was no such thing as Baptism and if the who frequently miss the
world had a ratio of 500 priests for every 1 layperson. Divine Liturgy.
The reality is that at our Baptism, we are all given the
duty to share the light of Christ with the world. Cross Much like us, the woman in that Gospel account
bearing has never been the sole responsibility of the probably did not feel up to the task, and she certainly
clergy; it is the mission of every servant of the Lord. had to face the fear of rejection. But she moved
ahead anyway. And as a result, not only was her
Finally, we must overcome the inclination to think that own life transformed, but in the year 2010 millions
people’s individual freedom supersedes our obligation of Christians around the world are encouraged by
to share the Good News. That somehow or another, her. She continues to stand as a clear evidence that
“silence” is a form of respectful deference to another’s whenever we act in good faith, not only is our own life
autonomy. Though it is true that we can never force changed, but countless others are affected.
a mature person to embrace the life in Christ, a ticket
on the ark of salvation can never be considered as Therefore, the only thing we should be afraid of is
“freedom sapping” or a well-kept secret. There is letting Christ pass without reaching out to receive
room at the Annunciation for everyone, and it is up to what He is offering and then failing to share it
is to invite others to “come aboard”. Men and women others. By reaching out to those family and friends
will always have the freedom to decide for themselves we regularly see missing the Divine Liturgy, we will
what they will or will not do, but at the same time, enable our spirit and theirs to better hear the voice
Christians cannot idly watch loved ones miss the boat. of the Lord say: “ …be of good cheer, your faith has made
you well.” (Lk 8:48)
While we may not always appreciate the impact we
have on others or our role in God’s plan, there can Brothers and sisters in Christ as we anticipate the
be no question that true faith demands action. As birth of our Savior and look forward to the dawn of
the incident with the woman with the flow of blood a New Year, we must keep in mind that in a world of
verified, she not only heard about Jesus, she believed (Continued on page 6)

Page 4

Preaching Christ Crucified
at Christmas
by Fr. Steven C. Salaris
St. Paul states in the opening chapter of the First
Letter to the Corinthians, “… we preach Christ
crucified …” Two thousand years later, we Orthodox
Christians, who are the direct descendants of the
Church of the Apostles, must likewise continue to do
the same. But it’s Christmas — the Nativity of Jesus
Christ where we remember His birth from the Virgin
Mary. Isn’t this a time of heavy incarnational theology
or, at least, a time of bright lights, tinsel, and Santa
Claus? Yes, it is all that, but it is also a great time
to preach Christ crucified. In the Eastern Orthodox
Church, the Cross of Christ, His shed blood and
broken body, and His glorious Resurrection on the
third day, are the very axis upon which our life of
faith rotates. At every time and season throughout the
Church year, these concepts are found at the heart
of all that we do in our worship and in our hymns
and spiritual songs, whereby we make melody in our
hearts unto the Lord. Anyone who wishes to see Christ
crucified at Christmas, from the Eastern Orthodox
viewpoint, can do so quite easily. All you need is your
Bible and the icon of the Nativity to do so. When you
contemplate the icon, in the light of Scripture, the
true meaning of Christmas shines forth.
When you first look at the icon, besides Jesus, one of
the central figures in the icon is Mary, His mother.
In some icons, Mary is seen holding her Son, the
Incarnate Word of God, conceived in her by the
Holy Spirit. She holds her Son in birth even as she
will hold her Son in death. Anyone who has seen
Michelangelo’s Pieta, where Mary is carved in stone
holding the lifeless corpse of her crucified Son, will
immediately recognize the parallel and the link that
this aspect of the icon has to the death of Christ.
There are angels in the icon. In Luke’s Gospel,
the angels appear to the shepherds in the field and
announce, “… to you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In their
December / January 2011
announcement of “Christ is born,” they foreshadow
for us the appearance of the angels on Easter
morning, after the crucifixion of Christ, when the
angels announce, at the end of Luke’s Gospel, to
Mary and the other women, “Why do you seek the
living among the dead? Remember how He told you
(…) that the Son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third
day rise.” The angelic heralds of “Christ is born” and
“Christ is risen” are centered on the crucifixion of
Christ.
Thirdly, there are the animals in the icon. How
appropriate that Jesus be born in a manger with the
animals. Emmanuel, God with us, deigns to be born
among the very animals that He had fashioned so
they can see the One who will end the sacrificial cult
of Israel. We are told in chapter 10 of the Epistle to
the Hebrews: “… since the law has but a shadow of the
good things to come instead of the true form of those realities,
it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered
year after year, make perfect those who draw near. (…) But in
these sacrifices there is a remainder of sin year after year. For it
is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sins. (…) He abolishes the first order to establish the second.”
Thus, the animals are there to remind us that the final
and perfect sacrificial offering, the perfect and sinless
Jesus, has come into the world to eradicate sin by the
shedding of His own blood at His crucifixion.
The crucifixion of Christ is even foreshadowed in
the visit by the three wise men. In Matthew 2:11, the
wise men, with exceedingly great joy, come to see the
infant Jesus and the gospel states, “… they saw the
young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down
and worshiped Him. And when they had opened
their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.” Why these gifts? From the
hymnography of Great Vespers for the Nativity we
hear sung:
When the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
the Magi came from the east and worshiped him as
incarnate God. Eagerly they opened their treasures
(Continued on page 11)
Page 5
THE PROMISE

Pastoral Message
(Continued from page 4) For eac Thank YOU
h new m
orning
light, with its
For res
t and sh
storms, we are called to be rescuers. In a world of elter of
n i g ht, the
confusion, we are called to be the voice of reason. In For hea
lth and
a world of hate, we are called to be vessels of God’s foo
love. In a world of sickness, death and decay, we not and frie d, for love
For eve nds,
only know the way to eternal life – but we are called rything
Thy goo
to show others the path. sends. dness
-R alph Wa
ldo Eme
Beloved, it is up to us to reach out to all those souls we rson
know who are frequently missing Church services and
help them find their way home to the Annunciation.
For in the final analysis, heroes cannot personally save The Promise is Back!
everyone, but heroes always try.
The Promise is back.
We need to be heroes! However, we are in still in
the process of transition
as we continue to explore
May the Lord grant you a very Merry Christmas ways to enhance the
and a Blessed New Year! delivery, appearance, efficiency
and format of our
Rev. Dr. Nicholas J. Verdaris parish newsletter - so we
welcome your ideas in
this on going process.

From the Scriptures
“Then Christ will dwell in your hearts
through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge —
that you may be filled to the measure of all
the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17-19
Also please keep in mind that The Promise remains
a vital instrument in disseminating information
affecting our Church family. So, if Church
family members and organizations have news or
announcements applicable to the entire Church
family, please submit items via e-mail to the
Church Office as soon as possible. Above all, keep
careful eye on the calendar - now that the Promise is
moving to a bimonthly publication, we need to think
ahead, now more than ever in order to ensure critical
announcements are made in a timely fashion.
Remember the goal of this publication is to communicate
the Good News, explore the Good News, highlight the
Good News and keep us connected as a Church family
through The Promise of the Good News!

