An
ALMSGIVING
Opportunity
to help those impacted by Covid-19
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Reflections and Daily Inspiration
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“Do not ever say: ‘These beggars annoy me!’
So many millions of men live on earth and all are beggars before the Lord; emperors as well as laborers, the wealthy as well as servants, all are beggars before the Lord and the Lord never said: ‘These beggars annoy me!'”
- St. Nikolai Velimirovich
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We are not alone because we are of the Church
- Fr. Bratso Krsic and Fr. Serafim Gascoigne
Pastoral reflections of the clergy of the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This episode features Fr. Serafim Gascoigne, from Pokrov of the Theotokos parish in Seattle, Washington, and Fr. Bratso Krsic from St. George parish of San Diego, California. These reflections are timely. They are permeated with pastoral insight, Orthodox Christian spirituality, and care. We are not alone because we are of the Church; we are united in the bond of love; God, Theotokos, and saints are with us.
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Graduations to Be Held Online for Direct Archdiocesan
Greek Community Schools
NEW YORK – Two graduation ceremonies will be held online with the participation of the Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on Saturday, June 6, by the Day and Afternoon Greek schools of the Direct Archdiocesan District.As the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Director of the Department of Greek Education, Anastasios Koularmanis, told The National Herald, the ceremonies will take place through the Zoom platform, but there will be an open live broadcast on social networks, so that parents, relatives and friends can watch.
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Holy Prophet Jeremiah
Jeremiah was born about 650 years before Christ in the village of Anathoth near Jerusalem. He began to prophesy at the age of fifteen, during the reign of King Josiah. He preached repentance to the king and noblemen, false prophets and priests. During the reign of King Josiah, Jeremiah barely escaped death at the murderous hands of the enraged nobles. Concerning King Jehoiakim, he prophesied that the king’s burial would be like the burial of an ass, that is, his dead body would be cast outside Jerusalem and dragged along the ground and without benefit of burial. Because of this, Jeremiah was cast into prison. Not being able to write in prison, he sent for Baruch, who stood near a small window of the prison while Jeremiah dictated to him. When this prophecy was read to King Jehoiakim, the enraged king seized the paper and threw it into the fire. Divine providence saved Jeremiah from prison, and the words of the prophet concerning Jehoiakim were fulfilled. Concerning King Jeconiah [son of Jehoiakim], Jeremiah prophesied that he and his entire family would be carried off to Babylon and that he would die there. All of this came about shortly. Under King Zedekiah, Jeremiah placed a yoke around his own neck and walked through Jerusalem, prophesying the fall of Jerusalem and bondage under the yoke of the Babylonians. Jeremiah wrote to the Hebrew captives in Babylon, telling them not to hope for a speedy return to Jerusalem, for they would remain in Babylon for seventy years, which came to pass. Near Jerusalem in the Valley of Tophet, where the Jews sacrificed children to the idols, Jeremiah took a potter’s clay vessel in his hands and shattered it before the people, prophesying the imminent routing of the Jewish Kingdom. The Babylo- nians shortly captured Jerusalem, slew King Zedekiah, plundered and destroyed the city, and beheaded a great number of Jews in the Valley of Tophet on the same spot where children had been sacrificed to idols and where the Prophet Jeremiah had smashed the potter’s vessel. Jeremiah, with the Levites, removed the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple to Mount Nebo, where Moses had died. There he hid the Ark in a cave. However, he hid the fire from the Temple in a deep well. Jeremiah was forced by some Jews to accompany them to Egypt, where he lived for four years and was then stoned to death by his countrymen. To the Egyptians, Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of their idols and the arrival of the Virgin and Christ-child in Egypt. There is a tradition that states that Alexander the Great visited the tomb of the Prophet Jeremiah. By Alexander’s order, the body of Jeremiah was translated and buried in Alexandria.
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