Page 6
 December / January 2011

Christmas Services
With the celebration of Christmas we jubilantly
celebrate and proclaim the fact that the Lord God
Himself has miraculously condescended to take
on our flesh in order for us, (His creation), to know
Him better, draw closer to Him and be saved by
Him. The celebration of such a momentous event
naturally calls us together into His Holy House in
order to sing His praises, express our love for Him
and partake of His life-giving Body and Blood..

There simply is no Christmas holiday without

worshiping Jesus Christ. There is no Christmas
joy without assembling in prayer within His Holy
Church. We as the Annunciation Church family,
will have the great and high privilege to herald the
birth of our Lord & Saviour together as follows:
Friday, December 24th -
Christmas Eve
Candlelight Service
Vesperal Liturgy - 6:00 pm

Saturday, December 25th -
The Feast Day of the Nativity
Divine Liturgy - 9:30 am
Annunciation
Christmas Luncheon
& Program
The Annunciation will be hosting its annual
Christmas Luncheon on December 19th
immediately following the Divine Liturgy. You &
yours are warmly invited!!!
During this very special luncheon our Sunday
School students will also be presenting their
annual Christmas Program - you will not want to
miss it. It is also rumored that a very jolly fellow may
even pop in for a visit. Please join us!!!
Let’s Have
A Merry Christmas
Together
at the Annunciation!

Page 7
THE PROMISE

2010 Youth Retreats

Page 8
December / January 2011

Page 9
THE PROMISE

Father Nicholas,
The Parish Council,
The Annunciation Staff,
and ALL of the
Ministries of the Annunciation
Wish you and yours
a Most Blessed Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
New Year’s
Service
The Annunciation
Church family is invited
to welcome the dawn of
a New Year and
celebrate the feast day
of St. Basil the Great
with prayer.
Divine Liturgy
of St. Basil for the New Year on
Friday
December 31st at 6:00 pm.
Let us embrace the Lord together and
welcome
2011
with Holy Communion
Let’s
make a difference
in the name of the
Lord!
Our Church family is invited to support a project to
benefit the Arkansas Pediatric Facility. Located
in North Little Rock, Arkansas Pediatric Facility is
devoted to providing 24 hour developmental, medical,
and nursing care to children whose special needs place
them in the severe/profound range of developmental
functioning due to congenital birth defects, severe
brain injuries, brain damage resulting from accidents
such as near drowning, and developmental disabilities
associated with serious childhood disease. Due to
the efforts of the staff at Arkansas Pediatric facility,
these children ages birth to age twelve who might
otherwise spend most of their time in bed; are involved
in functional and educational activities throughout
the day where the loving staff nurtures them and
encourages them to become all that they can be.
Please bring an Extra donation
to offer for the Second Tray in
support of the AR Pediatric Facility
and help them purchase:
Rock & Fold Chairs - $70.00
Southpaw Playhouse - $2,800.00
Every donation will Help!
Checks should be made out to the Annunciation
(and the memo should note the AR Pediatric Facility)


Page 10
 December / January 2011

Preaching Christ Crucified feastday of the Nativity allow us to see in this small
at Christmas child born in Bethlehem the redemption to come
(Continued from page 5) for all humanity. In the days to come, let us meditate
on these concepts and, most of all, as Orthodox
Christians, let us share and proclaim the good news
with those around us. But for now, brothers and sisters,
and offered him precious gifts — pure gold for that let us celebrate with much joy and thanksgiving the
he is King of the ages; frankincense in that he is God birth of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
of all; and as dead for three days they offered myrrh the world for the life of the world and for its salvation.
to the deathless One. Christ is born! Glorify Him!

In ancient times, myrrh was a fragrant spice that was

used to anoint a dead body and cover up the stench
Vasilopita -
of death. Imagine how scandalized we as parents Saint Basil’s Bread
would be if visitors came to visit our child just after
he or she was born and brought a gift of myrrh to
be used one day at that child’s funeral. However, our On Sunday, January 9th the Annunciation Church
Orthodox Christian worship reminds us that this is family will celebrate one of the most beautiful and
no ordinary child, but the God who is born from one inspiring traditions of the Orthodox Church, the ob-
of us so that He can die for all of us. servance of the Vasilopita (Saint Basil's Bread). It is an
annual observance, together with many other traditions
Lastly, nothing is more definitive in its imagery of of our Church, which joins our Orthodox Faith with
Christ crucified than what we see in the icon of the the history of the Christian religion itself. Our Ladies
Nativity and what we hear in Luke 2:12. The angels Philoptochos (Friends of the Poor) Society will use this
announce to the shepherds keeping watch over their blessed occasion to raise funds for the Saint Basil Acad-
flocks that they “… will find a babe wrapped in emy - an Archdiocesan project to support and nurture
swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Not just any youth & families in crisis. An auction will take place im-
manger, but one that, according to sources outside of mediately following the Divine Liturgy. Donations will
scripture and represented iconographically, was built be taken and slices of Vasilopita will be available for
inside a cave — inside rock. If you jump twenty-one our Parishioners to take home. The Annunciation La-
chapters to the end of this gospel, you will read in dies Philoptochos wishes everyone a very Happy New
Luke 23:53 that Joseph of Arimathea took the body Year!
of Christ “… wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a
tomb that was hewn out of the rock …” So here
we have Jesus, born in a cave hewn out of rock at
His birth then placed in a tomb hewn out of rock at
His death; Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes
at His birth and wrapped in a linen shroud at His
death. Coincidence? I think not, for our Orthodox
hymnography again makes the connection for us
when we sing at Nativity Vespers, “… by his swaddling
clothes he hath loosened the chains of our sins.”

Scripture, iconography, hymnology — all part of our

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church — on this

Page 11
THE PROMISE
How to Please the Lord The Meaning of Theophany
Of the many ways This feast ranks after Easter and Christmas in
we can show the importance within the life of the Orthodox Church.
Lord just how During this period we celebrate God’s first public
important He is revelation of the identity of Jesus, the Godhead as three
to us and our life, persons (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), Christ’s baptism, and
perhaps nothing the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. According to
is as meaningful the custom of the Church, we will first commemorate
as when we come this momentous event on Wednesday 1/5/11 with a
to worship Him at Divine Liturgy followed by a special service called “The
His House at the Small Blessing of the Water.” Then on Thursday 1/6/11
appointed time. following the Divine Liturgy, we will then celebrate “The
To do this as an Great Blessing of the Water.” At the conclusion of this
expression of love. service, everyone will be blessed with the sanctified water
It speaks volumes and may take a bottle of the holy water home in order
about the content of our heart, the fervor of our to sanctify their homes, possessions and gardens, or to
faith and the importance of Christ in our life. Just preserve it so as to partake of it in times of spiritual
as when our own children do something we ask of and physical affliction. Finally, it is the tradition of the
them, not because they “have to” but because it will Church to celebrate the life and memory of St. John the
please us, so too will the Lord be moved by an ongoing Baptist on January 7th, who plays such an instrumental
commitment to attend the services at the Annunciation role in this monumental event, immediately afterwards.
punctually with ready hearts, minds and souls.
SUNDAY
Matins, 9:00am / Divine Liturgy, 10:00am Services for the
Feast of Theophany &
House Blessings!
St. John the Baptist
If you would like your home to be blessed for the
New Year... this announcement is for you! As is Eve of Theophany
the tradition of the Church following the feast of Small Blessings of the Waters
Theophany, Orthodox Christians may ask to have Wednesday, January 5th
their homes blessed by the priest with holy water. 9:30 am
Beginning December 5th and ending December
26th, a sign-up sheet will be posted in Gabriel Theophany
Hall for all those in a Church family who would The Great Blessing of the Waters
like to have their home blessed the New Year. Thursday, January 6th
9:30 am
Please help make this enormous undertaking
orderly by registering during the month of Feast of St. John the
December. All those who kindly register their Baptist:
name by December 26th will then be contacted by Friday, January 7th
Father Nicholas after the feast of Epiphany to make - 9:30 am
arrangements for a blessing.

Page 12
 December / January 2011

Beauty, The Divine may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
Connection life, to behold the beauty of the Lord. . . .” (Ps 26: 4).
by Fr. George Morelli
The prophet Ezekiel, writing about his encounter with
God, tells us: “...the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of
God. ...the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest. (Ezk 1:
“The uncircumscribed Word of the Father became
1,3) His very detailed and personal narrative continues:
circumscribed, taking flesh . . .and He has restored the sullied
“...the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold,
image to its ancient glory, filling it with the divine beauty. This,
a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with
our salvation, we confess in deed and word . . . .”
brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually, and
(Kontakion, Sunday of Orthodoxy)
in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze.” (Ezk 1: 3,4)
Later in the description of his vision Ezekiel recounts:
“...there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire;
An experimental psychologist (Seligman, 2002) may
and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were
have inadvertently come upon a great spiritual insight
of a human form ...I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and
What is remarkable about this is that it was Seligman’s
there was brightness round about him. Like the appearance of the
express intent to divorce ‘beauty’ from the Divine; but,
bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance
paradoxically and seemingly unknowingly, he endorses
of the brightness round about. Such was the appearance of the
beauty’s ultimate end: the Divine. In discussing
likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon
Transcendence, which he labels a “signature strength”
my face...” (Ezk 1: 25-28).
that individuals can possess and which is one of the
components of “authentic happiness,” Seligman points
St. Macarius of Egypt, in his homily on the vision
out that it is a virtue which allows one to “reach outside
of Ezekiel, tells us that this foretells none other than
and beyond you” to something larger than oneself.
Christ Himself: “And this that the prophet saw, was
The divine is one such end. Apparently he does not
true and certain. But the thing it signified, or shadowed
see the irony in his writing “this term [transcendence]
forth beforehand, was a matter mysterious and divine,
is not popular throughout history-”spirituality” is the
that very mystery which had been hid from ages and
label of choice..” However, unwittingly, he leads us to
generations, but was made manifest at the appearing
God who is at the peak of “Transcendence.” Why?
of Christ.”i This is confirmed at the very beginning
Because what is larger than God Himself ? As our
of the Gospel of St. John: 1: 1-5): “In the beginning
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims in
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
the Anaphora Prayer: “It is meet and right to hymn
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all
Thee, to bless Thee, to praise Thee, to give thanks
things were made through him, and without him was
unto Thee, and to worship Thee in every place of Thy
not anything made that was made. In him was life, and
dominion: for Thou art God ineffable, inconceivable,
the life was the light of men. The light shines in the
invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing and eternally
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
the same, Thou and Thine Only-begotten Son and the
Holy Spirit.”
That ‘God is beauty’ was not lost on St. Basil the Great
who describes God as He who surpasses all beauty.
God is Beauty; Beauty points to God St. Basil, counsels: “. . . let us recognize the One Who
transcends in His beauty all things. . . .” McGuckin
That true beauty points mankind to God, is, of course, presents to us St. Symeon the Theologian’s Hymn of
fundamental to Eastern Christianity. But first it must Divine Love. St. Symeon prays: “Master how could
be pointed out that God is Beauty itself: We may call I describe the vision of your face? How could I ever
it the Divine Beauty. The psalmist prays: “ One thing speak of the ineffable contemplation of your Beauty?
have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I (Continued on page 18)
Page 13
 THE PROMISE

Holy Land Visit -

The “Taybeh” Housing
Project
By Wayne and Clair Alley

Dear Annunciation family, Clair and I want to share

with you some good news from our recent visit
to the Holy Land this past summer. We had the
opportunity to visit the only all-Christian village left
in Palestine renamed “Taybeh” from the old Biblical
name “Ephraim” located 30 kilometers north-east of
Jerusalem inside the occupied territories of the West
Bank. The Original Orthodox Church in this village
was built in the fourth century by St. Constantine
and St. Helen and currently it is in ruins and an
archeological site where the local 1,300 Christian
residents light their candles daily.

We were able to visit with Dr. Maria Khoury, who

you might recall visited our community here in Little
Rock few years ago to seek our support for a vital
housing project aimed at helping Orthodox Christians
keep their roots and presence in the Holy Land.
The Annunciation family was able to raise over ten
thousand dollars to help build some of these homes.
The original goal was to build 12 homes, but with our generous
help they were able to build 18 new homes. Below you
will see some of the homes that our Church helped
build. Maria and her family send their many thanks
and blessings to our Church family for their support.

Page 14
 December / January 2011

Team Annunciation
Racing for the Cure

Page 15
 THE PROMISE
Stewardship is Managing
Somebody Else’s Stuff
by Richard Lansing
A “steward” is a manager of resources that belong
to another. Historically, the word has been used for a
prime minister, who administrates a kingdom in the
name of a king. Or for someone who runs a plantation,
ranch, or farm for the landowner. Or for someone who
cares for the needs of passengers on a train or ship.
The essential idea of stewardship is trust. Not that the
steward trusts the owner or king, but that the owner
or king trusts the steward. Stewards are entrusted to
care or manage the resources that do not belong to the
steward. Faithful stewards manage the resources not
for themselves, but for the purposes of the one who has
entrusted them.
In Christian stewardship, God entrusts the creation to
people. In Genesis, Adam was trusted to care for and
protect the Garden. Tragically, Adam failed, resulting
in shame, fear, alienation, ruin and death. In the
redemption of humanity, God not only forgives and
restores people to life, but to their role as the stewards
of God over creation. In other words, Christian
stewardship is at the very center of our identity as
human beings and as Christians. Stewardship is not
peripheral, but central. We are created and called,
not to be served but to serve, to give ourselves to the
world, for the glory of God, just as Jesus gave himself.
Stewardship is who we are, and why we are here.
The most common word in Scripture for steward
is “servant.” “For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.” We are
the servants of the Lord, entrusted to manage God’s
resources for God’s purposes. Christianity does not
have stewardship, it is stewardship.
Stewardship is about All of Life:
Many people like to talk about the stewardship of time,
talent, and treasure. God does not give us, but rather
entrusts us with time, talent, and treasure. How will we
Page 16
manage the 24 hours each day, the 7 days each week,
for the good of the world and the glory of God? In a
self-centered world, one says, “Make time for yourself.”
In a God-centered world, we ensure that our bodies
have time for rest, recreation and restoration, because
we were entrusted to take good care of God’s tools.
Someone said, “If I had known I would have lived this
long, I would have taken better care of my body.” The
Christian says, “I have no right to treat God’s creation
shabbily… I must take care of this body whether I live
long or not.” Our faithful management of entrusted
talent is illustrated in “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Our faithful management of entrusted treasure is seen
neither in poverty nor acquisition, but in our attitude
toward possessions, in our wise investment for the good
of others, in our great generosity to others, and in
our practicing the beliefs that “I am not my own, but
God’s” and “this is not my time or treasure, but God’s.”
Three Theological Myths About
Stewardship
The most persistent myth about stewardship is that
it has something to do with God’s needs, with church
budgets, or with controlling how others use our gifts.
These are simply and entirely false. God has no needs.
“If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is
mine, and all that is in it.” (Ps 50.12). Stewardship is
not about funding the ministry, funding the church, or
funding God. It is how God transforms us into servants;
it is a basic way in which God is changing us into the
likeness of Jesus Christ. It’s not about what God needs
– but what we most desperately need in our deepest,
must fundamental being.
Another popular myth is that somehow giving releases
God’s power, that it triggers miraculous power. One
may hear that by giving sacrificially, God’s power is
released into the world. This is simply and entirely
false. God’s power is not passive, latent, or dormant. It
needs no external release mechanism or trigger. On the
other hand, people find themselves in bondage to fear,
greed, and envy. By becoming faithful servants of God,
we discover who really owns all of heaven and earth,
and we become free. Stewardship does not release

God, but it does release us. Stewardship is essential to
our discovering our own spiritual freedom.
A third popular myth is based on human greed. It views
giving as a kind of investment. The more I give, the
more I get. This is simply and entirely false. Although
God may entrust some of God’s faithful servants with
great wealth, Scripture claims that many of his most
faithful servants live in poverty, while many of the most
evil become rich – sometimes at the expense of the
faithful. On the contrary, the Scriptures consistently
teach us to give ourselves, to sacrifice ourselves for the
good of others, with the assumption of no reward in
this life. We are to follow the example of Jesus, who
“made himself poor that others might be made rich.”
Stewardship assumes that we God’s flock, the sheep
of God’s pasture. What God chooses to do with us is
entirely up to God. God calls us to become servants, to
be faithful stewards, regardless of whether we become
wealthy or poor in the process of our stewardship.
The Spirituality of Stewardship:
Stewardship is about Spirituality. The Scriptures
present faithful stewardship as the means, the basic
discipline, for learning how to follow Jesus. Stewardship
is not the goal of the Christian life, but a method. It is
designed to break our addiction to control, greed, the
demand for personal security. This is why Jesus told
the young man first to sell it all, give it all away, and
then to come follow Jesus. It was not the goal, but the
gateway.
Most often, when people hear about tithing, they
think of it as an ideal, as a goal. Jesus viewed it
quite differently. For him, the ideal, the goal, was
not 10%, but 100%. He pointed to the poor widow
who gave 100% as the target, and he chastised the
tithing Pharisees for not understanding the “weightier
things of Torah.” (Matt 23.23) He is clear that the
Pharisees needed to have been tithing, but that it was
not enough. Tithing is not a goal, but a beginning;
Where we start, not where we end.
December / January 2011
Christian spirituality is not an experience, but a
process, an infinitely long and difficulty journey. But
every journey begins someplace. The beginning of
Christian spirituality is trusting Jesus enough to follow
him. The goal of Christian life is, having trusted Jesus,
to have followed him to the end. The way to practice
following Jesus is literally to trust him with whatever
you have: your time, your talent, and your treasure.
By trusting Jesus with these things, we learn to follow
him. Bit by bit, we can become like him. There
are a great number of spiritual disciplines that are
designed to help us become people of deep prayer:
Sabbath keeping, lectio divina, spiritual direction,
contemplation, meditation, fasting, etc. But the most
simple and basic of the disciplines, the beginning place
where one practices trusting Jesus, is stewardship.
This is where one begins the serious path to spiritual
transformation and fulfillment.
Three Essential Practices:
Ultimate Giving:
The easiest form of giving is a bequest. It costs no
personal effort or pain, for it is given at death. On the
other hand, because there is no pain, there is no gain,
personally and spiritually. It does not transform us. Yet
it may transform the world. So for the good of others
and for the glory of God, we should all leave a portion
of our life insurance and estate for the advancement
of the Kingdom of God. Ultimate giving can never
take the place of ordinary giving, for ordinary giving
is a basic, essential discipline for changing us.
Extraordinary Giving:
This is the most fun form of philanthropy. In
extraordinary giving, we have the opportunity to
influence the world by investing in our favorite causes,
charities, programs and interests. We give to capital
campaigns, organizations and ministries in ways that
will please us, because we feel it will make a significant
difference in our world. We feel great satisfaction in
knowing that we helped start new churches, helped
restore the a poor church or ministry center, and helped
feed the hungry. We feel pride, in the most positive
(Continued on page 20)
Page 17
 THE PROMISE
Beauty
(Continued from page 13)
How could mere words contain One whom the World
could never contain?” Then Saint Symeon answers
his questions as part of his prayer: “...suddenly You
appeared from on high, shining greater than the Sun
itself, shining brilliantly from the heavens down into my
heart...What intoxication of the Light! What swirlings
of fire!”
The Incarnation:
The coming of the Light of the World
Centuries after the writing of the prophet Ezekiel
(595-572 BC), the writer of the last book of the Old
Testament, the Wisdom of Solomon (30-10 BC - just
decades before the birth of Christ), proclaims God as
Wisdom, from which can be seen His glory, light and
beauty: “For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because
of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is
a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory
of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the
working of God, and an image of his goodness. For God loves
nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom. For she is
more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the
stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is
succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail.”
(Wis 7: 24-30).
The light that is the Godhead was spoken of by King
David: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear?” (Ps 26: 1) Isaiah, who prophesized the
Incarnate God, His suffering and final triumph, tell us:
“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for
brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but
the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God
will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down,
nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be
your everlasting light...” (Is 60: 19-20). In the English
language glory is associated with a type of beauty called
resplendence, which is a “brilliant radiant beauty.”
Page 18
Indeed, St. John the Evangelist (Jn 8:12) records the
words of Jesus: “ Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I
am the light of the world; he who follows me will not
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”” And
as Jesus told His disciples: “As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world.”” (Jn 9: 5).
“Light-Beauty”
in the Liturgy of the Church
Even a cursory exposure to the rich Liturgical
practice of the Eastern Church will reveal the glory
of the Godhead, and ourselves as being filled with the
splendor of Christ’s light as we work toward becoming
“partakers of the Divine Nature” (2Pt 1:4)
Holy Baptism
At the baptismal exorcism service the priest prays:
“Open the eyes of his [ or her] understanding that the
light of thy Gospel many shine brightly in him. Yoke
unto his life a radiant Angel, who shall deliver him from
every snare of the adversary...” The profession of the
Creed which follows in the baptismal service (and which
is said as well by all at every Divine Liturgy and in daily
personal prayer) proclaims: “I believe in one God, the
Father Almighty... And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God...Light of Light, Very God of Very God...
And I believe in the Holy Spirit ...worshipped and
glorified...” The prayer of baptism directly ties baptism
with light; it petitions God to “Call Thy servant to Thy
Holy Illumination.” In the following petition the priest
implores God that the one to be baptized “may prove
himself a child of the Light and an heir of eternal good
things.” The baptismal water itself is referred to as
that which will be “the illumination of the soul.” Then
follows the actual baptism: the three-fold immersion in
the sanctified water, accompanied by the words “The
servant of God is baptized in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Following
this, the newly baptized illumined servant of God is
clothed with a white garment of righteousness while
a beautiful Troparion is sung: “Vouchsafe unto me a
robe of light, O thou who clothest thyself with light as
with a garment: Christ our God, plenteous in mercy.”

In discussing the Holy Mystery of Baptism Nicholas
Cabasilas writes, “the baptismal washing has instilled
into men some knowledge and perception of God, so
that they have clearly known Him who is good and have
perceived His beauty and tasted of His goodness [cf Ps
33: 8].” Cabasilas intimates that this is accomplished
by beauty itself: “When men have a longing so great
that it surpasses human nature and eagerly desire and
are able to accomplish things beyond human thought,
it is the Bridegroom who has smitten them with this
longing. It is he who has sent a ray of his beauty into
their eyes. The greatness of the wound already shows
the arrow which has struck home, the longing indicates
who has inflicted the wound.”
Holy Chrismation
The Chrismation service which follows also refers to
“light. After the anointing with Holy Chrism: “The seal
of the gift of the Holy Spirit,” the priest prays: “Thou
art justified, Thou art illumined. Thou art sanctified.”
Holy Eucharist
The Anaphora prayer of the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil,
beautifully expresses the brightness of Christ, whom
we are about to receive after the Holy Spirit transforms
the Bread and Wine “to be itself the Precious Body of
our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ; and this Cup
[the wine] to be itself the Precious Blood...”
Our Lord Jesus Christ is an image of the goodness of
the Father: “...the Life, Sanctification, Might, the true
Light, through whom the Holy Spirit was manifested
...After the reception of the Eucharist there is sung
one of the most beautiful hymns of the Church: “We
have seen the true light, we have received the heavenly
Spirit... worshiping the undivided Trinity: for He hath
saved us.”
The Theotokos: Ladder to heaven and
progenitor of Christ-Beauty
Now is made the created temple [The Theotokos] for the Creator
of all; and creation is readied into a new Divine habitation for
the Creator...through the conjoining by His Mother by birth ‘of
Him made beautiful by Goodness’, man receives beauty in a most
December / January 2011
excellent and God-seemly visage. And this creating is done truly
by the creation, and recreation by theosis, and theosis by a return
to the original perfection! Now a barren one is become beyond
expectation a mother, and the Birth-giver hath given birth without
knowing man, and she doth sanctify natural birth. Now is readied
the majestied color of the Divine scarlet-purple... Now is begun
the renewal of our nature, and the world responding, assuming
a God-seemly form, doth receive the principle of a second Divine
creation.
Could we expect anything else than that the Prince of
Beauty, Christ Himself, would be born from her who is
described by King Solomon as “. . she is more beautiful
than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior...”
(Wis 7: 29). As is proclaimed in the Orthros Service of
the Church: “The Theotokos and Mother of Light, let
us honor with song and magnify.”
The Transfiguration: The prototype of the
Beauty of the Divine Light to come
All are aware of St. Paul’s observation: “For now we see
in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in
part; then I shall understand fully . . . .” (1Cor 13:12).
This certainly can be applied to Peter, James and John,
the Apostles who accompanied Jesus to the summit of
Mt. Tabor. St. Matthew (17: 1-2) records: “And after six
days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his
brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And
he was transfigured before them, and his face shone
like the sun, and his garments became white as light.”
They experienced the light of His Transfiguration,
though “dimly.” This is certainly acknowledged by the
Apolytikion of the Feast: “When, O Christ our God,
Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, Thou didst
reveal Thy glory to Thy Disciples in proportion as they
could bear it.” This limitation of the Apostles’ ability to
perceive the fullness of the radiance of the Divine Light
is repeated in the Kontakion: “ Thou wast transfigured
on the mount, and Thy Disciples, in so far as they were
able, beheld Thy glory, O Christ our God; . . . Thou
art truly the effulgent Splendor of the Father.” The
Transfiguration, however, is just an exquisite prototype
(Continued on page 22)
Page 19
 THE PROMISE

Managing Somebody Else’s go of something, trusting God to do with it what God

Stuff
(Continued from page 17)
sense, of knowing that we can make a difference in
the world. But extraordinary giving can never take the
place of ordinary giving, for ordinary giving is a basic,
essential discipline for transforming us in our core
being.
Ordinary Giving:
This is the most
difficult form,
but also the
most personally
beneficial. This is
the basic spiritual
disciplines that
work on our inner
life, our fear, our
insecurity, our
greed. Ordinary
giving is intended
to be regular,
consistent, and sacrificial, in order to help break us of
our addictions. It is the primary discipline that teaches
us self-regulation, self-control, and impulse control. In
order to do all this, it must be large enough to make an
actual change in our lifestyle. Most of us give something,
but many fail to give enough to make a difference in
their own life. So when someone tells me that cannot
control their temper or their addiction to Twinkies,
they are always surprised that I prescribe stewardship
as the first step. Spiritual transformation begins with
trusting Jesus Christ with at least our stewardship: our
time, talent & treasure. The goal is to become like Jesus
Christ… to be able to give 100% of ourself to God.
Unfortunately, sometimes people miss the point. They
think they’re being good stewards when they generously
invest a portion of their treasure to their favorite causes.
But the essential genius of stewardship is that it is about
giving up control. It transforms us because we are letting
wants. It is a practicing, on a very small scale of Jesus’
prayer in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but your will be
done.” This is why we have both ordinary giving AND
extraordinary giving. When we designate where our
offerings go, we may be influencing the world, but we
lose the benefit of the spiritual discipline. It no longer
breaks us of our addiction to control things; indeed, it
enables our addiction to continue. So we need both.
This is why, spiritually, it is a tragic mistake to divert
one’s stewardship from one’s local parish because one
is unhappy with it. The whole point and purpose of
stewardship (ordinary giving) is the spiritual discipline
which transforms the inner life. I’ve never met an
experienced steward, wealthy or poor, who regretted
their practice. Yet there are many people, wealthy
and poor, who so desperately need to break free from
their fear, insecurity, and envy about money. Without
stewardship, we will never become the Christians that
God is calling us to be.
The Bottom Line for All 3 Essential
Practices:
1) Check your will and your life insurance.
You do want to influence the world for its good and
the glory of God. You are a steward, the manager of
God’s resources for God’s purposes. So make sure you
have taken steps to exercise your stewardship in your
ultimate giving.
2) Do something special.
Enjoy the pleasure of philanthropy by making free-
will offerings to special causes, events, and programs.
Consider giving a large and influential gift to the
Capital Campaign.
3) But first and foremost, get regular.
Consider your ordinary giving. If you are not presently a
steward, begin today. Do not wait for your parish pledge
drive. Begin today. Experience the transforming power
of letting go and embracing Christian stewardship to
its fullest. It is the gateway to spiritual transformation
and the path to becoming a faithful steward.

Page 20
 December / January 2011

Welcome Baptized Into Christ

The Orthodox Church
and the Annunciation The Annunciation family
in particular, had the congratulates Richard &
privilege to warmly Star Akel on the baptism
welcome into its warm of their daughter, Isabella,
and loving embrace who was baptized at the
Annunciation on November
through Chrismation
6th. Ron & Joyce Harb are the
the beloved servants proud godparents. May God
of God: Richard & bless our newest servant of
Star Akel, whose the Lord, along with all of her
entrance into the Holy family and friends!
Church was sponsored by Ron & Joyce Harb along
with Linda Haycook, whose entrance into the 
Church was sponsored Lea Ging.

Having been formally received into the Orthodox Congratulations!

Church and become beloved members of our
Church family in November, we look forward to The Annunciation
walking together on the path of life and faith. Church family offers
With our newly enlisted Orthodox Christian, let prayers of thanks and
us ask our Lord and Savior to continue to show congratulate Keith
us the way of the Christ centered life. & Allison Freeman
on the birth of their
You Are Invited! second child: Aubrey
Jane Freeman. Baby
The Annunciation Scholarship Foundation Aubrey was born
invites you to a on October 26th
Wine Tasting Event weighing 8 pounds 2
ounces.
on Saturday, January 22, 2011
Tickets for this special occasion are $40.00 and will be May God continue to bless the Freeman family!
soon available for purchase from a Scholarship Board
members. Save the date, invite a friend and make plans for a
wonderful evening that will help a wonderful cause.
Please
remember to submit your
2011 Annunciation
Stewardship Card
on December 21st
Page 21
 THE PROMISE
Beauty
(Continued from page 19)
of the brilliance of the Divine Beauty to come. As is
noted in the Feast’s Vesperal hymn: “ When Thou
wast transfigured before Thy Crucifixion, O Lord, the
mount resembled heaven, and a cloud spread out like a
canopy, and the Father bore witness unto Thee.
The significance of the Transfiguration was not lost
by the Fathers of the Church. In his Homily on the
Transfiguration St. John Chrysostom tells us: “...let
us journey in thought to the mountain where Christ
was Transfigured: let us behold him shining as He
shone there... For as concerning the king it is not even
possible to say what he is like: so completely do his
beauty, his grace, his splendor, his glory, his grandeur
and magnificence elude speech and thought... He who
is the sovereign and God of all, even as the Psalmist
also when discoursing concerning this beauty, said
“And the king shall have desire of thy beauty.”
Of this splendor St. Hilary of Poitiers comments:
“For though the splendor of His eternal glory overtax
our mind’s best powers, it cannot fail to see that He is
beautiful. We must in truth confess that God is most
beautiful, and that with a beauty which, though it
transcend our comprehension, forces itself upon our
perception.”v The Divine Light that shone at Tabor
was made explicit by St. Gregory Palamas: “None the
less, in accordance with the Savior’s promise they did see the
kingdom of God, that Divine and inexpressible light. St. Gregory
of Nazianzos and St. Basil call this light ‘divinity’ saying that
‘the light is the divinity manifested to the disciples on the Mount’,
and that it is ‘the beauty of Him who is almighty, and His noetic
and contemplatable Divinity’. St. Basil the Great also says that
this light is the beauty of God contemplated by the saints alone
in the power of the Divine Spirit; and again he writes, ‘On the
mountain Peter and the sons of thunder saw His beauty shining
more brightly than the sun; and they were privileged to receive
with their eyes a foretaste of His advent.” (Philokalia IV)
In the spirit of St. Gregory of Nyssa we could ponder
Page 22
the saint’s words: “having approached Light itself, the
soul is transfigured into light.”
Holy Pascha
The Paschal service emphasizes light. The first
reference in the Paschal Liturgy to Christ, who is ‘the
Light,’ is made in the 5th Ode of the Pascha Midnight
Office: “When Isaiah, O Christ, saw thy light that
setteth not, the light of thy Divine appearance coming
to us in pity, he arouse up early crying “The dead shall
rise , and they who are in the tombs shall awake, and
all those on the earth shall rejoice.” (c.f. Is 26: 19). The
contemporary Resurrection Service starts at Midnight
with the priest exiting the Sanctuary holding the lighted
Paschal Candle while all the assembly come forward
and light their candles from the Paschal Candle. All
this while the assembly chants the hauntingly beautiful
hymn: “Come ye, take light from the Light, that is never
overtaken by night. Come, glorify the Christ, risen from
the dead.” The Paschal Service emphasizes “light.”
This can easily be glimpsed in these verses from the
Orthros Paschal Canon: “Today is the day of Resurrection!
O nations, let us shine forth; for the Pascha is the Pascha of the
Lord... Glory to thy Holy Resurrection, O Lord! Let us cleanse
our senses that we may behold Christ shining like lightening with
the unapproachable light of Resurrection... Verily, all creatures
have been filled with light, the heaven and the earth, and all that
is below the earth... In truth, how noble is this radiant and all-
festal night of salvation; for it precedeth the proclamation of the
light-bearing day of Resurrection, in which the timeless Light did
shone forth bodily from the grave.”
The penultimate hymn of the Paschal Agape Vespers
(and all Vesper Services) is the Hymn of Light, O Joyful
Light: “O Gladsome light of the holy glory of the immortal
Father, the heavenly, the holy blessed, Jesus Christ. Now that we
are come to the setting of the sun, and behold the light of evening,
we hymn thee: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God It is meet and
right that at all times thou shouldst be magnified by voices of
praise, O Son of God, the Giver of Life. Therefore, the whole
world doth glorify thee.”
The Paschal Megalynarion, repeated many times in the
services, encapsulates the Paschal theme of light: “Shine
thou, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord hath

risen upon thee. Rejoice thou now and exalt, O Zion.
And thou, O pure one, Theotokos, rejoice thou at the
Resurrection of thy Son.” This hymn recalls the words
of Isaiah the Prophet: “Arise, shine; for your light has
come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick
darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.” (Is 60: 1,2).
Christ, in His triumphal Resurrection, is the ultimate
Beauty who has illumined the whole cosmos. As we pray
in the Paschal Vesperal Aposticha: “Thy Resurrection,
O Christ Savior, hath illumined thy creation, O Lord
Almighty. Glory to thee.”
Thoughts on the Theology of
Beauty
Our response to beauty
St. Macarius of Egypt tells us: “[those who have]
love for Christ, [are] bound fast to that beauty and
unspeakable glory, and the inconceivable riches of
the true and eternal King.”vi In this same homily
St. Macarius points out that the soul which receives
Christ exudes the inexpressible beauty of the glory of
the light of the Divinity. He tells us: “For the soul that
is thought worthy to partake of the spirit of his light, and is
irradiated by the beauty of his ineffable glory (he having by that
spirit prepared her for his own seat and habitation), becomes all
light, all face, and all eye: neither is there any one part in her
but what is full of these spiritual eyes of light; that is, there is
no part in her darkened: but she is all entirely wrought into light
and spirit, and is all over full of eyes, having no hinder part, or
anything behind; but appears to be altogether face, by reason of
the inexpressible beauty of the glory of the light of Christ, that
rides and sits upon her.”
Beauty leads to love of God and neighbor
St. Maximus the Confessor (580-662), writes:“Nothing
so much as love brings together those who have been sundered and
produces in them an effective union of will and purpose. Love
is distinguished by the beauty of recognizing the equal value of
all men. Love is born in a man when his soul’s powers - that
is, his intelligence, incensive power and desire - are concentrated
December / January 2011
and unified around the divine. Those who by grace have come to
recognized the equal value of all men in God’s sight and who
engrave His beauty on their memory, possess an ineradicable
longing for divine love, for such love is always imprinting this
beauty on their intellect.” (Philokalia, II).
St. John Chrysostom asks: “. . . when the soul is
refulgent with it [beauty] what can match beauty and
grace of this kind?
St. Maximus the Confessor also pointed out the
connection between the good and the beautiful:‘The
beautiful is identical with the good, for all things seek the beautiful
and good at every opportunity, and there is no being which does not
participate in them. They extend to all that is, being what is truly
admirable, sought for, desired pleasing, chosen and loved. Observe
how the divine force of love — the erotic power preexisting in the
good - has given birth to the same blessed force within us, through
which we long for the beautiful and good in accordance with the
words, “I became a lover of her beauty” (Wisdom. 8:2), and
“Love her and she will sustain you; fortify her and she will exalt
you (Proverbs. 4:6, 8). (Philokalia II).
As the author of the book of Wisdom tells us, it is
through beauty that we can glimpse the Divinity: “If
through delight in the beauty of these things men
assumed them to be gods, let them know how much
better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty
created them.” (Wis 13: 3). “For from the greatness
and beauty of created things comes a corresponding
perception of their Creator.” (Wis 13: 5)
Holiness our reward for responding to beauty
Paul Evdokimov points to the spiritual effects mankind
receives in responding to the grace of perceiving the
Divine Beauty. It is that we become beauty ourselves:
“At the ultimate heights of holiness, the human person
“becomes in a certain sense light” [St. Gregory Palamas,
Homily on the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the
Temple]. Seraphim of Sarov was thus able to cloth
himself in the sun and shine. Being himself called “a
striking likeness,” St. Seraphim was the living icon of
the God of Light. St. Gregory of Nyssa described the
elevation of the soul of him who hears in the following
way: “You have become beautiful by coming close to
(Continued on page 26)
Page 23
THE PROMISE

Carnival Fun!

Page 24
 December / January 2011

Outreach Committee Happy Birthday

Meet & Greet Schedule to our parishioners celebrating
during the upcoming months!
December 5th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Hawkins
December 12th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Weatherly
Jana Hunter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 1st
December 19th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Hunter Kate Martin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 3rd
December 26th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robin Jones Ron Harb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 9th
Marshall Mann. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 9th
January 2nd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan McDowell Daniel Kassissieh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 12th
January 9th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharon Johnson Pat Pappas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 14th
January 16th . . . . . . . . . . . Christopher Huckabay Randy Kassissieh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 15th
January 23rd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carole Hawkins Helena Roy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December15th
Grant Alley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 17th
January 30th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Weatherly
Elizabeth Hunter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 19th
Maria Verdaris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 19th
Pete Stathakis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 20th
But that God’s word may be made Jesse Burks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 21st
Raouf Kassissieh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 22nd
clearer, listen to this. If any one loves
Katie Pearson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 22nd
Jesus, and attends to Him in earnest, Toni Staley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 26th
and not in a casual way, but in love Grace Tidwell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 27th
abides by Him, God is already devising Stephanie Verdaris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 27th
to make some return to that soul for Kristin Alley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 28th
its love, although the man does not Benjamin Alley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 29th
know what he is to receive or what
Eleanora Daly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1st
portion God is about to give to the Amberley Turjman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 3rd
soul. John Verdaris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 3rd
-St. Makarios the Great, Homily XII, William Hronas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 4th
Jeanne Spencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 4th
4th Century
Jason Alley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 5th
Hannah Cotros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 7th
James Nix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 7th
T Fellowship Hour T Heather Alley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 10th
Chris Pappas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 11th
If you or your family would like to commemorate a Jaegar Burks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13th
special event, honor the memory of a loved one or Josie Ging-Glass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13th
would simply like to after a gift to the Annunciation James Rutter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13th
family... you too can sponsor a Fellowship Chad Butts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 17th
Hour! Steve Vaden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 18th
Christopher Haddad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 23rd
Please check the Bulletin Board Mark Hunter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 25th
and sign up today! Sophie Sargent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 25th

Page 25
 THE PROMISE
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom
Beauty men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
(Continued from page 23)
This passage is read at both the 6th Hour and at Great
Vespers on Great and Holy Friday in the Eastern
my Light.” Man is drawn upward; we might even say Church How do we reconcile Isaiah’s prophesy with
“falls up” and attains the level of divine beauty. the prophetic description of Christ given by King
David in Psalm 44: 1-2), in which he lauds Christ’s
Beauty: God is Good and God is love beauty: “My heart overflows with a goodly theme; I
Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, true God of address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the
true God, the light pen of a ready scribe. You are the fairest of the sons
of the world, from of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore
St. Maximus the His own mouth God has blessed you forever?” Evdokimov suggests an
Confessor also informed His answer. There are two beauties. Natural and Divine.
pointed out the apostles and us: Divine beauty not only surpasses natural beauty, but
“No one is good may be hidden, be unseen, be unappreciated and
connection between
but God alone.” even, paradoxically, appear ugly to the human eye. He
the good and the (Mk 10: 18) His tells us: “Natural beauty is real but fragile. This is why
beautiful: beloved Apostle the natural beauty of a saint is at the summit of being.
“The beautiful is tells us: “He who The saint, as “microcosm” and “microtheos” thus
does not love does becomes nature’s center, but grounded in a person.
identical with the good, not know God; for Nature trembles and waits to be saved by man become
for all things seek the God is love. So we holy.” Later Evdokimov goes on to write: “The great
beautiful and good at know and believe saints discover divine thoughts in the world, present
the love God has but transparent, and look to the very center of the
every opportunity, and for us. God is love, cosmic shell where they find the world’s true meaning.”
there is no being which and he who abides This is why the spark of Divine Beauty is hidden, but
does not participate in love abides in capable of spiritual perception Beauty can be found in
God, and God those in the world who are wounded by mere human
in them. They extend abides in him.” standards. The greatest beauty can lie within those
to all that is, being (1Jn 4: 8, 16). St. physically and/or mentally challenged.
what is truly admirable, Basil the Great
informs us that this Secular psychology misses the Divine
sought for, desired spiritual perception
connection
pleasing, chosen and is achieved by
loved.” contemplation.
I started this essay by pointing out that Positive
Psychology unwittingly points us to the Divine, but
surely this is not its aim. Seligman’s aim is to remove
A lesson from the Prophet Isaiah:
reference to the personal God whom Christians can
Two that are beautiful
know by responding to God’s grace and cultivating
The Prophet Isaiah (Is 53: 2-3) tells, in foretelling
spiritual perception Seligman writes: “But I hope [his
the appearance of the ugliness of Christ during His
comments on God in his book, Authentic Happiness]
Passion and Crucifixion, “For he grew up before him like a
it is relevant for how to lead a meaningful life to the
young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form
nonreligious community, the skeptical, evidence-
or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we
minded community that believes only in nature. He
should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man (Continued on page 29)
Page 26
 December / January 2011

Giddy-Up JOY!

Page 27
THE PROMISE

Volleyball Fun!
(P.S. The Adults won!!!)

Page 28

Beauty
(Continued from page 26)
ends up by creating his own god, a god embedded in
nature itself. Seligman continues:“Toward a [g]od who
is not supernatural, a [g]od who ultimately acquires [emphasis
mine] omnipotence, omniscience, and goodness through the
natural process [emphasis mine] of win-win.”
He goes on to explain: “Biological systems are forced —
designed without a designer — by Darwinian selection into
complexity and more win-win scenarios. A cell that incorporates
mitochondria symbiotically wins out over cells that cannot.
Complex intelligence is almost an inevitable result, given enough
time, of natural selection and differential reproductive success.
Seligman is actually basing his comments on a model
of the cosmos developed by Robert Wright called
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny. Wright
considers that all ,from the minutest particle of
matter to mankind, has an intrinsic mechanism of
complexity, based on ‘a win-win game’ theory, a non-
zero-sum, which means all involved will win out by
‘combining,’ so to speak. Wright states:“The underlying
reason that non-zero-sum games wind up being played well is
the same in biological evolution as in cultural evolution Whether
you are a bunch of genes or a bunch of memes, if you’re all in
the same boat you’ll tend to perish unless you are conducive to
productive coordination. For genes, the boat tends to be a cell
or a multicelled organism or occasionally . . . a family; for
memes, the boat is often a larger social group——a village,
a chiefdom, a state, a religious denomination, Boy Scouts of
America, whatever. Genetic evolution thus tends to create
smoothly integrated organisms, and cultural evolution tends to
create smoothly integrated groups of organisms.”
Unfortunately, Seligman falls into the same intellectual
trap as false evolutionists, He makes nature, which is
finite, no matter how infinitesimal or complex it may
be, or how many dimensions it may have, or no matter
that it may operate according to the rule of quantum
physics which states that particles do not have single
definite histories, the principle of its own
(Continued on page 30)
December / January 2011
Attention College Students!
With the promotion tag line, “Do something REAL
this spring break,” Orthodox Christian Fellowship has
announced the opening of registration for its 2011
Real Break trips.
Each year hundreds of thousands of college students
in North America travel during their spring break
for oftentimes, empty experiences. Since 2001, OCF
has offered their annual Real Break trips as Spring
Break alternatives that provide life-transforming and
spiritually uplifting opportunities to do “something
real” during this time. Since its inception, over one
thousand college students have had the opportunity to
spend their time away from school helping others and
growing in their Orthodox Christian faith.
Entering its 10th year, OCF Real Break continues
to offer the transformative, priest-led trips both
domestically and internationally. The eight trips in
March 2011 will include: Buenos Aires, Project Mexico,
Romania, Constantinople, New York, Guatemala I and
Guatemala 2 and Toronto.
To find detailed information regarding the 2011
Real Break trips and to register, please visit
www.ocf.net/realbreak. Be a part of this year’s life-
changing week-long Real Break experience.
Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF)
www.ocf.net
800.919.1OCF
Page 29
 THE PROMISE
Beauty Thank You!!!
(Continued from page 29)
The Annunciation Church family extends its heartfelt
thanks to all those who offered their time and talent
infinite existence His explanation of the initial point
to ensure that our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon, &
of creation, of even the minutest particle of matter, is
Stewardship Presentation was a beautiful moment for
missing. It is a logical inconsistency. How can nothing
all to enjoy. The abiding manifestation of Christian
create something? Interestingly, this is the same trap
love, faithfulness and creativity always make such nice
that cosmologist Stephen Hawking falls into, as his
gatherings possible. From the gifted decorators, the
recent publication, The Grand Design indicates; he falls
talented cooks, gracious servers, inspiring speaker,
into the identical logical conundrum It is possible that
dedicated clean-up crew, the generous Wilcox family
a non-zero-sum interaction is the way God created the
who underwrote the event, to all those loving men
cosmos, including mankind. But spiritual perception
and women who attended - we give thanks to God
demands that we see the work of God not only in the
for all of you and enhancing our sense of blessed
initial creation of something out of nothing, but in the
gratefulness!
way in which that something works, its beauty and that
the “something” ultimately glorifies Him.

The God of Revelation

On the other hand, the God of Judeo-Christianity is
a personal God of Love, Truth Goodness and Beauty.
As I have said: “God is above and beyond all creation.”
God, to quote once more from the Anaphora prayer
of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom as
used in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is: “ineffable,
inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing
and eternally the same.”

“...every perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights...”
Good For A Laugh
(Jas 1: 17) My job as a land surveyor took me to a golf course
that was expanding to 18 holes. Using a machete to
clear thick brush in an area I was mapping, I came
upon a golf club that an irate player must have tossed
away. It was in good condition, so I picked it up and
continued on.

When I broke out of the brush onto a putting green,

two golfers stared at me in awe. I had a machete in
one hand, a golf club in the other, and behind me was
a clear-cut swath over 100 yards long.

“There,” said one of the golfers, “is a guy who hates

to lose his ball!”

Page 30
 December / January 2011

ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

1100 NAPA VALLEY DRIVE, LITTLE ROCK, AR 72211
REV. DR. NICHOLAS J. VERDARIS, PASTOR

D ecember 2010
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
9:00am Christmas
Set-Up

Orthodox Study Class 1:00pm GOYA Set Up

6:30pm

5 6 7 8 9 10 11
10th Sunday of Luke
Matins 9:00am Feast of St. Nicholas
Divine Liturgy 10:00am Liturgy 9:30am
Parish Assembly
Christmas Cookie Party
6:00pm

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
11th Sunday of Luke
Matins 9:00am
Divine Liturgy 10:00am

Parish Council Meeting

6:00pm

19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Sunday Before Nativity
Matins 9:00am Christmas Liturgy
Divine Liturgy 10:00am 9:30am

Parish Christmas Eve Candlelight

Christmas Luncheon Liturgy
6:00pm

26 27 28 29 30 31 January 1,
Sunday After Nativity
Matins 9:00am
Divine Liturgy 10:00am New Year’s Eve Liturgy
2011
6:00pm

Page 31
 THE PROMISE

ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

1100 NAPA VALLEY DRIVE, LITTLE ROCK, AR 72211
REV. DR. NICHOLAS J. VERDARIS, PASTOR

J anuary 2011
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sunday Before
Theophany Eve of Theophany Feast of Theophany Feast of St. John the
Matins 9:00am Liturgy 9:30am Liturgy 9:30am Baptist
Divine Liturgy 10:00am Liturgy 9:30am

9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Sunday After
Theophany GOYA
Matins 9:00am Leave for Oklahoma City
Divine Liturgy 10:00am
Parish Council Meeting
Philoptochos Vasilopita 6:00pm
Event

16 17 18 19 20 21 22
12th Sunday of Luke
Matins 9:00am
Divine Liturgy 10:00am GOYA Scholarship
Return from Oklahoma City Wine Tasting Event
Orthodox Study Class
6:30pm

23 24 25 26 27 28 29
14th Sunday of Luke
Matins 9:00am
Divine Liturgy 10:00am

30
The Three Hierarchs
31 February 1 2 3 4 5
Matins 9:00am Presentation of the Lord
Divine Liturgy 10:00am to the Temple
Liturgy 9:30am

Page 32